Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Lightning Victory
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I took a deep breath and injected mana into the 'Legacy of the Formless Spirit'.
Wooong...
At the same time, small sparks began dancing atop the magic sphere in my hand.
Pajik. Pajijik...
The neutral sphere gradually took on a blue glow as it filled with lightning attribute.
My palm stung now and then, but after a few practice runs, it was far more bearable than before.
"Keuuk! What the...? Lightning attribute?"
Even as the demon writhed on the ground in agony, it spotted my magic sphere and wore a shocked expression.
That was when it happened. The lightning sphere erupted violently just like last time, searing my palm hard.
"Kuuk!"
I clenched my teeth and flinched.
The demon must have taken that as its chance. It lurched forward with its tattered body, trying to attack me.
Right as its fist was about to slam into my stomach...
I unleashed the spell.
Pajijijik!
Kwaaang!
[You have won the fight against the target!]
[Victory Herald effect grants the trait 'Light Step'.]
[Achieved 'Killed with Lightning Attribute' milestone.]
[Reward: 3,000 points acquired.]
[Lightning attribute proficiency has increased.]
['Blessing of Great Nature' effect grants additional lightning attribute proficiency.]
[Trait 'Lightning Attribute Control Technique' has been added.]
[Single-handedly subjugated B-Rank villain 'Yi-jong'.]
[Karma has increased by 0.3.]
Countless messages floated before my eyes.
It was my first time fighting with lightning attribute, so I even scored bonus points.
"Ah. Stings."
I shook out my reddened hand.
A quick glance at the demon's corpse showed electricity still crackling over its body.
Not quite on par with light attribute—its natural counter—but the destructive power was impressive.
It guzzled a hefty amount of mana, though.
"Hoo."
Even so, today I'd taken down a B-Rank demon using nothing but my own power—no Heart of Great Nature, no Mana Elixir, no Combat Will.
Sure, I'd started by ambushing and blasting off its shoulder, but compared to my past self, this was huge progress.
Special Task Force agents would swarm here any minute now, having sensed the mana surge.
I didn't want the world knowing I could wield lightning attribute yet, so I quickly relocated.
The hideout of the Ten Demons Council, shrouded in pitch darkness.
In this secretive lair accessible only to invited demons, nine S-Rank demons had gathered.
"Long time no see, everyone."
"Yeah. Still feels weird with that one seat empty, though."
Someone muttered from the shadows.
"Been about four months since Seongjin bit it?"
"Yeah. Never imagined that guy would go down."
"Tsk. Tough luck."
Then, as if struck by a thought, one of them spoke up.
"By the way, our kin getting hunted down has spiked lately. You all heard?"
The other demons nodded in agreement.
"Ah, yeah, it's blown up recently. Word is, most are the work of one guy."
"That human wizard... Kim Jinwoo, right?"
The name Kim Jinwoo drew reactions from everyone, like they all knew it.
Which made sense, in a way.
Half of the recent demon subjugations had been his doing. Still, they weren't overly suspicious yet.
Demons, being such a tight-knit minority, were bound by strong ties.
Especially when harm came to their own—they pursued vengeance harder than anyone.
They figured the subjugations tied to Kim Jinwoo stemmed purely from demons' revenge impulses.
As the talk continued, a new voice echoed from the darkness.
"Seems we're all here."
Everyone fell silent at once.
The voice belonged to the demons' 'King'. He scanned the nine demons from the shadows before speaking.
"No long speeches. In about two months, we'll launch the plan to eliminate the Child of Prophecy. Any takers among you?"
......
The king's words startled them all. A plan to eliminate the Child of Prophecy?
Had they finally located it?
"What exactly does 'elimination plan' entail?"
The king answered the demon's question.
"Cheonha."
At the king's summons, Cheonha emerged from the shadows.
"You called?"
"Explain the plan."
10 PM.
I'd wrapped up my personal errands and training, returning to the dorm.
Stepping inside, I saw Gretel sprawled out asleep. A half-eaten sausage lay rolling beside her—she must've dozed off mid-bite.
At least the room was clean this time, unlike yesterday. She'd commendably heeded my no-mess rule.
I checked her closely for any changes like with that last fruit, but nothing stood out.
She was still so tiny; she had to be in a growth spurt, but when would she finally bulk up?
"...Gotta wash up first."
I cleaned my sweat-drenched body, then headed back to the living room. I flopped onto the sofa and triggered Outsider's Benefit.
I'd skimmed it earlier, but today brought an unexpected windfall.
Victory Herald had granted a trait—not stats.
So, let's see what trait it was.
［Light Step (B)］
Category: Trait
Description: Your footsteps become lighter.
［Continuous Effects］
►Swift Steps
Movement speed increases by 10%.
►Stealthy Steps
Inject mana into your feet to greatly reduce footsteps and presence.
"Oh."
A seriously versatile trait.
Boosted movement speed, plus effects that muffled footsteps and presence.
Stealthy Steps in particular slashed not just noise but your detectable presence too—perfect for infiltration gigs.
"Better than I expected."
And a full B-Grade trait at that.
Might as well be free points—tens of thousands' worth.
"Well, that's what you get from an S-Grade trait."
The one I'd shelled out 100,000 points for.
Pondering what to do with the rest of my time, I suddenly got curious about my karma buildup.
