The 31st Piece Turns the Tables

Chapter 38

Seol’s spirit pouch was covered in a green, red, and orange glow.

Glooooow!

The light slowly dimmed down before revealing a completely new belt that shone in three different colors.

[Multiple Spirit Container Belt (Incomplete) has changed to ‘Three Spirits’.]

‘Three Spirits…’

The Spirit Pouch was finally revealing its real effects.

[[Three Spirits]

Quality: Rare

Recommended Level: 10-20

Defense: 30

Durability: 140/140

Weight: 0.2kg

A belt with the power of three spirits. It was designed by Griz and completed by Snowman.

Basic Effect: +10 Strength, +10 Dexterity, +10 Constitution

Bonus Effect: Spirit’s Blessing (Unique). It will continue to change as you absorb more spirits.]

[‘Oh my god’ has donated 300 Madness!]

[What the fuck is this?]

- This item actually looks pretty good.

- I can’t believe this is real…

- I bet you’d be super popular if you wore that to a club…

- You’ve never been to a club, have you?

- I’m sorry, I just thought it would be cool…

Three Spirits…

The belt might have sounded like the name of an alcohol brand but it had a unique effect.

‘It has a unique effect even though they’re supposed to be super rare in the early game?’

There were many instances of items having effects that gave a bonus to stats, speed, energy, or other such things but there weren’t that many items that had an effect which could directly influence the battle.

The majority of those kinds of items appeared in the mid to late game and they each had their own unique effects.

And each unique skill had their own distinct effect.

‘Spirit’s Blessing, hm… so I guess it might work like this?’

To give a brief explanation for what Seol understood from the description, Spirit’s Blessing gave Seol an elemental shield.

It was a skill that defended you from sudden magical attacks.

‘And the number of elements it can block and the amount of damage the shield can absorb increases with the number of different spirits in my spirit containers…’

If Seol could capture seven spirits, he would become able to defend against seven different types of elemental attacks for a short period of time.

Theoretically, this item could block seven spells in a second.

Even though low-mid level spells were the most this item could defend, even that was enough to make casters in the early game curse and shout in rage.

“Huh? Your belt changed. Is that your spirit container?”

“It is. It’s a unique piece of equipment.”

“That’s interesting… Can I touch it?”

“No.”

“Ah… okay.”

- Nope.

- Behave yourself!

- No way!

- How dare you try to covet my item… Come back after a million years!

- hahaha… 😬

- You guys are making me want to curse at you guys lol

As the Fire Red Spirits found their seats and prepared to sleep, Seo-ryeong also started to doze off.

“I’ll take the night watch. You can sleep first.”

“Really? I was feeling really tired too… Did I walk around too much today?”

“Yeah, that’s probably it.”

“Then thank you… I’ll take the night watch when you wake me up then.”

“Yeah.”

Seo-ryeong let out a sigh and laid down on a giant leaf.

Seol then pulled out something from his inventory.

Slide…

- No!

- Children get the fuck out! Children get the fuck out!

- That’s rated R!

What Seol pulled out was a book. It was the blueprints for the Multiple Spirit Container and his notes for it.

- ???: Hahaha… I’ll read books while you’re asleep.

- ???: I’m such a bookworm… Hahaha… What do you think, huh?!

- 😞😞😞

Seol read through the blueprints for a long while.

‘After Three Spirits is…’

[ - Once three different types of spirits have been captured, the belt will reveal its true abilities.

Obviously, it would be best if I gathered all of the different spirit types myself but I didn’t capture any of them since I was busy. I have no interest in a proven theory.

However, I am writing this down in case people claim that I didn’t capture the spirits because I was unable to. Haha… I will write down how to capture them. With that, no one will doubt my genius. ]

After that, Griz wrote down how to capture the low-rank spirits in great detail.

Since medium-rank spirits won’t enter the spirit containers anyway, the belt was made with only low-rank spirits in mind.

Seol read through all of it.

And up to here was everything that Seol had read multiple times to force himself to memorize.

However, the parts after that were things that Seol read and was familiar with but still hadn’t memorized.

[ - Additional Information) About the Light White Spirit and the Shadow Black Spirit… ]

“Hm…”

Seol watched Seo-ryeong toss and turn in bed for a second before continuing his book.

