The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 012
[Level gap of 50 or more confirmed!]
[Target eliminated with a single magical attack!]
[Laws of the small world destroyed!]
[Title ‘Murderer’ has been upgraded to ‘Combat Specialist Mage’.]
This was unexpected.
I knew that upon acquiring the Murderer title, certain adjustments could upgrade it through various conditions, but I’d never heard of it transforming into ‘Combat Specialist Mage’ before.
‘Though I suppose I did fight like a combat specialist mage.’
I manifested magic through magical segmentation, much like a true combat specialist would.
I calculated where and how the mana fragments would scatter.
I had to predict Kim Yu-jun’s movements based on my analysis.
Accounting for what he would evade, I guided the fragments to burst from behind him.
‘Still, the [Specialist] in Combat Specialist Mage feels a bit excessive, doesn’t it?’
[The speed of released magic increases by 30%.]
Magic speed. It’s an effect that would drive any combat mage mad with joy.
To use an arrow as an analogy, it was the concept of arrows flying faster.
Naturally, this was extremely advantageous in combat.
However, for Choi Kang-mok as I am now, this title felt somewhat overwhelming, so my joy wasn’t entirely pure.
A double-strength talisman effect and increased speed on top of that?
I’d only just started riding a tricycle, and now I was suddenly operating a motorcycle.
My eyes grew serious once more.
‘I’ll need more practice.’
There was no rush.
If I grew steadily, opportunity would surely come.
Someday. Without fail.

* * *
Choi Kang-chul’s body went rigid.
“Insane….”
I knew about EX-rank awakening.
But still, the opponent was a ranker.
At least one of the top ten assassins in Korea.
Such an assassin was dead.
Kang Hye grabbed my arm.
“Cheer up, little brother. Steel yourself. You did nothing wrong. That bastard is the one at fault.”
She quickly comforted me, certain I’d be shocked by my first kill (I wasn’t).
“Get it together, Choi Kang-mok! That bastard was trying to kill you first. I’m an explorer, remember? My senses are incredibly sharp. I felt all that killing intent. If you hadn’t killed that bastard, he would’ve killed you. No doubt about it. Get it together, Choi Kang-mok! You did nothing wrong!”
Every word carried absolute sincerity.
But I remained silent.
“….”
‘Combat Specialist Mage title. Projectile speed increased by 30 percent. This should be the right direction, right?’
“I’m serious. You did nothing wrong. I vouch for you.”
I knew.
I was silent only because I was verifying the ‘Combat Specialist Mage’ title’s effect and organizing my thoughts.
Choi Kang-chul lifted Kim Yu-jun’s head and spoke quietly.
“I’ll collect the head. The Busan Guild will sense something amiss before long. For your safety, you should head to the Seoul Guild immediately….”
“Wait a moment, hyung. I think it’ll take the Busan Guild a while anyway.”
“What?”
“He was trying to kill me. Was that really the Busan Lord’s order?”
Would Shin Chae-ryung have issued such a command?
Probably not.
It was far more likely an impulsive act by the assassin Kim Yu-jun.
He must have grown greedy for the EX-rank succession.
“So what you’re saying is….”
“Even if they found out, they wouldn’t report it properly. We have time.”
Rushing under time pressure would only make things go wrong.
If worst came to worst, I still had the emergency button Choi Kang-chul gave me.
“So?”
“I’m thinking of sending a system message to the Incheon Lord and Lee Kang-nam first.”
System messages had no hacking risk.
“Good thinking.”
Choi Kang-chul wanted his younger brother to receive the best treatment.
I felt the same way.

