“For the next seven days, you can build your house, find food and play to your heart’s content!”
The guide gave a wristband to each of them.
“This is a Level 1 bracelet artifact, ‘Tongue of an Arrogant Mage’. It rings an alarm as soon as you use mana, and it records it down as well!”
After glancing at Myung Yongha, the guide gave an awkward smile.
“Of course, some of you might be able to trick it, but please refrain from using blessings, skills and abilities like an actual field battle experience!”
They also received a field operation kit on top, but it did not contain a tent.
“Now then, Mister Jitae. We will head to the east.”
“Yes. We’ll go south then.”
“By the way, this will be boring if we just do it like this right? Let’s try competing while we’re at it.”
“Compete at what.”
“We visit each other’s residence after three days and let’s see who’s living a better life!”
“Sounds good. But how do we compare them.”
“Mister Guide?”
“Ah, yes!”
“Please give a fair comparison as the judge.”
“Ah, yes sir.”
Myung Yongha looked confident.
“If I lose, I’ll give you some very precious alcohol.”
“Alcohol. Sounds good.”
The deal was made.
*
At the front was a beautiful mountain with a thick forest, and behind was a wonderful beach with white sand. Although it was in fact a man-made lake, it was enormous enough to make it look like the ocean.
“Uwahh–! It’s so pretty!”
Holding onto Gyeoul’s hand, Kaeul dashed into the ocean and splashed around. “Kyahaha!” they chuckled. The water was clear, warm and there was a high density of mana nearby.
Yeorum didn’t go inside, and instead sat on the sand. The fine sand soaked by the ocean waves tickled the gaps between her toes.
“…”
It was a ticklish feeling that she had never felt before. Right when she was fidgeting with her toes to dig deeper into the sand, a large blob of water flew across and covered her face. “Ah, what the fu*k!” shouted Yeorum before wiping her face. The ball of water was so big that her t-shirt and everything became wet. Raising her head up, she found Kaeul and Gyeoul giggling.
Seeing how Gyeoul was pointing her tongue out, it was clear that she was the perpetrator. She wasn’t wearing a bracelet either.
“…”
Yeorum repeatedly swept her wet hair up.
“These kids don’t know how scary their unni is; trying to climb up my toes…”
She took a hair band out from her pocket and tied her hair like an apple.
“My little babies. You’re the ones that started it, okay?”
Without caring about the sand any more, Yeorum ran into the lake. She then started dashing across the surface of the water.
“Mommy! A, a red boar is coming!”
“…!”
“Uh? Uh! Gyeoul. When did you learn how to swim? Take me with you!”
“…”
“Don’t leave me behind…!”
Her giggles soon turned into screams.
Meanwhile, Yu Jitae was sitting at the back of the beach away from the water, blankly watching the kids. It was just an addition of water and yet they were so happy, and were enjoying their time together.
“Uh, unni! Uhp, uhp… help me! Uhp, uhhpp…”
Or were they?
While they were playing, he was glancing around the surroundings. He could agree to what Myung Yongha had said. This island was for soldiers that had lived in the field, and several landscapes were exactly the same as a dungeon.
Since they would get hungry after playing a lot, it was about time to start preparing for food.
“You’re not going inside?”
“Yes.”
“Why. Go play with them.”
“Hmm…”
Bom shook her head without saying anything back. Her grass-coloured hair appeared like leaves receiving sunlight.
“Let’s go find food together.”
“Okay.”
Yu Jitae entered the forest with Bom. Resembling the dungeon itself, the thick and messy forest welcomed its two visitors.
“What are we looking for now?”
“Water.”
“Can’t we just boil the lake water?”
“It’s salt water.”
It was fine for both Yu Jitae and the dragons to consume salt water and in fact, they didn’t have to eat anything for a week. But if they were going to eat and drink, it was better to have clear water.
“What do we do then? Is there like a pool of water nearby?”
Yu Jitae looked around. The environment was similar to a tropical rainforest-type dungeon.
“The temperature is slightly high.”
“It’s like midsummer. Maybe it’s because of that thing above us,” said Bom while staring at the artificial sun.
“And it’s quite humid as well. Plants in these places tend to be poisonous. Once dead, the plants go back into the ground, and the moisture flows down and gradually heads to a lower area.”
“Does that mean the lake is poisonous as well?”
“Normally, it would be.”
But since it was an artificial island, they didn’t copy all that. Besides, the lake was supposed to be an ocean as well.
“How about this?”
Bom placed her hand on a nameless conifer tree. When the owner of mother nature requested the tree of its resin, the vines of the tree opened up as tree saps flowed out.
“Plants that adapt to the environment are generally poisonous,” said Yu Jitae.
After touching the resin for some time, Bom closed the vine for the tree. “I see…” It was because there was poison in the mix.
“Then how about this here?”
At a slightly deeper area of the forest, Bom pointed at a little pond between the rocks. It looked quite clear, but Yu Jitae shook his head.
It was a common mistake made by inexperienced superhumans when they were isolated by accident.
“You can’t since it has microorganisms inside.”
“Microorganisms?”
“There are some bacterias that even a superhuman body cannot absorb.”
Yu Jitae opened his mouth, while reminiscing on the distant past.
“There was this young superhuman. He graduated as the second best performer of a small nurturing facility of the town and was full of confidence, but he ended up straying away from the party at a B- tropical rainforest dungeon.”
“Okay.”
“He was saved after four days, but was only skin and bones.”
“Because of this water?”
“Yeah. He drank it after judging that there was no poison inside. Apparently, he had a diarrhoea for four days straight.”
“How sad.”
Bom giggled.
Actually, the man in question was Yu Jitae of the first iteration.
