First Time with Authentic Magic
Remaining Stats: 27
After leaving the Lizardman Swamp dungeon, Irmana's Blessing no longer applied. The stats I had gained from my class change felt utterly meaningless. I couldn’t sense any dramatic difference.
Even if I dumped every last point into my stats, it still wouldn’t compare to Irmana’s Blessing. That single blessing is seriously overpowered…
I wondered if there was any way to keep the blessing active permanently. Since it triggered whenever my body was wet or damp, maybe I could just fix the Water Pitcher from the dungeon above my head so water kept pouring down? Drip, drip, drip.
…The visuals would be absolutely terrible. No matter how much of a skeleton I am, appearance still matters. Still, I should probably test whether it actually works.
Or I could train until I reached the point where I could generate my own water-attribute magic.
That’ll take a while, though.
At least I had obtained the Orc Adversary achievement. From now on, I would be able to display far greater power whenever I faced orcs.
Where should I invest all these accumulated stats…? My strength is already high thanks to the Rune of Giant, so considering that, I’ve actually distributed them pretty evenly.
A “jack-of-all-trades” usually referred to a character whose growth had been ruined by poor stat distribution. By normal standards, I was in terrible shape.
But it was time to change my thinking. My plan was to become a true all-rounder, and the abilities I had gained through my class change would make that possible.
Looking at it now, my stamina and recovery are still a bit low…
No matter how many times the lake water of Irmana replenished my magic power, I needed a decent recovery stat for prolonged battles. And since my stamina was shared with Yeonhee, that went without saying.
In the end I would have to raise everything, but if I had to set priorities right now, magic power came first.
The deliberation took a while, but the action was immediate.
Hmm… Let’s go with this.
I finished distributing my stats and stared at the window for a long time.
Thank goodness the bone armor gave me some breathing room with my agility.
Having invested my points into the stats that had fallen behind, I stood up to get used to my changed body.
Hmm… My body feels strangely uncomfortable now. Is this monster hide?
What used to be empty space between my bones was now packed with something that looked like monster leather. A dull gray substance filled every gap.
The sharp thorns that had pierced into my bones seemed to extend both inward and outward. Traces of them jutted out from various spots on my arms and legs.
Clack.
Whoa, even my face has changed a little. What’s wrong with my mouth!
I frantically checked my face, worried that my already frightening appearance had become even more hideous.
The empty sockets of my eyes and nose had narrowed slightly, but the difference wasn’t huge. My skull shape remained the same, yet my upper and lower teeth had fused together like melted cheese.
This is… Won’t this give Yeonhee goosebumps?
“Clack clack clack!”
When I tried to make the clacking sound, my teeth separated naturally and returned to their proper shape. They were razor-sharp, though.
Hmm, good. Functionality isn’t an issue.
Teeth weren’t originally meant to produce a “clack” sound in the first place, but I decided to be satisfied with that much.
…Wait, is this for real? The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Did the system sew my mouth shut to tell me never to dream of speaking like a human again?
Anger flared up for a moment, but if a person wanted to achieve great things, they had to live positively.
If you stay still, you’ll at least reach the middle.
I took my hand away from my face and touched the thing wrapped around my neck.
It was the gliding cloak I had kept on my back so I could flee with Yeonhee at any moment from the canyon. Now it was coiled around my neck like an enormous scarf.
If I just cover my face, people inside the dungeon might actually treat me like a person.
I nodded to myself and decided to check my newly changed stats.
First, I pushed my sense stat to the maximum…
Two hundred… Two hundred and ten meters or so. The efficiency has definitely improved.
I repeatedly expanded and contracted the range, familiarizing myself with the limit of the waves. Once I had a feel for it, I pulled my senses back in and examined the other changes.
The rest of the stats were already in ranges I had experienced before, so the difference wasn’t striking. There was something else I needed to confirm.
Greatsword… greatsword… I don’t have my greatsword anymore.
While I was at it, I took out a cheap spear one of the blue-eyed organization members had dropped while chasing us and held it in my hand.
Imagining a virtual man roughly my height, I activated Flame Slash.
Flame Slash
Whoosh—!
……
Once more.
Flame Slash
Swooosh—!
……?
No matter how carefully I swung it while focusing on the skill, there was no visible effect. I had been hoping for something cool like flames coiling around the blade…
Maybe the effect only appears when I actually cut something…
There were plenty of abilities like that, so I didn’t think much of it and headed back toward the door.
Fwoosh—
Huh?
The area behind me seemed to brighten for a second. When I turned around, however, there was only darkness.
Hmm… I couldn’t confirm the visual effect, but since my magic power is definitely dropping, the skill is working. The problem is that Flame Explosion requires Fireball as a condition.
How was I supposed to create a skill I didn’t even have? And it was magic, on top of that…
Most mages were born with innate mana affinity. They could broaden their own magical horizons without needing a teacher.
Magic was the process of controlling the mana inside and outside the body, converting it into magical power, and manifesting it according to fixed laws.
So what about me?
