The last time Jaekyung had molted was at the spiritual spring, which had been his spiritual land before. At that time, he needed power to confront Sagye-wan, so he had forcibly hastened the molting. Of course, this was only possible because the time for molting was already approaching.
All Jaekyung did was simply bring the time forward a little, like choosing to run to arrive a bit faster on a path that could have been walked. But this time, Jaekyung had no intention of doing so. No matter how small, a strain was still a strain.
Forcing a molting would put a burden on his body and would also cause some changes in the transformation that followed. That change would probably be a negative one. So, Jaekyung decided to welcome this molting naturally.
There was nothing urgent for now, after all.
‘But... something is strange.’
Jaekyung could sense the signs of molting. He didn't know exactly how early he could sense it, but he thought it was probably about a month in advance. And yet, this premonition of molting had come abruptly, without any warning.
His current prediction was that he would molt in about five to six days.
‘It must be related to what was digested. What was it? The spirit and flesh of a Foundation Establishment cultivator? Or the spirit artifacts? Or the items inside the storage pouch?’
There were too many candidates, and all of them could be wrong.
‘Still, shall I try a simple experiment?’
He couldn’t get his hands on spirit artifacts or a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but he had a plentiful supply of spirit stones.
“Hmm.”
Jaekyung opened his storage pouch and took out the spirit stones. Unlike Cheong-o's nest, which only sparkled to the point of hurting the eyes, he scanned the spirit stones, which emitted an elegant, subtle light, with satisfaction. He then swallowed one lowest-grade spirit stone.
Gulp!
He felt nothing at all. It wasn't just because the spirit stone was as small as a speck of dust compared to his massive body.
“Hmm.”
Jaekyung, smacking his lips, turned his gaze to the low-grade spirit stones this time. Unlike the lowest-grade spirit stone, which he had swallowed in one bold gulp without hesitation, there was a slight pause as he put the low-grade spirit stone in his mouth. But it was only for a moment.
He was now a prospective tycoon with the Black Flood Dragon water territory in one hand and a school of Meat-Scaled Fish in the other. His purse was not so thin as to fret over such a small expense.
Gulp!
Unlike when he swallowed the lowest-grade spirit stone, this time he calmly closed his eyes and waited, trying to feel any change. After pouring all his concentration into contemplation for a while, he felt as if he could sense something.
But the feeling was so faint that even with his focus at its peak, he couldn't tell if it was an illusion or if he had actually felt something. After struggling for a while, Jaekyung finally opened his eyes. And once again, he slowly turned his gaze.
This time, his hesitation was longer. It was only natural. A medium-grade spirit stone.
No matter how much thicker his purse had become, a medium-grade spirit stone was bound to be a burden. It would be fortunate if there was a result, but if he had guessed wrong… After hesitating for a while, Jaekyung made a decision.
He didn't want to be strapped for money in this life as well. The hesitation was long, but when he swallowed, he did so gallantly.
Gulp!
There's always a reason for something being expensive. The amount and quality of the spiritual energy contained in a medium-grade spirit stone were incomparable to that of a low-grade spirit stone. The spiritual energy, bursting from his stomach, spread throughout Jaekyung's entire body, reaching even his spiritual nature.
And at that moment, Jaekyung could feel it clearly.
‘This is it.’
His intuition told him. The time left until his molting had shortened. He had originally felt it would be about five to six days, but now it seemed like three days would be enough.
‘Did eating one medium-grade spirit stone shorten it by about two days?’
No, that wasn't it either. Shouldn't he also count the one lowest-grade and one low-grade stone he had eaten before that?
‘It's incredibly inefficient.’
His stomach churned. As if what he had just swallowed was not a spirit stone but hydrochloric acid.
“Haa.”
Still, he decided to think positively. Whether you called it a secret or a principle, he didn't know… but at any rate, hadn't he learned something about molting?
For now, it was useless knowledge, but someday… truly someday, when the day came that he could live with mountains of spirit stones piled up, perhaps he could train by scooping up and eating handfuls of them. * With the molting ahead, Jaekyung grew curious about one thing.
That curiosity was what would happen if he molted while in his human form. Would his skin peel off? Or would a more drastic change occur?
Or would nothing happen at all? He was quite curious, but naturally, Jaekyung didn’t take such a risk. He patrolled his water territory energetically for two days, and on the last day, he quietly returned to Black Flood Dragon Island to rest.
Crack! Crackle!
This molting was different from the last. There was no pain, and nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, it was even refreshing, like shedding a tight set of clothes.
“Hmm.”
After finishing the molting, Jaekyung, who was about to habitually shake his body violently, paused at a thought that came to him. He then carefully pulled his body out to check the skin he had just shed. The shed skin of a Great Spirit Beast nearly 100 meters long had a considerable presence of its own.
But it was literally just a husk, with all its energy gone, so it had no value. Still, just in case, he gently nudged it with his tail, and the massive shed skin crumbled like a sandcastle.
‘This won't do.’
For a moment, he had hoped he might be able to sell this shed skin… but as expected. The world doesn't work that easily, he supposed.
‘Anyway.’
Jaekyung, clearing away his slight disappointment, carefully examined the changes after the molting. The changes from this molting were not that significant. His body had grown a bit larger, definitively surpassing 100 meters from its previous size of nearly 100 meters, and the strength of his body had increased.
Those were the noticeable changes. Besides that, the durability of his body, including his scales, seemed to have gotten a little stronger, but he couldn't know for sure without testing it whether it had actually gotten stronger or if he was just mistaken due to the exhilaration after molting.
