The Truth Behind the Rumor

Sure, differences in casting speed were one thing, but noticing something like that so casually while everything was moving that fast?

It was a truly terrifying talent.

"Did you just curse me out in your head?"

"N-no."

"That's weird. I had a feeling you did."

Cain quietly pressed a hand to his chest in relief.

Terrifying talent in this area too!

"Hey. Did you just use an Intermediate Barrier?"

"What? Yes! Is that a problem?"

"Not a problem. I'm just asking how you cast an Intermediate Barrier that fast. Do you have some other passive skill or something? Or maybe a buff that speeds up magic casting?"

"I don't have anything like that! Maybe..."

"Maybe?"

"Uh... I think it's because my magic skill is Advanced."

"What?"

For a moment, Tae-hyun thought he'd misheard.

His magic skill was Advanced?

Magic skill.

Just as swordsmen had swordsmanship, spearmen had spearmanship, rogues had dagger skills, and archers had archery, mages had magic skill.

It was the most fundamental skill.

It wasn't flashy like ornate sword arts or active skills, but it was the foundation beneath everything else.

The gap between Beginner and Intermediate was huge, and the gap between Intermediate and Advanced was even more enormous.

People overlook it all the time, but it's the most important skill there is.

Tae-hyun placed tremendous importance on these basic skills.

Strength needed a solid foundation.

You didn't become strong by ignoring the basics and collecting only the flashy-looking skills.

The problem was that these fundamental skills were also the hardest to level up.

Once you reached Intermediate, the speed of growth dropped off a cliff.

In fact, Tae-hyun had fought countless powerful monsters and still his swordsmanship was only Intermediate 4.

The higher it went, the more brutal the climb became. That was the nature of these basic skills.

And yet the idiot standing in front of him had somehow reached Advanced Magic Skill.

"Your magic skill is Advanced?"

"That's ridiculous. Even among the current rankers, only a handful have Advanced Magic Skill."

Even Cain, who had been listening from the side, cut in with visible shock.

There had been a time when Cain himself had aimed for the ranker competition, so he knew a fair bit about other rankers.

"As far as I know, among mage players, none of the top experts have Advanced Magic Skill, and even among near-rankers and rankers there are still mages stuck at Intermediate Magic Skill. And you're telling me you have Advanced Magic Skill? Cut it out with the absur—urk!"

"If anyone's asking questions, it'll be me. Don't butt in."

...

Tae-hyun shoved Cain aside with a kick, then turned back to Jeong Su-hyeok.

He didn't look like he was lying.

Su-hyeok had the kind of face that clearly wasn't built for deception.

The type who was good at lying looked more like Tae-hyun.

"Advanced Magic Skill?"

"Yes... Advanced Magic Skill 3."

"Then what about your other skills? Fire Magic, Ice Magic..."

Under the broad category of magic skill were branches like Fire Magic, Ice Magic, Black Magic, and so on.

So if someone was a fire-specialist mage, normally they'd have a high-level Fire Magic skill from using it often, with their overall Magic Skill slightly lower than that.

Basic skills like Magic Skill leveled more slowly than the specialized branches.

"Uh. They're all Beginner."

"...?"

Tae-hyun was starting to get confused.

No matter how you looked at it, how could his Magic Skill be Advanced while all the lower branch magic skills were still Beginner?

"All your other magic skills are Beginner? You don't even have a specialty?"

"It felt like a waste to choose one... If you specialize, you get penalties when using other kinds of magic."

"Then what the hell did you use to level your Magic Skill? Even without choosing a specialty, if you got Magic Skill all the way to Advanced, you must've cast a ton of magic. If you'd used Fire Arrow that much, your Fire Magic should've hit Intermediate at least."

"I leveled it with non-elemental basic magic."

"..."

Cain's jaw dropped open as he listened.

What the hell kind of creature is this guy?

Non-elemental basic magic.

In other words, simple beginner spells with no specialty attached, like Magic Arrow, the kind aspiring mages used when they were just starting out.

Because those spells weren't tied to any specialization, using them a lot wouldn't raise a branch skill.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

They only raised plain old Magic Skill.

"You do have Fire Magic, right?"

"Yes! I do."

"Then why didn't you use that?"

"When I checked how fast Magic Skill was going up, using basic non-elemental magic seemed to raise it faster than using Fire Magic at my current level. So I just..."

Cain's mouth opened even wider.

Tae-hyun pulled a coin from his pocket and flicked it straight into Cain's open mouth.

Cain immediately started coughing and choking.

"Alright, let's organize this."

- From the start, Jeong Su-hyeok was so unskilled that even though he was a mage, no other party would take him.

- So he spent all day and all night alone in the Magic Tower's practice hall, doing nothing but casting magic.

- And he hadn't chosen a future specialty through some grand plan. He just kept using basic magic because it raised Magic Skill the fastest.

"And that's how you got it to Advanced?"

"Yes."

"Didn't it get boring?"

"I just... treated it like daily practice..."

Pat.

Tae-hyun slapped a hand onto Su-hyeok's shoulder.

"Pass."

"What?"

"I'll allow you to follow me around. Not that I really have anything I can teach you, but if you can learn something on your own, then learn."

"...!"

"If you don't want to follow me, then don't."

"Of course not! I want to follow you!"

Jeong Su-hyeok shouted that with shining eyes.

"Cough—hack!"

Only then did Cain finally manage to spit out the coin.

Another weirdo joined us!

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Tae-hyun felt pleased by the completely unexpected encounter.

