Hyeon-o's realm rose as well.
Its body grew larger, and divine energy overflowed from it.
"Do you feel any different?"
"Just wait a moment!"
With that, Hyeon-o flew up into the sky.
It flew around for quite a while before coming back down.
Then......
"I think I'm a little faster and stronger."
"Is that all? You didn't gain a new divine ability or anything?"
"A divine ability? I don't think I got one?"
Aside from growing larger and faster, nothing else seemed to have changed.
That seemed to be a general trait of the demon race.
In a way, Jang Bung had been the unusual one for gaining good abilities early on.
"That's a shame."
Still, disappointing was disappointing.
If possible, he wanted Hyeon-o, his pet, to gain more abilities.
"Are we moving somewhere else now?"
"We should."
They had now reached 8-Star.
They needed to go somewhere appropriate for their level.
"Won't it be dangerous?"
"That is the problem... but as long as we're in the secret realm, there is no other way."
Despite being an immortal cultivation game, physical laws still subtly applied to it.
The area of a circle is A = π(radius)².
The farther inward one went, the more sharply the area decreased.
Compared to the space where 1-Star demons lived, the area where 8-Star demons stayed was pitifully small.
That meant many demons were crowded into a confined space.
It was a place where the struggle for survival was exceptionally fierce.
Even Hyeon-o, who was usually good at fleeing, was frightened.
"As long as we're in the secret realm?"
Hyeon-o caught the hidden meaning in Jang Bung's words.
"Are you saying there is another way?"
"Yes. We can use a barrier stone to leave for the human world."
In the game, the demon race could also leave a secret realm.
Once they hit the limit of how much they could grow there, they ventured into the outside world.
Of course, Jang Bung had left secret realms to hunt humans.
"Then why don't we go to the human world together this time?"
"The thing is... once we leave, we can never come back here."
Where there was a bonus, there was also a penalty.
The demon race was free to leave, but......
It was not free to return.
"That is a problem."
Hyeon-o immediately understood what Jang Bung meant.
They needed to carefully weigh which choice would benefit them more right now.
"But... how does Jang Bung know that?"
'Oops. That's a difficult question to answer.'
"It's a divine ability."
"Ah......"
The divine abilities of demon beasts—their powers—came in every imaginable variety.
Many of them made no sense at all.
The same was true of cultivators' spells.
'Flying through the sky on a sword makes no sense either.'
Once someone called it a divine ability, there was nothing left to argue about.
"What's the outside world like?"
Hyeon-o's words held curiosity about the outside world and......
A question about whether they should leave.
"It's not bad."
Both remaining here and going to the outside world had their advantages and disadvantages.
"But... leaving now would be a bit of a waste."
"Why?"
"Because there is still a lot left for us to take from this place......"
Jang Bung and Hyeon-o could still grow stronger here.
That meant they could take even more of this place's resources.
Secret realms held so many cultivation resources that human cultivators deliberately sought them out.
It was best to remain here until they reached their limit of growth.
"All right. I'll try my best too."
The farther forward they went, the more dangerous it became.
But if the rewards were great enough to justify the risks......
They needed to keep moving forward.
***
"Hmm... this is awkward."
"What is?"
"It won't be easy to raise our realms here."
The closer they drew to the center of the secret realm, the greater the density of demons became, but......
Their total number decreased.
That was because the area of each region grew drastically smaller.
'Unlike the game, monsters don't respawn here.'
The demons in this region consisted of those already living here and those newly advancing into it.
In other words, their total population was fixed and did not increase quickly.
It had not mattered much when the region was large.
The area had been so vast and there had been so many monsters that he could simply move around and hunt them.
'Now that the region is small, the respawn rate is becoming a problem.'
"Then what should we do?"
Hyeon-o had also sensed that raising its realm here would not be easy.
It had advanced to 8-Star without much difficulty.
What came afterward was the problem.
8-Star required far more experience than 7-Star.
The number of demons was decreasing on top of that.
Leveling up had become difficult.
"I'm thinking about it."
"About what? Didn't you say there was still a lot for us to gain here?"
Jang Bung had told Hyeon-o that they would stay here and raise their realms for a while.
"I'm not saying we should leave this place right now."
