Episode 4
Episode 4: My Back Hurts Too Much to Study
“What the hell was that! Is it a bug?!”
Gyeongjun had barely opened and started reading a magic theory book when knowledge began flooding into him in an instant.
That knowledge immediately converted into time for the Dimensional Study Room.
And then led to increases in stats and skill levels.
“W-well… Ah, could it be! Is it because I studied Physics 1?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t it happen before too? I only studied Chemistry 1, but when I skimmed through a magic book later, I instantly acquired Energy Bolt and Basic Magic Mastery. So because I met the condition of having two skills, the Dimensional Study Room even opened up.”
“Wait, so just because you studied Chemistry 1 and Physics 1, your magic studies automatically completed? Does that even make sense?!”
“But that’s the only explanation there is….”
It was true.
No bugs or hacks had been detected in Gyeongjun’s logs.
If so, the only explanation was that he had studied Physics 1—nothing else.
“Tch! Then, Kim Buha, you! Contact the development department and get me the contents of that magic theory basics or whatever! And check how it’s related to Chemistry 1 or Physics 1!”
“Um… about that, it’s a bit difficult….”
“What? What the hell is so difficult? Didn’t you graduate from a science and engineering university?”
“I was someone who chose Biology 1 and Earth Science 1 for my college entrance exam….”
That’s right.
Kim Buha was a science-track student who absolutely despised chemistry and physics, especially physics.
* * *
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[Intelligence has increased by 1 through continuous studying.]
[Mana has increased by 1 through continuous mana consumption.]
[Knowledge has reached a certain level.]
[1 hour has been added to the Dimensional Study Room.]
“Hoo, nice. This is killing two birds with one stone, huh?”
The most efficient method Gyeongjun had found to study both game and school subjects simultaneously!
It was somehow connecting the content to school subjects.
Just as studying Chemistry 1 had actually been a great help in studying the basics of magic theory.
Physics 1 also shared many parts with the basics of magic theory.
So rather than studying magic theory first, he studied Physics 1 first.
Then he opened the magic theory book again and swapped out the names of what he had just studied in Physics 1 with magic terms, and boom—magic studies complete!
[Intelligence has increased by 1 through continuous studying.]
[Knowledge has reached a certain level.]
[1 hour has been added to the Dimensional Study Room.]
[The level of the General Skill 『Basic Magic Mastery』 has increased to 3.]
[The level of the General Skill 『Energy Bolt』 has increased to 3.]
Dimensional Study Room time steadily accumulating!
On top of that, general skill level-ups and stat increases were a bonus.
“As expected, just like with Chemistry 1, Physics 1 really has a lot of overlapping parts with magic theory.”
If that hadn’t been the case, this study method would have been impossible.
But by coincidence, the magic theory of The World had many parts very similar to modern science.
“Yeah. I think so too.”
Gyeongjun guessed that the developers of Seolha Group must have referred heavily to modern science when constructing the concept of magic.
“Hm? Is that better?”
“Hmm, so that’s what you mean. Something new to study….”
For the past few days, Gyeongjun had secured a lot of Dimensional Study Room time through his shortcut magic studies using Physics 1 and Chemistry 1.
[Dimensional Study Room]
▶Time Ratio: 2.0x
▶Accumulated Time: 13 hours
In essence, he had earned 13 hours just by studying!
And if he applied the 2x time ratio, that was 26 hours.
At this level, it was worth trying some other studies aside from schoolwork.
“But let’s finish up school studies first for now.”
After all, he couldn’t afford to get his priorities reversed.
Rustle, rustle.
After Gyeongjun had more or less finished studying Physics 1 and Chemistry 1.
He got up from his seat.
But he wore a rather uncomfortable expression.
“Ah, my back hurts too much to study.”
Gyeongjun stretched his stiff back from sitting too long.
Minutes after stretching his back, Timo asked curiously.
“It’s because the chairs in this library are terrible. They don’t support my back properly. If I sit for a while, my back starts hurting.”
Then, a thought suddenly flashed through Gyeongjun’s mind.
“Should I study and make a chair? Now that I think about it, there was a carpenter’s workshop in the Starting Village, right?”
* * *
“Give me the carpenter basic skill books.”
Carpenter, the one in charge of the carpenter class change in the Starting Village.
He handed skill books to a player.
“Work, Processing, and Repair—a total of three. Each costs 10,000 Riyan.”
The currency of The World is unified into Riyan for convenience.
The prices are roughly similar to reality.
If you want to exchange Riyan for cash, you just remove one zero.
In other words, 100,000 Riyan is about 10,000 Won in cash.
“Jinsu. Can I just buy the carpenter basic skill books like you?”
“If money is tight, just buy the Work skill book and decide after trying it out.”
“Aha. Then I’ll just take one Work skill book please.”
“One Work skill book, 10,000 Riyan.”
Carpenter mechanically received the money and handed over the skill book.
“But haven’t there been strange happenings in the eastern forest of the Starting Village lately?”
“Ah, I saw it on the community. People say they pass out without knowing. When they wake up, their bodies are all wet or something.”
“Keke, maybe they peed themselves after getting scared by monsters?”
“No way. There aren’t any real monsters near the Starting Village.”
“Or maybe they got stung by bees. I heard giant hornets appear around here.”
The two players received their skill books and disappeared while chatting.
‘Dealing with otherworlders is always like this….’
They only wanted the skill books to use; they had no intention of learning the techniques directly from Carpenter.
Of course, receiving direct instruction from an NPC resulted in higher initial skill proficiency than learning from skill books.
