Chapter 18
As Sorin's hammer struck Agong's fishing rod, sparks flew from the wooden rod, which was not made of iron, and at the same time, the runic characters clearly engraved on the hammer emitted light.
"Done."
Although he had only hammered it a few times, small beads of sweat had formed on Sorin's forehead.
In his thick and strong hands was a single bow.
"Ah!"
Agong, startled by Sorin's action of bending the fishing rod to make a bow, cried out.
But Master Gongsun stretched out his hand, blocked Agong who was about to run to Sorin, and quietly shook his head from side to side.
As Agong, who had managed to calm his pounding heart, looked on with anxious eyes, Sorin twitched the corner of his mouth and lightly touched the line hanging on the handle of the fishing rod. Then, with a snap, the bow returned to its original fishing rod form.
"Take it."
Agong hurriedly caught the fishing rod that Sorin had lightly thrown.
The fishing rod was much lighter than before, and it felt as if he wasn't even holding it.
Moreover, in the central part of the fishing rod, a smooth and shiny piece of iron was made like a handle, and on its surface, small runic characters were densely embedded, adding a touch of luxury to its original charm.
"Line, attach, becomes bow. This, you die, you live, gift."
Agong, listening to Sorin's clumsy words, attached the line that Tongtian had given him to the loop on the handle of the fishing rod.
Snap!
When he attached the line to the loop and held the middle handle of the fishing rod, the fishing rod soon bent, and with a taut tension, it changed its shape into a bow with a heavy weight.
"Wow!"
Agong, unable to hide his surprise at the transformation of the fishing rod, touched it here and there like a child who had gotten a new toy.
"Thank you, Master Sorin."
Master Gongsun thanked Sorin for granting his request.
Although he had an overly stubborn side, he also knew that he was a generous man.
It was the right decision to come and find him after hearing that he had fixed Agong's fishing rod before.
This time too, he had so readily granted his request for Agong's sake.
"It's just a congratulatory gift for a brat who should have died but lived."
It seemed that this mysterious dwarf had noticed as soon as he saw him that Agong had overcome a life-threatening crisis.
"You fixed my fishing rod before, too... Thank you, So... rin."
Agong, blaming himself for a moment for suspecting that Sorin had broken his fishing rod this time, paid attention to the shape of his mouth as he had learned from Master Gongsun and pronounced Sorin's name correctly.
As Agong pronounced his name correctly, Sorin's brow twitched slightly.
The reason Agong had been practicing his pronunciation diligently was because he had learned that Sorin was a very proud man, and although the pronunciation was similar, it was a great discourtesy to call him 'Xiaoren' [small person].
It wasn't a big deal that his name was called correctly, but Sorin felt that it was quite a good feeling.
This was because he could guess, at least, that Agong had put in that much effort.
"This way."
The dwarf of the earth, the king of the dwarves, was a man who knew how to give generously once he took a liking to someone.
Although the fishing rod that Agong possessed was already an overly extravagant item for him to carry, giving mercy and gifts to humans was also a way for their race to show their superiority.
As Agong, whose wariness had completely disappeared, trotted to his side, Sorin chopped up the firewood stacked nearby with his huge axe in one go.
And with a gesture, he took the fishing rod from Agong and swung it in one go.
Swoosh!
As Sorin swung the fishing rod, the fishing line lightly caught on the loop, and in an instant, it took the shape of a bow.
It was an amazing technique.
Sorin placed a piece of firewood, cut as thin as a little finger, on the fishing rod bow and drew the bowstring.
Pang!
"Ugh!"
The lightly shot firewood arrow flew at a tremendous speed and pierced through the thick iron plate hanging on the wall.
Agong rubbed his eyes and touched the firewood that had pierced the iron plate.
"Ah, it's cold!"
"Kuhahaha!"
Startled by the chilling cold, Agong took a step back.
Sorin, finding Agong's bewildered expression amusing, burst out laughing heartily and handed the bow back to Agong.
"No need for separate arrows. You can just break a branch and use it."
"Really?"
"It's the sorcery of the runes."
At Master Gongsun's words, Agong examined and touched the runic characters densely written on the fishing rod.
Master Gongsun had sometimes mentioned how amazing the runic language was and how dangerous it was, but seeing its effect in person like this, Agong was filled with regret that he hadn't looked at it more carefully when Master Gongsun was organizing the runic language.
"Thank you. I won't forget this kindness! So... rin."
Sorin lightly nodded at Agong's repeated thanks.
"Agong, have you named the fishing rod?"
"A name?"
"Although it is not a living creature, since you have received such a precious item, it should naturally have a name, shouldn't it?"
"A name!"
A fishing rod that turns into a bow.
Since he had obtained a fishing rod with a mysterious power, Agong naturally wanted to give it a good name.
"Umm... umm..."
After thinking deeply, Agong carefully opened his mouth.
"I'll take one character each from the names of the elders Tongtian and Sorin who made the fishing rod and call it Tonglin."
"'To pierce through scales'... It's a name that suits a fishing rod."
"Hehe."
At Master Gongsun's praise, Agong stealthily glanced at Sorin's expression.
Normally, Sorin would have been furious at having his name attached to such an object, but he allowed it, considering Agong's thoughtfulness.
"Then, Master Sorin. Thank you for treating us so kindly despite our sudden visit. Thanks to you, I have received a great kindness."
"We are helping each other, so there's no need for formalities. So, is the work progressing?"
"Not yet... but there is some progress little by little."
Perhaps more than expected...
The God-Sealing Plan.
The reason Master Gongsun had borrowed Sorin's power and also lent them his own knowledge was because their objectives were ultimately similar.
