Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Chapter 92

Shuaaah!

The egg broke.

At the same time, a light burst forth, and the deadly poison that had spread through his body gathered at his solar plexus and disappeared, as if sucked into a drain.

Simultaneously, the agonizing pain that had gripped his entire body subsided, and the pounding in his heart and the splitting headache faded like a gentle wave.

“Huuu…”

A deep breath escaped his lips.

His once-labored breathing settled, and Suho, still seated cross-legged, leaned comfortably against the wall.

Just as he regained his peace, system notifications began to flood his vision.

[ You have successfully hatched the Egg of the Poison-Eating Snake. ]

[ The quest has been completed. ]

[ The Poison-Eating Snake acknowledges you as its master and coils around you. ]

[ Congratulations! You have acquired the Poison-Eating Snake (S+). ]

[ An extraordinary achievement! The system grants you a bonus of 5 stat points. ]

Seeing the notifications, Suho couldn’t help but smile.

“Finally, it’s a success.”

How much excruciating pain he had endured just to see these notifications.

For this reason, the rewards before him felt all the sweeter.

Suho fixed his gaze on the name of the newly acquired skill among the notifications.

Poison-Eating Snake (S+).

It was known as the Poison Dragon and was one of the few poison-related S-rank skills in the world.

“No, it’s not just a regular S-rank skill. This one has a plus rating attached to it.”

That made it something he had to acquire at all costs.

The Poison-Eating Snake was not only rare among S-rank poison skills but was a growth-type skill with a plus rating.

Suho checked the details of the Poison-Eating Snake skill.

[ Poison-Eating Snake ]

– Rating: S+

# The legendary Snakes born from a single head possess immense power.

# The Poison-Eating Snake responds to its master’s call.

# The Poison-Eating Snake consumes any poison its master provides.

# The Poison-Eating Snake can digest any poison without exception.

# The Poison-Eating Snake combines consumed poisons to create entirely new types of toxins.

# The Poison-Eating Snake can only produce an amount of poison equivalent to what it has consumed.

After carefully reading the skill information, Suho stretched out his hand.

“Come out.”

This was to verify the second detail of the skill description.

“To respond to the master’s call.”

A small, semi-transparent Snake, black with a purple stripe encircling its body, began to slither out from Suho’s palm.

“Hissss.”

The creature crawled up onto Suho’s palm, yawning widely.

Seeing this, Suho chuckled.

“To think the Poison Dragon was ever this small.”

The Poison Dragon, known as one of the Three Poisons, was called a Poison Dragon solely because of this creature.

The Poison Dragon had used the Poison-Eating Snake like a summon.

Of course, the Poison-Eating Snake wasn’t truly a summon, but a manifestation in the form of one.

However, as a growth-type skill that developed based on the poisons it consumed, it wasn’t inappropriate to call it a summon.

Suho addressed the Poison-Eating Snake.

“From now on, your name is Poison Dragon.”

“Hiss! Hiss!”

Upon receiving its new name, the Poison Dragon nodded its head.

Giving it a nickname like this made it much easier to summon, as it would activate upon the call.

Before getting up, Suho looked at the remaining vials of top-grade poison in front of him.

Three vials remained.

It was a close, if barely sufficient, quantity.

“If I hadn’t managed to hatch the egg even after consuming these…”

The opportunity to obtain the Poison Dragon would have slipped away forever.

That’s why he had prepared an ample amount, but the successful point had been cutting it close.

Suho uncorked a poison vial and held it out to the Poison Dragon.

“Eat.”

“Hiss!”

The Poison Dragon happily began drinking the poison as Suho held out the vial.

Now that he had obtained the Poison Dragon, he no longer had to drink poison himself and could instead collect it in this manner.

As the Poison Dragon drank, new notifications popped up.

[ The Poison Dragon is consuming poison. ]

[ The Poison Dragon is greatly satisfied with its meal. ]

As expected, it was quite pleased with the top-grade poison.

Understandable, since the Poison Dragon had begun to react to the hatching process once Suho started administering the high-grade poisons.

“Still, it seems raising this creature will require a lot of money.”

Poisons were more expensive than people thought.

Especially potent ones with diverse side effects.

There was no helping it.

For poisons to be effective in assassination, they needed to be well-preserved and easy to handle, which required time and costly ingredients.

“Well, no matter. I’ve got more money than I can spend now.”

Once the Poison Dragon had drained all three vials, a small purple circle and an empty circle appeared at one side of Suho’s field of vision.

It resembled the Blood Orb he had acquired from the original Vampire, with the purple circle representing the amount of poison the Poison Dragon had consumed, and the empty one indicating how much of that poison it had converted into its own toxic reserves.

“It can only use as much poison as it’s converted.”

According to what the Poison Dragon had told him in the past, it could digest any poison, but the digestion time varied depending on the poison.

If he wanted to frequently use the Poison Dragon’s poison, the trick was to feed it moderate-grade poisons regularly, rather than only powerful ones.

“I’ll need to raise it diligently until I meet Suzuki.”

