Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Chapter 91

Kim Seokhoon continued.

“Well… actually, I thought the first test wouldn’t be finished for another day or two, so I scheduled it for the day after tomorrow.”

“Pardon?”

“Haha… I’m sorry… Normally, the first test takes at least two days, so we scheduled it as usual…”

Kim Seokhoon scratched his head.

But it was true.

Usually, even if they couldn’t complete the logistics retrieval or sorting tasks, each took up at least a day.

However, Suho had broken that tradition by finishing both tests in a single day.

Suho asked.

“Then what should I do?”

“Well… it looks like the schedule is set, so it will probably be tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.”

“Understood. I’ll wait. In the meantime, I’ll study theory from the next training department.”

“Ah, will you do that?”

“Yes, something similar happened before, so I studied in the underground library.”

“Phew, that’s a relief. Thank you for being understanding. Then I’ll contact you as soon as everything is ready. But it won’t be until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, so you can come back after lunch.”

“Then what should I do today?”

“Since there’s nothing left to do, you might as well go home early.”

“Thank you.”

With Kim Seokhoon’s consideration, Suho smiled lightly and immediately began preparing to leave.

‘This actually works out.’

He had something to do after work, and now, with the early dismissal and a late start tomorrow afternoon, it was perfect timing.

Suho started his car and began making a phone call.

***

Since it wasn’t rush hour, he arrived home quickly.

The house was quiet.

Seo Giwon was training in Paju, and Nam Haewon had fallen asleep after exhausting herself synthesizing materials and items.

Thanks to this, he had the silence he needed for personal business.

Suho headed to the training room located in the building’s basement.

“Looks like everything’s set up well.”

In the training room, everything Suho had requested from external support staff had arrived.

What Suho had ordered was none other than “poison.”

Suho picked up the vial of poison placed furthest to the left on the table and examined its information.

[ Lowest Grade Crude Poison ]

# A crude poison of unknown name or origin

# Has minimal poisoning effects.

It wasn’t only the lowest-grade crude poison.

The vials of poison on the right increased in grade step-by-step, all in preparation for the upcoming quest.

Suho opened the quest window and checked the “Trial of the Snake,” which he had secured earlier.

[ Trial of the Snake ]

# A test that can only be undertaken by the one chosen by the Snake that consumes poison.

# A Snake’s egg, which consumes poison, is dormant within your body. To hatch the egg, you must drink poison and supply it to the egg.

# If the supply of poison is delayed for more than 10 minutes, you must start over from the beginning, and if the supply is delayed three times, the quest will fail, and the Snake’s egg will vanish immediately.

# If any detoxification occurs, the Snake’s egg will vanish immediately.

The quest details were simpler than expected.

In short, as long as no detoxification was performed and he drank poison continuously within 10-minute intervals, that was all there was to the quest.

“Shall I get started?”

Suho took a deep breath.

The quest details looked easy, but the requirement of drinking and supplying poison wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Yet he was confident.

After all, the key to success in this quest lay in how long he could endure the poison he consumed.

“I’m pretty good at enduring things.”

Suho opened the vial containing the lowest-grade crude poison.

“Whew.”

This poison…

Even if it was just low-grade crude poison, anything classified as poison reminded him of Suzuki Endo’s All Poison, which sent chills down his spine.

He had never encountered poison as painful, persistent, or horrifying as that.

“But I must overcome this.”

Only then could he land a decisive blow on that wretched woman.

Suho downed it as if it were ginseng extract.

The characteristic bitterness of poison traced down his tongue and throat, beginning to prickle his esophagus and stomach.

Of course, it did.

It was poison, after all.

Suho placed the box of poison on the ground, then sat cross-legged in front of it.

He didn’t usually meditate in this way, but he assumed the posture to prepare himself mentally for what lay ahead.

Before long.

[ You are now in a state of lowest-grade poisoning. ]

The poisoning effects began to take hold.

Because he had consumed low-grade crude poison, the effects only resulted in a low-grade poisoning state.

The damage gradually ticked away as his stomach burned more intensely.

“This is manageable. But how will the egg respond?”

He closed his eyes, focusing his mind.

He concentrated on feeling the Snake’s egg somewhere within his body.

At that moment.

A slight wriggle.

Suho sensed it.

A faint movement, right below his chest.

It wasn’t muscle spasms from the crude poison.

It was an independent movement from a completely separate entity within his body.

“So that’s where it is.”

The egg wriggled a bit longer, then fell still.

Then.

[ The lowest-grade poisoning state has been lifted. ]

The poisoned state was gone.

He hadn’t used an antidote or any recovery item.

It had just disappeared.

It wasn’t due to New Blood, either.

If it had been, a system notification would have shown up.

This was just a straightforward disappearance.

Which meant that likely…

“So it really is absorbing the poison as food.”

Perhaps that’s why the term “supply” was used.

Apparently, New Blood’s immunity only triggered with contamination effects, meaning poisoning wasn’t counted as contamination.

“That’s a bit disappointing.”

Then again…

If New Blood had responded to poison, he wouldn’t have needed to go through all this in the first place.

After finishing his thoughts, Suho slowly opened his eyes.

Then he took another vial of the lowest-grade crude poison from in front of him and drank it.

Not long after, his chest wriggled again, and the system notification appeared.

[ You are now in a state of lowest-grade poisoning. ]

The process repeated.

The egg wriggled a bit, then stilled, and the poisoned state was lifted.

Suho took a brief pause before drinking another vial of the lowest-grade crude poison.

[ You are now in a state of lowest-grade poisoning. ]

[ The lowest-grade poisoning state has been lifted. ]

[ You are now in a state of lowest-grade poisoning. ]

[ The lowest-grade poisoning state has been lifted. ]

[ You are now in a state of lowest-grade poisoning. ]

[ The lowest-grade poisoning state has been lifted. ]

What followed was a repetitive process.

