Engraved in Silver

“Good.”

Roy let out a short breath.

“We keep clearing the Blackfang Wolves. Confirmation’s always fastest in a real fight anyway.”

At that, the murmur inside the guild settled just a little.

Luce cast a single glance my way, then went straight back to the reception desk. Turning pages in the ledger, sorting papers, taking another adventurer’s request — her hands never faltered for a second.

Before my eyes could linger there any longer, I looked ahead.

Kedrick walked up to the counter.

“Maella.”

From further back, Maella looked up from the ledger she was organizing.

“Yes.”

“I put Baek Siyun’s file through. Formal registration and Silver Rank processing are done — handle the rest.”

Maella’s hands paused for the briefest moment.

“……Starting from Silver Rank.”

That was all she said. The next instant, her usual expression returned and she pulled the ledger toward her.

“Understood.”

The adventurers near the desk stirred again.

“He actually put it through.”

“Whoa, straight to Silver?”

“Well, after seeing that, it’s not really strange.”

“Garen trained him personally. That says everything.”

Roy glanced at me and gave a short smile.

“You’re officially registered now. Congrats, Siyun.”

Mari clicked her tongue, brow furrowed.

“I get it, but… it’s still kind of annoying.”

Kaya checked my fingertips first.

“I’m glad. You didn’t get hurt anywhere.”

Luce spoke in the same polite register as always.

“Siyun-ssi. I’ll assist with the registration right away.”

“Yes.”

Looking at Luce’s face, a small smile slipped out of me.

It was finally sinking in.

Silver Rank.

Just hearing it sounded impressive. I was still a little dazed, but it felt good.

Kedrick set a small metal plate on the counter.

It was a shield-shaped seal plate, about half the size of a palm. The Bresen Guild crest was raised along the top; the lower half was smoothly blank. A thin silver line slept along the rim, as if it had not yet woken.

When Maella reached for the metal frame and the mana-engraving pen from behind the desk, Kedrick raised a hand.

“Leave that.”

“Sir?”

“I’ll handle the special processing.”

At that single line, Maella asked nothing more and withdrew her hands. That brief ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exchange alone showed how long they had worked together — the clean, spare understanding of people who had matched their pace for years.

Kedrick picked up the mana-engraving pen, then looked at me.

“Usually I do this.”

One corner of his mouth lifted.

“Want to try?”

“What? Me?”

“It’s your name going on it. Not much point letting someone else do all the work.”

“Yeah… fair enough.”

I hesitated a beat, then took the pen. The grip was colder than I expected.

Maella slid the seal plate in front of me.

“Take your time. There’s no need to rush.”

“Yes.”

I steadied my breath and set the tip down.

Writing it in Korean would look ridiculous here, so… in their script…

It still wasn’t familiar, but my hand moved first now.

Baek. Si. Yun.

The sensation of scoring metal was strangely vivid.

I hadn’t pressed hard, and the lines still didn’t waver. Moments like this made it clear how much the feel at my fingertips had changed since Heavenly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Heart formed.

When I finished the name and lifted my hand, Kedrick snorted a quiet laugh.

“Not bad.”

He set the seal plate on his open palm.

There was no chant. The air simply tightened, thin and brief.

My skin felt it before my eyes did.

For that short instant, the air inside the guild seemed to fold in on itself, clean and precise.

Then a silver line ran once around the seal’s rim. Light traced the grooves of the name and sank into the metal. The crest slowly drank the glow.

It didn’t flash so much as wake — carefully, exactly.

It was short.

But in that short moment, I understood a little of why this man was the head of the Bresen Guild.

“……Kedrick-ssi, you were a mage?”

He narrowed his eyes.

“What, you thought I was a swordsman?”

“At first I did. But then your eyes didn’t quite match a pure swordsman’s.”

Kedrick laughed under his breath.

“A lot of people see it that way. Body’s been run like a swordsman’s. Living’s been done with magic.”

“So both, then?”

“Yeah~ Don’t I look like someone you’ve seen around?”

I snorted a laugh at that.

Maella took the seal, checked it once more.

“Confirmed.”

