———
Chapter 11
This is the place New World set up as the supposed entrance to the hidden the.
As a result, no one in the village questioned this abandoned house.
Naturally, the front door was wide open.
‘There was an item hidden inside that abandoned house, and it was the tool to move on to the hidden the.’
‘Honestly, when I heard it from Alessandro before returning, I thought he was just making up a story.’
Even if his intention was to use the proverb “It’s easy to miss sothing that’s right in front of you” as a keyword, to think there’s an item to move on to the hidden the in an abandoned house like this…
It’s too contrived.
‘If it seems like a lie, you can test it.’
‘Alessandro’s confident expression… Only after using lie detection magic could I know that his words were true.’
They laughed and talked without hiding anything from each other.
What’s so great about that power…?
Jeong-hoon’s expression turned grim.
“Phew, it’s okay. For now, just think about what’s ahead.”
He stepped inside the abandoned house.
[Old Abandoned House]
The abandoned house was an old and worn-out thatched cottage.
The typical appearance of an old Korean thatched cottage.
That’s because the place Jeong-hoon is connected to and playing in is Korea.
New World has separate servers for each country.
And the environnt changes to match that server.
In Alessandro’s case, I heard it was a small mansion, not a thatched cottage.
Of course, this hidden the can only be accessed by the first user who discovers it across all servers, and after that, it disappears.
‘If I take it, Alessandro will have co up empty-handed.’
There was no sign of a portal in the abandoned house.
No users would have co this far in the first place, but even if they did, there was nothing here, so they wouldn’t have found the portal and would have just turned back.
However, the portal to the hidden the is right here.
Jeong-hoon, who entered the thatched cottage, stopped in a small room inside.
The room contained a dust-covered blanket and pillow, as if soone had once used it, and in front of them, a broken crystal ball lay alone.
‘I never dread they would put a device in the crystal ball. If I hadn’t found it, no one would have, and it would have disappeared.’
Jeong-hoon carefully reached out to the crystal.
An exclamation mark appeared above the crystal ball.
[You have discovered a hidden the!]
[You have earned 5,000 achievent points!]
An additional 5,000 achievent points.
At this rate, the achievent shop will level up soon, right?
[Would you like to move to the Field of Abundant Mana?]
When he touched the exclamation mark, a question popped up asking if he wanted to move to the hidden the.
“Yes.”
As Jeong-hoon accepted, his body was enveloped in a blue light and then swallowed by the broken crystal ball.
* * *
Capsule room.
Whoosh-
The capsule door opened, and Ha-jin stepped out.
The ti was just past 1:10 PM.
“Is he really not hungry?”
Ha-jin glanced once at the tightly closed capsule and shook his head.
As always, he ordered his favorite egg cheese ran and sat at a table, fiddling with his phone.
“Are you eating now?”
Lee Hyun-woo, the owner of the capsule room, sat across from Ha-jin.
“Hyung, aren’t you busy?”
“What is there for to do?”
Lee Hyun-woo shrugged.
He was the owner, but all he did was kill ti at the counter or enjoy New World inside a capsule.
The part-tirs were the ones who were really busy.
“I envy your life, hyung.”
Lee Hyun-woo was born with a diamond spoon in his mouth.
Originally, he was supposed to manage a 10-story building, not a capsule room, but he changed course to the capsule room when New World beca a huge success.
“Keke, you should have been born with a good spoon, too.”
“Wow, that’s really unlucky.”
“Anyway, where did your friend go?”
“In the capsule.”
“Huh… without even eating?”
“Yeah. I asked him to eat together, but he ignored .”
“Really? Well… Your friend seems really absorbed in it.”
Was his na Jeong-hoon?
He was genuinely impressed by his concentration.
Ha-jin usually ca to the capsule room at 9 o’clock, but Jeong-hoon would appear like clockwork at 6 AM.
He even finished and left at 1:30 AM.
Excluding travel ti, that ant he only spent 4 hours at ho and invested the rest in the capsule.
“He’s the type to get really into sothing once he’s hooked…”
Recently, Jeong-hoon had been living in the capsule to the point where communication was impossible unless it was through whispers within the capsule.
“Seems like it. He quickly ate so bread and milk and went back into the capsule.”
