1st Circle Master
"...So."
Watching Seo Hwarang arrive in comfortable clothes, Ha Taemin finally spoke.
"You're saying you're turning yourself in... correct?"
"No, no, nothing like that."
Seo Hwarang waved his hands in denial.
"I'm telling you, I really just awakened out of nowhere last night."
"Then entering the F-rank dungeon last night was..."
"That part's true. I went in on a whim. I'm friendly with Yoo Seon-ah, who's an experienced hunter, and I wanted to test myself as a little awakening celebration. I knew it violated the rules, but it was already late, and the Management Bureau had closed for the day... Hah, if there's a fine, I'll pay it."
As far as Seo Hwarang knew, the punishment for unauthorized F-rank dungeon entry wasn't all that heavy.
Dungeons were far too numerous to manage strictly, after all.
At worst, it was a fine of 100,000 won.
'Shame, though.'
He'd thought he wouldn't get caught.
It had never crossed his mind that there'd be a CCTV camera near the dungeon, of all places.
Bow.
Seo Hwarang offered a light, respectful nod, and Ha Taemin's eyes narrowed as he watched.
'Hmm.'
Only one thing troubled him.
The Horned Bat.
Someone—either Seo Hwarang or Yoo Seon-ah—had clearly taken it down...
And Seo Hwarang claimed he'd awakened after that?
Ha Taemin swallowed drily.
The man before him might well be hiding his true strength.
"Considering that you came to us of your own accord so soon after awakening, I'll let that part slide. However, the inspection must be thorough. You understand?"
"Of course."
Seo Hwarang smiled brightly.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
As mentioned before, the inspection was conducted using an item called the Status Window Detector.
It was equipment dropped in high-difficulty dungeons and quite expensive, but... most nations owned a handful.
South Korea was no exception.
The Management Bureau itself possessed three.
"Then I'll begin."
Ha Taemin raised the detector to his eye and added, with a smooth motion:
"Just sit back and relax."
"Yes, sir."
Seo Hwarang had already cast Veil of Deception.
With comprehension high enough to earn the Master prefix on the skill, falsifying a status window was easier than taking candy from a baby.
He'd modeled the fake window on the ones circulating in online hunter communities.
Ha Taemin checked the readings with a tense expression.
Then an earthquake struck his pupils.
'No way.'
He narrowed his eyes further, but nothing changed.
'He really awakened last night?'
A class called Novice Mage, a pathetic F rank.
He'd even leveled up yesterday, apparently, yet hadn't distributed a single one of his unspent points.
Seo Hwarang, who had been quietly waiting, spoke up.
"I don't know where to invest them. Could you give me some advice?"
"Ahem."
Apparently he'd misread the situation after all.
What were the odds that the man before him was using the Veil of Deception artifact?
Virtually zero.
He'd already finished the background check on one Seo Hwarang.
A bookworm who, after graduating high school, had taken a job at a nearby library and done nothing but read?
The family wasn't wealthy, either.
Why, they lived in a hillside shantytown slated for redevelopment, of all places.
Both parents were modest small-business owners.
They ran a corner grocery and then a fried chicken place in the neighborhood, but with sales so poor they were still registered as simple self-employed vendors.
'Figures it wasn't him.'
Crime organizations weren't fools; there was no way they'd furnish such an expensive item to a mere librarian.
"...Since you're a mage, I'd recommend focusing your investment on Intellect or Magic."
"Ooh, I see. Thank you."
"So you really did awaken just yesterday. Congratulations. For your awakener registration, head to the registration desk and they'll guide you through it. Anything else you're curious about is laid out in detail on the Management Bureau's website."
Concluding it was a waste of any more time, Ha Taemin let out a sigh and rose from his seat.
Which meant...
Had the Flame Magician truly used her wits to take down the Horned Bat?
He would have to redirect the focus of the investigation toward her, it seemed.
"Is that everything?"
"Yes. Thank you for your cooperation."
Ha Taemin bowed politely and, before long, took his leave.
"......."
Whew.
Seo Hwarang scratched his head.
'It's really that easy?'
Deceiving the infamous Management Bureau with nothing but 1st Circle magic...
'Magic, this stuff is insane.'
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The pace of an awakener's development varied wildly from person to person.
Some stayed stuck at F-rank for years on end, while others smashed through B-rank in under a year.
And that was precisely why he had nothing to worry about.
He could simply falsify his status window to match whatever the situation demanded.
Loo loo.
Seo Hwarang hummed a tune under his breath.
Now he could enjoy his reading without a single person getting in his way.
More than anything, that was what made him happiest.
'First things first.'
He'd gather coins and read through the remaining skill books, one by one.
Reading might be his greatest joy, but even Seo Hwarang appreciated a good story.
Novels differed in quality depending on the author's prose; history books shifted in fascination depending on the era they covered.
And skill books, judged purely as entertainment?
Top tier.
Nothing in existence was more thrilling or more exhilarating to read.
And so Seo Hwarang made his preparations.
Preparations to drain every last F-rank dungeon in the vicinity dry.
