The Sunstone's Gift
After encountering the Gellard Brotherhood, Lim Dojun made his way to the black market.
Following the previous attack, the auction house had resumed operations and even sent Lim Dojun a formal invitation. His success in acquiring a hand mirror crafted from dragon bone last time had left him quietly hopeful for another find.
Yet nothing at the auction truly caught his interest. When the event finally concluded, he had purchased nothing at all.
“Magician, sir. Did you enjoy the auction?”
As he prepared to leave, the same administrator he had dealt with before approached him.
“Yes. I didn’t buy anything, but it was quite entertaining just to watch.”
“Ah, what a shame. We’ll make certain to prepare items worthy of your refined eye next time.”
“That would be excellent. By the way, there seem to be far more attendees than last time?”
Lim Dojun glanced around as he spoke. The number of participants had indeed grown noticeably since the previous auction.
It was surprising. After an actual terrorist attack, one would expect attendance to drop. Instead, the crowd had only increased.
“It’s all thanks to you, Magician!”
“Me?”
“Indeed. What nearly became a catastrophic failure was miraculously turned around.”
Since this was an underground auction, it received no legal protection. An attack like that would normally spell the end for any auction house. Yet this organization had handled the aftermath masterfully. They had heavily publicized the fact that they had preemptively hired a mage from the Blue Magic Tower and prevented nearly all damage.
Employing a mage from one of the great towers as security, suffering only a single damaged item—these points had actually drawn customer interest. The connections required to secure a Blue Magic Tower mage for guard duty, combined with the demonstrated ability to neutralize most of a terrorist threat, painted a picture of exceptional stability.
As a result, the auction had attracted even more people than before.
“I’m glad I was able to help.”
Lim Dojun had received substantial compensation for simply lending his name that day. The Blue Magic Tower’s finance officer had beamed with delight, and the contribution points he earned had been considerable. A true win-win transaction.
“Which brings me to this, Magician. It isn’t much, but please accept this small token of appreciation.”
“Hm? I already received payment last time.”
“That was the official contract with the Blue Magic Tower. We still need to express our unofficial gratitude, don’t we? Haha.”
The administrator offered a small pouch as if urging him to accept it. From his perspective, this was only natural.
After looking into it, he had learned that Lim Dojun was the prodigy the branch leader had personally taken as a disciple. The thought of earning such a person’s enmity was terrifying.
From what the administrator had gathered, Lim Dojun was a genius so exceptional that even the Blue Magic Tower’s main headquarters had been stirred by the news. Simply paying lip service when thanking a mage of that caliber was practically asking for trouble. Even without direct retaliation, indirect grudges could form later. Most mages were eccentric and narrow-minded; those called geniuses were even more so. If Lim Dojun felt the previous official contract had been the end of the matter, resentment would be inevitable.
“May I open it?”
“Of course!”
The administrator gestured eagerly. He was confident in the gift he had prepared.
When Lim Dojun loosened the pouch’s strings, he saw a modest collection of items inside the relatively small space. The contents were a colorful assortment of gemstones and gold.
“I heard that magicians require significant research materials and various expenses. It’s modest, but we wanted to contribute a little.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
Money was never something one could have too much of. Lim Dojun smiled faintly as he accepted the gift.
I should store this in my sub-space.
Small, valuable items were easily lost if misplaced. At this size, they would fit inside his sub-space—the safest possible storage in the world.
Lim Dojun focused and opened the sub-space. Despite constant practice, the magic remained difficult both to cast and maintain. He still had a long way to go before he could deploy it reliably in combat.
“?”
The moment he placed the pouch inside, Lim Dojun’s eyes widened in shock.
The sub-space… it grew!?
As soon as the pouch entered, the sub-space had expanded by a meaningful amount. What had previously been slightly smaller than a backpack was now roughly the size of a carry-on suitcase.
Why…?
Lim Dojun stared at the pouch. It was the only variable. He pulled it back out, and the sub-space immediately shrank to its previous dimensions.
“!”
His expression changed completely. He began repeatedly inserting and removing the gemstones one by one.
“Not this one. Not this either…”
Because he had to keep the sub-space open the entire time, sweat quickly drenched his face.
What on earth is he doing?
The administrator watched in bewilderment as Lim Dojun, sweating profusely, kept reaching into thin air. The pouch and gemstones would vanish momentarily, then reappear.
He had seen many eccentric mage behaviors, but this was entirely new.
“Ah. I understand now!”
Lim Dojun’s face suddenly brightened. He pulled out a single scarlet gemstone from the pouch. It was a beautiful stone whose appearance seemed to shift mysteriously depending on how the light hit it.
“What is this?”
“As expected of a great magician—you recognized it immediately. This is a sunstone.”
The administrator looked proud. Sunstones were prized by knights and mages alike. They were used in weapon crafting, alchemy, magic circle activation—virtually every field required them. Though demand was high, their rarity meant they were treated almost like currency. They were easy to liquidate and small enough that some families even collected them as emergency funds.
“Could I receive more of these?”
“Sunstones?”
