Seeing Joo-Hee's resolute eyes, Jin-Woo could only nod reluctantly.
'A promise, huh?' He mulled over her words, the uneasy weight of her tone gnawing at him.
'Why does it feel like a final goodbye? Or am I just overthinking things?'
Joo-Hee smiled, her expression a mix of determination and warmth.
"Don't you dare take it back now. You already promised."
She gestured toward the path ahead.
"For now, I think it's better if we get moving. We've wasted quite a bit of time already."
"I'll create a path for both of us first, and Jin-Woo, can you clear this dungeon afterward?"
Jin-Woo frowned slightly.
"What about you? Don't you need to level up too?"
Joo-Hee waved off his concern with practiced ease.
"Nah, I'm still a bit tired. I'll just find Mr. Song and Jeong-Ho, heal them, and rest afterward. Besides, I've got a dungeon rented for tomorrow."
Though Jin-Woo's instincts told him to press further, he decided against it.
"I see. Okay, let's go with that."
He adjusted his grip on his weapon, preparing himself to advance.
Joo-Hee stepped forward, standing before the tangled mass of roots and hanging vines that blocked their path.
The walls of the terraformed cave loomed around her, foreboding and alive with vital energy.
She took a deep breath, focusing on the new skill she had yet to try, [Fragmented Tongue of Babel].
As she activated the skill, a surge of incomprehensible knowledge rushed into her mind like a tidal wave, threatening to drown her in its intensity.
Her body tensed as she felt something foreign and ancient etching itself into her tongue, a sensation like writhing serpents crawling inside her mouth.
The discomfort deepened as golden cryptic patterns emerged from her mouth, spreading across her neck in intricate, luminous designs.
The activation was neither painless nor unbearable—but profoundly alien, as though she had been tethered to an unknown force.
The sensation lasted nearly twenty seconds, during which her thoughts hovered on the edge of overwhelming euphoria.
Her high wisdom stat was the only thing keeping her anchored to sanity, pulling her back from the grip of omniscience.
Shaking her head to clear the lingering euphoric trance, Joo-Hee steeled herself and planned to activate another skill, [Verdant Growth], to complete her plan.
The essence of nature around her surged in response, a pulsing vitality she could feel in every breath.
Her gaze sharpened as she prepared to test the true potential of her newfound skill.
Opening her mouth, Joo-Hee tried to speak, but her tongue felt heavy, numb—like a foreign entity resisting her control.
It was as though she had forgotten how to form words.
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to push through, summoning every ounce of willpower.
Finally, she uttered a single word, her voice erupting in a monstrous, otherworldly roar like a weeping banshee.
<
The sound exploded from her throat, reverberating through the cavern with an intensity that shook the very air.
Jin-Woo staggered, his eyes wide in shock as he instinctively clamped his hands over his ears.
The unnatural resonance of the voice bore into him, a primal force that made his teeth grit and his pulse quicken.
Before them, the roots and overgrown greenery disintegrated in an instant, reduced to fine dust that scattered into the air like ash.
The once-imposing obstacle had been utterly obliterated, leaving only a clear, lifeless path in its wake.
But the toll was immediate and brutal. Joo-Hee coughed violently, blood splattering onto the ground as her throat and tongue burned with excruciating dryness.
It felt as if her vocal cords had been seared away, her mouth left with pure dehydration.
She dropped to her knees, her hand clutching at her neck in a desperate attempt to soothe the pain as she canceled the origin skill.
The oppressive aura of the [Fragmented Tongue of Babel] dissipated, but the damage remained.
Sweat poured down her face as she gasped for air, her fingers trembling while she activated [Healing Touch].
She poured mana into the spell over and over, burning through nearly 500 mana points in a quick attempt to heal herself.
Even as the healing began to ease the raw agony, her body shuddered with exhaustion.
Her fingers brushed against her throat, the lingering discomfort making her wince.
'What in the world is this skill?' she thought, her mind racing as she touched her tongue gingerly, ensuring it was intact.
She forced herself to look up at the path she had cleared.
The destruction left her speechless—the scattered roots and overgrown greenery had been erased so completely that it was as if they had never existed.
Dust hung in the air, the only evidence of what once blocked their way.
Her mouth parted in disbelief.
'So this is the power of an Origin Skill…' she thought, awe and trepidation mixing in equal measure.
'If a single use can do this, then what would happen if I could use it consecutively—or fuse it with my other skills?'
