“Insights… tell me in detail.”
“The Ring of the Great Sage you wear is undeniably powerful. The ability to use all existing blue magic as well as multiplying the Magic Power by 5… You could buy a country if you were to sell the ring.”
Sungjin lifted up his hands to take a look at the ring inside which a strange blue material floated around within.
‘But it looks like any old cheap toy ring you could buy for a dollar at a street vendor… and this thing is worth as much as a country?’
“But as you can probably tell, you can only make use of the amplified Magic Power if you have sufficient mana to handle it.”
“Hmm…”
“There is a great deal of Blue Magic that would become very useful with higher mana pool. Even if it isn’t a spell at the pinnacle like the 9th class spells, there’s still Ice Shield, Teleport, Ice Lance, Blizzard Storm and other powerful spells that exist in every class. But the only spell you can use right now is…”
“Yeah, the 2nd class or below, Frost Bite; Just one.”
“Yes, that is correct. I believe it was said that you can use the effects of the Ring of the Great Sage for up to 30 seconds upon activation… but that’s not all that important. There is too little mana to matter…”
“Mmm…”
He was not wrong.
“Then… I need to raise Mind Power from this point on, right? And a lot of it?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“And avoid raising Magic Power for now?”
“That is also correct. While it is nice to have a high amount of Magic Power, you can’t use any of it as it is right now. And if possible, using higher class magic will be more useful. The common belief is that it is a much more effective use of mana to use one class 4 spell than two class 2 spells.”
“Hmm… really?”
“Yes.”
Sungjin pondered for a moment. In the past, Edward had most certainly said
‘One shot of Fireball is better than two rounds of firebolt.’
“But if you think of it that way, then the most efficient use of mana is to just use the 9th class magic.”
“Yes, that is the case. I have never used it, so I do not know for sure… but if you are able to turn back time… anything should become possible. Especially for Master who is skilled with the sword…”
“Mmm yeah… what do you think about my current level of Magic Power? How many seconds would I be able to go back in time with the 9th class spell? Assuming I have enough mana.”
“For the exact number… I cannot say. However, I will say this that Master is already an excellent mage. And with the help of the ring, Master can rise to the prominent ranks of a Great Wizard and leave a mark in history as a user of the 9th class magic.”
“Really? Mmm… Then I should first aim to raise my mana.”
“For that purpose, please look at this.”
Soldamyr placed a sheet of paper on top of the table. Sungjin took a look. On the paper was written
‘11119, 13725’
These were somehow a familiar set of values, but Sungjin couldn’t immediately recall where he had seen them. Sungjin asked Soldamyr
“What is this?”
“This is Master’s current Magic Power and Mind Power.”
“Ahh, I see.”
Last night, Soldamyr had asked
‘Master, what is your current Magic and Mind power levels?’
So he answered with
‘Operator, show Soldamyr my current stats.’
But he soon forgot about it. Soldamyr pointed towards the numbers on the page.
“Those are master’s basic stats.”
He then quickly wrote additional values.
‘12787, 15784’
“These are in the case of 15% bonus, which is when you have any title equipped other than Master Hunter. And these are”
‘14455, 17843’
“Your stats when you use the Master Hunter title. If you raise your Magic Power by 5 here, it becomes 72275. And if you multiply another 9 on top of that, it becomes the amount of mana required to activate the 9th class blue magic spell Time Reversal, which comes to 650475.”
“What an absurd amount.”
“Yes, it means you need roughly 50,000 more Mind power in order to use it just once.”
“If I had known this would happen, I would have invested fewer points into magic power.”
“No, not at all. If your magic power is too low… it could result in going back by a mere second or two after using all that mana to cast the spell. That would also be very unhelpful. It is better this way. Just work hard towards slowly building up your mana and unlocking one class at a time.”
“Hmm… yeah. But it is still a little disappointing. I had thought I might be able to use the Time Reversal right away.”
“9th Class magic were often called Spells of the Divine Order. Typically only Dragons are able to cast them as they are the true masters of magic power. Without a Dragon’s Heart…”
Sungjin tilted his head when he heard that.
