The Support Ate it All

When consuming the inner core of the Venomous Horned Black Blood Serpent, two effects could be expected.

The first was an increase in mana, similar to the inner cores of other mystical creatures.

The second was a poison-type trait that you acquire with a certain probability.

There was a 90% chance of acquiring the C-rank trait [Hundred Poisons Immunity].

This trait prevented the user from being poisoned by various poisons, which was extremely useful against poisonous monsters.

The remaining 10% chance was to acquire the D-rank trait [Poison Resistance].

While it didn’t prevent poisoning like Hundred Poisons Immunity, it reduced the rate at which health would decrease while poisoned.

Hundred Poisons Immunity was superior in both rank and effect, but either trait was good.

So then, who would be the best candidate to consume this inner core?

“We can just split it.”

I precisely divided the pitch-black inner core into three parts and looked at Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in.

“You may each take one.”

“I am grateful for this opportunity, though I do worry if the effect might lessen.”

“It does drop a little, but not to a concerning degree.”

When consumed alone, the chances were 90% for Hundred Poisons Immunity and 10% for Poison Resistance.

When divided into three, the chances shifted to 50% for Hundred Poisons Immunity, 30% for Poison Resistance, and a 20% chance of gaining no trait at all.

Go Hyeon-woo swallowed hard.

“Hmm… if the opportunity is given to many, dividing it into three parts does seem like the best choice.”

“The probabilities are still quite decent.”

“But if by any chance we fail, the loss would be considerable. Are you sure about this?”

It seemed that Go Hyeon-woo wanted to give the entire inner core to me.

It was indeed the safer choice.

I appreciated his thoughtfulness, but I was determined to go with the three-way split.

I continued with a knowing smile on my lips,

“Just hear me out. I’ve got a trick up my sleeve.”

“…….!”

When the inner core was consumed alongside another elixir, the success rate could be further increased.

It was what you’d call a synergy effect.

And as luck would have it, we recently acquired an elixir.

An elixir we obtained after finding the Golden Spirit Pill hidden inside the formation.

I retrieved a small wooden box from my inventory and opened it to reveal the gleaming golden pellets inside.

[Golden Spirit Pill (C)]

Go Hyeon-woo’s face brightened instantly.

He looked as if he was about to slap his knee in excitement.

“Haha, I was worrying for nothing. There was a plan all along this time as well.”

“I wouldn’t split it into three without a solid plan.”

Although I’ve been consistently paying attention to the growth of Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in, if the efficiency had been excessively low, I would’ve asked for their understanding and taken it all for myself.

This time, sharing was beneficial for everyone.

Go Hyeon-woo asked.

“What are the odds if we add the elixir?”

“With the elixir, the Hundred Poisons Immunity goes up to 60%, poison resistance to 35%, and the failure rate drastically drops to 5%.”

“Seems worth a try.”

The probability of achieving the best outcome is more than half, and the failure rate is only 5%, which is extremely low.

However, Go Hyeon-woo and I couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment.

We both thought of the “future teahouse owner” who always hit rock bottom whenever challenging any odds.

“Let’s not think about him for now.”

“Agreed.”

Dwelling on it might bring us bad luck.

***

To efficiently absorb the elixir’s energy, proper energy circulation right after consumption was important.

And the best environment for energy circulation was, without a doubt, the Mana Cultivation Room.

So we made our way to the training center.

“Kim-hyung, Miss Seo. I wish you good fortune.”

“Come back with the Hundred Poisons Immunity.”

Since Go Hyeon-woo held a season pass, he went to the special cultivation room while Seo Ye-in and I headed to the regular cultivation room.

I spoke to Seo Ye-in while we were standing at the entrance of the cultivation room.

“Eat it and do your mana circulation. Contact me when you’re done.”

“……”

Seo Ye-in looked down at the pitch-black inner core fragment in her hand, then poked it with her fingertip and brought it to her tongue.

Her pupils slightly dilated.

“…Bitter.”

Judging from her reaction similar to when she ate something spicy, it seems she couldn’t eat bitter things either.

I mimicked Ahn Jeong-mi’s tone.

“Young miss, even if it’s bitter, you have to eat it. It’s all good for your body.”

“It’s… bitter.”

“If you eat it, you’ll gain the Hundred Poisons Immunity, and your mana will increase too.”

“…….”

Seo Ye-in and I found ourselves facing an unexpected obstacle.

Given her reaction to just a tiny taste, it would be much worse when she put the whole inner core in her mouth.

I began to understand Ahn Jeong-mi’s sentiments a bit better.

But this was too valuable an opportunity to simply pass up.

Poison resistance was something we needed to maximize whenever possible.

Enemies who used poison as a weapon would continue to appear in the future.

So I decided to take drastic measures.

“Kim Ho pillow for 30 minutes?”

“…….!”

Seo Ye-in perked up and looked at me.

But after a moment of thought, she slowly shook her head from side to side.

I wondered if she was really going to reject the Kim Ho pillow she wanted so much, but that wasn’t the case.

She raised her hand and held up two fingers.

She was trying to negotiate.

This time, I shook my head.

“Two hours is too much. Let’s settle for one hour.”

“…Good.”

“Then you have to eat it all and circulate your mana once around smoothly.”

“Deal.”

After agreeing on the one-hour deal for the Kim Ho pillow, we each entered the training room.

I took a seat right in the center before pulling out a piece of the inner core divided into thirds and a few Gold Spirit Pills.

Without hesitation, I tossed them all into my mouth.

This is unbelievably bitter.

That was the first thought that popped into my head.

A wave of stinging, fishy tastes flooded my mouth.

