Grow Until You Can Hold It
"Follow me."
That was all Garen said before he turned on his heel.
I swallowed a short breath and fell in behind him.
My body felt foreign. No — foreign, and yet so good it was almost absurd.
Even the way my feet met the ground had changed. Ever since the Celestial Core formed, nothing about me was the same. This was no longer yesterday's ordinary body. Every breath came sharp and clear, and with every step something inside me turned in quiet, steady rotation.
There had been days, back when I was just a normal guy, when I felt at my absolute best — after a full night's sleep, meals on time, head crystal clear. This wasn't that. This was beyond it. My whole body felt switched on, every sense awake and humming.
Both of them worked.
Aura. Magic.
It felt insanely good.
But another feeling settled quietly over the rush.
The situation had gotten bigger.
Garen had never said anything was wrong. Not to my face, at least. The look on him in the training yard, the way his eyes had measured my power, the voice that had driven nails into the air in front of everyone — all of it was still vivid.
And only now was the weight of it starting to land.
The moment we stepped into the guild hall, the air around the reception desk had gone strangely still. I couldn't tell who had heard what, or how far the news had already traveled, but the mood from the training yard had clearly reached inside.
A few glances swung our way. Garen ignored every one of them and kept walking. I followed without a word.
Even climbing the stairs, the sensation held. Each step under my soles was distinct. The Celestial Core, the Aura, the circle — all of them turning in silence. Being alive had never felt this sharp.
That was all it was.
We passed the corridor behind the reception desk and were heading for a staircase I hadn't seen before when the sound came down from above.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Heavy, measured, the sound of metal striking floor. Someone was coming down the stairs.
Deeply tanned skin. Short brown hair shot through with threads of white. Mid-forties, give or take. There was a smile on his face, and a few scars — thin ones, thick ones — marked his neck and arms.
He wasn't oversized. He was solid. With every step, his left leg carried the dull, distinctive thud of a magic prosthetic.
My first thought was simple.
Looks like he can use a sword.
But his eyes were different. The kind that sized people up — without ever sharpening into a blade.
He rested a hand on the banister and looked down at us.
"Guildmaster Garen, scaring the life out of people first thing in the morning is a bit of a problem for me as chief."
The tone was light, the face sly. Then his gaze found me.
"Oh!"
The corner of his mouth climbed higher.
"So you're that Baek Siyun character I've been hearing about."
He came down the stairs at an easy pace.
"Heard the name a few times. First time seeing the face, though. Handsomer than I expected."
I snorted a laugh.
"I figured a guild chief would be a bit more stiff. You're surprisingly cool, sir."
He chuckled once.
"I like you. Sharp tongue, too."
Thud — the prosthetic rang against the floor as he stopped in front of me. Up close he looked even more like a good-natured neighborhood uncle — the kind of face that would turn into something else entirely the moment the smile came off.
"Kedrick Drape. Chief of the Broesen Guild."
"Baek Siyun."
"I know. Hottest name in Broesen these days."
He smiled again, then looked at Garen. For a brief instant his expression shifted — the humor didn't vanish completely, but the face of a guild chief settled into place.
Garen spoke shortly.
"As of today, this one is officially registered."
Kedrick listened without interrupting.
"Starting rank: Silver."
Another short silence. Kedrick nodded.
"Very well."
That single answer carried more weight than it should have.
No one said anything more. We went into the office at the end of the upper corridor. Kedrick sorted a few papers on the desk with quick hands, then brought out an ink bottle and the registration ledger.
"Name."
"Baek Siyun."
"Place of origin?"
"…"
I hesitated for half a second, and Garen cut in for me.
"Outsider."
Kedrick wrote it down at once.
"Good. Free adventurer of outside origin. Current registration: Broesen Pioneer Village."
He turned a page and added,
"Affiliation: Broesen Guild. Sponsorship under Garen's name and mine, jointly."
The scratch of the quill across paper went on in the quiet.
It felt strange. Moments ago an impossible force had torn free inside me in the middle of the training yard. Now my name and rank were being written into a ledger.
Outsider. Free adventurer. Broesen Guild. Silver Rank.
The reality of it hit all at once.
Kedrick closed the book.
"Done. From this moment, you're officially Broesen Guild."
He narrowed his eyes and added,
"Starting at Silver… looks like you kicked up one hell of a mess this morning."
"I am a bit of a standout, yeah."
"Good. A face that knows it — I like that even better."
Kedrick snorted a laugh. Garen didn't even glance his way.
"Baek Siyun."
"Yes, sir."
"Do not leave Broesen."
I straightened.
"Don't flaunt your power, and don't shrink from it either. From now on, there is only one thing you need to do."
Garen's eyes were sharper than they had been that morning.
"Grow it."
Two short words, and they drove deeper than anything else.
"What you've gained — grow it until your body can hold it."
"…Yes, sir."
"Don't rush. But don't stop, either."
The moment the words left him, Garen jerked his chin toward the door.
"We're going down."