“Hmm?”
“Yes?”
“Just now… did you say Dragon’s Heart?”
“Yes, Dragon’s Heart.”
“That… I got one last raid.”
“Excuse me? Dragon’s Heart? The origin of mana?”
“Yeah”
Soldamyr’s mouth was agape.
“What?”
Now that he thought of it, Soldamyr was not around when Sungjin had picked up the Dragon’s Heart. Sungjin had called him out after meeting Ariane and not even once after returning to Ninety Nine Nights did he have a chance to see it, as Sungjin left it behind at the Black Market as soon as he arrived.
“That… where is it now?”
“I left it with the smithy, to make another weapon.”
“Huh… In that case… we’ll just have to believe in the skill of the blacksmith. I do not know what kind of blade would be made but… It would be great if the sword retained the true nature of the Dragon’s Heart.”
Sungjin asked him
“By True nature…”
“Supplying Mana. If the sword can do that, You might be able to use the Time Reversal as early as the next round.”
“Mmm, I see…”
Sungjin paused for a moment to look out the window as he thought
‘Well, we can’t help but believe in Kargos… He promised to make a spellblade… I’ll just take his word for it.’
But then he remembered his words.
‘“I treat all items that pass through my hand as my own children; I give it my best for my children. But just because I am their father it does not mean that I can predict how they will end up as adults.’
The die has already been cast. Now all he could do was pray that the roll was favorable.
*
Four Thirty in the morning, Sungjin headed towards Darker than Black again.
“I’ll buy that emperor staff or whatever you called it.”
“I guess the troll hunt is going well? Here you go.”
Sungjin received the item and held it above his head.
Staff of Helix – Sceptre of the Warlord
Heroic Staff – Strength B Dexterity C
Active Skill
Draft (I) – Summons all Chosen Ones. Chosen ones are able to reject the summon.
Cooldown 1 day.
Mandatory Draft (I) – Forcefully summons the Chosen Ones who rejected the Draft. Those who are summoned this way are unable to leave the Dimension for 10 minutes.
Cooldown 1 day.
Inspection (I) – Select a Chosen One and check the situation. May choose to teleport to the Chosen One being viewed.
Cooldown 5 minutes.
The child grinned jestfully as he said
‘In the world of kings, I will become the smallest, yet the largest king of the jungle’
But his eyes were filled with certainty.
Sungjin accepted it. It had all the functions he was promised. Summoning and observing. But then it also had a peculiar function he did not expect.
“Can refuse the summon… and then forcefully summon…”
Sungjin muttered to himself. The Darker than Black Merchant said
“If there is a king… there is bound to be a disobedient subject. Perhaps even a rebel…”
“Mmm…”
Sungjin thought for a moment. Nada, Franz, and Serin. He had only gathered people he trusted, so he didn’t think about the possibility of betrayal before.
‘Well… That probably won’t happen. I picked them myself…’
Sungjin thought to himself as he looked up. But then Darker than Black merchant broke into a grin and said
“What do you think, what if you lost your memories of the past and had run into Edward. Don’t you think you would have chosen him too?”
Sungjin stiffened up from his words. Edward had been extremely gentle and kind. If Sungjin had not regressed to the past and had met Edward
‘I would have chosen him, without a doubt.’
It was true. He had a great personality, high ability, and great skill with magic. And he even managed to gather all the parts of the “Stories from the West”, obtaining a book equal to the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’. Thinking of its possibility, it deeply shook Sungjin.
‘Betrayed by the people I picked, with the bonus stats that I gave…’
That would be dangerous. He had told Nada that he would conduct an interview, but an interview was nothing more than a single momentary interaction. It couldn’t reveal a person’s innermost nature.
“If I were you, I would put that eye to good use.”
“Eye?”
Sungjin stared at him. Sungjin noticed that the man’s gaze was off to the side. He was looking at his ears instead of his eyes. Sungjin realized that the ‘eyes’ he was referring to was the earring, ‘Eye of Jeremiah’, the mind reading earring. Then he got an idea
‘What if… I use it on this man?’