Coins—that's right.
Sweep every last one of them up!
And read the remaining eight skill books to the very last page!
Before he knew it, his eyes were alight with life.
The dead look that had haunted them ever since the library layoffs—the light had finally returned.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Being an awakener did have its perks.
Even at F-rank, it meant money.
Dungeons occasionally yielded copper ore, which sold for 10,000 won per kilogram to scrap dealers or industrial materials buyers.
And that wasn't all.
Every so often, a lowest-grade mana stone would drop—purity dependent, sure, but starting at a minimum of 300,000 won.
'No wonder it's the top 0.1% of humanity.'
He was making far more money than he ever had working as a librarian.
Seo Hwarang's daily life settled into repetition.
Dungeon, home, dungeon, home.
And whenever five coins piled up?
Straight through the gate to speed-read a skill book.
Oh, and one more thing.
He'd discovered another bonus, too.
'The inventory is compatible.'
He couldn't carry items from the real world into Etherion—but whatever was stored in his inventory crossed over just fine.
In other words, only items obtained inside dungeons could be brought into Etherion.
Come to think of it, that was probably how he'd managed to sell that staff, huh.
Whether the reverse worked, he hadn't tested yet.
He still couldn't leave the third floor of the mages' guild, after all.
For now, skill books couldn't be placed in his inventory.
Evidently, skill books readable on the Etherion continent weren't recognized as items in the first place.
So the days slipped by.
And before long, Seo Hwarang had absorbed every one of the nine skills waiting for him there.
'Ohhh.'
Now that was reassuring.
Truly befitting an S-rank class.
Even with his arsenal filled exclusively by 1st Circle magic, his combat power had skyrocketed.
'Just one left, then?'
The final book.
[This skill book contains information on the 1st Circle spell, Dark Cloud.]
Dark Cloud.
Knock knock knock.
Third floor of the mages' guild.
That was when the door resounded.
"Mage?"
"Ah—yes."
Seo Hwarang answered promptly.
"You have two hours remaining on your session. Should you wish to extend it, an additional two coppers per person will be required."
"Understood. Don't worry about it."
Thankfully, they hadn't come in looking for Yoo Seon-ah or anything of the sort.
'Still, though.'
Only two hours left?
Better read faster than usual, then.
The eight-jointed staff was gone now, too.
If they demanded another two coppers, he'd be in a tight spot.
'Read.'
No time.
Swish!
Seo Hwarang flipped open the cover.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Here was the thing...
Magic as a discipline was, in the end, an interlocking web of spell upon spell, so the books shared a great deal of common ground.
Which meant his reading speed had grown dramatically faster than it had been at the start.
'Dark Cloud is fun, too.'
A spell of the darkness attribute, it conjured a dense cloud of shadow within a set area.
Less a combat spell than a support spell!
It obscured the enemy's vision and sowed confusion—or, in dim surroundings, could be cast around oneself to slip past enemy eyes or cover an escape.
But with every page he turned, regret welled up in Seo Hwarang's eyes.
Ahhh.
This was the last one.
He wanted to keep reading—was it truly, genuinely over?
'Skill books are... basically drugs, aren't they?'
Impossible to quit even if you wanted to...
And the craving that came back the moment they were gone—that was the devastating part.
"Ughhhh..."
In the end, the book's final page closed amid a wail of despair.
No more!
There was nothing left to read!
[Ding!]
[You have fully read the skill book, Dark Cloud.]
[You have achieved complete comprehension of Dark Cloud.]
[Congratulations!]
[Master Dark Cloud has been added to your Skill Window.]
Another one down!
And just as he mastered his tenth 1st Circle spell—
Whoooom!
A gentle breeze swept softly across his entire body, and at the same moment—
...1st Circle Master?
[All 1st Circle spells have their cooldowns reduced by 20%.]
[All 1st Circle spells within the Skill Window have been consolidated into the '1st Circle Magic' folder.]
What did all that mean?
Well, this was what the Skill Window looked like now.
And when he tapped into 1st Circle Magic—
That was how they were organized now.
'So it's keeping 1st Circle spells neatly grouped together.'
That did seem more convenient, admittedly.
Later on, as he learned more spells and worked his way up to higher Circles...
His Skill Window was bound to turn into a cluttered mess otherwise.
But here was the problem.
That wasn't the end of it.
[You have acquired a total of 10 Master skills on the ancient continent of Etherion.]
[The skill 'Skill Book Collect' is now sealed.]
What?
...Sealed?!
What on earth was that supposed to mean!
So now he couldn't even learn skill books—couldn't even translate them?
What kind of nonsense was that!
[To break the seal, a condition must be met.]
[Condition: Average skill proficiency of 80]
"Hah?"
And with that explanation, Seo Hwarang was unceremoniously booted back to Earth.
"......."
As the light faded, his face was thoroughly scrunched up in misery.
All he had ever wanted was to read his books in peace—and now calamity had struck.
Practice his skills, they said!
What kind of bolt-from-the-blue nonsense was that supposed to be?