Ranker’s Return

[You have entered the special field, ‘artificial demon world’.]

[The demon world’s penalty is applied.]

[The intensity of the penalty is lowered because it is an artificial demon world, not the actual demon world.]

[All stats are reduced by 10%.]

[You have the dark attribute.]

[The penalty doesn’t apply.]

[A bonus will be applied for having the dark attribute.]

[In the artificial demon world, the strength of magic power and the recovery speed will increase by 10%.]

A storm of messages emerged and covered Hyeonu’s vision.

‘It really copied the demon world.’

The penalty of the demon world really appeared. This wasn’t the actual demon world, but it was still important that the penalty was present.

‘If I draw this in my territory...’

It would be quite useful in a territory war. In terms of numbers, 10% might not be much, it was large enough to possibly lean the situation to one side.

‘The knights of Phinis and I are the only ones with the dark attribute.’

That was enough. The knights of Phinis were quite strong now. Under the comprehensive teachings of the Knights of Keon, there were more than a few third advancement members. In other words, they were overwhelmingly stronger than the soldiers of any professional team.

‘I don’t have to worry about the soldiers.’

Arena Week’s territory rule was ‘one against many’. Apart from the team in charge of defense, all the other teams would attack the territory simultaneously. It would be the same for the other teams after that. The battle would end when all the players on the defending side were logged out or the internal office was occupied.

The ranking of the territory war would only be determined after all the teams took turns defending. The team that took the least amount of time to occupy the castle during the siege would go first. This meant the team with the longest defense and the quickest attack would be ranked number one. There was one exception to this.

‘It will end if you stop it.’

If any team succeeded in defending, they would be number one regardless of their attack record. This was what Hyeonu was aiming for—a complete defense. Just like he had done in South Korea, he intended to pursue a perfect victory at Arena Week. He would carve it in everyone’s head once again—Alley Leader and Crescent Moon were the best.

Hyeonu described his experience with the magic circle: “The magic circle seems to be successful. It isn’t as powerful as the actual demon world, but the environment of the demon world has been implemented to a certain extent.” 

“Really? You mean it’s an incomplete success? Too bad. Still, I can’t expect too much from the first attempt...” Suped said.

Yet, contrary to the words ‘too bad’, Suped actually looked quite satisfied. He was happy that his short period of research had paid off. To be exact, he was proud of himself for making such a great achievement.

“Suped, how large can you make the magic circle?” Hyeonu asked Suped. 

Suped touched his chin, feeling troubled for a brief moment. He had never made a big magic circle for the artificial demon world, but it was very easy for him to predict the extent of the magic circle’s effective size range because of his past experience with other magic circles.

“The size? If I have the time and materials, I could draw a magic circle with enough of an effect to cover this castle,” Suped answered.

This time, it was Hyeonu who was lost in thought. ‘The size of this castle?’

The lord’s castle was enormous. It was obvious. The place where the noble who ruled the city stayed could never be small.

‘This level should be enough.’

The total number of players from all the teams participating in Arena Week was less than 200. If it included the soldiers they brought, it could be in the thousands. However, that was just a drop in the bucket compared to the size of the lord’s castle. Hyeonu smiled with satisfaction before asking a question about the magic circle in earnest: “How does the magic circle work?”

“It isn’t very difficult. It’s good enough just to draw it in the air. But... if it is engraved somewhere, you need to inject magic power to trigger it.” Suped looked at Hyeonu with an expression that was wondering why he was asking the obvious again. The pathetic look in Suped’s eyes was a bonus.

“So how much magic power do you need? Is it lower compared to the magic circle for traveling to the demon world? Or is it higher?”

“Of course, it is lower. The magic circle in Phinis is one that moves dimensions. It is a magic circle of a very high level. I can’t even make it. It might be different if I’m given time, but...”

It was difficult to reproduce the environment of the demon world, but that couldn’t be compared to the difficulty of the magic circle that moved dimensions.

“What is the difference if you compare them exactly?”

“As long as there is a good amplification design... It will be enough as long as there is 1/40th of the magic power required to activate the movement magic circle.”

‘1/40…’ Hyeonu thought about it.

The movement magic circle of Phinis required a huge 250,000 magic power. Suped’s magic circle could certainly play a role in the territory war with the relatively small requirement of 6,250 magic power.

‘My magic power is over 5,000...’

If Hyeonu made good use of the mini-game, he would be able to use the magic circle without consuming a lot of magic power.

“Then can you engrave one of those magic circles?”

“This? Where do you want to use it? It’s useless in the demon world...” Suped expressed doubts about Hyeonu’s request, rather than revealing if it was possible. Based on what he knew, Hyeonu was someone who couldn’t leave the demon world for now. Many things had happened, and the decisive factor was that the emperor was in Etono. Suped had yet to meet anyone brave enough to leave the emperor at his estate to travel elsewhere.