She handed it back to me.

“Yes.”

I took it. Cold, and heavy. Its presence sat solid in my palm.

“Oh……”

A grin escaped before I could stop it.

“It’s cool.”

“We don’t hand these out as a joke.”

Kedrick added, slyly,

“Save the congratulations for later. Silver Rank starts with the work.”

“Got it~”

Roy pulled the Blackfang Wolf request from his coat and laid it on the counter.

“We’re continuing the Blackfang job. Any new tracks turn up?”

Luce took the request and scanned it quickly. She checked the side ledger once, then tapped a point on the open map.

“The trail continues deeper into the forest on the southeastern outskirts.”

“Good.”

Roy stowed the request again.

I bowed my head the way I always did.

“We’ll be off!”

“Yes. Please be careful.”

Nothing had changed in Luce’s voice.

I stepped away without looking back.

I wanted to look at her one more time — and I didn’t.

The moment we left the guild, morning air poured in.

In that brief gap, a blue window slid into the edge of my vision.

My breath caught for a second.

“What.”

Roy, walking ahead, glanced back.

“Ah—no. Just… it’s hitting me.”

“Yeah, it would. Still, don’t drop your guard.”

I nodded and lowered my gaze a little.

I selected [Abilities] at once. The window folded and shifted.

…Core Organ?

An entry I hadn’t seen before. Still, I checked [Passives] first.

It wasn’t only Heavenly Demon Physique that had risen. The others had climbed with it.

So that’s why my whole body felt different.

But my attention kept dragging back to the other tab.

I returned to the ability window and selected [Core Organ].

My steps slowed for a fraction of a second.

Heavenly Heart.

I already knew the name. Seeing it locked into text inside the Dimensional Archive, though, felt different all over again.

And it even carried the Chinese characters with it.

Not a name I’d slapped on myself — as if that was what it had always been meant to be called.

So what the hell is this, really.

The thought had barely crossed my mind when another window layered thinly over the first.

Reading those short lines only made it less clear.

Nonstandard core organ.

Pure mana.

Heterogenous systems.

I understood every word, and somehow I still didn’t understand a thing.

One point, though, was obvious.

This wasn’t some ordinary passive skill.

It was something entirely different that had formed inside me.

Either way, these were the kinds of things you only learned by using them.

I closed the window and lifted my head. We were already stepping into the mouth of the forest.

The mana inside Bresen and the mana in the forest were not the same.

In town, mana was broad and shallow. Worn smooth like stone floors people had walked for years — rounded, abraded, carrying the residue of daily life.

In the forest, mana was cold and dense. A blade that hadn’t been tamed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠yet.

Same mana. Completely different grain.

Since Heavenly Heart formed, that difference read with insane clarity.

“Hold.”

Roy raised a hand.

Ink-black shadows slid through the brush ahead.

One. Two. Three.

A low growl raked across the forest floor.

Blackfang Wolves.

Roy spoke shortly.

“Aura only this time. Load it into the blade.”

I took the sword hilt.

Holding Heavenly Heart in my awareness, I caught the force circulating outside it.

As the blade came halfway free, a thin grey Aura wound along the edge.

The first one lunged.

Fast. They had always been fast. Right now, though, it looked a fraction slower.

I slipped half a step sideways. My feet found the safe line on their own.

The grey-lit edge cut a short, diagonal path.

Ssshk—

A sensation like slicing tofu, and the Blackfang’s neck opened halfway. The blood came late.

The second drove in from the side.

I thrust from below, driving the tip upward.

Thuk!

The blade punched under the jaw and out through the neck bone.

My body felt too light. The sword sat stuck to my hand.

The third one hit the ground and sprang again, and in that instant I almost laughed.

It was too easy.

I turned the blade short and twisted aside.

Grey light flashed at the tip; the beast’s foreleg and chest split open together.

The Blackfang tumbled, raking the dirt.

Roy let out a short breath.

“Nice. Control’s good, and the destructive power’s excellent.”

“Heh—thanks!”

Roy dropped to one knee in front of a corpse and opened the chest with practiced cuts.