So Sungjin intentionally touched the earring as he said
“Ahh… this. Yes, this is very good.”
The man immediately replied
“Yes, but don’t go trying to read my mind.”
Sungjin visibly withered.
‘As I thought, it doesn’t work.’
The merchant pointed at Sungjin’s hands and said
“You seem… to value that ring a lot, but I think differently. I think that earring will be far more useful to you.”
Sungjin thought about it carefully.
‘He’s not wrong.’
And then the man muttered
“Well, both of them contain power of half god half humans… but anyway, this is it for shopping, right?”
“An…. no. I still have…16215 coins. So I want to buy an elixir.”
“I told you last time, but you can buy the Elixir in multiples of thousands.
“Then I’ll buy as many as I can. 16,000 complete transaction.”
“How cool, you are.”
Sungjin raised both his hands and replied
“I already bought everything I needed.”
The man took out a glass bottle containing a black colored liquid. The bottle had exactly the same design as the Holy Water of Baptism.
Except, the liquid contained within was of a different color. Sungjin accepted it and drank it right away. Although the color was black… Sungjin felt odd and checked the bottle after he drank it.
“The color is black… but there’s no flavor or smell.”
“Well, it’s that kind of item.”
Sungjin said while looking at him with eyes full of suspicion.
“Operator, how many unallocated stat points do I have?”
[You have 3200 Unallocated Points.]
Sungjin stopped being skeptical.
“The effects are good. Then… Once the next raid is over… I will be back.”
“As you wish.”
Sungjin placed the King’s Sceptre into the Cube as he left Darker than Black. Kargos should be close to finishing turning a Dragon’s Heart into a sword.
Sungjin headed towards the Black Market. But meanwhile, he recalled the Merchant’s words.
‘Perhaps even a rebel.’
Sungjin muttered to himself in the empty Black Market street.
“Rebel… A rebellion…”
“Insights… tell me in detail.”
“The Ring of the Great Sage you wear is undeniably powerful. The ability to use all existing blue magic as well as multiplying the Magic Power by 5… You could buy a country if you were to sell the ring.”
Sungjin lifted up his hands to take a look at the ring inside which a strange blue material floated around within.
‘But it looks like any old cheap toy ring you could buy for a dollar at a street vendor… and this thing is worth as much as a country?’
“But as you can probably tell, you can only make use of the amplified Magic Power if you have sufficient mana to handle it.”
“Hmm…”
“There is a great deal of Blue Magic that would become very useful with higher mana pool. Even if it isn’t a spell at the pinnacle like the 9th class spells, there’s still Ice Shield, Teleport, Ice Lance, Blizzard Storm and other powerful spells that exist in every class. But the only spell you can use right now is…”
“Yeah, the 2nd class or below, Frost Bite; Just one.”
“Yes, that is correct. I believe it was said that you can use the effects of the Ring of the Great Sage for up to 30 seconds upon activation… but that’s not all that important. There is too little mana to matter…”
“Mmm…”
He was not wrong.
“Then… I need to raise Mind Power from this point on, right? And a lot of it?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“And avoid raising Magic Power for now?”
“That is also correct. While it is nice to have a high amount of Magic Power, you can’t use any of it as it is right now. And if possible, using higher class magic will be more useful. The common belief is that it is a much more effective use of mana to use one class 4 spell than two class 2 spells.”
“Hmm… really?”
“Yes.”
Sungjin pondered for a moment. In the past, Edward had most certainly said
‘One shot of Fireball is better than two rounds of firebolt.’
“But if you think of it that way, then the most efficient use of mana is to just use the 9th class magic.”
“Yes, that is the case. I have never used it, so I do not know for sure… but if you are able to turn back time… anything should become possible. Especially for Master who is skilled with the sword…”
“Mmm yeah… what do you think about my current level of Magic Power? How many seconds would I be able to go back in time with the 9th class spell? Assuming I have enough mana.”
