In the middle of a room cluttered with miscellaneous objects, a man lay slumped over, apparently having fallen asleep while working.
“Whoa?!”
His eyes abruptly opened, and he wiped the drool from his mouth.
“When did I fall asleep?
Ugh.”
Choi Yeongseong got up and stretched before checking the work he’d been doing the previous day.
“Hmmm…”
He had purchased a total of four servings of fruit-and-vegetable juice from Gyuseong.
Two had been consumed for research, while he’d given the remaining two to his wife, Kim Siyeong, and was monitoring her condition.
He had begun to harbor a faint hope that this juice might finally allow him to detoxify her.
‘It’s a detoxifying substance unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
Current technology can’t even reproduce it artificially.’
He’d lived through the era of the first-generation Awakened and conducted every conceivable sort of research.
In the process, he’d come to pride himself on having unraveled most of the mysteries surrounding dungeons and awakened abilities.
But after his wife, Kim Siyeong, had been poisoned, that confidence had greatly diminished.
Her condition hadn’t improved despite everything he knew, and Choi Yeongseong himself had gradually begun to wither away.
“I can cure her.”
Now, however, a gust of wind had breathed life into his dying flame.
Thanks to Gyuseong’s ability, hope was burning fiercely again, and lately Yeongseong had been pursuing his research with even greater vigor than in his youth.
After roughly organizing his notes, he left the laboratory to check on Siyeong’s condition.
“Oh, honey?
Are you finished working?”
“…Huh?”
For a moment, Choi Yeongseong couldn’t believe his eyes.
His wife had spent years lying in bed all day, and he could barely remember the last time he’d seen her stand up and walk.
Yet there she was, right in front of him.
It was difficult for her, and she was leaning against the wall for support, but she was slowly walking.
“Honey, look at me.
I got up.
Surprised?”
“N-no, how on earth…?”
Stammering in disbelief, Yeongseong rushed toward his swaying wife and supported her.
Her body was still terribly thin, but unlike before, there was strength in it.
“Ahhh…”
“Why are you crying, darling?
Shouldn’t you be happier now that I’m standing up?”
“I am happy!
That’s why I’m crying!”
Her face was still gaunt, but she was teasing him.
Yeongseong shouted his reply through tears.
Then he pulled himself together and helped Siyeong back into her room.
“It might still be too much for you to move around.
Why did you suddenly do that?”
“To make you happy, of course.
It worked, didn’t it?”
Yeongseong immediately used a machine to examine her condition.
Powered by mana stones, it assessed Siyeong’s body in moments and produced the results.
“Ah!”
Her condition had improved dramatically.
He could also clearly see that much of the poison distributed throughout her body had weakened.
‘From just two servings of juice?!’
It was astonishing.
And for the first time, he could see more than a vague glimmer of hope.
A complete recovery might actually be possible.
“Well?
Am I a lot better?”
“Y-yes.
But you mustn’t push yourself.
You haven’t moved in so long that your muscles and the rest of your body have become extremely weak.”
“I know.
I just wanted to surprise you today.
I won’t overdo it anymore.”
Siyeong gave him a bright little smile.
Seeing how much more cheerful she looked than just a few days ago, Yeongseong swallowed another surge of emotion and smiled back.
“You can recover.
A complete cure is possible.”
“It feels like a dream.
I wouldn’t have believed it before, but now that I’ve experienced it myself, I really think I can get better.”
“I’ll make sure you’re cured.
We can go back to the way things used to be!”
“Yes!”
Kim Siyeong and Choi Yeongseong looked into each other’s eyes and smiled radiantly.
“What’s the first thing you want to do when you’re fully recovered?”
“Hmm…
The first thing I’d like to do is thank the benefactor who helped cure me.”
“Gyuseong?
Of course.
I was going to contact him anyway, but everything’s been so hectic.”
Yeongseong suddenly wanted to share this precious, joyous news with Lee Gyuseong.
Gyuseong was probably inside the dungeon and unreachable, but he decided to leave him a message first.
—Gyuseong!
More juice!
In his haste, Choi Yeongseong had completely forgotten to express his gratitude.
* * *
After spending about a day experiencing dungeon life, Jaeseong checked the state of the crops and looked around the dungeon.
