Kim Yeon-seo's situation could wait. Although she had left Alpha Academy and come here, I wasn't obligated to mentor her further. Kim Kyung-soo's wish was to remove his daughter from Alpha Academy and have her learn from me again. Even if only half of his wish was fulfilled, he wouldn't be able to complain.

I started walking towards the hill. Kim Kyung-soo followed, saying,

"I apologize for yesterday. I shouldn't have overstepped my bounds."

I understood what he meant. The issue of dealing with Lee Seung-hee. To Kim Kyung-soo, she was a kind of savior, having helped him regain his most precious possession – his daughter. But I didn't think he was simply motivated by gratitude towards Lee Seung-hee.

“After hearing about the steroids, the rumors circulating in the industry came to mind. My field is different, and I’m deeply engrossed in my research, so I haven’t paid much attention, but if it's true, it's terrifying.”

“What rumors?”

“That the government is trying to control hunters. It’s a rumor, but Japan is said to have already started working on it. The government trying to control hunters… a typical way for that country. The frightening part is that it actually works. There are many types of steroids. I know over a hundred kinds alone. Some control the hunter's nervous system to dominate their minds.”

“Do you think that experiment is being conducted at Alpha Academy?”

“It's not impossible. As you know, DH and SG, two of the leading companies in this field, are working together. The political and business worlds are focused on them. I wonder if expelling you was for a bigger project. Anyone else might not have noticed, but you would have.”

“Hmm…”

I rubbed my neck. Even during yesterday's conversation, I’d felt something was amiss. A sense that something bigger was happening. Hearing Kim Kyung-soo's words, the hazy picture cleared considerably.

“It would be difficult to find out without Lee Seung-hee.”

“That’s why I suggested using her as an informant. I’m sorry for proceeding unilaterally.”

“Let’s wait and see. I frankly don’t care if the government controls hunters or not.”

“Really?”

Kim Kyung-soo looked at me in surprise.

“I’m not a good person, and I don’t intend to be. I don’t care what they do. I only intend to make them pay for what they did to me.”

“But somehow, I feel like it might lead to the same path.”

“Then so be it.”

Using Lee Seung-hee within Alpha Academy would be helpful in many ways. If, as Kim Kyung-soo suggested, a terrifying conspiracy was underway, exposing it would be enough to bring them down.

‘But it won’t be that easy.’

Regardless, I took Kim Kyung-soo to the abandoned dungeon.

“Are we going in there?”

He said hesitantly.

“Yes, what I want to show you is inside.”

“Understood.”

The dark and damp atmosphere of the abandoned dungeon remained unchanged. Kim Kyung-soo didn't understand why I had brought him here, but he soon gasped at the sight on the ground.

“Oh my god! What is this?”

The corpses were more decayed than before. The tree had grown proportionately larger. It still hadn't borne fruit, but it seemed ready to do so anytime.

“It’s called a mana berry tree. When the fruit ripens, it can increase mana.”

I told Kim Kyung-soo about something I’d never actually seen before.

“A mana berry tree… I’ve never seen anything like this. Even without researching it, I doubt such a tree exists anywhere else in the world.”

“Even in the Texas dungeon?”

“Even in the Texas dungeon. If something like this existed, a researcher like me would have known.”

Kim Kyung-soo approached the tree and examined it closely. He took out tools from his inventory and collected a sample. There was a grotesquely intertwined corpse at his feet, but he was so engrossed in collecting the sample that he didn't notice it.

“Hmm…” I suddenly became curious about the corpse. A corpse that should have decomposed and disappeared was still preserved after several days. This was because the tree was slowly growing, using the mana of the human hunter as nourishment.

I crouched down and looked at the corpse. Its eye sockets, where the eyeballs had melted away, revealing black hollows, felt like it was staring at me. I reached out to its head.

• Will you bestow experience points upon Kim Dong-sik (C-rank)?

‘What is this?’

It seemed to recognize the hunter, who was already a corpse, as if he were still alive.

I’d touched it because I had a hunch something might happen, but I never expected this message.

Regardless, it was intriguing, so I did as the message suggested.

Flash-

I was startled by the light that shot out from the corpse’s eye sockets. After injecting the experience points, something astonishing happened. The tree above the corpse began to grow rapidly.

Kim Kyung-soo was still lost in his own world, unaware of what was happening here.

The amount of experience points I had poured into the corpse wasn’t large. But even this small amount seemed to provide ample nourishment to the tree.

Finally,

“Wow…”

Something began to form between the branches, growing in size and shining with a gloss.

