A Stuffed Cheonma in my Head - Chapter 32



Only Noblemtl

Episode 032. The cat thief who steals elixirs

* * *

It was time for lunch, but I wasn’t the type of person who would eat my meal while smelling the blood of a dead body, so I walked a little further before having a late lunch.

I sat down on a rock in a vacant lot where the sunlight was warm and I took out some hard beef jerky.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to light a campfire, tear up some soaked beef jerky, and eat it as a hot soup, but we weren’t in a position to do that. Not only would there be a risk of our location being easily discovered by the smoke or smell, but we also didn’t have the luxury of time.

It may be okay on a cold night when you risk losing body heat, but there is no reason to take such unnecessary risks in broad daylight. The fewer times you light a fire, the better, especially if you are being chased.

While I was chewing on the jerky with that thought in mind, Shushuruta spoke while chewing on the jerky.

“Ashvan.”

“what.”

“Is there only beef jerky?”

“I have some biscuits too. Can I have them?”

Shushuruta nodded.

“Give me your home.”

“It’s old.”

When I took out a biscuit and threw it to him, Shushuruta accepted it with a brighter face and ate it.

“Is it delicious?”

Shushuruta answered, munching on a biscuit.

“It doesn’t taste good, but it’s good because it’s not hard.”

She gnawed the biscuit from the end like a squirrel, then let out an exclamation of “Ah,” took something out of her bag, and handed it to me.

“Here, take it.”

“What is it?”

I asked, chewing on the jerky.

“Don’t just eat beef jerky, you should eat some fruit too.”

Dried fruits such as dried apples, dried apricots, dried cherries, and raisins. I’m not a big fan of fruits, especially dried fruits.

I turned my head away.

“I’m not eating.”

Then he took out another piece of jerky and put it in his mouth.

The salty and savory taste of the jerky, which becomes softer the more you chew it, wasn’t bad.

So that’s why mercenaries are my nature.

But Shushuruta showed no sign of giving up.

She kept tapping my shoulder and offering me dried fruit.

“I’ve prepared a lot, so don’t be afraid and eat.”

“I don’t want to eat. I won’t eat.”

“It tastes better than I thought. Just try one.”

“Oh, I’m not eating. Go away. Get out of here. You eat a lot.”

“… … .”

Then, Shushuruta also seemed to have become angry, and he pressed it against my cheek and forced me to taste it.

“You have to eat a balanced diet. How old are you to be complaining about side dishes?”

“Twenty-eight. The prime of life.”

“Then it will die young.”

“What if I get stabbed to death tomorrow?”

Shushuruta tapped the dried fruit on my lips.

“Eat.”

“… … .”

I eventually turned my head and had a staring contest with Shushuruta.

After about 10 seconds of fierce battle without blinking an eye… … .

Suddenly, a feeling of emptiness came over me and I wondered what I was doing.

Finally, he opened his mouth and accepted the dried apple.

She put the rest of the fruits in her hand into her mouth in one go, chewed them up, and glared at Shushuruta with a frown on her face.

“Is it okay?”

Shushuruta laughed heartily.

“Yeah. Okay.”

“… … Patience. What are you trying to do? This kid is definitely not normal.”

I leaned back against the rock, grumbling.

Leaning back against the rock warmed by the sunlight, he began to chew on his jerky and reminisce about the battle that had just taken place.

For a first-time customer, the greeting was strong.

It was that dangerous, but we didn’t panic and calmly planned a strategy to deal with it.

[He was calm. I can clearly see him looking flustered and confused.]

… … Although I was a little flustered, I didn’t let it overwhelm me. Instead, I used my wits and calmly planned a strategy to deal with it.

[Tsk tsk… You loser. When are you going to become a human?]

Well… I can’t say I didn’t need Cheonma’s help.

Anyway, as a result, fortunately, I won without dying.

And, I took away their strange martial arts.

Since it was optimized for a scythe, I couldn’t completely apply it to swordsmanship, but I remembered the general idea.

As soon as the thought occurred to me, I got up from my seat and drew my sword.

