Mastering Mana (2)
“First, we need to get your stats boosted, so we’ll do this in actual combat format,” Shin Jiyeon said, raising her wooden sword.
Since Park Jihun’s stats reached C-rank levels when facing a female opponent, the only person here who could possibly take him on—even while he suffered the stiffness and intimidation penalties—was Shin Jiyeon herself.
“I’ll teach you the tricks. Master, you just focus on the fight.”
Shin Jiyeon would keep giving tips throughout the battle, but they still needed someone outside to point things out properly. That role fell to Serina, the only one among them who could use magic.
“What should we do?”
“Grr! Kar is bored!”
When Briana and Kar voiced their dissatisfaction, Park Jihun pointed toward the area with the exercise equipment they had played on energetically before. “Go play over there. You ranked up this time too, so you should test your strength properly.”
“Kyaaung! Kar will play hard!”
“Yes… understood. Next time for sure…”
Kar looked thrilled just at the chance to romp around, while Briana seemed a little down that she couldn’t join the mana training. With the pair heading off to the equipment, the spar between Park Jihun and Shin Jiyeon finally began.
“All right, here I come.”
She slid into a combat stance. Park Jihun raised his wooden sword to meet her.
Facing a female opponent.
Skill Alpha Male has activated.
Stats are increasing.
This effect will persist as long as the target remains alive during combat.
The enemy is temporarily afflicted with stiffness and intimidation.
Park Jihun’s stats shot up in an instant. His mana had increased again since last time, so in the boosted state it clearly surpassed 100. He thought the spar would begin like a normal practice match again, but—
A low hum reverberated. A membrane of mana formed over Shin Jiyeon’s wooden sword.
“This is materialized mana. The shaping feels like… drawing an image in your mind? It’s like adding another blade on top of the sword.”
Since it was only a wooden sword, the blue mana membrane looked more like a blunt sheath than a sharp edge.
Image in my mind…
Park Jihun tried to replicate it, imagining a membrane wrapping around his own wooden sword. Just like when he had released mana through the boots before, he guided the wriggling energy inside his body outward.
Oh…
The sensation of mana flowing out. Even without the boots, the mana moved according to his own will.
So this is mana control.
The feeling was both familiar and strange at the same time. When the mana left his body and flowed into the sword, it felt like something was being drained from deep inside him—just like when he had created a barrier with the mana boots.
The only real difference was that last time he had clearly felt his internal mana decreasing, whereas now the depletion was barely noticeable. It was obvious his mana reserves had grown significantly since then.
The wooden sword hummed as mana flowed into it, glowing blue. But unlike Shin Jiyeon’s smooth, clean membrane, his looked sloppy and watery, like liquid sloshing around. It hadn’t truly materialized; the mana was simply flowing without solid form.
“Hmm…”
Park Jihun felt a twinge of disappointment at his failure.
“Whoa… Sunbae, you’re seriously incredible. You managed to release it directly on your first try.”
“Huh? Master, is this your first time doing that?”
Shin Jiyeon sounded genuinely impressed. Even Serina wore an expression of pure disbelief that it was his first attempt.
“Most hunters take a month or two just to get this far…”
She spoke with clear envy for Park Jihun’s natural talent, since she herself had needed roughly that long.
“At this rate, you might master materialization in just a few days. Teaching you is actually going to be worth it.”
Yet her tone held no jealousy—only pure admiration and delight. She looked incredibly motivated to teach. Watching her, Park Jihun felt a strange sense of unease, as if he was about to be worked to the bone.
“Master, would you like to learn attribute granting too? I can teach you that as well.”
Serina looked at him with the same gleam in her eyes, like she had discovered excellent teaching material. Both women carried the unmistakable aura of natural-born educators burning with pedagogical passion.
…I think I’ve gotten myself into something bad.
The thought that he was about to be mercilessly drilled crossed Park Jihun’s mind.
To get straight to the conclusion, Park Jihun was worked so hard he couldn’t even go home for nearly three full days.
The training room rental had expired long ago, but Shin Jiyeon came up with a brilliant idea.
“The subspace can fit all of us, no one will interfere, and apparently it can create an arena-like training hall if we want to practice?”
“……”
The information came from Serina, who had spent a relatively long time inside the subspace. In the end, Park Jihun was dragged into it by the two passionate educators.
“Oh, living creatures can’t pass through, but food and supplies can.”
“Master, now that you’ve entered, the subspace has created a house complete with a bedroom and bathroom.”
“Wow~ The toilet even flushes. I wonder how that works?”
