The Waldheim Duchy
Back in Etherion.
This place really did have air unlike Earth's. Not a speck of soot in it — the freshness alone was invigorating.
"Hwaaahm, this is the life!"
Yoo Seon-ah had stuck half her body out of the moving carriage, stretching until her spine popped. Drinking in the dense mana of this world through every pore made her fatigue melt away.
Anyway.
She had become an E-rank Orthodox Mage this time around. And naturally, she'd received the next quest as well.
[The Path of the Orthodox Mage (D-Rank)]
🎯 Objective — Mana Accumulation: Naturally accumulate mana outside of combat. (0/1,000,000)
🎯 First Circle Formed: Use your accumulated mana to complete your 3rd Circle. (0/1)
🎯 Proficiency Achieved: Raise the average proficiency of ten 2-Circle spells to 80. (0/10)
🎁 Reward: Orthodox Mage D-Rank achievement, 10 random 3-Circle spell books.
⏳ Time Limit: None
One thing was now certain: mana accumulation scaled in multiples of ten. The 1st Circle required ten thousand. The 2nd, one hundred thousand. The 3rd, one million. And if the pattern held? The 4th Circle would demand ten million.
It was a system that forced you to spend exponentially more time as you climbed toward the higher circles. Ha. At this rate, she'd be a wrinkled old granny before she ever reached the 7th Circle. Not that she wanted that...
Yoo Seon-ah scratched her head, then turned her attention back to the road ahead.
"Bella."
Hwarang spoke up.
"Yes, Mage-nim!"
"Starting today, we're going back to longer travel days."
His Intermediate Tailoring and its auxiliary skills hadn't budged past 70. Apparently they would only rise if he worked from different patterns or did something entirely new. So he'd shelve those for now — from this point on, he intended to read books day and night. Cooking, and ten spells besides.
Hwarang spread out the spell books one by one.
Thunder Strike, Wind Blast, Healing Light, Earth Spike, Shadow Veil, Flame Whip, Gust, Arcane Missile, Ice Shard, Cleanse.
The vast majority were offensive skills, though there were practical ones too, like Cleanse, which had its uses in daily life.
"Hmm."
Best to knock out at least one spell before diving into the cooking books. That way Seon-ah would have something to train with, too.
"Pick one, noona. Which one pulls at you the most?"
When Hwarang fanned the books out, Seon-ah deliberated for a moment before making her choice.
"Thunder Strike. We've got no lightning magic between us, right? Sounds useful."
"Okay. Then I'll start with this one."
Hwarang picked it up, a faint thrill running through him. His first 2-Circle spell, after all.
Swish.
He opened the preface.
"Summon the wrath of the heavens! This volume delves deeply into Thunder Strike, said to be among the most powerful of all 2-Circle spells. Thunder Strike is a devastating lightning spell that borrows the power of the sky to smite your foes..."
He was absorbed in the book almost instantly.
So this was the 2nd Circle. The difficulty was substantial. Where a 1st-Circle skill book took three hours flat, a 2nd-Circle volume demanded a full seven hours of unbroken reading.
You have completed a thorough reading of Thunder Strike.
You have fully understood Thunder Strike.
Congratulations! Master Thunder Strike has been added to your Skill Window.
Naturally, he hadn't just skimmed it — he'd grasped every principle down to the bone. No separate tab had appeared for 2-Circle magic, but that was probably similar to how the 1st Circle had worked. Once he mastered ten 2-Circle spells, a tab would appear along with the title "2-Circle Master," presumably.
Either way, the moment he finished the book he got bounced back to Earth, then burned another five coins to cross over into Etherion again.
"Your turn now, noona."
"Thanks."
Building proficiency could wait. First, he wanted to clear out the mountains of books sitting in front of him.
Next up: cooking.
That one looked like it would take even longer — which made it all the better.
Swish.
The pages began to turn once more.
Daily life settled into a smooth rhythm. Read while the carriage rolled, and once night fell deep, cook and camp. The mountains were rugged and crawling with monsters, but the instant anything appeared before Hwarang, it transformed into a handful of leather.
Especially — Master Thunder Strike.
The skill's power was staggering. On a completely different dimension from anything in the 1st Circle. He'd tested it out on an ogre, mostly out of curiosity.
And wow.
It was simply insane. The moment lightning began writhing at his fingertips, the sky darkened —
KWAGAGAGAGA!
Two yellow-white bolts of thunder slammed into the ogre's crown one right after the other. Where the original Thunder Strike struck once, the Master version struck twice. And who knew — as proficiency climbed, maybe the number of bolts would increase too.
"So that's what Thunder Strike is supposed to look like... Mine's basically Thunder Shock level."
Yoo Seon-ah muttering to herself with a dead-eyed, existential expression as they trained side by side was a sight to behold.
Orthodox Mage, my foot.
She was just a knockoff mage, honestly. She grumbled and grumbled, then forced herself back on track.
It's not that I'm lacking.
That lunatic is just absurdly, freakishly strong. That's all.
About five more days passed like that.
You have completed a thorough reading of the Cooking skill book.
Basic Cooking has been added to your Skill Window.
At last, every last one of those recipes fit inside his head.
Hwarang was happy. Eat, sleep, fight, read. A life of nothing but those four things on repeat — precisely the life he had always wanted.
After Cooking, he plowed through the rest of his skill books one after another, crossing back to Etherion with another five coins each time he finished one. Then came the moment he absorbed his sixth 2-Circle spell.