He eventually went home, saying there were a few more things he needed to prepare.
“Hmmm.
Still synthesizing.”
A whole day had passed, yet Ppuu’s synthesis was still underway.
At this point, I was starting to worry that something might have gone wrong.
“There isn’t much information in the materials Yeongseong hyung sent me, either…
Is there really nothing I can do to help?”
Information about slimes was scarce.
The few academic papers I could find were mostly formalities dressed up in needlessly complicated terminology. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
I’d practically learned more through my own experiments.
I understood why, though.
Other monsters left materials behind when they were killed.
Those materials varied in value, but slimes were regarded as completely useless.
Wobble!
Wobble!
Dokdoki, who had just finished working, climbed onto my knees where I sat on the ground and swayed its body as though protesting.
“Okay, you’re not useless.
You’re adorable!”
Of course, for someone with the Slime Lord ability, simply having these little creatures around was soothing.
But they were weak and lacked aggression, so it was true that nobody else paid attention to them.
Anyway, it was about time I heard from Yeongseong hyung.
Should I check?
‘I haven’t used today’s ability yet, so there’s no harm in checking my messages first.’
He probably still needed more juice, but if not, I could always synthesize more slimes.
Other crops were also approaching harvest time, so I decided to head outside and contact him.
After repeatedly warning the slimes not to touch Ppuu, I left the dungeon.
“Oh?”
Yeongseong hyung had placed another order for juice.
I wondered how the treatment was going.
‘Hanul must be busy.’
Unusually, I hadn’t heard anything from him.
He normally sent me a flood of messages, so his sudden silence left me feeling strangely disappointed.
Rather than contact him, though, I decided to call Yeongseong hyung.
Ring, ring!
Click!
“Oh, Yeongseong hyung!
Hello.”
—Ah!
Gyuseong!
Thank you!
Thank you so much!
He began thanking me the moment he answered, so I guessed the results couldn’t have been bad.
“I was calling because I wanted to know whether you’d gotten any results.
Judging from your voice, things went well?”
—…Gyuseong, don’t be too shocked.
It looks like the item you made is working.
Actually, it’s more than that.
I can see the possibility of curing her completely!
Oh!
That was wonderful news.
I could certainly understand the joy in his voice.
“You asked for more juice.
How much do you need?”
—As much as you can make, for now!
“Understood.
I’ll make it right away.”
—Where should I go?
The café where we met before?
Just then, a woman’s voice came through the phone.
—I’d like to meet Mr.
Gyuseong too.
“Huh?
Is that your wife?”
She sounded so lively that I got the impression she really was feeling much better.
I’d have to see her in person to know for certain, but if my juice had helped her recover, I’d be incredibly proud.
“Then I’ll come to you, hyung.”
—N-no, there’s no reason for you to go out of your way.
I’ll come over.
“No, really.
I’ll come to your place.
I’ve finished all my work anyway.”
The truth was, I wanted to see the results for myself.
The thought that an item I’d made might save someone’s life was deeply meaningful to me.
‘To think someone who was practically useless until recently could become a person capable of saving someone else’s life…’
And it was possible only because of my unique ability.
Even if someone else found a way to grow these crops, I was the only person who could process them into this particular juice with Liquid Synthesis.
That achievement was entirely mine.
—I feel so bad making you do that…
“It’s fine.
You’ve come to me every time until now.
I can visit you for once.
Besides, I’d like to meet your wife.
Send me your address.”
—Thank you.
I ended the call and checked the address.
It was in Yongsan.
Apparently his house wasn’t far from the shop.
First, I returned to the dungeon.
As soon as the Liquid Synthesis cooldown ended, I made two more servings of juice.
This time, I included Mana Baby Carrots as well.
[Mana Fruit-and-Vegetable Juice LV.1]
[Ingredients: Mana Cherry Tomatoes, Mana Baby Carrots, Layla]
[Upon consumption, allows the user to inspect monster information for 20 seconds, depending on their mana capacity.]
[Upon consumption, produces a slightly stronger detoxification effect.]
[Upon consumption, removes the hostile reactions of monsters other than dungeon bosses for 1 minute.]
“Ooh.”
I’d only changed the carrots, but the overall effects had improved.
Perhaps it was because the ingredients now formed a complete set of mana-infused crops.
