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"Why the rush?" Dukun Rosso said with a chuckle. "The khodam energy you got from those five drops of black chicken blood will last for another five hours."
He looked at them with a serious expression. "Black chicken blood is a treasure among shamans. It contains raw khodam energy that instantly blends with your soul."
"If I hadn't sold it to you, you'd never have found it. Most other shamans would rather keep it for themselves," he added.
"So we just drank a treasure?" Rai asked, blinking in disbelief.
Dukun Rosso nodded. "Exactly. I gave it to you because I felt sorry for you two. What happened to you was a tragedy."
Rai and Alfin bowed deeply. "Thank you, Dukun."
Without the blood, injecting khodam energy into the soul would've taken who knows how long. Even just sensing that energy for the first time was incredibly difficult.
"You have five hours, so I'll take you both to the spirit realm," said Dukun Rosso calmly.
He then summoned his khodam—a majestic white horse with two massive wings and a long, sharp horn like a unicorn.
Rai's eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Can I ride it?"
Dukun Rosso nodded.
Rai climbed onto the unicorn's back, smiling. But then Rosso narrowed his eyes slightly and said,
"Looks like you've already become a woman."
"What? How did you—You perverted shaman!"
"Did you forget?" Rosso chuckled. "This unicorn is my khodam. Which means… it's also my body."
"But... you're still talking through your own mouth?"
"Of course," he said proudly. "I've trained to control multiple khodams at once."
"If the unicorn were the one speaking, you'd only hear: mehehegeee" he added, mimicking a horse's neigh.
Alfin tried to stifle his laughter, while Rai sat stiffly, unsure whether to get off the unicorn or not.
Rai quickly dismounted the perverted horse with a flushed face.
Dukun Rosso chuckled softly, then sat cross-legged and entered meditation. Soon after, another khodam appeared—a regal-looking old man in ornate golden robes, complete with a long hat and a humorous face that didn't quite match his majestic attire.
"I will accompany you into the spirit realm," said the golden elder. "Meanwhile, the unicorn will guard our physical bodies."
The unicorn gracefully took off, flying beyond the cave walls.
"Before we enter the spirit realm, there are a few things I must tell you," said Rosso through the golden khodam.
"First, we must hide our real identities. I usually go by the name Lord Toist. Alfin, since you look terrifying, let's call you Gork. And Rai, you'll go by Lala."
"Hey! Can't I have a cooler name? Something like Lucifer or Bahamut?" Rai protested.
"Yeah, I could be the Demon King!" Alfin added excitedly.
Dukun Rosso twitched slightly in his meditation.
"Humility. You must stay humble in the spirit world until you've gained real power. Remember, you're just beginners."
"And keep this phrase close to your heart:
We kill without touching."
"Huh? What does that mean?" asked Rai, tilting her head.
"It means you kill using your khodam or long-distance magic—never revealing the location of your real body, your kastur," Lord Toist explained.
"As long as your kastur remains hidden, even if your khodam is destroyed multiple times, it will continue to return—so long as your khodam energy endures."
With a swift wave of his hand, Lord Toist opened a swirling black portal.
"Whoa! This looks just like the portals I've seen in movies!" Alfin shouted, eyes wide with excitement.
After stepping through the black portal, they entered an immensely vast forest. The trees were towering giants, some with trunks as wide as elephants, and others almost resembling tall skyscrapers standing proudly among the misty haze.
"Welcome to the Tuyul Forest," Rosso said casually. "But I prefer to call it The Beginner's Village, haha."
Rai—now going by Lala—looked around curiously. "Tuyul? You mean those creepy little ghost-thieves?"
"Good question, Lala," Rosso replied with a slight smile.
"Let me explain. Tuyul are actually khodams born from the spirits of children who died before the age of ten—specifically, from newborns to around nine years old. These are spirits that had just begun to develop a soul when they passed, and the khodam that came with them during birth doesn't simply vanish—it transforms into a tuyul."
"Creepy... but why are there so many of them?" Alfin—now called Gork—asked cautiously, eyeing some faint movement behind the trees.
Rosso nodded, now sounding more serious. "Because one deceased baby can create between seven to sixteen tuyuls. And that's just from a single soul. Once they evolve into jinn, tuyuls breed extremely fast. One female tuyul only needs one month to get pregnant and can give birth to hundreds—or even thousands—of offspring at once."
Rai gulped. "So… there are thousands of them?"
"Exactly," Rosso confirmed. "And most of them reside in this forest. It's the most densely populated place for tuyuls. But don't worry, this is a neutral zone. They won't attack unless you provoke them."
Alfin glanced warily at a shadow shifting behind a tree. "This isn't sounding very beginner-friendly anymore…"
Rosso laughed. "You need to learn how to live among spirits. The spirit world is vast, and tuyuls are just one tiny species within it. But they're important for newcomers like you—this is where people usually start learning how to interact with spirits."
"Most tuyuls won't attack," said Rosso calmly, "but they are quite fast. So, I'll give you both a little task."
He stood beneath the shadow of a massive tree and looked at them seriously.
"You have one to two hours to hunt and kill at least one tuyul. If you fail, just return to me. After that, I'll take you somewhere more… exciting."
With that, Master Toist sat cross-legged under the tree, closing his eyes to meditate again.
Lala and Gork exchanged glances.
"Hey… do you think those wings can actually make you fly?" Gork asked, tilting his head. He didn't have wings—but he did have a large, curved horn and a long tail tipped with a glowing red spear-like spike.
"I'll give it a shot," Lala replied.
She focused on the unfamiliar sensation on her back—her wings. Slowly, she flapped them. At first, she stumbled forward awkwardly, but then—she lifted off the ground.
"I'm flying! I'm flying!!" Lala shouted excitedly.
Toist twitched an eyebrow mid-meditation. Children…
After a few seconds of wobbling, Lala found her balance in the air and began to fly steadily over the forest canopy. Her eyes scanned the surroundings carefully.
Then—she spotted something.
A small tuyul was creeping toward a rabbit, its little body blending with the shadows, eyes glinting with mischief.
Lala immediately signaled to Gork below. Gork leapt forward and, with a swift swing of his burning tail, struck the tuyul.
The creature shrieked briefly before its body shattered into flickering light.
The khodam energy from the slain tuyul split and flowed into both Lala and Gork.
They froze, both of them feeling a sudden rush—like a spark of life entering their souls.
Their first kill.