Chapter 02
I grabbed the two small, adorable front paws of the tiny, fluffy, cotton-ball-like cat.
“Please! Unblock my meridians!”
Cheon Hui subtly pulled his paws back.
“You’re disgusting, you wretch.”
“Please, just this once!”
“For a man to be so spineless. Aren’t you ashamed?”
“Spinelessness doesn’t put food on the table, does it?”
“Hah… You truly are insane. Fine. I shall unblock your meridians.”
“Thank you!”
“However!”
I stared intently at Cheon Hui, waiting for his next words.
“You must help this Sovereign recover his true body and return to the Central Plains.”
“I understand.”
Seemingly satisfied with my answer, Cheon Hui nodded and swished his tail as he approached me.
“Sit in the lotus position.”
“Okay.”
Following his instructions, I sat down cross-legged.
“Straighten your back more! And tuck your chin in!”
Was the lotus position always this hard?
My legs and tailbone tingled in the awkward posture.
“Good. Now close your eyes and hold your hands out in front of you.”
-*Tap.*
Cheon Hui’s two tiny front paws were placed on my hands.
“Now, you must not make any sound, nor move a single muscle.”
Before I could even answer his words, a strange power was transmitted into my hands.
‘Ugh! What is this?’
My hands became scorching hot, as if burned by fire.
A tingling sensation, like an electric shock, washed over me.
‘I can’t even make a sound, let alone move!’
I wasn’t following his instructions of my own will.
My body was obeying on its own.
Could I even call this following?
Just when my sense of time had completely faded away—
the agonizing pain that threatened to knock me unconscious disappeared.
Instead, a coolness, like dipping my hands in cold water, washed over me.
‘*Whew…* I feel alive again.’
Just as I let out a sigh of relief internally, a notification window appeared.
[System Error Occurred.]
An error in the system, something I had never even heard of.
‘I thought the system was perfect…’
“There. It is done.”
At Cheon Hui’s words, I opened my eyes.
There was Cheon Hui, looking scruffy and disheveled, staring at me with half-closed eyes.
“It’s done… Why do you look like that? You didn’t look like that a moment ago.”
“Unblocking the meridians with this pathetic body tired me somewhat. Pay it no mind.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Yes. How does it feel to have your Earth Meridian unblocked?”
At his question, I clenched and unclenched my hands.
The intense pain from moments ago was completely gone, as if it had never been there.
No, rather…
“It feels somewhat… refreshed.”
‘I must have seen wrong.’
A system error.
There’s no way that could happen…
[System Error Corrected.]
[Special Trait ‘Mana Insensitivity’ changed to ‘Mana Sensitivity’.]
[Due to trait change, ‘Perception’ stat has been added.]
[Mana Stat adjusted.]
[Skill ‘Mana Discharge Lv. 1’ acquired.]
My brain momentarily froze at the cascade of notification windows.
“…”
‘What on earth just happened?’
Coming to my senses, I summoned my status window.
[Name: Na Min-woo]
[Class: Alchemist]
[Special Trait: Mana Sensitivity]
[Strength: 7 Agility: 6 Stamina: 6 Intelligence: 7 Mana: 20 Perception: 10]
[Possessed Skills: Refining Lv. 1, Mana Discharge Lv. 1]
“Mana Insensitivity really changed!”
“Did I not say I would unblock your meridians?”
“Thank you!”
My mana stat was now 20, four times its original value.
With this level, I could even aim for D-rank Hunter status.
Plus, I even gained Mana Discharge, an essential skill for D-rank Hunters.
Cheon Hui had truly changed my talent.
Of course, I had already decided to trust him.
But seeing the change so clearly made it sink in anew.
“What are you looking at in the air, giggling to yourself?”
“I was looking at my abilities through my status window.”
“Pathetic. Do you only know your own abilities through such means?”
“Then how am I supposed to know?”
“You must learn to observe your own body to be reborn as a true martial artist.”
“I’ll try. But, Cheon Hui-nim?”
“What is it?”
“But thinking about it, I still don’t think it’s a talent that would make the Heaven-given talent envious.”
At my words, Cheon Hui licked his small front paws and said.
