'The spiritual energy here really is excellent in both quantity and quality.'
He could understand why the Flood Dragon had refused to leave the barrier stone.
There had been no reason to abandon a place overflowing with spiritual energy.
The energy replenished itself even when one did nothing.
'And my spiritual energy absorption rate is even higher than the Flood Dragon's.'
He surrounded the barrier stone with his mudfield.
Then he released a massive number of subordinate mud slimes throughout the area.
The amount of spiritual energy they absorbed was tremendous.
'Wow! The spiritual energy here rivals that of a decent low-grade spiritual land.'
It fell only slightly short of the low-grade spiritual lands sought by Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.
It was far superior to the lowest-grade spiritual lands where Qi Refining Realm cultivators trained.
The spirit fruits grown with that energy were exceptional.
"Wow! These are delicious. I can feel the spiritual energy surging into me."
Hyeon-o spoke excitedly after plucking and eating a spirit fruit.
"Well? Aren't you glad we dealt with that thing?"
"Yes. You were right. The reward was worth the risk."
Danger came with sweet rewards.
That was why people leaped in despite knowing the danger.
"You can spend some time eating those."
"What are you going to do?"
"Digest the Flood Dragon."
The struggling Flood Dragon was beginning to lose strength.
It would soon breathe its last.
"I'm jealous......"
Hyeon-o had good reason to be jealous.
The Flood Dragon had reached the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining Realm.
It had stood on the verge of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The amount of spiritual energy it had accumulated around the barrier stone was tremendous.
"This will benefit you too. You'll get even more spirit fruits from now on."
Hyeon-o also knew perfectly well that the stronger Jang Bung grew, the more resources it would receive.
Jang Bung would be able to grow higher-grade spirit fruits.
For Hyeon-o, who possessed no notable offensive abilities, that was the best possible outcome.
"I know."
Knowing that did not make it any less disappointing.
"Then I'll remain down there while I digest it."
He needed to absorb as much of the Flood Dragon's spiritual energy as possible without any loss.
He would have no attention to spare for anything else for a while.
He decided to quietly focus on digestion at the bottom of the mudfield.
"The spirit fruits here will continue to grow."
The system for growing spirit herbs, spirit fruits, and spirit trees had been fully industrialized.
His subordinate mud slimes cultivated them with the mudfield's spiritual energy.
The system operated on its own even when Jang Bung left it alone.
'This is what true relaxation feels like. This is the sweet life.'
He reaped all the rewards without lifting a finger.
The mud slimes were his worker bees.
All he had to do was eat the honey they gathered.
"See you later......"
Leaving the regretful Hyeon-o behind, he descended to the bottom of the mudfield.
Now was the time to digest the Flood Dragon......
It was also the moment to level up.
***
As expected of a creature at the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining Realm, the Flood Dragon brimmed with spiritual energy.
With only a little more spiritual energy, it might have advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
'There's no way to know. It might have remained stuck forever......'
The journey from the Qi Refining Realm to the Foundation Establishment Realm was like a pupa shedding its shell.
Simply filling oneself with spiritual energy is not enough to advance to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Some failed to accumulate enough spiritual power to rise to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Others were too afraid to make the attempt......
Either way, they remain trapped in the Qi Refining Realm and fail to leap into the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The transformation from the Qi Refining Realm to the Foundation Establishment Realm was as dramatic as a pupa's metamorphosis.
A cultivator had to endure the pain of shattering a wall and emerge as a butterfly.
It was feathered ascension to immortality.
But many pupae die while shedding their shells.
Many Qi Refining Realm cultivators also died after attempting a breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm and failing.
Others instead suffered a decline in realm.
A Foundation Establishment Pill is merely a medicinal pill that assists with the process.
It does nothing more than slightly raise the chance of success.
Cultivators invest vast cultivation resources for that slight advantage.
The process was even more difficult for the demon race.
Unlike a human, the Flood Dragon here did not possess a Foundation Establishment Pill to aid its breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
It had to begin its metamorphosis from a demon into a Great Demon without the pill's help.
That was extraordinarily dangerous.
The Flood Dragon might have succumbed to comfort and remained here forever.
'There are many different methods in the outside world......'
Human cultivators had conducted extensive research into this matter.
They had developed and accumulated not only Foundation Establishment Pills, but many other methods as well.
That knowledge had been passed down among human cultivators.
'It must have remained here because it knew none of that.'
There was no telling how many years the Flood Dragon had stayed here.
It could have been several hundred years, or even more than a thousand.
With its long lifespan, it had likely remained here for a very long time.
