Introduction to Magic
[Detailed Description: Circle Stone. A stone that creates a ring of a magic circle in the user's heart. When used, the user learns the magic of the corresponding circle and becomes able to use it.]
"What?!"
It was unbelievable. Seowoon's joy doubled as he hadn't expected to obtain such an item—not from some mage, but from a dead man.
Just as Seowoon was about to use the item immediately, he recalled something—the item had a cooldown period.
"Tsk tsk. He must've died before he could even use it. I think he was a magic-forger or something…"
A sense of bitterness welled up.
He imagined how happy the man must've been when he got this item. Surely, his feelings weren't much different from Seowoon's own.
And to die without even getting the chance to properly use it—that made it all the more pitiful.
"I'll make better use of it."
Stashing the item into his subspace as usual, Seowoon looked through the remaining items.
All that was left were some clothes and a few magic scrolls.
Just as he was about to toss the clothes aside, a familiar voice rang out, causing Seowoon's hand to pause.
[Ding! You have obtained Krea's Boots. Increases Agility.]
"Ah!"
Finally taking a closer look at the black boots he was about to discard, he changed into them.
"Status window!"
Agility: 36
It had been just 26, so his Agility had gone up by 10.
"Even with more Agility, my body doesn't feel any lighter…"
Still unfamiliar with the concept of the Agility stat, Seowoon didn't fully grasp it. But contrary to his assumption, Agility wasn't a stat that merely made the body feel lighter.
Agility was the foundation for sharper reflexes and the ability to move faster and more fluidly.
Looking down at the thick book that remained at the bottom of the chest, Seowoon took a deep breath and picked up the book marked with a pentagram.
[Ding! You have obtained the Wind Ball Spellbook. Can be learned when conditions are met.]
"It was a spellbook after all! Give me the details."
[Detailed Description: Wind Ball is a magic that controls the wind to form and manipulate spheres of air. The number and power of the wind spheres depend on the caster's ability. It is a common first spell learned by novice mages.]
"So it's a beginner's spell, huh?"
Having gathered all the items, Seowoon stood up and briefly looked down at the now-empty chest before walking away.
Since a fight had just taken place here, it didn't feel right to relax and spend the night in this place.
Leaving the area seemed like the wiser decision.
After walking through a trackless forest for a while, a solitary cabin marked on the map appeared.
Cautiously sensing for any presence inside, Seowoon approached the window and peered in. As expected, a bright lantern was lit within.
After confirming no one was inside, he entered, turned off the lantern, and sat in the middle of the cabin. He then took out the Circle Stone.
"Three hours, huh… That should be enough."
Already having confirmed that his daily mana field had decreased during the journey, Seowoon took the Circle Stone from the leather pouch.
[Ding! Do you wish to use this item?]
When he pressed the "O" button with his finger, another message popped up, unlike usual.
[While using the Circle Stone, movement will be restricted. The process cannot be canceled once started. Do you wish to proceed?]
He pressed "O" again, and the stone began to glow before suddenly diving into his chest.
There was no sharp pain, but a heavy discomfort set in, accompanied by dizziness and nausea.
A suffocating pressure, as if something was gripping his heart tightly, grew steadily worse.
"Gah—!"
A groan escaped his twisted lips.
He felt like he would vomit at any moment or collapse. The symptoms lasted a full three hours.
"Haaaah!!!"
After three grueling hours, the symptoms slowly faded. Seowoon, drenched in sweat, clutched his chest and panted heavily.
"Haa… Haa…"
His heart pounded fiercely, as if rejoicing in its release from confinement and affirming that he was still alive.
Trying to calm the wild beating of his heart, Seowoon wiped the sweat from his face and lay down.
"Phew! I really thought I was going to die…"
Throughout the ordeal, a constant voice in his head whispered that something was going wrong.
The pain far exceeded what he'd felt when forming his mana core. His head felt like it was about to explode, his stomach ready to leap out of his mouth. Waves of regret flooded him—maybe he shouldn't have used the Circle Stone after all.
After lying there staring at the dark ceiling of the cabin for a while, Seowoon suddenly sat up and fiddled with his subspace ring.
"Still, I've got a job to do!"
His eyes sparkled as he pulled out the spellbook.
[Ding! Do you wish to learn the Wind Ball spell?]
As soon as his finger hovered over the prompt, the bluish spellbook turned to ash and vanished.
"Ah!"
Just like that, he could feel the ring of mana formed in his heart.
'One… two. So, two rings.'
As one of the two rings in his heart seemed to glow, the spell instinctively escaped his lips.
"Escro Dan Wind Ball."
The moment he chanted it, he felt the wind gather into his palm, and a sphere—something only he could sense—formed above his hand.
With a few more chants, he was able to create and control up to four Wind Balls at will.
"Looks like I can only manage four with my abilities."
As he finished speaking, he swung his hand toward one wall of the cabin and shouted:
"Strike!"
Puh-puh-puh-puh-puk!
At the same time, the wind spheres he launched gouged deep holes into the thick wooden wall and vanished.
They were nowhere near as powerful as the fireball from the wizard he had killed, but he thought this level of strength could still be helpful.
