As they walked, the silence of the Outer Lands gave Ragnar time to think.
The Clan members were tight-lipped, but they had slipped enough clues. "Earth Path." "Shadow Secretary." And now, Geom Woo's ability to phase in and out of existence.
Ragnar looked at his own hands. If Geom Woo practiced a "Path" to become a phantom, then Ragnar's ability to see and edit molecules had to be a Path, too.
'In fantasy novels, magic is usually wild, materialized through elements,' Ragnar analyzed. 'But here, it seems like you practice a Path and evolve. My body already repaired a decapitation. If I practice... can I stop aging? Can I rewrite my own DNA to be stronger?'
And then there was the "Will." If the Will of the Heavens really brought him here, there had to be a reason and possibly a way back.
Ragnar clenched his fist. Professor Thorn. If I can master this 'Will,' maybe I can go back and take back what is mine.
"We're here," Do Hyun announced.
Ragnar looked up.
The village looked like a graveyard that people refused to leave. The huts were rotting, their wood black and slick with mold. The air smelled of wet dog. A few villagers shuffled through the mud, carrying broken buckets or baskets on their heads. When they saw the four men, they scattered like roaches, diving into their dark shacks and slamming the doors.
There was only one building that didn't look ready to collapse.
In the center of the muddy square stood a small chapel built of dark stone. Hanging above the door was a symbol made of strange, orange metal: a sun with bull horns.
As they passed it, Ragnar glanced inside. The interior was warm, lit by hundreds of candles. He saw people kneeling, their heads bowed low.
"Don't stare," Do Hyun hissed.
He grabbed Ragnar's shoulder and dragged him past the chapel, shoving him toward a large, sagging wooden building nearby.
They stepped inside. It was a tavern, but there was no food or hubbub. A few old, sick men sat at the tables. Their skin was covered in weeping sores. They eyed the visitors uninvitingly, their hands drifting to rusted knives on their belts.
Do Hyun ignored them. He walked straight to the counter.
Behind it, a man was sitting and playing cards with himself. He was the only one who looked healthy—his cheeks were full, and his clothes were clean.
Do Hyun reached into his pocket. He pulled out a smaller piece of Pale Jade and slapped it on the counter.
Clack.
Every eye fixed on the glowing blue stone.
"What do you need?" the healthy man asked, not looking up from his cards.
"Food and water for two days," Do Hyun said. "For four men."
The man behind the counter finally looked up. He sneered, pushing the blue stone back with one finger.
"I'm the Chief," he said. "And we have the protection of the Golden Ox God here. Food and water are precious. That little pebble won't cut it."
The air rippled.
In the blink of an eye, Geom Woo vanished from his spot by the door. He reappeared instantly behind the counter, the cold steel of his sword pressed against the Chief's throat.
"How about we add your life to the price?" Geom Woo whispered.
The sick men stood up, gripping their rusted weapons.
But the Chief didn't blink. He didn't even sweat. He just smiled a greasy, yellow-toothed smile.
"Empty threats," the Chief chuckled. He didn't even blink at the cold steel of Geom Woo's sword pressing against his throat. "You want to become a Sentient? Don't joke with me. You know the rules."
He tapped a greasy finger against the card table. Tap. Tap.
"You kill a servant of the Ox and His Will turns you into a monster. Either you put a bigger stone up, or you can leave."
Do Hyun glared at the Chief. Geom Woo's sword didn't waver from the Chief's neck. The Chief was smiling the smile of a man who knew he was untouchable.
Ragnar was about to step back, wanting nothing to do with this suicidal negotiation, when a wet, thudding sound broke the tension.
Thump.
In the dark corner of the tavern, one of the sick old men collapsed. He hit the dirt floor hard, his body seizing in violent convulsions. Pink foam bubbled from his lips.
The Chief didn't even look up from his cards.
"Another one," he sighed, sounding bored. "Someone drag old Hemlock outside before he dies and stinks up the place. It's bad for business."
The other sick men in the tavern just watched with hollow eyes. They were used to this.
Do Hyun frowned, stepping back from the counter. Mu Gyeol put his hand on his dagger, ready to end the man's suffering.
But Ragnar couldn't look away. The scientist in him overrode the coward. He ignored the danger and stepped closer to the convulsing man.
'Focus,' Ragnar thought. He narrowed his eyes at the man's chest. Zoom in.
Usually, his vision just magnified reality. But this time, as he focused harder than ever before, something changed.
