The Return of the Legendary All-Master - Chapter 11
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 11
This place was created by New World as an entrance to a hidden theme.
Because of that, no one in the village questioned this abandoned house.
Naturally, the main gate was wide open.
‘There was an item hidden inside that abandoned house, and it was a tool to access the hidden theme.’
Honestly, before my regression, when I heard it from Alessandro, I thought he was just making up a story.
Even if he intended to use the saying ‘it’s darkest under the lamp’ as a keyword, having an item that leads to a hidden theme in such an abandoned house.
It’s too contrived.
‘If it sounds like a lie, feel free to test it.’
Alessandro’s confident expression, and only after using lie detection magic could I confirm his words were true.
We used to laugh and chat without hiding anything from each other.
What’s so important about mere power…
Jung Hoon’s expression turned menacing.
“Phew, enough. I’ll only think about what’s ahead now.”
He stepped into the abandoned house.
[Old Abandoned House]
The abandoned house was an old, worn thatched house.
A typical appearance of an old thatched house from the Korean Peninsula.
It was like this because Jung Hoon was accessing and playing in Korea.
New World divided servers by country.
And the environment changes according to that server.
In Alessandro’s case, I heard it wasn’t a thatched house but appeared as a small mansion.
Of course, this hidden theme can only be taken by the first user to discover it across all servers, and afterwards it hides itself.
‘If I take it, that means Alessandro will come up empty-handed.’
There was nothing that could be called a portal visible in the abandoned house.
There wouldn’t be any users coming this far in the first place, but even if there were, there was nothing here to the extent that they wouldn’t find a portal and would just turn back.
However, the portal leading to the hidden theme is right here.
Jung Hoon, who had entered the thatched house, stopped at a small room inside.
The room had a blanket and pillow that seemed to have been used by someone once, covered in dust, and in front of them sat a broken crystal orb all alone.
‘I never would have dreamed they’d plant a device in the crystal orb. If I hadn’t found it, no one would have found it and it would have disappeared.’
Jung Hoon carefully brought his hand to the crystal.
Then an exclamation mark appeared above the crystal orb.
[You have discovered a hidden theme!]
[You have gained 5,000 Achievement points!]
He gained an additional 5,000 Achievement points.
At this rate, leveling up the Achievement shop will be quick, right?
[Would you like to move to the Abundant Mana Field?]
When he touched the exclamation mark, a question asking whether to move to the hidden theme appeared.
“Move.”
When Jung Hoon accepted, his body was surrounded by blue light and was swallowed by the broken crystal orb.
* * *
Capsule Room.
Whoosh-
The capsule door opened and Ha Jin came out.
The time was past 1:10 PM.
“Really not even hungry.”
Ha Jin looked once at the tightly closed capsule and shook his head.
Then, as always, he ordered his favorite menu item, egg cheese ramen, and sat at a table fiddling with his phone.
“Eating now?”
Lee Hyeon Woo, the capsule room owner, sat across from Ha Jin.
“Hyung, aren’t you busy?”
“What would I have to do.”
Lee Hyeon Woo shrugged his shoulders.
He was the owner, but all he did was kill time at the counter or enter a capsule to enjoy New World.
The part-timers were the ones who were really busy.
“I’m envious of your life, hyung.”
Lee Hyeon Woo was born with a diamond spoon in his mouth to begin with.
Originally he was supposed to manage a 10-story building instead of a capsule room, but when New World became a huge hit, he changed course to a capsule room.
“Hehe, you should have been born with a better spoon.”
“Wow, really annoying.”
“Anyway, where did your friend go?”
“The capsule.”
“Huh… without even eating?”
“Yes. When I suggested eating together, he even ignored my whisper.”
“Really? Well… your friend seems really hooked.”
Jung Hoon, was it?
I was genuinely amazed by that friend’s concentration.
Ha Jin usually came to the capsule room at 9 o’clock, but Jung Hoon would appear at the capsule room like a ghost at 6 AM.
He even finished and went home at 1:30 AM.
Excluding travel time, that meant he only spent 4 hours at home and invested everything else in the capsule.
“When he gets hooked on something, he works incredibly hard at it…”
Recently, Jung Hoon practically lived in the capsule to the point where communication was only possible through whispers inside the capsule.
“It seemed that way. He’d quickly grab some bread and milk, then go back into the capsule.”