Mari took another one beside him, while Kaya spread a thin veil of Holy Power and swept the surroundings.

I set my own blade to work. The moment I focused on Heavenly Heart, the position of the mana stone lit up clear inside my fingertips.

From the opened cavity, a dark mana stone dropped free.

It was genuinely convenient.

Heavenly Heart pinpointed the location; Heavenly Demon Physique made the body follow.

The grey Aura was gone, but the feel of it still clung to my fingertips. I wanted to use more of it.

We picked up the trail again and pushed deeper into the woods.

The next pack didn’t take long to appear.

Mari cut in at once.

“Magic only this time. Structure first — not raw power.”

“Yeah.”

I raised my left hand.

The instant I touched a circle, mana gathered with absurd ease.

Pull, and it filled right away.

As if the forest’s own mana was immediately covering whatever force I meant to spend.

I drew the result first in my head.

An ice spear punching through a Blackfang’s side.

Length, thickness, the angle of the point.

Once the image locked, the mana at my fingertips began condensing into that form.

Cold. Solid.

A single ice spear formed in an instant.

I flicked my fingertips once.

Shwaaak!

The spear tore through the air, punched the Blackfang’s flank, and buried itself deep in the tree behind. The beast died without a sound.

Mari’s eyes went wide.

“…What?”

She looked from me to the fallen wolf and back.

“That wasn’t two-circle output…”

I agreed with her silently.

Gathering speed, density of compression, the force that hit — none of it felt like ordinary two-circle work.

At the same time, two more Blackfangs burst out.

This time I reacted first.

I formed two ice spears in succession.

While the first was still in flight, the second was already crystallizing at my fingertips.

Puk!

Puk!

The first spear drove through one beast’s chest; the second punched the other’s neck from the side.

Both ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠staggered and went down.

Mari’s mouth closed. Roy watched in silence for a moment as well.

Then—

Two more launched at once. One straight ahead; the other cut a long arc through the brush on the right and drove toward Kaya.

Kaya started to pull Holy Power, but the distance and angle were awkward.

No time to think. My body moved on its own.

Grey light burst short from the tip of the blade and crushed a Blackfang’s skull.

At the same time my left hand rose.

Ambient mana clumped in a heartbeat and became an ice spear.

Krajik!

The spear punched clean through the head of the wolf charging Kaya.

In the same motion I twisted my feet further and drove my right hand down.

The ground shuddered; a low, thick stone wall surged up in front of Kaya.

A latecomer slammed into it face-first.

I was already launching forward.

I cut across the nape of the beast reeling off the wall.

Grey light flashed once more, and head and body went separate ways.

Silence.

The forest went quiet for a moment.

I lowered the tip of the sword and caught my breath.

“Kaya.”

She stood beside the stone wall. One foot had slid slightly back. She was still in the half-raised posture of pulling Holy Power.

“You okay?”

Kaya let out a slow breath. A faint tremor showed at her fingertips.

“…Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Not hurt?”

“No.”

This time she looked me over once.

“You?”

“Fine.”

Her gaze swept the wall and the fallen Blackfangs again. She said nothing. Just nodded once and slowly released her Holy Power.

That was heavier, somehow. The face of someone so relieved she couldn’t find words.

Mari muttered low beside us.

“Three at once…”

Just that. Not an evaluation, not praise. Confirmation.

Roy sheathed his sword as he spoke.

“Good.”

He looked at me. Briefly.

“The fight itself is going to change.”

That single line landed with weight.

“We keep clearing Blackfangs — but from now on, this isn’t just a request.”

Mari tossed out,

“It’s adaptation time for your new power.”

“Heh. You’re not wrong.”

I snorted a laugh, and Roy nodded.

“Yeah.”

I slid the sword home slowly. The grey sensation still clung to my fingertips.

It felt good. Ridiculously good.

But I knew at the same time.

Being able to do something and making it truly yours were completely different problems.

I lifted my head and looked deeper into the forest.

Mana was flowing quietly even there. Cold, raw things, pretending to know nothing, just existing.

I wanted to make those mine as well.

The Blackfang Wolf purge wasn’t finished yet.