Episode 5
Episode 5: How a Studying Student Uses Skills
“Yeah. Thanks for the trouble of teaching a hopeless student like me.”
He had studied enough carpentry.
Now was the time to stop studying theory and begin practical study.
After all, anything is nothing but an armchair theory if you only read about it in books without trying it yourself.
Gyeongjun unfolded and looked at the blueprint he had obtained from Carpenter.
[Carpenter’s Sturdy and Durable Water Ash Chair Blueprint]
▶Required Materials: 5 Water Ash Wood, 5 Beeswax, 5 Bronze Ingots
“He gave me bread for free too, and just showed me the blueprint. NPCs sure are generous, huh?”
In truth, Carpenter had initially refused, saying he couldn’t recklessly disclose his blueprints.
But because Gyeongjun had visited the workshop every day, sat in a chair he liked, muttered to himself frantically, and read books with terrifying intensity, Carpenter ultimately had no choice but to disclose the blueprint.
Of course, Gyeongjun had simply sat in the chair he liked and studied.
And his muttering wasn’t actually to himself, but merely talking with Timo.
“But sitting in it for a bit, Carpenter’s chair is comfortable, but it didn’t quite suit studying.”
“Right. First, we need Water Ash wood, beeswax, and bronze ingots… Does that mean logging, gathering, and mining respectively? I’ll need to buy an axe and a pickaxe.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Ah, really?”
Then, what Gyeongjun had to do now was essentially narrowed down to two things.
Logging Water Ash trees and gathering beeswax.
“Come to think of it, how do you gather beeswax?”
“Aha.”
He didn’t know if it was the same in reality, but it seemed to be so in World.
“But?”
Timo looked toward the eastern forest with a cold, displeased emoticon.
“Tell me.”
“Hmm. Is it because it’s a ‘water’ ash tree that they get wet?”
Leaving aside Timo’s awkward attempt to smooth things over.
The moment he heard those words, a new status window appeared before his eyes.
Ding!
[You have satisfied the occurrence conditions for the Natural Quest 『Ominous Rumors of the Starting Village』.]
[A quest has occurred.]
[Ominous Rumors of the Starting Village]
▶Recently, incidents of people losing consciousness and collapsing have been occurring one after another in the eastern forest of the Starting Village, the Water Ash habitat. And they say that when they wake up, their entire bodies are always soaked in water….
▶Quest Reward: Something related to water
▶Quest Type: Natural
▶Quest Grade: Rare
“A natural quest and a rare one at that… Is it good?”
There were others besides Gyeongjun who had received this quest.
Of course, that person had barely obtained the quest after personally asking around here and there.
But Gyeongjun didn’t need to go through such hardships because Timo had asked around on his behalf.
“Hmm. The reward is something related to water. Is it because it’s a ‘water’ ash tree after all?”
At Gyeongjun’s silly joke, Timo simply smiled with an emoticon in silence.
* * *
[Gyeongjun]
▶Class: Seeker of Infinite Knowledge
▶Race: Human(Player)
▶Level: 1
▶EXP: 0%
▶HP: 240/240
▶MP: 214/770
▶Strength: 10→23 Agility: 10 Intelligence: 117 Constitution: 10→24 Magic: 77
▶Remaining Stat Points: 0
While Gyeongjun had logged nearly 50 trees to obtain chair materials, his Strength and Constitution stats had each risen by over 10.
Furthermore, thanks to his diligent studying until now, his Intelligence and Magic stats had also risen noticeably.
Most notable was Gyeongjun’s Intelligence stat, which had begun to exceed 100.
Even level 30–40 players couldn’t exceed 100 unless they were mages who had heavily invested in Intelligence.
It wasn’t a stat befitting Gyeongjun, a level 1 beginner.
[Water Ash Wood: 49]
“I just need to cut one more tree and go. I’m glad I can finish today. I was planning to start preparing for the midterms soon, so this is perfect.”
The midterms, with less than two weeks remaining now!
Gyeongjun planned to begin preparing for the midterms immediately after making a chair much better than the library chairs.
“Oh, that much? Gravity is amazing.”
Gyeongjun, who had recently studied inclined plane problems in Physics 1.
Taking a hint from this, Gyeongjun only logged at slightly inclined places.
He thought that this way, he could put the power of gravity into his axe.
This method worked surprisingly well, and he was able to achieve 49 logged trees in less than a day.
His goal was 50 trees, so now only one remained.
“Then for the last one, I’ll give it my all…! H-Huh…?”
[The gentle energy of water permeates your entire body due to the effect of 『Water Sleep』.]
[Status Effect: Sleep]
The water magic 『Water Sleep』!
A typical water-attribute debuff magic, a skill that emits sleep-laden water vapor to put the target to sleep!
And that very sleep-laden vapor began to soak into Gyeongjun’s entire body.
“Damn… I can’t sleep with exams coming up soon… I have… so much… to do….”
Gyeongjun began to fall asleep in an instant, and then…
[Your Intelligence is higher than the skill caster’s.]
[You have resisted.]
He woke from sleep in an instant.
“Whoa, I almost fell asleep. What the heck was that?”
Gyeongjun came to his senses and looked around.
Immediately, something he’d never seen before entered his vision.
-Mubumul?!
There was a small, droplet-like creature there.
* * *
“That’s….”
“A water spirit… Could it be that kid is the culprit behind that rare quest?”
Gyeongjun examined his own body.
