Chapter 444
Chapter 444
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 445
Chapter Title: Spell Designer
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Two weeks ago.
After learning that Kim Jeong-hee possessed an S+ mana rank, I had sought his advice for subjugating the Great Spirit of the Snow Mountains.
Upon hearing my story at the time, he showed a great deal of surprise.
It wasn't a normal situation for a human who had fallen into the Boundary World less than a day ago to know such information.
But once he regained his composure, he stated that subjugating the Great Spirit of the Snow Mountains was nearly impossible.
The reason was simple.
Spirits were ethereal beings without physical form.
Magic didn't work on spirits.
However, I had a method called [Spirit Materialization Ritual], and to get his advice, I showed him the form of the ritual.
...And now, two weeks later.
Kim Jeong-hee was handling the [Spirit Materialization Ritual] perfectly in front of me.
The ritual that even I hadn't fully mastered yet.
No, this wasn't just mastering the ritual—it had even compensated for its flaws, raising its completion to a higher level.
"...How in just two weeks."
"In increasing its versatility, I found the ritual contained a lot of unnecessary information. I trimmed away the unneeded parts to suit the goal of subjugating the Great Spirit of the Snow Mountains, shortening the activation time."
"...And you accomplished that in two weeks?"
"Well, I got lucky."
His tone was as if it were no big deal, but I was simply dumbfounded.
Modifying an ancient ritual to suit his tastes wasn't as easy as his words made it sound.
[You have witnessed an astonishing ritual activation and gained a small enlightenment.]
[Your Ritual Comprehension (B) proficiency has greatly increased!]
Staring blankly at the message floating before my eyes, I asked him.
"...Who the hell are you?"
Someone with this level of ritual comprehension must have made a name for himself even in life.
Swoosh...
At that moment, the spirit materialization ritual manifested before Kim Jeong-hee dissipated.
He stared blankly at the ground where the ritual had vanished before opening his mouth.
"Didn't I tell you before? I'm Kim Jeong-hee."
"I'm asking for your epithet from life."
"Epithet..."
Kim Jeong-hee trailed off.
Then, as if lost in old memories, he looked up at the sky and spoke.
"In life, I was called by many epithets. The one I heard most often was 'Spell Designer.'"
"Spell Designer?"
Hearing the epithet, I jumped in surprise.
It was a name I knew well.
A special epithet given for his unparalleled ability in spell design.
He had been active in the same era as Kim Jin-cheol and left such great achievements in the support world that he was even featured in the Magic Academy textbooks.
On top of that, with his 'Educator' trait, he had produced outstanding support wizards like Jeong Yun-seul.
For reference, his epithet was briefly mentioned in the original work as one of the figures Jin Cheon-woo had researched.
"You seem to know me."
"It's rarer to find someone who doesn't know the Designer. You're called one of the greatest wizards."
"One of the greatest wizards."
Kim Jeong-hee gave a bitter smile.
"That's all in the past. Now I'm dead and stuck here."
Learning that the man before me was an even bigger figure than I'd imagined brought a flood of questions to mind.
How did someone with this level of ability end up here?
I'd heard the Spell Designer had mysteriously disappeared at some point.
"...Um, Designer?"
"Just call me Village Chief."
"...Village Chief. How did you end up in the Boundary World?"
Kim Jeong-hee fell into thought for a moment before speaking.
"When you delve deeply into research on rituals, there comes a moment when you encounter a massive question beyond human understanding."
His voice was calm, but it hid some emotion.
It was 'fear.'
"As a ritual researcher and explorer, I tried to unravel the enormous question that appeared before me. I pored over rituals every day, studied them. I even made deals with the Mystics. Then one day, a problem arose."
A problem?
Kim Jeong-hee paused briefly before continuing.
"I discovered the abyss hidden on the world's underside."
The world's underside.
I realized what he meant.
"The laws of the world, right."
A flicker of surprise appeared in Kim Jeong-hee's eyes.
"You... how did you know?"
"...I learned about something similar while pursuing it myself."
Unsure how to explain, I made up a vague answer.