Hyeonu grasped what Suped’s words meant and immediately gave the right answer: “It isn’t something to be used in the demon world. Since I am in the demon world, Phinis’ protection isn’t as strong. I think I will feel more relieved if you do something like this. So, please.”

“Really? That is understandable. Since His Majesty cherishes you and you will be working... I can give this much to you as a gift.” Suped was willing to draw a magic circle for Hyeonu.

Suped knew that better than anyone how hard it was to serve the emperor from a close distance. Since the magic circle was for Hyeonu who was going to be doing that, Suped felt this much work was nothing.

“What is the size of the magic circle?” Hyeonu asked.

“It should be five meters in diameter. It doesn’t matter where you engrave it. Still, thinking about how it will be used, it’s best to hide it as far away from plain sight as possible,” Suped answered.

Hyeonu’s face stiffened momentarily after hearing that. The size of the magic circle was too big.

‘This is the small size to cover the lord’s castle...’

Of course, it was very small in comparison to the magic circle’s huge range of influence, but even so, there was no place to hide such a large magic circle. Hyeonu came up with some measures: “Can you divide the magic circle into several smaller ones? For example, it seems okay to have 10 or 20 of this size...”

“Split up the magic circle? It isn’t impossible to connect them. Instead, they will cost a lot of money to make.” Suped’s answer was that it was surprisingly possible.

Hyeonu was a layman to magic circles, so he just took out what he could offer all at once: “It doesn’t matter how much money it costs. Can you do it?”

“Then guide me to the dwarves in Phinis. I’ll share the details with them,” Suped replied.

“I understand, Suped.”

Hyeonu didn’t know why Suped wanted to meet the dwarves, but he agreed easily. He immediately left the castle and led Suped to the workshop in Phinis where Edchan and Tresha would be.

“Tresha, are you here? Edchan, are you here?” Hyeonu knocked on the door of the workshop, but no answer was received in return.

Only Hyeonu’s own voice came back to him like an echo in the mountains.

Hyeonu looked awkwardly behind him at Suped and said, “They must be focusing on their work. I think we can go in quietly, Suped.”

“I’m fine, so take your time. It isn’t urgent anyway,” Suped responded nonchalantly. 

After all, he wasn’t in a hurry. So what if there were no dwarves in the workshop? He could just wait and experiment with the magic circle he had created. The reason why he agreed to install Hyeonu’s magic circles was also an extension of this idea. By accepting Hyeonu’s request, he could improve his understanding of the magic circle and devise ways to apply it in other directions.

“I’m sure they are in there. They aren’t the type to leave the workshop,” Hyeonu commented. He opened the door of the workshop and sent a look to Suped, telling him to go inside. Suped entered the workshop comfortably while Hyeonu held the door for him be. Then Hyeonu followed Suped inside.

‘I feel the heat...’

The heat inside the room was intense, but it didn’t feel like a fire was blazing. It was residual or low heat—like it was to keep the air hot.

‘A sound... I can hear it!’

Nevertheless, Hyeonu’s ears soon heard the sound of metal hitting against iron. It was a soft sound. At the same time, Hyeonu heard what he presumed to be the voice of a dwarf, though he didn’t know who out of the two it belonged to.

“It seems they are definitely inside,” Hyeonu said.

“I heard it as well. I can feel two types of magic power. They both seem to be there,” Suped agreed with a nod.

His senses caught two types of magic power—an intense magic power that was like blazing fire and another magic power that was as hard as iron. Since there were two types, Suped thought it had to be two people because one person couldn’t have two types of magic power.

Hyeonu’s and Suped’s walking speed increased slightly. To be exact, Hyeonu walked quickly while Suped chased after him. The more they walked inside, the clearer the sound became. Different voices alternated like they were talking. Placing his head in the space where the voices came from, Hyeonu called out, “Edchan!” 

The sounds of all types of clattering iron and a sharp friction sound burst out.

“What are you doing here? I heard that you left for the demon world...” Edchan looked at Hyeonu with a flustered face like he was seeing a ghost.

“If I leave, does it mean I can’t come back, Edchan? Is it break time right now? I think I looked for you at the wrong time...” Hyeonu spoke as he saw the white boiled meat, the cup of liquor rolling around the ground, and the bottle of alcohol in Edchan’s hand.

“It is time for a break...” Edchan’s voice trailed off.

In fact, he had just finished his work and started to enjoy the alcohol with Tresha. Just then, Suped touched Hyeonu’s shoulder from behind and asked, “What? Why don’t you bring a cup over quickly?”

Birds of a feather flocked together. Suped was the same type of person as Lebron and the emperor.