Chapter 397
Chapter 397
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 398
Chapter Title: Brahma Empire
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“Ugh, what the hell is this? For real.”
Yun Ha-young trudged along the path, letting out a deep sigh.
It was supposed to be a cave escape exam, but the moment she entered, a spatial transfer spell activated, dropping her into some underground space.
And right in front of her was a massive golden building...
No, palace was probably the better word.
“...Is this part of the exam too?”
It had already been an hour since she started exploring this mysterious palace that had appeared out of nowhere.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single clue to escape inside the palace.
Just dazzling golden decorations and frames. And strange murals.
“Haa.”
Exhausted, Yun Ha-young finally crouched down right there.
It seemed like figuring out the intent of this exam—the ‘examiner’s intent’—would be more important than just wandering around aimlessly.
“Hmm.”
First off, exploring this palace did seem to be a necessary part of the escape exam.
So what exactly was this palace?
“It looks like a really ancient palace...”
Yun Ha-young looked around the interior once more.
An ornate golden hallway. And traces of age lingering here and there.
“...Could this be connected to the exploration exam?”
Right on!
Even after pulling an all-nighter researching yesterday, the exam participants hadn’t found anything beyond the clue about the ‘island.’
That meant it was impossible to get hints about this place through normal means.
“Got it. Got it.”
She finally had a feeling she understood the purpose behind this exam.
It was about finding the clues hidden on this island through the cave exploration test.
“Alright!”
Motivated, Yun Ha-young jumped to her feet.
First, she needed to uncover the identity of this palace. Something would come of it.
...That’s when it happened, as she started striding down the hallway with renewed vigor.
—Screeech. Screeech.
A chilling sound of metal scraping echoed from somewhere.
Yun Ha-young froze, her expression hardening as she stopped in her tracks.
“...What was that just now?”
Did I hear wrong?
—Screeech. Screeech.
The sound came again soon after.
At the eerie noise that felt like a ghost might appear any second, Yun Ha-young swallowed hard.
She slowly walked toward the source of the sound.
It wasn’t far.
A small door at the end of the hallway.
The noise was coming from beyond that door.
Preparing for anything, Yun Ha-young conjured an ice arrow and flung the door wide open.
“Who’s in there?!”
Yelling, Yun Ha-young stared at the scene before her.
A strange rectangular object and a familiar-faced man standing in front of it.
Yun Ha-young blinked dumbly at the man.
“...Huh? Sun-woo?”
Why are you here?
One hour into the exam, and somehow I’d teamed up with Yun Ha-young.
If it had been anyone else, I would’ve seen them as a rival and gone our separate ways, but since she was a major character and teaming up was allowed in the exploration exam, we decided to stick together for now.
“...Hmm. Found one.”
And right now, I was checking her ‘exploration notebook’ for any info I needed.
If there was useful information, we’d use the ‘share’ function to exchange knowledge.
Normally, you shouldn’t hand your exploration notebook to anyone else, but Yun Ha-young trusted me completely and just gave it over.
“Let’s swap this info with that info. Mine’s worth 5 points, and this is 3 points, so no loss for you.”
“Yeah, that works for me.”
Yun Ha-young nodded with a smile.
[Yun Ha-young has shared information with Kim Sun-woo.]
[Kim Sun-woo has shared information with Yun Ha-young.]
After sharing, as Yun Ha-young checked her exploration notebook, she glanced at me.
“Sun-woo. Did you figure anything out?”
“Hmm. A little?”
“Oh. You did notice something.”
Yun Ha-young looked surprised, then stared at me slyly.
Her cat-like eyes said she wanted to ask what it was but couldn’t bring herself to.
Meeting her gaze, I chuckled and said.
“Fine. I’ll give you a few hints.”
“Ah! I wasn’t hinting for you to tell me!”
Yun Ha-young flailed her hands in panic, but since it was just her and hints wouldn’t hurt, I continued.
“First, this palace is a remnant of a lost civilization.”
“A civilization’s remnant?”
“Yeah. I heard it’s modeled after a real place from 100 years ago, so it’s probably an ancient one. The name’s Brahma, I think.”
“...Brahma?”
Yun Ha-young tilted her head at my words. Then she muttered to herself for a bit before clapping.
“...Ah! The Golden Underground Empire of Brahma! Right?!”
“That’s it.”
Brahma, the Golden Underground Empire.
One of the ancient civilizations with tons of lingering mysteries.
It was a wealthy empire hoarding immense gold, but why they built a palace underground, and why they fell, remained unsolved mysteries.
This pro wizard exam took place in a virtual world scanned directly from the Brahma underground empire, where you gathered clues and recorded them in your ‘exploration notebook’ for evaluation.
“Wow, yeah. Hearing you say it makes it click right away. As expected of you, Sun-woo.”
Yun Ha-young gazed at me in admiration.
I shrugged like it was nothing and examined the mysterious machine in front of me.
“Sun-woo. What’s this?”
“Figuring it out now.”
If my guess was right, it was the key to a door leading to a secret inner chamber.
The Outsider’s Privilege let me read the spell embedded inside. As I poked around, one button depressed firmly.
Clunk.
Screeeeech.
Boom...
Oh. A hidden door in the wall opened.
“...Whoa. Awesome.”
Yun Ha-young’s face lit up with surprise again.
“Let’s check it out.”
“Yeah.”
We stepped inside the door. A new vast space appeared, and the door slammed shut behind us with a thud.
A long space stretching like a hallway.
The walls were covered in countless patterns.
I pulled out my exploration notebook first and photographed the scenery before us.
Click.