He looked at me with eyes full of wonder and nodded.
"You seem qualified too, so this will make the story quicker. As you said, I discovered the laws hidden in the world. That everything in the world is predetermined, and humans are nothing more than cogs turning in a machine."
His voice trembled faintly.
"Upon realizing that, I fell into despair but also deep contemplation. If humans have no free will, what is the value of human existence?"
"And after a long time, I found an answer. If humans have no existential value, then I decided to fight to find it."
Maybe it was my imagination, but his story had similarities to Jin Cheon-woo's.
Jin Cheon-woo had also glimpsed the world's underside while researching the Mystics, and regardless of his purpose, it seemed he'd summoned me to gain freedom.
At that moment, Kim Jeong-hee gave a hollow smile.
"But trying to change the world was arrogance born from human hubris. It was impossible for a mere human body from the start. As a result, I was punished for defying the world, met my death, and fell into the Boundary World."
To think that was the reason.
I fell into thought for a moment.
This man was someone with a disposition similar to Jin Cheon-woo's.
And then it hit me belatedly.
Why Jin Cheon-woo had researched this man in the original work. It was because Kim Jeong-hee shared the same goal as Jin Cheon-woo.
"By the way, you pique my curiosity."
At Kim Jeong-hee's sudden words, I looked at him.
He was gazing at me with eyes full of curiosity.
"You look young, yet you seem to know quite a lot. Wanting to subjugate the Great Spirit of the Snow Mountains and all. It's not something an ordinary young man would think of."
How should I explain this?
Kim Jeong-hee was a wizard at the pinnacle of his field.
In a way, this was an opportunity.
The perfect chance to bring one of the greatest wizards to my side.
I made my decision.
[Activating latent trait 'Hyperfocus.']
"I'm pursuing the same goal as you."
At the suddenly changed atmosphere, Kim Jeong-hee stared at me blankly.
With the sincerity created by 'Hyperfocus,' I spoke clearly, word by word.
"Finding the value of humanity."
My real goal is returning to the original world, but.
"I need your help."
At any rate, I needed his help.
Confirming my sincerity (?), Kim Jeong-hee decided to help me achieve the goal he himself hadn't completed.
He passed on the improved [Spirit Materialization Ritual] and, true to his 'Educator' trait, his teaching ability was tremendous.
Even with a complex ancient ritual, I instantly understood the principles needed to activate it quickly.
[You have received high-level instruction.]
[Ritual Comprehension (B) proficiency has greatly increased.]
[You have successfully manifested a portion of a great ancient ritual!]
['Ritual Comprehension (B)' rank has risen to A!]
[Activation time and accuracy of all rituals reduced by 20%.]
[Karma has increased by 0.3.]
[You have achieved the 'Radical Ritual Enlightenment' accomplishment.]
[As reward, you gain 3,000 points.]
"...Oh."
...And so another two weeks passed.
Thanks to receiving high-level instruction every day, [Ritual Comprehension] had now reached A-rank.
Considering it had been a year since I first acquired Ritual Comprehension, this was remarkably fast even accounting for the external help.
Even support wizards called geniuses usually needed close to four years to reach A-rank.
"...You. You have considerable talent in the support field."
And Kim Jeong-hee, who was teaching me the [Spirit Materialization Ritual], seemed to sense it too, speaking to me in a voice tinged with bewilderment.
"No, not just considerable. I've never seen anyone with ritual acquisition ability like yours."
Deep confusion swirled in Kim Jeong-hee's eyes as he looked at me. Seeing his reaction, I smiled playfully.
"You don't have to hype me up that much."
"I'm serious. Do you know how many disciples have passed through me? You have innate talent."
Innate talent?
At those words, I suddenly recalled my early days at the Magic Academy.
I'd been heavily encouraged from all sides to change my specialization because I had talent in support.
I'd thought it was because they mistook my fraudulent ritual interpretation ability—boosted by the external factor—for real talent.
I still thought the same.
But this time, I hadn't benefited much from the external factor...
"Hmm."
Thinking about it, 'Ritual Comprehension' did grow faster than the investment warranted.
