Sungchul turned to look at Dungeon Master who had been standing behind him like some sort of neighborhood uncle who came to spectate whatever was happening, with his hands grasped together behind his back.
“Mmm. I don’t think it would consume God’s Dirt to learn spells. Could I get a discount, or get a chance to redeem things that I skipped?”
Sungchul was justified in what he had said. He wasn’t given the full amount of tokens he was owed for the reason that there was not enough God’s Dirt available to do so.
“Ah, right. Sorry it slipped my mind. I forgot to give you one of the rewards.”
The Dungeon Master laughed as he handed Sungchul something.
“This is the reward for the nineth trial that had been skipped.”
It was an elixir. The useless rewards given to him after the clearing of each of the Ultimate Trials.
Sungchul saw this and replied bluntly.
“And where am I supposed to be using this?”
The Dungeon Master wagged a finger and replied in his characteristically bright voice.
“Eh hem. You don’t know the long and the short of it! The Elixir of Aegehios granted upon the clearing of Ultimate trials are very precious things. Challengers would fight to the death over this highest class of Elixirs. An observant challenger would have noticed, but these highest tiers of Elixir can’t be found in the shop! Isn’t it strange if you think about it, considering that the shop offers even the Final Elixir?”
“T…this?”
Now that he thought of it, various types of Elixirs could be found in the Fairy shop, but none of them were the same type as the ones that were the rewards of Ultimate Trials.
He vaguely recalled Voulu’s reaction when he first obtained the Elixir(highest grade).
‘Does that mean there was some secret hiding in this otherwise ordinary looking elixir?’
As soon as Sungchul thought as much, the Dungeon Master tapped Sungchul on the shoulder.
“It looks like you don’t believe me. Oy, Master Genie. Say something.”
When the Dungeon Master addressed the center Genie, the said Genie nodded and replied.
“Yes, it is as Dungeon Master said. We, here at the Palace of Wishes, also accept Elixirs.”
“And how much are they worth?”
The Master Genie gave a big smile at Sungchul’s question.
“Ten thousand tokens each.”
“Eweh…?!”
Bertelgia gave a weird sound.
Sungchul was likewise surprised.
“This one elixir is worth ten thousand tokens?”
Sungchul asked as he raised an elixir.
“But of course!”
The Dungeon Master butt in between Sungchul and the genie as if he was waiting for this reply and nodded.
“This dungeon wasn’t made for monsters like you. Most challengers who come here have to put their lives on the line and fight each battle viciously as if their lives depended on it.”
“…”
That was true.
The Dungeon Master continued to speak.
“In a place where healing items are premium that are extremely limited, it is by no accident that Elixirs are set as rewards for the Ultimate Trials. The will to put off using precious items, it is yet another way to test the Resolve of those who come.”
As he spoke, he pointed towards the outside as he continued.
“And to put it into perspective, the bird brain outside already used up all of his precious elixirs. Unlike you.”
“I see.”
Whatever the reason may be, Sungchul learned that the Elixirs(Highest grade) was actually a currency of immense value in the Palace of Wishes.
The total number of Elixirs(Highest Grade) available to him was nine.
And all of them were unopened items in mint conditions.
Sungchul took out and arranged all the elixirs before the Master Genie before taking a glance around at the other Genies surrounding them as he asked.
“How many Elixirs do you require in order to learn the highest class of spells?”
“Five should be enough. Of course, you would need to meet the minimum Intuition requirements.”
The Genie replied.
“But with your level of Intuition, you should have no trouble learning almost anything at our disposal.”
It was finally shopping time.
Sungchul outwardly appeared to be calm and collected, but he was feeling like a child again as he quickly made his way towards the Genie who was making ice sculptures and fiddling around with it.
“I would like to learn Ice magic.”
Sungchul’s inner thoughts were exposed instantly without any attempt to hide it.
“Ice magic?”
The eyes of the Genie flashed even as the cold puffs of fog emitted from it.
Sungchul nodded with his face looking sincere and serious.
‘With this, I should be able to eat not only Ice Crème, but even nengmyun (cold noodles) or dongchimi (type of cold radish kimchi soup)’
With his sincere expression on his face, his mouth was salivating.
“Hmmm…”
Bertelgia seemed disapproving. She already knew what was going on in Sungchul’s head.
She had the terrible premonition that he wished to learn magic for reasons other than combat, to misuse the magic in ways it was never intended.
