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A place where all the monster corpses hunted across South Korea gather.
A site filled with grotesque remains, constantly rotting, with the stench of blood overwhelming the air.
This was the Monster Corpse Disposal Site of the Hwasan Guild.
As Lee Rowoon inhaled the scent of blood and decaying corpses, memories resurfaced.
Before he accepted the message asking if he wanted to become the Vessel of Chaos, he had spent five years in this place.
It was a place where he was treated as less than human, suffering all kinds of humiliation as a slave.
The workers here were all treated as subhuman.
Human rights did not exist, and even if they were injured or killed, they received no compensation.
From the very beginning, they had no way of escaping.
"You'll die here, breathing in the stench of corpses for the rest of your life."
The voice of a friend he once thought would be by his side forever.
Memories he thought he had forgotten during his time with his masters came flooding back, mixed with the putrid stench.
"Am I still unable to let go?"
The thread of vengeance.
Still, it no longer pierced his heart as deeply as before.
Finishing his thoughts, Lee Rowoon sat cross-legged atop a pool of monster blood.
The Abyss
That was the name given to this place by both the workers and overseers.
It was where special monsters, whose bodies were difficult to disassemble, were dumped.
It was also where heavily decomposed remains, useless even as byproducts, were discarded.
As these corpses rotted, they released lethal toxins and magic poison into the air.
Even the overseers couldn't last more than a few hours in this place.
Cough, cough.
Of course, Lee Rowoon was also being affected by the Abyss's poison.
"It's just as Master said."
Right now, he was still in the same body he had as a worker.
Though there was a remnant of Chaos's power within his solar plexus, it was something he could neither touch nor use.
In his current state, he couldn't even defeat a Level 5 Iron Bat in a direct fight.
It wasn't just a matter of dodging attacks—without magic, he couldn't even wound a player.
To fight a player, one had to either be a player themselves or...
"A martial artist who wields martial arts, a knight or mage who uses circles, or a demon who harnesses demonic energy."
There was no need to hesitate.
"I have to reclaim everything."
Memories of hatred and pain resurfaced with the scent of rotting corpses—memories he thought he had forgotten.
Lee Rowoon had no intention of ignoring them.
But there was something even more important.
"I have to find my masters."
His masters, who had returned with him.
He had to find them.
There was no way he would leave them sealed away, alone.
To do that—
"I must grow stronger."
As he was now, he could do nothing.
He had to reclaim his power and grow stronger.
And for that, this Abyss, within the monster corpse disposal site—
"Is the perfect place."
A place avoided by all.
Yet, for him, it was the optimal training ground.
Players grew stronger by hunting monsters. But once the hunt was over, disposing of the corpses was a nuisance, so they dumped them here and used slaves to dismantle them.
The slaves, exposed to the toxic fumes and venom of the monsters, rarely survived more than a few years before falling ill and dying.
"To players, monster corpses are nothing more than byproducts."
After earning experience points through hunting, players had no other way to grow through monsters.
There were some special individuals who could, but their efficiency was low, and few believed one could grow stronger using corpses.
But what about Lee Rowoon?
Blood Demon Art
The perfect place.
One of the two secret martial arts of Shin Yeo-Wool, the master of the Demonic Cult and the Silver Emperor.
A demonic technique that absorbed vitality from blood to cultivate internal energy.
And this place was—
Drip, drip.
Filled with the blood of countless monsters.
There was no one to interfere—not the Iron Bat, nor the other workers.
After all, they assumed he would either succumb to the Abyss's poison or, if he somehow survived, starve to death.
First—
"I will create my dantian."
Remaining cross-legged, Lee Rowoon closed his eyes.
---
The Dantian
It was essentially the symbol of martial artists in the world of Eun.
Much like the mana core for players, it was the source of power for martial artists.
Lee Rowoon intended to create one.
"Normally, this would be impossible."
Players did not possess a dantian.
In fact, unless one was a native of Eun, it was impossible to create one.
Countless experiments had been conducted by those seeking to acquire the power of martial artists, but not a single case had ever succeeded.
But Lee Rowoon was different.
"I just need to die a few times."
The Martial King, Shin Yeo-Wool—
He had literally killed Lee Rowoon multiple times to force a dantian into his body.
Even when the backlash destroyed Lee Rowoon's body, he simply revived and tried again.
"Damn Master."
Even though Shin Yeo-Wool was like a parent to him, just thinking about those memories made his teeth grind.
But because of that, Lee Rowoon vividly remembered the method to create a dantian.
---
Blood Demon Absorption Technique
Lee Rowoon recalled the incantation as he breathed, causing the pool of blood beneath him to stir.
"Urgh!"
As the monster's blood—lethal to humans—was absorbed, an agonizing pain spread through his organs.
But compared to what he had suffered before...
This was nothing more than a pinprick.
Enduring the pain, he continued to breathe and recite the incantation.
The absorbed blood flowed into his veins and gradually gathered in his lower abdomen.
"Ugh!"
A second wave of pain followed.
It was expected.
Normally, the blood should have pooled in the lower dantian.
But since he had no dantian, the blood, now aimless, tore through his veins and remained trapped within his body.
"Now... it begins."
This was the crucial moment.
Lee Rowoon had died multiple times mastering this process.
For nearly a hundred years, his dantian had been with him.
Now, he would create it anew.
Gathering the blood in his lower abdomen, he controlled it.
Rumble!
His abdomen bulged as though a spiked iron ball had been lodged inside.
Blood tears streamed from his eyes as excess monster blood overflowed.
"If I fail to control this, I could die."
Time passed.
"Haah… haah…"
His breathing gradually stabilized.
With his eyes closed, he examined his body.
Where once there had been nothing—
"I did it."
A red dantian had formed.
---