The Chief stared at the sleeping old man, his eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and dawning horror. He looked at the peaceful rise and fall of Hemlock's chest—a sight that should have been a miracle. But to the Chief, it was a catastrophe.
"It's gone," the Chief whispered, his voice trembling. He looked up at Ragnar, and for the first time, the greasy arrogance was replaced by naked fear. "The accumulation... the harvest... it's all gone."
He scrambled back, knocking his chair over. He put the heavy counter between himself and Ragnar, clutching his iron-shod club not as a weapon, but as a shield.
"You... you stole from Him," the Chief stammered, pointing a shaking finger. "Do you have any idea what you've done? The Golden Ox counts every grain of life! When He looks for His tribute and finds an empty vessel, He won't take it from the old man. He'll take it from the Steward!"
The Chief's face went pale. He wasn't afraid of Ragnar hurting him. He was afraid of an audit from his God.
"Get out!" the Chief shrieked, his voice cracking. "Take your cursed lives and leave! No food! No water! If you stay here one second longer, I'll ring the bell until every Sentient in the territory descends on this tavern!"
Do Hyun assessed the situation instantly. The trade was dead. The Chief was cornered and panicked, and a panicked man was dangerous. Moreover, if what the Chief said was true, a very angry Deity might be turning its gaze toward this tavern right now.
"We're leaving," Do Hyun barked. He grabbed Ragnar by the shoulder of his rags and hauled him back. "Geom Woo, move."
Geom Woo lowered his sword, his eyes narrowing at the Chief one last time, before fading back toward the door like a shadow. Mu Gyeol was already there, kicking the door open and checking the street for the "Clergy."
"Clear," Mu Gyeol signaled.
They shoved Ragnar out into the cold, gray light of the afternoon, leaving the terrified Chief and the bewildered sick men behind.
They didn't stop until they were a mile away from the village, putting a ridge of jagged black rock between them and the settlement. The wind was picking up again, carrying the scent of ash and sulfur.
Do Hyun finally called a halt. He turned to Ragnar, his expression unreadable.
"We have no food," Do Hyun stated flatly. "And we have no water. We walked into a supply run and walked out with nothing but a target on our backs."
"And a miracle," Geom Woo said softly. He was looking at Ragnar with a strange intensity.
Ragnar leaned against a cold rock, trying to catch his breath. The metallic taste of the lead toxin was still coating his tongue.
"Who is the Golden Ox God?" Ragnar asked. "Is he really a god?"
"He is a Power," Do Hyun said, crossing his arms. "A religion that has spread over the entire Empire and deep into the Outer Lands. They say he grants endurance and health to those who labor. But every gift has a price."
"The price is interest," Ragnar muttered, his mind working through the logic. "He loans them a little bit of vitality to keep them working, infects them with those spores, and then collects the principal plus interest when they're ripe."
It was a Ponzi scheme. A biological Ponzi scheme run by a deity.
But something bothered him.
"I extracted the energy," Ragnar said, thinking aloud. "I took the Will, separated the physical nutrients, and left the man alive. Healthy, even."
He looked at the three warriors.
"Why does the God kill them? If I could extract it without killing the host, surely a 'God' could do the same? If he kept them alive, he could harvest them again and again. It's inefficient to kill the livestock."
"Maybe He doesn't care," Mu Gyeol suggested, shrugging. "When you squeeze a fruit for juice, do you worry about keeping the rind intact? To a God, we are just rinds"
Ragnar shook his head. No. It's not just apathy.
He remembered the System message: [Warning: Heavy Metal Toxicity Present.]
The process was dirty. The spore used heavy metals—lead and mercury—to bind the Ether to the blood. Separating it required a precise chemical reaction.
'He can't do it,' Ragnar realized.
Ragnar pushed off the rock. He looked at his companions. They were strong men, but the hunger was evident in the hollows of their cheeks. They had been marching for days on meager rations, and now they had missed their resupply.
If they starved, Ragnar died. It was that simple.
He checked his internal status.
[Current Status:]
Crude Will: 10/10 (Unstable)
NPK Residue: 5g (Stored)
Toxicity: 2% (Active)
He had energy he didn't need. They needed energy they didn't have.
"Hey," Ragnar said. "Come here."
The three men looked at him warily.
"What now?" Do Hyun asked.
"I can't conjure bread," Ragnar said, holding out his hands. "But I took that energy from the old man. It's... it's just raw life force. Fuel."
He looked at Do Hyun. "You said you needed food. Food is just energy for the cells. Let me try something."
Do Hyun hesitated, then stepped forward. "If you turn me into a zombie, I will kill you before I turn."
"Noted."
Ragnar placed his hand on Do Hyun's shoulder. He closed his eyes and focused on the Crude Will stored in his own body.
Transfer, he commanded mentally. Discharge to target.