But no one bothered to do so even in the Starting Village, and before he knew it, Carpenter had become a machine for printing out skill books.
Then.
A man wearing beginner clothes like any other player stood before Carpenter.
He looked ordinary, but somehow scholarly.
A question came from the man’s mouth.
“This is where I can learn carpenter skills, right?”
“That’s right. You can learn directly from me, or buy just the skill books separately.”
“Skill books?”
“If you learn via skill book, you acquire the skill immediately. But if you learn directly….”
“Aha, so that’s how it is. Okay.”
“Uh…?”
The man nodded before Carpenter’s explanation even finished.
It somehow felt like the man was talking to someone other than Carpenter himself.
And his gaze was directed toward empty space, not at Carpenter.
‘What the…? Did he just roughly listen to the beginning and accept it? Though it was a bit awkward how he switched from honorifics to casual speech so suddenly….’
Carpenter didn’t think much of it and let it go.
For now, he had to keep running his business.
“Anyway, so if circumstances allow, learning directly from me wouldn’t be bad either. What do you say?”
Usually, other players immediately asked for skill books upon coming to Carpenter.
But this person didn’t.
Perhaps he wanted to learn directly.
At the thought of teaching someone and moving his body for the first time in a while, Carpenter’s shoulder muscles were already twitching.
“Ah, then just give me the skill books too please.”
But it seemed Carpenter’s wish wouldn’t be easily granted.
“I see…. Understood. First, there are three basic skill books: Work, Processing, and Repair, and what each of them is….”
Carpenter suddenly stopped explaining and said in a sulky, drawn-out tone.
“…Never mind. You’re probably not curious anyway.”
No matter how hard he explained carpenter skills, the players never really listened anyway.
“All together, that’s 30,000 Riyan.”
“Here.”
The man handing 30,000 Riyan to Carpenter.
Then the man, seemingly satisfied, took the skill books and turned his back to Carpenter….
Without turning away, and said one more thing.
“Can I sit in these chairs for a moment?”
“Huh? Sure, of course. Chairs are there to be sat on, after all.”
The man repeatedly sat in chair after chair, trying them one by one.
“Oh, this chair is nice. I’ll sit here for a while.”
He finally settled in one place.
Carpenter thought he was quite a difficult man.
“Well, it’s fine. But when it’s time to close, you have to leave….”
“Three basic skill books.”
“…Whoops. 10,000 Riyan each, so 30,000 Riyan total.”
Before he could even finish speaking, another player came, and Carpenter continued tending the shop.
A few minutes passed like that.
The shop had quieted down.
“Hmm? That fellow is still here.”
Carpenter looked at Gyeongjun without much thought.
And he couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Huh?!”
Shwshshsh!
Hands and eyes moving ceaselessly and rapidly!
The book the man was reading was none other than the basic carpenter skill book he had purchased from Carpenter moments ago.
That’s right.
He wasn’t ‘using’ the purchased skill book—he was ‘reading’ it!
Shwshshshsh!
And at an unbelievable speed, at that!
“What reading speed…! It seems to be twice my own reading speed!”
Shwish! Shwshwish!
Whether the man couldn’t hear Carpenter’s words or not, he just kept reading the carpenter skill book.
‘Until now, there has never been an otherworlder like that…!’
There had been players who purchased skill books and used them immediately to acquire skills.
There had been players who requested to learn directly from Carpenter and received instruction.
But there had never been even a single player who tried to read the skill book and teach himself from scratch!
“Repair is… mumble mumble… durability… mumble mumble… so in small-scale carpentry… mumble mumble… Timo, then what does this mean….”
Moreover, he was muttering something tremendously.
Turning his head intermittently to converse with the empty air where nothing existed—he looked as if he were possessed by a ghost.
‘W-what in the world is that…!’
At that bizarre and terrifying sight, Carpenter came to fear ghosts for the first time in his life.
And it didn’t end there.
“Excuse me.”
“U-uaack!”
“Can I ask you for something?”
“W-what, what, what is it…?!”
Carpenter reflexively spoke with a terrified expression.
The man looked at him with eyes that seemed to wonder why this old man was acting like that, but soon stopped caring and stated his business.
“That chair was really comfortable; if you have the design, could you show it to me?”
The man—that is, Gyeongjun—wanted to study carpenter skills directly to make a chair.
The library chair hurt his back when he sat for too long, after all.
* * *
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[Intelligence has increased by 1 through continuous studying.]
[You have more or less mastered the basics of carpentry.]
[The level of the General Skill 『Basic Carpentry Work』 has increased to 4.]
[The level of the General Skill 『Basic Carpentry Processing』 has increased to 3.]
[The level of the General Skill 『Basic Carpentry Repair』 has increased to 3.]
[Knowledge has reached a certain level.]
[3 hours have been added to the Dimensional Study Room.]
“Great, I finally got it down.”
After days of continuous studying, he had raised his basic carpenter skill levels considerably and secured a lot of Dimensional Study Room time as well.
Perhaps because it was his first time encountering the field and there was much to learn, he gained more time than he spent using the Dimensional Study Room.
[Dimensional Study Room]
▶Time Ratio: 2.0x
▶Accumulated Time: 47 hours
Since the accumulated time was 47 hours, he could study for 94 hours when actually using it.
Nearly 100 hours.
With this much, it should be enough to prepare for the upcoming midterms.
‘This time, I will definitely surpass the average score.’
The saying “A dragon is born from a stream” had now disappeared.
He would prove it himself.
These midterms would become the very starting point of that.