The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 45

—————

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

—————

The Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 045
Recently, the investment that had satisfied me most was undoubtedly the **’Job Grade Enhancement Certificate’**.
Thanks to the unique ability ‘Blood Blessing’ that Kang Hye obtained upon awakening,
the EX Coins and Points I received were doubled.
Recently, as Seoul Tower was cleared up to the 20th Floor at EX-rank, the coin acquisition amount itself increased significantly.
Around 3-4 per day.
With the doubling applied, I was acquiring approximately 6-8 EX Coins daily.
“Friend-or-Foe Identification seems like a higher-tier ability than Shield.”
Shield is literally the last line of defense.
But Friend-or-Foe Identification prevents enemies from even approaching nearby.
I spared no EX Coins for Friend-or-Foe Identification.
I invested a full 4 EX Coins at once.
───────
[Security]
1. Eavesdropping Detection: 5 (+)
2. Friend-or-Foe Identification: 5 (+)
3. Locked
───────
Friend-or-Foe Identification had been enhanced to level 5.
After meeting Joshua face-to-face, I began to understand.
If I hadn’t been focused on destroying the 20th Floor’s Pocket Dimension, I felt I could have expelled him from the Tower using Friend-or-Foe Identification alone.
[Using 3 EX Coins to unlock.]
[Remaining Coins: 10]
‘The currency inflation is severe.’
Unlocking alone required a full 3 coins.
However, it was definitely worth the expenditure.
The next function, ‘Tracking’, had been unlocked.
-I have completed preparations to track intruders with hostile records, Mayo.
-Currently, the tracking ability is at the level of a regular Explorer rank 25.
It was a timely useful ability.
[Using EX Coins…]
[Remaining Coins: 5]
───────
[Security]
1. Eavesdropping Detection: 5 (+)
2. Friend-or-Foe Identification: 5 (+)
3. Tracking: 5 (+)
───────
-Standards elevated. Currently at
regular grade standard
It’s roughly at the level of a Level 125 Explorer.
At this point, Kang Hye felt an inexplicable irritation rising within her.
“…Doesn’t this mean we don’t even need an Explorer?”
“What do you mean?”
Something gnawed at her chest.
She’d been looking forward to party play becoming available from the 30th floor onward,
but if this tracking ability kept improving with each passing day? If Mayo continued to evolve so brilliantly?
The very reason for her existence as a self-proclaimed EX-rank Advisor could be shaken.
“Honestly, this feels a bit like a balance break….”
Mayo displayed a pouting emoji as it spoke.
-…If that’s how it feels, I regret it.
-However, claiming a balance break is rather forced reasoning.
“Brother, these letters I see. Mayo is showing me these, right?”
“Yeah.”
-…This Mayo is frequently misunderstood.
-While it may appear to be an excessive ability, without a single prerequisite, it’s nothing at all.
A brief pause.
A quiet explanation followed.
-Without an EX-rank Awakener or EX Coins, this Mayo isn’t even permitted to operate.
-That’s the condition. A very honest and simple one.
EX Coins are obtained solely as rewards for EX-rank clears.
Throughout the entire world, only one person has ever accomplished that.
-Is it still forced to claim a balance break, then? 🙂
In truth, Kang Hye had already accepted it long ago.
‘Well, as long as it’s good for my little brother, that’s all that matters.’
And soon after, an opportunity to use that tracking ability presented itself.
She decided to track down Joshua, who had gone into hiding.
“Little brother! Let’s have a tracking competition!”
“Just in case—don’t get too close.”
This could be more dangerous than when she tracked Shin Chae-ryung last time.
Even if he’s a non-Awakener, one mustn’t let their guard down.
After all, those with nothing to lose are always the most terrifying.
“Yeah, don’t worry.”
Kang Hye shot a glance at Mayo.
In the realm of exploration, at least, she didn’t want to lose to anyone.
She too was SSS+ rank.
“I won’t lose, Mayo. Not a chance.”
-You are in an emotionally excited state. The probability of overexertion is judged to be high.
-However, I have no intention of stopping you.

