I'm a Wizard Too

We made our way back to the Magic Guild.

"Back again, Master Mage!"

Bella greeted them with a bright smile.

Of course, that smile was aimed at Yoo Seon-ah only.

As far as Bella was concerned, Seo Hwarang was just some ordinary adventurer who hadn't learned a lick of magic.

Okay, that stings a little.

"Haha, hello there."

Yoo Seon-ah dipped her head in a polite bow.

Only a single day had passed in the Etherion Continent since they'd first met Bella.

Time revolves around me.

While Seo Hwarang remained here, Earth's clock stood frozen; and while he was on Earth, Etherion's did the same.

He had already explained that part thoroughly to Yoo Seon-ah.

"So, what brings you in today?"

"Well... we were wondering how one goes about learning magic through the Guild?"

Yoo Seon-ah asked carefully.

"...Learning magic at the Guild?"

Bella was flustered.

Someone who looks at least 3rd Circle... wants to learn magic at a Guild?

It didn't add up.

Normally you'd apply to an academy, or petition to join the Magic Tower, wouldn't you?

Why on earth the Guild, of all places...

Just as Bella's expression was starting to turn strange—

Tiing!

A silver coin flicked from Seo Hwarang's fingers spun through the air.

"Hwah!"

Bella caught it on pure instinct.

"Th-this is a silver coin!"

And not just any silver—a genuine one-ounce Lunaris Silver Coin.

"We spent quite a while holed up in the mountains, so we're not exactly familiar with continental culture. We'd appreciate it if you could explain things in a little more detail."

At Seo Hwarang's words, Bella's expression transformed.

Rich!

Her gaze of respect slid from Yoo Seon-ah to Seo Hwarang.

Who cares if someone's good at magic and strong!

Being loaded was where it was truly at!

"...Are you giving all of this to me?"

To the wealthy it was pocket change, but to a young woman just starting out in the world, it was a truly precious sum.

It matched an entire week's wages at the Guild—enough to cover a commoner's living costs for a whole month.

"If I like your answer, I might toss ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you another one."

"R-really?!"

Bella's breath caught in her throat.

Oh my god!

This was insane!

"Ask me anything you want to know! I'll answer everything within my knowledge!"

So—first things first. What exactly is a Circle?

A Circle is a ring.

A ring of mana residing at the heart.

Ordinarily, it serves as the crucial yardstick for measuring a mage's skill: the more rings one forms, the more powerful and complex the magic one can wield.

Hm. Different from how I do it.

Unlike Seo Hwarang, who could cast anything without a hitch as long as his skill cooldowns allowed, the mages of this world seemed to work through their spells in an enormously convoluted way.

Anyway.

"1st Circle is the entry level. Like the support staff at a magic Guild—people such as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me."

Bella continued with a smile.

"2nd Circle is a novice mage. That's usually where you start getting treated as a real mage, and job opportunities open up. You can work in a research lab, become an official in a mid-sized city, serve as a combat mage in a mercenary company, or get into magical item crafting."

"And 3rd Circle?"

"3rd Circle is where mages truly blossom! More than half of all mages plateau right there. From that point on, you can firmly establish yourself as a combat mage!"

Right there.

That was the ceiling most ordinary talent could reach.

The realm one naturally arrived at through steady effort and the passage of years.

"Phew, from 4th Circle onward, things get seriously demanding."

Middle management at a Magic Guild, house mage for a noble family, associate professor at an academy, captain of a mercenary company.

Wherever you went, it was a position of recognized standing.

And naturally, it was devilishly hard to reach.

Persistence plus talent—that was the price of admission?

"Then what about 5th Circle?"

"From 5th Circle on, you're called an advanced mage. The elite of the elite!"

Full professorships, core researcher positions, commanding armies, conducting high-level magical research.

Generally, once you hit 4th Circle, climbing on to 5th was considered a fairly smooth road.

However—

"From 6th Circle onward, you need talent and then something more. And as hard as they are to reach, they start wielding real political influence! Royal advisors, academy deans... living in pampered luxury right beside the high nobility! Oh, and by the way, our Magic Guild's Guildmaster is a 6th Circle too!"

Hm.

Seo Hwarang filed Bella's lecture away in his mind, step by careful step.

In terms of awakened ranks back home...

A 6th Circle mage was equivalent to an A-Rank Awakener.

7th Circle was S-rank...

Beyond that, even Seo Hwarang didn't know.

"From 7th Circle, you're an Archmage! Whew, the realistic dream of every mage alive! You could serve as an academy's headmaster—and usually from that point, you're granted the standing of a duke or higher!"

Bella kept the explanations flowing.

"8th Circle belongs to one person on the entire continent. The Sage of the Magic Tower! He must be truly extraordinary—people say his very existence brings peace to the continent."

"As for 9th Circle... heh, it only exists in theory. Unless you're a legendary dragon, who's to say?"

Hoo.

9th Circle, huh.

The Astra Gate that Seo Hwarang was currently using was a 9th Circle spell.

Listening to Bella's rundown, he felt once again just how utterly broken his class, Skill Book Collector, really was.

All he had to do was read a skill like that—and he could simply use it, couldn't he!

"...This is so much fun."

Yoo Seon-ah, for her part, had fallen completely under the spell.

Not so much as a blink, her eyes sparkling as she hung on every word.

"So, how do we go about learning magic?"

"An academy, obviously! But if you want a proper education, you'd have to aim for the greatest academy on the continent, Arcana Empyrium... Ahh, but you can't get in even if you beg. It's dominated by the children of nobles, the commoner slots are vanishingly few, and word is you have to donate a fortune just to earn the right to apply. It's the school of dreams, I tell you. Dreams."

