Hermit Wizard

Invitation of White Deer (1)

Interior without a single window. Various objects were listed under cold lights. Each of them was stacked in a pallet and lined up with dozens of intervals in a large space, resembling a logistics warehouse, and materials were piled up in about 1 square meter.

Its facades include a variety of metals, wood, plastics, rocks, and even living creatures.

And a young man was standing in front of them, reaching out for the dozens of lumps listed.

Black mist-like energy gushed from his hand. It moved precisely according to the gestures of the young man.

-Sheeehh

The fog surrounded the test subjects and condensed in turn. The exposed material began to melt as appointed.

The most responsive thing was living creatures. A pig who was crying while bound on a wooden frame. As the smoke wrapped around, the whole stomach disappeared, leaving only four ankles fixed to the chain.

Only the blood of melted flesh, bones, and intestines remained in place.

No matter how hard the material was, it couldn’t avoid the effect of the deadly fog made by the young man. Even steel piled up to 1 square meter turned into a bizarre color and melted down. The observers who saw the scene were busy. They were standing beyond the clear glass, observing and recording what happened between the young man and the objects.

After most of the material had melted, the young man looked behind him and shrugged his shoulders.

“Shall we stop here?”

The man in a white gown replied behind the glass wall. His words resonated through the speakers in the laboratory.

“Yes, Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan, thank you for your hard work. Please retrieve all toxic substances left inside before performing the ventilation procedure.”

“Yes.”

-Sheesh

Kim Kyung-hwan reached out his hands and sucked up all the black smoke that was still flowing near the object. The black smoke, which had just eaten the pig without leaving any shape, was sucked into his palm without leaving a scratch on his hand.

After he gave the ‘OK’ signal, the internal ventilation began. The door of the room where the observers were located opened, and Kim Kyung-Hwan entered it.

Looking at him, the Alien said.

=”4th Class Melting” magic is now complete. Excellent. =

Kim Kyung-Hwan smiled, revealing his teeth.

“After all this verification, I get it. That’s really powerful. The strongest attack magic I’ve ever learned?”

The Alien looked displeased.

=Do you like that strange classification of magic? What is the meaning of the tags that say attack magic, defense magic, and assist magic? =

Actually, it was. The magic that Kim Kyung-hwan learned right now was used by the Kaifu tribes, its ancestors, to engage in warfare, but often used it for non-combat purposes.

In the Kaifu civilization, ‘nobles’ who could use magic were not just the rulers. Through miracles that were difficult to achieve without magic, they contributed to the country’s development and prevent wasting resources.

Instructor Kaifu, who taught this spell to Kim Kyung-Hwan right now, used this magic in his world mainly to create mines.

Through the precise moving of the melting fog, hundreds of commoner Kaifu’s were able to drill and reinforce the mine in less than an hour, which usually required years of running.

“Well… how will I use this magic I learned later? I’m not sure what the people here will think.”

Saying so, Kim Kyung-Hwan looked around the government employees around him. Most employees in gowns fixed their gaze on the monitor, pretending not to hear his words.

It was a human instructor in a black suit who responded to his words.

“As I have said before, the purpose of running this institution by our government is never about developing human weapons.”

Kim Kyung-hwan muttered inside. Yes, yes, it is. Absolutely.

“I understand.”

“Magic is a whole new realm that humanity has never experienced. This technology will be the key to the 5th Industrial Revolution.”

“That’s right. As you said.”

“Our government’s ultimate goal is to find new future projects that create high value-added products through magic passed on by you, Kim Kyung-hwan, and eventually restore the vitality of the industrial economy to achieve prosperity and happiness of the people.”

“Gosh! I know! I know!”

It was a boring story that he repeatedly heard from the beginning of his admission.

“With such good intentions, I wonder why you run the training center so thoroughly and secretly…”

“No, that’s it!”