Large, jet-black fruits had ripened on the enormous tree.

‘What? I thought I needed to reactivate the dungeon.’

The conditions for mana berry fruit ripening weren't unique.

“Professor, this is truly amazing.”

Kim Kyung-soo turned his head. Startled, he sat down heavily on his bottom.

A tree that had grown to reach the ceiling. And the bountiful fruit hanging from its branches…

“C-could it be…?”

“The fruit really did ripen. This must be the mana berry.”

I picked one and put it in my mouth.

“Professor, wait!”

Before Kim Kyung-soo could stop me, I'd already put it in my mouth and chewed.

“Wow, delicious?”

It was a perfectly ripe fruit with a burst of sweetness. The large berries had a pleasant texture. I continued picking and eating them.

• Your mana has been permanently increased by a minuscule amount.
• Your mana has been permanently increased by a minuscule amount.

The same message appeared intermittently.

I didn’t know what a ‘minuscule amount’ meant, but it probably wasn’t something worth celebrating, at least not for me. I kept eating them for only one reason: they were delicious.

“Professor, it hasn’t been confirmed that this fruit is safe. We need to investigate further…”

Kim Kyung-soo's gaze was fixed on the ground. He seemed unable to comprehend me, eating the fruit from the tree that grew from a corpse, without hesitation.

“Here, have one too.”

I tossed a mana berry into his open mouth.

Swoosh,

“Cough, cough…”

Kim Kyung-soo coughed, as if the fruit had gotten stuck in his throat. Then his eyes widened.

“Oh! Delicious!”

“I told you! Better than blueberries, right?”

“I suppose so. But like the colorful scales of a venomous snake, this fruit might contain poison. It might be better to investigate before tasting it.”

“I told you it’s fine!”

I picked mana berries, intending to bring some back to Kim So-mi and Kim Yeon-seo, and put them in my inventory. Even after eating and picking quite a few, the tree was still laden with fruit.

‘Does it keep producing fruit as long as you give it experience points?’

Eating this fruit increased mana. Between losing experience points and gaining mana, the latter was overwhelmingly more beneficial. This was because the amount of experience points I'd poured into the corpse was insignificant. It was a tree grown from a dead person, after all. The growth efficiency was exceptionally high.

‘The fact that this tree grows proves the dungeon’s unusual nature.’

The dungeon environment met the conditions for the mana berry tree to grow. If this dungeon is reactivated, the fruit would ripen on its own without needing additional experience points.

“How did you do that?”

“What difference would knowing make? What do you think? This dungeon is unusual, right?”

“Yes, this is a cautious assumption, but something even more amazing and extraordinary might emerge. In a way, this dungeon itself is uncharted territory. We need to investigate further. Not just the dungeon, but the ecology of this area itself definitely holds something. Otherwise, animals wouldn’t be awakening.”

"That's enough for now.”

How much experience would it take to reactivate the dungeon? I considered this directly related to the dungeon's rank. If I made it S-rank, even 100 days' worth of experience points might not be enough. But if it were a lower rank, say, F-rank, it would probably be possible with far less experience.

‘Even an F-rank dungeon would produce mana berries from the tree.’

I could attempt it now, but I decided against it. Further investigation was necessary. As Kim Kyung-soo mentioned, the three nearby dungeons seemed to be connected. It would be troublesome if I touched one and something went wrong.

“Let’s go.”

As I led the way out of the dungeon, I suddenly heard a strange sound.

“Kee-ik, kee-ik,”

It sounded like the cry of an unfamiliar beast, so I went towards the sound. A large bird was curled up near the dungeon entrance.

• This is a C-rank eagle-type Awakened Beast.
• It is severely malnourished.
• It is highly likely to starve to death if left as it is.

‘An eagle?’

I crawled towards the bird, groaning and struggling on the ground. It was definitely large. And its face was obscured, but up close, it had a magnificent, handsome face. Its feathers were patchy, and its skin was taut with hunger.

“What happened to you?”

Feeling pity, I took out some mana berries from my inventory. I piled them up on my palm and offered them, but the creature hesitated, wary.

“It’s delicious. Nom nom.”

I showed it by eating a mana berry myself. It seemed to be afraid of me, so I spread the berries on the ground.

“And what’s that?”

Kim Kyung-soo asked.

“It seems to be an Awakened Beast. It seems its wariness is heightened by hunger. Let's give it space to eat comfortably.”

“Ah… if its body is weak, won’t eating the berries worsen its condition?”

“Mana berries are not poisonous. I guarantee it.”