“Haha…”
Ha Jin felt his head throbbing.
He felt guilty enough to think he had led his friend down a strange path.
Originally, Jung Hoon was an engineering student with no interest in capsules.
After being discharged from the military, he was a model student who had even made plans to get a job at a large corporation while attending school and studying for certifications… but contrary to those words, he had now become a complete gaming addict.
“But your friend has incredible concentration, doesn’t he?”
No matter how fun New World was, it wasn’t easy to go that far.
“He has amazing concentration. When he was in elementary school, he even appeared on a program called Genius Prodigy.”
Genius Prodigy.
A game survival competition for ages 8-13.
It was said that all the children who appeared in that competition had extraordinary abilities.
“Wow, really? Your friend was a genius.”
“Rather than a genius, he was recruited because of his incredible memory.”
“Memory?”
“Yes. You could say he has almost Absolute Memory Ability. Once something gets stuck in his head, he never forgets it.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. So when it came to games involving memory and concentration, no one could match him. He came in 3rd place though because he was a bit weak in calculations.”
“Isn’t 3rd place fucking amazing too?”
“That’s true.”
Jung Hoon never missed being first in his class even in middle school.
When his father died in an accident and he started working part-time instead of studying to help his mother, his grades did drop a bit, but those “dropped” grades were still in the top 10 of the entire school.
“Huh? Hey, look at this. A level 11 beat an Instructor NPC.”
Lee Hyeon Woo, who had been fiddling with his phone, tilted his head.
Ha Jin, who was eating ramen, looked up.
“What?”
On the phone he held out, a video was playing.
The video showed a novice martial artist sparring with an NPC instructor.
‘Level 11?’
Ha Jin’s expression suddenly became serious.
The face was pixelated, but a level 11 novice martial artist.
He didn’t know why, but strangely, it looked like Jung Hoon.
‘No way… it can’t be, right?’
No matter how pathetic the instructors at Primordial Village’s Training Hall were, they should still be positioned at levels 25-30, right?
It couldn’t be. No matter that he chose martial artist, he wasn’t the kind of friend to pull off something so absurd.
Look. A level 11 user was beating up a level 30 instructor.
Even while dodging all of the instructor’s attacks.
‘No way. Jung Hoon can’t fight like this.’
From the skill level, he was convinced it wasn’t Jung Hoon.
* * *
[You have entered the Abundant Mana Field.]
[You have discovered a hidden theme!]
[An additional 10,000 Achievement points have been awarded.]
[Achievement Shop has been upgraded from Lv.1 -> Lv.2!]
My vision went dark and when it returned, I was in the middle of a field, not the thatched house.
The mana field was formed in a cube shape.
Since I was inside such a cube, it was a space where the floor, walls, and ceiling were densely built with blue bricks.
“So this is the hidden theme.”
This was my first time entering a hidden theme.
To think there was a space so abundant with mana.
A refreshing feeling wafted through the air.
[Mana Amplification Field is activated.]
[Mana is abundant.]
[Mana enters your body and settles in.]
Every time I breathed in, mana naturally entered.
‘This is incredible…’
It was truly shocking.
To think such a mana-abundant place existed in New World.
I had only heard about it, but experiencing it directly was on a different level.
[Magic Power stat increases by +1.]
Even without leveling up, my Magic Power stat increased by 1.
‘Good. I should be able to raise my Magic Power a lot here.’
Jung Hoon had never cast magic even once until now.
Unlike magic, Divine Power focused greatly on recovery, detoxification, and dispelling curses, so Strong Will would react just from operating it, but magic was different.
Due to the setting of being a profound academic discipline, magic was something that couldn’t be easily learned without having the mage profession.
Even for Jung Hoon, who was an All Master, magic was a path that opened very late.
So he learned only one single magic spell and used it for combat applications.
It was the same even after his regression.
Even though he had mana, even though he remembered the flow of magic in his head, Strong Will didn’t react as if it was firmly solidified.
Of course, it was a problem that would slowly resolve with time, but the hidden theme would accelerate that timing.
[Would you like to begin training?]
Jung Hoon pressed accept.
[Scanning user.]
[No circuit diagram configured within the body.]
[Would you like to configure a circuit diagram?]
At that question, the corners of Jung Hoon’s mouth rose.