The human instructor began explaining what he said, but Kim Kyung-Hwan shed one ear. He heard it so many times that he had practically memorized that narrative.

“I really like this magic anyway. I should make this my ‘signature spell.’”

=…Whatever. =

The instructor declared the end of the class and immediately disappeared from the spot.

Kim Kyung-hwan also came out of the laboratory whistling. He was ready to eat and headed to the canteen.

His heart was relaxed. He received a judgment from Instructor Kaifu that the magic he learned this time was also perfect. Now there were only a few 4th class magic left to learn.

Kim Kyung-Hwan slowly entered the canteen. When he encountered trainees passing by, they showed the same reaction. Their gaze stayed on his face and then flowed beside him.

‘I know; I’ll just close my eyes.’

It’s been half a year since Kim Kyung-hwan entered the training center. Among the trainees who entered earlier than him, none of the trainees showed achievements comparable to Kim Kyung-hwan.

‘The rank next after me is also clumsy.’

Kim Kyung-hwan’s rapid performance was a hot topic among all personnel at the training center. The rumors that he had an informal luncheon with the president were already no secret.

He hung around the buffet food section and put the food on a plate. And…

“Give me a green juice.”

Frighteningly, the juice corner staff ground kale and apples in a blender. For some reason, he seemed to be getting faster when Kim Kyung-hwan asked than when other trainees ask.

Kim Kyung-hwan picked a table with no one and sat down with a plate in one hand and a cup of green juice in the other. Everyone glanced at him, but no one would approach him.

At first, of course, trainees were twisting around him. They wanted to take a look at Kim Kyung-hwan, who showed overwhelming achievements and wanted to know the secret of his rapid growth.

But Kim Kyung-hwan kicked them all out. He always refused to engage in any interaction with other trainees.

Kim Kyung-hwan opened the wet wipe wrapper on the table and watched the 95-inch TV in the canteen’s corner. The news was on the TV.

“…It’s been almost a year since the Channel crisis that shook the world happened. On the other hand, today marks the second month after a huge explosion over XX apartments in Seoul and the damage to the apartments’ exterior walls. The investigation is ongoing, but no plausible results have been found yet. Following the mass deaths of religious believers in November last year and abnormal earthquake activities on Jeju Island earlier this year, there is a high concern that the cause of the explosion of XX apartments may be buried unknown. In the National Assembly, the ministerial and opposition parties demanded a thorough investigation into the case. Meanwhile, the Blue House has stated that there is no significant evidence regarding the connection between this incident and the Channel…”

While listening to the news, Kim Kyung-hwan snorted.

‘They just couldn’t find any evidence. I wonder if that has anything to do with the Channel!’

As Kim Kyung-hwan cut lamb ribs on his plate, he recalled what happened a week ago.

As soon as the apartment complex explosion became known, they declared an emergency inside the training center, and the alert was reinforced several times. According to the rumors heard, the measures were taken by suspecting that it was a terrorist attack by a foreign wizard or an alien race from foreign Channels.

As time passed, there were no signs of abnormality on the Hun-neung side, and classes resumed again after a survey showed no casualties caused by this explosion. However, the alert level was still very high.

On that day, Kim Kyung-hwan asked as soon as he met Eraser in his dream whether he knows anything about this case.

Then, surprisingly, Eraser…

‘He said he did it. That huge explosion.’

The damage to the exterior walls of the apartment was actually nothing. What made the citizens uneasy and thrilled Kim Kyung-hwan was the huge explosion in the sky.

A huge flame and craze that was not known how it originated. The explosion lasted a long time, and numerous witnesses recorded the scene. Kim Kyung-hwan’s heart skipped a beat when he saw it on TV.

‘I can learn soon. Such real magic. Instead of the crappy magic used by Kaifu!’

Since then, rumors had circulated within the training camp.

The government, frightened by this incident, asked Kaifu to cooperate with the investigation, but as expected, they maintained that they couldn’t do any cooperation except for ‘magical lessons.’

