Gotta Keep Fighting (2)

"Is it really alright for me to take this?"

I asked, pointing at the elixir pill.

"I brought a few to hand out anyway," Yu Yul replied dismissively. "Consider it a reward for a diligent spellcaster who studies while everyone else is playing."

She spoke as if it were nothing, but I was deeply conflicted.

Does she seriously not know the value of this elixir pill?

Actually, that was entirely possible. She might have picked it up as loot in a labyrinth and, having not appraised it yet, decided to get rid of it like leftover trash.

The MoMo system was—at least for now—my exclusive privilege. The same went for item appraisal.

If so, just how much was I going to have to compromise my conscience here?

"Back to the main point. Whether innate or acquired, an attribute ultimately comes down to your circuits. If you don't have enough circuits, an attribute won't form."

"...Circuits, you say?"

Meanwhile, Yu Yul seamlessly resumed her lesson.

"Yes. In that regard, your circuits are..."

She ran her stubby fingers up from my wrist to my shoulder.

"Not bad. You have more than enough talent to manifest your attribute. Though you'll have to figure out what that attribute actually is on your own."

"...Is that so?"

I unconsciously straightened my posture. My mind was still entirely occupied by the dilemma of the elixir pill.

"Just don't obsess over the number of circuits."

"...The number?"

Saliva kept pooling in my mouth.

Should I confess, or should I keep quiet about the fact that this elixir pill she had so carelessly handed me was a rare-grade item easily worth tens of millions of won?

"Every now and then, you see idiots who open up circuits all over their bodies like a spiderweb."

"...A spiderweb?"

"I'm telling you not to end up like them."

"...Like them?"

"What?"

"Ah, nothing."

I snapped myself out of it.

Let's think about the elixir pill later. Much later. It'd be even better if we just keep talking and I forget to ever bring it up.

"Those people chose the easy way out."

"Pardon? Isn't it harder the more circuits you have?"

The common sense of this world dictated that having more circuits meant being a higher-grade spellcaster. It was like saying more muscle mass allowed you to lift heavier weights.

"That's a misconception many people share."

Yu Yul shook her head.

"Refining a single core circuit is far more difficult and infinitely more efficient than opening up dozens of minor ones. Think about it. If having mana circuits draped all over your body like a spiderweb were truly more efficient, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then this world would only have local backroads instead of highways."

"...Ah."

It was an analogy that clicked instantly.

"In the end, humanity invented the highway."

I nodded blankly. For a split second, she sounded like a star academy instructor.

"Then... how do I go about refinement?"

"First, try Mana Breathing."

"Mana Breathing..."

"Yes. Give it a try."

The star instructor stared at me expectantly, but all I could do was blink in return.

Because I had absolutely no idea how.

Mana Breathing was a technique to absorb environmental mana, but I had lived a life that was light-years away from such delicate arts.

"Why aren't you doing it?"

She tilted her head. I made my confession with a sheepish look.

"I don't know how."

"...You don't know?"

Yu Yul's brow furrowed.

"Cut the crap. Then how did you open your circuits in the first place?"

"I just..."

"Just?"

"I just tried, and it worked."

At that, Yu Yul stared at me. To be precise, her eyes swept over the circuits in my left and right arms.

"And yet you managed to open your circuits like this?"

"...Yes."

"How many months has it been?"

How many months? The intensity in her eyes as she asked about the timeframe was dead serious. I felt like saying "one month" would be a very bad idea.

"About... three and a half? Maybe four months."

It was at that moment.

I had leveled up out of nowhere.

I was dragged out of the library. The place Yu Yul led me to was a lush, dense forest. The air was so crisp and clean that merely breathing felt like it was purifying my lungs.

I sat down on the grassy ground.

"First, concentrate your mana in your airway."

Yu Yul sat on a large boulder opposite me, using it as a makeshift chair.

"My airway?"

"Yes. Your internal mana will hold onto the environmental mana. If you concentrate your mana in your bronchial tubes, the mana you inhale will linger inside your body."

"Ah. In that case, do the lungs not matter? They seem like they'd be more important."

"..."

A tiny vein throbbed on Yu Yul's temple.

"If you don't know, don't ask. Just accept it as fact."

"Yes, ma'am."

That actually made things easier. Obeying orders and repeating commands was my specialty, after all.