‘Not bad.’
A body well over 100 meters. At this size, wouldn't he be considered a heavyweight among Great Spirit Beasts? That fellow named Daehae he saw before seemed to specialize in physical combat, but he was only about 10 meters in size.
‘No. Compared to that monster in the Upper Demon Forest…’
Yung-won, was it? According to Sagye-wan, he was said to have inherited the bloodline of some grand spirit beast called an Ancient Demon Ape or something. Compared to that monster, his current size couldn't be called that big.
‘My growth isn't over yet, and I still have more moltings to go through, so maybe someday I can become as big as that gorilla monster.’
Considering his fighting style, a large body was as good as combat power. Besides, a large body made it easier to pass himself off as a flood dragon.
Thump!
Jaekyung, leaving Black Flood Dragon Island with a body overflowing with power, set out to patrol his water territory again. * Hyeon-gu had finished collecting all the clams. One couldn't say he had searched the entire water territory, but it was fair to say he had scanned most of it.
The harvest was… so-so. It couldn't be called a waste of effort, but if asked whether the result was worth the effort put in, it wasn't. But Jaekyung was satisfied.
“Now, move the school of fish.”
“Leave it to me.”
Moving the school of Meat-Scaled Fish was a simple but labor-intensive task. In any case, as it was a job of changing their habitat, it had to be carried out over a rather long period. But even so, Jaekyung wanted to keep the school of Meat-Scaled Fish close to Black Flood Dragon Island.
It was best to have them within his detection range, and even if not, he wanted to place them in a location where they wouldn't be noticed by the wrong kind of creatures.
“Kuaaak!”
A monster that looked like a mix between a squid and a conch let out a droning roar, expressing its anger and pain. With that single roar, a few aquatic spirit beasts that hadn't managed to flee far away rolled their eyes back and fainted, or died.
But despite that threatening roar, Jaekyung did not stop chewing and swallowing the tentacle, and even sneered at his opponent with his eyes. He had only torn off a part of one out of dozens, yet the fuss seemed excessive.
Thwack!
Though he had just mocked it for making a fuss, he couldn't mock this creature's combat power. The shell where its main body hid didn't even get a scratch when Jaekyung struck it with all his might, and its dozens of tentacles that moved freely were quite annoying.
They couldn't pierce his scales and injure him, but he still had to avoid the ones flying towards his eyes.
Fwoosh!
Taking advantage of the opponent writhing in pain, Jaekyung created some distance and drew out his demonic power. As demonic flames instantly covered his entire body, Jaekyung charged towards the creature once again. Tentacles flew in from all directions, but daunted by the heat of the demonic flames, they hesitated and retreated without daring to strike his body.
“I just stopped by out of curiosity! Is there a need to go this far?!”
Sensing that things would not end well if this continued, the opponent shouted urgently.
“What a coincidence. I just became curious about your soft flesh.”
“You madman! Are you determined to fight to the death?!”
A fight to the death? Of course, Jaekyung had no such intention. He had simply decided to make an example of a creature that looked manageable and seemed to be a good matchup.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
They continued to fight after that. Until the opponent, having had six tentacles burned and three bitten off, could no longer endure and fled.
“Hmph!”
Jaekyung glared at the fleeing opponent before turning his body. He could have chased it if he wanted to. Though he had lost a considerable amount of strength, his body was not particularly injured, so if he really clung to the end, he could have killed his opponent.
But Jaekyung did not. He didn't know how far he would have to chase it to catch it, and he didn't know who else he might encounter while doing so. So it was better to stop at a reasonable point and hope the fleeing creature would spread some rumors.
“Congratulations on the Dragon Lord's victory!”
As Jaekyung was catching his breath, Hyeon-gu came closer, shouting at the top of his lungs from afar. His wrinkled two eyes shone brightly as if stars had been placed in them, and his short tail wagged ceaselessly like a dog's. Seeing Hyeon-gu expressing respect and awe with his entire body, Jaekyung let out a faint smile.
“That vile creature has tasted true bitterness, so from now on, it will not dare to even come near the Dragon Lord’s land.”
“I hope so. More importantly, is the work finished?”
“Yes! All the Meat-Scaled Fish have moved to the place the Dragon Lord mentioned.”
“Good.”
It had been a truly long time. While Hyeon-gu moved the school of Meat-Scaled Fish, Jaekyung had to constantly patrol the water territory, so even if it wasn't as much as Hyeon-gu who directly moved the clams and protected the fish, his own efforts were not insignificant. But that hardship was now over.
“You must continue to guard the school of fish well. For now, you are the only one I can trust with this task.”
Upon hearing those words, Hyeon-gu’s mouth fell open. The brightness of the stars shining in his eyes seemed to have become about half a measure brighter.
“I will surely live up to the Dragon Lord’s trust!”
“Mm. I trust you.”
Having once again raised his subordinate's morale to its peak with a single phrase, Jaekyung led his tired body back to Black Flood Dragon Island.
“I have waited a truly long time.”
Jaekyung, transformed into his human form, stood before a large tree. After a glance at the branches swaying as if to greet him, Jaekyung’s eyes took in the several lusciously ripe fruits. Perhaps it was his imagination, but the color of the fruits seemed even better than when he had seen them before.
“Now, bring them.”
Mook-soo trembled at the calm urging and moved the branch with the fruits towards Jaekyung.