The Ancient Etherion Continent
"Hey, Seo Hwarang."
Yoo Seon-ah's voice dropped low, her face dead serious.
"...Run. Get out of here."
"I'm sorry—what?"
"I said run, now, you idiot! Get out of here and call the Management Bureau! Tell them it's an emergency!"
"Then what are you going to do?"
Seo Hwarang knew exactly what a Horned Bat was capable of.
Unless Yoo Seon-ah was some kind of prodigy hunter who could fly circles around monsters, the outcome was obvious—she'd be in serious danger.
"Shut up and go! You're a civilian!"
Fwoooosh!
Yoo Seon-ah instantly called a pillar of flame up along her staff.
The woman was usually such a goofy, freeloading layabout—seeing her like this was a whole new side of her.
Swish.
Seo Hwarang swiftly pulled out his phone.
115.
The Awakening Management Bureau's emergency hotline.
Tap. Tap-tap. Taaaap!
And just as he was filing the report—
—Kyaaaaak!
Deeming the fire rising from her staff a threat, the Horned Bat lunged at Yoo Seon-ah.
1st Circle.
Fire Bolt.
Well, she was the Fire Magician, after all.
Fire Bolt—that notoriously expensive skill—came bursting out of her staff in rapid succession.
But.
Shweeeck! Shweeeeck!
Hitting a flying monster was apparently easier said than done.
'Damn it, damn it all!'
Yoo Seon-ah clenched her jaw hard.
Those Management Bureau bastards!
They'd slacked off on gate management again, and now an undiscovered gate had popped up!
And what happens when an undiscovered gate gets left alone?
The monsters living in its dungeon come pouring out into the world.
And that was how civilians ended up like this.
'If I make it out of here alive...'
I'm filing one hell of a complaint with the Bureau.
But.
Would she even survive to do it?
Crunch!
The Horned Bat, having closed in unnoticed, sank its razor-sharp teeth into Yoo Seon-ah's right shoulder and tore.
Thwack!
Flesh ripped away, blood burst out.
Deep inside the wound, white bone gleamed.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Yoo Seon-ah's agonized scream tore through the air.
Even as she pressed her left hand against the wound to stop the bleeding, she never once let go of her staff.
"Noona!"
Seo Hwarang shouted from behind.
'That absolute moron.'
Yoo Seon-ah's brow furrowed.
She'd told him to run, and instead of running, he'd just finished the call and was now hopping in place a safe distance away like a nervous duck.
"I said run!"
Even his desperate cries didn't reach Seo Hwarang.
Instead, he was calmly scanning his surroundings.
Anyone would be forgiven for panicking the first time through something like this.
But Seo Hwarang didn't.
In fact, he felt his heart go eerily, refreshingly cold.
Assess the situation. Now.
Time to mobilize every scrap of knowledge and wisdom from all the books he'd read!
'First—if I run from here, what are my odds of survival?'
No.
Under ten percent.
The Horned Bat's appetite was monstrous.
A single adult woman wouldn't even come close to filling it up.
Which meant he was already on the menu—and would that thing just let its food stroll away?
Not a chance.
At that speed, the moment he turned to bolt, he'd be eating the first attack.
'Then what about holding out here?'
Unfortunately, the answer converged on zero.
The Management Bureau's average response time was around five minutes.
Judging by Yoo Seon-ah's condition, she wouldn't last that long.
Flap-flap!
"Kraaaaagh!"
Seemingly enjoying Yoo Seon-ah's suffering, the Horned Bat wheeled through the air, raking its claws across her body with every pass.
A truly terrifying, cruel creature.
'Think. Come on, think.'
Seo Hwarang had awakened only yesterday.
And at nothing less than S-rank, no less.
'S-rank, my ass—my combat power is zero.'
He had exactly three skills.
And of those, how many could he actually use?
'Astra Gate.'
That one, and that alone.
A skill that would forcibly teleport him to the ancient Etherion Continent—terrifying and dreadful in equal measure.
And of course, he had exactly five coins.
Just enough for a single use.
But.
Would things really be any better over there than here?
'I'll have to figure that one out later, won't I?'
Yoo Seon-ah looked like she was in agony.
She'd already lost the will to fight—kneeling on the ground, curled into herself, trembling with fear.
The only reason she wasn't already devoured was that the Horned Bat was toying with her. If it had actually been hungry, she'd have been torn apart and swallowed whole by now.
...Goddamn it.
Slap!
Seo Hwarang smacked himself across the cheek.
Get it together. Please.
'I don't know if this skill can take someone along with me or not...'
But to save her, he had no other choice.
The only thing to do was try.
Tap!
Shoving down the flood of negative thoughts, he sprinted at full tilt.
Toward Yoo Seon-ah.
He felt the Horned Bat's gaze swing toward him—and ignored it.
And then.
Opening his [Skill Window], he activated Astra Gate and, in the same breath—
"Noona! My hand! Grab my haaand!"
—he threw his entire body forward, diving toward her.
'Honestly? I have no idea what happens next.'
So just pray!
Pray this skill saves us both!
Of course, her eyes went wide as saucers.
9th Circle.
Astra Gate.
Use 5 Coins.
Thwoom!
The moment his fingers brushed the back of her hand, the skill manifested.
A feast of every color in existence came surging in from all directions, and as that light converged into a single point—
Pwaat!
—the two of them vanished, as if they had never existed there at all.
—Kieee?
Only the Horned Bat remained, glancing around with a look of wounded injustice.
Everything was swimming.
