Chapter 13: Basics are Key

“Of course, the basics are the most important thing.”

I nodded confidently at Che Soohyun’s words, trying my best to hide my slightly awkward expression.

“Hmm, hmm! Train to your heart’s content until you’re satisfied.”

Why is this guy so earnest?

I just came to check the results of my three days of hardcore middle-school syndrome training at home.

At first, I thought he was the kind of cold-hearted person whose skin couldn’t even be cut with a knife, but that image has completely shattered.

Lee Seonah, standing beside me, whispered in an embarrassed tone, “I’m sorry. The Director takes training very seriously… I think he got triggered by the fact that you’re here to train Fireball.”

Was that really something to get so upset about?

“After all, no guild member would normally train such a basic skill like Fireball.”

From the start, it was highly unlikely a hunter specializing in basic skills could even join the Shinwa Guild.

In any case, he had no reason to apologize.

In fact, thanks to Che Soohyun, he could test his skills in a much more realistic environment.

Now that it’s come to this, let’s make the situation a bit more detailed.

“Could you perhaps conjure monsters with Mana as well?”

Che Soohyun nodded.

“Within the limits of what I can create with my Mana. Do you have a particular monster in mind?”

He paused briefly to consider.

But he quickly decided.

Since the field had already been set to a snowy plain, why not create an extreme survival scenario?

“Even Lava Centipedes?”

“Lava Centipedes?”

Che Soohyun repeated, his expression clearly surprised.

Lee Seonah stared at me, equally astonished.

“Lava Centipedes are among the most heavily armored monsters, boasting high defense and elemental resistance. Ordinary fire skills likely won’t deal any damage.”

Indeed.

Moreover, the battlefield was a snowfield, which would halve the potency of fire-based skills.

My basic Fireball probably wouldn’t deal even a flea-sized amount of damage.

That’s precisely why it was significant.

If my spell could prove effective even against a monster with such extreme defenses and weaknesses in this harsh environment, it would truly live up to the name “Archmage’s Fireball.”

“I’m counting on you.”

“Got it.”

Without further protest, Che Soohyun waved his hand in the air.

Immediately after.

Using the caster’s Mana, training monsters are summoned within the training grounds.

Kuguuguuguugu!

The snowy field beneath my feet trembled violently.

Kwaaaah!

The vibrations felt so real, it was hard to believe this was a virtual space.

Moments later, the snow-covered ground nearby surged upward as a massive monster burst forth.

A Lava Centipede.

This insectoid creature measured nearly ten meters in length, its primary weapon being a flame-spewing maw reminiscent of molten rock.

“Kiiiiiik!”

The centipede glared directly at me, its multiple eyes gleaming from its head.

A Mana-construct, yet it feels so unnervingly real.

Beside me, Che Soohyun murmured:

“The Mana-constructed monsters in this Training Ground possess a surprisingly high degree of substantiality.”

“Substantiality?”

“They’re partially tangible. High-rank Hunters would find it difficult to train against illusions they can’t harm.”

So, this Mana-generated Lava Centipede could actually inflict harm.

“Don’t worry,” Che Soohyun added. “I won’t allow any situation that could endanger Hunter Taejun.”

But why was he saying this while looking at Lee Seonah, not me?

He’s truly an unpredictable person.

In any case, I suppose I can confidently use Fireball now.

I shook off my useless thoughts and steeled my mind.

The Lava Centipede writhed before me, no more than a hundred meters away. Against the backdrop of a snow-covered mountain, it spat flames from its maw, its body coiling and uncoiling like a living inferno.

The Lava Centipedes I know…

…are C+ level monsters. They frequently appear in the third-rank gates or dungeons of fire-elemental fields. Their attacks are pitifully simplistic—they only spit lava from their mouths.

The real problem lies in the exoskeleton encasing their entire bodies.

The hardness of that jet-black carapace, and its immunity to magical attributes, are far greater than anyone could imagine.

I wasn’t expecting a single Fireball to deal any significant damage anyway.

I glanced at the Mana I had displayed in the corner of my Status Window.

The mana cost for a standard Fireball is 1 point per spell. This should be the same for an Archmage’s Fireball. Therefore, I can cast a total of twenty Fireballs.

My objective was to rapidly unleash all twenty Fireballs onto a single location, piercing the monster’s outer shell.

“Screeeeeee!”

Was this a limitation of the artificial intelligence, or had Che Soohyun already intervened? The monster remained still, emitting a warning cry instead of attacking first.

If so, then offense it is. The distance between us was roughly 80 meters, well within the effective range of my Fireballs.

“Alright, in that case, let’s have me go first…”

I was about to cast the spell when I suddenly hesitated.

Could it really be that I have to replicate exactly the same motion I practiced ten thousand times during spellcasting?

“Fireball.”

I muttered the word, pouring fervent concentration into the invocation as I casually extended my hand.

”…”

And, of course, nothing happened.

No fiery orb erupted from my palm.

Damn that wretched, otaku Archmage bastard.

I bit my lip.

Well, the world wasn’t going to hand me anything on a silver platter.

It didn’t matter.

I’m Lee Taejun, the man who endured seven years of backbreaking labor and humiliation as a porter.

This petty humiliation can’t stop me.

Slowly, I assumed the stance.

I spread my feet shoulder-width apart, as if preparing to throw a punch.

Then, I stretched both arms straight forward.

Finally, I pulled them back toward my sternum, gathering ki.

Question marks bloomed across Che Soohyun and Lee Seonah’s faces.

I stubbornly ignored them, carefully gathering my hands and chanting the incantation with earnest concentration.

“Fire—”

And in that instant—

Whoosh!

Flames erupted in my palms.

But I couldn’t hurl them forward with a shout of “Fireball!”

