episode_0003

Using the remaining gold coins to pay off his debt at the government office, Rudy utilized the national teleportation magic circle to travel from his family’s ‘Agnis Central Empire’ to the ‘Lien Spirit Kingdom’.

Arriving in the blink of an eye, Rudy immediately purchased a carriage and headed towards the Dead Mist Forest.

Clatter, clatter.

As the Dead Mist Forest drew closer, the surrounding climate became ominously gloomy.

The coachman driving the carriage spoke up, “Brother, why are you heading to the Dead Mist Forest? Are you also a spirit user?”

“…Yes, something like that.”

“Ah, I see! Going there for training. It’s filled with wandering spirits haunting the mortal realm, you know!”

“Similar.”

Rudy didn’t particularly enjoy the coachman’s chattiness. It was like a hairdresser rambling on about irrelevant things at a salon.

What did it matter to the coachman where Rudy was going?

Perhaps sensing Rudy’s lack of interest, the coachman cleared his throat and focused solely on driving without speaking to Rudy further.

And so, half a day passed.

“Brother, we can’t go any further with the carriage. You’ll have to get off here…”

“I’ll get off here.”

With a brief farewell and payment for the ride, Rudy disembarked from the carriage.

Leaving the carriage behind, he began to enter the boundary of the forest.

The twisted trees and barren, grayish ground hardly resembled a forest. The hazy mist obscured the view.

One advantage was that the stars and moon in the sky were clearly visible.

“How on earth am I supposed to cultivate the moon energy here…?”

Despite his immediate doubts, Rudy couldn’t turn back now that he had come this far.

As soon as he entered the forest’s edge, he heard strange sounds.

-Keiiii…

-Krrrr, creak!

Lost spirits wandering in the mortal realm, bereft of their contracts, confronted Rudy in this mysterious area.

They resembled wolf spirits and giant rat-like spirits.

Danger level around 2 stars?

It posed no threat to a 3-star like Rudy.

-Status

Rudy Pafnir (17 years old)

Swordsmanship and Aura: 3 stars

Magic: X

Spirit: X

Lust: 50 (Charisma 50)

Strength 120, Agility 70, Mana 50

User who selected the 7 sins characteristic ‘Lust’.

Basic swordsmanship trained in the underground secret space with the Cheonwol Sword.

Although he hadn’t mastered the moon energy yet.

After accepting the ultimate Cheonwol Sword, Rudy’s physical stats had slightly increased.

Swish!

With a strike containing aura, Rudy swiftly dealt with the remnants of the spirits and continued forward.

“I was instructed to meditate on the hill where the moon shines the brightest.”

Conveniently, the highest hill was visible before him.

Although similar spirits appeared intermittently, Rudy paid them no mind and pressed on.

Arriving at the hill, Rudy sensed that the spirits no longer pursued him and unpacked his belongings.

He then sat in a meditative posture at a spot where the moon shone brightly.

“Phew, it took a while. Now…”

He prepared to embrace the moon as instructed in the Cheonwol Sword scriptures.

Closing his eyes, Rudy began to meditate.

“…”

Five minutes passed.

“…”

Ten minutes passed.

“…”

An hour went by without any change.

“…Is this even working?”

Doubts crept in as Rudy pondered whether he had approached it incorrectly.

The scriptures only vaguely mentioned preparing to embrace the moon and filling the moon energy during the meditation.

“It can’t not work…right?”

With the situation at its worst, Rudy had no choice but to persevere.

And so, Rudy meditated in the same manner for several hours.

“…Phew.”

Eventually, after about three hours had passed, he began to succumb to drowsiness and fell asleep, unable to overcome the fatigue.

*

“…Huh?”

Startled awake after dozing off, Rudy realized that half a day had already passed.

Feeling chilled as his body temperature dropped, he couldn’t help but notice the strange atmosphere around him.

“Woo-woo…”

Thrumming sounds emanated from the tree spirits lurking beneath the hill.

Rudy looked up at the towering figure in front of him.

“Son of a b-!”

Startled, Rudy jumped up and shouted.

“This is a complete scam!”

The moon was still shining brightly.

There was no change in Rudy’s body.

Could it be that he was not the chosen one after all?

But there was a bigger problem.

The numerous tree spirits, numbering at least dozens, all seemed strong and aggressive.

In order to leave the forest, he had to somehow get past them.

“There’s no choice but to break through head-on.”

With a firm decision, Rudy wielded his sword.

And.

Swish! Swish!

-Clang…!

