The dungeon's roar faded to a low hum after the Stonehide Overlord fell. Not complete silence—no dungeon ever truly slept—but a noticeable slackening, as though the ambient mana itself exhaled relief. The shattered husk of the boss dissolved into drifting motes of light, leaving only charred rock and the faint, lingering thrum of raw energy.
And the spell book in my hand.
I turned it over slowly, tracing the ancient runes carved into its obsidian cover. They pulsed in time with my heartbeat—calmer, more assured than the jittery imprint left by Magic Bullet. Before I could marvel for long, the system pinged:
[Spell Book acquired]
Name: Rock Wall
Rank: E
Type: Defensive Spell
I whistled softly. An E-rank drop on my first solo dungeon? Most F-rank lairs spat out nothing but mana shards, scrap stat fragments—maybe a stale potion if I was lucky. Selling this book would line my pockets nicely. But I tipped my head, shaking off the thought.
"No," I murmured. "Not yet."
Raw power now beats gold later.
I stepped onto the wide stone platform, choosing a clear patch far from those fractured walls. If I was going to learn something defensive, I needed space to make mistakes. I laid the book before me and issued the command.
"Learn."
The cover melted into a swirl of luminescence. This time the lesson was dense—like sinking wet clay into water: slow, heavy, impossibly structured. Mana-script unfurled in my mind, showing me how to draw earth-aspected mana from the very ground, anchor it, shape it into unyielding stone.
My temples throbbed—then stilled.
[Spell acquired: Rock Wall (E-Rank)]
[Mastery: 1/5]
I cracked open my eyes. "Alright," I said. "Let's see."
I raised my palm, weaving the incantation with care. Mana oozed outward—not in a violent rush, but in a firm, steady pulse. The floor trembled, fissures snaking across the granite. With a grinding roar, a jagged slab of rock thrust itself skyward: two meters high, half a meter thick, its surface rough-hewn.
A wall.
I stepped back and fired a Magic Bullet. Thunk. The bolt splintered on contact, leaving only a shallow crater. I nodded in approval. Decent.
Tweaking the weave, I summoned a second barrier—denser, more tightly knit with reinforced mana. I shot at it again: thunk. Even less damage this time. A warm satisfaction spread through me. The lesson was sinking in.
I experimented with angles, with thickness, with varying distances—observing how stress fractures webbed and how denser mana bolstered resilience. Eight minutes passed. Nine. Then:
[Rock Wall mastery increased]
[Mastery: 2/5]
I exhaled. "…I guess I'll have to get used to this speed."
E-rank spells rarely advanced so fast. Defensive magic demanded finesse, not brute force. But Absolute Sage didn't care. It devoured complexity like air.
I checked my gauge. Mana: 1.0 / 2.1. I dismissed the stone remnants and let the dungeon's timer run out. Runes winked out. Mana density ebbed. It was time to go.
***
Outside, the city assaulted me with sound—honking cars, distant sirens, a thousand snippets of conversation. At the Bureau checkpoint they scanned me with lingering curiosity, but no one blocked my path. I chose to walk home, letting the night air clear my thoughts.
No extra cores. No shards. Just the spell book—and that was enough. Rock Wall by itself was worth more than any junk drop. If I collected duplicates, I could sell them later. Long-game strategy.
Groceries were next: rice, protein bars, bottled water. Bare essentials. On the third floor, Mrs. Han greeted me as usual. "Have you Joined the Players yet?" she asked with her kindly smile.
"I have," I said, and she wished me luck as though leaning into the day's weather.
In my apartment, I dumped the bags on the counter and slid down to lean against the wall. Silence again. Nothing waiting for me here. My parents were gone—had been for years, before mana awoke, before dungeons shattered everything. I was used to being alone. Fine with it.
I checked my balance, then my old work schedule—and deleted it. I'd quit yesterday. This was my life now.
"System," I said, and my status flickered into view:
Body: 1.5
Soul: 1.2
Mana: 1.5 / 2.1
Spells:
• Magic Bullet (F-Rank) – Mastery 5/5
• Rock Wall (E-Rank) – Mastery 2/5
"Tomorrow will be better," I promised myself. I logged into the Player Bureau site and registered again—same dungeon, then another. Solo Dungeon Registration Confirmed: Forest Sinkhole, Threat Level F+.
My pulse quickened. Two dungeons in one day. Not bad.
Before logging off, I paused over my trait panel:
[Unique Trait: ABSOLUTE SAGE]
Effect: Greatly increases learning speed across all parameters
Authority: QUALITY UPGRADE ×1 (Active)
"…Across all parameters," I whispered. I clicked Authority, then targeted Magic Bullet.
Use: QUALITY UPGRADE
Target: Magic Bullet
[Confirm?] "Yes."
The system hesitated, then flashed:
[Spell quality upgraded]
Magic Bullet → Magic Missile
Rank: E
My breath caught. But I wasn't done. I selected Rock Wall.
[Spell quality upgraded]
Rock Wall → Rock Formation
Rank: D
Suddenly I had an array of options—pillars, plates, spikes, any shape I could imagine. Controlled matter itself. My pulse thundered in my ears.
"…So that's how it works."
Higher rank meant slower leveling. A trade-off I could accept. Because even at D-rank, the potential was staggering.
I cracked a grin. Absurd. Ridiculously, gloriously absurd. Tomorrow was going to be interesting—very interesting.