Chapter 196
Chapter 196
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: Giant's Core and Semester's End
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Thud!
I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched the massive giant monster collapse in front of me.
It had been stronger than expected, but thanks to Gretel's binding abilities, I was able to take it down without any real danger.
['Black Giant Chief Defeated' achievement unlocked.]
[You have earned 3,000 points as a reward.]
[You achieved an effective victory using Lightning Attribute.]
[Lightning Attribute proficiency has increased.]
['Blessing of the Great Nature' effect grants additional Lightning Attribute proficiency.]
I cleared the messages in front of me and felt the electric mana still tingling at my fingertips, crackling faintly.
"A-Rank is definitely on another level."
The destructive power of the Lightning Attribute had grown even stronger.
It seemed that Magical Control wasn't just about basic spell control—it also influenced attribute manipulation.
I'd grown quite a bit myself.
A satisfied grin spread across my face as I slowly approached the giant.
I wondered if it might drop any items, so I activated Outsider's Privilege, but nothing stood out.
...Or rather.
"There is something."
A blue gem embedded in the giant's forehead.
Outsider's Privilege activated automatically, revealing the gem's hidden properties.
[Gigantic Mana Crystal (A)]
Classification: Material
Description: A body part from the dungeon boss, Black Giant Chief. When processed, it can store a certain amount of mana for use.
"Oh."
An A-Rank material, no less.
The effect allowed it to store mana within the gem.
In other words, like a backup battery, I could draw on the stored mana whenever I ran low.
"...Nice."
Unlike mana elixirs, there were no side effects, so it would definitely be a huge help in mana-shortage situations.
I approached the giant's corpse and pried the gem from its forehead.
At the same time, foul black blood spurted out, splattering my hand.
"Ugh."
I shook off my hand and pulled some water from my subspace to wash it clean.
Since this gem was a 'material,' I couldn't use it right away.
I'd have to take it to a workshop to have it crafted into a usable item.
"Gretel, good work."
"Ong-ae."
I gave Gretel a light smile and looked around.
"...Where's the reward room?"
I scanned the area and spotted a small door. The presence of a door in the boss room was proof that it led to the reward chamber.
I immediately opened the door to the reward room and stepped inside.
Creak.
The door swung open to reveal a vast space.
The walls and floor were rough stone, with translucent red stones embedded here and there.
"Whoa. Jackpot."
These stones were mana crystals—the energy source for certain magical tools and mana engineering techniques.
In short, the entire room was one massive reward.
I approached the wall and tried to pull out one of the embedded mana crystals.
But it was lodged so firmly in the stone that it wouldn't budge.
No need to panic. If it wouldn't come out, I could just use magic to extract it.
I formed a small magic sphere about 2cm across at my fingertip.
As I pressed it lightly against the wall, the sphere carved into the stone.
Once I'd shaved away all the stone around the mana crystal, one dropped into my hand.
"Oho."
It was pretty sizable.
Mana crystals increased dramatically in value with size, so this one could probably fetch around a million won.
Sure, a million might not sound like much, but the dungeon was packed with countless mana crystals.
Tens of thousands—no, hundreds of millions, probably.
And there were likely even larger ones scattered around, making the potential value incalculable.
If I bought some mining equipment and set up a proper extraction operation...
I'd never have to worry about money again.
a _=. 99
O O..
"Ung-ae?"
As I chuckled to myself quietly, Gretel stared at me with a puzzled look from the side.
I crouched down, approached her, and stroked her back.
"Gretel, I'll buy you something delicious on the way back."
"Ung-ae!"
The biting chill of late December.
The final day of the Wizard Academy's second semester had arrived before I knew it.
The academy had a tradition of holding the 1st and 2nd years' end-of-semester ceremonies together with the 3rd years' graduation, so nearly every student gathered in the grand auditorium.
And right now.
A few academy students were clustered near the auditorium entrance, chatting.
"Is Senior Kim Chang-hyun really skipping the graduation ceremony too?"
Shin Young-jun asked Lee Seo-jun.
"Yeah, he said he wasn't coming. Senior Jang Soo-yeon agreed to represent him instead."
"I see."
Shin Young-jun nodded and glanced around.
The group here consisted of Lee Seo-jun, Yoo Ah-ra, and Choi Seo-yoon.
They had gathered to discuss something, but one person was still missing.
"Where the hell is Kim Sun-woo?"
The reason they were meeting was to decide when to use the 'Training Room' entry tickets they'd won at the school festival, Taewi Festival.
They'd settled on using them during winter break, so on this last day of school for the year, they wanted to finalize the details.
But Kim Sun-woo was nowhere to be seen.
"I saw him this morning..."
Lee Seo-jun muttered, and Yoo Ah-ra spoke up.
"He told me earlier he was heading to the training grounds. Maybe he's still there?"
"Training grounds?"
Lee Seo-jun showed a flicker of surprise.