“Are you sure you didn’t pick Ice magic to use in cooking?”
Bertelgia asked Sungchul bluntly as he was conversing with the Ice Genie.
“What nonsense are you saying, Bertelgia?”
Sungchul seemed outraged but Bertelgia already saw right through him.
And to make matters worse, even the Dungeon Master came slowly wandering up to where Sungchul was with his hands behind him.
“Ice Magic? Well, it’s all good and all, but I can’t say that synergy is good with a strong and fast fella like you.”
“…”
Sungchul did not reply, but he felt a prickle of doubt. It was because the Dungeon Master was right.
The purpose and the strength of Ice magic did not come from its inherent destructive capabilities but rather utilizing cold to slow down and inhibit movements of enemies.
For someone as fast and agile as Sungchul, it was a completely useless ability. He could just forgo trying to freeze them and simply run up to them and give them a whack.
“Hey, what are you doing? You’re the Dungeon Master, what are you doing going around in other palaces and mettling in others’ affairs?”
The Ice Genie complained bitterly to the Dungeon Master.
The Dungeon Master gave a laugh before wandering away with his hand behind his back.
“…”
The heckler was gone, but it was too late to save Sungchul’s passion for Ice magic.
“Now, what kind of Ice magic do you desire, human?”
Despite the ice Genie asking him passionately, Sungchul shook his head and turned to leave.
“Damn it!”
The next one Sungchul approached was the Genie emitting embers.
‘A camp fire as good and all but it’s a pain to get started, and it would be nice to be able to make some dishes that require a sudden blast of intense heat.’
But even before he made it to the Fire Genie, the Dungeon Master was once again loitering nearby.
“Pyromancy? Hmm Py~ro?”
“Damn it.”
Sungchul felt as if he was read again.
Sungchul took a step back.
It wasn’t like Pyromancy was a bad school of magic. But for someone like him who already had access to high single impact destructive capability, it would make little to no difference.
‘Should I learn dimensional magic instead then?’
Sungchul turned to look at the Genie in the corner who was repeatedly blinking back and forth rapidly to appeal its own school of magic.
“Blink has a lot of counters and limitations. And in the end, it’s just a support magic. Su~pport magic, you see. Hmm…”
The Dungeon Master once again interjected from the side.
Sungchul could have ignored him, for sure. But the fact that the Dungeon Master was right was rubbing the wrong way with Sungchul.
“Then do you have anything you recommend?”
He was fed up and decided to just ask the Dungeon Master directly.
To this, the Dungeon Master laughed out loud and pointed to a corner.
It was an empty space.
But when he took a second glance, he noticed something spinning so fast it was nearly imperceptible.
‘Is he making a tornado?’
Sungchul returned his gaze to the Dungeon Master.
“It seems as though Wind Magic is not common in the world any longer.”
“Wind Magic you say.”
Wind magic.
In the large and wide world, there was not one magic school that teaches that class of magic any longer.
It was because that school of magic had been lost to history long ago in the past.
Even from his own extensive experiences fighting Followers of Calamities, not once had Sungchul ran into anyone using Aeromancy or the like.
The only ones he had seen using wind-based magic were the Lesser God Todhau, Marakia in his former glory before the reincarnation, and Aquiroa of the Floating Fortress.
“Wind magic in other name is Atmospheric magic. Not only can it control wind, it’s a dynamic school of magic that can control even lightening.
It seems as though the Dungeon Master was a fan of this wind magic. But Sungchul had no intentions simply going along with the Dungeon Masters’ taste.
“I will check out other schools of magics first.”
Sungchul started from his immediate left and began to ask about spells and their effects from the Genies.
Starting with the most popular schools of magic like Pyromancy and Cryomancy, Sungchul began his explorations into the many schools of magic.
And the spell that was most memorable to him was none other than the most powerful spell under the Pyromancy class of magic called Armageddon.
It was an incredible 8th circle spell.
It was an entire circle higher than even his Star Light.
‘Now that I think of it, I still have the Scroll of Armageddon in my Soul Storage.’
It had been Vestiare’s present. But Sungchul did not end up using the scroll.
He had a terrible premonition with it. Even Marakia agreed that it was a trap.
But had Sungchul not have had sufficient Magic Power during the conclusion of the First Calamity in his fight against Hesthnius Max, he would have unhesitatingly used the scroll.
