Chapter 12. The First Hero (6)
If, who had accidentally made the flames stronger, began trembling.
It seemed even If was shocked by what it had done, and it nervously watched Kim Seongchan’s reaction.
“Isn’t the fire too strong?”
“You did well. Just lower it a little and keep it there, If.”
Spirits could understand human words.
When Lee Naye spoke, If became even more flustered and tried to lower the flames, but Kim Seongchan praised it instead.
I was planning to increase the fire a little later, but this is fine.
The only people who could make Wild Pig Soup were Kim Seongchan and those connected to Daltan who had obtained the recipe.
The taste of the dish could change depending on how the fire was controlled, but the seasoning and cooking process could also affect its flavor.
If something goes wrong, I can just find another way. A weak fire is the real problem. A strong fire isn’t.
The key to Wild Pig Soup was the fire.
Rather than weak flames, strong flames were more important.
Thinking about it that way, If’s fire was certainly too strong, but it was not the worst possible situation, which would have been a weak fire.
More importantly, there was If itself.
“It’s dangerous!”
Despite Lee Naye’s warning, Kim Seongchan bent down and entered the furnace.
Powerful flames poured out around him.
Kim Seongchan reached toward If, who looked too anxious to focus its eyes and kept staring at the ground.
I can feel it.
He could feel If’s emotions.
It felt sorry for making a mistake.
It blamed itself, thinking it was useless.
It wanted to hide.
It wanted to escape back to the Spirit Realm.
Yet because Kim Seongchan had trusted it, If refused to leave and desperately tried to finish its job.
Kim Seongchan could feel the burden and sense of responsibility weighing on the little spirit.
I’ll ignore the memories of what Osle did to you.
Kim Seongchan pushed aside If’s painful memories.
If Kim Seongchan also focused on the bad memories If was remembering, those emotions would continue passing between master and spirit.
It would create an endless cycle of misery between the two of them.
If If could not break that cycle, then Kim Seongchan would break it himself.
It must have been hard. You couldn’t do it alone, but you still tried so hard.
A spirit and its master were one.
They could exchange mana.
Through emotional sharing, they could feel each other’s emotions.
They could also send their thoughts to one another.
Kim Seongchan sincerely thought about If and tried to move even closer to its emotions.
If’s sadness and anxiety pricked painfully at Kim Seongchan’s heart, but he accepted them and continued trying to comfort the spirit.
Kyar... Kyar...
If began to sniffle.
Drops of fiery tears fell from its eyes.
Kim Seongchan’s hand gently stroked If’s head.
It was not hot.
Before forming a contract with If, its flames had been hot enough to burn his hand.
After forming the contract, however, those flames only felt warm.
“It’s dangerous! I’ll save you!”
Lee Naye was panicking.
Because she controlled a wind spirit, she had experienced Silnyang creating violent winds that left cuts all over her skin.
Kim Seongchan might have formed a contract with If, but he had still entered flames powerful enough to make the water inside a low-grade monster cauldron boil violently.
He might burn to death in there!
Lee Naye raised her shield.
She began pushing forward through If’s flames, but then stopped.
The violent fire was slowly becoming stable.
As the flames settled down, Kim Seongchan’s figure became clearer in Lee Naye’s eyes.
He looked as if he had become one with the fire spirit.
Lee Naye would rush forward even if it meant risking her life.
A single step taken by the Shield Hero was a step that an ordinary person could never take, even with death before them.
To others, her actions might look reckless.
But behind Lee Naye’s actions was a warm desire to save Kim Seongchan.
Kim Seongchan knew that.
He waved his hand to show her that he was fine, then focused on If again.
[I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I wanted to do well... I’m sorry...]
“It’s okay. You don’t need to apologize. You don’t need to be sorry.”
[But I’m still sorry. I made a mistake. I know that. I know I wasn’t supposed to increase the fire yet. I should’ve waited a little longer. I was supposed to do it when Master wanted me to, but I couldn’t.]
“You’re pretty smart, aren’t you? Then just do better next time. Nobody can do everything perfectly from the beginning.”
If blinked its eyes.
It seemed to realize that something was different.
However, it did not seem to understand exactly what had changed.
[You have learned the Spirit Language (S) skill!]
Spirit Language was a skill that could be acquired when a master continued accepting emotional communication while their spirit was anxious.
The emotional connection had to reach its highest point, and the spirit had to feel gratitude and genuinely decide that it wanted to follow its master for the rest of its life.
