As soon as we stepped inside, just like last time, the illusion barrier activated.
At the same time, my vision blurred momentarily, and strange sounds rang in my ears.
When I quickly came to my senses, the illusion spell contained in the barrier disappeared.
It wasn’t because I had used the illusion severance effect.
It was because the illusion barrier was created by the Eunwol clan, and my 90% illusion resistance allowed me to endure it.
“Visiting the Eunwol clan really was the right call. It’s much easier than before.”
Perhaps feeling the same way, Lee Seo-jun muttered quietly beside me. I nodded instead of answering.
We continued walking down the long hallway. After about three minutes, the illusions gradually grew stronger.
“The illusion spell’s getting stronger…”
“If it’s too much, use the Eunwol Illusion Severance.”
At my words, Lee Seo-jun looked at me with a curious expression.
“…You seem fine though?”
“I can handle it.”
The ‘Eunwol Illusion Break’ I possessed was integrated with my illusion resistance trait and was ranked S-class.
Naturally, my illusion resistance was much higher.
Unaware of that, Lee Seo-jun looked at me as if he found it fascinating.
[Character ‘Lee Seo-jun’ feels a slight sense of competition with you.]
[You have gained 500 points as a reward.]
…What the heck.
He sure gets competitive over the smallest things.
“Really? Then I’ll use it.”
Lee Seo-jun gently closed his eyes and emitted mana throughout his body.
Though similar in form to protective energy reinforcement, this required more delicate control since it was meant to protect the mind.
The illusion severance must have activated properly—Lee Seo-jun opened his eyes looking much more at ease.
“Whew… That’s better.”
I gave a small smile as I looked at him.
“Good? Then let’s go.”
We resumed walking down the hallway. At the end, there was a narrow staircase leading underground.
Descending the stairs, we saw a small iron door.
“This must be it.”
“Yeah. Let’s open it.”
Creeeak…
As we opened the door and stepped inside, the illusion magic surrounding our bodies vanished.
At the same time, a lighting artifact activated, brightly lightning up the room.
“Oh…”
[You have achieved the ‘Seeker of Traces’ achievement.]
[You have gained 3,000 points as a reward.]
[You are deeply intervening in the main story.]
[You have gained 2,000 points as a reward.]
Just by entering the hideout, I earned two separate point rewards.
The achievement made sense, but this was the first time I had received a separate reward for intervening in the main story.
Lee Seo-jun and I looked around the room.
It resembled an ordinary magic research lab.
It hadn’t been used in a long time—dust covered everything.
Then I spotted a plaque on the wall that read [Mystic Research Society].
“Look at that nameplate.”
When I pointed it out, Lee Seo-jun looked intrigued.
“The Mystic Research Society… This must be the hideout mentioned in Eun Seol-ah’s mother’s diary.”
“Yeah, seems like it.”
According to the original story, this place should contain Jin Cheonwoo’s research journal.
While pretending to look around, I searched for the journal.
Soon, I found a desk drawer.
There was a simple barrier cast on it, but something like that posed no problem for me.
I disabled the barrier and opened the drawer, and just as I expected, there was an old book inside.
━━
[Mysterious Book (Artifact)]
Category: Book
Description: A mysterious book that reacts to mana
━━
I examined the cover of the book.
“Mystery Research Journal…”
At my soft murmur, Lee Seo-jun approached.
“What’s that?”
“It says it’s a Mystery Research Journal.”
I checked the contents of the book. As the title suggested, it was filled with research about mysteries.
Lee Seo-jun, reading beside me, opened his mouth.
“This handwriting… It’s the same as in the book in my grandfather’s study. It’s sloppy, but unusual enough to remember.”
At Lee Seo-jun’s words, I nodded and looked at the book again.
This was one of three journals owned by Jin Cheonwoo.
And this was the second one.
Incidentally, the third journal was in Jaun’s possession, but that one was a replica.
“Is that so? This book… seems to be a journal written by Jin Cheonwoo.”
At my words, Lee Seo-jun tilted his head in confusion.
“How do you know that?”
“His name is written right here.”
I pointed to the small text at the bottom of the book: ‘Author: Jin Cheonwoo’.
“Oh, you’re right. So the one in Grandpa’s study was written by him too, then.”
“Enough about that. Let’s check the contents.”
Together, we examined the journal.
It contained stories about mysteries and research into them.
Predictably, it included research aimed at creating an immortality spell—what kind of mystery would be required, and so on.
Now that we had confirmed most of the contents…
It was time to activate the book’s hidden power.
Naturally, I handed the book over to Lee Seo-jun.
He accepted it without suspicion and continued reading.
That’s when it happened.
Vwoooong!
With a surge of powerful mana, light burst from the book.
Flash!
“…What is this?”
Lee Seo-jun stared at the book with a dazed expression.
I approached him, pretending not to know what was happening.
“Looks like there was some kind of mechanism in the book. Maybe it’s a magic tool?”
“If it is, I don’t see any real change, though.”
I flipped through the pages of the book that Lee Seo-jun was holding.
Then, letters glowing with a soft blue light appeared.
A faint trace of mana—no, a mysterious energy—was emanating from the letters.
“This is it. These letters weren’t here before.”
When I pointed at the glowing text, Lee Seo-jun nodded.
“A hidden message… That’s amazing.”
Together, we read the words that had emerged from the mystery.
[I have always wanted to transcend the limits of humanity.]
[The limits of being human. To surpass them, one must first overcome the inescapable ‘death.’]
[But no human has ever conquered death. Many researchers of mysteries claim that an immortality spell exists. But not a single one has discovered how.]
