Chapter 2 – The Fake Mage (２)

*

First, let’s read it.

Gijun scrolled down the class description.

-Unlike other Mage-class Sub-classes that wield various elements, this Mage forges their path using only flame. However, the flame magic of a Flame Seeker is unmatched in raw power.

Huh…?

Gijun’s eyes widened slightly as he finished reading the description.

I can only use flame magic?

The description wasn’t lying. In-game mages were different from their real-world counterparts.

In reality, masters wielded at least three elemental affinities. Here? Not so much.

Gijun smiled.

‘Good.’

He liked this.

For someone who relied on Fireball as his mainstay in the real world, this description hit home.

Truth be told, he preferred it this way.

Even in a game, wasn’t it easier to handle magic from an element you already knew, rather than fumbling with unfamiliar ones?

‘Let’s go, then.’

With that, he created his character.

Name: Jun.

Appearance: deliberately different from real life.

The last thing he wanted was for someone to recognize him.

Not that anyone would, anyway.

Just as he was about to log into the game, his heart pounded.

That moment—his first step into the world of Real Spirit—would become the turning point of his entire life.

*

‘…’

The instant he logged in, he materialized on a mountainside in front of a shabby old building.

Thick woods, a few practice dummies scattered in the yard, and a decrepit structure that looked ready to collapse.

Then, a window appeared before his eyes.

[Name: Jun]

[Class: Flame Seeker]

[Level: 1]

[Strength: 1]

[Agility: 1]

[Stamina: 1]

[Magic Power: 5]

[Skills]

–

A pitifully bare status screen floated in front of him.

‘Still, it feels exciting.’

He couldn’t make sense of anything yet, but the vibe was right.

And the fact that the in-game world felt as real as reality—even beyond what he’d imagined—only added to it.

That was when.

“Hm?”

An old man shuffled out from inside the building.

“An adventurer, are you?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“And what business brings you to this place?”

“…Excuse me?”

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

‘What business’?

How was Gijun supposed to answer that?

“Is this… the place where they do that tutorial thing?”

Gijun asked.

At the question, the old man nodded as if he’d caught on.

“Hmm, in that case… you must be an Outsider.”

“Ah… yeah, I suppose so.”

An Outsider.

It sounded like their term for a User, so Gijun nodded.

“Strange. How an Outsider managed to come here… Well, what’s done is done—it must be fate. How about it? Would you care to train with me?”

The old man kept rambling about things that made no sense.

A place Outsiders couldn’t reach?

And what was all this about training?

Everything he said was a riddle.

Then.

[You are the first to visit the Hidden Map: ‘Flame Seeker’s Training Ground’!]

A hidden training ground?

What was that all about?

More importantly.

‘First?’

A strange emotion flickered through him for a moment, and then several more messages appeared.

[Achievement unlocked!]

[Favorability has increased significantly!]

[All Stats have increased by 1!]

‘Huh?’

All he’d done was meet the old man, and his Favorability had already gone up.

Not only that—his Stats had increased too.

Despite himself, his mood brightened.

He still had no idea what Favorability actually did, but a Stat boost was a Stat boost. No reason not to feel good about it.

Just then, the old man spoke up again.

“Young man. Are you certain you wish to walk the path of the Flame Seeker?”

“Huh? Well, I—”

It wasn’t like he felt any burning need to follow this path at all.

He’d only ended up here through pure random chance, hadn’t he?

But the old man waved a dismissive hand.

“No matter. Since fate has brought us together, I intend to first test your qualifications.”

‘Qualifications?’

“Of course. The journey to seek the path of the blazing flame is no easy undertaking.”

The old man’s eyes narrowed.

“Perhaps you can answer me this: what do you consider the most fundamental quality of a mage?”

Gijun snorted.

This was far too easy.

He’d heard it drilled into his ears so many times at the Academy it was practically carved into his skull.

“Obviously, it goes beyond sensing Mana—it’s gathering that Mana and shaping it into tangible energy.”

“Oooh!”

The old man let out another exclamation.

“Ho. So you do have the fundamentals, hm? Quite pleasing.”

[The other’s Favorability has increased significantly.]

The Favorability message flashed before him.

It wasn’t even a difficult answer, yet the old man seemed delighted—which just left Gijun feeling oddly embarrassed.

“Now then, first try to sense the Mana. The very power that composes this natural world.”

“…”

As he heard those words, Gijun thought,

‘This is incredible.’

He could actually feel it.

Mana is a mysterious substance mixed into the air around us.

Only a tiny fraction of humans can sense it directly, and those who can are called Superhumans.

But here, anyone could feel the Mana.

Even if they weren’t a Superhuman, they experienced it with nearly the same sensation.

Honestly, it caught him off guard.

He’d wondered how realistic the game’s world would be, since it claimed to replicate reality faithfully—and now, it felt exactly the same as the real thing.

‘How did they implement Mana like this?’

Gijun’s amazement showed no signs of stopping.

The old man continued.

“And now, what you must train in is this very thing: shaping the Mana you sense into tangible energy. Like so.”

Whoosh!

In that instant, a small vortex rippled atop the old man’s palm.

That—that was the process of shaping formless Mana into tangible energy.

It was a colorless, odorless, transparent force, yet something was definitely undulating above his hand.

This was the stage beyond merely sensing Mana—actually wielding it yourself.