That settled it.

So, if Yoo Seon-ah wanted to learn magic properly, she'd have to get into this academy thing, then?

"We're 29. Do they take old folks too?"

"Uhhh..."

Bella scratched her head.

"I honestly couldn't say, but I don't see why not? What does age have to do with learning?"

"Yeah? Then how would we go about getting there?"

"You'd have to head to the capital! The greatest capital of the Aetherion Empire—Lumentia!"

"...Lumentia."

The moment Seo Hwarang murmured the name—

"...!"

His eyes flew wide open.

A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quest?

It wasn't just Seo Hwarang, either.

Yoo Seon-ah was also staring into empty air with a stunned look on her face.

"...You got one too, noona?"

As Seo Hwarang whispered, she gave a small nod.

Whoa.

What is this place?

It even hands out quests?

"Oh, right!"

Seo Hwarang clapped his hands.

"That Arcana Empyrium place—does it have a lot of those books with all the magic explanations in them? Like the ones on the third floor of the annex."

"You mean grimoires?"

Ah.

So that's what the people here call them!

"Need you even ask? Arcana is the greatest on the continent. It's the only academy affiliated with the Magic Tower, after all... they'll have everything you could want. Whether you'd be allowed to actually read them once you got inside, though..."

Oh.

Seo Hwarang's eyes began to sparkle as well.

A place where skill books were stacked to the ceiling?

Obviously, he had to go there!

No—he had to get in, whatever it took!

"That answer was clean and very much to my liking."

Tiing!

Seo Hwarang flicked over another silver coin.

"Th-thank you so much!"

Bella caught it with both hands, deeply moved.

No wonder my dreams were so sweet last night!

This man was a walking windfall!

Just as she was beaming from ear to ear—

Thud!

The door of the Magic Guild burst open.

"Bella!"

A scruffy-bearded man rushed inside.

"It's an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠emergency! Emergency! The Black Wolves are attacking the village!"

"The—the Black Wolves?"

Hik!

Bella hiccupped in alarm.

"We need the Guild mages to help! We have to hold them back!"

"O-of course!"

...The Black Wolves?

Just as Seo Hwarang tilted his head—

Another quest had arrived.

"A quest..."

"Hwarang, you too?"

A D-Rank quest.

Would that be roughly equivalent to a D-Rank dungeon in difficulty?

Seeing was believing.

"Let's go check it out. First things first—we need to see what happens once you clear one."

Tat!

Seo Hwarang darted outside without a moment's delay.

The lord of the territory, Edwin Barck, felt a dull throb building behind his temples.

"Those cursed Black Wolves again?"

"Y-yes, my lord! And this time it appears Noskar himself—that captain of theirs—has come leading his troops in person."

"Haaaah..."

Baron Edwin let out a deep, weary sigh.

He was a minor feudal lord governing five villages.

"The taxes are so meager I can barely keep this territory running, and now bandits have to run rampant on top of it. Honestly, there's little joy left in this life."

He braced his hands against the desk and sank briefly into thought.

Of all places, a rather rugged stretch of the Greylock Mountains sat right beside his villages—and the Black Wolf bastards had made their lair there.

Their boss: Black Fang!

A man commanding nearly a hundred bandits, formidable in skill and cruel in temperament.

By rumor, he was a noble fallen from a ruined house—and the three knights who'd followed him back then were feared throughout the realm.

One of them was Noskar.

A high-level Sword Apprentice, no less.

One step short of Sword Expert—which meant the common soldiers stood no chance against him whatsoever.

What in the world am I to do?

They were on the frontier; the Empire's support would never reach them.

Even if it did, the village would be burnt to the ground long before the reinforcements arrived.

And still.

He could hardly sit back and simply absorb the blows.

Grit.

Baron Edwin ground his teeth.

"Gather every soldier in the village. Send word requesting aid from the nearby villages, and hire every able mercenary the Mercenary Guild can spare."

"At once, my lord!"

"Is that them?"

Once outside, Seo Hwarang pointed toward a band of some twenty men who had dug in just beyond the village's wooden palisade.

The villagers, alerted by the warning, had taken up arms themselves and were facing the raiders down with tense expressions—and Bella was stomping her feet in anxiety beside them.

"Th-that's right! See the black pauldrons over there? That's the symbol of the Black Wolves!"

"...So those are the guys who've been tormenting the villagers all this time?"

Looking them over frankly—

They didn't seem all that impressive?

And if he was being honest with himself, a horned bat that bares its teeth to your face is twice as terrifying as any ordinary beast.

How about I show off some proficiency-40 skills, then?

This was the first quest he'd received since arriving in Etherion.

He wanted to clear it.

He wanted to see how the rewards came through, too.

Step.

Just as Seo Hwarang moved to step beyond the palisade—

"Hey, hey, hey—what are you doing!"

Yoo Seon-ah grabbed him in a panic and yanked him back.

"If you're going to fight, you fight with the villagers!"

Ah, right.

Yoo Seon-ah still had no idea just how far he'd come.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing!"

"Hey! It's dangerous out there!"

Bella and the villagers hurried to hold him back as well.

But then—

Fwoooosh!

Two enormous spheres of flame rose above Seo Hwarang's head.

1st Circle.

Master Fire Bolt.

One glance was enough—these were fireballs far too massive to be called ordinary Fire Bolts.

And they were unbearably, skin-searingly hot.

"F-f-fireb—Firebolt?!"

As Bella gaped in disbelief—

"Ah, did I never mention it?"

Seo Hwarang smiled.

"I'm a wizard too."