I remember the look in his eyes when I gave this back to Legard.

It was a little shallow at first. I had to cut my wrist in one go, but it only went halfway in.

It takes practice.

While Shushuruta watched on, muttering, I created a virtual enemy and practiced a few times while facing him with my sword.

I swung my sword straight down as per the rules, and the enemy blocked my sword in the same way.

Normally, if an attack is blocked, I would quickly collect my sword and attempt another attack, but I continued with the attack.

The pure white sword that Bok-sil received as a gift from Gyeong seemed to wrap around the opponent’s sword like a snake, and then it cut off the wrist that was holding the sword.

“hmm.”

I was quite satisfied.

You can do it just by seeing it once.

I did it, but I still couldn’t quite believe it.

This is all thanks to Cheonma’s talent.

I decided to name this snake-like swordsmanship The Great Snake.

[… … Are you serious?]

Cheonma, who had been quietly watching, clicked his tongue and started to tease him.

“Why? It’s cool.”

[It would be better to call it the snake-curved sword.]

“Hmm. That’s not bad either.”

Of course, the Great Snake was cooler, but since it was thanks to Cheonma that I was able to learn this, I decided to adopt his advice. After naming the sword technique with satisfaction, I put the sword back in its scabbard.

Then he sat down again.

This is just the beginning, and stronger enemies will stand in my way in the future. It won’t be a problem if I just cut down all of them.

Because it leaves a scar. This time it ended with a minor wound, but it is too optimistic to believe that it will be the same next time. Moreover, even if it is a minor wound, if I continue to fight with them, I will not be able to endure it in the end.

It was only then that I realized that what I was about to do was crazy and impossible for a person in their right mind to do.

To successfully complete this madness, you need to win without getting hurt.

A complete victory.

To do that, you definitely have to get stronger.

When I thought about it that way, it was more important to become stronger as quickly as possible than to go down the road.

Because you have to survive anyway to be able to go on your way.

I sang Shushuruta while sitting.

“Shushuruta.”

“What? Do you want some more fruit?”

There was a rustling sound as if the fruit was being taken out.

“No. I’m going to have breakfast now. Please take care of the law.”

The rustling sound stopped, and this time Shushuruta’s grumbling could be heard.

To summarize, it meant that I was bored. There was nothing to do while I was eating breakfast.

“Then give me the dagger and go. I’ll try to decipher the code in the meantime.”

“Will you give it to me?”

“… … Then what do you want me to do? I can’t even sleep.”

I answered vaguely.

“If you’re bored, you might as well look for some elixir.”

“Elixir?”

“It’s like a medicinal herb or animal that has accumulated a lot of energy.”

“energy?”

“The energy of nature. I guess it would be better to call it mana. Anyway, there is something like that. There are probably some things that look unusual at first glance. If you’re bored, look for them.”

“Um… … Okay, I see.”

“Don’t go far, just look around. If you hear anything, tell me right away.”

“Of course.”

With those words, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

My internal energy runs through the blood vessels of my entire body, and my consciousness sinks.

“Phew… … .”

The small noises I had been hearing around me began to fade away, and before I knew it, I had arrived in front of a calm lake within me.

I took off my clothes one by one and laid them neatly on the lakeside.

With that minimal awareness, I began to walk into the lake.

The water rose.

Ankles, thighs, chest, neck.

And finally, to Jeongsu-ri.

Finally, when everyone had sunk beneath the surface, I waited quietly.

I waited without knowing what I was waiting for.

Soon, two men began to walk slowly from far away on the dark lake bottom.

The brothers who died by my hands were Heven and Regard.

They each held a sharp sickle in their hand, which glowed blue even in the darkness.

I took my eyes off the blue scythes they were holding and looked at their faces.

My brother was looking at me with an eerie smile.

As their nickname suggests, they looked like grim reapers.

I met their eyes for a moment, then raised a hand.

And he forged a sword using the starlight of the Night Sky.

I held the sword made of starlight in one hand and waved at my brothers who had returned to seek revenge.