It was a bone chilling thought.
Ignoring the fact that Sungchul himself would have been exposed to the destructions and flames of hell that Armageddon would have brought and be critically injured, his long-time partner Bertelgia would have gone up in flames and scattered into the winds.
‘I was lucky.’
Sungchul felt that his time at the Summoning Palace and Airfruit Magic Academy was not wasted as he headed off to the next Genie.
The next Genie, unfortunately, was the Genie of Sungchul’s main school of magic of Cosmomancy, or the Genie of Light Magic.
“Incredible that there are still humans that are capable of learning Starlight left in the world. It is not an easy spell to master.”
The Genie of Light gave his praises.
Sungchul asked if there were anything more powerful to learn.
Unfortunately, there were no spells within the Cosmomancy school of magic that outranked Starlight.
But, the Genie did have access to a modified version of Starlight the Genie himself created.
“It’s the same as Starlight, but it comes with a suffix of Breaker. It’s a customized spell. The effectiveness is roughly 1.5 times as strong as the original Starlight! It might not seem like much when said like that, but as you might know, Starlight is quite the powerful spell already.”
“Mmm… But it seems real sus somehow.”
Bertelgia muttered to herself after hearing the name.
Sungchul agreed.
“Spells with long names are for little girls. It does not suit me.”
Sungchul utterly gave up on the custom variant of Starlight.
“Any other spells to offer?”
Sungchul asked the Genie of light, to which the Genie showed Sungchul a list of spells available.
<Light Magic>
???? – 9th Circle
Glory – 8th Circle
Starlight – 7th Circle
Prism – 6th Circle
Meteor – 5th Circle
…
Sungchul did not check any spells below the 5th Circle.
However, he was bothered by something he had never seen before.
“What’s that nameless spell?”
Sungchul first asked about the 9th Circle spell.
“That’s a spell not only I can bestow. And you shouldn’t even think of wanting to learn it. Even from among those in the Trascendental World, only a few chosen from God are able to use it.”
“Really?”
“But it’s not an offensive spell like you’ve been wanting.”
“Is that so? And what’s this Glory? Is this also not an offensive spell as well?”
The Genie of Light nodded.
“That’s a Leadership Magic.”
“Leadership Magic?”
“It’s a spell that affects one or more beings who stand under your banner and receive its effects as a group. Glory has an effect that slightly increases the ability points and courage of those who see the light you create.”
“It is not a spell that is compatible with me.”
Furthermore, it costs 4 Elixirs. It would cost roughly half of his total savings.
And the remaining 6th circle spell Prism was also not a useful spell for Sungchul.
It was a spell that could simultaneously heal while dealing damage, but its effective power was incomparably low compared to Starlight and Meteor that it wouldn’t be all that useful for sungchul.
“Mmm…”
With the discussions with the Genie of light, Sungchul finished speaking with the rest of the Genies present in the palace.
He didn’t want to admit it, but Sungchul felt that the Dungeon Master’s recommendation may have had a point.
After considering each schools of magic, in the end the only school he was left as a real choice was the school of Wind Magic that was now considered a primordial and lost line of magic in modern times.
Sungchul had asked each Genies if there were any spells that could match or exceed Starlight in power or accuracy, but although there were spells that could more or less serve as alternatives in terms of power, there were virtually no spells that had the precision and accuracy that Starlight boasted.
They all had too many conditions, and more importantly, hitting a fast target was often the primary issue with most of them.
Especially something like Armageddon had a long-standing and standardized strategy on how to properly use it, such as using Cryomancy type spells to freeze or immobilize the enemy before laying the Armageddon on top of them, and such.
Unless Sungchul had a 3rd Magic Fingerprint, such wistful strategy was impossible.
Meanwhile, Wind Magic school of spells had the power and speed, and even area of effect that Sungchul had been looking for.
<Wind Magic>
Mega Cyclone – 8th Circle
Thunder Breaker – 7th Circle
Chain Lightening – 6th Circle
Wind Shield – 5th Circle
…
Mega Cyclone was the spell the Lesser God at the Tower of Recluse had used. Not only did it boast amazing destructive powers, it also had high utility in creating an effective wall or obstacle on the battlefield.
Thunder Breaker was also another spell that had been used by the Lesser God at the Tower of Recluse. Aquiroa had also attempted to use this spell on Sungchul.
