'It seems that fish are still too difficult for me. Next time, I should try something easier to revive.'
While eating the crispy fried fish dipped in sauce, he began to pre-select the <revival candidates> from Christina’s food.
Lun appeared alone this time, leaving Bakyah in the room.
As soon as he arrived in the kitchen, he looked for the spice storage.
There, he found the ingredients he had in mind.
The branches, densely covered with coniferous leaves used for herbs, were tied in bunches.
Lun held the bunch tightly and smiled.
"If animals don’t work, then it must be plants."
He placed the bunch of herbs on the sink and focused again.
Without fail, a light burst forth, and the plant, which was in a relatively good condition, began to show signs of life.
It was so full of vitality that it seemed to be growing right on the tree.
Of course, that didn’t mean he was satisfied.
It didn’t grow into a complete tree.
'Damn. This doesn’t work either?'
With his arms crossed and one foot tapping, Lun felt frustrated. It was clear that the ability he had obtained was potent, but it felt like he couldn’t use it freely.
Suddenly, he noticed something odd.
'Was there a sprout there?'
It was a very small and blunt sprout, almost like a new shoot that had been there all along.
'No, it must have grown.'
He stared intently at the bright green sprout and clenched and unclenched his right hand, feeling like he had found a clue to his ability.
He wandered around, experimenting with various ingredients one by one.
As a result, from fresh apples to flawless onions, plump potatoes, and fat carrots.
The last thing in his hand was a green tomato that had turned from ripe.
He threw the tomato to the floor, but it was so firm that it didn’t burst; instead, it bounced and rolled into a corner.
'Damn. Fruits, root crops, flowers. If there’s anything easier and more trivial than these......'
Trying to calm his impatience, Lun took a deep breath, and a final candidate came to mind.
He looked around, but unfortunately, there were no suitable seeds to revive in the kitchen.
It was frustrating that even a simple seed couldn’t be found.
'To think it’s this trivial! How much more refinement do I need to use it properly?'
Even if he found the right seed and succeeded, it was clear that he would need to invest a lot of time in practice to use it effectively.
'There must be a way. It was said that the power is balanced or enhanced according to the level.'
Suddenly, Lun recalled that Ferdikion’s song was merely a formality for invoking the command.
'The level is just a unit, and it must include the years I’ve lived and my attributes.'
This place was at the very center of Christina’s lair.
In short, it was a place filled with the attribute of light, which was the complete opposite of darkness.
Suddenly, Lun realized something and punched his other hand.
"Right. That’s why Ferdikion said he would prepare for night classes."
While it was a good place for recovery, it wasn’t suitable for a dark-attribute user to fully utilize their power.
As soon as he realized this, Lun picked up a dried fish from the refrigerator, which he had experimented with yesterday, and cast a teleportation spell.
The place he arrived at was where he had hatched from the egg for the first time.
It was a place filled with the relics and magic stones left by the Black Dragons, and the aura of darkness.
He felt a sense of familiarity and confidence.
"In this place, my attribute will be enhanced."
He held the dried fish and headed towards the center, passing by the relics of the Black Dragons.
Suddenly, something caught his eye.
There, on a soft cushion, was a small, black seed, exactly at the level he wanted.
Without hesitation, Lun threw the dried fish he had brought for the experiment and picked up the seed with interest.
At the same time, information about the seed, inherited through his knowledge, appeared in a small window.
- Species: Enchanting Black Rose from the Netherworld
- Hatching Conditions: Unknown
- Needs soil containing dark attributes to grow.
※ Special Note: There is a rare chance that the seed contains the soul of ■■.
'A flower from the Netherworld?'
Although the information was limited, it was clear that this was something that could only be obtained from the Netherworld.
He looked around and even checked the corners of the lair, but he couldn’t find any other seeds.
The special note was a bit concerning, but with the center filled with the aura of the Black Dragons and a dark-attribute seed, he didn’t care about the unknown hatching conditions.
A powerful light of life burst forth from his hand, stronger than ever before.
The seed in his hand began to stir slightly.
Then, the pointed end burst open, and a black sprout peeked out.
Lun couldn’t help but cheer for the sprout.
The seed, as if it had met the sun, unfolded its cotyledons, and Lun’s eyes sparkled.
But that was as far as it went.
The speed at which the cotyledons unfolded slowed down, and the growth gradually stopped.
His involuntary cry, unfortunately, made the seed stop moving and become rigid.
"......Even this doesn’t work, huh."
'I thought a seed with the same attribute would yield better results.'
This was the last candidate.
As he felt the power of the command fading, a sense of frustration washed over him.
'In the end, I only managed to sprout it.'
Lun, feeling a burning sensation in his chest, was about to throw the seed in his hand when he noticed something odd.
The fine roots that had grown from the seed were poking his hand as if trying to penetrate it.
The sensation was very slight, just enough to tickle, but Lun was desperate.
He changed his posture from throwing to examining the sprouted seed closely.
