Chapter 32

As I woke up, something large passed by my eyes.

Pu-rook!

“A horse… Ah… It’s my pet. Summoning wasn’t cancelled.”

In Revenge, pets didn’t have summoning times. Once summoned, they would continue to follow the player and perform their roles according to set principles. Perhaps unable to stray far from its master, the famous horse Nalpalam had put his head inside the carriage.

Crunch.

Nalpalam grabbed a piece of ginger prepared on one side of the carriage and ate it. Still half-asleep, I watched him blankly before suddenly realizing:

“He’s eating food…”

It’s natural for living creatures to do this, but not so in Revenge. The game’s pet system was more akin to specs or tools. Pets weren’t truly animals, so there were no details like eating implemented.

Wait… Hang on. Then what about monsters?

The northern lands were barren territories. For example, the Bronze Sword Fiefdom alone was larger than Seoul yet had only around three thousand subjects. What else needed to be said? There was more rock than soil, and it was generally arid. Due to unfavorable conditions for large-scale farming, these areas constantly suffered from food shortages.

But imagine if thousands upon thousands of orcs, each with appetites big enough to devour a whole pig by themselves, suddenly appeared in such a territory?

Shouldn’t they all be starving to death by now?

Yet none of the monsters he’d encountered so far looked famished—not the orcs nor the goblins. But it wasn’t as if they didn’t eat at all…

Even pets need food, so it’s strange for monsters not to eat. Although some elements of the game were unrealistic, there was always consistency.

jae-yeon sat down and organized his thoughts.

Wait. Have I ever seen Sting eating anything?

After pondering this, jae-yeon realized that he hadn’t. There could only be one difference between them:

The duration of their summons.

As soon as the soldier guarding the carriage pulled back the curtain, another guard struggled with a curious bear nosing around inside. He hastily saluted upon spotting jae-yeon.

“Sir! Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, how long was I out?”

“You slept a little longer today.”

“I see.” His words helped me organize my thoughts.

It’s been 24 hours… But it has already been a month since monsters appeared in reality. I need to get a clearer understanding of the situation after conquering the goblin dungeon.

As I stepped out of the carriage and stretched, the cool northern air greeted me. Considering how warm it was inside, Smile must have continuously cast heating spells throughout the journey.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I had a good sleep.”

Smile, who exited from the adjacent carriage, beamed at my words.

“It’s part of my job. The insulation spell is so familiar that it consumes minimal mana now.”

Despite being only level 2, Smile’s skills were irreplaceable in our territory.

Magic is the power to change the physical world with human will. The value of magic isn’t limited just to combat strength. It can light fires without fuel, separate salt from seawater, and freeze ice even during hot summers. Above all, magic imbues matter with mystery.

‘It’s time to start teaching enchanting.’

I’m not a mage, but I possess considerable magical knowledge. In my previous life, I faced a situation where I failed to awaken any special abilities and ultimately had to choose between magic or martial arts. Despite being spiritually handicapped, I am far from unintelligent.

For instance, I know three mental cultivation techniques and two circling methods. Although my proficiency is only at beginner level, even this knowledge would be considered secret teachings in Ardenia.

“You mentioned being from the Wheel of Wagon Mage Tower?”

“Yes, Lordship. But it was…”

“Recite the Mana Control Technique from start to finish.”

At my words, Smile’s eyes widened significantly, revealing almost his entire eye whites.

‘Oh, his eyes are green.’

Regardless, it was indeed surprising. Knowledge about magic was invaluable. Most mages wouldn’t reveal such information even under threat of death, so how could he not be taken aback by my casual inquiry as if discussing lunch options? Unable to respond immediately, Smile momentarily gaped before closing and reopening his eyes.

“I will write it down for you.”

I inwardly chuckled at his response.

Perfect.

Although it was an unreasonable demand under normal circumstances, Smile complied without much fuss, indicating that my influence over him had significantly increased. Of course, he might try to tamper with mana control, assuming I wouldn’t notice.

If he does, this will be as far as he goes.

Scratch, scratch…

As soldiers erected a makeshift fence, lit fires, and grilled wild boar meat, I continued writing on paper non-stop. Approximately 40 minutes later, Smile handed me the densely written pages.

“Let’s see… Logout.”

Entering a convenience store, I logged out. My inventories were now clean after emptying them in Ardenia, and they automatically refilled during the automatic hunting process while accessing Knowledgable Person.

[Question] Troubled Lü Bu (Newbie): Is there any way around a newcomer friend’s circling?

I received a screenshot of the circling skill from my immigrant friend. Since he has already mastered it, I can’t learn any new circling techniques…

P.S. Considering they were hesitant to disclose it as ‘Vision -_-,’ there might be revised versions available.

After posting this question, I visited the Revenge game’s official website.

A popup appeared in the center of the homepage:

[Mid-Autumn Festival Event] May Every Day Be Like Chuseok!

Limited time during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday! Check out the specially dropping items!

1. All monsters have a chance to drop Soybean Songpyeon (Common), Mugwort Songpyeon (High-grade), Five-colored Songpyeon (Rare), Rainbow Songpyeon (Hero), Brilliant Jade Rabbit’s Moonlit Songpyeon (Legendary).