[ - This section isn’t based on experience but on the knowledge and word of mouth I heard so don’t trust it blindly. ]

What is he trying to say then?

[ - This information is a mix of information Griz found in an ancient spirit’s book and his own genius. How does he know the ancient spirit’s language? It’s because I can speak 12 languages! The language I am most interested in though is how I would communicate with a machine without speaking… ]

Surprisingly, that probably wasn’t just him putting on airs. At least judging by how he causes so much of a ruckus wherever he goes at least…

[ - Venta, the Light White Spirit, and Shades, the Shadow Black Spirit, are both much rarer than the other spirits. This is especially the case for Shades as there is barely anyone who has ever seen them.

However, that could also be counted as a blessing. Most spirits are gentle to the point that they’re stupid (that’s why I hate them) but these two are a different story. You must be cautious of them. These two spirits aim to kill people. ]

This was part of the reason why Seol was so cautious as he captured the spirits.

[ - I will write down how to handle them and how to capture them.

First, finding those two types of spirits is an adversity in and of itself. You have nine spirit containers on your belt. Two of them look different from the others, right? Those are special spirit containers made to catch them. (They won’t enter the containers by their own volition so you must exhaust them before forcefully absorbing them into it)

Look inside of the dusky spirit container. There’s white powder, right? It’s spirit solvent. It’s practically poison for spirits. How are you going to feed it to them? I’ll teach you that now. First… Wait… Why am I writing this down too? ]

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

A couple of days ago…

The three people who Seol saw when he was first transferred here were strolling through the Great Forest.

“Woocheol, why are you going so deep into the forest? You could just shit around here, y’know?”

“Ah, sorry… it’s just embarrassing.”

“It’s a forest… well, it’s fine.”

“Hahaha…”

“Anyway… Where the hell are they? I’d catch them all if I could fucking see them.”

Despite the fact they were able to venture deep into the forest, they were only able to fill up one spirit container.

Even though the three of them had already spent 10 days here, they were behind Seol.

They must’ve felt that they were in a slump as well since their lack of progress was starting to upset them.

“Uh…” said Woocheol. He was hesitating.

“What is it?”

“I saw some traces of something when I was over there…”

“What? Really?!”

“I-I’m not 100% sure though.”

However, those words were enough to excite his party members.

The truth wasn’t important to them right now. What was important to them was the security that came with making progress toward their goal and not just aimlessly wandering around.

“What are we doing right now?! Let’s just go! What are we going to do if it runs away?”

“What about sleep…”

“We can catch it now and then sleep during the day, no?”

“Then let’s go check it out together. I saw it, over in that direction.”

“Take the lead! Let’s just finish this one and then leave. I’m getting so annoyed that I don’t think I’ll be able to do this anymore.”

Rustle…

Woocheol led his party members.

Bugs were flocking to their bodies and the sharp grass was cutting their skin but they didn’t notice any of it. How would they notice it when an opportunity to make progress was right in front of them?

And luckily… Woocheol was right.

“You were right! They really are traces of a spirit. But…”

“The traces are continuing…”

“Should we go?”

“Of course.”

“What if it’s a person?”

“Then we can just back off if it is.”

The party of three walked for quite a while, trailing the traces of something.

Moments before they were about to complain, they had arrived somewhere.

Fwoosh…

It was an open hill filled with flowers and fireflies.

And it was also filled with many spirits.

Their white light made the party think of them as stars that fell to Earth, sad that they couldn’t go back up.

“Oh my god…”

“This is crazy… This is crazy…”

Not too long after, one of the spirits discovered the party and carefully approached them.

Float…

“H-Huh? It’s coming over here?”

“It’ll be fine as long as we stay still.”

“How do you know that? Th–”

The white spirit had grabbed one of their hands before they knew it. It then led them, dragging them along.

Woocheol, the first to come into contact with the spirit, said, “I don’t think it’s dangerous. I think it’s welcoming us?”

“Huh? Yeah… I mean it looks that way…”

“Why don’t you come too? I think it wants to give us something.”

“Huh?”

The other spirits came too and pulled the party along, grabbing them by their arms.

It felt like a dream. They party started mixing themselves in with the group of spirits.

Fwooosh…

A cool breeze swayed the flowers and grass.

This was what people probably meant when they said they ‘got drunk off the atmosphere’.