Like drinking shot after shot, Suho emptied the vials in turn until he finally consumed the thirtieth vial of lowest-grade crude poison.

[ You are now in a state of lowest-grade poisoning. ]

Once again, he was in a poisoned state.

However.

– …

The egg showed no further movement.

No matter how long he waited, it remained still.

The poisoning state did not clear.

“Hmm.”

Seeing no response after waiting a while, it seemed the lowest-grade crude poison was no longer effective.

Apparently, it was enough.

So naturally, Suho picked up the vial of poison with a slightly higher grade and drank it.

[ You are now in a state of lowest-grade poisoning. ]

Since this one was of a higher grade, he entered a poisoned state immediately after drinking it.

His mouth and throat stung intensely, and his stomach felt numb.

But.

– …

Once again, there was no response.

Perhaps even if the quality of the poison increased slightly, the poisoning state remained the same, hence no reaction.

That seemed to be the case.

Since there was no response from the egg after waiting, it was time to try a different approach.

Suho sighed and picked up a vial of low-grade poison, which was guaranteed to trigger a low-grade poisoning state.

Pop.

When he opened it, a much denser stench than that of the lowest-grade poison assaulted his senses.

Suho grimaced and drank it in one go.

“Ugh.”

Compared to the crude poison, this one stung his mouth and burned down his esophagus more fiercely than acid reflux.

But he could bear it.

And as soon as the low-grade poison passed through his esophagus, there was an immediate reaction.

[ You are now in a state of low-grade poisoning. ]

The notification of low-grade poisoning appeared.

Then.

Wriggle!

Finally, the egg began to move again.

Having understood the mechanism of hatching, Suho sat cross-legged once more and focused.

“So this is how it works.”

Right.

Now that he understood the mechanism, all that was left was to drink and endure.

Eventually, the low-grade poisoning state was lifted, and Suho drank another dose of low-grade poison.

***

“Ugh…”

[ You are now in a state of high-grade poisoning. ]

[ The high-grade poisoning state has been lifted. ]

How much time had passed?

Suho had gone beyond the low-grade poison, then moved up to the intermediate-grade, and had now reached high-grade poison.

But high-grade poison was incomparable in pain to the previous ones.

“It’s like drinking hydrochloric acid, even with a bit of exaggeration.”

Typically, poisoning from monsters was caused by claws or teeth.

With high-grade poison, pain usually came from the infected area.

But drinking high-grade poison directly was incomparable.

Suho endured.

He endured and kept drinking.

Each time he did, the egg responded.

And finally, when he drank the last vial of high-grade poison…

[ You are now in a state of high-grade poisoning. ]

A state of high-grade poisoning.

And there was no reaction.

The egg that should have wriggled remained utterly still, and Suho bit his lip at its silence.

“Hah… So even high-grade poison isn’t enough?”

Such a persistent thing.

Suho narrowed his eyes, gazing at the next vial—the highest-grade poison.

“That’s actual venom…”

From the highest grade onward, the poison was genuine venom.

A single dose could potentially kill him.

In fact, even high-grade poison was borderline lethal unless one had high resistance and stamina.

Suho had managed to endure the repeated intake of high-grade poison only because his stamina stat was at the Red Grade.

But there was no turning back now.

Taking a deep breath, Suho glared at the vial containing the highest-grade poison.

His skin had already darkened, his eyes were bloodshot, and his lips were cracked.

All classic symptoms of poisoning.

But he had to do this.

After staring at the vial, Suho opened the cap of the highest-grade poison.

“Ugh.”

Just the fumes prickled his skin.

Yet, without hesitation, Suho poured it into his mouth.

“Argh!”

It felt like his mouth and esophagus were melting.

No, they probably were melting.

That’s how potent the highest-grade poison was.

[ You are now in a state of highest-grade poisoning. ]

A notification appeared.

And at that moment.

Drip. Drip.

Drops began to fall onto the floor.

Not just drops.

Blood.

It was blood.

Blood was flowing from Suho’s eyes, nose, and ears due to the fierce effects of the poison.

He was breathing heavily.

His heart was racing.

His body felt numb.

It felt as if his organs were melting and his tongue being cut out.

But he had to endure.

The egg was thrashing inside him as painfully as he was.

But his stamina was draining rapidly.

In that moment of extreme pain, where he felt he could die at any second, Suho clenched his eyes shut and used a skill he had never used before.

[ Heal is activated. ]

Flash!

Heal activated.

Healing was fine.

It wasn’t a detoxifying skill.

At this point, the healing was merely a drop in the bucket.

Unless he countered the poisoning, his health would continue to drain.

But Suho had no choice but to use Heal.

It was the only way to help the egg hatch.

“Endure it, endure it no matter what.”

The warmth of the healing spread through his body.

Thanks to it, his body became a warm hell.

Within that hell, Suho drained yet another vial of the highest-grade poison.

“Ugh…”

The pain was unbearable.

But he endured.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The more he endured, the more the egg began to thrash.

[ Heal is activated. ]

[ Heal is activated. ]

[ Heal is activated. ]

…

In agony, Suho continued using Heal, almost pouring it out desperately.

Even in the moments when he felt close to death, he forced himself to keep his mind intact and continued to use Heal.

It was at that moment, just as his mana was nearly depleted, when he heard it.

Crack.

Something breaking.

Crack-crack!

He wasn’t mistaken.

Crack-crack-crack!

A crack began to form.

The moment he had been waiting for.

The egg of the Snake that consumes poison.

And finally.

Bang!

The egg shattered, emitting a bright light.