The description said possibilities for fire- and earth-attribute magic had opened up, but I had no immediate idea how to turn that possibility into reality.
It felt completely different from when I used the Skeleton Bomb I gained during my class change or the low-grade flame bullets I had stolen.
So this is what they meant by “the path of the altered mage”?
Only now did I realize how far behind I was when it came to proper magic. It was perfectly natural after living my entire previous life as a guide, but I had no intention of being bound by such common sense now that I was no longer human.
Was there anything impossible for a skeleton who had returned to the past?
The very foundation of my perception was different now.
Whatever. Let’s start by picturing it.
A burning sphere the size of a baseball… something similar to the low-grade flame bullet…
Hoo—
Haaah!!
Yaah!! Haaah!!
Ooooh, is this the sensation of a mage wielding Fireball?!
Like hell it is. Damn it!
I tried forming the image dozens of times and poured in my magic power, but only silence answered me.
(Heh heh heh…)
I thought I could hear laughter mocking me from somewhere…
Can you shut up? I’m being serious here.
(········)
I really must be crazy. The hallucinations were getting worse. Life as a skeleton was fairly satisfying, so why was this happening? Maybe I had already been insane in my previous life?
Should I go look for the me of this worldline? I might be able to recover those shattered, faded memories… Now that I think about it, why haven’t I done that before? Did I just assume we would meet next year? But if I meet the me of this world, another event might trigger. With some luck, I might even get an achievement out of it.
I decided to look into it when the opportunity arose and focused on training again.
A burning ball… a ball-shaped flame… Does the fire come first or the ball? Argh! This really isn’t clicking at all.
Thud.
I flopped onto the floor and surrendered myself to the darkness. The pitch-black void that prevented me from seeing even an inch ahead now felt like a warm blanket.
Since I was undead, that was only natural, I supposed.
Is this not the way…?
When I swung my sword, even simple repetition had a strange, exciting charm that made my nonexistent heart race. This, however, only gave me a headache.
It feels difficult because I’m trying to create something new… The system said I’m walking the path of a mage, so there must be a connection somewhere… Hmm—
Skeleton Bomb, Obez’s Blessing, low-grade flame bullet.
I had already used three fire-related abilities. I just had to trust in that and keep trying.
I quickly sat back up and crafted a single Skeleton Bomb.
Crack. Crunch.
The Skeleton Bomb was crudely covered in spikes jutting out in every direction. Even though it looked like this, I knew its completion level was extremely high, so a smile came naturally.
I gripped the bomb and detonated it right in my hand.
BOOM—!
Hmm—
The moment it exploded, I shoved my face into the blast to observe it. Since it was my own skill, I wouldn’t take damage unless I harbored the intent to attack myself.
Come to think of it, isn’t this also a kind of Fireball?
The thought occurred to me as I watched the explosion up close. Maybe I didn’t need to be so obsessed with maintaining a perfectly round shape?
Whether the fire was round, square, or triangular, what did the shape matter as long as the effect was there?
Good. For now, I’ll just focus on manifesting fire…
Simplifying the process sparked fresh interest. I raised my concentration again and continued the challenge.
“Aigoo, you really don’t have to look so depressed. Come on, cheer up, yeah?”
Helen was doing everything she could to soothe and coax Yeonhee, who had fallen into a depth of gloom Helen had never seen before. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead from the effort.
Sizzle—
The meat on the grill kept sending up smoke, but Yeonhee hadn’t taken a single bite.
“Sis, should we close up early today?”
Umi-ran, the owner of this meat restaurant and Helen’s younger sister, asked as she set down a plate piled high with rolled omelets.
Helen glanced around the shop. It was a small place with only seven tables. Aside from their own group, there was just one other table of customers, and even they looked ready to leave soon.
“Once those people go, let’s bring down the shutter.”
Umi-ran nodded, wiping her wet hands on her apron.
This was the food alley not far from the Lizardman Swamp dungeon. Because there were many good restaurants here, it was popular not only with hunters who had finished their raids but with ordinary people as well.
Normally the street would be packed, with long lines of people waiting their turn. Today, however, it was eerily quiet.
“Maybe we should’ve just taken the day off…”
Umi-ran finished calculating the last customers’ bill and walked toward the entrance as she spoke.
“Hmm…”
The hunters seated at the table gave small nods and silently continued moving meat to their mouths.
Whenever a major incident occurred in any dungeon, it was considered proper etiquette among hunters to gather with their comrades and make a lot of noise together. The official reason was to honor the dead, but the accepted theory was that the older generation of hunters had simply imported funeral customs because they didn’t want their after-raid dinners interrupted.
Today also happened to be the last day of the Helen combo with Yeonhee, and they wanted to share at least one meal with the comrades who had crossed the line between life and death with them.
Helen had brought everyone to her sister’s restaurant for those reasons, but seeing Yeonhee so down made her feel sorry for pushing the idea.
Six people sat at the table. Surprisingly, both No Hayun and Bae Jua had joined them as well.
A moment later, Yeonhee broke the long silence and opened her mouth.