A Collection of Evil Authorities

"My master asks that you quickly show them the magic you possess. They feel the power of various magics within you and are highly anticipating it."

"..."

However, the Imperial Elemental Spirit was incredibly sharp-eyed. It had instantly realized that Tae-hyun possessed multiple magic skills.

"Well. You see. The thing is..."

-Why do you keep hesitating?

As Tae-hyun continued to waffle, the Slime grew slightly annoyed and urged him on. After all, there was absolutely no reason to hesitate!

-I do not know what you are worried about, but you do not need to worry. My master does not care about any wicked magic; they respect all of it.

"Oh. Really?"

-Yes. It is not as if you have stolen and possessed the authority of yet another evil god, like the one you showed us earlier.

"..."

Not to mention Sadiq's Flame, Nevuchadnezzar's Curse was also, technically speaking, a stolen authority. After all, Nevuchadnezzar was practically a demigod.

And now that he thought about it, his ice magic originated from Ice Duke Furneus of the Demon Realm...

-...No way...

As Tae-hyun hesitated to answer, the Slime muttered in a horrified voice. Surely he wasn't some kind of evil god authority collector? No way, right?

"It's not like I gathered them because I wanted to."

-Show us anyway, please.

Tae-hyun sighed and revealed his magic.

. . .

-......

-......

The Slime and the spirit stared at Tae-hyun in silence. Though they didn't speak, it was painfully obvious what they were thinking.

-At this point, didn't you gather them because you wanted to?

"I told you, no. I was forced to obtain them."

-Ah. Since you have to lead a cult, is that your official public stance?

"...I said no!"

Meanwhile, the Imperial Elemental Spirit composed itself amidst the confusion and gestured.

Currently, Tae-hyun's status was that Nevuchadnezzar's Curse had sealed all of his original magic. The wicked curse of Nevuchadnezzar made it absolutely impossible to use any other magic, forcing him to only use Nevuchadnezzar's Curse!

Of course, Tae-hyun had countered this by not using magic at all and relying on other skills, or by using even more wicked magic that even Nevuchadnezzar's Curse couldn't do anything about. Even Nevuchadnezzar wouldn't have known. He could never have guessed that someone would exploit such a loophole!

"How can I restore it?"

Flash!

Before he could even finish speaking, a scarecrow materialized in front of the spirit. Seeing this, Tae-hyun nodded.

"Ah. So I have to hit this scarecrow with magic until my magic is restored."

The scarecrow—a staple of training grounds. How many players had beaten these scarecrows to a pulp just to test their newly learned skills?

-Pardon? No. What kind of barbaric nonsense is that?

"...It's not?"

"..." Still, wasn't it a pretty decent way to train?

Thwack!

The scarecrow struck Tae-hyun's body and snatched away Nevuchadnezzar's Curse.

Rumble!

In an instant, the scarecrow dyed pitch-black, and a wicked energy began to overflow from it as if running wild.

-It seems you truly have obtained... no, stolen the authority of an evil god, Master.

The spirit nodded in agreement with the Slime's words. How on earth had he been walking around with such a dreadful thing inside his body?

Whoosh!

The room the spirit guided him to was a chamber of flames, with fire blazing in every direction.

"What am I supposed to do here?"

-You simply need to feel and absorb the overflowing power of fire within this room. What you obtain will differ depending on how you absorb it.

As the Slime spoke, a quest window popped up.

Oh...!

Tae-hyun happily began to prepare. This was an incredible opportunity.

A chance to learn fire magic skills for free!

Knowing how much effort it usually took to learn even a single magic skill, a quest like this was absolute gold.

Moreover, the reward wasn't just any ordinary magic. It was magic from the era of the Ancient Empire! Magic skills with "Ancient Empire" prefixed to their names were typically far more powerful and broken.

Living a good life really does bring opportunities like this.

Roar!

With those words, the quest began. Waves of fire surged from the walls on all sides, and fire elementals poured down from above.

How should I handle this to get the highest evaluation?

Tae-hyun tried to grasp the intent of this trial. Since it was a quest, there had to be specific conditions to secure a better reward.

Obviously, I need to survive as long as possible, but it'd probably be best to fight back using magic skills, right?

"...Huh?"

Tae-hyun was dumbfounded. Before he could even do anything, his existing skills, titles, and achievements had already granted him perfect fire resistance.

Starting from his blacksmithing background all the way to Sadiq's Authority, fire resistance was by far the strongest of Tae-hyun's elemental resistances. Furthermore, using an authority like Sadiq's Flame allowed him to absorb fire and restore his HP...

"No!!!!"

Tae-hyun let out a heartfelt scream for the first time in a long while.

"No, you bastards! Redo! Redo!"

Tae-hyun was usually the type to calmly accept even the trashiest of skills or classes, thinking, 'Hmm, others might not use it, but maybe there's some potential here.' But Sadiq's Flame Magic was crossing the line!

