The Orthodox Mage

Clip-clop, clip-clop!

The horse plodded along.

As expected of the continent's remote frontier, the road was in sorry shape—more like taking a jeep on an off-road tour through the mountains than riding a carriage.

"Ugh, my stomach's turning."

Yoo Seon-ah grumbled, but there was nothing to be done about it. When you traveled in a medieval world, you rode medieval transport.

"Shall we take a look at our rewards first?"

Swish.

Seo Hwarang pulled out the Black Wolf Armor (Rare) first. Whenever an item left the inventory, it reshaped itself to fit the user's frame perfectly.

Gulp.

They both swallowed hard. This was a genuine Rare item—high-priced goods they'd only ever heard about, never laid a finger on, back on Earth!

Seo Hwarang and Yoo Seon-ah carefully rested their hands on the armor, and information scrolled across their vision.

"Th-that's insane!"

Yoo Seon-ah gaped. "It's got a passive skill on it!"

"A passive skill?"

"Yeah, look at Predator's Instinct. Just wearing the thing applies it automatically—skills like that come with a premium price tag. And since it's Rare, the stat boosts are on a whole different level from a regular pauldron."

"How much is it worth?"

"Minimum one hundred million to start, I'd say. It's obviously a warrior item, so if the big guilds start bidding against each other, it could hit two hundred million."

"Two hundred million..."

One item, and he could pay off the entire loan in one go? Now he understood why people called Awakeners cheats. Even a D-rank could probably throw up a building in the heart of Gangnam without breaking a sweat.

The corner of Seo Hwarang's mouth curled upward. He'd just imagined filling an entire building with books, floor to ceiling, and somehow that made the whole world ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feel brighter.

That's right. Time to make money! Earn it like a dog, then live like a minister, reading all day long!

Whether she sensed that resolve or not, Yoo Seon-ah nudged him along. "Let's see the next one. That Mage's Ring thing, or whatever it's called."

"Yep."

Seo Hwarang drew out the ring—an unremarkable silver band, by all appearances.

"Whoa!"

Yoo Seon-ah shrieked, and Seo Hwarang's eyes went wide.

Wait, this is a big deal, isn't it? Since when does a Normal-grade item come with a class-change skill?

Path of the Mage. A chance to change class into an F-rank Orthodox Mage...

"Hey, hey, hey! This is seriously huge. If I'm reading this right... this thing can awaken a regular person into an Awakener!"

"Looks like it."

F-rank or not, awakening was the exclusive privilege of the top 0.1%. Those who failed to awaken went to bed every single night praying for it. Sell an item like this to them? Land a few chaebol heirs as buyers, and tens of billions of won would change hands without breaking a sweat.

Goosebumps.

Seo Hwarang rubbed his arms. Not because he was excited to sell the ring—but because a simple favor for a minor baron had just produced something this absurd. If a trivial errand paid out like this, what kind of outrageous items could they dig up down the road?

Just imagining it put him in a good mood.

"By the way."

Yoo Seon-ah shot the ring a sidelong glance. "What exactly is an Orthodox Mage?"

Her awakened class was Fire Magician. Dig through any hunter community and you'd find mages of every stripe—Dark Magicians, Light Magicians, Lightning Magicians, Life Magicians and on and on—all wildly different from one another.

"An Orthodox Mage?"

The one who reacted to that was none other than Bella.

Whip!

Her interest piqued, Yoo Seon-ah whipped her head around. "Yeah? Does 'Orthodox Mage' mean something specific?"

"Of course it does!"

Bella declared confidently. "Most mages specialize in a particular attribute. First and Second Circle are all more or less the same... but from Third Circle onward, you have to find your own attribute. Say you're a mage specialized in fire? Then you start by learning Fireball."

"Oh?"

"Finding your attribute is enormously important. As far as I know, even if two mages learn the exact same Fireball, the fire-specialized ones get far more out of it."

"..."

Yoo Seon-ah stared at Bella with wide eyes.

I'm a Fire Magician. So that's why the Low Heal I learned from a skill book had been so pathetically weak! And her class skills had only ever rolled fire-related magic, too.

"But an Orthodox Mage is completely different. They're not bound to any single attribute."

"Really?"

"Yes! They can use all schools of magic in harmony. It's practically the constitution closest to the very essence of magic! Here's an easy way to think of it—an Orthodox Mage is specialized in every attribute at once!"

"So it's even better?"

"Naturally! It's the supreme mage constitution! Not something just anyone can obtain, either! Whichever academy you applied to, you'd start with bonus points, I'd wager!"

Listening to Bella, Seo Hwarang nodded along as well.