[Secret space discovered: Exploration points +7]
[First discovery +3 points]
“Oh. 7 points.”
Plus a 3-point bonus for first discovery. Looks like we’re the first here.
“Sun-woo. There’s some writing here.”
I turned at her words. Sure enough, unfamiliar characters were inscribed on the wall.
Not Korean or English—completely alien script. Probably Brahma’s language.
“Can you read it?”
“Hold on.”
With the Outsider’s Privilege, it’d be easy, but there was another way without using it.
By reading the spell embedded in the characters.
I slowly deciphered the spell’s content.
[Offer life as tribute]
“Offer life as tribute.”
“...Offer life as tribute?”
I nodded and photographed the characters with my exploration notebook. Another message popped up.
[Secret language discovered: Exploration points +3]
[First discovery +2 points]
“This must be it.”
Pretending it just occurred to me, I shared what I knew.
“Offer life as tribute. Just like it says—sacrificing life as an offering.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“I saw a sacrifice spell earlier during my checks.”
I showed her a spell I’d photographed from a wall in my exploration notebook. Yun Ha-young blinked rapidly at it.
“A sacrifice spell? That’s taboo.”
Spells requiring sacrifices were legally forbidden by the Association.
Getting caught meant immediate imprisonment in Aporia.
“And there’s a bunch of religious stuff around here, right?”
“Yeah.”
Yun Ha-young nodded.
“I think the Brahma folks were trying to use a spell to summon something by sacrificing humans.”
“...Summon something by sacrificing humans?”
I couldn’t say more.
It involved secrets even the Association didn’t know, and uncovering it required clues from people dropped in other locations.
In the original story, Lee Seo-jun and Lee Hyun-joo pieced those clues together to reveal the secret.
“Anyway, just a guess. Let’s investigate more.”
I said that and walked down the hallway.
Yun Ha-young followed behind me with a thoughtful expression, then asked.
“But Sun-woo.”
“Yeah.”
“We’re in the middle of the cave escape exam right now.”
“Yeah, we are.”
I nodded, staring straight ahead.
“Aren’t we gonna end up last in the cave escape if we keep this up?”
I turned to her.
“Forget about escaping.”
“...Huh?”
Yun Ha-young blinked blankly.
“No one’s escaping this place by the end of today anyway.”
“What are you talking about? The competition exam starts tomorrow.”
According to the Association’s schedule, today was the cave escape exam, and tomorrow was the 2-person team survival competition.
“Remember there’s no time limit on escaping today?”
“Oh? Yeah.”
“And the exploration notebook saves all clues, but you can steal them, right? Remember that rule?”
“Oh? Come to think of it...”
Clues for exploration are collected via the exploration notebook.
No one else can use your notebook, and combat is forbidden during the cave exploration exam. So stealing clues seemed impossible.
The exam rules had a contradiction.
“This exam combines exploration, cave exploration, and competition phases all at once. Stealing becomes possible once the competition starts.”
“Oh? That’s how it is?”
Yun Ha-young’s eyes widened.
That’s when footsteps echoed from somewhere, followed by voices.
—Whoa. What’s this place?
—Yeah, what? It’s amazing.
At the sudden unfamiliar voices, Yun Ha-young’s expression hardened.
Not major characters.
Not the villain Yoo Sung-jin either.
Just regular competitors in the exam.
Three of them. Perfect timing.
It’s impossible to gather all info solo in this exam.
We needed new info to move to the next area anyway.
They must have decent info if they made it here.
“Ha-young. Make an ice wall here.”
Meanwhile.
The examiners sat in the secret space, monitoring the exam’s progress.
“From a quick scan, more people are starting to realize the true nature of this exam.”
The other examiners nodded at Yang Ji-tae’s words.
Sudden arrival underground.
Everyone started confused, but soon regained composure and began investigating.
“By the way, did Kim Sun-woo really skip yesterday on purpose?”
At one examiner’s question, all eyes turned to Kim Sun-woo’s screen.
Kim Sun-woo, who’d joined Yun Ha-young late, had entered the golden palace interior faster than anyone.
As if he’d anticipated this.
“From what I heard earlier, he even figured out it’s the Brahma Empire.”
“He’s got that reputation for being smart.”
“But his judgment’s abnormally quick.”
“Heh heh. Feels like watching my younger self.”
The examiners directed admiration and praise toward Kim Sun-woo.
Yang Ji-tae quietly watched him amid the group, stroking his chin.
He was definitely different.
Composure without panicking in unfamiliar places. Insight to quickly gather clues and deduce optimal answers.
A talent worth coveting.
“Hey. Kim Sun-woo’s group is about to run into Group 120?”
At the next examiner’s words, all eyes shifted there.
The palace’s secret space.
After Kim Sun-woo’s group arrived first, new explorers appeared.
Curiosity peaked—what would happen when they met?
That’s when Yun Ha-young began channeling mana.
“What’s she doing?”
“She’s not about to attack, is she?”
“Nah, no way. Combat between applicants is banned during the exploration exam.”
Combat was allowed only after tomorrow’s competition began.
Even forcing their notebook away wouldn’t let you press the share button.
Then Yun Ha-young erected an ice barrier. Kim Sun-woo drew a spell on it and set up a ward.
“...A ward?”
As Group 120 approached Kim Sun-woo, they saw the wall blocking their path and looked confused.
—What’s this now?
Spotting Kim Sun-woo behind the wall, their expressions hardened.
—K-Kim Sun-woo?
Kim Sun-woo spoke up.
—If you want to pass, share your info as toll.
“...Huh?”
“What did he just say?”
The examiners looked stunned at the unexpected turn.
Did I hear that right just now?