The Second Seal Unlocked
"Alright, we're off again!"
Bella gave the horses' rumps a light tap and called out cheerfully.
Clop, clop!
Two sturdy horses began to move forward. This time the preparations had been considerably more thorough — they'd procured an extra horse, upgraded to a slightly wider carriage, packed the feed and key ingredients to bursting, and replaced the entire camping set with brand-new gear.
If they headed straight north from the Waldheim Duchy toward Gravis, its northernmost city, they would eventually reach a wilderness so vast that merely gazing out at it was enough to make the mind reel — and this journey would take them a good several months in that direction.
And the funny thing is,
they were still nowhere near the capital.
This continent is absurdly huge.
"Our next stop is the Felgart Duchy! After Waldheim and Nordar, it's one of the continent's Three Great Duchies — and its ruler is known as the King of Beasts."
"...The King of Beasts?"
"Yep! The beasts that live there can supposedly tear apart even decent-tier monsters with their bare claws. Tribes who can tame such beasts have gathered there, and every one of those tribes serves the House of Felgart! Exciting, right?"
Bella, you little rascal. For all her talk of guiding, she was clearly treating this as a full-blown sightseeing tour.
Well.
As long as the route to the capital held, he didn't much care. After all, back in the Waldheim Duchy it was thanks to Bella's meddling that he'd come away with such an excellent weapon.
Beasts, huh.
What kind of place would that turn out to be?
One thing was certain — the Etherion Continent was genuinely fun. It was like the childhood sense of wonder he'd felt reading fantasy novels as a kid, finally being filled in.
Leaving Bella's cheerful chatter behind him, Seo Hwarang settled into serious magic training.
"Whew."
Calmly. Centering his mind.
By now, the proficiency of most of his 2nd Circle skills had reached 50.
And in his case,
once a skill hit 60, it climbed naturally up to 80 on its own. He didn't know why, but he suspected it was an effect of his thorough readings of the skill books.
Crack!
An Ice Needle shot into the floor of the carriage. Then — fwump! — Ice Shard detonated. And on the heels of the blast, Thunder Strike struck home with perfect timing.
Gripping the Staff of Ruin as he cast, everything froze colder and burst harder — he could feel it unmistakably.
Not bad at all.
Training continued.
The daily routine stayed exactly the same: train while traveling, craft robes on arrival, then cook. And Seo Hwarang's cooking skill, in particular, was improving at an exponential rate.
"Wow, Mr. Magician! No, at this point shouldn't I be calling you Chef? This is way too good! You could make a fortune just stopping by cities and selling this!"
Every time they ate, Bella thrust her thumbs up in enthusiastic approval.
She was especially fond of his fruit shaved ice. All it took was grating down Ice Needles, tossing the shavings with just the right amount of sugar, and piling fresh fruit on top.
Perhaps because he kept inventing creative dishes, his proficiency climbed rapidly.
Congratulations.
Basic Cooking has reached proficiency 100.
Basic Cooking has been upgraded to Intermediate Cooking.
You can now create somewhat more refined cuisine.
Excellent. Ever since his first awakening, every last point of proficiency like this had been precious.
Oh, and another great thing about the cooking skill!
Dishes made with the cooking skill now granted all sorts of bonus effects when eaten.
Effect:HP regeneration +15%
Duration:30 minutes
Every dish carried a different effect. The salmon, for one, worked like a proper potion.
Effect:Strength +10%
Duration:45 minutes
The steak, being meat, packed on raw muscle instead. Presumably, as his cooking skills advanced to Intermediate and then Advanced tiers, those stat bonuses would only grow.
Not bad.
He made a mental note to compile a list of dishes that boosted Intelligence, once he found any.
On top of that, he'd stockpiled a truly enormous number of Wind Silk Robes (Unique). Sixteen sky-blue robes earmarked for delivery to the White Tiger Guild as promised, plus fifteen more — five each in white, black, and blue — to be displayed at the Seona Couture store. Two robes a day, and the whole batch had taken him just over two weeks.
And then—
Finally! At long last, he'd raised the proficiency of all six 2nd Circle spells plus the four additional 1st Circle spells he'd picked up along the way up to 80.
Which meant he could read new skill books again. And that, in turn, meant—
he could cross over to Earth for the first time in a while.
"Noona."
"Hmm?"
"I can read skill books again."
"Ohhh."
Yoo Seon-ah's face lit up. No matter how wonderful Etherion was, its conveniences couldn't hold a candle to the modern world. She was dying to go back, watch some TV, hit a sauna, and properly unwind.
"Going back to rest?"
"You bet."
Truthfully, Seo Hwarang felt the same way.
There were nine skill books in total to read. Four 2nd Circle magic tomes, and the five secret manuals he'd received in Brandel. Now, at last, their titles and contents resolved before his eyes.
The class skill Skill Book Collect has activated.
This skill book contains information on the Brandel Swordsmanship technique Flash Strike.
The five manuals, one by one: Flash Strike, Torrential Sword, Gale Step, Iron Wall Defense, Pure Breath. They all appeared to be classified as swordsmanship.
"Hah."
Whether he liked it or not, he was going to be getting some serious exercise from here on out. Seo Hwarang wanted to read the books — and once he'd read them, he'd have no choice but to grind the proficiency somehow.