"Then?"
"I'm wondering whether we should go straight to the 9-Star region."
"You want to go to the 9-Star region already?"
Both of them were still only 8-Star.
"Yes. We'll raise our realms to 9-Star there in one go."
"That's too dangerous."
In Hyeon-o's eyes, it was far too soon.
They had not been in the 8-Star region for very long.
It thought Jang Bung was rushing too much.
Even the 8-Star region contained both 8-Star and 9-Star demons.
The 9-Star region contained 9-Star and 10-Star demons.
Demons at the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining Realm appeared there.
They were difficult opponents for Jang Bung and Hyeon-o, who were merely 8-Star.
"We'll have to remain in this secret realm longer than you think."
"Exactly. We should take it slowly."
"No. If we take it slowly, we could end up staying here for a very long time."
Just as leveling up was difficult at 8-Star, it became even harder at 9-Star.
Because the number of demons decreased with each step inward......
The difficulty rose the farther they went.
If they got stuck at 8-Star, advancing from 9-Star to 10-Star would be even harder.
"Our lifespans aren't infinite."
In immortal cultivation, a cultivator's greatest enemy was not another cultivator.
It was their own lifespan.
Human lifespans had limits.
If they failed to break through their realms, their lifespans would consume them.
Cultivators were always racing against their lifespans.
That was why they tried to raise their realms by any means necessary.
It was also why the immortal cultivation world was so brutal.
This was true not only of the human race......
The demon race also had limited lifespans.
Although each rise in realm greatly extended their lives......
'I have no idea what a slime's natural lifespan is.'
It could be a few days, a few months, a few years, or even infinite.
He could not know how long he had, but......
Jang Bung had no intention of gambling with his lifespan.
The faster he raised his realm, the safer he would be.
'Wouldn't my lifespan become similar to a human's once I reach the Foundation Establishment Realm?'
A cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Realm was said to live for three hundred years.
That would be long enough for him to feel secure.
"If things go wrong, we could die of old age before ever leaving this place."
"Our lifespans... I've never thought about that before."
It was an issue Hyeon-o had never considered.
The demon race did not concern itself much with lifespan.
Their realms rose as they devoured other demons and grew.
If they survived, their lifespans naturally increased.
Far more often than dying of old age, they died by being eaten.
Wild crows rarely lived beyond twenty years.
Captive crows, on the other hand, sometimes lived for seventy.
That made any fixed lifespan largely meaningless.
"If we reach 9-Star quickly, we can remain there for a long time."
The secret realm had no separate 10-Star region.
The 10-Star demons lived inside the 9-Star region.
The center of the secret realm lay there.
That was where the barrier stone maintaining the secret realm stood.
The spiritual energy in the secret realm was densest around the barrier stone.
It would be best to remain there for as long as possible.
'The same goes for experience points.'
He gained the most experience when he killed a monster—a demon—one realm above his own.
It came with an experience bonus.
That did not matter much when there were plenty of monsters, but......
This was a time when the number of monsters was limited.
It was important to gain as much bonus experience as possible.
"This is the time to take a risk."
Hyeon-o knew nothing about games, levels, or experience points.
But it understood that they needed to take a risk now.
Jang Bung and Hyeon-o entered the 9-Star region while still at 8-Star.
There, Jang Bung spread out his mudfield.
***
"This is impossible!"
The 9-Star demon that came this time was a white tiger.
And not an ordinary white tiger, but one with wings on its back.
"Aagh!"
It possessed a divine ability that controlled the wind.
As though someone had swung Rakshasa Woman's Plantain Fan, a colossal whirlwind slammed Hyeon-o into the mudfield.
"Squeal!"
Hyeon-o screamed like a pig being slaughtered, as though it were dying.
Squish—Squish—
(Hold on. Once it lands in the mudfield, we have a chance.)
The winged white tiger descended close to the mudfield to eat Hyeon-o.
WHOOSH— WHOOSH— WHOOSH—
Jang Bung's Water Cannons struck the white tiger's wings head-on.
The impact sent it crashing straight into the mudfield.
SPLASH—
Squish— Squish—
(Now! Get out of the way, Hyeon-o!)
A gigantic mouth opened inside the mudfield.
