Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 662

“I was a late-blooming mage.”

GM’s story began with that first sentence.

“I was twenty years old. Entering the magic tower at such a late age was quite unusual. It goes without saying that adapting was extremely difficult.”

Well, that’s understandable.

After all, elites who entered the magic tower from a young age, like Raven, tend to look down on late bloomers.

Of course, what they dislike even more than late bloomers are non-major mages like Dwalki.

Anyway, that’s not the important thing…

‘He was a late bloomer…?’

No matter how much I think about it, it doesn’t make sense.

Is he lying to me right now?

Because when I met him in the past, he clearly said he was a ‘6th circle’ mage in his first year.

[I’m just lucky to have a high rank, but I still can’t use magic properly, so I live in constant tension…]

Because he added those words, I assumed it was a problem that arose because I was in a mage’s body.

But that wasn’t it?

‘Let’s hear him out for now…’

If it’s true, it’s a really unusual case.

Later, when I interacted with players in Ghost Busters, I learned that most of the people who raised mages when crossing the Abyss Gate started with some knowledge of magic.

Even our clan’s Bersil Gowland is like that.

‘He was also training magic in the magic tower long before he turned twenty.’

Then how did GM end up trying to become a mage?

If he didn’t start as a mage, it would have been much easier to grow by becoming an explorer and consuming essences.

“But is there a reason why you learned magic at that age?”

When I asked directly, an unexpected answer came back.

“Actually, I had no intention of becoming a mage. I just thought I should become an explorer.”

“Huh…?”

“Of course, I’m not suited to fighting monsters in dangerous labyrinths, so being a mage was perfect for me… But even you say this, Baron, so it’s not a typical case, is it? Trying to learn magic after turning twenty.”

“…I guess not.”

“Originally, I was going to learn archery. I thought I could handle a crossbow well enough.”

His desired job was an archer…

I’m getting more and more curious.

How did a guy who aimed to be an archer become a mage?

“To buy even a single crossbow when you’re penniless, you have to earn money first. As soon as I became an adult, I went out and did all sorts of jobs. Once, I even got a job at a blacksmith’s…”

Surprisingly, during his time hammering iron, GM’s path to becoming a mage opened up.

It was like fate that he met the master of his first school…

“The master was intrigued by the toys I made in my spare time. He called me out separately, saying he wanted to talk, and we talked for hours.”

The master was repeatedly impressed by the precision of the toy design drawings that GM made.

And his imagination.

‘Well, I guess so. He’s a modern person, after all.’

Should I call it a kind of modern person cheat code?

Sometimes in novels, you see that, right?

When an engineer who fell into another world makes something, the people around him are incredibly impressed.

“So that’s how you were able to learn magic?”

“Yes. The Maireta School was a school that specialized in wind magic, but thanks to my master, who was very interested in magical engineering and magic circles, I was lucky enough to catch his eye.”

“…So that’s the story.”

I nodded and maintained a listening posture, and GM resumed his story.

“Not to brag, but magic was a perfect fit for me. Under my master’s guidance, my skills improved at an incredibly fast pace. Thanks to that, I unknowingly earned a lot of hatred.”

GM’s growth rate was unprecedentedly explosive, even within the magic tower.

“Well, there has never been a case in the long history of the magic tower where someone entered at the age of 20 and was promoted to 6th circle in just one year.”

Huh… he really reached 6th circle in just one year?

No, wait a minute, then what was that about being a ‘half-baked mage who can’t use magic’ back then?

Coincidentally, the answer to that question soon came from GM’s mouth.

“But even so, I was a half-baked mage.”

“…?”

“Do you know? Among mages, the fields are so different that you can become a high-ranking mage even if you don’t know how to cast a single attack spell.”

GM was exactly that case.

GM, who showed outstanding talent in the field of magical engineering and magic circle research, became a 6th circle mage without being able to handle even a single fireball spell.

And…

“The mages who knew that fact always picked fights with me, and I always had to be on edge and avoid them. Ah… the magic tower was truly a jungle back then.”

“But even so, my master was not happy about me learning other magic. He said that my talent was in magical engineering and that I had no time to waste on such things.”

“At my repeated requests, I started to learn other magic one by one, but my main study was always magical engineering. During that time, I was so tired that I never slept more than 2 hours a day.”

Still, GM did it.

He found magical engineering fun, and he was also grateful to his master.

“It might sound strange, but… at that time, I sometimes felt like my master was my father. I… didn’t have a father.”

GM, who was being thoroughly pressured, seemed to be getting further and further away from the path of an explorer, but he still persevered in that life.

However, ‘persevering’ means that a limit will eventually come.

“In the end, I couldn’t stand it and ran away. I recruited my own companions and became an explorer, and after that, I spent several years without returning to the school.”

He only increased the proportion of studying magic that was helpful for exploration, but even so, GM did not stop studying magical engineering.

And as time passed.

When a mage named Yurven Havelion had gained some fame as an explorer.

“That’s when that incident happened. Maybe you’ve heard the news, Baron… my master dabbled in forbidden magic.”

Forbidden magic, which is considered taboo among mages.

The fact that GM’s master had dabbled in that magic was discovered, and the royal army stormed in, and the master was killed on the spot.

“All the mages in the school were confined for several months and investigated. Among them, I, who had been researching with the master for a long time, was investigated the most.”

GM, who was confined in the interrogation room and gave statements every day, accidentally found out.