Her eyes flicked to Jin-Woo, who was still catching his breath from the sheer force of her voice.
She tried to speak, but her voice cracked painfully, coming out as a hoarse whisper.
"I-I be…" she winced, touching her neck.
Her throat felt raw, her vocal cords strained beyond their limit.
'Just great… what a perfect time to get a sore throat,' she thought bitterly.
'I can't even speak properly now.'
Summoning what little strength she had left, she activated [Healing Touch], letting the soothing warmth spread through her body to ease the bone-deep fatigue.
Her breathing steadied, but her mana reserves were almost half.
Turning her gaze toward Jin-Woo, she saw him still disoriented, his hands lingering near his ears.
Concerned, she reached out and began to heal him too.
As the restorative energy flowed into him, Jin-Woo blinked and shook his head, finally snapping out of his stupor.
"Joo-Hee…" he began, his voice tinged with confusion and awe.
"W-What was that? Was that your skill?"
Joo-Hee tried to respond, but her voice came out cracked and weak, sounding like an elderly.
Jin-Woo froze for a moment before a mischievous grin spread across his face.
"Joo-Hee... you sound amazing as a grandma~" he teased, barely holding back a chuckle.
"Should I start calling you Old Lee now?"
Her cheeks puffed up indignantly as she flicked his ear with surprising precision, pouting all the while.
Jin-Woo laughed, raising his hands in mock surrender.
"Okay, okay! I'm sorry~"
He couldn't help but grin, though his thoughts turned serious.
'She's really something the more I get to know her."
'But what was that skill, really? It managed to destroy everything in its path—even the root summons she created in her rampage. If her system had used that on me earlier, I might've been immobilized instantly. Whew, thankfully it didn't.'
He shuddered at the thought but was thankful that hadn't been the case.
Once Joo-Hee finished healing him, she gestured toward the path ahead, signaling him to proceed.
Her exhaustion and voiceless state left her unable to argue further.
Jin-Woo gave her a reassuring smile, nodding as he turned to leave.
"Take it easy, alright? I'll go first, see ya!" he said over his shoulder before striding away.
Joo-Hee stood there, watching his silhouette disappear into the shadows.
Alone now, the cavern seemed colder, quieter—almost oppressive.
She took a deep breath, ignoring the lingering soreness in her throat as she continued healing herself, focusing on her vocal cords and tongue.
[Status], she thought.
Immediately, a green panel materialized in front of her.
_______________________
[Sage Enlightenment System V.2.0]
.
Name: Lee Joo-Hee (Jake Garcia)
Class: Sage of Eternal Leaf
Title: None
.
Level: 3 (126/200)
HP: 190/190
MP: 1,329/3,000
.
[ Stats ]
[ Skills ]
[ Quests ]
[ Notifications (+2) ]
_______________________
Her eyes narrowed at her mana bar.
It had drained in half after using just a single [Fragmented Tongue of Babel] and numerous casts of [Healing Touch].
She let out a tired sigh.
'This Origin Skill is ridiculously powerful… but it's akin to a black hole in terms of mana usage and makes me vulnerable after just one use. Even if I could use it consecutively, I'd barely manage two or three casts before running out of mana completely.'
Still, she couldn't help but feel a spark of reassurance.
'Well, having a trump card is better than nothing. In a dire situation, it could mean the difference between life and death.'
Turning her attention to her surroundings, she grimaced.
The dried, grotesque corpses of criminals—including Kang Tae-Shik—lay scattered around, their remains rapidly decomposed from the aftereffects of her power surge.
The sight sent a chill down her spine.
Despite having lived here for a few weeks already, she still wasn't used to this level of human carnage.
The real world hadn't prepared her for such grim realities; such events in that world were pretty rare for a former student like her to experience.
Alone in the eerie silence, the cavern seemed to close in, amplifying the morbid scene before her.
She shuddered, shaking her head to banish the creeping thoughts of their corpses rising like zombies.
'Enough of that. I better focus on what's important for now.'
She steadied herself and took a deep breath, ignoring the pit of discomfort growing within her.
'I need to find Mr. Song and Jeong-Ho first,' she thought, her resolve hardening as she turned away from the grisly remnants.
Her steps were quiet but purposeful as she left the scene, conjuring glowing ferns along the way with [Verdant Growth] as the faint glow of her healing magic flickered like a dying ember.