Chapter 219
Chapter 219: Gathering
The news of Yoo Ji-han’s party graduating early spread quickly among the new students of the Hero Academy.
“If it’s those people, it’s expected…”
“I knew it.”
“It’s only natural.”
The majority among them seemed to have anticipated this outcome.
Jin Seok-woo had given a detailed explanation to them about Yoo Ji-han’s early graduation.
Even after leaving the Hero Academy, the benefits of being a new student could still be enjoyed until the very end, which had many advantages.
“They’re graduating already?”
“That’s right.”
Min Yu-ri delivered the news of early graduation to her senior archer and instructor, Lee Soo-ji.
Before the expedition, Lee Soo-ji had offered her some advice, and now she smiled lightly.
“I saw the movie. You shot excellently at the end, didn’t you?”
“Ah…”
Min Yu-ri scratched her cheek bashfully.
When Chilla inhaled the black mist and collapsed due to Jung Young-wook’s actions, her patience snapped, and she shot a very powerful arrow at the people from another world.
Her perfectly fine bow shattered under her overflowing magic.
In terms of sheer power, it was an attack on par with Instructor Lee Soo-ji’s maximum output.
“I have nothing more to teach you. Just keep doing that going forward!”
“Thank you very much.”
Yoo Ji-han’s party exchanged goodbyes with the instructors who had helped them during the day’s classes.
The last instructor to enter the final class, Jin Seok-woo, said,
“Let’s give a round of applause to those graduating.”
Clap, clap, clap, clap…
Applause poured down for Yoo Ji-han’s party, who was finishing their time at the Hero Academy with early graduation.
Some expressed envy, others jealousy, and yet others genuine admiration.
As similar as the claps sounded, a variety of emotions lay within them.
Receiving the applause, Yoo Ji-han slightly bowed his head toward the other new students.
‘Things are certainly different from before.’
On the day Yoo Ji-han’s party participated in the entrance ceremony held at the hotel after passing the Hero Academy, Baek Kang-cheon, who was the host, had made a surprise announcement about the party that had received high scores in the interview.
——Lastly, it’s Yoo Ji-han’s party!
When the news that Yoo Ji-han’s party had made it into the rankings spread, a mood of disbelief permeated the surroundings.
In reality, aside from Go Mina’s party, no one had even tried to approach them.
However, even though the people gathered at the entrance ceremony and the current crowd were completely different, there was no trace of past behavior to be found.
“Excuse me, Yu-ri. Can I have your contact information…?”
“Wait a minute, Kim Si-hu!”
“You remember me, right?”
Their friendliness as they approached first was rather apparent.
Although Yoo Ji-han didn’t feel bad about their completely reversed attitudes, he refused the requests for contact information and put on a somewhat bitter smile.
*
“Unnie Mina.”
“Unnie, are you going to just stand there?”
“…….”
Go Mina remained silent as she listened to her younger sisters whispering.
She usually held significant affection for Yoo Ji-han.
But now, with his choice of early graduation, she faced a crisis where her connection with him would greatly diminish.
“Now’s the time to confess!”
“Absolutely not.”
Go Mina shook her head firmly.
She didn’t think Yoo Ji-han seemed like the type of guy who would easily accept a sudden confession.
“……I need to try harder.”
With the other party’s presence unexpectedly growing larger than anticipated, the only way to catch his eye was to raise her own value.
She was worried about Min Yu-ri, who always stuck by him.
‘Just wait.’
She decided to take a step back for the future.
*
“Did you send the payment to Mongdang?”
“Yes!”
The profits expected to come in through Sweet Fun were almost all received.
A portion of the guild account funds had been sent to the Monster Disposal Company, Mongdang.
Yoo Ji-han had requested Jang Sa-im, who had an excellent identification ability regarding monster remains, to find high-quality materials.
Thus, Yoo Ji-han was puzzling together the necessary materials like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle to replace his and his party’s equipment.
‘Drimium seems promising.’
