CH.61 New Effect (1)
Busan, a lodging in Nampo-dong.
Inside a spacious room.
Kim Chae-eun was dripping with sweat as she manipulated her magic.
Jeong Seon-young watched her grueling training with sharp eyes.
Already on the third day.
It had been about that much time since Jeong Seon-young had been exclusively coaching Kim Chae-eun’s training, but there were still no significant results.
The growth of a magician was slow and abstract, just as much as the other mage classes.
Jeong Seon-young, who had been quietly observing, opened her mouth.
“More precision. Don’t use your magic casually, thinking you just need to freeze things. Just because ice magic is easier to control than other magic doesn’t mean controlling its intensity is easy. Whether you use it only enough to suppress your opponent, or to deliver a powerful blow. Those settings are for you, Chae-eun, to decide.”
“Yes…!!”
Even in her highly concentrated state, Kim Chae-eun didn’t miss Jeong Seon-young’s words and responded.
Jeong Seon-young secretly regarded her with admiration.
‘She certainly has talent.’
From Jeong Seon-young’s perspective, Kim Chae-eun was a talented Holder.
Taking her in as a temporary disciple and spending three days in Busan.
Although visible results were not apparent from an outsider’s perspective, there were subtle changes that were undoubtedly evident to Jeong Seon-young, an A-grade Holder.
Compared to other C-grade Holders, her magic power was higher, and her control over ice magic was exceptional for an ice mage.
She also quickly absorbed the lessons taught by Jeong Seon-young and sometimes attempted to apply them autonomously.
At first, when Jeong Seon-young started teaching her, it had seemed fun without much thought, but upon closer inspection, Kim Chae-eun was a disciple who lacked nothing.
‘It’s intriguing since her main rune is normal.’
While [Freezing] was a relatively rare rune among magic runes, it was still categorized as ‘normal’ in terms of its grade.
For Kim Chae-eun, a Holder with considerable talent, to have a normal rune as her main rune was quite unusual.
Even Jeong Seon-young’s [Frozen Battlefield] was considered epic.
However, it wasn’t a significant issue.
While awakening runes were the most crucial, there were many cases of obtaining runes during training or growth, and sometimes they could be acquired during dungeon exploration if luck was on their side.
In fact, handling normal runes as the main focus wasn’t a big problem.
What was more important was that she showed remarkable talent.
“Enough. Take a short break.”
Jeong Seon-young raised her hand to signal.
Upon hearing that, Kim Chae-eun halted her magical manipulation and took a deep breath to recover her accumulated breath.
“Haah… Haah…”
“You’ve worked hard. You’re improving gradually.”
“Haah… Thank you. Haah… You’ve worked hard too…”
Since becoming a temporary mentor and student, Kim Chae-eun addressed Jeong Seon-young as teacher.
She couldn’t call her professor, since she wasn’t a professor, and they didn’t have an exclusive disciple relationship, master wasn’t suitable either.
So, what was left was ‘teacher’!
… That’s how the title was decided based on that logic.
While Jeong Seon-young suggested that she could just call her senior like before, she couldn’t discourage Kim Chae-eun’s insistence.
In this aspect, Kim Chae-eun was quite tenacious.
“Have you been practicing magical breathing consistently?”
“Yes. Since coming to Busan, I’ve been doing it every day without fail.”
“Good. Just a small reminder, but it’s not only warrior-class Holders who use breathing techniques. Holders from magic-using classes should also make magical breathing a habit. Sometimes, when the concentration of natural magic essence is high and of good quality during breathing, your magic power might increase.”
The common rune among Holders who use magic, [Magic Control].
Its primary applications include sensing, manipulation, arrangement, and manifestation.
Unlike skills like [Magic Barrier] or [Magic Barrier Activation] these were unique rune abilities that weren’t recognized as skills.
Sensing and manipulation applied to most Holders, while arrangement and manifestation were primarily used by mage-class Holders.
There were also special applications like ‘breathing’, which were essentially warrior-class ways of enhancing affinity with magic and weren’t known to have much effect.
‘But it’s important for mage-class Holders too.’ Jeong Seon-young thought differently.
She believed that magical breathing was essential for mage-class Holders as well.
Mage-class Holders had limitations in becoming stronger through repetitive training, and thus, they tended to rely more on enlightenment and talent rather than training.
Magical breathing had the effect of curbing such laziness.
Although it didn’t provide much help to mage-class Holders with already high magic affinity, it was quite significant for Holders like Kim Chae-eun who aimed to improve by focusing on their training patterns.