You have acquired a total of 20 Master skills on the ancient continent of Etherion.
The skill Skill Book Collect has been SEALED.
To break the seal, a condition must be met.
Condition: Average skill proficiency of 80.
Ah, there it was! Again. A seal!
He'd been keeping count just in case, and sure enough — only skills bearing the "Master" title counted toward it. In other words, his production skills didn't factor in at all. That average proficiency requirement presumably worked the same way; production skills climbed through Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and so on forever, so they'd be meaningless to tally.
Still, he'd have to run an experiment on that too.
"Hah."
Just one regret, though. With Skill Book Collect sealed, he could no longer pick up new production skills either. From here on out, breaking that seal was priority number one.
Proficiency 80 on all of these? Bring it on!
"Mage-nim!"
Partway through their journey, Bella called out.
"We'll be arriving soon, so you should get ready!"
"Oh, finally?"
It had taken nearly two weeks and then some. Factoring the carriage's speed and their travel hours, they'd covered roughly 1,300 kilometers.
Insane.
That was about the distance from Seoul to Tokyo, give or take. Which was to say, the mountain range was genuinely colossal.
Then again, though.
Earth had one too. The Andes — the longest mountain range in the world, straddling six countries — ran roughly 7,000 kilometers.
Ring!
Hwarang flicked a single gold coin out of his inventory, spinning it through the air.
"For all your driving, Bella. Well earned."
"Hweeek! Thank you so much, Mage-niiim!"
She caught it in both hands and bowed her head with exaggerated flourish.
"Please keep counting on me! Powerful and handsome Mage-nim!"
Hah. Bella these days — she was honestly kind of adorable.
"Now that you've been paid, how about a briefing on the region we're about to enter?"
"Of course, right away!"
Ahem, ahem.
She cleared her throat once and launched into her explanation, and Hwarang and Seon-ah listened with genuine interest. Apparently, the continent was ruled by three great dukes: Waldheim, Felgard, and Nordar. And the city they were about to reach marked the very gateway of the Waldheim Duchy.
"The Waldheim Duchy is the second-largest domain on this continent, after Lumentia. Four major cities — east, west, south, and north — are linked around the capital city of Waldheim. And here's how incredible this place is: for centuries, the vast majority of the continent's greatest knights and mages have come from here!"
Listening to the rundown, Hwarang could see why. The five cities supposedly contested with one another every single year — a warrior people in constant rivalry. Of course the citizens would be obsessed with strength.
"Sounds like it could be a fun city."
Seon-ah nodded along, clearly intrigued as well.
"The southern gateway out of Grimrir is Brandel! The southern city! Hwaaa, I can't wait to see it! Who knew the day would come when I'd look upon with my own eyes a city I've only ever read about in books!"
Gulp.
Bella swallowed hard.
"And Brandel is famous as the city of food, too! Aaah, what delicious dishes will be waiting for us this time? I earned money today, so the first meal is on me — my treat!"
Bella really did explain things deliciously, as it were. It felt like adventuring through a fantasy world with a professional guide thrown in.
She works hard, I'll give her that.
Money well spent — well spent indeed!
Clip-clop, clip-clop!
Inside the rolling carriage, they kept listening as the explanation rolled on.
"Welcome to the southern city of Brandel."
The toll came to five coppers per person. Considerably steeper than Calderon — not that it put any pressure on their purse.
"Let's grab an inn first and rest up properly."
"Yep! Shall I scout out somewhere in good condition again?"
"Yeah. Don't worry about the price — just go for comfort."
He was a man sitting on over ten billion won these days; what was a little gold coin? You rested hard when it was time to rest. That was how you trained hard, too. On old Earth, true medieval nobles had lodged at monasteries when they traveled, but in Etherion, luxury inns seemed to have developed well beyond monasteries.
"Understood!"
The city was unmistakably crowded. And the roads were far cleaner than Calderon's — easy driving, you might say. Bella's carriage-handling skill was no joke. She wove gracefully around the crowds and pressed forward like a born local.
"We're looking for buildings that are big and sturdy! Those are usually the well-kept ones."
How could someone so tiny do her job so crisply? Whenever a large, upscale inn came into view, they'd hop down on the spot and ask about this and that. After narrowing down about ten candidates:
"I think this one is the best. The Silk Ribbon!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes, but it is rather expensive."
"How much?"
"It's booked as a whole house — three bedrooms, very spacious! Meals are included, and there's a bathhouse!"
"So. How. Much."
"Um... one gold per day."
Bella hesitated, then stuck her tongue out sheepishly as she answered. One gold. A single gold coin?
Hm.
It was a touch pricey — 4.07 million won a night.
"Oh, and here's the best part...! There's a training ground behind the house. They say you can practice magic there too!"
Oh.
Now that was tempting. What else would you expect from Waldheim, holy land of the warrior people? An inn with its own training grounds, honestly. Tsk — fine, let's invest big.
Swish.
He drew ten gold coins from his inventory.
"Let's say we'll stay for ten days first."
"Whoa."
Presumably no swarms of freeloaders would come crawling the moment gold changed hands here, unlike Calderon. And even if they did? He had nothing to fear. Past the 4th Circle, everyone on this continent showed respect — that supposedly put you at C-rank equivalent. C-ranks like Park Cheol-min or Song Mi-young? Trivially easy. Honestly, he felt he could handle them with his eyes closed.
Which was to say, there was no need to tiptoe around spending a few gold coins.
Right.
First, rest. Shake off the fatigue of the road, then train properly for once.