The small powder scraped from the Drimium was being stored in a safe place.
While it wasn’t possible to completely melt it down, heating the small powder made it gradually shift and become malleable.
The effects of repeatedly absorbing magic with a Sylph were beginning to show.
‘Only the quantity is disappointing.’
According to Nam Ho-yeol, due to the limited amount, the only equipment Yoo Ji-han could make using Drimium as the main material was his sword.
He planned to coat other equipment with the remaining Drimium.
Min Yu-ri looked at the materials she was planning to purchase and sighed.
“Guardian Shark’s teeth, Crazy Orange peels… These are all materials I’ve only heard about.”
“Those were gifts from the Hero Academy too.”
“Shadow Lily leaves?”
“We also have Cold Grass dew and Demon Crocodile skin.”
“Chirp! That’s thanks to me!”
From the gifts received, to the items Chilla claimed as his share, all the requests made by Yoo Ji-han’s party to the Hero Academy resulted in by-products from rare monsters from abroad.
After handing those over to Nam Ho-yeol, he was so delighted he nearly screamed in high tones.
Moreover, he had kept any unidentified materials considered useful obtained from the expedition and didn’t sell them.
The creation of equipment was now just a matter of time.
“Oh right! You’re going to a gathering in the afternoon, right?”
“I need to leave soon.”
At Kim Si-hu’s words, Yoo Ji-han pulled out a black card the size of a business card from his pocket.
When he lightly infused it with magic, white letters appeared on the otherwise blank card.
It contained the time and location of the meeting.
—You’re going to see friends?
“Yeah.”
—Hehe!
It was an invitation to the Spirit Master meeting, gifted by Yoon Do-ha before he went missing.
The meeting was set for today.
‘I never expected to go alone.’
He hadn’t imagined attending the gathering without Yoon Do-ha.
“Be careful out there.”
“Make sure to tell us how it went!”
With Kim Si-hu shouting for updates, Yoo Ji-han exited the office and headed for the meeting place.
A distance easily reachable by taxi in under an hour.
“You must be quite busy these days.”
“Seems that way.”
While chatting amicably with the taxi driver, time passed quickly as they drove.
Yoo Ji-han soon arrived at the meeting location.
“Here we are.”
A café that occupied the entire basement floor.
As he descended the stairs, he noticed a sign stating that they weren’t open for business today.
—Hmm! I can feel the spirit’s energy from here!
Hearing the Sylph’s words, Yoo Ji-han knocked on the café’s door.
Receiving no immediate response, suddenly magic began to seep out from the gap in the door.
‘That’s spirit magic.’
Without a doubt, it was the red magic of a spirit, not of a human.
That magic formed a phrase in midair.
[Please insert the invitation through the door gap.]
Following the instructions, Yoo Ji-han slipped the invitation through the door.
Soon after a confirmation process, the previously locked door swung wide open.
And when Yoo Ji-han stepped inside,
“You’ve arrived.”
“It’s due to Yoon Do-ha’s invitation…”
“Is that the person in the spotlight?”
He found himself surrounded by spirit masters from Korea gathered from various regions.
They were already seated and sipping coffee, perhaps arriving before the scheduled time.
Beside them were spirits of various attributes, such as fire, water, earth, and wind.
“Eek?”
“Tiri tiri?”
“Ororong?!”
“Kii!”
At that moment, the Korean spirits, who had been waiting quietly by their contract holders, all looked towards Yoo Ji-han and emitted strange sounds.
“What’s going on?”
“Why are you all acting weird?”
The spirit masters tilted their heads at the spirits’ behavior.
Yoo Ji-han calmly watched them.
‘They’re doing it again.’
He remembered a similar reaction when he first met the earth spirit, Mumu, and the water spirit, Aqua.
He couldn’t tell if they were reacting to the Sylph or to him.
To dispel the slightly chaotic atmosphere, he initiated the greeting first.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Yoo Ji-han from Sweet Fun.”
“Welcome.”
“I’ve already heard from Do-ha beforehand.”
