Chapter 13 – Dungeon Practice (1)

“Everyone knows the origins of magic, but it was only when the ‘white wizard’ called the Progenitor Wizard spread magic to the world, that humans and other races began to deal with magic.”

In reality, the magic class was highly subdivided.

Mana Trajectory, an Introduction to Advanced Fundamental Magic, was a study on the relationship between reality and directing, and so on…

There was really something special about it.

And, as in any other world, lectures were extremely boring. Professor Shin Wol-hak Raiden, in particular, was unpopular because his characteristic hard tone and sharp and aggressive voice stressed listeners.

“After spreading natural magic to elves, material magic to dwarves, and elemental magic to humans, the Progenitor Wizard disappeared.

So, does anyone know where the progenitor wizard went next?”

“Me!”

“Speak.”

“He went to Heaven and taught the angels Radiance Magic, then went to the Underworld and taught the demons Abyss Magic.”

“That’s right.”

Sleepy. Regardless of whether there was something I knew or did not know, the class was very boring. ‘How can I listen to this for three years…….’

But this class was pretty important. Maybe it was because there might be a class content that could bring me close to the ‘true ending’.

Professor Raiden lined things up with a marker on the blackboard with his characteristic sleepy voice.

“But there were some things that the Progenitor Wizard didn’t expect. Human curiosity didn’t stop at elemental magic. Human wizards began to travel around the world and stole the magic of different races. That’s how modern magic came into being.”

I yawned silently and looked around. Sitting a little farther away, Eisel particularly caught my attention. Did she originally take this class? As far as I remember, there were no main characters who listened to Shin Wolhak.

“People were not satisfied with that either. They wanted more knowledge and more magic. However, humans could not learn magic anymore. This was because the progenitor wizard disappeared leaving behind the ‘Twelve New Moons (十二神月/the 12 lunar months)’ in the world. Does anyone know about these twelve moons?”

At last, the main point came out and my ears pricked up. Because that was my biggest concern, the twelve moon.

When a student raised his hand, Professor Raiden pointed out.

“Answer me.”

“It is said that the twelve new moons are a guardian to protect the balance of the continents, and it is said that until just a thousand years ago, they spread all over the world and looked over the continents.”

“Right. They protected the continent with their special powers.”

The professor wrote four letters on the blackboard.

“For example, it was said that the new moon ‘Jeok-Ha-Ju-Jun’, which symbolizes summer, dealt with a red flame, and that flame would never go out. Even now, it is said that if you enter the ‘deep sea of ​​Alamanca’, you can see the red flame, so if you are interested, you can go in to check it.”

He was not joking, but the students burst into laughter. Because the deep sea of ​​Alamanca was an ‘absolute zone’ ruled by the sea king Alamanca, it was not a space where terrestrial life could dare enter.

Perhaps today is the day when Professor Raiden does a gag once a year.

flash!

“Focus.”

The laughter stopped when Raiden spoke with a flash of light in the air. The students focused their eyes on a few images floating in the air.

The deep-sea of ​​Alamanca.

In the deep, deep sea where there was not a single ray of light, a bright red flame that illuminates the world was surrounded by a huge octopus. The octopus was asleep on a chain, but strangely, the flame did not burn him even though it was attached to its body.

The following photo was taken at a place called ‘Levien’s Coast’.

A huge vortex occurred in the middle of the sea. A catastrophic vortex with a diameter of 500 m was frozen entirely by the power of the ‘Bronze Twelfth Moon’.

A mysterious phenomenon that was difficult to explain even with magic, it was so surprising that my drowsiness ran away.

“In this way, each new moon has its own unique abilities, and it is said that when all the new moons come together, something very special happens.”

“What is it?” 

Professor Raiden was speechless for the first time at a question from a certain student.

“It’s… no one knows. It’s because not once in history have all the new moons gathered together.” That’s right. This is because the new moons have never awakened since they fell asleep a thousand years ago.

I did encounter some parts of the twelve moon as a player when I was playing the game though.

Those who went through their events were given special skills or received items from new moons, and naturally, I had no choice but to be interested because they were very fraudulent. 

So I found a total of five new moons.

Even that was possible by combining the information from other players, I barely met at the end of a very arduous road, and there was no player who collected more than me.

For that reason, I thought that the existence of these ‘Twelve New Moon’ might have a direct connection with the ‘True ending’.

10 years. For 10 years, countless players have played the game with numerous options and have seen countless endings.

But if no one has seen the true ending… Wouldn’t the answer be in the content that no one has reached?

And that was the twelve moons.

Even in the game, despite the extreme difficulty, I managed to collect five new moons while passing the threshold of death several times…

There was nothing I could do to see the true ending. I just have to try again…

After Shin Wolhak’s lecture, I was walking down the hallway for the next lecture when someone called me from behind.

“Excuse me.”

“uh?”

It was Eisel. She approached me with a slightly dissatisfied expression and said:

“You, why are you listening to this lecture?”

“Why do I listen to it? It’s so out of the blue.”

“Answer me.”

“Yeah, well…” In fact, the New Moon Studies class that I was taking now wasn’t a very popular class.

Magic was the basis of mathematically unfolding, calculating, organizing, and controlling the flow of mana, but the ‘new moon science’ did not have such a thing at all.

To use an analogy, it was akin to sorcery or witchcraft. To pray to the Twelve Moons who may be alive somewhere, and to use that power to use their special abilities.

Like Professor Raiden, many people worship the new moon and practice new moon magic. However, this new moon magic method was not widely adopted because its advantages over traditional magic were not clearly revealed.

In some areas, it was said that members of New Moon Church are even treated as heretics and expelled. “I’m just listening because I’m interested.”

“…that’s it?”

“Yes.”

“……’

She closed her lips for a moment, pondered, turned her eyes, and said softly, looking at me. 