I'd benefited from 'Instant Acceleration,' but I'd mastered [Disc Blade], which Kim Jin-cheol had devised over his lifetime, in an instant too.
...Do I really have talent in support?
"...It's been a while since I felt ambition."
At the voice that reached me then, I looked up.
Fighting spirit boiled in Kim Jeong-hee's eyes directed at me.
"You wouldn't consider seriously learning support magic, would you?"
......Time flowed quickly once more. About a month passed.
The 'death of Kim Seon-woo' that had rocked the world was gradually fading from memory, and as if to prove it, warm spring arrived alongside newly blooming flowers.
Many things happened in that short time.
First, Lee Seo-jun and his colleagues, including him, joined a special investigation team pursuing Kim Chang-hyun, Jin Cheon-woo, and traces of 'Heundeon.'
It was a tough mission for new hires who had only been at the company for a month or two, but it was possible because they were close to Kim Seon-woo and had the chairman's orders.
"Everyone here?"
A small office on the 47th floor of the Magic Association.
Around 20 agents gathered in the space with a nameplate reading [Jin Cheon-woo Special Investigation Team].
Most of them were elites from the association's top forces, the Special Forces and Intelligence teams, and Lee Seo-jun's friends among the newbies were there too.
"Then let's start the first meeting. I assume everyone knows the purpose of this team. As the name 'Jin Cheon-woo Special Investigation Team' suggests, we will track everything related to Jin Cheon-woo. Oh, and this investigation is being conducted in cooperation with magic associations worldwide, so keep that in mind."
At Kim Deok-hyun's words, everyone in the room nodded with serious faces.
Kim Deok-hyun scanned the agents' faces before glancing at Jeong Hyeon-su.
Jeong Hyeon-su nodded and handed out documents to each agent.
Lee Seo-jun blankly examined his document.
[Kim Chang-hyun Movement Routes]
"This is the route Kim Chang-hyun took over the past year, investigated by the Intelligence team. As you all know, Kim Chang-hyun has deep ties to Jin Cheon-woo, so he's someone we need to find."
"...Wow. How did they investigate all this?"
Shin Young-jun, looking over his document, muttered in a surprised voice.
Lee Seo-jun felt a bit surprised too as he scanned the contents.
Countless photos of Kim Chang-hyun captured on CCTVs worldwide.
With this level of tracking ability, they might find him soon.
At that moment, a blonde agent known as one of the association's top ritual experts, 'Lim Hyun-ah,' spoke up.
"Most of Kim Chang-hyun's movement routes are ruins, right?"
"That's right. We'll follow the exact routes he took to first figure out his objective."
"Figure out his objective..."
And an intelligence agent with glasses in the corner spoke.
"Moving mainly through ruins means he's after Mystics. So, his goal is probably reviving Jin Cheon-woo, right?"
"That's a possibility, but it's more likely Ja-un is the one moving for Jin Cheon-woo's revival."
Surprised reactions erupted among the agents at Kim Deok-hyun's words.
"You're saying Ja-un and Kim Chang-hyun have different goals?"
"That's the higher-ups' view—that it's highly likely."
Lee Seo-jun gazed thoughtfully at the first page of his document.
After graduating from the Magic Academy, the first place Kim Chang-hyun appeared was the Sahara Desert in Egypt.
"As noted in the document, Kim Chang-hyun's first movement location was Egypt. For that reason, our first destination will be Egypt too."
"Ugh, overseas assignment."
Right then.
Bzzz!
Alarms blared from all the agents' smartphones.
The agents showed confused reactions to the sudden situation.
"What's going on?"
"...Did an incident break out?"
This alarm was the warning sound for dangerous incidents outside.
Feeling a twinge of anxiety, Lee Seo-jun checked his smartphone.
[Terror incident at VIP Auction House in Paris, France at current time]
[Spear presumed to be Heaven-Piercing Flower Spear discovered]
[Presumed to be Ja-un's doing]
......Ja-un.
Lee Seo-jun bit his lip.
Those who had been quiet for a while were starting to move again.