He didn’t remember it directly but it was such a shocking incident back then, and the fact that something like that had happened was still inside his head.
“Hmm… Ah, then how about we find plants that don’t have poison and gather their resins?”
Bom pointed at several plantations that were soaring above the puddle of water. They were as small as straws but were chubby like aloes.
“That’s fine too.”
But if this was a real field operation, the leader of the 8-man squad had to secure enough drinking water for 8 people.
Yu Jitae walked on. He saw various plants and insects, and heard the growls of spirit beasts, birds and small monsters.
Suddenly, his feet came to a stop.
There was a large tree that seemed to have been broken from a lightning strike. Yu Jitae hid his body under the tree, and Bom tactfully followed suit and whispered.
“Why?”
“Look closely. What do you see.”
At a distance, there was a fist-sized bird with two heads, flying above a wetland. It’s beak was large and colourful, and another unique feature of the bird was the horn on its head.
“Is it a bird? It’s my first time seeing it…”
“It’s a spirit beast, called the Horned Raptor. Even in poisonous environments, bugs find leaves to eat and birds food. Among them are ones that don’t have tolerance against poison. Those are the picky kind.”
Yu Jitae further lowered his body.
“Those guys are always sensitive because of the lack of food. Unlike those that eat everything, they value their territories more but even spirit beasts think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. What do you think happens then.”
“They’ll probably invade others’ territory.”
“What if others think the same?”
“…”
Bom widened her eyes.
“Do they gather and hide food?”
“Yeah. Since spirit beasts are as smart as humans, they know how to secure and stock food.”
Soon, the horned raptor was attacked by another horned raptor. Their beaks clashed in mid-air and one of them was trying to fly to the trunk of a certain tree while another desperately protected it.
When Yu Jitae walked closer, they immediately distanced themselves in fright. He forced the trunk open and found dozens of roots the size of a soccer ball, and several fresh fruits. These roots were hard to find in rainforests, and contained plenty of water inside like a sponge.
“Uwah, it’s really there.”
Fascinated, Bom smiled.
“But are you taking everything?”
“Yeah.”
“I feel a bit sorry for them…” murmured Bom.
It was a new perspective for him. So what if birds starved.
However, there was no reason to take everything when they were here to play. Yu Jitae only took four roots from there and headed deeper into the forest with Bom.
Fitting her race as the dragon of mother nature, she appeared satisfied from just staying inside the forest. It was clear from how she would randomly stop and stare at wild flowers.
On the way inside, a snake jumped and tried to bite her on the arm, but when its eyes met with Bom’s, the venomous snake stopped its chin right before its mouth came to a close.
It’s face turned rigid and after glancing at her, it slowly backed out.
“That surprised me…”
The snake was nodding its head like it was asking for an apology. Thus, it lived.
Soon, a bigger venomous snake dashed forth towards Yu Jitae and he snapped its neck. The snake immediately died.
Bom asked in surprise.
“Uh? What was that?”
“A delicious snake.”
“No, not that. Why did that snake try to bite you, ahjussi?”
“Ah. Because I killed my presence.”
“Why?”
“Why.”
He raised the snake.
“Because they come on their own.”
The grass-coloured eyes blinked.
While walking deeper inside, Yu Jitae took a fragment of rock salt and gathered twigs and moss. He also ripped a dead tree apart and gathered its inside, which resembled sawdust. It was dry and was a good source to start a fire with.
What else should he take. After having a meal, they had to build a house. He could break nearby trees and build a decent house so…
It was when Yu Jitae was thinking of his next plan.
“Aya…”
Bom let out a small groan and fell.
“What’s wrong.”
“…”
Sitting on the grass, Bom touched her legs. When she lifted her fingers up, there was red blood on them.
“A bug bit me.”
Her eyes were slightly slanted down.
Bitten by a bug? He couldn’t really understand the situation. How could a dragon be bitten by a bug?
Even then, he decided to still take a look at her thigh.
“Uh? What are you doing?”
“You said you were bitten. Let’s see.”
“It’s a bit, that.”
“Bit what.”
“It’s just a bit embarrassing…”
What was there to be embarrassed about. Since she was trying to hide it, he got closer and checked it. There was blood smudged on the inner side of her thigh and there was a trace of a small bite. It wasn’t something worthy of being called an injury, and it would be fine once it was healed with magic.
That was when two arms came closer and grabbed Yu Jitae’s head.
“…”
Bom looked into his eyes. Wondering what this was about, he slightly pulled his body away. Soon, a nonchalant smile replaced the melancholic look on her face and she murmured with a hum.
“…It’s true.”
“What is,” he asked, but Bom remained silent.
***
After coming back, Yu Jitae prepared the meat. He got rid of the blood and the internal organs and used the detoxicant inside the field operation kit to remove the parasites and poisons of the meat.
There was also a large, foldable mess tin inside the operation kit. He squeezed the water out from the root, finely ground the rock salt fragment and boiled a stew with the meat, roots, leaves and fruits.
Since the snake was quite big, there was a lot to eat.
“Uwah, I, I, I know this! This is ‘delicacy’…!?”
Kaeul blew on the meat and threw it into her mouth. The clean taste of protein and the quality of meat was quite good. Her golden eyes turned into circles.
Both Yeorum and Gyeoul were apparently also hungry after playing around. They gorged themselves without being picky on the roots and vegetables.
“You know. I saw this little turtle inside the lake.”
“Yeah.”
“I followed it, and there was this interesting thing under this island, you know?”
Yeorum went on and on about the turtle she met while playing in the water. She then suggested that they go together so he nodded.
“Get up once you’re done with the food. Let’s build a house together.”