A good chunk of time had passed, and I'd taken down plenty of villains.
[Karma: 8.85]
"8.8..."
Still shy of 10.
Silver lining: it was stacking faster as time went on.
"Unlocks at 10, I think."
???［One Karma
—Unlocks when karma exceeds 10.
Wonder what authority it'd unlock.
Calling it an 'authority' instead of a skill hinted at something way beyond my expectations.
That said, with Deus Ex Machina needing 100 karma as my goal, I'd probably rarely touch whatever it was.
"Tsk."
Finally, I hopped online and logged into the wizard community 'Wizard's Forest'.
Hanging out in these wizard forums could net you surprise 'rumors' or 'intel'.
Tons were BS, sure, so you had to sift carefully—but checking now and then kept you in the loop on wizard world currents.
Browsing along, one post title grabbed me.
+Wizard's Forest Anonymous Board+
[Anyone get a recruitment offer from H.A.? Their pay's nuts.]
I knew exactly what it meant at a glance.
H.A.
Hanseong.
The mega-conglom Hanseong Group.
+Comments+
［What's H.A.? Spill the initials already.］
［Got one. Hanseong something, right?］
［Yeah. What's your rank, OP? I'm A.］
［S. But don't go if you wanna live lololol］
［Where's Hanseong?］
［Me too, H.A. offer came. Saw Hanseong-7, pissed 'em off. But value my neck too much. FWIW, I'm A-Rank with S exam experience.］
H.A.X. meant Han Sejin.
Why the initials? Han Sejin was secretly recruiting high-rank wizards.
They were probably playing along to keep a lid on it.
Han Sejin assembling wizards for Jaun's subjugation.
Same as the original storyline.
"Hmm."
Han Sejin's Jaun Subjugation Squad.
Online, everyone dodged it like the plague—but skilled wizards would flock anyway.
This world had way more Jaun-haters than you'd imagine.
The outcome was a foregone conclusion, though.
"Yaaawn."
Man, I'm beat. Time for bed?
My smart student notebook pinged with a message.
I instinctively knew who from.
Choi Seoyoon.
She messaged around this hour lately.
［Sunbae-nim. You joked about being popular last time, but you actually blew up, you know? (surprised squirrel emoticon)］
Popular?
Well, yeah, I kinda felt it. My grades had climbed nicely.
Earning points off it was a perk, but better play it cool. Looked smoother, cooler.
[Popular? Nah, couldn't care less.]
[Liar liar. You went on about the popular guy's life last time.]
"This kid, dredging up old stuff..."
[Oh, but Sunbae-nim getting all popular feels kinda bittersweet. I was your #1 fan.]
#1 fan?
Time flew by. It was next week's Monday, and morning comprehensive training kicked off.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Chris, your instructor for the second semester 'Magic Combat and Experience' course."
In front of the school’s indoor multipurpose virtual training room portal.
Teacher Chris—no, Jeonghyeon—began his intro to the fifty Class A students.
"Let me introduce myself: I'm a magic consultant, and I worked about two years at the UK Wizard Academy."
A few girls' eyes sparkled at Jeonghyeon's intro.
Less his specs, more his good looks, probably.
"I'll be teaching you practical combat and real-world experience. That's why we're gathered at this outdoor exam site today."
Jeonghyeon smiled.
"Today's drill is 'Hostage Rescue and Terror Suppression Roleplay'!"
Hostage rescue and terror suppression roleplay.
Just as named: assign roles, build real-combat experience.
Points scaled with role fidelity.
Terrorist role might seem pointless, but it was to experience their mindset. Didn't fully click.
"I'll assign your roles. There are three: hostage, terrorist, Special Task Force agent."
"Whoa, sounds fun."
"Yeah. Wanna do terrorist or hostage."
The roleplay announcement sparked excited buzz among the students.
Jeonghyeon raised a hand, signaling quiet.
They hushed right away.
"Alright, roles it is."
Roles were set quick.
Breakdown:
20 terrorists.
10 hostages.
20 Special Task Force agents.
Me and Lee Hyunjoo got Special Task Force agent.
Lee Seojun and Shin Youngjun: hostages.
Yoo Ara, Yoon Hayoung, and Park Inhwan: terrorists.
We entered the virtual multipurpose training ground.
Like the prior virtual tower climb, this blended real and virtual in a mystical space.
No holy relic power here, though, so no flawless life-preservation system like the tower drill.
No direct bodily harm, but mental shock would hit some.
We took our assigned spots.
Far off, terrorists guarded two bases with hostages in tow.
Deep in role, they toyed with the hostages for laughs.
Shin Youngjun, hamming it up, wailed 'Please spare me~' in full pitiful-hostage mode.
"Tsk."
Tsking at them, someone beside me piped up.
"Seonwoo-ya, let's do great!"
Some girl whose name I didn't know. Random attention like this was routine now; I brushed it off.
"Yeah, sure."
Then a guy approached.
"Hey, good luck out there."
"Yeah."
We traded empty greetings, and a voice boomed from thin air.
[Roleplay starts in 5 minutes.]
[Feel free to strategize with your team.]
"Hoo."
The announcement echoed. Hostages and terrorists ducked into the buildings—the 'bases.'
To avoid exposing positions to agents.
Core objectives per role were as follows.