Hot sweat soaked through my robe. The robe, now heavy with sweat, weighed down on my slender shoulders and legs, making it impossible for me to bear its weight.
“Hah, damn it... Stop the nonsense and just give me what you promised,” I said, taking a deep breath and demanding the reward from Dajin. Pushed to my physical limits, my tone became harsh, something I couldn't help.
Isn’t it only when you can breathe properly that you can be polite and pretend to be dignified?
Right now, I’m dragging my body, which screams with muscle pain, and I’m exhausted from walking all the way here from the barracks. I don’t remember exactly, but it seems like I passed through a life-or-death ordeal at least twice on the way here.
No, was it three times?
I don’t even remember clearly now. I just want to get this over with and return to the barracks.
“Uh, well...”
Lir, seeing me speaking sharply to Dajin, gave a slightly confused expression.
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand her reaction. Dajin, the lightning spirit, was someone who deserved to be revered by lightning mages, after all.
He brought the concept of magic into this world and showed them the way. A discernible god.
In every magic-related book I’ve read so far, spirits were described in that way.
“Ugh, I’m really dying here...”
But so what?
If I stand here any longer, I might be visiting the realm of the unseen gods.
“Hah! I don’t dislike bold children. You’ve got guts, I’m starting to like you more and more!”
Bold, my ass. I’m just asking for my quest reward.
Was it a necessity to have guts to demand the payment for rightful labor back in the Middle Ages?
I confirm once again today that the term "Dark Ages" wasn’t just some random saying.
When are labor laws going to be enacted?
“Right! I should reward you all. First, I’ll grant you my blessing.”
Hearing the word "reward" made it sound like he was doing us a favor.
Does that deer bastard not have a conscience? We almost died fulfilling the task he asked of us.
I’m really starting to understand why people in the Middle Ages who fought for labor rights were called martyrs.
“Extend your hands, Lir, you too.”
Without a word, Lir and I both placed our palms towards Dajin’s horns as instructed. At that moment, a faint and warm lightning sparkled on the tips of our fingers before it burrowed into the backs of our hands.
A faint scar remained where the lightning passed through our skin. It wasn’t particularly hot or painful, but since Lir and I had relatively pale skin, the scar was quite noticeable.
Meanwhile, the lightning that had entered our hands spread through our entire bodies. For a brief moment, I felt a strange sense of omnipotence as though I was floating in the air.
“Children, I will help you ascend to a higher level.”
It felt like all my blocked veins had been opened. A sensation of potential I hadn’t even known existed exploded in my mind like a burst.
My brain instinctively began to work like crazy, interpreting the true nature of this lightning that had pierced my skin.
“This is...”
“Enlightenment, magic, and at the same time, my blessing.”
The spirit’s blessing.
It was a passive magic with special prerequisites that could only be awakened by connecting with a spirit matching a mage’s magical nature.
Such special condition magics like the spirit’s blessing couldn’t even be set as a locked feature in the character creation screen.
In other words, even though I created my character with all magic except for ‘Bloom’ locked, I could still use this magic with no issue.
“...Hah, at least the minimum conditions have been met.”
I muttered quietly as I looked at the lightning-shaped scar on my hand.
In my research, for a ‘one-hit mage’ to function as a human, two prerequisites were absolutely necessary.
One was to obtain the artifact, the "Red Crystal," to make up for my lack of basic attack power, and the other was to acquire the “Spirit’s Blessing” to have at least some survival capability.
The core effect of the Spirit’s Blessing was the automatically deployed shield.
Thanks to the setting that the shield didn’t consume mana when deployed but instead worked through the blessing implanted by the spirit itself, I wouldn’t need to drain my mana each time the shield was activated.
That’s why even my first son, the orc mage "Ju Meok," who can’t use magic, found this passive magic useful.
The Spirit’s Blessing was like a godsend for mages with low survivability.
Even among non-extreme builds like orc-powered mages or one-hit mages, it was recognized as a top-tier magic.
There was even a meme in the community where new players, who had leveled up a mage to around 40 and asked, “What should I do next?” would get the response, "Get the first level of the Spirit’s Blessing."
Also, the best part about the Spirit’s Blessing magic was that the shield automatically deployed in response to threats.
There was no way to match the shield deployment to the timing myself, as I lacked the reflex speed to dodge monsters’ attacks, but for me, this was the best kind of magic.
Additionally, this skill wasn’t just useful in one way.
Well... the second function wasn’t as versatile as the first defensive shield.
Most mages just kind of glossed over it and dismissed it as an ability of little worth.
It was one of those abilities that you might feel a little regret about not having, but if you did use it, it’d taste okay.
However, this function was one that, if removed, would simply be "gone" without any further feeling.
It allowed the caster to bypass the limit of stored mana in their body.
Most mages would regularly consume mana through combat, experiments, and training, so it was rare for them to store mana for more than a week.
Therefore, the second function, which removes the maximum mana storage limit, was met with reactions like:
"What’s that?”
“Did that even come with it?”
“Let me look it up on the wiki.”
“Oh, it’s really there, lol.”
“Totally useless.”
Well, that’s about how useful it seemed to others...
But for me, the story was different.