The party members danced with the spirits like they were seeing a mirage.

Spinning.

And spinning more.

They then slowly laid down on the flowery hill. It was very natural.

However, Woocheol was standing up, unlike his other party members.

‘Huh? Why am I lying down?’

The party members watched Woocheol for a second before having a chill run down their spine. The person they were looking at felt like a stranger.

And that was probably why they said,

“Who… are you?”

“Y-You’re not Woocheol?”

Suddenly, Woocheol’s mouth stretched and ripped apart. It had become a dark shadow and laughed as it watched them.

Snap…

Cruuuunch!

“Guaaaaargh!”

* * *

CRAAAASH!

A lightning bolt had struck a tree.

Crackle…

“Kyaaaa!”

“It’s dangerous to yell. You might startle the spirits.”

“E-Excuse me, did you not just see me getting startled just now?”

“Well, you won’t kill anyone just because you’re startled, right?”

Gulp…

Seo-ryeong instantly became quiet after that. She realized what Seol was saying to her.

“I-I could die? Here?”

“You might, if you startle a spirit?”

“Why are you saying it as if it’s something so obvious like ordering a beer at a bar?”

“Shh. You have to be quieter.”

“Seriously…”

CRAAASH!

A lightning bolt had struck again, igniting a tree nearby.

“I-I’ll be quiet. I’m ing.”

“What? What’s coming?”

“A spirit.”

Craaaackle… Crackle…

A yellow spirit was approaching Seol and Seo-ryeong while discharging electricity all around it.

“Uh… I can feel static even here. Isn’t this dangerous?”

“It is dangerous.”

“...God damn it.”

“But, we won’t die as long as we stay still.

The spirit was Shpatz, the Static Yellow Spirit. Shpatz had a naive expression as it spread electricity all around it.

“Wh-why is it doing this?”

“Maybe… to converse with us?”

“To talk to us?”

Crackle…

“Hrgh!”

Seol and Seo-ryeong both felt electricity flow through them.

[Who are you two?]

The electricity carried Sptaz’s thoughts when it flowed through their body. And the moment Seol heard the question, he saw a few options.

[[A Static Yellow Spirit is talking to you. It seems that it has an interest in humans. How do you respond?]

1. How dare a spirit… Do you want to die?

2. Don’t do that, please. I’m sorry.

3. Why are you causing a mess here? You shouldn’t do that.

4. Do you want to come with us?

5. Is there anything I can help with?

……]

Seol responded exactly how Griz recommended in the blueprint to capture it.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

Shpatz must’ve understood Seol as electricity flowed through his body again.

Crackle…

[Help me?]

“Yeah.”

Crackle…

[Are you sure you two will be able to help me? It’s something very hard.]

“I’m sure.”

Crackle…

[Then follow me. If you do me a favor, I’ll also do you a favor.]

Turn…

Shpatz stopped the electricity from discharging from its body and turned around. It then started to walk, leading Seol and Seo-ryeong.

Seol and Seo-ryeong nodded to each other, knowing that they were successful in coming to an agreement.

“I have no idea what’s going on… What are we supposed to help that kid with?”

“We’ll know when we get there.”

Seol thought of Shpatz’s characteristic which had been written in the blueprint.

- Shpatz are one of the few spirits capable of conversation and they remind me of one of those children with a lot of worries. Um… Shpatz have a lot of trivial worries. My worries are important and difficult though, like world peace. Anyway, I’m sure Shpatz will follow you if you can help solve their worries.

In other words, Seol can capture Shpatz by solving a small, trivial issue.

Crackle…

Shpatz started to walk faster.

Seol and Seo-ryeong tried their best to keep up by walking but had to resort to running eventually.

“Gasp… Gasp… Are we still not there yet?”

“I think we’re here.”

“...A cave?”

A completely pitch-black cave welcomed them.

Shpatz then faced them while standing in front of the cave’s entrance.

Crackle…

[My worry is in here. Are you really going to help me?]

Seol didn’t hesitate to enter the cave.

He felt a chill enwrap his body as he entered it. That then caused Seol to smile.

“Ah, I think I know what Shpatz’s worry is.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah, but it isn’t a simple one.”

“...What? What do you…”

Thud… Thuud…

Something giant was walking toward them.

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