Chapter 56
Spirit beasts are usually brought home and raised from when they're young.
Since it's rare for one to be a spirit beast from birth.
The standard approach is for the owner to raise it by feeding it their spiritual power, building a bond in the process.
As that happens, a spirit beast may even come to resemble its owner's attribute. After all, it grows by eating its owner's spiritual power like food.
······But.
Not everyone ended up that way.
[Question] Urgent!!! When awakening a spirit beast, you're supposed to pour spiritual power into the tank, right??
Author: Flame Guy
I caught a crucian carp while fishing yesterday, you know?
I was about to make spicy fish stew, but the little guy looked unusually bright-eyed, like there was something special about him.
I heard familiar sorcery was hot these days, so I figured I'd raise one myself while I was at it and promptly put him in a tank.
I wanted to build a bond, so I put my hand in the tank, poured in a generous amount of spiritual power, and went to sleep.
But when I looked in the morning, he was floating around belly-up, all white?
He's just sleeping, right? ㅠㅠ
└ What the hell lol The method was right, though. Why did it die?
└ Are you perhaps attribute-less? Fish need a bit of the water attribute mixed in at first to adapt.
└ No, I'm not attribute-less.
└ ???? Then what's your attribute?
└ Fire attribute.
└ …….
└ You crazy bastard, what happens when you pour fire energy into a fish? lol
└ You spent all night lovingly making crucian carp stew lol
└ So you ended up making spicy fish stew after all lolololol
'······Anyway.'
I lowered my phone with a quiet chuckle.
The more I lurk these days, the more random knowledge about familiar sorcery I pick up.
These people are more serious about sharing information than you'd think.
"What are you enjoying so much?"
Seo Ji-an asked from across the table, taking little sips of her coffee.
“Oh. I guess you could call it studying familiar sorcery?”
We were in a private room at an upscale café tucked inside Dokkaebi Market.
We were here to meet a new client today.
The client who had won the Thunderous Hawk.
It was a commission from the Geumgang Spirit Beast Training Center for spirit-beast equipment.
The requested items were a suit of armor and a pair of nunchucks.
"Ji-an, aren't spirit beasts with the lightning attribute fairly rare?"
"Of course. Usually, most are water, wood, or fire attribute, and anything else is extremely rare."
'······I see.'
No wonder.
Among the limited-edition three-attribute series, the Thunderous Hawk's winning bid had been the lowest.
So that's why.
'Well, it was still insanely expensive.'
Then the door to the private room opened.
"I'm sorry……! I was a little late, wasn't I?"
The person who came in, panting for breath, was unexpectedly a young woman.
Her bright blonde hair was pulled tightly into a ponytail, and she was dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants.
A huge duffel bag hung from her shoulder.
······Was she an athlete?
"It's all right, we just got here too. Please, have a seat."
Seo Ji-an smoothly indicated a chair.
"Hello! I'm Choi Yu-jin, the person who won the Thunderous Hawk!"
She greeted us with a bright bow.
"Yes, it's nice to meet you. I've read your commission request. It was Wukong, right? You said his weapons kept breaking."
"Yes, that's right. It's just…… our Wukong's weapons…."
Choi Yu-jin sighed with a troubled look.
"This is already the third one just this month. Every single one I buy breaks……. "
Rustle.
What she pulled from the duffel bag was a jet-black, badly scorched piece of metal.
······It looked like it had originally been a pair of nunchucks.
The surface of both sticks was covered in fine cracks, and one side of the connecting chain had melted into a solid lump.
"At first, I thought it was because I was buying cheap ones, so I switched to something much better, you know? But even the more expensive ones broke the exact same way……."
"Hmm."
I took the remains and examined them from every angle.
The fine cracks covered the entire weapon, but the parts that had actually melted were the chain and the striking ends.
'······'
I couldn't tell just by examining the remains.
As expected, you have to watch the user before you make the item.
Customizing it to the user was my way, too.
"I'll have to see it in action."
"Pardon?"
"Wukong. I need to see it wielding a weapon in person."
Her face lit up at that.
"Would you like to go right now? The training center is close by!"
*
Geumgang Spirit Beast Training Center.
Judging by the sign alone, I'd imagined some kind of martial arts school in the mountains.
But when I opened the door and went inside, what unfolded before me was unmistakably a boxing gym.
A square ring stood in the center.
Punching bags hung in rows along the walls.
……The scale was just a little unusual.
Every punching bag was about the size of a drum, with several layers of cowhide reinforced over its surface.
‘A ritual implement? It even has defensive formulas engraved on it.’
Thick chains surrounded the ring in place of ropes, and long claw marks gouged the floor here and there.
In the distance, a wild boar was running on a treadmill with a tire around its neck.
'……?'
A pig on a treadmill?
In this life, I really had seen everything.
“All right, then!”
Choi Yu-jin untied something from her waist and placed it in her palm.
It was a familiar object.
A fist-sized, pitch-black hawk carved from a lightning-struck jujube tree.
It was the Thunderous Hawk I'd made.
Clatter.
When she pulled the chain,
Pop. Swoooooosh―!
Crackle!
A gray mass burst out in a streak of light.
A gray gibbon the size of an adult man.
It landed lightly on the floor, then folded its long arms across its chest with a flourish.
It was exactly as in the photo attached to the commission request.