“Sigh. I want to get stronger quickly.”
Kim Chae-eun wiped her sweat with a towel as she spoke.
Jeong Seon-young smiled contentedly while looking at her disciple.
She had a purpose, but her friend had an exceptional drive to improve at a young age.
There was no reason not to find her cute.
“Don’t be too impatient. Your current abilities are already superior to most of your peers.”
“But… I still want to reach B-grade quickly.”
“Tsk. Is that because of that fellow, the Academy’s top student, Kang Juyeon? Kang Woo-hyun’s daughter?”
“…Yes.”
Despite being classmates, she had already reached B-grade, a student Holder.
Kang Juyeon.
Kim Chae-eun was working tirelessly to catch up to her, driven by the desire to surpass her.
And that…
It was also one of the reasons why Jeong Seon-young, who had a free-spirited nature, had taken on a disciple for the first time.
A day before the opening of the auction house in Daegu.
Kim Chae-eun had visited, saying ‘I wanted to become a Holder who could assist Jae-hyun’.
Her earnestness was so touching that Jeong Seon-young had granted her request to become her disciple.
Jeong Seon-young’s face was full of playful expression as she asked again.
“So? Is Jae-hyun currently interning at the Judgement of Fire?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my. What if he’s snatched away by Kang Woo-hyun’s daughter? Like a sneaky cat.”
“…That won’t happen. No, no! It’s not about snatching or being snatched in the first place…”
“Hehe. My disciple is cute.”
Although Jeong Seon-young had expended quite a bit of energy watching over Kim Chae-eun for a long time…
For some reason, she didn’t feel tired at all.
The fresh love stories of twenty-year-old student Holders. She, who was worn out by her life as a Holder, found a refreshing source of energy that allowed her to endure the day.
***
ippotranslations
***
The duel is over.
The result is my victory.
At first, I was surprised to be fooled and to learn that she was a Multi-Holder with a sacred lineage…
But in the end, it was a fight I could only win.
There was just too much difference in our abilities.
Even though she’s also a C-grade Holder in the warrior category, my abilities are much higher due to the special effect of [Effort of the Seeker] and the acquisition of various runes.
Strength, speed, toughness, and other core stats for melee combat.
Speed might have been quite high for Shin Yuna, but most of the others would have had a noticeable difference compared to my stats.
‘When there’s an ability difference, Oppression activates.’
[Oppression] grants a certain percentage of bonus stats when fighting against opponents with lower stats.
And the already significant ability gap was further widened by the rune’s special effects.
Combined with various rune uses.
With [Ruthless Charge], I closed the distance without giving her a chance to rest, and with [Fiery Flames], I added magical attacks.
Defending against physical attacks isn’t easy, let alone magical ones.
Especially for Shin Yuna, who lacks fire resistance, fire-based magical attacks were like a fatal poison.
I’m probably still feeling the heat all over my body from the duel.
‘I have so many unused runes…’
From [Swirling Tidal Wave] to [Simple Curse] and [Venom]…
I won without even using the other runes I had.
I didn’t even use [Declaration of Domination] of [Oppression], which would have initiated the fear status effect…
The duel was an opportunity for me to personally experience how much stronger I’ve become.
“Hey…”
“Yeah?”
While contemplating the battle in silence, I felt someone calling me.
It was Shin Yuna, who had been energetically fighting me a while ago.
She struggled to speak, her expression hesitant.
“That… I’m sorry…”
“…Huh?”
What’s this all of a sudden?
Did the weather change and bring rain?
Why is she acting like this?
Shin Yuna stammered out her words, avoiding my gaze.
“I’ve been ignoring you since earlier… I thought of you as an inexperienced rookie… I’m sorry…”
“Oh, that? I don’t care. Don’t worry about it. I didn’t really think much of it anyway.”
I truly didn’t put it in mind.
Because I see provocation as part of the fight.
If I were a rookie unfamiliar with this kind of combat, Shin Yuna’s provocation would have been a sufficient strategy to use against me.
Especially considering my recent entrance as a newcomer Holder, it would have made sense.
So, I simply accepted her apology.
Seeing her, who was so confident and sure, make this kind of face was quite interesting.
“Great job, everyone! It was an impressive duel.”
This time, it was Kwon Oh-jun descending from the practice field, and Kang Juyeon was walking alongside him.