Even on end-of-semester ceremony day, when anyone could take it easy, he'd gone straight to training.
His work ethic was on par with Yoo Ah-ra's—no, maybe even surpassing it.
No wonder he could handle such advanced spells.
"...I should take a page from his book."
Lee Seo-jun murmured quietly, and Yoo Ah-ra replied.
"What do we do? We all have to go to the Training Room together."
The Training Room was a special facility created with mysteries, requiring at least five people to enter.
It was to conserve as much energy as possible from the mystery 'Slowed Time' contained within.
But with only four here now, and unable to proceed without the fifth—Kim Sun-woo—they were stuck.
Lee Seo-jun thought for a moment before speaking.
"You mean the Manifestation Department training grounds, right?"
"Yeah. We've got time—want to go together?"
Lee Seo-jun shook his head at Yoo Ah-ra's suggestion.
"Nah, I'll go alone. There's something I need to talk to him about anyway."
"Ah, my head's killing me."
Manifestation Department training grounds.
I was studying the magic circle theory for 'Rebound Disk' that Senior Choi Il-hyun had taught me.
To use Rebound Disk in real combat, I first had to memorize the magic circle's form perfectly, but the incantations were so intricate that even memorizing them was a challenge.
"Hmm..."
To employ Rebound Disk practically, I needed to inject mana into the flow-transfer incantations, then smoothly shift it to the direction-control incantations.
It sounded simple, but maintaining the magic circle's integrity while naturally redirecting the mana flow was beyond ordinary magical control.
Plus, it required a deep understanding of mana, making it incredibly difficult—even high-rank wizards rarely attempted it.
If I'd had that level of mana comprehension, I'd be an S-Rank wizard by now.
"Should've practiced auxiliary spells on the side..."
No matter how I thought about it, it was regrettable.
Knowing the cheat-like power of Rebound Disk made me want it even more.
Tsk.
The silver lining was that Outsider's Privilege made the magic circle easier to grasp, allowing me to pick it up relatively quickly.
I formed Rebound Disk again.
Blue mana materialized above my hand, taking the shape of the magic circle.
Even the part others found hardest—the circle formation—was manageable thanks to Outsider's Privilege-enhanced comprehension.
But the real issue was maintaining the form.
Once again, the mana structure destabilized and vanished.
"Ha..."
That's when I felt frustrated by the lack of progress.
Footsteps echoed from outside the training grounds, and the door opened as someone entered.
"Kim Sun-woo."
"Huh? What brings you here?"
It was Lee Seo-jun.
I briefly wondered why a Reinforcement wizard like him was here, then realized the reason.
I'd been so absorbed in training that I'd forgotten today was the end-of-semester ceremony.
And we had that agreement to set a date for the Training Room entry.
"Ah. Got caught up training and spaced on it. Ceremony's today, right..."
"You must've been really focused. Training on ceremony day, though?"
I gave an awkward smile at Lee Seo-jun's question.
If I hadn't suddenly gotten the chance to learn Rebound Disk, I probably would've skipped training today too.
"What were you practicing? I barely sensed any mana."
Lee Seo-jun asked with curious eyes.
"Been studying a new magic theory I picked up recently."
"What kind?"
As expected, Lee Seo-jun perked up with interest.
"I'll tell you later. It's still too rough to show off."
"Hmm. Fair enough. Oh, and since you weren't there, we talked about the Training Room schedule among ourselves."
"When?"
"After Seongmu Festival special training, next Monday okay?"
Next Monday. No big deal.
"Fine by me."
"Good."
Lee Seo-jun nodded in satisfaction. He looked at me for a moment, then spoke again.
"And don't forget about the other thing."
I chuckled at his words.
The 'other schedule' he meant was gathering mysteries for necromancy.
"Got it. But we need to decide which mysteries first."
"I looked into that. I checked Jin Cheon-woo's research logs and myth-related journals, did some digging on my own."
"Oh. Nice?"
I nodded with a pleased smile.
Looks like he'd found his own way, just like in the original story, without me needing to step in.
"The spot is... Oh, before that—you know the special training location's set, right?"
"Yeah."
This special training was at a multipurpose magic training ground in Donghae, Gangwon Province.
It had state-of-the-art facilities for all kinds of purposes and abundant natural mana density, drawing wizards frequently.
"Donghae in Gangwon, right."
"Yeah. Found a lead on a necromancy mystery nearby. We can check it out during downtime after training."
"You really dug into this."
"The research logs were more detailed than I thought."
Lee Seo-jun shrugged like it was no big deal.
"But is it really there? Gangwon Donghae is huge."
"Not exact, but I have a rough idea. Problem is, it won't be easy to get in—that's what's worrying me."
Pretending not to know, I asked him.
"Where?"
"An underwater ruin submerged in the sea. Probably have to dive in."
"Underwater ruins, huh..."
I grinned.
"Wintertime? We'll freeze our asses off."