What was the forbidden magic that his master had researched.

“It was shocking. I couldn’t believe it.”

“…What was it?”

“My master was researching magic related to ‘soul transplantation’.”

It was a magic research project aimed at putting a person’s soul into an object and turning it into a magical tool.

He thought that if a conscious entity that had overcome biological limitations could be made to learn for an eternity, there would be a dramatic development?

‘This is totally artificial intelligence deep learning, isn’t it?’

I was thinking that and was amazed.

“The most important thing in this plan was ‘talent’. My master thought that the learning speed would be determined by how intelligent the soul to be transplanted was, and he had narrowed down several candidates accordingly.”

Only then could I understand.

Why GM didn’t want to talk about this story.

“Among the names of the candidates written in the plan that the investigator showed me, my name was written first. It was as if they had even ranked them, and the number written after my name was the highest.”

The betrayal of his master, whom he had followed like a parent.

“After that… the whole school disappeared, and I ended up establishing my own school. As the school grew, I became so busy that I had fewer opportunities to enter the labyrinth myself.”

I think I know roughly how he’s been doing since then.

He must have been managing the community, growing the school, and having secret political communications with the royal family.

With the goal of leaving this wretched world and returning.

“So… how was it? My story.”

GM asked me with a voice that sounded somewhat relieved, and I thought for a moment before answering briefly.

“It was definitely a boring story.”

“…Ahahaha, is that so?”

A laugh that sounded awkward to anyone.

However, just sympathizing and being sad together would only make the atmosphere strange.

I don’t believe that would be helpful to the other person either.

“But it turned out well, didn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“Because the guy who betrayed you didn’t live well while laughing, but died pitifully.”

At those words, GM made a blank expression for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.

And how long had it been?

“Ahahaha, that’s right. Yes. You can see it that way…”

GM, who had been laughing out loud, suddenly muttered with a bitter expression.

“…I really wish I could have thought that simply.”

Well… people’s hearts are really hard to control.

***

The day after the sincere conversation with GM.

We woke up early in the morning and hurried to the cave leading to the underground passage.

And by the time the sun went down, we had arrived at our destination.

However, the problem was…

“It’s not bad to have this kind of time after a long time. It felt like I was back in my explorer days. Thank… no, why do you have that expression?”

Well, it’s the rule to say those things after returning to the city.

When he suddenly says something like that, it feels like something is going to happen—.

“…Stop.”

I immediately stopped moving, instinctively looking around, feeling uneasy.

“Why are you doing that…?”

“Quiet.”

When I lowered my voice, the guy, sensing something was wrong, gripped his staff tightly with a tense face.

‘Why are all mages like Dwalki?’

Such a question suddenly came to mind, but it wasn’t important right now, so I focused on examining the cave entrance.

[I was here.]

[Daehan Gun-ah Lee Baek-ho.]

Lee Baek-ho’s graffiti that I had found before while passing by.

Below it, there was a new trace that I hadn’t seen before.

[Rafdonia’s king, Mother fucker.]

A phrase that was used like a meme in Ghost Busters, a phrase that no player with community activity experience could not know.

It’s obvious who wrote it.

Lee Baek-ho, he must have written it out of boredom on his way back.

“Th-that’s… !”

“Do you know what that writing is?”

“…I know it’s a writing used by evil spirits. Now that I see it, the writing above it seems to be one of the writings they use.”

GM, unable to reveal that they are evil spirits, was flustered and continued with excuses.

Normally, I would have teased him by asking difficult questions as if I didn’t know anything, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the time for that.

“Anyway, it seems like there was a guest before us. Let’s get away from here for now.”

“Yes…?”

“It’s not good to run into them, is it? It’s troublesome if it gets out that I’m outside the city.”

“Ah…”

The truth is, I didn’t want to run into Lee Baek-ho and his gang, but GM, not knowing the truth, readily agreed.

Therefore…

Swoosh.

As soon as the communication was over, I slowly retreated.

Back the way we came, towards the opposite direction of the cave.

One step, two steps, three steps.

I quickly retreated and was about to turn around when.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

A man’s scream was heard from inside the cave.

The scream was far from being a scream.

No, if I had to say…

“Shibaal!!!” [A Korean swear word]

It was closer to a shout of anger.

Surprisingly, the echoing scream was getting closer at a rapid pace—.

“Can you hear me? You’re nearby! Can you hear me!”

Soon, a man came out of the cave at a speed that was hard to follow with the eyes and shouted.

‘…Lee Baek-ho?’

As expected, the source of the sound was Lee Baek-ho.

But here’s another problem…

“Just wait till I catch you! Huh? If I catch you, I’m going to—.”

Lee Baek-ho, who had come out of the cave, jumped high with the momentum he had gained.

And.

“……”

“……”

In that state, he made eye contact with both of us.

Thud.

Lee Baek-ho’s body, which seemed like it was about to fly into the sky like a jet, fell helplessly and landed on the ground.

“…Uh, why are you with the Baron?”

Lee Baek-ho, showing an unusually flustered expression.

However, it didn’t take long for that expression to turn into a demon.

“Could it be… did you two do it…?”

Did we two do it…? What is he talking about?

When I made an expression that I didn’t know, Lee Baek-ho shouted with a voice full of annoyance.

“What are you pretending not to know! Did you two break the return magic circle!”

No, what is he talking about?