“Dig! Make me some coffee.”
“Right away!”
The earth spirit, resembling a little mouse, brewed and offered coffee to Yoo Ji-han.
Its organized movements were on par with that of a professional.
“Can’t you do something like that?”
—Oh dear, I don’t have hands!
Using the Sylph as an excuse, Yoo Ji-han took a seat in the vacant spot.
With his arrival, it seemed all participants had finally gathered, and the person who appeared to be the host cleared his throat and spoke.
“Cough cough! I sincerely thank everyone for participating in this 23rd meeting of the Spirit Masters.”
This was already the 23rd gathering of the Spirit Masters.
The host, a fire spirit master, briefly introduced himself.
He then gazed at the still vacant seats.
“Unfortunately, Yoon Do-ha could not be present here today.”
“…….”
Upon the mention of Yoon Do-ha’s name, some spirit masters smiled bitterly.
His absence, although he was a leading figure in this meeting and considered the strongest spirit master, had a significant impact on the other spirit masters.
“It’s a relief to find a possibility that he might still be alive.”
“Today, it was our newcomer, Yoo Ji-han, who provided that information.”
All eyes turned to Yoo Ji-han.
Curiosity was written all over those faces.
“Is it true that you can read other people’s memories through spirits?”
“It is.”
“How fascinating!”
“Could you explain what it feels like?”
Since the Sylph’s abilities had been somewhat revealed through the movie, the spirit masters displayed excitement at this unprecedented power of a spirit.
Yoo Ji-han left the explanation to the Sylph.
—When the magic drops with a thump! it bounces up with a pop!
“Thump and pop, huh…”
—It feels like the connection with the contract holder becomes significantly stronger at that moment?
“Indeed! Quite profound.”
Listening to the Sylph’s sensation-based explanation, the spirit masters nodded earnestly.
Some were even taking notes in real-time, perhaps for some purpose.
‘This is a bit uncomfortable.’
Unable to reveal that it truly was a unique skill and not pure spirit power, Yoo Ji-han struggled to continue the conversation.
*
The start of the Spirit Master meeting over aromatic coffee revolved around the Sylph and Yoo Ji-han.
Numerous questions regarding the expedition naturally poured in.
However, under the host’s mediation, the progression eventually flowed into the original course of the meeting.
“This is a research result sent to us from the American Spirit Master Association.”
“When connecting with fire and water spirits for over an hour, how much magic loss occurs…”
Reports of unpublished research findings from overseas spirit masters.
“Attempts to equip equipment to the water spirit ended in failure.”
“Oh no! That’s unfortunate.”
“Though we managed to put it on, we couldn’t utilize the equipment at all, nor could we solve the problem of it coming off during combat…”
New methods and attempts to utilize spirits.
Furthermore, information that would be challenging for Yoo Ji-han to access alone was addressed within the gathering.
The story about traveling through the nation’s hot springs with the water spirit was even intriguing.
“Hey!”
“Are you the newcomer?”
—That’s right! I am indeed the newcomer!
Spirits approached the Sylph, who was attending the meeting for the first time, teasingly.
The Sylph boldly responded without being daunted.
“I like your attitude!”
—Same goes for you!
“Wahaha!”
—Uheehee!
Fortunately, it seemed the spirits were getting along well even on their first encounter.
Since the water spirit, Aqua, had been met during the expedition, the Sylph could blend into the spirit group more easily.
‘The voice of the spirits sounds different depending on how they vocalize.’
During a 15-minute personal break given during the meeting, when Yoo Ji-han was quietly observing the spirits,
“Yoo Ji-han.”
A female spirit master in her 50s approached him.
She was the third oldest spirit master in attendance.
Though she had long since retired as a hero, she was someone who gained attention for utilizing spirits in her daily life.
“Is your mother’s name Park Gi-joo?”
“Uh?”
Upon hearing the name of his deceased mother from her mouth, Yoo Ji-han was startled.
He had just met this person for the first time today.