‘Even the detoxification effect is stronger.
I might really be able to help her recover completely!’
With the juice ready and my heart full of anticipation, I headed for Yeongseong hyung’s house.
“You’re here?”
“You didn’t have to come all the way outside.”
Yeongseong hyung was waiting in front of his house to greet me.
“Is he here?”
“Yes, he’s here.”
That voice belonged to Kim Siyeong, the legendary Awakened who had once been the vice guild master of the Ara Hongryeon Guild.
I followed Yeongseong hyung to her room.
“Hello.
My name is Lee Gyuseong.”
“Oh my, you’re such a handsome young man.
I’m Kim Siyeong.
Thanks to you, I’m still alive.”
Siyeong spoke playfully, and Yeongseong hyung looked a little embarrassed.
Seeing the two of them together made my sense of purpose burn even more strongly.
‘I will make sure she gets better.’
I didn’t want their story to have a sad ending.
I wanted to see the two of them happy with my own eyes.
“Hyung, here’s the juice.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“Mr.
Gyuseong, you must have awakened a rather unusual ability.”
“Yes.
It’s an ability called Liquid Synthesis.”
In the past, I’d been so ashamed of it that I hadn’t even wanted to talk about it.
Now I could say the name of my ability with confidence.
These days, I was learning firsthand that Liquid Synthesis was far from an inferior ability.
“Ah, so that’s how you create such mysterious items.”
“Speaking of which, you wouldn’t believe how many times Ara Hongryeon contacted me because of this guy.”
Huh?
Ara Hongryeon had contacted him because of me?
“That’s news to me.”
“You went there after they invited you, didn’t you?”
“Yes.
That was the day I met you last time, hyung.”
“After you left, Kang Hanul himself contacted me, and even the guild master called me personally.”
“What did they say?”
“They were curious about you.
What you like, what your hobbies are, that kind of thing.”
Well, my crops certainly had made quite an impression.
Their taste was impossible to forget once someone had tried them.
After chatting for a while, Yeongseong hyung finally examined the juice.
I put on a mischievous smile and whispered to him.
“It’s been upgraded.”
“Hm?
What did you say?”
“I said it’s gotten better.
Oh!
Your wife is Awakened, so she’ll be able to read its effects.”
“Let’s have a look, then.”
He tilted his head at my words, then handed the juice to his wife.
Siyeong began reading the item’s effects aloud.
“Upon consumption, monster information can be inspected for twenty seconds…
A slightly stronger detoxification effect…
Removes hostile reactions for one minute?”
“What?!
The description has changed!”
“Hehe.
My juice keeps improving.
It might get even better in the future.”
“No, that’s just…”
I’d secretly hoped for an excited reaction, but when I saw just how shocked Yeongseong hyung was, I wondered whether it was really that remarkable.
Either way, better effects could only be a good thing.
I waited eagerly for Siyeong to drink it.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to study it again.”
“Hmm.
I was thinking we’d have her drink just one and then monitor the progress…”
Right then, Siyeong drank the juice she was holding.
She downed the entire serving in one go, then smiled with an extremely satisfied expression.
“To think something that’s so good for me could taste this wonderful!
Thank you, Mr.
Gyuseong.
These days, drinking this is one of the pleasures that keeps me going.”
“Honey, that one costs ten million won!”
Hmmm…
I hadn’t been thinking about the price, but imagining ten million won disappearing before my eyes did make me slightly uncomfortable.
I smiled as Siyeong ignored her husband, then began rummaging through my bag again.
“What are you looking for now?”
“I brought you a present.”
I had quite a few carrots left from the latest harvest.
Not enough to put up for sale like usual, but enough to share a little with the people around me.
“What is it?”
“Carrots.”
“Carrots?”
They were carrot-shaped, but their tiny size was rather unusual.
I picked them up like strawberries and handed some to Yeongseong hyung and Siyeong.
“Please, try them.”
“We’ve already received the juice, though…”
“Consider these complimentary.”
Yeongseong hyung hesitated for a moment, perhaps feeling guilty.
No, on second thought, he was probably itching to research them as well.
Meanwhile, Siyeong took the first bite.
Crunch!
And just as I’d hoped, she let out an exclamation of delight.
“What is this?
It’s so delicious!”