Eat The World Tree

Chapter 292: Cheonma Uses Magic (2)

the essence of magic was to extract maximum efficiency with minimal mana.

even when creating a single fireball, the key was how much mana could be saved while maintaining the same power.

a mage’s capability was evaluated by this standard.

the speed of chanting or the amount of mana was a separate talent.

so, one thought came to mind.

could magic be used with demonic energy instead of mana?

maximum power with minimal mana.

if i could convert the mana in the vessel into demonic energy and use it as a material for magic...

i could achieve at least three to four times the efficiency compared to the magic i had created so far.

of course, there was a clear difference between the mana that helped trigger magic and demonic energy.

it was not about which was better or worse; they were fundamentally different. in extreme cases, magic could not be used with demonic energy, or i would have to craft it as if i were creating martial arts techniques directly.

the reason i was so obsessed with magic was separate.

i had reached the peak in martial arts, having learned from cheonma countless times in the past.

in terms of hand-to-hand combat techniques, i had no shortcomings.

but more power and firepower.

the more urgent time became, the more restless my mind got.

for that, i wondered if i should seriously take up a job at a host bar or something.

“lee shiheon. were you thinking about something else?”

even the sage—this monster—was difficult to deal with.

she was not an ordinary person, and how could i possibly seduce her by any means?

“please focus.”

“focus!”

i stroked sephirot, who had climbed onto my lap, and continued moving my pen.

for some reason, the problems weren’t sinking in today.

“if there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask anytime.”

still, the learning process was smooth.

once this lesson ended, it would be like taking a step closer to hwangdo.

since i had been taught by cheondo, baekdo, and hwangdo, i always thought that i wanted to follow the strength of all three.

hwangdo was currently regarded as an unmatched grand mage in this world.

even the sage highly valued her talent.

maronnie also possessed similar talent to hwangdo. there was a reason the sage had her eye on her.

it was unclear what a woman who claimed to pursue neutrality had in mind when approaching maronnie or sansuyu.

for now, i just had to follow hwangdo’s path.

-scribble, scribble.

the sound of the pen moving.

that sound was getting closer.

three days.

we were at the stage of wrapping up the first assignment given by the sage.

with no choice but to stay up all night, i continued studying. even maronnie, who found this amount of work hard to digest in three days, sat next to me. ṝἀνöbêš

-flap.

the sound of pages turning came from right beside me.

-screech.

the sound of a chair scraping against the tile floor.

a cat cautiously approached.

before long, maronnie’s head gently leaned against my shoulder.

blanche has been getting excessively touchy lately.

“blanche.”

“......”

no response. when i looked over, maronnie had her eyes closed.

it was obvious that she was pretending to sleep.

this darn cat had picked up all the wrong habits. sometimes, she copied what sansuyu did to me.

“are you tired?”

i stopped writing and slightly raised my hand.

waving my palm in front of maronnie’s face, her long eyelashes fluttered faintly as if sensing the wind or warmth.

“sigh.”

when i sighed, her shoulder trembled slightly.

that alone was enough for her to realize that i had noticed. but perhaps fearing that she couldn’t bear the embarrassment if she admitted it, she clenched her eyelids even tighter, pretending to sleep with all her might.

i glanced at the book in front of maronnie.

the page was filled with notes.

turning back the pages without her noticing, i saw that she had already finished solving her part of the problems long ago.

she had just been sitting by my side, pretending to work on the mid-section problems.

‘since when did she start acting like this?’

it must have been after the day i helped with sansuyu’s nursing.

her behavior became suspicious around then.

since that day, she’s become much more assertive in sticking by my side.

i didn’t know what it was like to experience subjugation.

nor did i know what emotions drove maronnie to pretend to sleep like this.

but looking at her actions, she was no different from a woman deeply in love.

even during dinner, if there was something like sausage, she insisted on giving me one more.

and when i passed it to sansuyu because i had enough, she glared at me with the face of an abandoned cat.

whenever that happened, she always took one of my clothes as if in retaliation.

i didn’t know what she did under the blanket, but she fidgeted around.

at first, i almost thought it was some sort of cursed doll and felt creeped out.

“is this so bad that i need to help her release it?”

when maronnie had her desires fulfilled once, she didn’t react so strongly to touch.

-flinch.

maronnie’s face trembled at my words.

her breathing quickened slightly, as if in anticipation. swallowing her saliva, her throat quivered momentarily.

first, i needed to finish the assignment.

with only a few problems left, i tackled them while maronnie clung to my right shoulder.

by the time i finished, it was 3 am.

everyone else was asleep, and i gently shook maronnie’s shoulder.

still, she didn’t wake up.

left with no other choice, i held her under her knees and behind her shoulders, lifting her up.

