# Chapter 14

Fatsia Sprout. If you break the sprouts from the Angelica Tree and dip them in hot water then eat it with a red chilli paste, it tastes excellent. But there was no Angelica Tree or the Red Chilli paste at the Spiritual Realm. But..

“Is… is that?”

I didn’t know at the time, but it was the seedling of the World Tree. There were small branches of small seedlings on that small, waist length tree. I shouldn’t have done it, but my conscious was moving my hand to break off that sprout.

“Oh no. I broke off the sprout of the World Tree.”

But what’s done was done. The smell was more bitter, sweet, and fresh than any smell I have ever known. It was hard to explain.

“Well then, shall I try it?”

After that, I searched for World Tree Sprouts without telling Mir whenever I had time.

***

Gyungho opened his eyes. It had been almost a week after he had returned to Earth, but sleeping comfortably was something he could not get used to yet.

‘I always slept on guard for ten years,’ thought Gyungho. It was especially so because he did not need any sleep anymore. But sleeping and dreaming eased his mental tension, so he tried to enjoy this unfamiliarity.

It was a little over 6 o’clock in the morning, and it was quite dark outside. Gyungho glanced over at Jisook, who was fast asleep, with Snowball sleeping over her belly. Gyungho then came out of the store through the back door.

“Oh, it’s already grown this much?” said Gyungho.

After Snowball came, Gyungho had planted many plant seeds he brought from the Spiritual Realm including the World Tree at the vacant lot behind the restaurant, spraying mana over so it would sprout. And now, after about five days, many unknown plants were growing all over the lot.

“But it didn’t grow a whole lot,” said Gyungho.

He looked at a small apple tree like seedling that had grown to the point of his waist. Gyungho had eaten countless sprouts of the World Tree, so he knew which tree was good or not.

“It’s a low quality tree. Still, it’s a relief that it didn’t grow like Snowball said,'' said Gyungho.

The tree certainly didn’t look well. It even looked worse because the First World Tree that this seed came from, was over 3300 feet tall.

“But at least we’ve got some sprouts. Let’s take some,” said Gyungho.

The reason why Gyungho was able to become stronger faster than Mir expected was because he ate a lot of sprouts containing the essence of the World Tree.

Gyungho reached out to take the sprout from the tree. That’s when a small stone flew quite fiercely at Gyungho’s hand. Of course, the stone crumbled and crushed before it could even reach his hand.

“Huh? Oh, what do we have here?”

The ground where Gyungho was looking was wriggling. As he reached out and pulled up his mana, the wobbling ground stopped and a small green lump of light rose and brought up to Gyungho’s hand.

“I knew it. An earth spirit,” said Gyungho.

The lump of light tried to wiggle and escape from Gyungho’s hand. But it was impossible to escape with the strength of a lowest grade spirit like this one.

“Hey, what’re you anyway?”

Gyungho just spoke casually, but he was at a different level that his words had power. The green lump of light faded, then turned into a shape of quite large mole cricket and bowed at Gyungho.

[P-please, don’t hurt that tree.]

Gyungho smiled at the spirit. It was clear that the World Tree sprouting had it born to this world with its power. It almost looked cute that it was trying to blatantly protect the tree without knowing who he or the tree was.

“Hmm. What should I do with this?”

But he couldn’t leave it as it is. He was okay, but there was a chance of his mother walking around here and getting hurt by the spirit.

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“Oh, yeah. That will do. But that was…”

Gyungho scratched his hair as he pulled up the mana to draw a small magic rune with his index finger. White light left a trace in the air and quickly faded.

“Ugh. This is not it,” said Gyungho.

More light appeared and disappeared several times.

“Oh! It’s working! Yeah, that’s how it was done,” said Gyungho as he finished the magic rune for creating a contract. The white magic rune began to glow brighter and it absorbed into the mole cricket shaped earth spirit.

[Huh? Huh??]

The earth spirit flinched in surprise. The effect of the magic rune was not only to make the contract. It also worked to give basic information to the spirit so he can be aware of the world.

