Chapter 104
First, my energy returned.
Blood flowed back into my face, and strength returned to fists that had been limp and trembling.
And then—
Familiar power surged again in my heart and lower abdomen.
The qi governed by the Supreme Azure Mind Method.
Not only that—
The flesh that had melted began to regenerate.
“Grrr…!”
Nerves and bones that had lost function started to regrow.
Damaged organs restored themselves, and my weakened immunity rose.
Torn muscles reattached, and my blurred vision cleared.
This was resurrection.
A phenomenon worthy of being called a miracle!
[Reverting physical state to 24 hours prior.]
“Haaah!”
From a throat that had only wheezed came a clear, vibrant voice.
My numbed pain receptors also returned.
‘Good.’
Time to begin again.
My fight with the Toxin Mist wasn’t over.
– Kyaaaaaaaaah!
The energy of the Toxin Mist once again surged wildly through my body, indulging itself.
Familiar pain, and the restarting of neutralization and harmonization.
‘Damn it.’
I muttered.
I barely survived that hellish storm—
And that monster wanted to throw me right back into the cauldron of agony.
‘But.’
It was bearable now.
Compared to the beginning, I had definitely built resistance.
“Mmm.”
I closed my eyes and circulated my qi as fast as I could.
Analyzing each poisonous component pouring into me, trying to control them.
Indeed—
The elder had been right about everything.
Even without formal research—
Consuming poison alone allowed me to acquire knowledge of it.
Learning not by mind, but by body.
My brain moved sharply.
– The second poison and the sixth poison have terrible synergy. If they collide, it’ll be disastrous. Separate them.
– Hmm, will poison 1 and 3 cancel each other? Feels similar to the Acrid Spirit Herb and Crane’s True Red from before.
– Oh? Poison 5 is extreme, but poison 9 acts like an antidote. Combine them! Combine!
– Wow! Poisons 14 and 18, and 19 fused beautifully. This is basically a tonic. My qi is recovering!
I didn’t even know their names—
Yet I felt like a self-taught poison grandmaster.
Even without exact knowledge, instinct told me how to act.
Just like how you know fire is hot without being taught.
This was the unique instinct of someone who had tasted thousands of poisons.
– Kyaaaaaaah?
Was it upset that things weren’t going its way?
The movements of the Toxin Mist grew rougher.
Its influx of poison quickened, and its raging winds grew stronger.
‘Don’t try to suppress it.’
Just accept it.
The Toxin Mist was a natural disaster.
Not something a human could “control.”
To claim control over something that vast—
Would be like holding the entire ocean inside a human body.
‘I won’t try to restrict you. Roam freely inside me.’
This creature likely held every poison in existence.
What it wanted was to melt me using all its venom.
And so it kept injecting more and more poison.
But honestly—
Isn’t that what I want too?
‘Come in.’
I opened every circuit and meridian in my body.
At the same time, I used the Supreme Azure Mind Method to protect those pathways with delicate control.
Whrrrrsh!
And into them—
Poison poured like a waterfall.
Along with grade-1 deadly poisons—
There were grade-2, grade-3, and even weak poisons mixed in.
Poisons that posed no threat to me anymore.
That was why this method was even possible.
If I had used this method before…
My body would’ve melted instantly.
But now—
My body was different.
My mind instinctively processed the elder’s poison techniques, automatically breaking down and synthesizing poisons.
And most importantly—
My body had accepted poison.
“Huuuh… huuup… huu…”
Strangely—
The overwhelming poison no longer suffocated me.
My breathing was steady.
The rotten stench I once smelled was gone.
Instead—
‘…It smells good.’
I sniffed lightly.
A sweet aroma, like passing a village that baked bread each morning.
A texture so soft it made my tongue water.
‘Ah… is this poison?’
Poison was like kimchi in Korea.
Or like cilantro in China.
Harsh and pungent at first, but addictive the more you tasted.
Ahh.
Ecstasy filled me.
A sense of oneness—
No, ‘Toxin–Self Unity.’
The feeling of becoming one with poison.
How long had passed?
– “Heh heh.”
A voice came from beside me.
‘Huh?’
I snapped my eyes open.
The elder was smiling brightly in my green-tinted vision.
‘Huh? Elder? How are you here?’
– “Didn’t you know? You instinctively summoned me every 24 hours. You kept summoning me, then wandering around clueless, so I gave you a hand.”
‘…Excuse me?’
I was stunned.
I had just blinked for a moment.
What did he mean?
Summoned every 24 hours?
– “Heh heh, this brat. You must’ve been deeply immersed. You’ve summoned me five times already!”
“……”
Five times?
That meant—
Five days had passed?
“What?”
Now that I focused—
My vision was perfectly clear.
Even though I was floating in midair—
Even though poison was still pouring into me—
I felt nothing.
In fact, it felt refreshing.