“This road costs more than you think—time, effort, years, maybe. Heh heh. Even knowing that, do you still choose to walk the path of the Flame Seeker?”

The old man studied Jun with a crafty smile.

His face practically asked, Are you really sure about this path?

Jun never expected the Tutorial to demand hands-on Mana Handling.

This was exactly the kind of training they ran at the magic academies.

None of the other mage Classes had a step like this.

From what he’d checked, other mage-class Tutorials were just about landing spells or hunting Monsters.

But this Tutorial—asking you to physically move Mana—that was absurd.

The average time to learn Mana movement? Two years, minimum.

Even in a game, this wasn’t something you could brute-force in a month or two.

But—

Not for me.

Jun had already graduated from the academy and worked as a real Superhuman.

Even as just a 1st Circle mage, handling this was easy—no challenge at all.

Then—

A shimmer curled over Jun’s palm.

Crackling Mana danced in the air above his hand.

The old man’s eyes flew wide.

“Wha—?”

A gasp escaped him, sharp with shock.

Jun met his gaze with a deeply satisfied look.

“Satisfied?”

“Bahahaha!”

The old man burst into laughter at Jun’s question.

“Outstanding! I underestimated you!”

The old man was genuinely stunned.

Because Jun’s Mana Handling was far too smooth.

Even mages with some real skill couldn’t move Mana that cleanly.

Yet Jun handled it as easily as his own flesh and blood.

A once-in-a-lifetime talent, clearly.

A realm no amount of effort could reach.

That was pure talent.

The old man smiled, deeply pleased.

Then messages flashed before Jun’s eyes.

[Favorability has increased significantly.]

[Tutorial reward acquired.]

[Favorability boosts the Tutorial reward Grade to maximum tier.]

Oh…?

Favorability.

Finally, he understood what it did.

It upgraded Quest rewards.

But then—

[Skill acquired.]

Skill?

He had to check.

The Skill’s info floated up before him.

And the moment he saw it, Jun’s mouth dropped open.

Ah…!

In that instant, Jun knew instinctively—choosing the Flame Seeker had been the right call.

[Mana Handling]

>Proficiency: F

>Magic Attack+10%

>Casting Speed+10%

Magic Attack+10%.

And Casting Speed+10%.

Jun knew exactly how huge that was.

He knew better than most: in the real world, a mage had to bleed and break to boost magic attack or cut cast time by even that much.

In reality, you’d be overjoyed if you could improve something by even one or two percent — as if you’d won the world. But this… this was different.

The real point was this.

‘If Proficiency is F… that means it can grow even more.’

That was it, exactly.

The fact that Proficiency existed at all.

In other words, the higher that Proficiency rose, the higher that percentage could climb — wasn’t that what it meant?

‘This is insane.’

Before he’d even properly grasped his class, gifts like these came pouring in — it was enough to leave him reeling.

That was when the old man spoke again.

“With that Skill you’ve just received, you won’t need any cumbersome processes going forward.”

“What do you mean?”

“Indeed. Now, as long as you have the will, the Mana will gather on its own.”

“Ah…?”

This seemed to be a system tailored for ordinary people, not Superhumans.

Then again.

How could an untrained civilian possibly move Mana every time they used a Skill?

‘If this kind of thing existed in reality, that person would become an Archmage on the spot.’

Even for a seasoned mage, moving Mana each time they cast a spell was quite a chore.

“Now then, young man.”

“Yes.”

“Can you combine that with an Element?”

Element Combination.

One of the essential processes for using magic.

To Jun, of course, it posed no difficulty at all.

“Ah, yes. I can.”

“…Oh… truly?”

Jun closed his eyes and reached out for the Elements.

‘Amazing.’

He could actually feel them.

He focused his mind again.

Countless Fire Elements responded to his Mana, merging with it, and then took form.

Whoosh—

A fierce blaze erupted above Jun’s hand.

“Hah!”

The old man let out an admiring gasp.

“Young man! You’re truly remarkable — your skill at gathering Elements is outstanding! How can you gather them so quickly and with such precision? Among all the talents I’ve seen, you might just be the finest.”

What shocked the old man wasn’t simply that Jun had gathered the Elements.

It was watching the process of him merging them with Mana.

In truth, the old man’s praise of Jun’s talent was well-deserved.

After all, Jun’s skill was the best even within the Academy.

Praise like that from the old man was something Jun was very familiar with.

Of course, hearing such praise didn’t make him particularly elated.

If anything, a bitter taste lingered in his mouth.

What good was talent?

Here he was, unable to form a proper Mana Circle — unable to live as a true Superhuman.

‘No. What am I thinking?’

Jun shook his head.

He couldn’t stay trapped in despair forever.

Wasn’t he starting this game to live a new life?

Then the old man spoke again.

“You truly are a gifted youth. Very well. I should give you a gift befitting that talent. For a man like you… it’s only right that you receive a reward of this caliber.”

With those words, several messages appeared before Jun’s eyes.

[Tutorial rewards acquired.]

[Due to Favorability, Tutorial rewards are adjusted to the maximum.]

A message confirming the rewards had been maximized.

[Skill ‘Fireball’ acquired.]

[Fireball]

> Grade: Legendary

> Proficiency: F

‘Legendary Fireball?’

A Legendary-grade Fireball.

Gijun’s face twisted into a faint grimace at the bizarre combination.

‘It’s a Fireball—what the hell is Legendary supposed to mean?’