Under the Waxing Moon
After fielding a barrage of questions about my abilities, I finally made it home as the moon began to wax.
"Sis! You gotta explain everything properly this weekend, okay?"
"Aigoo, I got it already."
"See you next time, sis."
"Yeah, Na Hyun. Get home safe. Thanks for the ride."
I closed the door of Na Hyun's car and waved them off casually. The boxy little subcompact slowly faded into the distance—a model that suited its owner perfectly.
"Haa... I'm exhausted..."
A wave of fatigue crashed over me out of nowhere.
"...From now on, I gotta be way more careful when using magic."
This whole ordeal had driven the point home. In this world, using magic was incredibly rare. And among those who could, knowing a spell called Inventory was practically unheard of.
Most awakeners here just reinforced their bodies with mana in simple combat styles. The reason? Poor mana control. Eight out of ten couldn't manipulate mana at all—or even sense it. Yoon Ra-yoon was a prime example.
In other words, most hunters were operating at Ra-yoon's level: unconsciously strengthening their bodies and nothing more.
We'd only had mana for about 50 years here. No wonder innate talent was the only way most people knew how to use it properly.
"Makes sense... Compared to Triia, where we've dealt with mana and magic for thousands of years, this is nothing."
To the people of this world, mana was still an unknown force—a puzzle yet to be solved.
"Time to head in, wash up, and crash."
I opened the front door and stepped inside.
My breath caught. Some strange liquid—not water—poured into my nose and mouth. It had a faint bitter tang, and it wasn't pleasant at all.
"Guh...!!"
What the hell?! Why can't I breathe all of a sudden...!!
When I came to, I was trapped in a space filled with transparent green fluid. The air in my lungs bubbled away in seconds, replaced by the suspicious liquid flooding in.
I thrashed upward, desperate for air, but no matter how hard I kicked, I couldn't break the surface. Just flailing in empty nothingness.
Reaching out in panic to survive, my hand hit a smooth wall right in front of me. Suddenly, my body lurched toward it.
Whoosh――――!!
Splash―!
I tumbled forward, swept away by the current.
"Ugh!! *Cough*! *Cough*!"
Cool air rushed into my lungs as I hacked up the liquid.
"Hah... hah... ugh..."
How many minutes passed? I'd coughed so violently, trying to expel every drop from my body, that my face was a mess of tears and snot. But at least I could breathe again.
I'd escaped somehow... but what the hell had happened to me? My last memory was playing a game, then getting caught in some unexplained explosion.
Blinking my eyes open, the green fluid that had tormented me now pooled on the floor, and I lay sprawled in it.
"...Where am I...?"
Gray brick walls, massive tools of unknown purpose tucked in every corner. Wooden tables lined both sides of the room, but my vision was so low to the ground that I couldn't see what was on them.
I couldn't just lie there facedown forever. Propping myself up on my hands, I lifted my upper body bit by bit and scanned around.
Turning first to look behind me, huge metal capsules loomed into view—like the gear from sci-fi movies for creating artificial life.
"What the... hell is... this...?"
The one right behind me had its door slid wide open, green fluid dripping from it. That had to be where I'd been trapped.
Wondering if anyone else was stuck like me, I checked the others. There were three capsules total. One was mine, obviously. Another seemed long-empty—no green fluid left. The last was sealed tight, with someone inside.
Snow-white hair on a little girl, young enough for kindergarten. She floated peacefully in the green fluid, eyes closed, no equipment attached.
Kidnapping? Nah, forget the kid—what kind of psycho kidnaps a full-grown adult guy like me? Organ harvesting maybe?
That's when it happened. Clunk― Creeeak―
The door in front of me swung open, and someone entered.
"Oh, oh?! You're out already?!!"
A woman's voice, laced with panic. My vision was blurring as consciousness faded; I couldn't make her out clearly.
She grabbed a white sheet from the corner and rushed toward me.
"First one was quick too, but the second even faster... Hehe, my daughters really take after me, don't they?"
Her voice was so soft and alluring, it nearly lulled me to sleep right then.
......Daughters? Who're you calling that?
She wrapped the sheet around my fading body. Then she scooped me up effortlessly.
Wait—how?! I wasn't heavy, sure, but I was in prime shape. And she lifted me without so much as a grunt?
"Aww, my second baby wanted to meet Mommy so soon?"
She patted my back like an infant and carried me out of the room.
I wanted to say something, but my mind was chaos beyond confusion. Consciousness slipped away.
Whether she knew my turmoil or not, she hummed a tune as she carried me somewhere.
"We're here! My second doesn't even know her own face yet, right? Wanna see before we wash up?"
At her words, I opened my eyes to a medieval European-style room bathed in blue light. And a full-length mirror.
In it stood a woman with purple hair in a silk robe, and beside her, a girl with light rose-pink hair.
Seductive eyes that could enchant every man in the world, matching purple irises. Maternal curves spilling from the robe's gaps, with wide, birthing hips. The pink-haired girl looked just like her younger self.
"Hmm... Up close like this, her eyes are even sharper than mine?"
As the woman in the mirror touched the girl's eye corner with her index finger, I felt someone fiddling with mine.
Shit—it's a mirror, duh?
The pink-haired girl in the reflection... was me.
"Gasp...!!"
I bolted upright with a sharp inhale. The dim bedroom—my home for the past month or so.
"Ah, damn dream."
More like a real memory, but dreaming it like this felt weird.
Once I'd oriented myself, I flopped back down.
"Haa... So it's true—past events come back as dreams."
I'd never had vivid dreams before, just vague nonsense. Never imagined reliving those exact feelings so sharply.
Curious about the time, I checked my phone: just past 8 PM.
"When did I even hit the bed...?"
I remembered coming home and showering, but not lying down.
"Sigh... Must've been wiped out."
Mana had recovered last night, but all the mental strain must've blacked me out like a drunk.
"Bit late, but I should eat dinner anyway."
After a quick stretch, I left the bedroom.
The living room greeted me with blue moonlight, like fate mocking me by continuing the dream.
Me, panicking over my transformed body; my master watching fondly.
"If I'd known you'd vanish like that, I'd have treated you better..."
The primordial witch, Vain Crimson, disappeared the moment all us sisters ascended to the Seven Pillars.
No words, no traces. Like she'd never existed, she left our side.
She'd always been capricious, but she'd at least tell us sisters her whereabouts.
Her sudden absence shook not just Nihilum but all of Triia. Massive searches turned up nothing.
Some said she couldn't be dead—probably jumped dimensions. She'd researched dimensional magic for ages, obsessed right up to the end.
But if she succeeded... where did she go? Without a word to her blood daughters and disciples?
............
"Eh, she's probably fine on her own."
Not planned, but I pulled off dimensional travel too, right? So Master's thriving somewhere.
Forgetting dinner, I stared out the window. Cloudless sky, lit only by the new moon.
"New moon, huh... It'll be gone completely in 3 or 4 days."
I needed to plow the field before the waxing crescent. My first crop as a farmer would be something special.