Wow. I thought he was just a pathetic idiot, but he's a little more than that... Well, not that that means he isn't still pathetic. He's definitely still pathetic, but there's more to him than I thought.

Of course, that didn't mean his overall evaluation had changed.

This was simply the result of Jeong Su-hyeok's stubborn personality showing through.

Su-hyeok had probably just kept practicing magic alone because nobody would take him into a party, but not everyone could show that kind of persistence.

I like him.

Of course, he wasn't especially useful in the current situation.

He still had a Normal Class, and it didn't look like he'd learned all that much magic either.

On top of that, his crippling problem with actual skill still remained.

But Tae-hyun viewed Jeong Su-hyeok positively.

Sure, the guy lacked a brain in certain areas, but if that part could be handled somehow, he would definitely be able to show something impressive.

With persistence like that, he definitely could.

"Anyway, we've got our own business to deal with first. Pelmas. Ed-an. Do either of you know where the next Authority of Archisus is?"

Pelmas spoke first.

"There are many rumors concerning the Authority of Archisus. The problem is that it's difficult to determine which rumors are real and which aren't."

"Wasn't it the same with the ones we've found so far? What's different now?"

"Well, the Authorities you've obtained so far, Tae-hyun, were relatively close by. Now, if we want to verify any more rumors, we'll have to travel quite far."

"How far?"

"The Auston Kingdom, the Dungland Kingdom, the Espa Kingdom..."

"That's across the sea."

"If it's only those places, we'd be lucky. There could even be one in a forbidden region with no nation at all."

Hearing that, Tae-hyun tipped his head back.

A kingdom was one thing, but those remote no-man's-lands? Going there meant gambling with your life from the moment you arrived.

If he was going, he'd need more levels and a lot more strength first.

"Wait."

A thought struck Tae-hyun.

"Are there any rumors about an Authority in the Uruk Region?"

"Uh... one moment. Yes. There are."

The Uruk Region.

If you went far enough east from Tyrum City in the Salz Kingdom, the place where Tae-hyun had started, that was where you'd find the powerful Orc tribes.

And to Tae-hyun, it carried one more meaning.

The source of a quest.

The eastern Orcs were always divided and fighting one another, but there were certain matters in which they cooperated.

Among them, Great Chieftain Karag was the ruler of the largest Orc tribe—Kazak's father.

The moment he learned his son had died, he would definitely fly into a rage.

Anyone connected to Kazak's death would do well to prepare themselves.

Hmm. If I run into him later, that'll be a headache.

If the Orcs of Uruk came charging in, Tae-hyun could always run. There were kingdoms, castles, fortresses, plenty of places in between.

But what if he went to Uruk and ran into Karag there?

Tae-hyun looked at Cain.

I'll have to offer that one up as a sacrifice.

Shiver!

All of a sudden, Cain felt a chill run down his spine.

Ever since I started hanging around that bastard Kim Tae-hyun, I feel like my constitution's gotten weaker...

Cain grumbled inwardly.

"We'll avoid Uruk. First, we'll get the one that's easiest to reach and has the highest chance of being real. No point going somewhere difficult first and failing—too much of a pain. Pelmas. Try being a little more useful."

"Tae-hyun, the fact that we've gotten even this far is only because it's me. If it had been anyone else—"

"Fufu. Tae-hyun, I have found some information."

"?!"

At Ed-an's words, Pelmas looked visibly startled.

"What are you talking about? You didn't say a word to me."

"Fufu. Pelmas. Naturally, this kind of credit should be taken alone..."

"You one-armed thief bastard!"

"What? You gambling degenerate!"

Like old friends who had never not bickered, the two instantly grabbed each other by the collar.

With a sigh, Tae-hyun seized Pelmas and hurled him backward.

"Gah?!"

"Ed-an. Tell me what you found. And the two of you don't need to fight."

Both of them looked at Tae-hyun.

Was he, as an Incarnation should, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trying to stop the quarrel with saintly generosity?

"Because you're both equally pathetic."

"..."

Of course Tae-hyun wasn't that sort of person.

"Still, I'd rather not see either of you manage to act more pathetic than the other. If you understand, then talk."

"Tae-hyun! Don't trust that bastard! There's no way he found information without me knowing!"

"I got it from the royal palace!"

"More likely you just got your arm cut off there!"

"What? Was that where his arm got cut off?"

"That bastard got caught by Damiano I and lost his arm there!"

Since the current king of the Atali Kingdom was Damiano II, that meant Damiano I had been the previous king.

"It wasn't cut off! I cut it off myself and escaped!"

"That's the same damn thing, you pathetic thief!"

"I told you, I'm a Great Thief!"

Bang!

Tae-hyun slammed the floor hard with the sheath of his longsword.

Then, in a voice brimming with killing intent, he said:

...

The effect was so good the message windows popped up immediately.

The two men shrank back in fear and watched Tae-hyun carefully.

Tae-hyun beckoned to Ed-an.

"So what information did you get?"

"I reached the royal palace before you did, didn't I? I searched around first—not for the location of the Authority, but for places where there might be other old documents. Quite different from that incompetent gambling wreck over there, wouldn't you say? Fufu."

Grit!

"Anyway, what is this information? I found information saying there is an Authority of Archisus in a southern-region dungeon of the Erangs Kingdom."

"There is? You're sure it's really there?"

"Uh... there... might... be..."

Archisus was the name of a forgotten god.

And forgotten gods on the continent always came with countless rumors and just as many piles of nonsense.

"What kind of bullshit is this?" Tae-hyun muttered in disbelief.