<Chapter 40. Fake Hero Saga - 2>

"Mm."

Lee Shin Woo saw the Spirits' Spring begin to radiate light, and groaned. In his head, he thought 'Now I've done it!'.

His plan had been to get the spirits to follow his every whim and turn the spirits into an assault force through the covert use of the Spirits' Spring and the Spirits' Road. Since he thought that was his only option of upholding their request to attain revenge against the Emperor whilst still keeping them safe.

However...

[The Spirits' Spring and all of its spirits have agreed to form a contract with you.]

[The Spirits' Spring has contracted with you as a subordinate.]

Sweat gathered on his forehead. Oh right. He was disguised as a human right now, so his body mimicked human physiological phenomenon. When he wanted to maintain a complete poker face, he should abstain from disguising himself as a human... No wait, now wasn't the time to begin escaping reality!

"What's going on?"

"How would I know?"

[The Spirits' Spring... the will of all the past spirits is responding to the contractor. How can this be... I thought they were exhausted and in a deep sleep.]

Zenon barely stood upright and said; his eyes brimmed with tears, touched by the sight. Lee Shin Woo could ever so slightly understand what was going on.

The Spirits' Spring was a space created through the combination of all spirits. It was apt to call it a living world. He was talking with the spirits here, but the Spirits' Spring itself had also responded to his words and had accepted his offer. It had decided that Lee Shin Woo would save the weakened and lethargic spirits, and had left everything here to him!

[Ah, aaaah.]

[It's warm. This feeling... it's been a long time.]

[The spring is embracing us. Thanks... Sorry for how I've been.]

The light the Spirits' Spring emitted reached its peak and enveloped both Lee Shin Woo and the spirits. At that moment, Lee Shin Woo felt as though his magic, as well as all the spirits' magic, had been fused together. No, he soon realized that it wasn't a mere feeling or illusion based on what came next.

[The Spirits' Spring has completely subordinated itself to you. When using the Heaven Door's Key to create a gate to the Spirits' Spring, the amount of necessary bones and magic is reduced significantly and the amount of people you can bring along is increased significantly as well. All stats have increased by 10.]

[By making the Spirits' Spring your subordinate, all elements and resistances grow significantly.]

[High Rank Fire, High Rank Lightning, and High Rank Darkness have become Lv5. High Rank Acid has become Lv4. High Rank Wind and High Rank Earth have become Lv3. Intermediate Ice has become Lv10 and evolves to the high rank level. The Absorption skill has become Lv9. Magic has increased by 250.]

[You have learned the High Rank Water element. Magic has increased by 100.]

[High Rank Fire Resistance, High Rank Lightning Resistance, and High Rank Acid Resistance have become Lv4. High Rank Wind Resistance and High Rank Earth Resistance have become Lv3. Intermediate Ice Resistance has become Lv10 and evolves to the high rank level. Magic has increased by 200.]

[You have learned High Rank Water Resistance Lv1. Magic has increased by 100.]

"Ooooh..."

He'd gone through various experiences thus far, but the change was so severe that he couldn't help but groan. His elements and resistances simultaneously leveled up, and as a result, his magic stat increased immensely. There's no way he could remain calm.

'My other stats went up too, but my magic went up by 660 all at once... What the hell!?'

If Jin had experienced this instead, he would've fallen to the floor and rolled around the Spirits' Spring a hundred times. Pain always accompanied growth, especially when one's magic increased by at least 15%; the accompanying pain would be quite intense.

"Hey, you ok...?"

"Leave me alone for just 10 minutes...!"

He hadn't noticed since he was busy groaning in pain, but Lee Shin Woo wasn't the only one to change. The spirits of the Spirits' Spring had become subordinate to Lee Shin Woo as well and were influenced by the Spirits' Spring; the spirits began to awaken.

[Kuhaaaaaah!]

[Aaaaaaah!]

There was a vast difference in strength between a spirit with and a spirit without a contractor. They were entities composed of mana and a soul, so without a medium (a contractor), they found it difficult to influence the physical world. The spirits, who had lost their contractors, had anchored themselves to the Spirits' Spring, which was why they were pretty much immobile.

But because Lee Shin Woo had formed a contract with the Spirits' Spring, and by extension all the spirits within it, they were now capable of moving forward. They had regained their minds, which had become hazy over time and thus, they, who were entirely composed of mana and souls, became stronger as well.

[How is this possible?]

[My body is growing...!]

[I'm overflowing... with power...]

That wasn't all. The mana that had accumulated within the Spirits' Spring was released, strengthening the power of the spirits, and in the process, the level 4 spirits leveled up to level 5.

The level 5s, who had been close to level 6, leveled up, and Zenon (level 7), as well as the original level 6s saw both the growth and strengthening of their magic.

Their combat ability couldn't even be compared to before.

If they attacked him altogether now, they could possibly kill him. Of course, they no longer had any reason for doing so.

[I'm ready to proceed.]

[It's as the human said. He gave us more power.]

[Even the Spirits' Spring, which protected us... I see, we should've made up our minds earlier.]

[We thought to ourselves that it was over. Even though it hadn't even started yet.]

The spirits had become stronger and they had regained their intellect as well. They made some valid points, but he wouldn't last if he had to address each and every one of them.

Lee Shin Woo focused on getting his newly acquired magic under control using his Rule of Bone and Magic Acceleration skills. He'd experienced rapid growth in the past, so it wasn't as difficult as he expected.