Huh?

As I felt my Mana drain away, the baseball-sized flame swirling in my hand began to churn more fiercely.

Checking my Status Window revealed:

My Mana was vanishing at a rate of 2 points every half-second.

And as the Mana drained, the Fireball in my hand transformed from crimson to a transparent, icy blue.

The Mana consumption accelerated rapidly, like a snowball rolling downhill, and before he knew it, he was down to just 2 Mana.

Only then did he open his mouth.

“-Go.”

With the final activation word, he hurled the fiercely swirling ball of fire from his hand.

Thud!

The fireball shot forward, sucking in the surrounding air.

His body staggered violently from the recoil.

Gritting his teeth, he barely managed to steady himself, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

Kwaaaaaaah!

The blue fireball, compressed with 90 percent of his remaining Mana, surged forth with a deafening sonic boom.

“Screeeeee!”

About three seconds later, as it struck the Lava Centipede’s head, just below its jaws,

Thud.

A strange sound echoed—the sharp rip of a bullet tearing through fabric.

“Screeeeee?”

The Lava Centipede’s head slumped forward, its chest now pierced by a perfect Fireball-sized hole. Through the steaming cavity, I could see the snow-capped mountain range in the distance.

Screech…

As the Lava Centipede emitted a sound that was either a scream or a wail, I couldn’t tell…

KWA-BOOM!

An ear-splitting explosion erupted. The Lava Centipede’s massive body disintegrated into fragments, as if struck by a nuclear blast.

Thud.

One of the shattered fragments fell near me, then dissolved into blue Mana and seeped into the snow.

And that was it.

Dazed, I turned to see Che Soohyun and Lee Seonah standing frozen, their faces even more stunned than mine.

I called Management Mi, who flashed an equally shocked emoji.

“Management Mi, what do you think?”

“Does it look like an ordinary Fireball to you?”

Management Mi retorted sharply.

A few hours later.

After finishing dinner with Lee Seonah, I was on my way home from the Shinwa Guild’s headquarters. As I walked, I reflected on what had happened immediately after casting the Fireball.

Fortunately, neither Che Soohyun nor Lee Seonah had grilled me about the details.

So, after all, can even a basic spell like Fireball reach this level of mastery through endless practice? It seems the essence of skills and sword techniques share a common thread.

Che Soohyun had even muttered these strange words to himself, visibly moved by his own realization. To top it off, he granted me permission to use the Shinwa Guild’s training grounds whenever I wanted.

Che Soohyun.

At first glance, he seemed like the epitome of a fastidious, hysterical guild master.

But after getting to know him, I realized he was simply a passionate martial artist at heart.

Of course, I now understood why his younger sister, Che Yerim, handled all external affairs.

This is truly astonishing. I’ve never seen a Fireball with such destructive power before.

“That’s right.”

The Archmage’s Fireball was completely different from what I’d expected.

A charging-type Fireball that doubles its power by consuming Mana?

That’s practically an energy blast!

In that instant, I understood why casting the Fireball required such bizarre movements.

Well, I suppose it’s a real stroke of luck.

Now I don’t have to do that Dragon Ball cosplay anymore.

I checked the Status Window that had appeared right after I cast the Fireball earlier.

I gazed at the sunset outside the bus window and nodded in satisfaction.

Now, when casting Archmage’s Fireball, charging and activation are possible even without the gestures or incantation.

Just as I thought.

Remarkable Growth was clearly an SSS-tier god-tier skill.

At the same time Taejun was heading home…

”…Hahaha.”

In Training Room S-2 on the 110th floor of the Shinwa Guild headquarters, Che Soohyun stroked his chin and laughed hollowly.

Before him stood a wall scarred with vivid burn marks—a wall of the training room, damaged by nothing more than Taejun’s ‘ordinary Fireball’.

“An ordinary Fireball, huh?”

Though he deliberately didn’t press the matter out of respect for Taejun’s feelings, Che Soohyun was no fool.

The Shinwa Guild’s S-rank training room was a pinnacle of modern science and superhuman abilities, a place that embodied the very essence of subspace. Even if several elite hunters unleashed their signature skills simultaneously, damaging the room itself would be virtually impossible.

Yet Taejun’s Fireball had breached the subspace and inflicted damage directly on the training room’s structure.

This wasn’t a Fireball.

It had the same shape, but its destructive power rivaled an S-class skill.

The most groundbreaking flame-based skill since the Great Change.

”…Perhaps Seonah was right. All that effort really did pay off.”

Che Soohyun chuckled softly, murmuring to himself.

He’d already heard about Taejun from Lee Seonah, his prized disciple, who often spoke of him.

There’s this friend of mine who’s only a D-rank porter right now, but I’m telling you, he’s destined for greatness.

If only effort received its due rewards.

He could surpass me in no time and become an even greater Hunter.

Effort.

A fine word.

In truth, Che Soohyun himself was a product of hard work.

The world only focused on his talent, ignoring the fact that he’d risen to 2nd place in the Hunter rankings at just thirty years old.

Reaching that point had required a truly insane level of effort. From the tender age of seven, Soohyun had swung a sword eighteen hours a day, without a single day’s rest.

This was precisely why, despite today being their first meeting, Soohyun had long held Taejun in high regard. He wanted to stand by as a humble supporter, watching over him.

Just then—

Clang!

The training hall’s iron door crashed open with violent force.

Soohyun narrowed his eyes, his hand instinctively reaching for the sword hilt as he glared toward the entrance.

Then,

“Oppa—no, I mean CEO Che Soohyun! You’re here. Perfect! I was going to drag you here anyway after finding you.”

Soohyun flinched, recognizing the short-haired woman with the puppy-like features and bright smile.