The slime was large enough to swallow the white tiger in one bite.
GULP—
Its enormous mouth swallowed the white tiger whole.
SLOSH— SLOSH—
The white tiger thrashed violently inside his stomach.
'Creatures with wings are powerless if they can't fly.'
In a cramped space like his stomach, wings only got in the way.
Even the white tiger's razor-sharp claws could not pierce the slime's Hard and Tough Skin.
Regeneration swiftly healed the wounds it scratched into him.
Acid and deadly poison flowed through the slime's stomach.
They did not deal the white tiger much damage, but......
'They inflict damage over time.'
Acid and deadly poison surrounded the white tiger's body.
No matter how resistant it was to acid and poison, enduring them grew steadily harder.
'It can't replenish its spiritual energy... but I can.'
Jang Bung continuously replenished his spiritual energy through the mudfield and the subordinates within it.
This was a hopelessly one-sided battle for the white tiger.
'Let's move somewhere safe before another one comes.'
He dragged the white tiger to the very bottom of the mudfield.
It was two hundred meters underground.
Other demons would have difficulty reaching this place.
There, he waited for the white tiger to stop breathing.
Once every last bit of its strength was spent, its breathing finally ceased.
Like a boa constrictor, the slime remained there for some time digesting the white tiger.
***
'That was some sweet experience.'
Because the white tiger's realm was one step higher, it filled him with far more spiritual energy.
'Let's go!'
He broke through the 8-Star wall, and spiritual energy poured into him.
The overflowing spiritual energy spread throughout the slime's body.
Jang Bung grew even larger and stronger.
The mudfield expanded further as well.
It reached a diameter of three hundred meters.
He had finally reached 9-Star.
'What lazy developers!'
Only his size had changed; his appearance remained the same.
He was still just a slime with two horns.
'Wait, I think something changed......'
Jang Bung had gained a new ability.
[Abilities: Devouring. Acid Production. Acid Resistance. Poison Production. Poison Resistance. Bloodsucking. Hard and Tough Skin. Body Transformation. Camouflage. Reproduction. Regeneration. Water Cannon. Disguise Art. Heart-Speech.]
The new ability was Heart-Speech.
It was a communication ability.
He could now converse with other creatures as well.
'What good does that do me?'
Jang Bung could already use Disguise Art.
When he used Disguise Art, he could speak with others.
In a way, Heart-Speech was an ability that came bundled with Disguise Art.
'Well, I should be grateful they gave me anything.'
Jang Bung decided to look on the bright side.
He had not received a new ability in quite a while.
Once he left the secret realm, he might no longer be able to gain abilities like these.
The more abilities he had, the better.
He rose to the surface of the mudfield.
Hyeon-o welcomed him.
"Congratulations on reaching 9-Star."
"Thanks. Nothing much changed, though......"
Unlike the disappointed Jang Bung, Hyeon-o was greatly shocked by those words.
"You... can talk while you're still a Mud Demon?"
"Yes...... I gained a divine ability called Heart-Speech."
Jang Bung grumbled to Hyeon-o that he had gained a useless ability.
"That's not fair! I thought it was my own special divine ability......"
It could use Heart-Speech to taunt demons.
It could also lure them over.
It was a precious ability to Hyeon-o.
Now Jang Bung possessed it too.
Hyeon-o looked as though something precious had been stolen from it.
"It's something anyone can......"
Telling it that anyone could obtain the ability would only disappoint Hyeon-o more.
"I'll grow spirit herbs and spirit fruits for you."
Jang Bung decided to placate Hyeon-o.
Spirit herbs and spirit fruits sprouted throughout the mudfield.
"Eat these and raise your realm quickly."
Jang Bung was exceptionally generous this time.
He digested all the spirit stones he had accumulated at once.
Instead of absorbing their spiritual energy himself, he poured all of it into the mudfield.
The fragrances of spirit herbs and spirit fruits filled the entire mudfield.
They would raise Hyeon-o's realm in one leap.
"I'll enjoy them."
Only then did Hyeon-o's hurt feelings ease.
"You need to raise your realm before we can defeat that thing."
It was the final boss of this nameless secret realm, a 10-Star demon.
It was known as the Guardian of the Barrier.