A circuit diagram was like the engine needed to use magic.
You couldn’t spam magic just by having mana.
New World was implemented so that each profession could maximize their advantages, and mages, unlike other professions, completed their first job advancement by configuring circuit diagrams.
This was the reason Strong Will hadn’t been reacting.
‘I need to configure it.’
When Jung Hoon accepted, his body heated up once and one circuit diagram was created near his chest.
[Circuit diagram has been configured.]
[Additional configuration is not possible.]
To think it would end so simply.
He got goosebumps once again at the overpowered nature of the hidden theme.
‘With this one theme, I raised an additional circle.’
Circuit diagram, in other words, a circle.
Alessandro had found this hidden theme and raised one additional circle here.
The reason he could have a higher circle compared to his level.
This hidden theme had been the great stepping stone that helped him rise beyond Archmage to Sage.
The opportunity of that hidden theme had come to Jung Hoon.
‘I’ve fastened the first button properly.’
It’s just that configuring a circuit diagram early on is tough.
Now that he had configured it, future growth would become easier.
Because he had met the requirements for Strong Will to activate.
‘Then shall I test it right away?’
When Jung Hoon operated his mana, the circle near his chest began rotating rapidly.
Normally it would be a task that should take a long time, but right now this was a place overflowing with mana.
As the circle rotated, it continuously absorbed external mana.
And he slowly traced his memories to synthesize magic.
Though he was called an All Master, learning magic was extremely difficult, so he had learned only one thing and actively utilized it.
Now it was time to learn that magic.
[Fighter exclusive skill ‘Strong Will’ is activated.]
[You have acquired the skill ‘Magic Missile (Normal)’.]
Success.
* * *
Whoosh-
The capsule door opened and Jung Hoon came out.
“Phew.”
Jung Hoon stretched his stiff body with a yawn.
From the dojo to the hidden theme.
Was it because he invested everything in New World except for minimal sleeping time?
His fatigue-accumulated body was screaming in protest.
Well… it was natural to end up like this since he only ate one meal a day and only played New World.
“I should rest today.”
Until the game became reality, he had to get by with an ordinary person’s body.
Though he had a personality that obsessively dug into one thing, Jung Hoon had a weak constitution since childhood, so there were many cases where his body couldn’t keep up.
The body that had become relatively healthy not long after being discharged from the military was holding up, but once he lost his health, he would have to invest a lot of time to recover.
If that happened, the time he could invest in New World would inevitably decrease.
So he needed to manage his body.
“Huh? You were here?”
As he approached the refrigerator to drink some beverages, he discovered Ha Jin sitting at the table.
“Oh? You finished the game? You did finish, right?”
Ha Jin jumped up and rushed over to Jung Hoon.
“Yeah. I finished, but why?”
“Dude, I saw someone fucking similar to you.”
“Someone similar?”
“Yeah. I don’t know who it was, but some level 11 guy beat up an instructor.”
“Oh, that was me.”
When he affirmed with a calm face, Ha Jin’s mouth fell wide open.
“Shit, what?”
“Can’t you tell just by looking? That’s me. I sparred with an NPC instructor at the Hall of Combat Arts.”
“No way, this is crazy… You’re that good at fighting?”
“It’s a game.”
“A game? Hey, in virtual reality the only things you get assistance with are level and stats, you know? But you, at only level 11, defeated a level 30 instructor. How am I supposed to process this?”
“I’m not level 11. I’m level 16 now.”
“Same difference!”
Whether level 11 or 16, beating up an instructor was truly an incredible achievement.
“Anyway, I’m tired. I’m going home, so come along if you want.”
“Home isn’t the issue right now! Guilds interested in you are leaving comments left and right!”
“Love calls?”
If they were love calls, they’d obviously be from guilds.
To send love calls based on just one spar with an instructor – they were obviously mid-tier guilds at best.
“Don’t be shocked, okay? It’s none other than Hoyeong! Hoyeong!”
“Hoyeong…?”
Jung Hoon’s steps faltered.
The Return of the Greatest All Master (Serial)
Author │ Yeon I Yo
Publisher │ Kim Ju Hyeong
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae Hyeok
Address │ 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul, Room 204 (Guro-dong, Daeryung Post Tower 1st)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒYeon I Yo 2024
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder, and no part of the content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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