– Kia? Kiaaa?
The once fierce roars of the Toxin Mist now sounded confused.
“…What… what happened?”
– “What do you mean what happened. Pull yourself together, boy! Hmph, though maybe you don’t need to anymore. Tsk, even as my disciple you’re unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.”
The elder’s voice sounded sweet— almost like poison.
– “To endure such an absurd space with mere Thousand-Poison Immunity, to withstand all that poison, to accept it all… How does it feel? Can’t you instinctively identify every poison floating around you?”
He was right.
Every poison swirling around me—
They were all ones I had tasted.
My body knew them automatically.
How to gather them.
How to spread them.
Even how to combine them into what I wanted.
– “That is one of the Ten Thousand Arts— Poison Arts. Tsk, life is ironic. You still crawl with the techniques I spent my life teaching you, yet you master a new art you never experienced before.”
“Master… it?”
– “Indeed, boy! The realm you’ve achieved is Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity.”
“……!”
My eyes widened.
[Congratulations!]
[Skill Thousand-Poison Immunity (A-rank) has reached its limit.]
[You have acquired the skill Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity (S-rank).]
Ahh—
So this was the realm of Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity…?
[Skill: Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity]
[Rank: S]
[Effect 1: Resist all poisons in existence.]
[Effect 2: Perceive all poisons in existence.]
[Effect 3: Command all poisons in existence.]
“Exactly. Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity doesn’t end at resistance.”
The elder smiled.
“It is literally becoming friends with poison. Not suppressing it, but becoming one with it. Forming the deepest bond with poison! And you achieved it instinctively, with sheer grit!”
Ssshhhhh…
The raging wind of the Toxin Mist softened.
– Kirrrrk… krrrrk…
Aah.
Was that the vengeful wail I heard before?
Its roar now sounded like a tame, affectionate cat.
“Huh.”
I nodded and opened my flow of qi.
Through that opening—
The once-calamity-like energy of the Toxin Mist began to pour into me.
“You want to enter? Want to stay in here? You find my body more comfortable than the outside?”
Its emotions flowed into me.
– Kirrk! Kirrrk!
Yes, cute creature—
Or rather, suddenly cute creature.
“Come in. I’ll eat you.”
I circulated the Supreme Azure Mind Method.
No matter how strong its poison was—
It couldn’t harm me anymore.
It simply became gentle, comfortable energy.
A massive power settled into the center of my body.
“Heh.”
The elder shook his head with a laugh.
– “No matter how I see it, your luck is insane. Taming something like that… If there were a Great Fortune Art, you’d have mastered it already.”
“…Well, even I can’t deny that this time.”
The Toxin Mist made itself comfortable in my lower abdomen.
I couldn’t control it.
Its power was far too overwhelming.
But now that it lived inside me—
And found comfort in my body—
If anything threatened it—
Would it stay quiet?
With that alone, it felt like I had gained an army.
I was Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity.
Friend of the Toxin Mist. (T/N: Damn, I wonder if he can apply poison to his skeletons now. That would be OP)
‘Definitely a fortunate encounter.’
Just like the elder said—
I had gained another fortuitous chance.
My chest swelled with excitement—
[Ping!]
[Toxin Mist has vanished. Clear conditions have been met!]
[Trial Theme 1 ends.]
[You will be transported to Theme 2 in 30 minutes.]
[Survivors: 41]
[Calculating rewards.]
A clear message appeared before my eyes.
—
“……”
“……”
Delilah’s hall.
Two people stood frozen, mouths hanging open.
They stared at the hologram, unable to speak.
The man spoke first.
“W-what… what did I just see?”
“……”
“Toxin Mist. Did… an ordinary participant just defeat the Toxin Mist? Not a ranker, but a regular contestant?”
Red-Eyed Luka, usually calm and composed, had completely lost his demeanor.
That was how shocking this was.
“……”
Delilah, always composed, also had trembling eyes.
A new prodigy unlike any before had appeared— and she was shaken.
The Toxin Mist.
A concentration of all the poisons she had painstakingly gathered from every dungeon she could create.
A fog that contained every poison that existed.
She had never released it to be defeated.
It was meant only as a trigger—
A mechanism to push difficulty to extreme heights so participants could earn high rewards through plausibility.
“Joo Donghoon… far beyond expectations.”
Delilah bit her lip.
In the hell-dungeon she designed—
A participant who shattered the premise of surviving for a week—
And simply defeated the Toxin Mist itself.
“W-what happens now?”
Luka asked.
Delilah replied calmly.
“Simple. The dungeon will calculate and grant rewards equal to what he accomplished.”
“Then…”
“Yes.”
Delilah swallowed hard.
“The reward will be beyond my imagination.”
At the same time, her eyes glimmered with curiosity.
Delilah genuinely wondered—
What impossible thing would emerge from her own dungeon.