-gasp.

maronnie, startled, held her breath. i hastily closed the book and left it on the desk, heading for the room.

-click.

lately, sansuyu has also been staying up late often.

it seemed she was deeply engaged in investigating the cornus family’s experiment, and the sage was assisting her.

“mmm.”

“what?”

“sansuyu... she’s just your lover. and i’m... brainwashed, right?”

she had definitely misunderstood something.

she must have seen what happened back then.

could this have led to jealousy?

“...i like you too.”

“hey, that’s not—”

“i’m not saying that right now! right now....”

she cut off my words entirely, and instead, her hands were fiddling with my pants.

slowly, it started escalating.

since i hadn’t been intimate with anyone recently, my body reacted quickly.

when she unzipped my pants, my member sprung out forcefully, brushing against her chest and lower abdomen.

maronnie stared at it in awe, almost like she was entranced.

maybe “gone too far” was the right phrase.

her legs gave out as she sat back down on the toilet, resting her face against it.

“......”

-thump, thump. thump, thump.

the sound of my heart echoed louder.

[champi~]

byeol’s voice rang from the other end of the phone.

with her smartphone wedged between her shoulder and ear, champi chuckled cheerfully.

“hey, byeol.”

[how’s the work going? is it progressing well?]

“ah, of course. guseul is still under surveillance, and as for the other hunters... well, we’ll see.”

blood seeped toward her sneakers.

not wanting to dirty her shoes, champi took a step back.

[i’m counting on you!]

“...yeah. yeah. if the vice president asks me, how can i stay quiet? if i want any scraps, this is what i need to do. right, future president?”

[future president, huh? you’re too much!]

that old man mugung was far too conservative.

or maybe it was not just conservative, but overly devoted to his country.

he’d do anything to raise the prestige of south korea.

it was one of the reasons why the korean branch of the hunter association stood so tall today.

no one could surpass mugung in skill from the start.

that was why south korea was now considered a leading nation.

they had absolute diplomatic superiority, early access to mana stones, and so on.

but in focusing so clearly on his goals, he often missed what was right in front of him, making him seem like a stubborn old man.

on the other hand, byeol... well, she was flexible.

that was one reason champi liked her.

[so, what about the traitors?]

byeol’s voice turned serious.

“i sent them over. to that place.”

champi put away her phone and looked down again.

bodies torn to pieces.

[i’ve confirmed it.]

“yeah, good work, lehu.”

[lehu~]

after hanging up, champi shoved the phone into her pocket.

then she stomped down on the corpse in front of her.

“...damn it. why?”

“dead bodies shouldn’t be talking.”

his thigh flesh tore open, and the man couldn’t even scream, just shutting his eyes tight.

“who are you supposed to be? some kind of mentor? what, are you trying to spread flower’s ideology?”

“...we shouldn’t have lost this fight.”

“heh heh heh heh heh.”

a deep chuckle spread.

“ha ha ha ha ha. this arrogant bastard. that’s why i hate the younger generation. they think they’re something special.”

“...!”

“sure, today’s s-ranks are stronger than those of the past. i mean, compared to the cheonma days, things have improved.”

“...damn it.”

“but here’s the thing.”

they’re delusional.

“just because you’re an s-rank and can throw around a bit of power, do you think you have some grand stake in this world? do you think that siding with flower will change the current balance? are you stronger than a god?”

“...urgh.”

the man frowned at champi’s harsh words.

“heh. it’s funny.”

champi raised her head.

seven corpses lay scattered around.

“the fact that you and i are both considered s-rank.”

“...you bitch!”

“even among s-ranks, there’s a clear gap. i mean, come on, this proves it. a-rank hunters sneaking around and killing civilians are treated like s-rank calamities. cheonma and the tree spirit king are both s-rank, aren’t they?”

rank games were a joke.

in this world, you didn’t know until you fought.

“you’ll never, ever die peacefully.”

so all the s-rank hunters champi killed—more than seven—were basically the same.

they were all alike in the end.

“i know, idiot.”

champi stomped on the man’s head.

-squash!

the skull cracked. the man’s eyes rolled to the floor.

immediate execution.

those who sided with flower had committed such grave crimes.

whether they were good or evil didn’t matter; they had meddled in her affairs.

“...tastes bitter.”

champi’s armor slowly peeled off her body.

after using her full strength for the first time in a while, blood spurted from her mouth.

“heh, i’m screwed soon enough.”

though the forester selection competition handled the traitors, there were still many undiscovered ones.

how many more would be revealed here?

a dark cloud was looming over the world.