The government even reached out to the Chinese government to get the Gramperi’s help, but the answer that came back was ‘it is impossible without room for negotiation.’

But the government didn’t give up.

‘If the trainees showed the video to one of the frogs. So, they admitted it as a kind of ‘lesson’ and gave limited information.’

It was clearly a magical phenomenon in the form of an explosion, but it was impossible with Kaifu’s magic.

‘It was caused by a completely different system of magic from Kaifu.’

Kim Kyung-hwan read the meaning hidden in the blank of the answer.

‘In the end, the Kaifu’s can’t do this at their magic level, right? Yes, this is really strong magic!’

Kim Kyung-hwan finished his meal with a grin. And he walked without hesitation toward the canteen entrance. As expected, the gazes stuck behind his back.

Kim Kyung-hwan didn’t glance at them. He had a sense of the chosen people that his level was no longer at the same level as these crappy guys.

Meanwhile, there was another reason that Kim Kyung-hwan kicked those people out.

‘In the end, the purpose of those who kiss my ass will be trying to get advantages. It’s obvious.’

Also, there was anxiety that if he slipped his tongue, he would shed a small clue about his secret related to Eraser.

As he was walking, someone spoke to him from his front.

He’s a man who looked around his early 30s. He looked at himself and approached with a smile.

‘Baek Woon-gyu…’

“Ah, Kyung-hwan. Is the class over?”

Kim Kyung-hwan responded bluntly.

“Yeah.”

“I heard from the instructors. They said you almost mastered the 4th class melting magic? Did you practice that again today?”

Kim Kyung-hwan groaned inside.

‘It looks like he cares a lot. Is this a rivalry? Wow, he’s an idiot who doesn’t even know where he is.’

Baek Woon-gyu is a trainee who won first place before he entered the training center.

“Well, but what’s the point of practice? It’s a measure of the magic effect. And I was certified master.”

“Already? The instructors predicted that it would take another week…”

“Is it only once or twice that frogs pick the wring leg with me?”

“I feel it every time, but you are really amazing.”

Baek Woon-gyu looked astonished, and he smiled brightly and tapped his shoulders. Kim Kyung-hwan tried to frown on him for a moment and put up with it.

Who’s this scumbag touching?

Of course, he didn’t say that out loud.

“How about you? Are you still learning second-class magic?”

“Right. I’m working hard, but I think I hit a wall these days. I’m not making any progress.”

Kim Kyung-hwan replied, careful not to reveal his real feelings.

“Don’t be too impatient and do it step by step. It feels difficult right now, but if you look back after having mastered all the second-class magic, would you think it was really nothing? It’s not even the real magic yet if it’s level 2.”

If you change the meaning of that word, it meant that Baek Woon-gyu struggled at a level that wasn’t even true magic.

However, whether Baek Woon-gyu didn’t notice Kim Kyung-hwan’s sarcastic feelings implied by the words, or whether he knew but pretended not to know, he replied by tapping his hand on Kim Kyung-hwan’s shoulder a few times.

“Yes, I can do it step by step. Thank you for your words.”

And Baek Woon-gyu took his hand off his shoulder, and Kim Kyung-hwan accidentally looked at the hand with his side-eye. Ring of an unusual color. Did he say that was a wedding ring? It looked like he’s allowed to bring that. Anyway, all belongings were inspected at the time of admission.

“If your head is stuffy and doesn’t work well, why don’t you go on vacation once? I heard you’re married.”

And he made insidious remarks inside.

‘Instead of bothering me.’

After Kim Kyung-hwan entered the training center, Baek Woon-gyu was second in the last year. Even the difference in level was so great that Kim Kyung-hwan was taking all classes as private lessons.

Kim Kyung-hwan was convinced that what he was talking to himself now was the purpose of getting help by building up a relationship.

‘In the end, you’re sticking to me because I do it well, you bastard.’