Although he couldn't reveal the plan to Sorin, he intended to keep his promise, whatever the method.
"You are the best magician here. My colleagues and I are hoping that you will find a solution."
"Yes..."
The reason Master Gongsun, who was originally an ordinary scholar, had become well-versed in sorcery was because he had dabbled in miscellaneous studies while studying.
Among the various miscellaneous studies, he had come across the sorcery that dealt with the mysterious powers of all things in the world, and that had brought a great turning point in Master Gongsun's life.
Master Gongsun, who had drifted into the Hermit's Valley as if led by fate, had met the mysterious people from the West called the Non-Duality Gate.
They desperately wanted to return to their homeland or leave the Hermit's Valley. And Master Gongsun, who had started to interact with them, had gained Sorin's trust and had seen the manifestation of a mysterious sorcery.
Sorin, who was gathering knowledge to return to his homeland, and Master Gongsun, who had a thirst for the mysterious sorcery of the West, needed each other.
Sorin had provided the runic language in exchange for helping them return to their homeland, and Master Gongsun had also provided the sorcery of the Central Plains and the knowledge he knew so that they could return.
"First, let's serve our guests a meal."
Sorin, confirming that their business was over, led Master Gongsun and Agong.
Master Gongsun, knowing how rude it was to refuse a meal offered by Sorin, followed him without a word, as if he were used to his hospitality, and Agong, clutching his fishing rod, Tonglin, tightly in his arms, followed Master Gongsun.
After passing through a long, cave-like corridor, a banquet hall with a huge table soon revealed itself.
Agong was more startled by the scale of the food piled up and the appearance of the servants carrying the food than by the question of how they had made such a space in a crack in the rock underground.
"Master, th-the monsters..."
Strange and grotesque monsters with no eyes, no nose, and no mouth were diligently carrying meat the size of Agong's body and barrels filled with something.
Seeing the startled Agong, Master Gongsun smiled and sat down in the seat that Sorin had offered.
"There's no need to be surprised. They are dolls made with sorcery."
"S-sorcery?"
Although the strange sight gave him the creeps, seeing the calm Master Gongsun and Sorin, Agong sat down cautiously in his chair with a reluctant expression.
He was already hungry, and seeing the meat larger than his own body, his stomach seemed to churn on its own.
"Is this pork?"
Agong swallowed dryly, looking at the huge headless meat placed in front of him.
"This is a rabbit."
"What?"
"The rabbits of the Hermit's Valley have smaller ears than ordinary rabbits, have sharp teeth, and are the size of a domestic pig. They spit poison from their mouths, so the head cannot be eaten, which is why Master Sorin probably didn't bring it out."
Agong, thinking he was being teased, looked closely and saw that the legs were clearly different from those of a pig.
"Is this really a rabbit?"
"For your information, there are wild boars in the Hermit's Valley, but they are nearly three meters long, enjoy eating meat, and their hides are very thick, so it is difficult to injure them with ordinary weapons."
Agong couldn't tell if the dizziness he was feeling was due to hunger or because he was thinking about the terrible situation that was about to unfold.
"The Old Ancestor told me to go hunting... Don't tell me it's not these guys, right?"
"Once you leave the tavern, there are no ordinary beasts. Since it's your first time, you'll probably only have to catch a deer or a rabbit."
If it was a deer, it was clearly the beasts of hell that he had encountered with the Slender Moon Squad.
And if it was a rabbit... he was talking about this huge piece of meat in front of him, which had been skinned and roasted golden brown.
He finally understood Cook Li's reaction when he said he was going hunting, and Master Gongsun's action of bringing him here.
What else could it be but walking into a place of certain death with his own two feet?
Master Gongsun calmly emptied his glass of foaming drink.
Agong, his throat parched, gulped down the tea placed in front of him.
Now, the only thing that could save his life was martial arts, nothing else.
He could only imitate the Heavenly Demon Hand, and at best, what he was learning properly was the Nine Palaces Divine Steps he was learning from Cook Li and the Nine Gates Heart Art he had been forced to learn.
He had to train and train with the determination to risk his life every day to get out of this crisis.
The more he drank the sweet tea, the more his insides burned and his throat became dry.
Agong kept drinking the tea and let out a hot breath.
His head gradually became hazy, and he felt good. He even felt an unfounded confidence that he might be able to do it.
"Haha! I like it. Now, let's drink more!"
Sorin, seeing Agong drink the mead he had prepared without a break, laughed heartily.
He had been displeased with Master Gongsun, who only sipped the mead, wetting his lips, and his mood had improved when the young Agong drank the mead in one go.
Although it took the trouble of cutting off the head of a demonic beast and raiding its hive to make the mead.
If there was a guest who knew how to enjoy the taste, such trouble was nothing.
However, unlike in his homeland, he couldn't perform a perfect distillation, and the honey's ingredients were extremely poisonous, so it was a flaw that even an ordinary adult male couldn't withstand a few glasses.
But if there was a loss, there was also a gain.
Perhaps because it used the honey of a demonic beast, the completed mead, if one could withstand its energy, gave a powerful nourishing effect and filled the whole body with vitality and strength.
"Haha! Yes! Hiccup! This is really delicious!"
Agong, with a beet-red face, buried his nose in the mead.
Originally, it was a drink as strong as poison that would stop the heart with just one sip.
But because it was such a drink, Agong had unknowingly protected his own body with the Nine Gates Heart Art.
Gulp, gulp!
The power of the mead was filling Agong's not-yet-healed blood and qi, and bones and muscles. Agong, in a hazy state of mind, continued to laugh and talk, pouring a huge amount of mead into his body.
(End of Chapter)