Could it be lagging?
The comments that had been coming in nonstop stopped appearing.
I tried refreshing, just in case, but it was the same.
I really had only asked because I didn’t know.
That was when a post by a familiar username appeared.
Title: The gallery master really is a fool, an idiot, a blockhead
Author: Archmage
[ Ha, I’m honestly so dumbfounded I can’t even speak.
You still don’t know how good it is that a lightning Nature-type got a lightning skill, do you?
Listen carefully. Think back to how you caught that filthy ugly goblin earlier.
You raised your mana with your mana cultivation method, moved it to your fingertips, held it there, and fired it, didn’t you?
That process must have required an incredible amount of focus, and you must have consumed mana just maintaining its form.
But this thing called a skill is a completely different concept.
A skill, so to speak, efficiently manifests on its own as long as you pour mana into it and call out the skill name.
Think about it. Do you really think shaping it in your head and manifesting it yourself is the same as activating an already standardized formula?
And do you not know what happens when a Nature-type Awakener uses a skill of the same attribute!! You blockhead. ]
…Just how frustrating had it been for her?
Was this how authors felt when they saw 5,700-character comments?
Experiencing that secondhand, I read through Archmage’s post from start to finish.
What she was saying was this:
Hey, dumbass, don’t you remember how you caught the goblin?
The skill skips that whole annoying process in one go, yeah.
And you’re asking why that’s good? Are you stupid? Are you an idiot?
To summarize, that was what she meant.
It was a relief I was reading it as a post. If not, she would have been chattering nonstop right into my ear.
“…Ah, I understand perfectly.”
I really did understand.
Thinking about it, I had prepared and focused in advance before pressing start in order to use magic on the Goblin Warrior.
In other words, it had consumed my concentration, and I’d had to stay on edge.
But she was saying that a skill skipped that complicated, annoying process.
“As expected of Lady Archmage, ma’am, ma’am.”
So she hadn’t been called the Master of the Magic Tower for nothing.
I nodded and closed the gallery window. Seeing once was better than hearing a hundred times.
I’d know for sure if I tried it myself.
Standing in the middle of the empty boss room, I slowly took a deep breath.
I intended to test the skill lightly. Very lightly.
“Lightning Bolt.”
Along with my low voice, I felt mana draining out of my mana core.
The astonishing thing was—
Crackle!
Even though I hadn’t deliberately visualized its form or concentrated, blue sparks began to form a sphere in midair, then shot out in the direction I was aiming.
Kwaaaaang—!!
The lightning slammed into a corner of the boss room.
With a thunderous roar, the cave wall burst apart.
Smoke rose from between the cracked rock, and shattered debris poured down.
Watching the cloud of dust billow up, I stood there blankly. I couldn’t help it.
“…No, that’s insane.”
A Korean trait: when faced with something bewildering or crazy, “No,” comes out first.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
The lightning I had raised mana for, focused, and fired. It was no different from the lightning I had used to deal with the semi-boss.
In terms of the sharpness of the strike, it actually showed even greater accuracy.
It was a skill I had thought was just Lightning Bolt.
That basic magic I had considered common—
Once it passed through my hands as a Nature-type Awakener, it was no longer basic magic at all.
On top of that, the mana consumption wasn’t even a tenth as much.
I hurriedly opened the gallery window again and wrote a post.
Title: This actually works
Author: Baek Ubin
[ What the hell is this? This is insane. ]
ㄴ You only just realized?
ㄴ See! Did this lady not tell you again and again?
ㄴ Lmaoooo your brain is so pure
Comments appeared. Every one of them sounded like they found me pathetic.
But I didn’t feel bad in the slightest.
If I could, I wanted to keep climbing the Tower right now.
If it weren’t for the once-per-day entry limit, I really would have.
Just as I was about to close the gallery with a faint smile—
Stop being satisfied already [11]
One post caught my eye.
Title: Stop being satisfied already
Author: ㅇㅇ
[ Think a little. If the base performance is good, doesn’t anything immediately come to mind? ]
ㄴ What are you talking about?
ㄴ You should try it the other way around too.
ㄴ ??
ㄴ Just raise your mana and use the skill.
Raise my mana and use it?
Now that I thought about it, all I had done was recite the skill name and use it.
But what if I intentionally raised my mana and used it?
I’d been so excited that I hadn’t thought that far.
ㄴ This is why former F-ranks, lol
As if reading my mind, an irritating comment appeared.
I snorted, turned off the gallery, and looked at the time limit floating in the air.
[Time Limit: 00 hours 19 minutes 52 seconds]
“Let’s give it everything I’ve got.”
I spread my feet shoulder-width apart and took my stance. Then I closed my eyes.
Thump, thump, thump.
I activated my mana cultivation method and circulated my mana.
Feeling my mana boil up, I began concentrating it into my right hand.
I could see a sphere of mana wavering at my fingertips.
“Lightning… Bolt!”