The seed, which had sprouted, was now extending several fine roots and trembling on his hand.
It seemed to sense that it was about to be thrown and was trying to root itself in his hand to absorb more power.
'! It’s not my imagination.'
The seed, though weak, was clearly enveloped in the power of darkness and was reaching out to Lun’s darkness.
The need to obtain nutrients was a basic survival instinct of life.
The magic power of the Black Dragon might be high-quality nutrients for the seed from the Netherworld.
Having thought this far, Lun decided to share a bit of his magic power with the seed.
As if it had been waiting, the sprout began to absorb his magic power little by little.
Overwhelmed with joy at the success, Lun opened his mouth in surprise.
He then looked around to find soil containing darkness, but there was nothing similar.
'I can’t let it die after bringing it back to life.'
He didn’t give up and diligently searched among the relics.
He carefully opened old boxes and brought dark-attribute relics close to the sprout, but none of them worked.
Meanwhile, the sprouted seed was gradually losing its strength.
Lun, feeling anxious, racked his brain.
'If the sprout needs soil to obtain nutrients, it doesn’t necessarily have to be soil as long as it can absorb nutrients. Is there any way?'
It was a difficult situation for someone who had never grown a flower before.
Pacing around, he finally recalled something.
'Now that I think about it, I heard that some human had developed a technique to grow plants without soil.'
He had dismissed it as unrealistic at the time, but now he felt like he had to grasp at straws.
'They said that the nutrients needed for plant growth were contained in small, firm, gel-like beads, and that you could plant the seeds in a vase or pot filled with these beads.'
The person had boasted about how it looked good and saved the trouble of changing water and soil.
Lun tried to calm his anxiety and carefully recalled the information he had dismissed as nonsense.
'If nutrients are what I need, then the dark-attribute magic power I possess should do. If I have a medium to contain my magic power, I can grow this, right?'
For ordinary plants, a soft material suitable for rooting would be necessary, but the Netherworld rose in his hand was powerful enough to penetrate his skin.
'With this level of strength, it should be able to root in a medium with a higher hardness. But since it rejected the relics while trying to root in my hand...... it must only be able to absorb pure dark power.'
Suddenly, Lun found a medium that met all the conditions.
He immediately took out the Polymorph Artifact, the golden bracelet.
Returning to his hatchling form, he plucked a small scale from his arm.
It was easier than plucking a hair.
Lun placed the scale on the floor and put the roots of the sprouted seed on top of it.
The scale was small but large enough to support the seed.
Then, the roots wrapped around the scale and began to absorb the magic power within.
Lun roared and clenched his right hand into a fist.
He then chuckled with relief.
'Phew. It feels like I’ve been through a decade of hardship.'
He found it a bit ridiculous that he was making such a fuss over a single seed.
But since he didn’t have multiple Netherworld seeds and couldn’t ask Christina to get more, it would have been very troublesome if this seed had died.
He would have had to spend a lot of time and effort finding a replacement.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, he picked a few more scales of appropriate size and stepped back to observe the sprout.
'It’s ridiculous that I’m so excited about this......'
He wondered if his body’s excitement was affecting his mind and chuckled.
It was a pleasant success.
Seeing the sprout struggling to grow on the black scale, he felt a bit proud.
Judging by the state of absorbing magic power, a couple of scales should be enough to sustain it for a few days.
"Keep going. We both have a lot to live for now that we’re alive."
He felt strangely attached to it just because he had helped it a bit.
Whether it was his imagination or not, the sprout seemed to respond by shaking.
Lun observed the sprout absorbing nutrients from the scale for a while before returning to Christina’s kitchen when it was time for the cooking lesson.
"Sorry for being late. What should I do?"
"I thought we could try making a steak today since we have good ingredients."
'Finally, I’ll get to eat meat.'
His mouth watered at the thought of what kind of meat it would be. The large piece of meat and cheese visible in the kitchen only increased his anticipation.
The herbs he saw beyond them were undoubtedly the fresh leaves he had harvested from the bunch of herbs he had revived earlier.
The thin branches were neatly separated and piled up in a corner like firewood.
Following Lun’s gaze, Christina looked at the herbs with a puzzled expression.
"That’s strange. If there were such fresh herbs, I wouldn’t have just passed by them......"
Her gaze, which was fixed on Lun, clearly suggested that she had some suspicions.
Feeling a bit guilty, Lun pretended to be indifferent, and Christina, smiling, picked up the piece of meat.
"Well, let’s start the lesson today, shall we?"
Thinking there was no need to confirm it seriously, Christina moved on without further comment.
Fortunately, Ferdikion’s lessons had been postponed to the evening, so there was no rush.
"Before that, shall we have a light snack? Just seasoning the steak and letting it rest takes a few hours. And preparing the vegetables for the soup will take even longer."
Christina, who had gathered potatoes, carrots, onions, and other vegetables, asked with a satisfied look.
"There are unusually fresh vegetables. I thought it would be good to see what good ingredients are like, so I gathered them separately."