A sharp chime rang inside his head. Then, light flared.
It wasn't very light. It was an overlay on reality, like a glowing blue transparent screen hovering in the air between him and the dying man.
Ragnar blinked, but the screen stayed. Through it, he looked down at the sick man's body.
He saw through the skin. He saw the blood pumping frantically. And he saw the problem.
The man's blood was filled with tiny, glowing orange specks. They were latching onto the red blood cells like ticks.
Suddenly, the interface reacted. One of the orange specks enlarged, popping out into a separate window that filled his vision. It looked like a spiky ball of pollen.
[Analysis Complete: Divine Parasitic Spore]
[Class:] Bio-Divine Aggregate
[Source:] Atmospheric/Ingestion (Golden Ox Incense)
[Function:] Bio-Accumulation. Filters Life Energy into a harvestable compound.
[Molecular Composition:]
30% Ether (Volatile Life Force)
65% Organic Carrier (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium)
5% Heavy Metal Binding Agents (Lead, Mercury)
Ragnar stared at the data hovering in the blue screen.
Then he looked around the tavern. He looked at the sick men with their weeping sores. He looked at the healthy, fat Chief behind the counter.
It all made sense.
The villagers weren't sick because of a plague. They were being drained. Every time they knelt in that chapel, every time they breathed the incense and prayed to the "Golden Ox," they were inhaling these spores.
The spores were latching onto the villagers' red blood cells, sucking out the Nitrogen and Phosphorus, the very things humans needed to build muscle and bone, and binding them with this "Ether" using heavy metals as a glue.
The "God" was fattening them up.
'It's a farm,' Ragnar realized. 'Just like cattle. They feed the cows so they can eat them later.'
"Don't touch him," Mu Gyeol warned from behind him, his hand drifting to his dagger. "You'll catch the rot. And I'm not carrying you."
Ragnar ignored him. The scientist in him was screaming. If the God wanted the Ether, and the villagers were dying because of the extraction process... what if Ragnar acted as a better solvent?
He knelt beside the convulsing man. He placed his hand flat on the old man's sweating chest.
The glowing screen in his vision pulsed red. A new prompt appeared.
[Saturated Bio-Compound Detected.]
[Warning: Heavy Metal Toxicity Present.]
[Attempt Molecular Separation? Y/N]
Ragnar's heart hammered against his ribs. He was going to mine it like crude oil.
Yes. Separate the Ether. Discard the Carrier.
A strange sensation rushed up his arm. It felt like warm honey flowing backward through his veins, a rush of pure, raw stability entering his body. His fatigue from the long walk vanished instantly.
But then came the burn. A metallic taste flooded his mouth, like he had just licked a 9-volt battery.
The glowing orange spores inside the man's veins unraveled. The Ether was sucked into Ragnar's palm, while the physical waste dissolved harmlessly into the man's bloodstream to be filtered out by his kidneys.
The old man on the floor stopped shaking instantly. The pink foam stopped bubbling. He let out a long, peaceful sigh, the deep lines of pain on his face smoothing out as he fell into a normal, quiet sleep.
Ragnar pulled his hand back, gasping. The rush of energy felt like he had just downed three energy drinks at once, but his fingertips were stained a faint, bruising grey.
A final notification flashed in the corner of his eye.
[Extraction Complete.]
[Acquired: +10 Crude Will (Unstable)]
[Byproduct Stored: 5g NPK Residue (Fertilizer)]
[Toxicity Level: 2%]
"He... he stopped," one of the other sick men whispered, standing up from his table. "Is he dead?"
"No," Ragnar said, his voice sounding distant to his own ears. He flexed his hand, feeling the raw power fighting against the heavy lead in his blood. He would need to find a way to expel the toxins later, "He's sleeping."
"What did you do?"
The voice was low and dangerous.
Ragnar looked up. The Chief had stopped playing cards. He was standing up now, leaning over the counter. His greasy smile was gone, replaced by a look of genuine panic.
In his hand, he held a heavy, iron-shod club.
"I saw that," the Chief hissed, his eyes darting from Ragnar to the sleeping man. "You touched him. You did something to the blessing."
Do Hyun stepped between Ragnar and the Chief, his massive frame blocking the view.
"He healed him," Do Hyun said calmly, though his eyes were wide with surprise. "I've never seen a rot victim recover like that."
"He didn't heal him!" the Chief spat, spit flying from his mouth. "He tampered with the Ox's property! That man belongs to the God!"