In the end, it had failed to ascend and become a true dragon......
It had settled for remaining an imugi.
'I'm different from that thing.'
He knew various methods from the game.
After filling himself with enough spiritual power and spiritual energy here, he would go to the outside world and evolve into a Great Demon—a being in the Foundation Establishment Realm.
As he thought, the Flood Dragon dissolved and its spiritual energy filled the slime's body.
He reached the very edge of 9-Star.
'Let's go!'
Using the Flood Dragon's spiritual energy, he broke through the 9-Star realm in one leap.
After filling the 9-Star vessel, the overflowing spiritual energy transformed the slime's body.
His body grew larger and stronger.
His horns became slightly longer.
'My appearance definitely hasn't changed.'
He no longer bothered blaming the developers.
This was simply what a slime looked like.
'Now that I think about it, a third horn or some other change in shape wouldn't mean much anyway.'
A slime was still a slime.
There was little room for its appearance to change drastically.
He had gained no new abilities this time either.
[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.]
[Mud Demon Beast Horns: Mudfield Creation. Has the effect of nurturing vegetation.]
[Mud Demon Beast Horns: Waterflow Control.]
His abilities had not changed.
Even so, he no longer complained.
'This is already enough. I have another powerful advantage.'
He had already experienced raising a character into a Great Demon.
Along the way, he had acquired a wealth of knowledge.
In a sense, Jang Bung possessed the advantages of both the demon race and the human race.
In some ways, he possessed even more than that.
'I never played as a human... but I've ventured into the outside world many times as a member of the demon race.'
He also possessed knowledge of the game's early stages.
He planned to gather enough experience and items in the secret realm before heading into the outside world.
'Choosing to kill the Flood Dragon was definitely the right decision.'
The reward had been worth the risk.
Because its realm had been one level higher, very little of the experience had gone to waste.
He had absorbed a vast amount of the Flood Dragon's spiritual energy.
It had filled his 10-Star realm and left him halfway to the next threshold.
Jang Bung planned to fill the remaining half before leaving for the outside world.
***
"Congratulations on reaching 10-Star."
Jang Bung emerged from the mudfield.
Hyeon-o congratulated him.
"How about you?"
"Even after eating spirit fruits, my spiritual energy isn't increasing as quickly as I expected."
Hyeon-o had also reached 9-Star.
Raising its realm now required an enormous amount of experience and spiritual energy.
Unlike Jang Bung, it could not devour the Flood Dragon.
Because it could only replenish its spiritual energy with spirit herbs and spirit fruits, its progress was bound to be slow.
"Don't be too impatient. As long as you remain here, your spiritual energy will gradually increase."
Jang Bung planned to remain here for some time.
At his level, no place could replenish his spiritual energy more reliably than the innermost reaches of the secret realm.
"How long will you stay here?"
"Until we've taken everything this place has to offer."
He planned to remain until he reached the Great Perfection of 10-Star.
By then, Hyeon-o would also be approaching 10-Star.
"There is still a great deal left for us to take from this place."
There were spirit herbs, spirit trees, spirit stones, and other spirit creatures.
The secret realm was like a place where cultivation resources that were difficult to obtain outside had been gathered for Qi Refining Realm cultivators.
It held many plants and animals imbued with spiritual energy.
Some would remain at the lowest or low grade forever, but......
Others could grow beyond that if properly raised.
Demon beasts were the clearest example.
Depending on their circumstances, demon beasts could grow into Great Demons or even higher beings.
The same was true of spirit herbs and spirit trees.
Jang Bung could continue growing them in the outside world.
Right now, they were only useful to those in the Qi Refining Realm, but......
Once cultivated, they could become useful in the Foundation Establishment Realm and beyond.
***
"Come over here."
Jang Bung called Hyeon-o.
"Jang Bung, why did you disguise yourself as a human?"
"Forget that. Look at what I'm holding."
"Isn't that a magical artifact used by the human race?"
Only then did Hyeon-o notice what Jang Bung held.
"That's right. Humans call this a storage pouch. It can hold a great many things."
"Ah! I've seen one before. What about it?"
Jang Bung had a task for Hyeon-o.
"You said you wanted to become an alchemist before, didn't you?"
Alchemy was the profession Hyeon-o needed because it had difficulty raising its realm on its own.
"Yes. But... what does that have to do with this?"
"What do you mean? Don't you know what an alchemist needs most?"
"What's that?"
"Ingredients. Ingredients. This place has all kinds of ingredients needed for alchemy."
That included spirit herbs, spirit trees, spirit stones, and other spirit creatures.