I moved the mana inside my body and focused it on my airway. Naturally, my Cognitive Image played a role in this process as well.

"Mana Breathing is easier the better you understand the human body," Yu Yul noted.

Yu Yul pointed out that exact detail.

Mana was guided by one's Cognitive Image—ultimately, a force moved by imagination. Therefore, the more concrete the visualization, the more effective it was, and visualization was built on the foundation of background knowledge.

"Yes. I know it very well."

The airway is divided into the upper and lower respiratory tracts. The upper tract includes the nose, nasal cavity, pharynx, and larynx, while the lower tract consists of the trachea and bronchial tubes.

I had even seen their exact anatomical structures firsthand—thanks to a lunatic villain who had a habit of creating and displaying actual human anatomical models.

"...Done."

I extended my mana circuits and condensed my mana throughout my entire airway.

"Now, take a deep breath."

Holding that state, I took a deep, long breath.

"As everyone knows, mana exists in the atmosphere."

Thus, when we inhale, we naturally draw mana into our bodies.

"However, most of that mana escapes the moment you exhale. That's why you concentrate your own mana throughout your airway—to seize the environmental mana and prevent it from escaping."

I gripped it tight. And held my breath.

Before long, a stinging sensation flared up around my throat.

"If you hold your breath and feel any kind of discomfort, you've succeeded."

Which meant I had succeeded.

Yu Yul continued.

"Organs like the lungs have nothing to do with it. The goal is simply to increase the amount of mana entering your body and prolong its stay. Once it's trapped, your circuits will automatically convert that raw mana into your own personal mana."

The moment I inhaled, I seized the incoming mana with the mana concentrated in my bronchial tubes. By maintaining that hold and keeping my breath locked, my mana circuits naturally dissolved the raw mana, refining it into my own power.

"Phew."

Had I held it for about a minute? I exhaled heavily.

"Haa... whew..."

"A minute. That's quite long for a first try. Have you practiced holding your breath before?"

I gasped out an answer.

"...Ten minutes. Underwater."

Despite my lack of talent, I had undergone mana training during my military days.

"Haah... haah..."

"Mana Breathing is fundamentally exhausting. It doesn't just require talent in magic; it demands physical strength, muscle endurance, and stamina. There's a reason mages are all-rounders."

I collapsed, my face practically pressed against the dirt.

I had only held it for a single minute, but I felt like I had genuinely stared death in the face.

"Lift your head."

Despite her cute, friendly appearance, Mentor Yu Yul was incredibly cold and strict.

"...Yes, ma'am."

I pushed my upper body off the ground.

Yu Yul narrowed her eyes at me. She tried to cross her legs but failed. Her stubby, drumstick-like legs wouldn't quite—no, let's not go there.

"You're doing well. The mana is clinging nicely to your airway."

"You can see that?"

"Yes. But you've wasted too much time on pointless detours. You should have come to me from the very beginning."

I understood what she meant, but her premise was flawed. If I hadn't been a soldier, I would never have acquired the MoMo system in the first place.

"Keep practicing. For now, Mana Breathing is your top priority. Master just that by next week."

"...Will you teach me next week as well?"

I felt incredibly shameless even asking. Here I was, basically freeloading a priceless elixir pill, and yet I was already begging for more lessons.

"That depends on your progress."

With those parting words, Yu Yul departed.

Left alone in the forest, I gently massaged my throat. It stung and ached quite a bit, but the thrill of learning far outweighed the pain.

"...She's a good person."

A faint smile played on my lips.

Of course, there was still one glaring anomaly: the faint trace of ghost energy lingering around her.

I couldn't tell if it was the scent of her mana or something else. An inexplicable current brushed against my skin, sending a faint, tingling shiver down my spine.

Am I just too sensitive because I'm so emaciated?

"Hmm."

I pulled out my smartphone and searched the web for the name "Yu Yul."

Her career wasn't particularly long. There were only a few articles detailing how she had cleared certain labyrinths with "overwhelming" skill, and even one about her clearing a medium-scale labyrinth entirely on her own.

She definitely possessed the strength to be considered a high-ranker.

"...She doesn't even have a User Wiki page."

Almost every domestic ranker, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even the lower-tier ones, had a dedicated User Wiki page. Yet, searching for Yu Yul yielded exactly zero results.

