Ch.188188. Wonsul (1)

Northwestern part of the Eastern Continent. A vast mountainous region bordering the great plains.

This mountainous area was so treacherous that nomadic tribes like orcs and centaurs could never easily pass through it—the kind of place that resembles those internet memes titled “Why you shouldn’t check on someone who fell off a cliff.jpg”…

Like many of the world’s natural wonders, it was both an independent otherworld and a habitat where countless living beings made their homes.

One might wonder what life could possibly survive among cliffs where even an intermediate knight with awakened aura could lose their life from a fall. Yet surprisingly, such terrain can be a paradise for creatures adapted to it.

For instance, there were creatures like “Blade Snow Leopards” and “Rock Mountain Goats” that climbed up and down those treacherous cliffs, as well as species that chose to travel by air, such as “Hunter Bats” and “Arrow Hawks.”

Additionally, there were “Mine Drakes” that used the numerous caves perforating the mountains like ant colonies as their homes, and even isolated individuals that had adapted to small forest patches on various rock faces.

As they say, “life always finds a way(?),” and indeed, diverse species managed to survive even in this harsh environment.

Among these species were the Stone Monkeys.

They were a type of magical beast monkey that had evolved uniquely to survive in the harsh mountainous region.

True to their name, these monkeys had distinctive stone-like skin and possessed the unique ability to survive by eating rocks in the barren mountains, incorporating the properties of the consumed minerals into their bodies.

For example, consuming iron ore would make them vulnerable to heat but significantly increase their skin’s durability, while eating coal would grant them the ability to generate fire through their skin.

Of course, these abilities would disappear once the rocks were fully digested, but since digestion took about 12 hours, this wasn’t a major issue.

Additionally, while Stone Monkeys resembled typical “monkeys” in appearance, adult specimens averaged the size of gorillas and continued growing until death.

Thanks to this, Stone Monkeys that survived long enough to grow large could easily develop into intermediate-level magical beasts, and given their lack of a defined lifespan, they could potentially reach advanced levels if they avoided being killed.

Combined with their human-comparable intelligence and excellent social skills that enabled them to live in groups, Stone Monkeys were one of the few sentient species that had survived in this mountainous region…

Stone Monkey Yuan Shu was a member of this tribe.

Born with skin that had a faint golden hue, he was actually a distant descendant of the Stone Monkey god who had ascended from a mere creature to divinity—the Great Sage Equal to Heaven—and carried a few drops of his blood.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, living up to his grandiose name meaning “Great Sage Equal to Heaven,” was the tribal god of Stone Monkeys who had ascended after causing all sorts of trouble throughout the “Wu Empire” of the Eastern Continent.

Thanks to this lineage, Yuan Shu possessed high magical affinity along with exceptional intelligence and physical abilities. Using these talents, he taught himself the magical script used by human nations to the south and mastered Taoist arts (magic).

However, he grew deeply disappointed with his family and tribe who, despite their intelligence, could not transcend their primate nature and were impossible to reason with. Eventually, he decided to leave his kind and become independent.

He was just six years old at the time.

Though this was equivalent to only about 12 years old by Stone Monkey standards, who could stop him when he was already the largest and strongest in his group at this age, and his self-taught Taoist arts had already reached a level beyond mortality (intermediate level)?

Thanks to an elder (intermediate level) of his group who noticed and understood his intentions, Yuan Shu was able to leave his tribe on relatively good terms and set off on a journey southward…

But exactly three hours later.

[KYEEEEOOOOOT—!!!]

“—Uh, AAAAAAHHH!!!”

Yuan Shu, who had so confidently left his homeland, soon found himself being chased by a Rock Wyvern, one of the top predators of this mountainous region.

※ ※ ※

From an objective perspective, the Stone Monkey Yuan Shu’s combat ability was by no means low.

As a Stone Monkey, he had already reached a level comparable to an intermediate magical beast, and Yuan Shu compensated for any lacking physical abilities with his Taoist arts (magic).

He could use strengthening arts to make his body more durable or powerful, or transform plucked leaves into blades, or even create physical clones from his own fur.

In particular, this Taoist magic system, unlike the magic used by typical Western Continent mages, was designed with close combat in mind, allowing “Taoist practitioners” to directly confront warriors of the same level.