“Well, then… Hmm. Does it have anything to do with grades?” 

“New Moons Study is my hobby.” 

Anyway, something was strange.

“It seems you weren’t there during the New Moon Study orientation, when did you apply?” 

“Well, that’s…” 

Come to think of it, there is still a period for course correction. 

“Did you apply for the new Moon Study by any chance? Do you know the charm of the New Moon Crescent?”

“No? What are you talking about?”

After saying that, Eisel turned around and disappeared. “Or not, why are you like that?”

Leaving the question behind, I moved to listen to the next lecture. Lectures were packed until the afternoon today.

* * *

{Hong Bi-Yeon’s PoV}

Whoops! bang! bang! Aww!!

A huge scarecrow burst into flames, causing a massive explosion. During the ‘Practical Use of Magic Attacks’ lecture, students shoot at the target with magic that matched their attributes.

“It’s not always about firing hard and fast. What matters is ‘accuracy,’ and even if you have powerful magic, it’s useless if you don’t hit the enemy, right?”

When the words of fire attribute professor Hong Yi-el fell, the scarecrow shrank and began to run around.

The magic of the students exploded in the air, as did Hong Bi-yeon’s magic.

Fire! thud!

She furrowed her brows, nervously pulling out the staff as a ball of flame poured into the air.

Her firepower was strong, but she couldn’t hit anything.

El Hong passed by Bi-yeon Hong and whispered.

“…that’s terrible, Biyeon.”

I paled at the words, but I closed my eyes tightly, trying not to show off too much. I raised the staff again, my lips trembling.

I felt she couldn’t do it, so I had no choice but to put down the staff.

“Hmmm…”

I was sweating as I endured the pressure that seemed to tighten my chest and heavy breathing.

‘You can’t make it obvious. You must not show your vulnerability.’

I thought I was going to pass out, but I persevered with a superhuman spirit. A girl approached me as I sat still.

“Wow… Princess, you’re incredible.”

“…What?”

“You used the same magic as me, but you had three times the power.”

Is this handy kid aware of how I’m feeling and speaking?

“What’s the point, though? It’s pointless. I’m not even sure I can hit it. I’m envious of you. You have high accuracy.”

“…But, if the princess practiced a little more, wouldn’t she be comparable to something like me?”

What do you mean? I ignored the girl’s words and stood up and picked up the staff. Thanks to the conversation, the pressure on my chest calmed down to some extent.

Come to think of it, Is she also a Flame Wizard? 

I think I’ve heard of her. Her name is Arshuang.

From the outside, there was a commotion saying that the greatest talent of all time had appeared. I think I’ve heard it before, but when she actually entered the school, her magic was so shabby that it couldn’t even be compared with Hongbi-yeon’s magic.

It was completely natural. Because Hong Bi-yeon was a world-class genius, not an all-time great. Hong Bi-yeon didn’t show much pride because she had just defeated an opponent who deserved to win.

“Whoo…”

After that, I, who had been struggling for a while to catch the running scarecrow, ran out of the classroom at the same time as the lecture was over.

It was because it was difficult for me to look at my mother’s face for even one second longer.

“Whew….”

I came to the break room and sat down without a hitch. It seems that my legs have lost strength.

It may be because I had two or three times more training than other students, and it may also be because of the psychological factor that played a big role.

“Princess.” “Yeterin, you are here. Bring me a drink. …and red ginseng candy as a bonus.”

“Here you go.”

Princess Hong Bi-yeon’s exclusive escort, Yeterin, was tall enough to be over 170 cm tall for a woman, so even Hong Bi-yeon in her late 160’s had to look slightly upward to make eye contact with her.

“By the way, what’s going on?”

“Yes. It’s about the request for a wand remodeling that you asked for the other day.”

“Ah, that.”

Hong Bi-yeon stroked her chin and pondered. Remodel the wand. I heard that sometimes alchemists remodel and carry a cane, but I’ve never seen a wizard do that before. 

‘He is unique in many ways.’ 

A boy who resonated with an upper-intermediate grade wand, was at the last place in the whole school and made his way into the S class…

“Is a magic sword possible?”

“Because the wand is so good, it seems that the best products will come out without any problems. However, there is one thing that is a little questionable.”

“Questionable?”

“That’s… the wand keeps trying to drain its owner’s mana.”

“what? Isn’t that a taboo?”

“It wasn’t exactly like that. It appeared to be constantly resonating with natural energy.”

“What kind of strange wand did he get? Stella is also strange.”

While continuously absorbing the user’s mana, at the same time resonate with nature’s mana? It’s just weird to hear.

“…why is such a garbage wand of high-intermediate grade?”

“So, it’s only of upper-intermediate grade.”

“What does that mean?”

Yeterin continued with an expression that meant she did not know how to explain this.

“Its original performance was rated higher because it had the effect of explosively enhancing the user’s magic power and amplifying it tremendously, but it was lowered to mid-level because it would take away the user’s mana just by holding it.”

“S, Superior? How does a student hold such a thing?” “That’s a question for me too.”

I know very well that it wasn’t set up for resonance in the first place. But how did you resonate with such a wand?

‘What is that strange commoner doing?’

Of course, that didn’t mean that the wand was coveted.

It was strange that the power of magic increased explosively, but the penalty of continuously stealing the user’s mana was too great.

“I don’t think he’ll use it even if I give him that wand. I don’t know if he has abundant mana, or if he doesn’t have it at all.”

That was pretty weird. If you don’t have any mana, you’re not a wizard, so why use a wand?

“…I do not know. The common man will figure it out. I will just do what I was told.”

Its owner was also one-of-a-kind, as was its wand.

There was never a time when I kept commoners in my mind, but Baek Yu-seol didn’t leave my mind for a long time in many ways.