Hmm. So the Orthodox Mage was such a great class? Then what—how did it compare to the Skill Book Collector?

Obviously, Skill Book Collector wins by a mile.

No need to think too hard. Infinite mana. Every skill prefixed with Master, delivering power not merely specialized but hyper-specialized. Add in the skill to travel to another world... and above all, the whole thing boiled down to translating books—the single most Hwarang-shaped class imaginable.

"..."

Gulp.

Yoo Seon-ah swallowed and kept staring at the ring.

Fire Magician is a fine class and all, but... Having heard all that, she wanted to change jobs.

A windfall. Wasn't this the very opportunity she'd been searching for all along? Go adventuring here, and grow into the Orthodox Mage's power. Push past First and Second Circle, all the way to Sixth, to Seventh.

But still.

It felt shameless. This was, plainly and simply, Seo Hwarang's property. She couldn't ask for the ring—not when she'd done next to nothing to help out here.

Fwoop!

That was exactly when the ring, which Seo Hwarang had been turning over in his fingers, slid ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into her grasp.

"Huh?"

"Put it on, noona."

"Eh?"

Yoo Seon-ah's eyes went round. "Why would I take this?"

"You've been staring holes through it... I'd look like a real miser if I didn't hand it over."

Seo Hwarang shrugged with a grin.

"Ah, no, you really don't have to—"

"Fine, then I'll take it back?"

"No!"

Yoo Seon-ah snatched the ring away in a flash, and Seo Hwarang smiled.

"I told you before, remember? Priority one is getting stronger. If you class-change into an Orthodox Mage with this and level up, that's a huge help to me. It's a long road to the capital anyway—why not use it to work your way up a circle or two?"

Seo Hwarang felt no loss whatsoever. Yoo Seon-ah was already as good as his loyal hound. From the moment he'd entrusted her with that enormous sum of money—and the moment he'd secured ownership of every item they acquired here—he'd made up his mind: he was going to raise Yoo Seon-ah properly too.

"Thank you."

After gazing at the ring for a long moment, Yoo Seon-ah nodded, visibly moved. And she resolved once more: she would somehow, by any means, measure up to him—following under Seo Hwarang's lead.

Woof!

She'd work like a dog.

Yoo Seon-ah put on the ring.

"Oh!"

Yoo Seon-ah cried out in surprise. Her second quest since arriving in this world!

Just as expected—the class-change quest had arrived, complete with a notice warning that following this path would delete her existing class.

Buzzing with excitement, Yoo Seon-ah shared the full quest details with Seo Hwarang. And then, at the end—

"Oh! Hey, hey, hey!"

"Yes?"

"Look at the reward—ten random 1st Circle magic skill books! Can't you just read them all before I use them?"

"Oh?"

Seo Hwarang's eyes gleamed. Do a good deed, and fortune comes knocking—wasn't that how the saying went?

"Noona."

"Hm?"

"What are you doing? Why aren't you gathering mana?"

"I—I'm on it! Gathering right now!"

Suddenly fired up, Yoo Seon-ah sat down in a corner and closed her eyes.

"Hooo! Haaa!"

She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth, straining to draw in the energy of nature.

Pfft.

Seo Hwarang snorted. Even as they spoke, his own skill cooldowns were cycling away, and his proficiency was quietly climbing toward the mid-fifties.

How tedious. He'd been running skills nonstop on infinite mana, and he still hadn't cracked 80...

Anyway. Who knew when Yoo Seon-ah would manage her First Circle, but this path was far more promising. A Fire Magician's power upgraded on some unknowable schedule, whereas an Orthodox Mage grew step by step by accumulating mana and completing Circles. Best of all, the quest laid out clear, explicit instructions for exactly how to reach each higher stage.

That's way better.

Instead of waiting around blindly, if you could see the results of your effort with your own eyes, progress would only accelerate.

They traveled on for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠another three hours or so.

Grrroowl!

A stomach growled.

"Hm?"

Seo Hwarang opened his eyes to find Bella sticking her tongue out sheepishly. "Heh, I'm getting hungry... and it's getting dark, so shouldn't we start preparing to camp soon?"

Right. None of us are iron men, are we?

Both Yoo Seon-ah and Seo Hwarang were feeling a bit peckish too, and if Bella was going to be traveling long distances day after day, she needed her rest at night.

"Alright, let's find a campsite nearby. You know the drill—you're in charge of all the camping setup."

"Yes, sir! Just leave it to me!"

Bella cried out crisply and cracked her whip—crack!

They were off, sweeping the surrounding area to scout out a wide, suitable clearing.