“……”
At this point, Park Jihun wondered if they even needed an actual house anymore. Still, we should keep the house. Mail and packages don’t fly into the subspace…
With food and sleeping arrangements solved, they simply refused to let him leave.
“Master… fighting!”
“Grr, fighting! Fighting!”
Briana and Kar, who weren’t participating, could only cheer from the sidelines.
“Huff… huff… This is the first time I’ve ever gotten tired before anyone else.”
“Maybe sexual stamina and training stamina are two different things?”
Of course, if Park Jihun really wanted to, he could have forced them to stop and walked out. But he also wanted to learn how to use mana and magic, so he gritted his teeth and endured the brutal training.
Why go that far? The reason was simple and very male.
Aura Blade! Magic! It’s so fucking cool!
After three days of that, Park Jihun finally reached materialization—crude, but successful.
A low hum filled the air.
“Oh—holy shit! Look at this! This looks like the real thing, right?!”
The shape wasn’t perfectly smooth yet; it was still a bit bumpy. But the mana had stopped flowing loosely and had formed a complete, solid shape.
“No way… Are you serious? In just three days…?”
Shin Jiyeon shook her head in disbelief. Serina looked even more stunned than the man who had actually done it.
“M-Master… I truly respect you. Well, I already respected you before, but…”
It was understandable. Even after learning proper mana control, materialization usually took three months. One month for control, three months for materialization. Most people needed four full months of dedicated training to reach this point.
Yet Park Jihun had achieved it after only three days of hellish special training.
“Congratulations, Master!”
“Master, you’re amazing! The best!”
Everyone sincerely celebrated his growth.
“Haha, thanks, everyone.”
Park Jihun scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.
“Hehe… Master. This time let’s study attribute granting together. First—”
“W-Wait… Let’s stop here for today. We should celebrate—”
“That won’t do. I’ll teach you gently, Master.”
His tearful training continued for two more days. In the end, all he gained was a smoother materialization. Unfortunately, it was concluded that he had no talent for attribute granting.
“Well, it can’t be helped. Attribute granting is only possible for those with the right talent.”
Despite his words, Park Jihun looked strangely refreshed—probably from the joy of finally escaping the hellish subspace.
The others seemed more disappointed than he was.
“Ah… I thought someone with Sunbae’s talent would be able to do attribute granting too.”
“What a shame… I was going to teach you so much water magic.”
With that, Park Jihun’s hellish training finally came to an end. Except for Shin Jiyeon, who occasionally went out to buy food and daily necessities, the rest of them emerged into the outside world after a full five days.
“…Does it make any sense that he’s been missing for five days straight?”
Lee Jeonghyeon found the situation completely absurd. Thanks to the Chen Mei incident, he had planned to meet Park Jihun in person this time to talk things through. He had checked Shin Jiyeon’s house, the newly contracted house currently undergoing interior work, the old one-room apartment, the Another Guild office, and even forcibly searched the association training rooms.
Yet Park Jihun had vanished into thin air. He was nowhere to be found.
“Did he go to China…?”
At first he suspected Park Jihun might have fled to China. There had been some kind of deal with Chen Mei. Maybe he had secretly taken a private jet or boarded a smuggling vessel.
But there was no trace left behind.
Lee Jeonghyeon had checked every commercial flight and private jet departure record. Using both power and money, he had even confirmed every illegal smuggling route and secret flight. Still, there wasn’t a single trace of Park Jihun anywhere.
This is exactly like…
There was only one situation where someone could disappear so completely without leaving any trace—when they went missing inside a gate.
If someone entered an unreported hidden gate and died or vanished inside, no trace would remain.
Did he enter a gate to create a familiar and then…
He wondered if Park Jihun had asked the association to let him enter a gate without leaving records and subsequently went missing. But Lee Jeonghyeon quickly shook his head. No matter what, neither Park Jihun nor the association would be that stupid. They would filter out any uncleared gates beforehand, and even if they missed one, the association would have stopped him. They couldn’t afford to lose Park Jihun to an association mistake.
Shin Jiyeon has come out occasionally. But recently she’s always been alone. Yet the groceries and daily necessities she buys are enough for nearly five people…
Yet no one was inside her house. The strange part was that once Shin Jiyeon entered, all traces of anyone living there vanished. The electricity wasn’t being used. The gas wasn’t being used. It was as if the house stood completely empty.
What the hell are these people doing?
The more Lee Jeonghyeon learned about Park Jihun, the deeper and more numerous his questions and curiosity became.