“Since the duel’s outcome has been proven, there’s probably no need to see more. Do Jae-hyun, I’m sorry for ignoring you earlier. I was shortsighted.”
And he’s even making this kind of inappropriate greeting.
These people… why are they like this?
It’s so different from before.
Next to him, Kang Juyeon had a small smile on her face.
I scratched my head and replied.
“It’s okay. I also think it was a necessary duel.”
“Haha, I guess so. You fought so well. I misjudged you as being talentless.”
“Please don’t exaggerate.”
Perhaps because he naturally has an outgoing personality, resolving awkward situations was quick for him.
Kwon Oh-jun laughed heartily and extended his hand to me.
“Anyway, let’s introduce ourselves properly again. I’m Kwon Oh-jun, leader of Hunting Team 5 in the Judgment of Fire Clan. You remember from our first greeting at the entrance, right?”
“Yes, I’m Do Jae-hyun.”
“It’s a bit late, but welcome to our Hunting Team 5. Let’s do well together from now on.”
I shook hands with Kwon Oh-jun and looked at Shin Yuna.
People who were suspicious of me and didn’t trust me just a while ago.
From now on, we would be colleagues fighting together.
After the chatty and eventful duel ended.
We finished the day with the decision that our first official workday would be tomorrow.
Although I hadn’t received the Clan Tower introduction from Kang Juyeon yet, I could wait for that. Today was meant for parting.
“My work isn’t done yet.”
However, after parting with everyone…
I was alone in the men’s restroom of the Clan Tower.
I wasn’t here to have dinner alone.
I was here to deal with information I hadn’t confirmed after winning the duel.
Concentrating, the golden information windows that I had temporarily put off were once again displayed before me.
[You’ve won the duel! Thanks to the mystical power of the Rune Hunter, you can replicate one of the opponent’s runes. Please choose the rune to replicate.]
[1. Combat (unavailable) 2. Combat Healing 3. Magic Control (unavailable) 4. Eternal Spring Fist 5. Stamina 6. Iron Wall Defense (unavailable) 7. Agile Agility (unavailable)]
Shin Yuna’s rune setup was as expected.
She possessed mostly common runes of the warrior category and had [Agile Agility] to enhance her speed.
Her primary combat runes were [Combat] and, within that, [Eternal Spring Fist], corresponding to martial arts.
Lastly, a divine lineage rune, [Combat Healing].
[Combat] was already a rune I had, and [Eternal Spring Fist] was the most basic among martial arts.
If I had to choose one, the rare [Combat Healing] seemed most fitting, even though it was tough.
I selected [Combat Healing] without much hesitation.
Finally, a divine lineage.
This was the moment to obtain a rune related to healing and sacred attributes.
[You have chosen Combat Healing. As a level 9 rare rune, it will be downgraded to level 5 upon registration.]
[You have gained a new rune.]
[Due to the nature of the rune, you have gained 4 points in the recovery attribute.]
Indeed.
Unlike the usual recovery attribute common rune, [Healing], which was common and ordinary, [Combat Healing] had the appearance of a rare rune.
Just as expected from Shin Yuna, who had completed all the academy courses, her experience was evident, even in her rune level.
I quickly acquired it, downgrading it to level 5, and gained 4 points in the recovery attribute.
It was a rapid growth for the recovery attribute, which had been lagging behind.
“Then the rune information…”
Considering the relatively light duel I had just gone through, I was quite satisfied.
I was about to check the new rune information when suddenly…
Ching-
Tsstss-
In that instant.
A dazzling light began to pour out of my body, so intense that it was almost blinding.
To be precise, it was runes.
‘Runes’, usually hidden within the flesh or exterior, were now emitting light and bursting forth from my entire body.
One, two, five, ten…
How many were there?
There were so many that they were beyond counting.
The light of the runes filled my entire body.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that every single rune was emitting light.
And then, shortly after…
A golden information window appeared before me, dazzling my vision.
“This is…”
A familiar color.
A familiar shape.
Similar to the first time I received the [Rune Hunter] after arriving in this world.
[All available rune slots are now full. A single individual rune’s possession slots are all filled.]
[Astounding Achievement! Through the extraordinary achievement of ‘Rune Hunter’ that belong exclusively to the chosen ones, you have obtained Runes up to the limit (30). As a result of this incredible first-of-its-kind achievement, you have been granted a special power.]
[Mystical power is imbued in the Rune Hunter. A new special effect is added, and rune information is updated.]
…Once again, unexpected information appeared before me.