How strange.

"..."

From there, I fell down an internet rabbit hole.

I drifted from Yu Yul to the Titanic, then to unsolved murder mysteries. After about twenty minutes of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠aimless browsing, I suddenly found myself searching for "Tae Hyeok."

There was no particular reason—that was just how wikis worked. You start reading one thing, and before you know it, you've clicked through to something completely unrelated.

As I skimmed through Tae Hyeok's page, a name suddenly leaped out at me.

"...Tae Yul."

Tae Yul. The name instantly made me think of Yu Yul.

Yu Yul. Tae Yul. Yu Yul. Tae Yul.

"No way."

I let out a soft chuckle.

"..."

But just in case, I typed "Tae Yul" into the search bar.

I scrolled past the details of the prodigy's life until my eyes landed on the "Trivia" section.

A hobby of hiding her identity.

A sudden chill ran down my spine. The two names echoed in my mind once more.

Yu Yul.

Tae Yul.

"No way..."

Letting out a hollow laugh, I pulled the elixir pill from my pocket. It was wrapped in gold foil, looking much like a traditional herbal pill. I slowly peeled back the foil.

Engraved faintly on the surface of the pill was a single Chinese character, stamped like a seal.

[ 太 ]

The character for "Tae."

My expression froze. A sharp jolt shot through my brain, as if someone had driven a needle straight into my skull.

"...No, there's no way."

It can't be.

Even as I muttered the denial, confirmation bias was already taking root in a corner of my mind.

That sudden, out-of-nowhere level up.

That might have been the ultimate proof.

If Yu Yul really was Tae Yul, and if I had somehow managed to leave a deep impression on her...

Late at night, in a five-star hotel suite overlooking the Han River, a woman was lost in deep thought. Her plump, round body gradually thinned out, and her short, stubby limbs stretched elegantly.

Her Polymorph spell had been deactivated.

"..."

Without a word, she poured herself a glass of red wine. Yet, her hands did not move, and there was no physical glass to speak of. The wine simply gathered and suspended itself in midair.

Taking a sip of the floating liquid, she sat back on the sofa and picked up her smartphone.

Tae-woo's feed occupied the very top of her homepage. She bit her lip.

"...How disgusting."

Though they loathed each other to the point of grinding their teeth and would gladly murder one another given the chance, they still followed each other. It was purely for the sake of public relations.

If either of them dared to unfollow the other, the media would blow it up as if a war had just been declared.

She hated Tae-woo. She hated him to death. Because he smoked, she had quit smoking entirely. She didn't even want to share his hair color, which was why she had deliberately dyed hers blue.

Tossing her phone aside, she swung her legs and turned on the television, playing the level test footage from the current season of Labyrinth Exploration NaN.

She was a massive fan of the Labyrinth Exploration NaN series. Perhaps "fan" was an understatement; she had a prior record of receiving an official warning from the South Korean government after attempting identity theft and database manipulation just to secure extra accounts for text voting.

Because of that, she had decided to watch this season from a much closer vantage point.

"Kang Hyun."

For now, her number one pick was Kang Hyun.

He was a flawless warrior in every aspect, and both his face and demeanor were entirely to her liking.

Her second pick was Lee Jun-ho. Her third was Ryu Yeon-hwa.

They were all individuals with exceptionally striking looks, yet she vehemently denied being a sucker for pretty faces.

After all, true beauty only existed when appearance and skill were in perfect harmony.

And yet.

"..."

She narrowed her eyes. Resting her chin in her hand, she stared at the spellcaster on the screen.

Seol Ha-woon.

The spellcaster who had passed the level test without taking a single hit or triggering a single trap.

The final trick, in particular, was something even most active-duty veterans would have struggled to avoid.

"His age is a bit of a flaw."

He was too old.

At twenty-seven, he might make a decent spellcaster, but it was far too late for him to become a true mage. A mage's potential was decided in their early to mid-teens, or at the absolute latest, their early twenties.

Still, achieving this level of proficiency in just four months pointed to remarkable talent.

His looks fell short compared to her other picks, but he was a rough diamond—already chipped, worn, and battered in several places. A soldier who limped, harboring countless secrets. That kind of uniqueness was hard to come by.

"I'll make you my fourth pick."

Tae Yul smirked, taking a deep sip of her floating red wine.