However, the Rock Wyvern he happened to encounter was his perfect counter.

The Rock Wyvern, one of countless subspecies of wyverns, not only had stone-like skin as its name suggested, but also possessed special abilities that other wyverns lacked, though it was somewhat slower than its kin.

One was its corrosive breath—a gas specialized in corroding rocks and metals, which was also extremely acidic enough to dissolve human flesh and bones.

The other was its ability to swallow stone projectiles the size of baseballs, store them in a gizzard-like organ, and launch them using pressure.

Though it might seem trivial, the power was enough to punch holes through large rock cliffs.

Additionally, unlike normal wyverns whose bodies had to be lightweight for flight and thus couldn’t have high durability, the Rock Wyvern’s durability was so exceptional that Yuan Shu’s limited ranged Taoist arts couldn’t even scratch it.

Combined with the superior physical capabilities typical of draconic species, the result was inevitable. Without proper ranged attack methods, Yuan Shu barely managed to escape from the wyvern, but…

“Tch. What are you?”

“…Huh?”

“Whatever. From now on, you’re Chunsik.”

“What’s that—”

—WHACK!

After barely shaking off the Rock Wyvern and fleeing to the eastern part of the great plains, Yuan Shu unfortunately encountered Yesugei’s warband by chance and was helplessly enslaved.

No matter how exceptional Yuan Shu was, he was still only intermediate level.

Before Yesugei, he was nothing more than a monkey, and thus the distant descendant of a tribal god fell to become a pet monkey overnight.

While the shock of his downward social mobility was significant, what truly crushed Yuan Shu’s spirit was the orcs’ brutal savagery.

Given the orcs’ fundamentally violent mindset that went beyond mere survival of the fittest, why would they treat a pet monkey slave like Yuan Shu well?

Beating, throwing, kicking—if he resisted, they beat him for resisting; if he stayed still, they struck him for lacking spirit.

No matter how much he kindled his fighting spirit and resistance, he ultimately couldn’t defeat an advanced-level being. As time passed, Yuan Shu gradually lost the confidence he had when leaving his tribe…

Around that time, something attacked Yesugei’s warband.

Yuan Shu, who had been confined all day in a small cage resembling a birdcage, didn’t even know exactly what had happened.

Being trapped in the cage inside Yesugei’s tent (ger) all day had begun to deteriorate his mental state and sense of time, allowing madness to slowly seep into Yuan Shu’s mind.

But then, an entirely unexpected blessing came to him…

“…?”

When Yuan Shu, who had been sprawled out sleeping as if unconscious, awoke again, he realized he was lying on something incredibly soft (a bed).

Could this be what it felt like to sleep on a pile of dry grass from his childhood? In this strangely detached state, Yuan Shu suddenly sensed a peculiar energy and bolted upright…

“…!”

[You’re awake, Mr. Monkey.]

Yuan Shu encountered the “human” race for the first time.

Whether through some kind of Taoist art, the meaning was transmitted directly to his mind despite being spoken in an incomprehensible language.

Having lived almost his entire life among his own kind, this was quite astonishing to Yuan Shu, whose worldview was admittedly limited…

“…!”

But the aura emanating from the human before him was fierce and sharp enough to completely overshadow that surprise.

Was this what it would feel like if a natural disaster like a storm or lightning were compressed into human form?

Having opened a unique vision called the “Spirit Eye” while learning Taoist arts, Yuan Shu trembled at the powerful aura possessed by the human before him, which he could perceive through this mystically acquired sight.

“Y-You are…”

[I am the one who killed that orc who imprisoned you, monkey.]

Knowing how strong that orc named Yesugei had been, at first he thought it impossible, but such thoughts were utterly crushed before the power the human possessed.

If this human was powerful enough to handle that orc, or at least make one believe so…

The situation was so undeniable that Yuan Shu developed a kind of blind emotion toward the human before him.

Some might call it admiration, others might consider it envy, and some might even think it akin to religious devotion—such was the intensity of the feeling.

And…

“P-Please accept me as your disciple!”

—THUD!

Unable to contain the impulse triggered by this emotion, Yuan Shu chose to release it rather than control it.

‘What the heck is this…?’

For the human (Gregory) on the receiving end, it was simply an exasperating situation.