The incantations were long, but once it finishes, it was a spell that spread a raging wave of undodgable lightening all around to destroy everything in the vicinity.
Although it was a weaker spell than Starlight against a single foe, it was a very consistent and effective way to deal with a large number of enemies or enemies with immense capacity for dodging.
But the best spell in the Wind Magic school was not above the 7th circle but rather below it.
Chain Lightning.
It was an offensive spell that fired a bolt of over-charged lightning that would jump from foe to foe to burn them to crisp.
It was a comparatively lower circle of spell at the 6th circle, but it had every stengths and advantages that Sungchul had been seeking.
The trifecta of fast utilization, destructive capacity, and large area of effect.
With an incantation nearly as short as Glare, he would be able to do an attack that was dozens of times more powerful.
The only drawback was that it had high mana cost and it was less effective against individual targets. But for Sungchul with high Magic Power and now Resolve, it no longer posed a problem.
And the last 5th circle spell Wind Shield was not too different from other sheld-type spells from other schools but for some reason had the benefit of being an entire circle higher than all the others as well as having particularly high physical defenses.
‘Mmm.’
After his painful encounter with Kaz Almeira’s blade, Sungchul thought to himself that he should get himself the Wind Shield for sure.
“Mega Cyclone is 6 Elixirs, Thunder Breaker and Chain Lightening are 5, and Wind Shield is 3.”
The Wind Genie went ahead to tell him the price.
However, it was a bit pricy.
“Why is the Thunder Breaker and Chain Lightning the same price?”
Sungchul immediately complained.
The Genie spun around his braid as he answered.
“It can’t be helped. Chain Lightning is really popular. And drop the preconceived notion that higher circle of spells are always better and more expensive. Being higher Circle is not an absolute measure of a spell’s worth.”
“He’s right. And to be fair, this world’s magic… it’s unbalanced.”
The Dungeon Master said.
He went further to show Sungchul something.
“Aegehios, go show him that.”
As he bid, the cow-headed giant appeared from the void and showed Sungchul something.
It was a scene outside of Aegehios, in the broken cliffs by the ocean. A group of Order of Extinction cultists were laying in ambush.
“Those fellows out there were starting to set up since you’ve came in here. At first there were only a few, but now there’s an entire battalion of them. And it seems like they even have some tools to call in some help from the other world.”
The Dungeon Master said.
‘Are they hoping to get me as soon as I get out?’
It was a great opportunity for the Order of Extinction. They would be able to monopolize Dungeon Aegehios for themselves as well as eliminate Sungchul.
“Chain Lightning is a spell best suited to fight lots of trash like those.”
The Wind Magic Evangelist Dungeon Master urged him on.
Sungchul was more interested in getting Thunder Breaker over Chain Lightening, but he realized that it was more useful for him to have a spell that took nearly no time for wind up so he finally relented.
‘I guess I can’t help it. Truth be told, it does seem like Chain Lightening is optimal for fighting groups like those.’
So Sungchul finally agreed to take on Wind Magic as his second main school.
Chain Lightening and Wind Shield were added to Sungchul’s Magic screen.
And on top of it all, the Dungeon Master had prepared another present for Sungchul.
“If you hand over all your remaining Elixirs to me, I’ll try and convince the Genie of Light to teach you Glory, using my authority as Dungeon Master that is!”
The Dungeon Master appeared to want to seem like he was speaking out of the goodness of his heart, but Sungchul was unconvinced.
“Glory?”
Sungchul wanted some more spicy offensive magic like Mega Cyclone or Thunder Breaker.
The Dungeon Master seemed completely unmoved.
“I can’t give you popular spells. If you don’t want it, get some cheap spells then.”
“Mmm…”
He didn’t like it but he relented.
Sungchul handed over his last two remaining Elixirs and obtained the 8th Circle Leadership Spell Glory.
And finally, his visit to the Palace of Wishes came to an end.
Sungchul felt newfound power fill his second Magic Fingerprint as he left the palace and made his way back to the market.
It was time to use the rest of his tokens to buy items.
1 more chapter is out! Click Next chap.
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It was a spell that spread a raging wave of undodgable lightening –> it was a spell that spread a raging wave of undodgable lightning
but it had every stengths and advantages that Sungchul had been seeking. –> but it had every strengths and advantages that Sungchul had been seeking.
Rip the Church