Raising a hand against the white-hot sunlight beating down, Seo Hwarang opened his eyes.
You have traveled to the ancient magic continent, Etherion.
Along with that message, an enormous sun hung in the sky.
Where was this?
Looked like some village in the countryside.
"...Goddamn it."
He let out a single curse, then glanced to the side—Yoo Seon-ah lay sprawled on the ground.
The shock must have been too much; she appeared to have fainted.
"So it took her along with me, huh?"
For now, that was a relief.
Wherever this was, he'd managed to save one life.
Honestly, it did move him a little.
The way she'd thrown herself forward to take the hits, all while calling herself a mere E-rank awakener.
That's not an easy thing to do.
First things first.
Assess the surroundings.
There were houses, at least.
Unlike the modern world, these were simple structures built of mud and stone.
'I don't think even the countryside has houses like this anymore.'
Small cultivated fields spread out around them, and he could spot livestock too—chickens, pigs.
'This is...'
Medieval. One look was enough to tell.
They called this the Magic Continent, and it turned out to be a complete backwater?
Just then—
"...Hnngh!"
—a groan came from beside him. Yoo Seon-ah was coming to.
"Are you okay?"
"...What the hell happened."
Swish!
She placed her hand on her shoulder and, on pure instinct, cast a spell.
1st Circle.
Low Heal.
Faaaat!
Holy light flowed over the wound, staunching the bleeding.
And not just her shoulder.
She ran her hand over various parts of her body, bringing the light to each wound in turn.
Wow.
She could use that too?
Perhaps she noticed his astonished stare, because Yoo Seon-ah offered an explanation.
"This is just a stopgap. No real healing effect. Think of it as slapping on a bandage. Anyway—I asked what the hell happened. Where are we? The ancient... Magic Continent?"
"Huh? How did you know that?"
"It's floating in my system window right here. Says we traveled to the ancient magic continent, Etherion."
Oh. That.
So she could see it too.
"What... Did we end up inside that undiscovered dungeon? Ha, insane! Talk about adding insult to injury. A gate with a grandiose name like that is probably a high-rank dungeon..."
Well.
It was a fair assumption to make.
'Nothing I can do about that, I guess.'
At this point... he supposed he owed her at least a rough explanation.
"So let me get this straight."
She stared at Seo Hwarang, dumbfounded.
"That fall the other day really did awaken you... and with that ability, you brought us here?"
"Yes."
He didn't bother mentioning the rank.
What was the point of going on about S-rank this and S-rank that?
Nothing was worse than bragging big when your actual abilities were worth jack.
"..."
But Yoo Seon-ah's expression was something else. Hmm... how to describe it. Sparkling?
"Hey!"
"Yeah?"
"You are insane, you know that?! Seo Hwaraaang!"
Seo Hwarang dodged away, alarmed, as she lunged at him.
She kept doing this lately!
"What's gotten into you?"
"Do you realize what this means? You've basically got a ticket to the Magic Continent! Kheheh, you little punk! You were my stroke of destiny all along! Uwahahahat!"
Uh, noona?
Have you actually gone mad for good fortune?
I don't think you've grasped the situation yet.
Maybe this isn't the moment to celebrate?
"Which means if we wander around this continent, we can pick up incredible spells left and right! Kheheheh—isn't this place just made for a Fire Magician like me?"
...I mean, maybe?
Was this woman's brain made of stone?
She couldn't even handle a single Horned Bat, and she's fallen into a whole other world—wouldn't worrying about staying alive come first?!
"Hoo. First things first."
Seo Hwarang's gaze sank low.
"Let's get a read on this place, starting with the area. Like I said—I don't actually know how to get back to reality."
Destiny, schmestiny.
First order of business: find a way home.
They pooled the information they'd gathered while wandering the village.
First.
Miraculously, they could communicate with the people here.
The locals understood what they said, and they understood the locals just as easily.
Also.
Nobody treated them as strange.
Their appearance alone should have marked them as outsiders...
When he'd asked about it just in case, the answer was this:
Ahem.
It seemed to be a world populated by countless different races.
In any case, this village was unmistakably medieval.
And a fairly prosperous one, at that?
There was a lord ruling the village, priests serving the gods.
Guilds run by merchants and artisans, educational facilities, bathhouses, a barbershop, and so on.
It had most of the essentials covered.
"Haha, you call this shabby? Then I suppose you'd better head to the city."
"The cities are truly magnificent! Etherion isn't called the Magic Continent for nothing, you know."
"And what good's magnificent when the housing prices there are absolutely criminal?"
Ahem, ahem.
In every world, it seemed, housing was the problem.
The good news was that the people here weren't hostile to them.
As he made his way around, Seo Hwarang headed straight for the guild first.
'First priority.'
There was one thing he needed to look into above all else.
Finding a skill book.
Wherever he was, safety came first—and to secure even a minimum of combat power, he needed skills.
Seo Hwarang was the Skill Book Collector.
With a skill book in hand, he could chain together any number of skills on an endless torrent of mana.
And if that worked out, surely he could get at least stronger than Yoo Seon-ah?
— Countless skill books exist throughout the ancient lands of Etherion. —
It had said, plain as day, that skill books were everywhere.
On Earth, those books cost a fortune—here, they'd be scattered across the land like grains of sand, wouldn't they?
Heh.
The corner of Seo Hwarang's mouth curled upward.
It wasn't about gaining skills.
It was the pure joy of having something to read.
'Books!'
His eyes lit up.
There were books here!
An untold number of them!