“For the exact number… I cannot say. However, I will say this that Master is already an excellent mage. And with the help of the ring, Master can rise to the prominent ranks of a Great Wizard and leave a mark in history as a user of the 9th class magic.”
“Really? Mmm… Then I should first aim to raise my mana.”
“For that purpose, please look at this.”
Soldamyr placed a sheet of paper on top of the table. Sungjin took a look. On the paper was written
‘11119, 13725’
These were somehow a familiar set of values, but Sungjin couldn’t immediately recall where he had seen them. Sungjin asked Soldamyr
“What is this?”
“This is Master’s current Magic Power and Mind Power.”
“Ahh, I see.”
Last night, Soldamyr had asked
‘Master, what is your current Magic and Mind power levels?’
So he answered with
‘Operator, show Soldamyr my current stats.’
But he soon forgot about it. Soldamyr pointed towards the numbers on the page.
“Those are master’s basic stats.”
He then quickly wrote additional values.
‘12787, 15784’
“These are in the case of 15% bonus, which is when you have any title equipped other than Master Hunter. And these are”
‘14455, 17843’
“Your stats when you use the Master Hunter title. If you raise your Magic Power by 5 here, it becomes 72275. And if you multiply another 9 on top of that, it becomes the amount of mana required to activate the 9th class blue magic spell Time Reversal, which comes to 650475.”
“What an absurd amount.”
“Yes, it means you need roughly 50,000 more Mind power in order to use it just once.”
“If I had known this would happen, I would have invested fewer points into magic power.”
“No, not at all. If your magic power is too low… it could result in going back by a mere second or two after using all that mana to cast the spell. That would also be very unhelpful. It is better this way. Just work hard towards slowly building up your mana and unlocking one class at a time.”
“Hmm… yeah. But it is still a little disappointing. I had thought I might be able to use the Time Reversal right away.”
“9th Class magic were often called Spells of the Divine Order. Typically only Dragons are able to cast them as they are the true masters of magic power. Without a Dragon’s Heart…”
Sungjin tilted his head when he heard that.
“Hmm?”
“Yes?”
“Just now… did you say Dragon’s Heart?”
“Yes, Dragon’s Heart.”
“That… I got one last raid.”
“Excuse me? Dragon’s Heart? The origin of mana?”
“Yeah”
Soldamyr’s mouth was agape.
“What?”
Now that he thought of it, Soldamyr was not around when Sungjin had picked up the Dragon’s Heart. Sungjin had called him out after meeting Ariane and not even once after returning to Ninety Nine Nights did he have a chance to see it, as Sungjin left it behind at the Black Market as soon as he arrived.
“That… where is it now?”
“I left it with the smithy, to make another weapon.”
“Huh… In that case… we’ll just have to believe in the skill of the blacksmith. I do not know what kind of blade would be made but… It would be great if the sword retained the true nature of the Dragon’s Heart.”
Sungjin asked him
“By True nature…”
“Supplying Mana. If the sword can do that, You might be able to use the Time Reversal as early as the next round.”
“Mmm, I see…”
Sungjin paused for a moment to look out the window as he thought
‘Well, we can’t help but believe in Kargos… He promised to make a spellblade… I’ll just take his word for it.’
But then he remembered his words.
‘“I treat all items that pass through my hand as my own children; I give it my best for my children. But just because I am their father it does not mean that I can predict how they will end up as adults.’
The die has already been cast. Now all he could do was pray that the roll was favorable.
*
Four Thirty in the morning, Sungjin headed towards Darker than Black again.
“I’ll buy that emperor staff or whatever you called it.”
“I guess the troll hunt is going well? Here you go.”
Sungjin received the item and held it above his head.
Staff of Helix – Sceptre of the Warlord
Heroic Staff – Strength B Dexterity C
Active Skill
Draft (I) – Summons all Chosen Ones. Chosen ones are able to reject the summon.
Cooldown 1 day.