[But I found it. Through a very special method.]
“He’s been obsessed with immortality for a while, hasn’t he?”
Lee Seo-jun muttered quietly.
“He had a lot of power. Probably came with a lot of greed.”
“Power doesn’t necessarily mean obsession. My grandfather was strong too, but he never fixated on immortality.”
I nodded at Seo-jun’s words.
“True. Guess it’s just a matter of personality.”
Seo-jun gave me a sideways glance and asked,
“…By the way, do you want to be immortal too?”
“Immortal?”
“Yeah.”
Immortality…
I wasn’t sure. If it were free, maybe I’d take it. But it also sounded lonely.
“Not sure. I guess I don’t really know.”
At my answer, Seo-jun nodded, not thinking much of it. Then we turned our attention back to the next part of the journal.
[The method I found for immortality turned out to be surprisingly simple.]
[All I had to do was ask the Mystery. The Mystery knew everything in this world. If the spell for immortality existed, the Mystery would surely know how.]
A conversation with the Mystery.
It reminded me of what I experienced during the Eunwol Clan’s trial.
[After much trial and error, I got the chance to speak with the Mystery.]
[The Mystery knew countless things—not just the spell for immortality, but many other spells worthy of being called ‘mysteries.’]
[The Mystery demanded a price for this information. I was surprised by what it wanted at first, but I accepted.]
Lee Seo-jun read through it, visibly startled.
“…He asked the Mystery for information?”
His surprise made sense. The Mystery didn’t speak unless it was interested in someone. Jin Cheonwoo must have recognized his own uniqueness, which gave him the confidence to approach the Mystery.
“That’s an original approach. Asking the Mystery about something unknown…”
I already knew all of this, but pretended to be intrigued.
Seo-jun nodded in agreement. We flipped to the next page, but there was no further narrative.
“Looks like that’s the end.”
The rest of the book contained information about the Mystery and various unique spells.
How to obtain the immortality spell.
How to revive a dead body.
How to summon a soul.
How to speak with the Mystery, etc.
“In the end, we didn’t really gain anything concrete from this.”
“I think the book itself is quite valuable. All the contents came from the Mystery, after all.”
“You’re right. Still, I didn’t expect Jin Cheonwoo to have made a deal with the Mystery…”
Lee Seo-jun muttered seriously, then continued.
“Do you think there’s anything in this research journal we can actually use? These spells should all be usable, right?”
“There should be. Some of them seem practical.”
Lee Seo-jun pointed to a section of the page while deep in thought.
“What about this one?”
[Necromancy]
I couldn’t help but smile inwardly at his choice.
Even in the original story, necromancy was the first thing Lee Seo-jun tried after finding the journal.
“Necromancy, huh. Is there someone you want to summon?”
Without hesitation, he replied,
“Jin Cheonwoo.”
After finishing our time at Jin Cheonwoo’s hideout, Seo-jun and I made our way down the mountain.
“At least we didn’t came empty-handed.”
Seo-jun muttered as he trudged down the slope.
“Yeah.”
“But that research journal… no matter how much I read it, I don’t get it. I don’t even know where to find the materials needed for necromancy.”
“Well, we’ll have to figure it out slowly from here. Judging by what I saw, all the materials seem to be Mysteries.”
“This’ll take a while to track down, won’t it?”
Definitely.
We wouldn’t find them all before the year was out.
My plan was to gather as many of the Mystery materials as possible with Seo-jun over winter break.
“Probably. And we also need to consider the possibility that someone else already owns some of the materials.”
At that, Seo-jun stopped walking.
“…I didn’t think about that. What do we do if someone else already has them?”
“Buy them. We can’t exactly steal them like Jin Cheonwoo did.”
“Ugh. The future’s already looking bleak.”
Seo-jun sighed deeply.
We continued down the mountain in silence.
Eventually, I glanced at the time on my wrist.
It was already 9 p.m.
I suddenly wondered what Gretel was up to.
Since the effect of the ‘Mysterious Demonic Fruit’ depended on her mood, I wanted to make sure she was in good spirits.
Maybe I should buy something tasty on the way.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t spent much time with her lately. Maybe we should play a round of Jenga tonight.
Just as I was thinking about Gretel, it happened.
Ding!
Both mine and Seo-jun’s smart student planners rang from our pockets.
“What’s that? We both got alerts at the same time.”
Seo-jun glanced down and muttered.
“Remember? The final grand team match announcement was set for 9 today.”
“Oh, right.”
I checked my planner.
My fingers trembled slightly from nerves as I tapped to view the team list.
Who would I be grouped with…?
Since each team had over a hundred members, it’d be best if I had allies skilled in wide-area magic.
Like Yoo Ara, for example. She may be ranked second, but talent-wise, she was right behind Seo-jun on a global scale.
I accessed the homepage and clicked the team roster.
[Final Match Team List – All Grades]
…
…
Names began to flood the screen.
I used the ‘Find Name’ function to search for mine.
[Kim Sunwoo: Team B]
“I’m in Team B. What about you?”
“Me? Hold on. Why is this list so long—?”
Seo-jun kept scrolling, grumbling as he searched.
“Idiot. Just use the ‘Find Name’ feature.”
“Oh.”
“‘Oh’? Seriously?”
He was surprisingly bad with tech. Or maybe not bad—just the type who only cared about swords.
Just then, Seo-jun’s scrolling fingers stopped.
“Found it.”
“Which team?”
He looked up at me and grinned.
“I’m in Team B too.”
Leave a Reply to JRZTT 1246 Cancel reply