* * *
The victor was Mayo.
—Form, trajectory, resonance.
—I can see them all quite clearly 🙂
Joshua, who had invaded the Pocket Dimension.
Finding him, with his Awakening even stripped away, was absurdly simple.
It required no particular effort at all.
—I have recorded everything you did on the 20th Floor.
In that instant, something unexpected occurred.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out.
—Armed entity responding.
—I will ensure the user remains unharmed 🙂
—
We
cannot be hurt.
The hotel door was obliterated, yet Choi Kang-mok didn’t have a single scratch.
He had succeeded in defense with nothing but a shield, without any interception.
“I wish I had used interception.”
Rarely, Mayo fell silent.
“I can’t open the door with my own strength.”
I could destroy it with magic.
The problem is that only the door wouldn’t be destroyed.
“If it had been interception, I think this door would have broken too.”
—My apologies. My judgment was delayed. I shall correct this and output anew.
Fortunately, Mayo did not repeat the same mistake.
As the next bullet fired, Mayo’s white magic circle formed, and from its center, pure white blades erupted.
—Shatter shatter shatter explode explode explode destroy destroy destruction is art art is destruction! Kyahahahahaha!
Boom!
Interception successful.
For intercepting a pistol round, it seemed like excessive power, but in any case, the door was destroyed.
Throughout this, Choi Kang-mok precisely adjusted the Pocket Dimension’s boundaries to minimize collateral damage from the interception.
‘Easy!’
This too was a reversal of perception.
Having dealt with his own mana fragments, facing interception fragments felt simple.
The results of harsh training were truly excellent.
“No, no, stay back!”
Joshua, seized by terror, pulled the trigger repeatedly.
But his magazine was long since empty.
His last physical means had been completely exhausted.
Choi Kang-mok walked forward with measured composure.
Kim Kang-hyun, the former Busan ranker, bolted toward the entrance.
He seized the moment when Choi Kang-mok’s attention shifted to Joshua, using it to escape.
-If you flee like that, we become rather excited. How troublesome.
Crackle—
-Running away? But we haven’t even said goodbye yet.
-#NoMatterHowYouRun #YoullAlwaysBeWithMe #YourStruggleIsBeautiful #WhenWeMetAgain #IllTearYouBeautifully
Choi Kang-mok found no particular reason to pursue him.
If I wanted to, I could catch him in an instant.
Even tracking him this far had been trivially easy.
“No, don’t come any closer!”
Joshua drew a short blade and swung it desperately.
But against Friend-or-Foe Identification, such resistance was meaningless.
The blade’s edge never touched Choi Kang-mok’s true form.
Though they appeared to stand in the same space, Joshua’s world and Choi Kang-mok’s world no longer overlapped.
That was the Pocket Dimension—Friend-or-Foe Identification.
“Bullets couldn’t pierce it. What makes you think your blade will?”
Joshua’s short blade merely cut through empty air, futile and hollow.
And shortly after.
“Gasp… gasp…! I got him! This bastard—I mean, this person is Kim Kang-hyun, right?”
Kim Kang-hyun lay unconscious.
Held in the grip of Kang Hye, the explorer.
“I didn’t kill him.”
Kang Hye laughed with a self-satisfied grin.
Kim Kang-hyun, once a Busan ranker.
Now he was merely an ordinary non-awakened human.
Having subdued him with ease, Kang Hye proved with her entire being that she still possessed value as an EX-rank Awakener’s aide.
“How is it? My strength?”