"There must be all kinds of fire magic in the Empire, so why on earth did it have to be Sadiq's Fire Magic?!"

Even when Nevuchadnezzar's Curse had absorbed all of his existing magic, Tae-hyun hadn't been particularly sad about losing Sadiq's Flame. But to give it right back to him!

Despite Tae-hyun's protests, the elementals that had emerged for the trial simply swarmed back into the walls.

Once the trial concluded, the Slime emerged and spoke in a puzzled tone.

-Did you choose Sadiq's Fire Magic? As expected...

The Slime stared at him with eyes that clearly said, 'I knew it! You didn't obtain it by force; you stole it because you liked it!'

Tae-hyun glared back at the Slime with pure fury. Sensing the ominous atmosphere, the Slime quickly averted its gaze.

"Let me take the trial again."

-That is impossible. Once this trial is over, it cannot be opened again for a while.

"Ugh..."

The Slime offered some words of comfort to soothe him.

-Isn't Sadiq's Fire Magic a good spell? It has the Holy attribute, and it is great for fighting the undead...

"I don't feel very good about it."

-Indeed, since it is magic wielded by the followers of an evil god, I can understand your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feelings. It is a wicked power, after all.

"...Let's just move on to the next trial."

Tae-hyun resolved that he would absolutely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠come out of the next trial with something proper.

The Trial of Cold, is it?

This was actually a relief. After fire, ice was the element Tae-hyun was best suited to handle. For starters, possessing Sadiq's fire authority made him highly resistant to cold, and above all, he possessed Furneus's Ice Magic. A decent level of resistance was already guaranteed.

But Furneus's Ice Magic is a trash skill that damages me every time I use it...

Tae-hyun wanted to take this opportunity to acquire a usable ice spell. Although Furneus's Ice Magic possessed devastating destructive power, perhaps because it was originally a spell from a Demon Duke's castle, it injured the user with every cast.

Manobela's Cold Magic or Drenden's Ice Magic seemed pretty good.

Tae-hyun recalled the spells used by high-ranking mages he had seen on the community boards. He tried to act nonchalant, but he couldn't hide his lingering regret. I want to use some proper magic too!

Manobela's Cold Magic was a spell that ice mages unanimously recommended. It was stable, and all the skills one could learn from it were highly practical. Drenden's Ice Magic was slightly unstable and had a failure rate, but it featured many skills with devastating power, making it a popular choice even among ice mages belonging to the Archisus Cult...

Both spells were created by mages from the Ancient Empire. In that case, there might be original versions dating back to that era.

Original versions like Ancient Imperial Manobela's Cold Magic or Ancient Imperial Drenden's Ice Magic! If only he could find such superior versions...!

I could just keep using that forever.

Whoosh!

In stark contrast to before, a massive wave of cold and frost began to rage. Along with a blizzard heavy enough to obscure his vision, ice elementals materialized all over the place. Hiding amidst the snow, the ice elementals began hurling sharp shards of ice.

Hmm. Resisting with fire... No, wait. I shouldn't use Sadiq's Fire Magic.

Tae-hyun had not forgotten his bitter experience from just moments ago. There was no telling what would happen if he used Sadiq's Fire Magic here.

If he ended up with something like "Ice Magic Detested by Sadiq," Tae-hyun had no idea what kind of disaster he might unleash.

Let's survive using raw control.

Tae-hyun drew his sword. He intended to endure as much as possible without relying on skills.

Clang, clang, clang!

Deflecting the incoming ice shards as best as he could, Tae-hyun dashed around nimbly. The elementals' attacks grew increasingly complex.

Crack!

They exhaled blasts of frost powerful enough to freeze the entire area where Tae-hyun stood, and they conjured pillars of ice from the ground to block his path. Tae-hyun anticipated these attacks, dodging or parrying them to survive. For ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠attacks that were too dense to completely evade, he relied on his luck to pull through.

I think I'm doing pretty well, actually.

Tae-hyun thought to himself as he leaped and dashed about. The ice elementals seemed impressed by his performance, nodding their heads in approval. It was a very good sign.

"..."

...It seems I really have no talent for magic...

Tae-hyun clicked his tongue. Judging by how things were going, he couldn't expect any better results from the other trials. If he avoided Archisus, it was Sadiq; if he avoided Sadiq, it would be something else... Would he end up with Carbanog's magic next?

Was it a mistake to steal the authorities of other gods? Was it a mistake to change classes to the Avatar of Archisus? Should I have just stuck to being a blacksmith instead of acting cocky and refusing to class change?

Tae-hyun began to seriously review his actions in Pan-On 2. Where did I go wrong?

Crash! Boom! Crash!

"???"

Hearing the sound of something shattering and breaking outside, Tae-hyun turned his head.

"What's going on?"

-It is nothing. Let us proceed to the next trial!