When we reached the lower floor, Roy's party and Luce were gathered at the end of the corridor. Their faces were harder than before. They had been waiting for me.
Garen stopped in front of them.
"Roy."
Roy snapped upright at once.
"Yes, sir."
"You take the Aura. Teach him properly."
Roy's eyes flickered. Surprise, but no retreat.
"…Understood."
Garen looked straight at Mari.
"Magic is yours."
Mari's eyes went wide.
"Hold on. Why me—"
"In Broesen, you're the one who can read him the fastest."
Mari shut her mouth. She looked annoyed, but she didn't push the argument through.
"…Fine."
I listened to all of it. The second Garen said that to Mari, something clicked into place. He still couldn't define my power — and yet he had already chosen the people who could read it soonest. How large I sat inside that judgment only hit me then.
Garen left it there.
"Neither of you starts with the power. Look at the structure first. Anything wrong, you stop him immediately."
Roy and Mari nodded together.
Kaya was watching me. Luce's eyes moved between my face and my fingertips. Both of them looked full of questions they couldn't voice yet.
Garen flicked a glance at Kedrick.
"A moment."
Kedrick followed without a word. The two of them stepped farther down the corridor — not far enough that nothing carried, not close enough to eavesdrop openly. I didn't turn my head. A few words still reached me.
"—I'm going to the front."
Garen's voice. Short. No hesitation in it.
"I need to see Lady Aileen."
In that instant, every trace of humor vanished from Kedrick's face. His shoulders locked, just slightly — as if a chill had run through him.
"…That serious?"
"…It may be more than that."
Silence.
Kedrick answered low.
"Understood."
I couldn't move until the exchange was over.
Aileen. The front lines. Something big enough that Garen himself would go.
And the reason was me.
They came back quickly. Garen didn't delay any further. He looked once at me, then once each at Roy, Mari, Kaya, and Luce, and said,
"Hold on."
It was ambiguous who he meant — but I knew, by instinct, that the words were for me.
Garen looked at me again.
"Stay alive."
Heavier than expected. Not a casual goodbye.
"Grow your strength."
I nodded instead of answering. My throat had gone tight.
Garen left it there. He turned without lingering. Watching his back recede was when it finally sank in.
He was really leaving.
The man who had just been talking Aura in front of me was heading for the front lines.
Because of me.
Even after Garen was gone, no one spoke for a while.
Roy was the first to let out a breath.
"…Explanations later."
He came over to me.
"For now… you good? Body-wise?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Really?"
"Really, hyung."
Kaya stepped half a pace closer.
"Dizzy? Nauseous?"
"No. Nothing."
"Hands shaking?"
"Nope."
Luce finally asked, soft.
"You're really not hurt?"
I looked at her and gave a small laugh.
"I'm fine. Honestly, I feel like I could take off and fly."
Mari still had her brow furrowed tight.
"No, 'fine' is the weird part. How did you even use Aura and magic at the same time?"
I thought about it for a second. Honestly, there was nothing I could explain.
What, do I say the Dimensional Archive suddenly redlined and spun up this weird thing called a Celestial Core and now I can use both? Yeah, right…
"…I don't really know either. It just… worked."
"'It just worked'? That's your explanation?"
"If I had one, I wouldn't be saying it just worked."
Mari's face twisted further — less anger than the irritation of her brain refusing to keep up with the facts.
Roy cut in from the middle.
"Enough for now."
Every gaze swung to him.
"Even if we don't understand Siyun's power, nothing about that changes. His body's fine. Garen's gone."
He tapped my chest with the back of his knuckles.
"Whatever Siyun throws around, the monsters aren't going to politely vanish on their own."
A dry laugh slipped out of me.
"Ha. Fair point."
Roy nodded.
"Either way, we've got one job… we take requests."
Mari let out a long sigh.
"Amazing that you can say that right now."
"What else is there?"
Kaya was still watching me. Luce scanned my face in silence. Both of them looked a little more at ease, at least.
Clap!
Kedrick slapped his hands together behind us.
"All right, mood reset. I get that your brains are lagging, but the guild still has to run today~"
Then he squinted at me.
"And you, Mister Silver Rank — don't go wild just because you got a power-up."
"Wow. Working me this hard on registration day?"
"Come on, don't be like that. That's just how guilds are."
I snorted a laugh.
The weight that had been turning me inside out a moment ago settled a little closer to solid ground. It didn't fully sink, though.
Garen had left. To the front. Because of me.
I still didn't know what my power was. Neither did he.
And I couldn't leave Broesen.
Those three things were still hanging there. One joke from Kedrick wasn't going to clear them.
My fingertips tingled, faintly. I looked down without thinking.
Across the tips of my fingers, something grey brushed past — thin, brief — and was gone.
My breath nearly stopped.
No one else seemed to have seen it.
I closed my hand slowly.
…So what the hell is a Celestial Core, then.
That was the only thought left as Broesen's morning began to roll forward, as if nothing at all had happened.