“Haha…”
Ha-jin felt a headache coming on.
He felt guilty, as if he had led his friend astray.
Jeong-hoon was originally an engineering student who wasn’t interested in capsules.
After being discharged from the military, he was a model student who planned to attend school while studying for certifications to get a job at a large company… Ironically, now he had beco a complete ga addict.
“But your friend has incredible concentration, doesn’t he?”
No matter how fun New World is, it’s not easy to go that far.
“He has amazing concentration. When he was in elentary school, he even appeared on a program called ‘Young Genius.’”
Young Genius.
A ga survival competition for 8 to 13-year-olds.
It was said that all the children who appeared on that show had extraordinary abilities.
“Wow, really? Your friend was a genius.”
“More than a genius, he was recruited because of his incredible mory.”
“mory?”
“Yeah. You could almost call it an absolute mory. Once he puts sothing in his head, he never forgets it.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. So when it ca to gas involving mory and concentration, no one could keep up with him. But he was a bit weak in calculation, so he ca in third.”
“Isn’t third place still amazing?”
“It is.”
Jeong-hoon never missed being first in his class in middle school either.
After his father passed away in an accident, his grades dropped a bit because he started working part-ti to help his mother, but even those lowered grades were still within the top 10 in the entire school.
“Huh? Hey, look at this. A level 11 player beat an instructor NPC.”
Lee Hyun-woo, who was fiddling with his phone, tilted his head.
Ha-jin, who was eating ran, looked up.
“What?”
A video was playing on the phone that Hyun-woo held out.
In the video, a beginner martial artist was sparring with an NPC instructor.
‘Level 11?’
Ha-jin’s expression suddenly turned serious.
The face was blurred, but the level 11 beginner martial artist…
For so reason, he looked strangely like Jeong-hoon.
‘No way… It can’t be, right?’
No matter how weak the instructors at the Beginner Village training center are, they should still be around level 25 to 30, right?
It can’t be. Even if he chose Martial Artist, he’s not the kind of friend to do sothing so absurd.
Look. A level 11 user is beating up a level 30 instructor.
And even dodging all of the instructor’s attacks.
‘No. Jeong-hoon can’t fight like this.’
His skill convinced Ha-jin that it wasn’t Jeong-hoon.
* * *
[You have entered the Field of Abundant Mana.]
[You have discovered a hidden the!]
[An additional 10,000 achievent points will be awarded.]
[The Achievent Shop will be upgraded from Lv.1 to Lv.2!]
Jeong-hoon’s vision went dark and then returned. He was no longer in the thatched cottage but in the middle of a field.
The mana field was made up of cube shapes.
Since he was inside one of those cubes, the floor, walls, and ceiling were made of blue bricks tightly stacked together.
“So this is the hidden the.”
This was the first ti he had entered a hidden the.
A space so full of mana.
A refreshing feeling washed over him.
[Mana Amplification Field is activated.]
[Mana is abundant.]
[Mana enters your body and settles in.]
Mana flowed naturally into Jeong-hoon with each breath he took.
‘This is incredible…’
It was truly astonishing.
To think that a place so full of mana existed in New World.
He had only heard about it, but experiencing it first hand was on a different level.
[Magic Power stat increases by 1.]
His Magic Power stat increased by 1 even though he hadn’t leveled up.
‘Good. I can increase my Magic Power a lot here.’
Jeong-hoon had never used magic before.
Unlike magic, divine power focuses on healing, detoxification, and support, so Steadfast Will reacts even with just its use, but magic is not like that.
Due to the setting of being a profound discipline, magic was sothing that couldn’t be easily learned unless you had the Mage class.
Even for Jeong-hoon, who was an all-master, magic was a path that opened very late.
That’s why he learned only one magic spell and used it in battle.
It was the sa after his return.
Even with magic power and the flow of magic morized in his head, Steadfast Will did not react as if it were firmly solidified.
Of course, this was a problem that would slowly resolve over ti, but the hidden the would accelerate that process.
[Would you like to start training?]
Jeong-hoon pressed accept.
[Scanning user.]
[No circuit diagram found in the body.]
[Would you like to construct a circuit diagram?]