Because I could only use ‘Bloom’ magic, a half-mage.
Bloom was a magic that released all the mana left in the mage’s body. Naturally, the power of this magic was proportional to the amount of mana stored in the mage’s body.
"My Bloom’s maximum output so far is only equivalent to a week’s worth of mana."
However, after obtaining the Spirit’s Blessing, the situation completely changed.
I could now store not just a week, but a month, a year, and beyond in mana.
The ceiling for Bloom magic had completely disappeared.
In theory, I could now become a mage who could burst even the demon lord with a single flick of my finger without any further training.
In fact, I had experienced this once when I managed to burst the demon lord with a finger flick, and I had a recording of it on my computer’s hard drive.
That video, when posted to the community, had a pretty good reaction.
...Though, I’d stored mana for around 50 years of game time without using any magic to prepare for the experiment.
At that time, my experimental character was about 70 years old... I think?
I had to make sure I didn’t end the game with a bad ending while pushing quests, all the while avoiding using any magic or leveling up, making it quite a difficult experiment.
“And one more thing, you promised something, didn’t you?”
However, I wasn’t satisfied just with learning the Spirit’s Blessing magic. Originally, this magic could be obtained just by touching a Rune Stone.
But that deer bastard had given me a quest I had never heard of, and I almost lost my life several times while completing it.
The additional hardships warranted a corresponding reward.
“Something special? You’re in a hurry, aren’t you? Not even savoring my blessing.”
Dajin clicked his tongue, glancing alternately at Lir and me, who were busy analyzing the lightning that entered our bodies.
“Well, I guess. Considering the realm you’ll develop and create, this level of blessing isn’t such a big deal, is it?”
Dajin turned around slowly and walked towards the tree where his Rune Stone was buried.
The lightning spirit, in the form of a deer, began inserting several strands of lightning from its body into the thick and solid roots of the tree, eventually pulling out a small branch from deep underground.
It was a sharp, jagged branch that looked like lightning had been materialized, with a particularly striking appearance. Dajin handed it to me.
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.
So, the special gift Dajin handed me appeared to be nothing more than a branch about two or three hand spans, with a slightly unusual appearance.
‘...A staff?’
The branch, despite being struck by Dajin’s lightning, was intact. No burning at all. In fact, it seemed to absorb the lightning little by little.
It heated the surrounding air and created an updraft, and the cumulonimbus clouds formed slowly, dimming the sunlight in the process.
“Try holding it.”
Dajin shaped the lightning into a bowl and placed the earth-covered branch in front of me.
Even after playing the game for so long and testing every Easter egg and item, I had never seen a staff like this.
Usually, staffs were crafted with handles for the user to easily wield, but this staff had no clear handle.
Looking at this staff, which was no different from a knife without a handle, I hesitated for a moment before carefully placing my fingers on the bottom part.
My fingers were pricked by a sharp thorn, drawing blood. How the hell was I supposed to carry this around...?
“Ah.”
However, [N O V E L I G H T] as soon as my hand touched the lightning-filled staff, it shattered into pieces. It felt like the sensation I got when I first touched the Red Crystal, spreading from my fingers to my entire body.
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The molecularized staff began to seep under my palm and into my skin.
I looked at Dajin in disbelief as the brown-colored molecules burrowed beneath my palm.
“...An artifact?”
“Uh, what?! Wait, an artifact?”
I could hear Lir’s voice, frantic and surprised, from behind me.
“...Damn, you should have told me it was an artifact.”
I let out a deep sigh and shot a displeased look at Dajin.
“Uh... Don’t you like it?”
Dajin asked, his voice somewhat flustered, clearly surprised by my reaction.
Lir, who had also received the artifact, looked puzzled as she observed me being uncomfortable rather than happy.
Artifact.
These weapons, hidden all over the world, were very strong and unique in their properties and characteristics.
Some of them even had powerful effects but came with deadly restrictions.
The most famous example was the "Necklace of Mortality."
This artifact had the devastating effect of multiplying a character’s experience points by twenty times. However, the cost was that the character who obtained it would only live for two more years.
It didn’t mean two years would be deducted from their lifespan, but that they would only have two years left to live.
The moment you ate it, you’d only have two years to live.
‘...When I think about it again, that’s one crazy artifact.’
Moreover, once absorbed, the effects of an artifact couldn’t be discarded even if you didn’t like them due to the special binding restrictions.
So, a wrong artifact absorption could be a fatal disadvantage to character growth.
“...Please explain the effects. Are there any drawbacks? Will it affect my lifespan or health?”
Even though the world in the game and the real world were different, I had been planning to continue growing based on the ‘one-hit mage’ development route I had created by spending hundreds of hours in front of my monitor.
Since the artifacts and magic in this world were exactly like the ones I had seen in the game.
But suddenly, being forced to absorb an artifact I’d never heard of...
If things went wrong, my entire growth route and build could become meaningless.
“Quickly. Explain it.”
I silently prayed that my build wouldn’t be completely ruined as I demanded an explanation from Dajin.
“Hmm, hmm! First, calm down...”
Dajin cleared his throat as if trying to hide his embarrassment and then continued speaking.
“...Calm down?”
What the hell is this guy saying?