Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Earthlings are Amazing!
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Yellow Boss and his underlings had taken over the Yongsan-gu area.
So I needed to get as far away from Yongsan as possible.
'Going down isn't a good idea. Better head even higher up.'
Two years ago, a group of cannibals had seized Gangnam.
College students in Seocho-gu had banded together for human hunts.
Every neighborhood had its own band of bizarre plunderers.
I'd come north to Gangbuk to avoid them, but now even here wasn't safe.
'Should I just keep going all the way to Uijeongbu?'
The snow and wind were fiercer than usual today.
Still, thanks to the body-warming necklace Cosmic Dust sent, I could endure it.
"Phew. It's freezing to death."
After trudging through the blizzard for about two hours, I was exhausted and ducked into an empty house to catch my breath.
With all this snow and the darkening sky, my footprints would vanish quickly.
I had to zigzag my route now and then to erase any traces of myself.
That way, pursuers would get lost and follow other survivors' trails instead.
It was a trick I'd picked up the hard way while surviving on my own.
Title: Spilling the Beans on How I Barely Survived Death
Writer: Apprentice Mage
Really thought I was done for.
Five guys barging in... my vision went black...
Since I was resting here anyway, I checked the gallery.
As expected, Firepower Enthusiast's notifications were piling up.
No idea how many messages she'd sent.
She must have been really worried about me.
Familiar gallery regulars started chiming in with words of comfort one by one.
Being top-tier mages in their worlds, they seemed fascinated by me, a total small fry who could die any moment.
Elf Hunter was a slaughter machine who'd climbed to sage status through combat magic.
She often raved about how cool it was, and now I wanted to give it a try if I found the time.
The moment I showed interest in learning, she ran straight to Firepower Enthusiast to stir shit up.
True to her elf-hunting rep, impressive as always.
They say fighting monsters turns you into one yourself.
Firepower Enthusiast was simpler than I thought—a little support and she cheered right up.
And honestly, I still believed Phlogiston School was the pinnacle of magic.
Nothing fit an ice age like fire magic.
Plus, casting it warmed your brain—literally cozy.
The dwarf geezer—had to be the earth mage.
He specialized in digging, from what I'd heard.
So, building a workshop meant digging my own underground shelter.
Deep in the mountains where no one would find it—a bunker?
Not a bad idea, actually.
Up till now, I'd bounced between abandoned buildings.
Changed hideouts three times in five years, I think.
Maybe it was time to settle down with a real home of my own.
Racial capacity limits.
The Sage Time Gallery had humans, beastkin, elves, and all sorts.
Each race had its own capacity limit for magic schools.
Stuff it beyond that, and your brain breaks.
The dwarf said humans' heads explode after three schools.
Magic's about mastering one deeply, not juggling many.
Force too many, and your mana circuits tangle—turning you into a third-rate hack.
Or your brain fries completely, leaving you a mana-mad vegetable. One or the other.
No way—actual brain explosion?
Holy shit, that's terrifying!
Four-plus schools meant betting your brain.
Any moment past the fourth, you could turn into a drooling idiot.
Way too scary.
Everyone yelled for me to skip Elf Hunter's combat magic and come to them instead.
They really wanted to teach me that badly?
Was I some prodigy making their mouths water?
Makes sense.
Now I got why they were so eager to teach me.
If sages = professors...
To them, I was an appealing undergrad!
Does homework perfectly, aces presentations, talented, enthusiastic...
Prime grad-school abductee material—a drool-worthy future slave!
"Oh man. What have I been doing all this time..."
Was I unwittingly wagging my tail at all these gallery sages?
I had no clue. None.
Thought they were just kind experts replying nicely to a noob's dumb posts...
Nope.
They all had ulterior motives!
Elf Hunter stirred the pot again, sparking racial beef and school wars.
Everyone boasting their school's superiority, flexing, fighting to shove it down my throat.
Headache incoming.
All amazing magic from my view.
Having to pick one...
'Who'll be newbie's third master?' The gallery was in a frenzy debating when Cosmic Dust dropped her bombshell.
Denser brain? What?
So Earthling brains outclassed average humans from other worlds.
Explained why the gallery felt medieval fantasy across the board.
Magic stagnates brains.
Steampunk's civilization peak? Makes sense now.
Brains evolve under dogshit survival pressure.
No-magic science grind supercharged Earth brains.
Mine was way roomier than otherworld humans'.
The gallery erupted in cheers.
Thrilled at becoming my masters.
Hold up—they're celebrating like I can handle everything, but even I don't know...
'Pureblood Supremacist' has been banned
'Elf Hunter' has been banned
Not everyone was purely thrilled about my talent.
But the elves here always had that vibe—whatever.
Anyway, relief.
Limitless magic learning.
Time to start.