Mandatory Draft (I) – Forcefully summons the Chosen Ones who rejected the Draft. Those who are summoned this way are unable to leave the Dimension for 10 minutes.
Cooldown 1 day.
Inspection (I) – Select a Chosen One and check the situation. May choose to teleport to the Chosen One being viewed.
Cooldown 5 minutes.
The child grinned jestfully as he said
‘In the world of kings, I will become the smallest, yet the largest king of the jungle’
But his eyes were filled with certainty.
Sungjin accepted it. It had all the functions he was promised. Summoning and observing. But then it also had a peculiar function he did not expect.
“Can refuse the summon… and then forcefully summon…”
Sungjin muttered to himself. The Darker than Black Merchant said
“If there is a king… there is bound to be a disobedient subject. Perhaps even a rebel…”
“Mmm…”
Sungjin thought for a moment. Nada, Franz, and Serin. He had only gathered people he trusted, so he didn’t think about the possibility of betrayal before.
‘Well… That probably won’t happen. I picked them myself…’
Sungjin thought to himself as he looked up. But then Darker than Black merchant broke into a grin and said
“What do you think, what if you lost your memories of the past and had run into Edward. Don’t you think you would have chosen him too?”
Sungjin stiffened up from his words. Edward had been extremely gentle and kind. If Sungjin had not regressed to the past and had met Edward
‘I would have chosen him, without a doubt.’
It was true. He had a great personality, high ability, and great skill with magic. And he even managed to gather all the parts of the “Stories from the West”, obtaining a book equal to the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’. Thinking of its possibility, it deeply shook Sungjin.
‘Betrayed by the people I picked, with the bonus stats that I gave…’
That would be dangerous. He had told Nada that he would conduct an interview, but an interview was nothing more than a single momentary interaction. It couldn’t reveal a person’s innermost nature.
“If I were you, I would put that eye to good use.”
“Eye?”
Sungjin stared at him. Sungjin noticed that the man’s gaze was off to the side. He was looking at his ears instead of his eyes. Sungjin realized that the ‘eyes’ he was referring to was the earring, ‘Eye of Jeremiah’, the mind reading earring. Then he got an idea
‘What if… I use it on this man?’
So Sungjin intentionally touched the earring as he said
“Ahh… this. Yes, this is very good.”
The man immediately replied
“Yes, but don’t go trying to read my mind.”
Sungjin visibly withered.
‘As I thought, it doesn’t work.’
The merchant pointed at Sungjin’s hands and said
“You seem… to value that ring a lot, but I think differently. I think that earring will be far more useful to you.”
Sungjin thought about it carefully.
‘He’s not wrong.’
And then the man muttered
“Well, both of them contain power of half god half humans… but anyway, this is it for shopping, right?”
“An…. no. I still have…16215 coins. So I want to buy an elixir.”
“I told you last time, but you can buy the Elixir in multiples of thousands.
“Then I’ll buy as many as I can. 16,000 complete transaction.”
“How cool, you are.”
Sungjin raised both his hands and replied
“I already bought everything I needed.”
The man took out a glass bottle containing a black colored liquid. The bottle had exactly the same design as the Holy Water of Baptism.
Except, the liquid contained within was of a different color. Sungjin accepted it and drank it right away. Although the color was black… Sungjin felt odd and checked the bottle after he drank it.
“The color is black… but there’s no flavor or smell.”
“Well, it’s that kind of item.”
Sungjin said while looking at him with eyes full of suspicion.
“Operator, how many unallocated stat points do I have?”
[You have 3200 Unallocated Points.]
Sungjin stopped being skeptical.
“The effects are good. Then… Once the next raid is over… I will be back.”
“As you wish.”
Sungjin placed the King’s Sceptre into the Cube as he left Darker than Black. Kargos should be close to finishing turning a Dragon’s Heart into a sword.
Sungjin headed towards the Black Market. But meanwhile, he recalled the Merchant’s words.
‘Perhaps even a rebel.’
Sungjin muttered to himself in the empty Black Market street.
“Rebel… A rebellion…”