* * *
One truth was revealed to the world.
[Seoul Guild Releases Partial Footage of 20th Floor Clear! (Video Attached)]
└Someone give us a summary
└Wow, if this is real, all hell’s breaking loose
The footage was composed from a first-person perspective.
The two silhouettes captured head-on were blurred, yet their identities were unmistakable.
[The Reason Behind the ‘Critical Floor’ Revealed!]
└Ah, so their Awakening cancellations counted as failures
└Those two bastards trolled their way into creating a critical floor
└That’s Joshua and Kim Kang-hyun, right?
└Global-scale trolling, actual legend update….
The reason for the critical floor’s emergence had been exposed.
International embarrassment, two towers, so shocking
└Off with their heads
Because of those two, my friend seriously became a non-awakened one.
└Where do I file for damages
└Those bastards should all be beaten to death with rocks
As global fury toward Joshua and Kim Kang-hyun reached a boiling point, London Guild Master Foster made a personal visit to Seoul.
[London Guild Master Foster Makes Emergency Visit to Seoul!]
[Foster Reveals His Reason for Coming!]
[Foster: “To Apologize to the EX-Rank Awakener….”]
All manner of photographs flooded the community.
└Wait, isn’t that a fighter jet?
└Yeah
└He flew here on a fighter jet?
└Yeah, the air force helped too apparently
Reporters swarmed the scene.
London Guild Master Foster’s expression was solemn.
“I offer my deepest apologies and regrets for the considerable inconvenience our negligence has caused the EX-Rank Awakener.”
Click! Click!
A barrage of camera flashes erupted.
[Did the Sovereign Just Apologize?]
└A year ago, I would’ve thought this was a web novel
└The scene of him stepping out of the fighter jet, straight out of a movie
└The London Sovereign bowed his head in Seoul….
The world had changed.
An era where power and authority mattered far more than truth or justification.
An era where city-states competed fiercely as urbanization progressed.
An era where citizens’ pride and dignity soared to the heavens in each city.
In this era, the lord of one city rarely showed weakness to the lord of another city.
But bowing to the lord of a city not just in another domestic city, but in a foreign nation?
└ㅋㅋㅋ In the first place, there are almost no cases where the monarch directly apologizes.
└Apparently it seems like there’s something like a lord’s dignity points that get deducted?
└Wait? Britain dropped one rank in the national rankings?
Following the Hall of Fame, the World tab, and individual rankings, national rankings were also activated.
───────
[Hall of Fame]
[World] [Nation]
1. Spain
2. Germany
3. Britain
…
31. South Korea
…
───────
Wow, South Korea’s ranking really went up for real lol
└An EX-rank Awakener single-handedly injected national pride;;;
The Tower civilization era.
National rankings were the very face and commodity value of a nation.
This incident seemed to Britain like a symbol of national class degradation.
Amid all the chaos, one piece of news surfaced.
[Breaking News] Joshua, has passed away…]
Around the same time.
Kim Kang-hyun was also discovered as a corpse.

* * *
Seoul Guild Headquarters.
In the hushed, weighty silence of the room, Foster, the London Guild Master, spoke first.
“I assume it would be difficult for me to meet the EX-rank Awakener directly?”
Lee Byung-gyu, the Seoul Guild Master, nodded respectfully.
“Yes. We represent the EX-rank Awakener’s wishes.”
His tone was firm yet courteous.
Beneath Lee Byung-gyu’s words lay a careful tension.
One of the world’s three absolute rulers.
The day had come when I would face Foster himself.
In the past, South Korea had been utterly peripheral in the Tower civilization.
And among those peripheries, Seoul had been the lowest of the low.
Yet now.
In this small room, I stood before the London Sovereign.
Foster lowered his head.
“I offer my sincere apologies. This is clearly our failure in maintaining proper internal discipline within the Guild.”
“The EX-rank Awakener has stated they will not hold this against the Guild itself.”
That was Choi Kang-mok’s position.
Even a London Sovereign cannot control everyone’s actions.
Every Guild has its spies and madmen.
“However, we cannot overlook the involvement of our Seoul Guild.”
Lee Byung-gyu was representing Choi Kang-mok’s interests.
He had to consider how best to bring the greatest advantage to Choi Kang-mok.
In truth, he was pouring all his effort into serving Choi Kang-mok.
The EX-rank Awakener.
He was the future of Seoul, and indeed, of all Korea.
“Could you dispatch one of the London Guild’s Vice Sovereigns?”
“A Vice Sovereign?”
“Yes. I would like a Vice Sovereign who has signed a Sovereign Contract with the EX-rank Awakener.”
“We are prepared at any time.”
The answer came immediately.
It was a glimpse of Foster’s commanding grip over his Guild.
“As you know, the EX-rank Awakener is still at a low level.”
“Having cleared the 20th Floor, they should be around level 40.”
“They lack experience.”
Lee Byung-gyu’s answer followed, the result of long deliberation over what compensation would best serve Choi Kang-mok.
“I would like Christine, the London Guild’s Vice Sovereign, to be stationed in Seoul.”
It would be of considerable benefit to Choi Kang-mok in many ways.
The symbolic value alone of a London Guild Vice Sovereign being stationed in Seoul was significant.
“I hope she will aid in the EX-rank Awakener’s growth.”
The world’s greatest mage.
He proposed summoning Christine to Korea.

—————

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

—————