If emotional communication with an unpredictable spirit did not fit from the beginning, it might never fit for the rest of their lives.
Just look at the retired royal chef, Osle.
He had struggled so much with communicating emotionally with his spirit that he had even been willing to give that spirit to Kim Seongchan.
Handling spirits was not easy.
On the other hand, if both sides continued trying to communicate, and the master did not break off their emotional connection even when angry, they could eventually obtain Spirit Language.
Spirit Language was a skill that made communication and emotional interaction with spirits much easier.
[Should I lower the fire now?]
If cautiously asked while tilting its head.
It acted that way because it could not shake the feeling that it was actually having a conversation with Kim Seongchan.
“There’s no need to lower it. You’re doing well right now.”
[Can we actually talk to each other?]
“We’re doing it right now. But you couldn’t see anything from under the cauldron, so how did you know you made a mistake?”
Kim Seongchan asked that on purpose.
Besides emotional sharing, spirits could also share senses with their masters.
If a spirit wanted to see what Kim Seongchan was seeing, it could look through its master’s eyes.
If must have realized its mistake through sensory sharing and emotional sharing.
If looked completely shocked by the fact that they could truly communicate.
At the same time, it focused on preventing the flames from becoming stronger.
If its emotions became too intense, the flames might flare up again, so If devoted all its attention to controlling the fire.
The wait was short.
Kim Seongchan felt If’s emotions settle down.
After hesitating for a moment, If finally spoke.
[You got annoyed when I made a mistake before...]
If carefully watched Kim Seongchan’s reaction.
It seemed his emotions had flowed into If through their emotional connection.
And he was human.
Wasn’t it normal for a person to get annoyed sometimes?
Just as If said, Kim Seongchan had been annoyed before.
But not now.
Standing inside If’s flames without even having his clothes burn was only possible after earning the spirit’s trust.
Feeling nothing but warmth from the flames, Kim Seongchan vigorously rubbed If’s head before leaving the furnace.
“You’re doing well.”
Kyarrr~
If made a happy sound.
Learning Spirit Language did not mean every interaction would immediately become a spoken conversation.
For Spirit Language to work, both sides had to want to communicate their intentions.
Things they could easily understand just by looking at each other did not require Spirit Language.
For those things, simply confirming each other’s feelings through emotional sharing was enough.
“It really looked like you were having a conversation.”
“Was I making ‘kyarr’ sounds too?”
“No, you weren’t. But whenever the fire spirit went, ‘Kyarr. Kyarr! Kyar!’ you said comforting things to it. It understood everything you said and calmed down, so it looked like you were actually talking. Whenever I try that with Silnyang, it acts cold toward me. It only gets irritated.”
Lee Naye showed her disappointment toward her wind spirit, Silnyang.
Kim Seongchan looked around.
Most of the Wild Pig meat had already been processed, and there was still some time before the Wild Pig Soup would be finished.
“When do you usually summon Silnyang?”
“You saw what happened. It kept hitting my hand.”
“That was because you were holding a butchering knife. You can summon it now while you’re not doing anything, right?”
“You can basically say I can’t summon it.”
Lee Naye was clearly refusing to summon Silnyang.
Kim Seongchan refused to accept her refusal.
“Summon it.”
“I’ve tried summoning it when I wasn’t holding a blade too. Sometimes it creates a huge gust of wind, gets angry, and immediately returns to the Spirit Realm.”
Kim Seongchan was not asking because he wanted to hear stories about how hard Lee Naye had tried.
If it responds to her summons, there’s hope. If it doesn’t, she can just pick up the butchering knife.
Lee Naye was flustered, but Kim Seongchan already knew the answer.
Wind spirits became angry whenever they wanted.
They became happy whenever they wanted.
They might seem impossible to understand, but there was one thing that remained consistent.
They reacted very sensitively to their master’s heart.
When their master showed them affection, they might still act irritated, but they would secretly look pleased.
If their master did not care for them, they could become sharp and rebellious, sometimes even refusing to answer a summons.
They also disliked masters who lacked confidence.
Sometimes, a wind spirit would answer the summons, glance at its master once, then immediately return to the Spirit Realm.
Wind spirits were unpredictable and lively.
Judging from the way it hit her hand, though, I think it cares about her.
The wind Silnyang created had only been a gentle breeze.
Since it had made sure not to hurt Lee Naye, there seemed to be affection behind its actions.
On top of that, wind spirits were not the type to directly show their true emotions to their masters.