[I-I am the lowest grade earth spirit. I greet you, O’ Highly being,] said the earth spirit.

Spirits were pure and innocent beings so it was easier for them to feel the energy coming from Gyungho. Gyungho with over quadrillion of Karma was so breathtakingly powerful. The earth spirit shuddered as he stood on the palm of Gyungho as if it was afraid. Gyungho laughed and spoke in a low, serious voice.

“Will thou form a contract with me?” asked Gyungho.

[C-contract?] spirit asked back.

Gyungho frowned in annoyance.

“I shall not ask again. Will you form a contract?”

Contract process can be tricky if it was a highest grade spirit, but a lowest grade spirit like this was easy to form a contract with force.

[I-I will.]

“Will thou obey at my will from now on?” asked Gyungho.

Somehow, Gyungho was speaking archaic words like a king in a historical TV show, but he found it quite funny. Also, Gyungho’s words were like a word from a king to the lowest grade earth spirit.

[I will serve you with everything, master,] said the spirit.

Words spoken under the contract magic rune had absolute power at play. Even if what was said was like a joke, it still created an irreversible contract between them.

A white light came out from Gyungho while green light came out from the spirit, which it mixed together in the air. Then while a bright light was lingering about, Gyungho reached out to earth spirit.

“Good. Then I shall give thee name. Henceforth, thou shall be called Molebug!” said Gyungho.

He just named whatever that came to his mind, but the earth spirit bowed, seemingly quite moved by the name.

[Such a great name for an earth spirit like me! I can’t believe I have a name! Molebug! It’s a beautiful name!]

Gyungho felt embarrassed at Molebug who seemed truly touched by a name that was just made up on the fly.

“I am glad you like it. Thou shall maintain this garden and develop it now.”

With the contract formed, Molebug understood what Gyungho meant right away, and nodded.

[Yes, master. I, Molebug, will do my best to grow the World Tree.]

Molebug seemed to love the name so much that he kept saying it everytime.

“Alright. I’ll drop by next time,” said Gyungho.

As one can expect, the power of the lowest grade earth spirit like this was limited. But even then, it had the ability to make the land richer than any fertilizer on Earth and also hide the energy of the young World Tree from demonic beasts. That was more than enough.

“I should form a contract with every spirit I see, so I don’t lose precious labor powers.”

Gyungho said to himself as he walked back into the restaurant with the sprout of the World Tree in his hand. It was now 6:55 in the morning. Gyungho knew his mother would wake up at 7 o’clock, so he decided to prepare breakfast first. He smiled at the sprout of the World Tree in his hand.

“I used to eat this raw at the Spiritual Realm.”

Unlike fatsia sprouts, the sprouts of the World Tree tasted good even when eaten raw. It was a bit bitter when raw, but it still was fresh and crunchy. But there was a way to eat it more deliciously. It was to fry it.

It was almost true that even shoes can taste good when fried. Oil was precious back at the Spiritual Realm, so Gyungho couldn’t fry it often, but he still had them fried whenever he had the chance.

Gyungho splitted fairly large sprouts into four pieces. The crunchy texture was so good that it tasted good when fried in pieces like this. He then mixed corn starch that adds more crispiness with water. Next was to put the frying pan over the stove with oil.

As the pan heated, the smell of oil being heated filled the kitchen, making the mouth watery.

“Alright. Let’s fry it,” said Gyungho.

That’s when the door of the room opened and Jisook came out with a tired look still on his face.

“What are you doing so early?” asked Jisook.

“Your good son is preparing breakfast,” said Gyungho.

“We can just boil some leftover nurungji. What are you making… a tempura?”

The fried food did not really go along with breakfast, so Jisook looked at Gyungho with a surprised look.

“It’s something like that, but it’s not greasy. It’s good for breakfast,” said Gyungho.

“That’s like saying you drank but you didn’t drink and drive,” said Jisook.

Gyungho laughed and held up the spout he prepared.