“*Lick.* You fool. I have only just unblocked the Earth Meridian in your hands. Would the Celestial Body envy that?”
“Only the Earth Meridian? Weren’t you going to unblock all of them at once?”
“As they say, ignorance breeds courage. Unblocking all the meridians, *lick*, at once would be too much even for this Sovereign. *Lick.*”
“Is it that dangerous?”
“Indeed. *Lick.*”
“Could you please stop licking? You really look like a cat.”
“What do you mean this Sovereign was licking? Do you dare think of this Sovereign as a lowly beast?”
Look at him there.
Who would think that cat is a person?
That tiny cotton ball was washing its face, licking its paws.
“No, it’s because you keep licking your paws…”
I wanted to say more, but held back.
‘If I say he’s cute, it’ll really cause trouble.’
“*Lick.* …”
Suddenly, Cheon Hui, who had been licking his paw, froze completely.
Then, looking at his paw with damp fur, his pupils trembled as if in an earthquake.
“Hmph! Th-this… is because of this wretched body.”
He hurriedly lowered his paw, his nose twitching.
It seemed even a cat’s instincts couldn’t be hidden.
‘Should I try giving him a Churu?’
A brief image of Cheon Hui frantically eating a Churu crossed my mind.
But I quickly erased the image from my head and spoke to him.
“Yes. I understand. So, how many more meridians need to be unblocked?”
“Starting with the Earth Meridian, you need to break the hardened Dantian, unblock the Twelve Meridians, open the Conception and Governing Vessels, and achieve full-body connectivity.”
There were that many meridians left to unblock.
‘Just how much more do I have to do?’
“Are you surprised?”
“Yes. There’s more than I thought. I thought you just unblocked meridians once.”
“Ordinary mediocrities only have the Conception and Governing Vessels to open. But you have the Blocked Meridians, so there are many to open. Thus, you must refine your meridians.”
“Yes. But how do you know so much about this, Cheon Hui-nim?”
Cheon Hui raised his paw to lick it again, but stopped.
-*Twitch.*
His mouth and nose twitched.
‘He’s conflicted.’
Suppressing his instincts by force, Cheon Hui put his paw down and said.
“This Sovereign was also born with Blocked Meridians.”
I never expected Cheon Hui to have been the same as me.
If so, it means my talent definitely has potential.
Because it’s the same talent as someone who rose to become a Cult Leader.
“Were you really the same as me, with Blocked Meridians?”
“Yes. Why are you so curious about that?”
“I’m curious. A person of high status having the same talent as me.”
“Enough. Stop the chatter and try making that elixir. Let me see your skills.”
‘He seems to be deflecting the topic.’
His reaction was suspicious, but.
What could I do?
I still owed him a lot, so I had to keep on his good side.
And I was too curious myself.
Could I actually make a proper potion now?
“Alright. I’ll try making a potion.”
It was time for the items I’d kept safe in my drawer to see the light.
-*Thud. Tap.*
Dried young mugwort, licorice root, and other various medicinal herbs.
And—
-*Rustle.*
Magic Stones, revealing themselves from the unfolded wrapping cloth.
‘These are the ones I couldn’t bear to sell. Now they’re finally getting used.’
I also took out some equipment.
A small pot and a mortar and pestle.
“*Whew…*”
“Are you nervous?”
“A little. It’s been so long.”
“Hurry and try it.”
“Yes.”
I immediately started preparing the potion.
-*Scrape. Scrape.*
The herbs began to be ground in the mortar.
I mixed the ground herbs with water in the pot.
‘Now the only thing left is the Magic Stones, right?’
The Tier 5 potion recipe I’d memorized countless times to become an Alchemist.
Following it, I submerged five Tier 9 Magic Stones in the pot.
-*Plop. Plop.*
‘There’s really just one last thing.’
“Refine.”
I felt mana flowing from both hands.
Not spreading out thinly like a mist, as I’d felt before.
But flowing like water from a faucet.
The mana left my hands and flowed into the pot.
‘Is this what it’s truly like to have mana flow?’
This feeling I’d never experienced before.
It felt incredibly good.