At that question, the corners of Jeong-hoon’s mouth lifted.
The circuit diagram is like a power source for using magic.
Just having magic power doesn’t an you can spam magic.
New World was designed to maximize the strengths of each class, and unlike other classes, Mages complete their first class advancent by constructing a circuit diagram.
That was the reason Steadfast Will hadn’t reacted.
‘I have to construct it.’
As Jeong-hoon accepted, his body felt a surge of heat, and a single circuit diagram was created near his chest.
[Circuit diagram constructed.]
[Additional construction is not possible.]
To think it would end so simply.
The overpowered nature of the hidden the gave him goosebumps once again.
‘With this the alone, I’ve gained an additional circle.’
Circuit diagram, in other words, a circle.
Alessandro found the hidden the and gained an additional circle here.
That’s why he could have a higher circle compared to his level.
This hidden the was a big stepping stone for him to rise from an Archmage to a Sage.
The fortuitous encounter of this hidden the had co to Junghoon.
‘I’ve started off on the right foot.’
Although creating the circuit diagram in the beginning was tough.
Now that he had created it, his growth would beco smoother from here on.
This was because the conditions for activating Steadfast Will had been t.
‘Shall I test it out right away?’
As Jeong-hoon channeled his magic power, the circle near his chest began to rotate rapidly.
Normally, this would be a ti-consuming process, but this place was overflowing with mana.
As the circle rotated, it continuously absorbed the surrounding mana.
And slowly, recalling his mories, he ford the magic.
Even though he was called an all-master, learning magic was extrely difficult, so he mastered only one spell and used it actively.
Now it was ti to learn that magic.
[Martial Artist exclusive skill, ‘Steadfast Will’ is activated.]
[Skill, ‘Magic Missile (Normal)’ is acquired.]
He succeeded.
* * *
Whoosh-
The capsule door opened, and Jeong-hoon stepped out.
“Huu.”
Jeong-hoon stretched his stiff body.
From the training hall to the hidden the.
Was it because he invested all his ti in New World except for the minimum sleep?
His fatigued body scread in protest.
Well… It was natural to feel this way since he only ate one al a day and focused on New World.
“I need to rest today.”
Until the ga becos reality, he has to live with an ordinary person’s body.
Although he had a personality that was intensely focused on one thing, Jeong-hoon had a weak constitution since childhood, so there were many cases where his body couldn’t keep up.
His body, which had beco sowhat healthier not long after being discharged from the military, was holding up, but if he lost his health once, it would take a lot of ti to recover.
That would inevitably reduce the ti he could invest in New World.
So he needed to take care of his body.
“Huh? You were here?”
As he approached the refrigerator to get a drink, he found Ha-jin sitting at a table.
“Oh? Are you done with the ga? You’re done, right?”
Ha-jin jumped up and ran towards Jeong-hoon.
“Yeah. I’m done, but why?”
“Hey, I saw soone who looks just like you.”
“Soone who looks like ?”
“Yeah. I don’t know who it was, but a level 11 player was beating up an instructor.”
“Ah, that was .”
Ha-jin’s jaw dropped as Jeong-hoon calmly affird it.
“What the fuck?”
“Can’t you tell just by looking? That was . I sparred with an NPC instructor at the Martial Arts Hall.”
“No way… You’re that good at fighting?”
“It’s a ga.”
“A ga? Dude, the only things that get adjusted in virtual reality are your level and stats. But you, at level 11, defeated a level 30 instructor. How am I supposed to understand this?”
“I’m not level 11 anymore. I’m level 16 now.”
“Level 11 or 16, it’s all the sa!”
Beating up an instructor at either level was an incredible feat.
“Anyway, I’m tired. I’m heading ho, so co with if you want.”
“Ho? That’s not the point right now! Guilds that are interested in you are leaving comnts non-stop!”
“Love calls?”
If it’s love calls, it must be from guilds.
If they’re sending love calls just because of one sparring match with an instructor, it’s probably from small to mid-sized guilds.
“Prepare to be amazed! It’s from Ho-yeong! Ho-yeong!”
“Ho-yeong…?”
Jeong-hoon’s steps faltered.
————
Reviews
All reviews (0)