That way, he could quickly digest Suzuki’s poison and use it in battle.

After feeding the Poison Dragon, Suho canceled the skill and surveyed his surroundings.

“What a mess.”

The area around Suho was in even greater disarray than he’d expected.

Though he thought he’d calmly digested the poison, the sweat, blood, and venom scattered during the process had left quite a scene.

Still, it didn’t matter.

After all, he had succeeded in obtaining the Poison Dragon.

When he emerged from the basement into the sunlight, it poured down on him.

Checking the time, he saw that it was already nearing noon.

“It feels like I started the quest around 6 PM yesterday, so just how many hours was I stuck down there?”

But he wasn’t tired.

If he hadn’t obtained the Poison Dragon after all that effort, he would have been furious, but he had achieved his goal in the end.

After allocating the five bonus stat points from the quest to Strength, Suho headed up to the first floor to prepare for work.

Just then.

“Te-Team Leader?”

Suho ran into Nam Haewon, who had just come down to the first floor.

Suho greeted Nam Haewon casually.

“Oh, you’re up?”

“Uh, w-well, why do you look like that?”

“Look like? Oh, I was doing some stuff in the basement training room.”

“The training room?”

It was understandable why Nam Haewon looked so shocked.

Suho’s body was caked with dried blood, sweat, and poison, all hardened into layers.

Nam Haewon, slightly intimidated, asked cautiously.

“There aren’t any bodies or anything down in the basement… are there?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. It’s from clearing a quest. How’s it going with you?”

“I’m still synthesizing.”

“It’s taking a while.”

“I’m working hard! Besides eating, sleeping, and… well, I’m devoting every minute to synthesizing slime stones, but does this thing really end?”

“It does. Like I told you before, it’s done when it can’t be synthesized anymore. You’re still able to, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then you’re not there yet. Hang in there a little longer.”

“Ahhhhh!”

“I always appreciate it. Please keep up the good work.”

“Ugh, fine… Aren’t you going to work?”

“I was just on my way.”

“Huh? Can a civil servant change their start time whenever they feel like it?”

“It’s all pre-approved.”

“This place is strange…”

“What’s strange? Anyway, I’m off to clean up. Let me know when the synthesis is done.”

Finally, Suho began getting ready for work.

Scrubbing away the poison and blood crusted on his body.

***

– Mr. Suho, where are you now?

“I’m heading to the warehouse.”

– Ah, then I’ll see you in a bit.

As Suho neared the warehouse at the Association, he received a call from Kim Seokhoon.

Great timing.

Upon arriving at the warehouse entrance, he found Kim Seokhoon waiting for him, and as soon as they met, they headed straight to the location for the second test.

“The first test was held in the resource warehouse, so the second test will take place in the special warehouse.”

“It’s called the special warehouse because it holds only cursed items, right?”

“Yes, exactly. When I told the Team Leader of Special Team 2 that we needed to reschedule the test, he put up such a fuss… but we finally managed to set it.”

“You went through a lot.”

“Haha, not at all. I was just being negligent. For this test, the theme is purification and destruction.”

“Purification and destruction?”

Purification and destruction.

Though Suho knew what it meant, he asked as if he didn’t, and Kim Seokhoon continued.

“Yes, as you already know from the theory, items classified as cursed are usually dealt with in three ways: purification, destruction, and sealing. Items that can’t be handled otherwise are sealed in storage, but most cursed items are purified or destroyed.”

It was as he said.

Items classified as cursed by the Department of Research and Analysis were handed over to Special Team 2 of the Resource Management Department, where the team determined the final handling method through various experiments.

“But most of them end up being destroyed.”

The reason was simple.

The conditions for purification were hard to find, and storing them took up too much space.

Thus, it could be said that Special Team 2 of the Resource Management Department at the Korean Hunter Association destroyed more items than anywhere else in the country.

“And it’s also the place where that person is.”

Suho already knew what the second test in Special Team 2 involved.

They would likely give him mass-produced cursed items with known outcomes and have him attempt to purify or destroy them.

In that sense, the test was straightforward for Suho.

He already had a firm understanding of the fundamental purification and destruction formulas.

Thus, Suho’s interest in Special Team 2 lay elsewhere.

Arriving at the special warehouse, Suho was greeted by Jo Geonhyuk, the team leader of Special Team 2, who was waiting at the entrance.

“Ah, nice to meet you. I’m Jo Geonhyuk.”

Suho shook hands with Jo Geonhyuk.

Following his guidance, Suho entered the special warehouse, where the members of Special Team 2 were engrossed in their tasks.

The place resembled a research lab, with individual chambers separated by thick, bulletproof glass, where various items were being processed. As Suho looked around, his gaze stopped at one spot.

“Found him.”

Suho’s gaze fixed on a particular individual.

A thin man with deep dark circles under his eyes was silently working alone on purification tasks.

His name was Kang Seulgi.

But he would later be known by a much more infamous title: the “Mad Scholar of Destruction.”

Watching the soon-to-be infamous figure, Suho’s eyes glimmered with anticipation.