"Wukong! We have a guest!"
'Oh. It's being put to very good use.'
[Squeak.]
It looked me up and down.
……What was with that insolent gaze?
"Oh, right, Master Craftsman! I really love the keychain! Thank you so much!"
Choi Yu-jin clasped her hands and gushed.
"Wukong's become a completely different animal since it started using this. It's noticeably faster, and its lightning is seriously no joke! Come on, Wukong, show him your hand!"
[Squeak!]
Wukong stretched out one arm.
Sure enough.
Bright-blue lightning crawled between its gray hairs like little electric snakes.
'……The lightning refinement is working perfectly.'
I felt quite pleased.
"And it loves it so much that these days, as soon as a match ends, it brings me the keychain and begs me to put it inside, you know? Right, Wukong?"
Nod. Nod.
‘It looks like it understands human speech, too.’
"Then could you have it swing the weapon around once the way it usually does?"
"Yes! Wukong, where's the new pair of nunchucks? Let's give him a demonstration!"
[Ook-ook!]
Wukong took a pair of nunchucks from the equipment locker in the corner.
They were shiny, so apparently these were the fourth pair she'd bought recently.
It stood in front of the punching bag and cracked its neck.
And then.
Fwip―
Its figure blurred.
Whoooom― Whoom―!
The nunchucks spun like tops at the ends of its long arms,
Bam bam bam!
Blue trails hammered the punching bag from all directions.
'Fast.'
I quietly released the suppression limiter and gathered spiritual power in my eyes.
Then I began to see it.
Every time a strike landed, Wukong's lightning energy came surging down the stick.
……But the lightning had nowhere to escape.
Thud― Thud― Thud―
The lightning energy jammed into the end of the stick couldn't get out; it pooled there, compressed, and swelled until—
Ping―!
At last, the chain could take no more and snapped.
Crack.
Half of the broken weapon shot into the wall far away.
"……Ah."
Choi Yu-jin pressed a hand to her forehead.
"You saw it, right? It always does this……. These days, even Wukong looks nervous whenever it picks up a weapon."
[Whine……. ]
Wukong drooped its shoulders dejectedly as it stared down at the nunchucks broken in half.
'……I see.'
The cause was clear now.
First: the refined lightning energy had exceeded the ritual implement's limits.
The electrical spiritual power had nowhere to go, so it pooled at the point of impact. The ritual implement couldn't withstand the accumulated power and eventually burst.
Second: that speed.
The weapon was taking the full recoil that came back with every downward strike. That was what had caused the cracks covering the stick.
In other words, it was like putting a fighter-jet engine on a compact car.
Of course, it was an engine I'd installed.
'Ahem…….'
By strengthening its lightning energy, I'd caused all the perfectly usable weapons to start exploding.
Well, well.
I was selling keychains and ritual implements.
Without meaning to, I'd achieved a perfect example of a creative economy.
Ahem.
Well, what else could I do?
The one who caused the problem had to clean it up, too.
"I'll make one for you."
"R-really?!"
I had more or less read its movements from that brief demonstration alone.
The snap of its wrist. The angle of each swing. Even its habit of pulling on the chain right before impact to add speed.
'At this level, I could draw up the blueprint right away—'
[Squeeeak….]
Just then, the bored Wukong fetched a mop from the corner.
Then, with practiced hands, it pulled the mop head right off.
Whoom― Whoooom―
The long handle spun tautly, leaving afterimages.
It spun it around and around, planted it on the floor and launched itself into the air, then even balanced it upright on its palm.
'……It's having fun.'
Crunch.
"……."
"……."
At last, the handle split in two.
[Squeak……. ]
Wukong pretended not to notice and slyly hid the broken handle behind its back.
I saw that.
“Does Wukong know how to handle anything besides nunchucks?”
Come to think of it, the pile of wreckage in the corner included not only half-broken nunchucks but also charred and snapped staffs.
"Ah…… it does use a staff normally, too."
"Then have it show me how it uses a staff, too."
"Ah… yes! Of course. Wukong! Staff!"
[Squeak?]
Wukong tilted its head, then took an old wooden practice staff from the equipment locker.
"Don't channel any spiritual power into it. Just show me the movements."
Perhaps understanding me, it bared its teeth in a grin and spun the staff around.
And then.
Tap-tap―
It kicked off the floor.
It seemed to plant the end of the staff firmly on the floor, then the rebound sent its body soaring,
One rotation in midair. Two.
The instant it landed, it spun around the staff as an axis, and its long leg lashed out at the punching bag.
Boom!
Next came a broad horizontal slash. A thrust. A leap propelled by planting the staff.
Finally, it lightly climbed onto the top of the upright staff with both feet, then looked down at me with its arms folded.
[Ook-ook!]
Its face seemed to ask, "Well?"
'……Wow.'
This was a circus act and then some.
"It handles both very well. Does it alternate between them in matches?"
"No, it's just…… only one weapon is allowed into the ring."
Choi Yu-jin sighed.
"So I agonize over it every match—trying to decide which weapon to send in against which opponent."
'Oh-ho.'
Come to think of it, each of Wukong's nunchuck handles was about the size of an ordinary club.
Then again, with those long arms, it couldn't really be otherwise.
Grin.
‘All right. I've got a good idea.’
“I think I can make it for you pretty quickly.”