After just minutes of excruciating pain in my hands—
I could finally feel and use mana.
I never dreamed the day would come when I, who had Mana Insensitivity, could feel such a sensation.
‘I really have to thank Cheon Hui.’
After a short time.
Only a small amount of liquid remained in the pot.
-*Gurgle.*
I transferred it into a small bottle to complete it.
A faintly glowing liquid with a subtle green hue.
At a glance, it was on a completely different level from the potions I’d made before.
‘Is this really a potion I made? It looks like a genuine Tier 5 potion…’
“Is it done?”
I snapped back to attention at Cheon Hui’s question, who had been watching from the side.
I placed the potion in front of him.
“Yes. It’s complete.”
Cheon Hui examined the potion carefully, then flattened his perked-up ears.
“The alchemy here is truly pathetic.”
“Huh? Pathetic?”
“Yes. To call something like this an elixir.”
Something like this!
His words stung.
Then what was I, who couldn’t even properly make a Tier 5 potion until now?
“This is still quite useful.”
“It is barely comparable to a Golden Wound Salve.”
“Golden Wound Salve?”
“It is applied to wounds instead of using acupuncture.”
“Even though it’s the lowest tier, Tier 5, it’s incomparable to something you just apply to a wound.”
“Which means this alchemy method is just that crude.”
“You seem to know a lot about potion-making?”
“This Sovereign is not particularly proficient in alchemy, but I can see that the method you are using has flaws.”
The most commonly known Tier 5 potion recipe.
Many people had already experimented with it.
No flaws had ever been found.
‘As far as I know, anyway.’
And he was saying there was a flaw in that recipe.
“There was a flaw?”
Cheon Hui didn’t answer my question immediately. He walked slowly.
Arriving at the wrapping cloth, he swung his tiny paw and struck a Magic Stone.
-*Tap.*
-*Clatter.*
The stone rolled and reached me.
“Why are you using that stone, full of turbid energy, as it is?”
Full of turbid energy.
And what did he mean, ‘using it as it is’? How else was I supposed to use it?
“Are you saying I need to process this separately?”
Cheon Hui sat down right there.
He raised his front paw.
Then he even lowered his head, bringing the paw to his own head.
-*Tap.*
“Ha… Where do I even begin to teach such an ignorant fool? I worry for my future.”
“Please explain.”
“First, try infusing it with energy.”
I picked up the Magic Stone.
‘Is he telling me to infuse it with mana?’
But is there even a way to put mana into an object?
As far as I know, there’s no such method.
No, there was one.
Just now, in the potion-making process, mana was infused through my hands.
So this should be the same method.
“Refine.”
“Can you feel the energy scattered inside that stone?”
I could feel the mana spread out like mist inside the Magic Stone.
-*Nod.*
“Yes, it’s full of it! Isn’t all of this mana?”
“It is turbid energy, a tangle of all sorts of miscellaneous energies. Among it, find the pure energy.”
“Can’t I just use it as it is?”
“Do you plan on drinking muddy water? You should think about gathering only the clean water to drink.”
“Understood.”
As I focused, some of the mana scattered inside the Magic Stone began to glow.
‘This is it!’
“Have you found it? Now, try to gather those into one spot as much as possible with your own energy.”
-*Crackle.*
-*Crunch.*
Strange sounds came from the Magic Stone, but.
Ignoring them, I continued to gather the mana.
When the mana wouldn’t condense any further,
I stopped channeling and opened my hand.
-*Crumbled.*
The Magic Stone had turned about half into powder.
“Why did this happen?”
“You only managed to do half? Well, with your skill, it’s impossible to do more.”
“Do you know why this happened?”
“The turbid energy has been filtered out. With that, half of what you used earlier will be enough.”
“Half?”
“Yes. Also, use only half the herbs as well. Since the turbid energy is reduced, there’s no need to use as much.”
Following his advice, I began making the potion again.
With half the herbs and three purified Magic Stones in the pot,
I held it with both hands and chanted.
“Refine!”
As before, mana flowed through my hands and into the pot.
A moment later.
The moment I saw the completed potion,
I realized.
That the widely known potion-making method had many flaws.