“Huh? Fatsia sprout? It’s hard to come by these days. Those are expensive,” said Jisook.

“I know you like these. I went up to Jiri Mountain in the morning to get it for you,” answered Gyungho.

“You went all the way to Jiri mountain in just a few hours?”

“Yeah. I am tired because I had to fight against a moon bear to get this, and now cooking too,” said Gyungho with exaggeration.

“What work you did. Okay, let’s eat fried fatsia sprouts that you went all the way to Jiri Mountain to get, then.”

Jisook did not go further into details on how Gyungho had got fatsia sprout after hearing that joke. She knew that her son was not up to no good.

Gyungho covered the sprout with a flour batter and into the tempura mix he prepared, and dumped it into the oil. The smell of it being fried filled the air.

Snowball then poked his head out from the room at the smell and softly barked. Of course, he was also talking to Gyungho.

[Is… is that a World Tree?]

Gyungho laughed at Snowball who was being shocked.

[Gyungho! Why did you break off a hard earned sprout of the World Tree?!] said Snowball.

[It’s really good,] said Gyungho.

[That’s not the point!]

[Don’t worry. World Tree doesn't die because I broke some sprouts off. Besides, I worked on it so it can grow better.]

Gyungho ignored Snowball who seemed to be concerned, and kept working on the fry. He prepared soy sauce mixed with a bit of vinegar for a dip sauce. He then first tried finished fried World Tree sprout and tasted it. The crispiness of the frying clothes crushing in his mouth and the crispness of the World Tree gave the best synergy together. The bitter and refreshing taste of the sprout had removed greasiness, and the dip sauce added salty and sour taste.

It was a perfect fried food.

Shrimp tempura, sweet and sour pork, fried chicken or squid… There were countless tasty fried foods out there but Gyungho thought the Fried World Tree Sprout was the best out there.

“How is it, son? I never tried fried fatsia sprouts,” asked Jisook from behind. Gyungho never tried fried fatsia sprouts either.

“It’s perfect. It’s about a score of 5700 out of 10.”

“You’re getting more brazen,” said Jisook.

“Mom, I’m good at everything else but lying,” said Gyungho.

He then filled the fried sprout on a large dish with a dip sauce in a small bowl and moved it over to the table.

“Come sit down and try it,” said Gyungho.

“Sure. Let’s see how 5700 point fried sprouts taste,” said Jisook as she sat down on the table and took a bite. She then became silent while she chewed and swallowed it.

“S-Son?”

Jisook called out to Gyungho with a shocked look. The image of her reminded Gyungho of old days. It was the day when he first tried the sprout of the World Tree. Even after eating a bunch of it on the same day, he couldn’t forget about the taste for a few days. He couldn’t even concentrate on his training.

Only after eating five more sprouts, Jisook was able to stop.

“I agree with your score. I never thought that a fatsia sprout could be this good,” said Jisook.

Actually, fried fatsia sprouts will not be that tasty, but Gyungho nodded with a smile. He then took one sprout up.

“Snowball, come here. Try this. I made it for you.”

“Can a puppy eat fried food?” asked Jisook.

“Fatsia sprouts are good for your health, so it should be fine,” said Gyungho.

Actually, there was nothing better than the sprout of the World Tree for Snowball who was a Guardian.

[I-I’m okay!]

“Come on, Snowball. Try it. Will you not even try?”

[I’m really fine…]

Snowball felt strong pressure from Gyungho’s eyes and opened his mouth.

“Yeah, try it. It’s really good,” said Gyungho while pushing the sprout into Snowball’s mouth. Snowball then began to munch on it.

“You can never forget how it tastes once you try it,” said Gyungho.

But Snowball couldn’t hear what he was saying anymore. He wagged his tail, finishing up the spout at once and looked at Gyungho with a beginning look for one more. Gyungho laughed. Snowball who just was concerned about the World Tree, now looked like he would ask to go get more sprouts.

“I’ll get you more, hold on.”