The Gold Spirit Pills melted instantly the moment they touched my tongue before sliding down my throat, but the inner core of the Venomous Black-Blooded Serpent was so sticky that it was hard to swallow.

Thanks to that, I got to savor the bitterness in full.

After barely managing to get the core down, my stomach churned as if I had eaten spoiled food.

It’s moments like this that really matter.

Keeping my mouth tightly shut, I calmly began circulating the mana within my core.

It felt like something thick and unpleasant was spreading throughout my body, but I ignored it and focused solely on my mana cultivation.

As time passed, the unpleasant sensation gradually subsided and was replaced by a powerful energy coursing through my entire body.

After a while, sensing that it was over, I lifted my eyelids and saw a notification message appear at the edge of my vision.

[Acquired ‘Hundred Poisons Immunity (C)’.]

At least it worked, 60 percent.

Enduring the unbearably bitter taste was worth it.

If I had hit the 5% chance and gained nothing, it would have been deeply frustrating.

My mouth still feels nasty.

This time, I definitely needed something sweet to cleanse my palate.

After I waited a little while, Seo Ye-in’s message arrived.

[Seo Ye-in: Done]

[Kim Ho: Did you get Hundred Poisons Immunity?]

[Seo Ye-in: Got it]

[Seo Ye-in: Bitter]

[Seo Ye-in: (tongue-out cat emoji)]

[Kim Ho: Me too]

[Kim Ho: (tongue-out cat emoji)]

[Kim Ho: Sweet stuff?]

[Seo Ye-in: (tempted cat emoji)]

[Seo Ye-in: Let’s go]

After tidying up my spot, I stepped out of the cultivation room, and almost at the same time, Seo Ye-in walked out from the room next door.

Just like the cat emoji, she had her tongue slightly poking out.

I was feeling playful for no reason, so I poked her tongue with my finger.

After a few seconds, Seo Ye-in turned her head slightly to the side.

I wanted to tease her more, but the lingering bitterness in my mouth kept bothering me, so I decided to stop.

“Let’s go; time for something sweet.”

“Something sweet.”

We went down to the first floor of the training center and each got a sweet drink from the vending machine.

I gulped it down and let some linger in my mouth; the sweetness gradually pushed away the remaining bitterness.

Seo Ye-in too pulled her slightly sticking tongue back in and stared directly at me.

“One hour pillow.”

“Yeah, a deal’s a deal.”

I nodded readily.

The bitterness of the inner core was beyond imagination.

Even for someone like me who rarely complained about food, it was unbearably bitter, so I couldn’t even imagine how much worse it was for Seo Ye-in.

Since she had absorbed it all just as instructed, an hour of Kim Ho pillow was a small price to pay.

Around the time I finished off the vending machine drink, Go Hyeon-woo sent a message.

[Go Hyeon-woo: It’s done.]

[Kim Ho: Hundred Poisons Immunity?]

[Go Hyeon-woo: Luck was on my side.]

[Kim Ho: Congrats, congrats.]

I had expected at least one of us to get poison resistance, but fortunately, all three of us managed to acquire Hundred Poisons Immunity.

[Go Hyeon-woo: But it’s more bitter than I thought.]

[Go Hyeon-woo: I need something sweet to drink.]

[Go Hyeon-woo: (licking cat emoji)]

“…….”

I replied with a straight face.

[Kim Ho: (scolding monk emoji)]

[Kim Ho: You weakling!]

[Go Hyeon-woo: !?]

***

Seo Ye-in wrapped herself up in a blanket and was dozing off with her head resting on my shoulder.

I let her be and decided to take the opportunity to check a few of the items I had on hand.

They would be used in the next dungeon.

The [Rainbow Lake] we were about to enter was a multi-element dungeon.

Fire, lightning, ice… The more elements you could handle, the better.

Usually, the best approach would be to enter with a party of various elemental mages, but since we were sneaking in, such a luxury was out of the question.

It’s not like I could drag Song Cheon-hye into the underground just because we needed lightning attribute.

Still, there was a way to borrow a bit of the lightning attribute.

[Heart of Thunder (E)] *2

Two jagged orbs that looked like they were forcibly packed with lightning.

These were forbidden items I had acquired during the temporary storage infiltration.

Heart of Thunder embeds lightning into the heart, or [Core], for a limited time, which turns all spells the user casts during that period into lightning-type magic.

If I used Heart of Thunder and then cast Inferno Fist, my fire fist would turn into a lightning fist.

Hearing this far, it might seem pretty useful, but there was a reason Heart of Thunder was designated as a prohibited item.

When continuous electric shocks are applied to the heart, there’s a risk of an accident occurring. Even at a low probability,

Your heart could just stop.

A temporary attribute switch wasn’t worth gambling your life for, given the risk.

But of course, I was an exception.

I’ve got solid elemental resistance.

I could use Heart of Thunder without worrying about elemental penalties.

That was the reason I grabbed it from the temporary storage in the first place.

As a result, I secured fire, lightning, ice, and wind attributes.

Next were the items to be used in the deal with the Crow Tailor.

Jewels like rubies and emeralds for the tailoring fee were a given.

On top of that, I planned to add one more item.

[Material Selection (C)]

▷Acquire your desired C-rank material.

It was a reward I got from a side quest after successfully completing the defense strategy battle with Song Cheon-hye.

It’s about time I put this to use.

The material rank was fixed at a maximum of C-rank, so it was a bit lacking for selecting main materials like ingots or fabrics.

Even if I made equipment with it, I would have to replace it before long.

So what I aimed to obtain with my choice was something secondary.

A consumable material.

A material that doesn’t go directly into item crafting but provides a sort of bonus.

I quickly scrolled down the list and soon selected an item.

[Acquired ‘Mutant Reagent (C)’.]