"You want me to gather them?"
"Who else would do it, me? You can fly."
As a crow, Hyeon-o was better suited to gathering than Jang Bung, a slime.
"That sounds like a bother......"
Hyeon-o preferred lazing around in its nest.
Whenever it grew hungry, it could pluck and eat the spirit herbs and spirit fruits Jang Bung had raised.
It did not want to abandon that comfortable life to do difficult work.
'I can't allow that.'
Jang Bung could tolerate his own idleness, but never someone else's.
He needed to put Hyeon-o to work just as thoroughly as the mud slimes.
"Haven't you heard that those who don't work don't eat?"
"No. I've never heard that."
"Fine. If you don't want to do it, I can't force you. But there won't be any more spirit herbs or spirit fruits."
He could not give them away for free.
"But I've been working hard for Jang Bung all this time."
That was true.
Even so, he could not let Hyeon-o laze around.
"This is for your own good."
"How is this for my own good?"
"Where do you think the spirit herbs and spirit fruits you eat come from?"
"Well......"
They had gathered spirit-herb seedlings from the secret realm.
Jang Bung raised them, then fed them to Hyeon-o.
"If you don't gather them, I won't be able to give you any."
Of course, he already had many spirit-herb and spirit-tree seeds inside his storage pouch.
He could simply give them to Hyeon-o if he wanted.
'But I'm not giving them away for free.'
"Is that how it works?"
Hyeon-o was beginning to fall for it.
"You said you wanted to become an alchemist. How will you obtain your ingredients in the future? If you don't gather them now, they'll be difficult to find later."
That was true.
Those materials could not be easily obtained in the outside world.
Becoming an alchemist required a great many alchemy ingredients.
Hyeon-o needed to begin stockpiling seedlings, seed stock, and seeds now.
"Hmm......"
Jang Bung's words had convinced Hyeon-o more than halfway.
***
"You haven't gone anywhere near the outskirts lately, have you?"
"Why would I go there?"
Members of the demon race always moved inward once their realms rose.
The deeper into the secret realm one went, the denser the spiritual energy became.
In exchange, they would face stronger demon beasts and demons.
There was more spiritual energy to absorb.
There was nothing to gain by traveling toward the outskirts, where spiritual energy was thin.
Thus, once their realms rose, instinct drove them inward.
Hyeon-o had never even considered going toward the outskirts.
To it, that was only natural.
"Go there this time. It will feel very different from before."
As a crow demon beast, Hyeon-o's combat ability was not particularly high.
But that was only true when compared to other 9-Star demons.
Against 7-Star and 8-Star demons of lower realms, it was overwhelmingly powerful.
Hyeon-o's beak and claws could tear a 7-Star or 8-Star demon apart with ease.
Jang Bung, the slime who devoured beings of higher realms than his own, was simply an abnormal monster.
"Any demon beast at 5-Star or lower will probably piss itself at the mere sight of your shadow."
"Do you really think so?"
Hyeon-o had always considered itself weak.
If demons and demon beasts saw it in that situation......
Seeing demon beasts and demons afraid of it would make Hyeon-o swell with pride.
"Yes. You'll know as soon as you go."
Hyeon-o would be like a high-level player throwing its weight around in front of low-level enemies.
'That feeling is irresistible.'
It was why Jang Bung had invaded the human race's beginner hunting grounds in the game.
He had been a free-to-play player with plenty of time on his hands.
That kind of fun was why he played the game.
Of course, that had been before he entered it.
"You'll come to love it soon enough. Ha ha."
"All right. I'll go take a look."
Hunting demon beasts and demons below its own realm......
It was something Hyeon-o had never considered.
But after hearing Jang Bung's suggestion, it sounded like tremendous fun.
"And while you're at it, gather ingredients for alchemy."
"All right. But... how do I use that?"
Hyeon-o had finally shown an interest in the storage pouch.
"This is how you use it."
Jang Bung taught Hyeon-o how to use the storage pouch.
It was not particularly difficult.
By channeling spiritual energy into it, one could easily store and retrieve objects.
The intelligent Hyeon-o quickly learned how to use the storage pouch.
"Now head toward the outskirts."
"All right."
Carrying the storage pouch, Hyeon-o flew excitedly toward the outskirts.
Unlike Hyeon-o, Jang Bung still had work to do here.
'I need to take every cultivation resource in this region.'
He moved the mudfield around.
Then he swallowed everything in the 9-Star region and the area surrounding the barrier stone.
Together with Hyeon-o, Jang Bung planned to clean out this entire secret realm.