-Clang, clang!

He cut down the tree spirits and ran towards the exit.

“I thought I could strike it rich once, but my life is ruined! Oh my!”

His aura was wasted.

The tree spirits were impervious to regular sword strikes, only vulnerable to his aura.

After running for a few minutes.

“Heh, screwed, this is.”

-Clang!

A giant tree spirit, several times larger than the ones he had cut down earlier, blocked Rudy’s path.

An unusually ominous magic could be felt from its body.

The creature swung its massive fist.

Crash!

“Ugh-!?”

Although Rudy dodged nimbly, he was swept off his feet by a powerful shockwave that caused the ground to tremble and dirt debris to fly.

-Clang…!

“Why are you doing this to me? Master!”

Having exhausted all his aura, Rudy had no way to stop the giant tree spirit.

The crouching tree spirit looked down at Rudy with a chilling gaze.

“I curse that bastard Park Min-sik, who was reincarnated into this damn world, to the depths of hell…”

-Clang!

“Ahhhh!”

It was a tense moment.

With his stamina depleted, Rudy could only watch as the tree spirit’s fist came down on him.

Each movement of the tree spirit seemed to be in slow motion.

‘My entire life flashes before my eyes.’

A flashback.

In that scene, Rudy was doing manual labor.

And the next scene… more manual labor.

And the next scene… more manual labor.

And the next…

“All I’ve done is damn manual labor!”

It was expected, given the memories of the possessed body.

But then.

Whoosh!

With a bright light flashing before his eyes, something flew towards the head of the giant tree spirit.

Sizzle!

A fiery entity, which Rudy witnessed for just a second, collided with the giant tree spirit with a tremendous roar.

It was all over in an instant.

Boom!

The flames spread.

The head of the colliding tree spirit caught fire and toppled over.

In the chaotic situation, Rudy, lying on the ground, muttered.

“What now, just kill me already….”

“What’s this, a beggar?”

…?

Suddenly, a woman’s voice was heard, and Rudy looked up.

There stood a woman.

She appeared to be about five years older than Rudy, with a blue and red patterned hat and long crimson hair.

Her fiery personality seemed to be reflected in her partially exposed heart on her spirit robe.

As Rudy was bewildered trying to understand the situation, she spoke.

“I don’t know who you are, but you’re lucky.”

The mysterious woman raised her short wand.

And then.

[Sizzle!]

The cause of the conflict with the giant tree spirit earlier, the phoenix, began to move according to her instructions.

It was a very mysterious sight.

How the giant tree spirit, who had recovered, and the phoenix started to clash again.

The tree spirit swung its fist.

The phoenix dodged it and shot out flames, burning the tree spirit.

Rudy realized that he had been saved through her and stood up to thank her.

“Thank you.”

“Hmph.”

The two watched the confrontation between the tree spirit and the phoenix for a while.

The tree spirit was being overwhelmed by the phoenix, repeatedly regenerating.

Each time it regenerated, a sinister and eerie magic could be felt.

When will that guy finally die?

Unlike the tree spirits from earlier, this one had an unusually high regenerative ability.

-Clang!

“Huh?”

Taking advantage of the phoenix’s momentary fatigue, the tree spirit reached out towards her.

And.

“Ugh?! What-”

An unknown force suddenly emanated and penetrated her respiratory system.

An inexplicably ominous power.

As soon as it affected her.

[Squeeeak?!]

Her phoenix gradually lost its form and completely disappeared from the mortal realm.

It was a sudden disaster.

Rudy could roughly grasp how the situation was unfolding.

It was another crisis.

And that woman.

Couldn’t do anything alone.

“This, this darn it! Why isn’t the summoning working…!”

-Clang!

The tree spirit, now fully recovered, began to slowly approach her.

Driving its long roots into the ground.

Wrapping its giant trunk around.

Slowly advancing towards her.

‘…Am I the only one left who can fight?’

In the end, is this how it’s going to be?

If only I had quietly paid off my debt, I would have found freedom in about 10 years.

Regretting reading the books he obtained in the secret underground space, Rudy slowly stood in front of her.

“Hey, what are you doing right now! Run away, you can’t handle this on your own!”

“You seem to be incapacitated in battle too, so where would I run to? Hah, I thought you were my savior, turns out we’re in the same boat….”

“What?! How dare you…!”

Ignoring her, Rudy faced the giant tree spirit once again.

“…Well, now that it’s come to this, I have to face the music for real.”

The moon that appeared above Rudy was unusually bright.

It was a full moon.