"Let's read all nine first, then rest."
"Really...? How long do you think that'll take?"
Hmm. Two books a day, maybe... four or five days, give or take?
For now, it was decided that Yoo Seon-ah would remain on the continent for the entire reading stretch. Setting aside the fact that Bella would find it strange if she suddenly vanished—
She couldn't let the gap widen any further.
Yoo Seon-ah clenched her jaw. To keep even the tip of his heels in sight, chasing that lunatic's pace? She absolutely could not rest. She had to harden her heart.
3rd Circle first.
She would focus on nothing else until she reached it.
Seo Hwarang knocked out the four magic tomes first: Healing Light, Earth Spike, Flame Whip, and Gust. The moment he finished—
Whooooosh!
A crisp gust of wind swept in and wrapped around him.
You have mastered 10 different 2nd Circle spells.
Cooldowns of all 2nd Circle spells are reduced by 20%.
All 2nd Circle spells in your Skill Window have been consolidated under the 2nd Circle Magic folder.
Nice. It felt much the same as when he'd earned the 1st Circle Master title.
Seo Hwarang, already formidable. Now stronger still.
But he couldn't stop here. Back on Etherion, Seo Hwarang threw himself into the Brandel secret manuals with tremendous momentum.
Shff, shff-shff!
Speed-reading through tomes far thicker than any of the 2nd Circle spellbooks—
"Whoa."
"...Unbelievable."
It was a sight that belonged on one of those talent-of-the-century TV specials.
"Can he actually be absorbing all of that...?"
Setting aside whether it was truly comprehensible or how profound the content might be — Yoo Seon-ah simply couldn't fathom how anyone could flip pages at that speed and still take it all in. And on top of that, he was grinning ear to ear, like nothing in the world gave him more joy.
Ah, what a monster.
She'd assumed at first that he was just a bookworm. Apparently the little freak was a genuine prodigy, too.
About another week slipped by.
He'd finally absorbed all five secret techniques of Brandel Swordsmanship. And curiously enough, the word "Master" now appeared before the style's name as well.
1. Master Flash Strike
2. Master Torrential Sword
3. Master Gale Step
4. Master Iron Wall Defense
5. Master Pure Breath
But wait. He'd now mastered nine skills in all. Wouldn't learning just one more seal the ability again?
It was a little stifling, honestly.
Surely they could just unlock a hundred at a time. Ten? What even is ten?
Not that there was anything he could do about it. If the system said grind, he'd grind. What would complaining change?
For the foreseeable future, it looked like he'd be focusing on raising the proficiency of everything he'd already learned.
In any case! He'd made a promise to Yoo Seon-ah. They'd stay on Earth for a while. Seona Couture needed growing, and he needed to spend some time with his family. Ah — and of course, enjoy a little comfortable modern civilization on the side.
It had been quite a while since he'd messaged Park Juhee. For her, only a few seconds had passed — but for Seo Hwarang, that made her presence all the more welcome.
He headed straight for the wholesale store.
"Please receive these."
He pulled the Wind Silk Robes he'd been crafting all this time out of his inventory and stacked them up.
"Gasp — these are all—"
She checked the contents, then—
"Eeeeek!"
She let out a shriek. Well, fair enough. Anyone would gawk at this. A man who'd vanished mere seconds ago had just strolled back in carrying a bundle of items that each commanded bids of a billion won.
"Deliver the ones for the White Tiger Guild at the agreed one billion per robe. For the rest, consign them through Seona Couture and sell them. As for the price — Ms. Juhee, set it yourself, anything above 1.5 billion. And request security from the White Tiger Guild openly and confidently."
"Y-yes, understood."
"Run the company with the proceeds however you see fit, so don't come looking for me for a while."
"I'm sorry — where are you going?"
"To rest, a bit."
However much he loved books, reading them day and night had left his whole body aching. If he wanted to dive back into the joy of reading afterward, he needed a proper break first.
"Ahh, of course, sir!"
"If anything important comes up, coordinate with CEO Yoo Seon-ah. You know how it is — I'm just a humble employee."
"Yessir!"
Seo Hwarang had no desire to involve himself deeply in management. If he were going to handle every last tedious detail himself, he wouldn't have cut anyone in for a percentage — he'd have done it all alone. Hand a capable person a ten-hundred-million-won salary and they'd work like a dog; the world was full of them.
In exchange,
there were a few things he needed to start sorting out now.
Time to find a house.
He couldn't live in Gaemi Village forever. The park behind it was a place full of memories, and he was a little sorry to think of leaving — but they were memories born of having no money. With money, surely one could make better memories instead? He'd sworn as much to himself!
He'd decided to buy his parents a house. So where should he go?
Seoul is out, for starters.
Great as an investment play, sure — but he had no need to sweat over real estate or stocks anymore. Seo Hwarang's own two hands were the money. And the pile was only going to keep growing.
Hmm. It would be nice to find a plot of land big enough for a spacious private library, a park, and a training ground.
I'll rest first and think it over.
After a quick search, he booked the most expensive hotel in the area — the Royal Suite, of course. Something like five million won a night, but he didn't give it a second thought. That was roughly the same price as a high-class inn on the Etherion Continent, after all.
He'd lounge there, pamper himself, and do his research in comfort.