They openly showed when they disliked something, but they rarely transmitted their emotions directly.
The fact that Silnyang shared its feelings with Lee Naye meant it did not actually hate her.
Lee Naye took a deep breath.
It was obvious that she truly did not want to summon Silnyang.
“Do you really want to watch me get hit again?”
“Then how do you raise your shield? A huge monster could threaten your life.”
“I can block a monster’s attack with my shield, but I can’t block Silnyang’s attack with my shield. That’s different.”
“Stop wasting time and summon it.”
“Okay...”
The wind rippled, and Silnyang appeared.
Silnyang tilted its head.
Kyao?
Normally, its master should have been showing fear or anxiety.
Instead, Silnyang felt one very strong wish from Lee Naye.
Please, just behave yourself.
Silnyang tried to follow its master’s wishes.
“Are you confused because her feelings are different from usual?”
Kyao!
As if asking what Kim Seongchan was talking about, Silnyang proudly expressed with its entire body that it was a perfectly well-behaved wind spirit that never caused trouble.
Kim Seongchan laughed as he watched Silnyang raise its head proudly, even lifting its tail high into the air.
“I saw you hitting her hand when she held the butchering knife. Acting innocent now isn’t going to change that.”
“Wait, did you summon it just to start a fight?”
Lee Naye had nervously summoned Silnyang and had been pleased when it behaved relatively calmly.
But Kim Seongchan suddenly brought up Silnyang’s bad behavior.
Lee Naye became anxious and snapped at him.
Kyaooo.
Silnyang lightly bounced through the air.
Then it rubbed its face against Lee Naye’s cheek as she stood there looking angry.
The way it tried to comfort its master was strangely proud and elegant.
Lee Naye flinched at the unexpected affection.
“Relax your expression. Don’t get flustered. Just accept it.”
After hearing Kim Seongchan’s words, Lee Naye tried to straighten her stiff body while still struggling to understand Silnyang’s unfamiliar behavior.
Eventually, she gathered her courage.
Lee Naye tilted her head and tried to rub her own cheek against Silnyang’s.
Silnyang immediately pulled its face away and created a gust of wind.
Whoosh.
The wind rippled.
Lee Naye’s hair wrapped across her face, preventing her from tilting her head any farther.
Silnyang had blocked Lee Naye’s attempt at physical affection.
Silnyang was still Silnyang.
However, instead of flying into the sky, it sat on Lee Naye’s shoulder without getting angry.
Lee Naye was shocked inside.
Normally, Silnyang would have flown into the sky.
Or it would have returned to the Spirit Realm.
But now, it remained sitting on her shoulder.
“How did you do that?”
“That isn’t the important part. Keep Silnyang on your shoulder.”
“What?”
“If you keep doing that, the problem will be solved.”
“Will it really? Don’t I need to pet it, tell it I’m thankful that it stays with me, or show it more affection?”
If it had been If instead of Silnyang, those words would have made it extremely happy.
Silnyang hated things like that.
“It’s about emotional communication. Try to give each other feelings of trust. If you do that, Silnyang will open its heart and help you. Don’t make up compliments just because you’re trying to become friends.”
“How did you know? I tried really hard to say nice things to Silnyang because I wanted us to become closer. Every time I did, it ran back to the Spirit Realm.”
“Silnyang likes being praised when it actually deserves praise.”
“I see. So do I just have to keep doing this from now on?”
“Do it for the rest of your life, until the day you die.”
Forming a contract with a spirit came with conveniences.
It also came with inconveniences.
Whether times were difficult or happy, a master had to approach their spirit with good intentions.
It was fine to share painful emotions too.
However, developing a relationship where both sides could comfort each other’s pain was not easy.
Once their hearts truly connected, their mana recovery speed could become faster than the amount of mana being consumed.
At that point, they could maintain a spirit with such a small amount of mana that the consumption was almost impossible to notice.
On the other hand, if their hearts did not connect, their mana could rapidly drain away.
There were even cases where someone became a Spirit Master but stopped summoning their spirit.
Some wanted to transfer ownership of their spirit, but the transfer became impossible because the spirit refused to answer their summons.
A contract with a spirit came with heavy responsibility.
“I’ll keep doing it for the rest of my life. Let’s do our best together, Silnyang.”
Kim Seongchan answered Lee Naye’s words with a small nod.
Silnyang wore an indifferent expression.
It clearly did not trust Lee Naye yet.