Come in.

My brother’s smile grew wider, and he swung his scythe and rushed at me like a ghost.

I mingled with them, holding a sword made of starlight.

He became so shocked that he crossed swords with them.

I enjoyed fighting, attacking, defending, and clashing swords without thinking.

Hehehe.

A smile came to my lips without me knowing.

Hehehe.

They laughed too.

We exchanged blows dozens of times.

He continued fighting while covered in blood.

Chomp!

Bright red blood sprinkled across the white snow.

Before we knew it, we were swinging our swords in a white, snowy field.

In the midst of this mad exchange of swords, someone appeared from behind with a heavy snowstorm.

The wind grew stronger, as if to announce the man’s appearance.

The brothers also stopped fighting and looked back.

The mysterious man was walking slowly, step by step, through the pure white field, surrounded by a blizzard.

As soon as the brothers saw him, they shouted something and ran towards him with bloodshot eyes.

The man swung his sword absentmindedly.

Then the brothers instantly froze like statues.

It was such a bitter cold that even the gods froze.

After dealing with his brothers briefly, he looked at me.

Our eyes met.

“omg.”

I opened my eyes with a start.

“Ugh… Ugh… … .”

I calmed my pounding heart and took a deep breath.

My whole body was drenched in sweat, as if I had literally walked into a lake.

I just sat and meditated and I’m sweating like this?

I had a lucky breakfast and it felt like I had a nightmare.

I asked Cheonma.

‘Master. Is this right? I had a nightmare while eating breakfast.’

Cheonma said in a casual tone.

[When you eat breakfast, you sometimes have visions as if you are dreaming. It’s natural.]

‘… Really? That’s how it was originally?’

[The Unkijosik is not simply about building up internal energy. The key is contemplation. It is basically about immersing yourself inwardly, so it is natural.]

… … That’s right.

Then what is that white ghost-like man?

[That shabby guy is a creation of your subconscious. It probably reminded you of that guy called Hakhan.]

It seems that Cheonma was watching all of my fantasies.

I suddenly lifted a finger and tried to hang a starlight on it.

It was a success. A small, twinkling starlight was catching on the tip of my index finger.

Then, he succeeded in bringing up starlight on his middle, ring, and little fingers.

Now I could make starlight shine not only on the tip of my sword, my fist, but also on each of my fingers.

It seems that my realm has deepened a bit as I fought like crazy with my dead brother and a sword forged from starlight.

[The deeper it gets, the wider it gets.]

As Cheonma said, as the realm deepened, the number of methods that could be utilized also increased.

[Now I can use the laws of geomancy and geomancy to some extent.]

‘Law? Law? What is that?’

[I’ll explain it to you on the way. Since it’s my talent, no one else’s, just hearing the general idea will be enough.]

‘okay.’

Little by little, I was definitely growing.

Looking at the sky, the sun was not much different in position from what I had seen earlier, and its color was similar.

It seems like not much time has passed.

Because of the circumstances, I approached it with the mindset of trying to finish it short and sweet, and it seems to have been somewhat effective.

Only then did I lower my gaze and look around… … .

“Ouch, surprise.”

A little further away, Shushuruta was watching me silently.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Ashvan.”

Shushuruta ignored my question and asked.

“Is this correct?”

Then he tapped something in front of him with his hand.

I naturally saw Shushuruta strike. I opened my eyes wide when I saw it.

“… … !”

A large three-legged man was lying at Shushuruta’s feet, covered in dirt.

It was almost twice as big as the one I had caught near the foggy cliffs. The aura that caught my senses was also not ordinary.

“you…….”

I looked at the cat that had brought its prey with very surprised eyes.

She was waiting for me blankly, with her head down in front of me like a cat that had brought a mouse.

Shushuruta asked, tapping the red berries hanging from the end.

You could tell at a glance that he was not an ordinary person, given the strong aura he exuded.

“Is this what you said true?”

“… … .”

I nodded my head hesitantly.

The thief cat has evolved into a thief cat that steals elixirs.