[System Warning: Initiating Energy Transfer.]
[Target Compatible.]
[Transferring 4 Crude Will...]
Ragnar felt the "warm honey" sensation leave his chest. It flowed down his arm and poured into Do Hyun.
Do Hyun's eyes flew open. He gasped, his back arching slightly.
"Whoa," the big man breathed.
The fatigue lines around his eyes vanished. His posture straightened. The gnawing hunger in his gut was suppressed by a flood of raw vitality.
"It feels... warm," Do Hyun said, looking at his hands. "Like I just slept for twelve hours and ate a steak."
"Me next," Mu Gyeol said instantly, shoving Do Hyun aside. "Fill me up, farmer."
Ragnar repeated the process with Mu Gyeol and Geom Woo. He gave 3 units to Mu Gyeol and 3 to Geom Woo.
When he was done, Ragnar slumped slightly. The buzzing energy was gone.
[Current Status:]
NPK Residue: 5g (Stored)
Toxicity: 2% (Active)
The Will was gone, but the Toxicity remained. The lead and mercury from the Golden Ox's spores were still in Ragnar's blood. He had acted as a filter.
He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Better?"
The three warriors looked at him with a new expression. It wasn't just tolerance anymore. It was respect. Bordering on awe.
"You really have awakened a Path," Do Hyun said quietly. "A Healer Path. This must be how your head reattached. Although..." He frowned. "It is strange for a newly awakened Path to be this potent. Usually, you can barely light a candle with your Will when you start. You just fed three grown men."
"I'm not a mouth to feed anymore," Ragnar said, meeting Do Hyun's eyes. "I just fed you. So now, you pay me."
"Pay you?" Mu Gyeol raised an eyebrow.
"Information," Ragnar said. "I want to know about the Paths."
"Fair enough," Do Hyun said. "Walk with us. We need to put more distance between us and the village."
As they resumed their march across the gray wasteland, Do Hyun began to speak.
"The Paths," he began, "are not something you choose. Awakening happens when a person comes into contact with a high concentration of Will—either from a Tower or a natural event."
"It is random," Geom Woo added from the back. "Some awaken Fire. Some awaken the Sword. Some, like you, awaken Life or Earth."
"But," Do Hyun continued, holding up a finger. "While the start is random, the evolution is a choice."
"Evolution?" Ragnar asked.
"Three pillars. Body. Mind. Soul."
Do Hyun tapped his chest.
"The Body is the vessel. If you focus on the Body, you reinforce your flesh. You become faster, stronger, harder to kill. You can hold more Will without exploding."
He tapped his temple.
"The Mind is the control. If you focus on the Mind, you learn to manipulate the Will with complexity. You can cast intricate spells, calculate trajectories, and understand the nature of the energy."
Finally, he gestured vaguely to the air.
"The Soul is the source. If you focus on the Soul, you increase the volume of your Will. You become a deep ocean of power. You can overwhelm opponents with sheer pressure."
Mu Gyeol chimed in. "Most people try to balance them, but eventually, you have to specialize. I focus on Body and Mind. Do Hyun is Body and Soul, that's brute force and heavy pressure."
Do Hyun looked at Ragnar.
"Since your Path seems to be Healing, most would tell you to focus on Soul. You need a deep reservoir of energy to heal others. Or Body, so you can survive on the battlefield while you tend to the wounded."
"But it is up to you," Do Hyun finished. "You must feel what your Path demands."
Ragnar walked in silence, processing the information.
Body. Mind. Soul.
The System had already shown him the way.
He had the Mind. His scientific background, his ability to analyze molecular structures, his overlay interface. He was already miles ahead of anyone else in understanding how things worked.
But he had a problem.
He looked at his gray-stained fingertips. The Toxicity: 2%.
He was a living filter. To use his power he had to absorb the toxins that others couldn't handle.
If he focused on Soul, he would just be a bigger bucket for the poison. If he focused on Mind, he would know exactly how he was dying, but couldn't stop it.
I need Body, Ragnar realized.
He needed a vessel strong enough to withstand the chemical reactions he was forcing. He needed a liver of steel and kidneys of diamond. He needed to evolve his biology to process the heavy metals, he needed to become a high-class filter, filtering out industrial waste.
"I think I need to train my Body." Ragnar said slowly.
Mu Gyeol laughed.
"Don't mock him," Do Hyun said. "He has the right idea. If he dies, we lose our new battery."
Do Hyun pointed to the horizon, where the jagged silhouette of a mountain range was beginning to tear through the purple clouds.
"Keep moving, 'Healer.' We have a long walk ahead, you can exercise on the way."
Ragnar nodded, he was tired, he was poisoned, but for the first time since waking up in the corpse pit, he had a plan.
Body to survive the poison. Mind to solve the chemistry. Soul to fuel the reaction.
An Alchemist was born.