The moment he learned the name, Lim Dojun clenched his fist tightly.
When he had placed the sunstone inside his sub-space, the space had reacted and expanded slightly. That meant the more sunstones he added, the more he could enlarge it.
The administrator, however, looked troubled.
“Um… well…”
“I’m not asking for them for free. You can take back the other gems and gold and exchange them for sunstones instead. Would that be difficult?”
Lim Dojun worried he might be making an unreasonable request, but the administrator shook his head.
“Not at all! How could it be difficult?”
He wasn’t demanding additional sunstones outright—he was offering to return the other valuables in exchange. This was the first time the administrator had received such a proposal from a mage.
I thought the rumors about him being a good-natured genius were exaggerations, but maybe they were true?
Since sunstones were even easier to liquidate than precious metals, wanting them wasn’t strange. The administrator spent a long time scouring the black market, sweeping up every sunstone available for sale.
On the way back from the black market, Lim Dojun reflected on his discovery.
Sunstones are ridiculously expensive.
His understanding of this world’s common sense was still lacking. He had never studied alchemy or magic circles, so even as a mage he hadn’t known about sunstones.
The joy of discovering they could expand his sub-space had been short-lived. They were simply too costly. The other gems and gold the administrator had given him were quite valuable, yet they had only secured a modest number of sunstones.
After placing them all inside, his sub-space had grown to roughly the size of a thirty-inch suitcase. That was the extent of it.
I need to earn a lot more money.
He would buy as many sunstones as possible. After all, the larger the sub-space, the better.
Upon returning to the Blue Magic Tower, Lim Dojun paused at the staircase, lost in thought.
Since he had already learned intermediate magic, there was no need to return to the underground training room. The problem was…
I don’t know when I should reveal this to Master.
If he told Delcrein he had mastered intermediate magic in just four days, it might seem like something beyond mere genius. Rather than praising him, his master might grow suspicious and want to dissect him to see what kind of monster he was.
Yet he couldn’t keep pretending to still be learning it, either.
“Jun? What are you doing standing here?”
At that moment, he happened to encounter Delcrein descending the stairs. Though unexpected, Lim Dojun decided it was for the best. Rather than agonize alone, it would be better to speak directly.
Delcrein seemed to guess the reason and spoke first.
“Are you stuck on something while learning intermediate magic?”
“Not exactly… To be honest, I’ve become interested in the secret arts you mentioned before.”
Lim Dojun had already passed all the tests and earned the right to learn the secret arts. The elders had left behind the secret manuals, so he could begin once he reached the appropriate level.
“That makes sense. The desire to learn superior magic is a virtue every mage should possess. Shall we begin the secret arts right away?”
“…! Is that really all right?”
“There’s no reason it wouldn’t be. I told you before, didn’t I? Ordinary people like myself must proceed step by step, but the elders said a genius like you could learn both at the same time.”
Come to think of it, that was true. Having passed every test, Lim Dojun had earned the qualification to study both regular and secret magic simultaneously.
“However, learning them together with intermediate magic seemed too difficult, so I told you to focus on intermediate magic first. Would you like to do both?”
“Yes!”
“Your curiosity is truly admirable. Very well. However, you cannot begin immediately.”
“Why not?”
“The Blue Magic Tower’s secret arts fundamentally require awakening a ‘special sensation.’”
This wasn’t unique to the Blue Magic Tower. Knight families that handled special powers also possessed unique senses exclusive to them. It was what made them stronger and more distinct.
“I’ve never been there myself, but every mage who wishes to learn our secret arts must visit the Canyon of Frozen Snow to awaken this new sense. It’s an ancient ruin, and I hear it’s so bitterly cold and painful that those who have gone once shudder at the mere mention of it.”
Mages generally disliked long journeys, but this was unavoidable.
“Some who qualify for the secret arts seriously consider giving up the opportunity because they don’t want to go to the Canyon of Frozen Snow. That should tell you how difficult it is. What do you think?”
“I will go, of course.”
“I knew you would.”
Delcrein smiled warmly. While other masters suffered muscle pain from constantly correcting their disciples, Delcrein found his own pupil—who grew rapidly on his own—utterly delightful.
“Naturally, I’m not telling you to leave immediately. I know you’ve completed two ruin missions in a row. Rest properly, continue studying intermediate magic, and in a few months—”
“No, Master.”
Delcrein was willing to be flexible, but Lim Dojun cut him off. His eyes were already sparkling with anticipation.
So far, every visit to a ruin had brought only good fortune. He had initially set his luck potential at 8—perhaps that was why. Just hearing the word “ruin” lifted his mood.
And this was an ancient ruin managed by the Blue Magic Tower, a place specifically for awakening a special sense.
There was no reason not to go at once!
“I’ll depart immediately! There isn’t much to prepare!”
Lim Dojun spoke as if every second counted and immediately moved to pack his belongings.
“……”
Delcrein watched his disciple’s retreating figure with a dumbfounded expression.
No matter that he’s my disciple, this is a bit…
At this rate, the boy seemed better suited to be an explorer than a mage.