Thanks to the Water Sleep he had just been afflicted by and resisted, his entire body was soaked.
It didn’t feel bad; he had been sweating, so it was rather cool and pleasant.
“But why did it try to put me to sleep?”
[General Skill 『Energy Bolt (Lv.3)』]
[A skill that condenses mana into a spherical shape and fires it forward.]
Woooom!
Mana gathered in Gyeongjun’s hand and formed a sphere.
And as he aimed it right at the Undine before his eyes, he thought:
‘Since it’s just for intimidation, I don’t need to fire it right away.’
He needed to delay and fix the magic for a moment.
‘In magic theory, mana is composed of a mana transmitter and a mana fixation nucleus, so if I control this well….’
The Energy Bolt should have shot out immediately upon using the skill, as was originally intended.
But the Energy Bolt Gyeongjun created didn’t shoot forward and remained fixed in his hand.
[You have mastered the Advanced Skill 『Magic Delay』.]
[3 hours have been added to the Dimensional Study Room.]
[Magic Delay]
▶Can fix mana to delay the activation of magic. As the skill level rises, it can be applied to more complex magic.
▶Skill Level: Lv.1
▶Skill Type: Passive
▶Skill Grade: Advanced
The advanced skill 『Magic Delay』, which mages can only learn after surpassing level 50!
It is one of the very popular skills that mages desperately try to learn by any means as long as the conditions are met.
Being able to cast magic in advance and have it on standby in combat where every split second counts was extremely important in every field, from raids to PvP.
Gyeongjun reproduced such a skill in a single attempt without even a skill book, merely by applying what he had studied until now.
-Mubumul?!
Undine, greatly flustered upon seeing the Energy Bolt aimed at herself!
The reason for her panic was precisely the amount of mana gathered in the Energy Bolt.
It had already been determined when he resisted the Water Sleep cast on him earlier, but Gyeongjun’s Intelligence and Magic were even higher than those of Undine, a lesser spirit!
“Now then, shall you quickly tell me why you tried to put me to sleep?”
Gyeongjun threatened Undine like that.
Surrender or attack.
Gyeongjun was on high alert, not relaxing his tension as he wondered which stance Undine would take between the two.
However, Undine’s choice was neither surrender nor attack.
Instead, a status window suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[You have been acknowledged by the lesser water spirit Undine.]
[You have completed the natural quest 『Ominous Rumors of the Starting Village』.]
[As a reward, you are given the opportunity to contract with Undine.]
The quest was suddenly completed, and he was given the opportunity to contract with Undine.
[You will be able to communicate with Undine for a short while.]
-Mubul…!
“Hm?”
Undine waved her tiny droplet hands forward and shook her head quickly.
An appearance that seemed to be begging him not to shoot.
[Undine is asking you to wait a moment.]
Gyeongjun checked the additional explanation in the status window and nodded for now.
And asked while doing so….
“Then why did you try to put me to sleep?”
-Mubul! Mul!
[Undine is asking you to look up at the tree.]
Despite Undine’s pleading, Gyeongjun did not turn his head and kept aiming the Energy Bolt at Undine.
“Timo, go check for a moment.”
Timo checked above the tree on Gyeongjun’s behalf.
Remarkably.
“What.”
“Then Undine wasn’t trying to attack me, but trying to put me to sleep in order to save me?”
-Mubul!
[Undine nods, saying that is correct.]
Gyeongjun made a slightly surprised expression.
Come to think of it, the quest description only said that people briefly passed out and got wet; not a single word was written about dying or getting injured.
“I see. Then I’ve actually received help instead.”
Gyeongjun canceled the Energy Bolt skill and approached Undine.
-Mubul…?
Undine was briefly wary of Gyeongjun suddenly approaching but soon stopped.
Pat pat.
Undine’s droplet head, which he was touching for the first time.
Gyeongjun thought that the cold sensation somehow felt good.
[Undine’s wariness eases.]
-Mul~
“Thank you for saving me. You’ve saved many others besides me until now. Good job, good job.”
-Mubul~
“I’ll take care of the beehives from now on, so won’t you rest? I have to gather beeswax anyway.”
-Mul?
[Undine asks if you have the ability to catch a giant hornet nest.]
※If you cannot prove your ability, the opportunity to contract may be forfeited.
“Fine. I’ll show you right away.”
Gyeongjun gathered an Energy Bolt in his hand as before, and this time aimed not at Undine but at the giant hornet nest.
‘If I shoot too weakly, the giant hornets inside the hive might not die, and if I shoot too strongly, the hive might be destroyed and I might not be able to get the beeswax….’
Gyeongjun recalled the experience of dealing with a beehive that had formed on his apartment veranda.
‘Back then, I wrapped the entire hive in thick plastic all at once.’
Woooom.
Gyeongjun adjusted his mana to transform the Energy Bolt into a dense net shape.
The principle was similar to when he learned ‘Magic Delay’.
A technique made possible because he had properly studied magic theory!
[You have mastered the Advanced Skill 『Magic Transformation』.]
[3 hours have been added to the Dimensional Study Room.]
[Magic Transformation]
▶Can adjust mana to transform magic according to the caster’s will. As the skill level rises, it can be applied to more complex magic.
▶Skill Level: Lv.1
▶Skill Type: Passive
▶Skill Grade: Advanced
Fwssh!
The net-shaped Energy Bolt flew and enveloped the hive.
Bzzzzzt!
The giant hornets, startled by the impact of the falling hive, immediately swarmed out.