Especially against those so-called mages, whose physical abilities didn't seem too different from his own—it was enough to pose a real threat.
Of course, that was assuming the Wind Balls could actually hit them.
"Phew. I should try to get a bit of sleep."
As soon as he finished speaking, Seo-un flopped down and immediately fell asleep.
It was the first time he had fallen asleep since arriving in this world.
Awoken suddenly by the dazzling sunlight, Seo-un bolted upright and grabbed his crossbow, sharply scanning his surroundings.
"Phew… I'm going to have a nervous breakdown at this rate."
When he stepped outside, the sun was already quite high in the sky.
Opening his map and rethinking his route for the day, a sudden thought came to Seo-un.
'Come to think of it… what about the remaining survivors?'
Just yesterday, two people had died right before his eyes.
Since he had killed one of them himself, that meant at least two had died.
"Survivors!"
45/100
Jeokhwajin → James (killed with swordsmanship)
…
Keira → Minuel (killed with magic)
Jin Seo-un → Keira (killed with hidden weapon)
"What?!"
Seo-un was so shocked that the words escaped his mouth without him realizing.
On the first day, only one player had been eliminated—and based on Seo-un's guess, that had been due to an unavoidable conflict between two players at the final destination.
But now, on just the second day, more than half the players had already been eliminated? That was an incredibly fast progression.
'It's not like there's some kind of hack…'
In the game he used to play, Log, whenever the number of players suddenly dropped unnaturally fast, the usual assumption was that someone was using cheats or hacks.
But this game was nothing like a man-made computer game.
'There has to be some kind of cause…'
Seo-un stared at the map intently.
A city that extended from the mountainous area he had been in the day before caught his eye.
'The players gathered? In the city? But why would they flock there of all places? I don't know the reason, but most likely they all headed toward major towns or cities, and that's where all the fighting broke out.'
Seo-un's prediction was only half correct.
It was true that players had gathered in towns and cities.
But the reason was very simple.
As players began to learn about the items, a single day had been more than enough to cause a stir.
And the items were just as enticing to the players as they were to Seo-un.
Martial arts manuals and magic books gave most players a clear motivation to act irrationally.
If anything, their desire was greater than Seo-un's—not lesser.
As warriors became obsessed with martial arts manuals and mages with new magic tomes, all players moved toward the nearest major settlement. Inevitably, they kept running into each other.
The result? In a single day, more than half the players were killed or eliminated.
'Either way, it works in my favor. Fewer players, the better! That means I've hit my first goal. Now… it's time to aim for the TOP 10.'
The words "differentiated rewards for the TOP 10" echoed in Seo-un's head.
He was itching with anticipation, wondering what kind of rewards someone who created such an outlandish game would offer.
That thought made him focus even more.
"Stick to the plan and survive patiently!"
Seo-un stared at the map for a long time, then carefully plotted a route that kept him close to the safe zone and far away from major cities or towns, and started moving.
And from far away, someone was quietly watching him.
An old man with white hair and a long, snowy-white beard reaching to his abdomen silently stroked his beard as he observed Seo-un from a distance far beyond ordinary sight.
As he watched Seo-un move busily, the old man lightly hopped from one treetop to another, following him.
With the ease of a walk, he moved through the trees, his dark eyes reflecting the tiny figure of Seo-un running below.
"Wind Ball!"
At Seo-un's shout, the sphere of wind launched from his hand pierced through the flimsy door of the shabby cabin.
After throwing a few more Wind Balls, Seo-un tilted his head slightly and calmly watched the inside of the cabin from under the shade of a tree.
There was only one reason he hadn't immediately started looting.
The bloodstains and the wooden box around the cabin.
He didn't know exactly what had happened, but a single wooden crate and a large amount of blood hinted that a significant injury had occurred recently—the blood still looked hot, like its heat hadn't yet faded.
If a player had died, there had to be a killer.
And with the trail of blood leading into the cabin, it was clear the enemy was inside.
'Running into other players this often is not a good sign.'
Especially not this close to the safe zone.
So far, the pattern had been that the safe zone shrinks every night at midnight.
That might change over time, but for now, Seo-un's schedule was built around traveling after midnight and finding a place to rest for the next day.
In other words, time was already tight just to follow his planned route and loot. If he got into a fight and ran over time, things would get messy fast.
Being unable to stick to his planned route was extremely frustrating for Seo-un.
'And there's no telling when the safe zone will shift again.'
Up to now, it had been shrinking evenly toward the center of the map, but no one knew when it might start shifting unpredictably.
As someone who had played Log, Seo-un hoped the current stable zone would last, but he constantly reminded himself that it wouldn't.
If the zone suddenly jumped far away at midnight, he'd be forced to move overnight to reach a safe area—likely without sleep.
'It'd be lucky if I could keep circling the mountain range, but who knows… Running into an enemy here of all places, what lousy luck.'
But he couldn't move forward and leave the enemy behind him either. That would be asking to get attacked from behind at any moment.
It was something that would keep nagging at him.
'I can't even concentrate on circulating my energy properly like this.'
Despite those thoughts, Seo-un held his crossbow steadily aimed at the cabin entrance, his gaze unwavering.