2. Drop of Moonlight Coupons (from all monsters). Exchangeable with the special NPC, Jade Rabbit, in the village.

3. Random spawning of level 1 Rabbits (Common), level 10 Rabbits (High-grade), level 100 Rabbits (Rare), level 1000 Rabbits (Hero), and max-level Rabbits (Legendary) across all maps.

Hunting will give you huge experience and incredible rewards!

“Ah, it’s Chuseok.”

I had been so busy working lately that I didn’t realize how time flew by.

“By the way, this event… isn’t it quite good?”

Revenge constantly held events but there were few events that I could participate in. Siege events, world raids, war events, etc., all of them were content unrelated to commoners like me. On the other hand, this Chuseok event was different.

‘No matter what monster is killed, Songpyeon will drop.’

The thought that I wouldn’t need to worry about food for a while made me smile automatically.

“Mew!”

Cheddar cried out. I returned to being the Knowledgable Person.

“Wah, there is already a reply.”

With half of the 11 billion population being mages, questions related to magic received answers quickly.

[Reply] Chukchaksoksa (Sun God): The shape is there but overall it looks shabby. It seems like the concept of circling wasn’t well understood when making this circle. Ephlam’s law doesn’t seem to be applied and the Melbourne system isn’t established… If you start learning magic with such poor circling, even reaching class 3 will be difficult, while classes 4 and 5 would almost be impossible. Yet they have immigrated to District 34, so I assume they possess truly extraordinary talent.

Honestly, I want to advise them to dismantle the circle and rebuild it anew, but that might be difficult if already above class 4. Since there was still time before my next lecture, I tried modifying the circling. The basic structure follows the sculpting school’s circling, so reading related papers may be helpful.

L Wow! I just came here to leave a comment but am blown away by this detailed response…

L By the way, what kind of circling is this? Is it ancient circling?

L Isn’t it more like primitive ancient circling?

L Or even legendary primitive ancient circling?

L You fools, if they call it that, it must be insanely good

“This is beyond my expectations… How lucky. No, should I credit Smile?”

With a grin, he accepted the answer and briefly studied the carving school’s circling techniques on MyTube.

“Log in.”

He then returned to Smile and took the fountain pen from her grasp.

Scritch.

As observed from Knowledgable Person, he began revising the mage tower’s circling. Though termed as ‘revision,’ it was essentially a complete overhaul.

More than 60% of the original was deleted and three times as much content was added. However, since it was similar, there was no need to completely redraw the circling.

“No… Lordship. How can this be…” Smile looked bewildered at my seamless execution of the technique. Regardless of his reaction, I finished my work, returned the paper, and spoke:

“Actually, I’ve wanted to do this for some time now. But it wasn’t possible. Unlike Stonestone, you hadn’t sworn loyalty or established trust with me.”

In Ardenia, I had only shared real-world martial arts techniques with two individuals: Stonestone and the swordsman. Even then, while Stonestone mastered the Muscle Cleansing Scripture (易筋洗隨經), the swordsman failed to learn it.

‘Of course, if I had revealed Circling and Inner Force to all my subjects, things might have been different.’

Since Magic Power and Inner Force were the most versatile psionic abilities, I could’ve potentially created over ten psychics. However, I refrained from doing so.

‘The value of this knowledge is too immense.’

The Reverse Flow Water Technique may be common in Earth’s libraries, but its potency far surpasses any known heart method in Ardenia. Revealing its capabilities could easily spark wars! Consequently, I couldn’t entrust either circling or heart methods to anyone without absolute trustworthiness. Possessing such treasures can often become one’s fatal flaw.

But now, circumstances have changed.

‘My knowledge, no matter how valuable, pales in comparison to the ability to bestow classes. Moreover… it’s highly likely that empires and kingdoms obsessed with acquiring these secrets met their demise.’

There was no need to tread carefully anymore.

“If I’m not mistaken…this mana control technique is on another level.”

“It’s called circling. This power surpasses any known mana control techniques in Ardenia… With this, achieving even Class 5 should be within reach.”

“H-haha, Lordship. Class 5 exists only in legends.”

“But we’ve already seen a sword master emerge, haven’t we?”

”…”

After gazing at the circling for some time, Smile suddenly knelt before jae-yeon.

“I swear by my mana that as long as you do not attempt to harm me, I will never betray you.”

“Good.” Smiling, jae-yeon retrieved an item from his inventory: Rune Caster (Rare).

“Fix the circling within one day. I will give you useful spells whenever there is time.” With those words, I moved to another location since Hundred was approaching from afar.

“Hoo-rah! New elite soldiers! The number is 35…”

“You, write down the Silver Sword Aura training method.”

”…Yes sir.”

Hundred went through the same process as Smile and wrote down the Silver Sword Aura training method for me. Then I entered Heavenly Dragon Sword Art (Heavenly Dragon Sword Art).

I obtained Class: Gladiator (Rare).

‘There is no need to drag this out. I have to run with full power.’

I logged out.

Using Cheddar’s money, I bought a capsule-type access device. It cost 3 million won but it was worth it. Additionally, I purchased some software—a simulation program costing 170,000 won called ‘Opening and Training Chakras’.