Gritting my teeth, I used the skill again, and a massive volume of lightning began swelling in front of my right hand.
Unable to withstand that mana, my feet were pushed back by the recoil.
Wooooong.
Once the form of the skill was complete, a resonant hum rang out.
And the moment it fired—
Aside from seeing the space flash, I didn’t remember much.
For a moment, my ears felt muffled, and only belatedly did a thunderous roar ring out.
Kwagagagagagagak!!!
The only thing I remembered was that the lightning fired from my fingertips dyed everything in my field of vision white.
Only after I belatedly registered that did the shockwave crash over me.
Unable to withstand the impact, I was flung several meters backward and rolled across the floor.
The flash that had blinded me vanished, and the cloud of dust slowly began to clear.
“Cough, cough.”
Coughing repeatedly, I pushed myself up.
And the moment I looked ahead, my breath stopped before I realized it, and I stared blankly.
“…Huh.”
One side of the boss room’s wall had literally evaporated.
It wasn’t just that the wall had collapsed. It had evaporated.
Beyond it, all I could see was pitch-black darkness.
With a stupid expression, I looked down at my right hand.
I could feel the faint remnants of electricity tickling my skin.
The description of the Lightning Bolt skill kept surfacing in my mind.
‘Fires an electric arrow to inflict minor paralysis and damage on an enemy. Its low mana cost makes it excellent for harassment.’
Harassment…?
In a hollow voice, I murmured quietly.
“…Is this right?”
**
At the same time, the Hunter Gallery, where every hunter was said to be a member, was in the middle of burning up.
Normally, it would have been a place where people simply spouted nonsense and fooled around.
But right now, everyone was fervently talking about a single topic.
Did you see the 5th-floor semi-boss stage record? [33]
How long has it been since there was a new record? Lmao [19]
Insane, is the 5th-floor new record really 3 seconds? [109]
————————
Title: Insane, is the 5th-floor new record really 3 seconds?
Author: ㅇㅇ
[ The 5th floor was just updated, and it says 3 seconds, lmaoooo. Is this an error? ]
ㄴ ??? 3 seconds?
ㄴ Bullshit. It takes at least 10 seconds just to run there after starting.
ㄴ No, I’m telling you, it’s real lol
ㄴ Why would a low-floor record change now?
A new record being set in the lower-floor sections was something that almost never happened unless it was early on.
After all, the hunters with the potential to do so were already playing around on the upper floors.
That was why a record of 3 seconds made no sense.
Considering the physical travel distance and the time needed to subdue the enemy, it was a number that simply could not be explained unless something outside the standard was involved.
For hours afterward, the Hunter Gallery continued debating whether 3 seconds was possible or impossible.
Watching that pointless debate, Lee Chaeyeon felt goosebumps rise all over her body as well.
She was sitting at her desk, staring at her monitor.
The coffee cup in one hand trembled faintly.
[ New World Record for Clearing the 5th-Floor Semi-Boss Stage ]
[ Nickname: White / Clear Time: 00 hours 00 minutes 03 seconds ]
“Three seconds…?”
Lee Chaeyeon quietly murmured the number.
Could this record possibly make sense, logically speaking?
“White….”
She was about to check the hunter database, but then looked at the documents in her hand.
“White, Baek….”
On those documents, there was a photo of a young man with an F-rank hunter license hanging around his neck.
“Baek Ubin?”
She looked back and forth between the man in the photo and the word White engraved in the Hall of Fame.
In that moment, she felt as if pieces of a puzzle were clicking together in her head.
The disturbance that had occurred in the hospital lobby just a few hours earlier.
The villain who had caused the disturbance was a B-rank Awakener. And the man who had not only taken him down in a single blow, but had casually demanded the reward money afterward.
And right after he was discharged from the hospital, a new 5th-floor record had been set.
Every circumstance pointed to one single fact.
The owner of that absurd record was Baek Ubin.
“Haa.”
Without realizing it, she let out a faint sigh.
Then the corners of her lips rose, and a deep smile appeared on her face.
Within the Association, there were more than a few who were skeptical about designating Baek Ubin as an internal candidate for Aegis.
They said it was a gamble to mark him as a candidate based on only a few testimonies and circumstantial evidence.
“…Ahaha.”
A hollow laugh escaped her at the proof that her eyes had not been wrong.
Baek Ubin was absolutely not some ordinary, common Awakener.
If her thoughts were correct, he was undoubtedly an Awakener with talent beyond the standard.
“This isn’t the time to be sitting around.”
Lee Chaeyeon sprang up from her seat without hesitation.
The chair scraped noisily against the floor, but she paid it no mind.
She snatched up Baek Ubin’s profiling file and a copy of the consent form for his internal Aegis appointment from her desk and clutched them to her chest.
Then she started walking.
She moved urgently, feeling as if she had to register him this very instant.
Before another guild discovered the monster. As soon as possible.