* * *
Seoul, Goryeo Hotel.
Lee Kang-nam sat perched on the edge of the bed.
‘That Seoul Lord bastard. Showed his face and bolted.’
Cooperation? What a joke. He’d only come to probe.
Extracted information and vanished.
Not a single message since.
“This is why I hate Lords.”
After exhaling a long sigh, I decided to venture into Seoul Tower’s third floor myself.
“What makes Seoul Tower’s third floor different?”
I headed toward Seoul Tower.
“Are you certain you wish to enter?”
“Yes, I’m telling you!”
“Very well. I shall grant you entry.”
I finally entered Seoul Tower’s third floor.
Upon experiencing it firsthand, it was identical to Daegu Tower.
Back in reality, I furrowed my brow deeply.
“How in the world does one achieve an EX rating?”
I’d been confident no record would surpass my own SSS.
I resolved to ask him directly about this later.
“He’ll definitely contact me, right?”
I was fairly confident about that.
I’d wagered a red rune equivalent to a black rune.
If someone was hunting players—not mere Awakeners—
And if they were hunting for an EX rating, they couldn’t possibly ignore this rune.
I checked the system mailbox.
“Ugh. I’m going to beat the crap out of every bastard who’s ever sent me a joke email.”
I’d set it to receive all messages sent from Seoul.
Thousands of spam and prank emails flooded in daily.
Filtering through them was a chore in itself.
[From. EX Man (South Korea Server, Seoul, #94814)]
The number 94814 was the identifier for the person using the nickname ‘EX Man’.
The 94814th EX Man’s email.
“Sigh. What a hassle.”
Yet I couldn’t ignore it.
With an expressionless face, I examined the email.
[File Attached]
“Huh?”
It was a screenshot captured by the system.
───────
[Hall of Fame (1st Floor)]
[South Korea]
1. -(Seoul, EX)
2. Tomato Moller (Incheon, SS)
…
───────
For some reason, Kim Yu-jun, who had been in second place, had vanished.
But that wasn’t what mattered.
Only the first-place ranking, displayed in bold, caught my eye.
It meant my own ranking.
“Finally!”
Yes. I knew it would be like this.
It would be stranger if my eyes didn’t go wild seeing this rune!
[What are the specific contract conditions with the Daegu Guild?]
Lee Kang-nam copied and pasted the original text that the Daegu lord had prepared in advance.
He first introduced the advanced cultivation culture of Daegu Tower, represented by sophisticated technical strategies.
There was talk that they also took pride in their know-how regarding the development of promising talents.
On the last line, Lee Kang-nam added a touch of personal interest.
[From floor 30 onwards, I’ll carry you.]
Floors 1-29 of the Tower were solo play.
From floor 30 onwards, party play became possible. Naturally, party play was the mainstream.
As the difficulty of challenges increased exponentially, clearing them alone became nearly impossible.
Having a tank of Lee Kang-nam’s caliber alongside me was nothing short of fortunate.
For reference, high-level tanks were extremely rare.
Most tanks died before reaching Lee Kang-nam’s level of growth.
Upon receiving the reply, Choi Kang-mok hesitated slightly.
“It would certainly be nice if Lee Kang-nam provided tanking support….”
But whether it would truly be meaningful for me was the question.
Tower floor 30.
By that point, I would have reached approximately level 60.
‘Do I really need a tank?’
I had no way of knowing, having never ventured into that territory.
Yet with mere ‘mana pressure,’ I burst the bloated slime.
The massive saw blade and dummy fell in a single strike.
Mana fragments—mere scraps—reached a level where they could eliminate the current Korean ranker, Kim Yu-jun.
‘If my damage misfires….’
Could Lee Kang-nam truly survive unscathed?
I had no desire to become a murderer.
Separate from that concern, there were certainly advantages to consider.
“The Daegu Guild is certainly renowned.”
The Incheon Guild is evaluated as having the most well-developed promising talent cultivation system.
If Incheon’s strategy is to overwhelm through sheer money and power, Daegu’s approach is refined and efficient tactics.
Even with the same magic, Incheon consumes vast mana and resources to manifest powerful effects.
Daegu, conversely, expends mana efficiently to manifest only the necessary effects at the right moment.
Somewhere in between stood the Busan Guild, Korea’s unshakeable number one Tower guild.
“The annual salary is 30 billion won.”
While far less than the 50 billion won offered by the Incheon Lord, the provision of a crimson rune beyond black-rune grade was undeniably a significant merit.
[Don’t do this—let’s meet in person and negotiate. EX-man.]
The salary alone was 30 billion won.
Naturally, there was a clause attached requiring an in-person meeting to finalize the contract.
[Publicly, we’re meeting to throw a punch, so prepare to take one.]
For the price of a single punch, they’d hand over the crimson rune.
I judged that EX-man would absolutely not refuse.
[I refuse.]
I was rejected.

* * *
The Incheon Guild’s conditions were also quite excellent.
However, they also required an in-person meeting.
In that process, my identity exposure was almost certain.
“But everyone seems convinced I’m an explorer.”
I’m not.
I’m a mage.
“Kang-mok, these are the conditions the Seoul Guild can offer.”
“…They put quite a bit of effort into this.”
It was less a contract detailing conditions and more a plea.
Choi Kang-chul spoke.
“Money won’t work against Incheon, the cultivation system falls short against Daegu. Busan is just in a different league entirely.”
The perpetually last-place Seoul Guild simply didn’t have the resources to match such conditions.
Currently, the highest-paid top-ranked player in the Seoul Guild earned a salary in the 10 billion won range.
“Personally, I think Daegu is the better choice.”
Daegu has an atmosphere where players are respected as people more so than Seoul.
Moreover, Daegu has Lee Kang-nam.
“You’re going to be a mage anyway.”
While everyone thought of me as an “explorer,”
my older brother was still my older brother.
“You probably already know, but a mage absolutely needs a reliable vanguard. Lee Kang-nam is among the very best in the country. No, if he were known to the public, he’d likely be top-class even on a global scale.”
The consensus was that if Daegu Guild had other players of Lee Kang-nam’s caliber in different classes, they would have already surpassed the 45th floor.
Choi Kang-mok, scanning the contract, broke into a grin.
“But I like this one.”
“What?”
“They’re also constructing a Pure Magic Research Support Center.”
“Don’t read too much into it. Since it seems we can’t compete in combat magic, we’re just setting a direction to find a way forward through pure magic research.”
The global mainstream was combat magic, and Seoul had already fallen behind.
Instead, they were focusing on and nurturing pure magic research and combat ‘support’ and similar fields.
That was Seoul’s current position.
The establishment of a magic research department at Korea University was for the same reason.
“The Magic Research Institute will be completed in a year?”
“They wrote it grandly, but apparently advanced nations already have all of this.”
Choi Kang-chul hoped that Choi Kang-mok would receive the best treatment.
It didn’t have to be under the Seoul Guild.
“But do we really need to meet the Seoul Lord?”
I had the most reliable family member as my agent.
There was no need to proceed with the contract while directly meeting the Seoul Lord.
“If you want, we can do it that way.”
“Won’t you be in trouble if you lose me, hyung?”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Kang Hye needs to graduate from here too.”
“That sounds like you’re saying you’ll stay in Seoul.”
Choi Kang-mok shrugged his shoulders.
“Ultimately, there’s one decisive reason I need to be in Seoul.”
“Wait.”
Choi Kang-chul pulled something from his pocket.
It was something he’d been deliberating whether to hand over.
If Choi Kang-mok was considering another guild, he wouldn’t have shown it at all.
Even if it meant being expelled from the Seoul Guild himself.
“The Guild Master asked me to give this to you.”
“Does the Seoul Guild Master know I’m EX-Rank?”
“He seems to be thinking of you as a strong candidate.”
What Choi Kang-chul handed over was a letter.
‘What is this now?’
It contained content I hadn’t anticipated at all.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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