[The High Rank Mana Bone skill has become Lv5. Magic has increased by 30. You have a deeper understanding of mana and bones, and you are now ready to study the essence of mana.]

[The Mana Acceleration skill has become Lv5. Magic has increased by 10.]

He'd gone through such a mess, so it was only natural that his skills would level up. As his skills leveled up, Lee Shin Woo got his new increased mana under his control. After that, he raised his head and he saw Sinea approaching him with a sulky expression.

[Paul Zero, you...]

"...Ah."

Once he saw her heart-broken expression, he realized that he'd made a mistake. Of course, it wasn't his intention, but he'd ignored Sinea, who'd been with him for such a long time, and had instead formed a contract with the Spirits' Sprint and its accompanying spirits!

Objectively speaking, he was the bad guy here, since Sinea was the one who led him here in the first place!

"Sinea... Do you want to form a formal contract with me too?"

[You're late, you idiot!]

She had become so refined after awakening as a Dryad Princess, but right now, she acted like a little kid. He quite liked that, but if he spoke honestly, all that remained for him was ruin...!

For 5 minutes after, Lee Shin Woo tried to sweet-talk Sinea into forming an official contract with him, as she was his 'first'; although he'd formed a contract with the Spirits' Spring, he hadn't formed an individual contract with each and every spirit. His coaxing didn't seem to go anywhere, but in the end, Sinea calmed down.

[You have formed a contract with the Lv7 Elder Dryad Princess Sinea. The contracted spirit's element has become more powerful, and you can transfer your power to the spirit as well.]

[Your understanding of souls has deepened. You have acquired the special passive skill, 'Soul Seeing Eye.' All stats have increased by 5. You can understand souls, and the higher the skill's level, the deeper your understanding becomes.]

No way. He thought it was made up, but something happened aside from his contract with the Spirits' Spring! The contract with a spirit was in no way normal, but the special passive skill he'd gained along with it was extraordinary, no matter how he looked at it!

'Does everyone who becomes an Elementalist get this skill? No, there's no way. Since skills are only given to talented individuals...'

In the past, when Lee Shin Woo had encountered the Archmage Lich, he knew that the Archmage's life force didn't exist within his body. Of course, at the time, he thought of it as his 'life force', but now he knew for sure that what wasn't there was his soul.

Perhaps he had an ability that allowed him to separate his soul from his body. The skill Lee Shin Woo had gained from the contract had enlightened him of this possibility.

In any case, Soul Seeing Eye allowed him to more clearly perceive spirits. Perhaps he'd be able to strengthen the spirits even further if he leveled up this skill. The Dryads had called him an Elementalist in the past, but he had actually become a genuine Elementalist now.

'It's not very special. It's just another one of the Joker's roles.'

He checked his skill once more and nodded his head. Lee Shin Woo could feel all the spirits watching him.

"Alright, it seems like you're all ready to go."

[Yeah. We're ready.]

[You told us you'd help us with our revenge.]

[So what do we need to do? We have no idea what to do.]

[Tell us what we need to do.]

Was it because he'd formed a contract with the Spirits' Spring? He instinctively knew what the spirits wanted and what they were trying to tell him. Lee Shin Woo looked at them and spoke firmly.

"We obviously can't fight them head-on. We need more time to prepare. Do you understand?"

[Yeah.]

Zenon, the representative of the spirits, replied firmly. Was it because he had the deepest connection with Lee Shin Woo amongst them? Lee Shin Woo could feel the strong link between them, second only to his connection with Sinea. He decided to recognize Zenon as the representative of the Spirits' Spring from now on and continued.

"I plan on using the Spirits' Spring as a moving fortress. You can enter the Spirits' Spring through the Spirits' Road wherever you are. Conversely, you can follow me and go someplace else through the Spirits' Road as well. If we take advantage of this ability, then we can quickly attack whomever we want with minimal risk, and also get out without anyone noticing. If we use my gate, then we can shorten that process too."

[I understand.]

"I'll pick the right situation, place, and time. In other words, I'll be setting the stage for you."

[I understand that too... Thanks.]

Whenever Zenon nodded his head, the spirits followed suit and nodded, which was adorable. Lee Shin Woo grinned and went to the main topic.

"However, there's something you need to take care of before that. The newly born spirits."

[...Eut.]

He'd said this once before, but it must've been a sore spot. Zenon widened his eyes.

"The Emperor has tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of golems searching for naturally born spirits. The spirits are then captured and killed. Of course, I'm stopping them right now, but... you should know. That there's little chance of a neglected spirit growing safely."

[Mm.]

"So find those spirits and bring them here. I'll tell you where they are through my link with the golem network. Revenge is just part of the process; your ultimate goal is to live happily with the other spirits."

[...]

He'd scared them and fueled their rage before (the stick), so now it was time for the carrot. It was, of course, quite effective. Lee Shin Woo made himself sound concerned for the newly born spirits, so some of the spirits sniffled.

[Then... Thanks. I didn't think that far. But to think, you were worried about the other spirits... As a spirit, I'm ashamed.]

"You were overwhelmed by your emotions, so there's no helping it. But I just wanted to warn you that you can't just let your rage fuel you."

Lee Shin Woo was the one who'd incited their rage and caused them to awaken, yet he still said something so shameless. However, the spirits were already in the palm of his hand! They were touched, and when he saw them floundering around, he inwardly muttered.

'I really like spirits. They're so easy to manipulate.'