After getting back to the Proatine Kingdom, Siegfried spoke to Michele, “Michele.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“I unintentionally screwed up…”
Siegfried then explained what happened.
“I see…” Michele muttered before covering his face with his hands as he lamented inwardly, ‘Ah… I’m already on the verge of dying from overwork… How can you go and cause another mess… urgh…’
Michele was truly in pain. He already had a mountain of work, but Siegfried just had to go and pick a fight with one of the top ten Adventurer guilds on the continent.
“Please request for the empire’s protection, and Your Majesty also needs to be careful until you become strong enough. It will be too burdensome for our kingdom to fight the Genesis Guild with our current status,” Michele said.
“I know,” Siegfried replied with an awkward smile before saying, “I’m just informing you. I’m not asking you for a solution.”
“Hmm…”
“Just keep it in mind for now. Don’t worry about it. I’m going to take care of it eventually.”
The Proatine Kingdom wouldn’t last even a single day if the Genesis Guild decided to invade it, and Siegfried knew that fact better than anyone.
‘I’ll have to power level for real from now on, but before that, I have to open the ark, so I can probably become a dual-class,’ Siegfried knew that he would be able to crush the Genesis Guild if he managed to become a dual-class Adventurer.
Of course, he still had no idea what kind of hidden class would emerge from the ark.
“Do we have a magician?” Siegfried asked.
“A magician, Your Majesty?” Michele replied, tilting his head in confusion.
“Yeah, I need a skilled magician to open this. At least, that’s what it says…”
The reason that Siegfried was looking for a magician was because of the third sentence in the ark’s description.
[Sealed: To unseal this item, A skilled magician has to perform a special rite.]
Siegfried wasn’t a magician, so he couldn’t unseal the ark.
“What if you ask Marquis Decimato to do it, Your Majesty?” Michele asked.
“Oh, right… There was that guy…”
Marquis Decimato had become Siegfried’s subject after the dimensional rift incident.
“All right, I’ll go and discuss it with him,” Siegfried said.
He then summoned Marquis Decimato.
“Greetings, Your Majesty. It has been a long time since I last saw you. I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to call this humble subject of yours,” Decimato greeted.
“Don’t mention it.”
“But what business do you have with this old one?”
“Can you take a look at this?”
Siegfried pointed at the ark on the table.
“Hmm… This is…” Decimato inspected the ark.
He was not simply inspecting it with his eyes; he was currently using magic to appraise the ark.
“I believe there is a powerful force hiding within this chest, Your Majesty.”
“You think so?”
“It looks like this chest is around two thousand years old judging by its shape and how much it has deteriorated… Hmm…”
“Do you know how to open it?”
“I apologize, Your Majesty. I do not know what is inside this chest, but I am certain that my abilities are nowhere near enough to open this. It is an impossible task for me.”
“Huh? You can’t open it?”
Siegfried was surprised. Decimato was a high-level NPC magician, so he didn’t expect that the latter would use the word impossible.
“This chest has been meticulously crafted to withstand the tests of time, and the sealing magic they placed on it is not something that I can dare to go up against. It is a high-level ancient spell.”
“Then… We can’t open it?”
Siegfried could not help but feel cheated.
‘I exposed my identity just to get my hands on this, but I actually can’t open it?’
He was certainly going to be in a pinch if he could not possess another hidden class now that Chae Hyung-Seok knew about his identity.
“Well, it is not totally impossible per se, but I am certain that it is impossible with my prowess. I advise that Your Majesty should look for another magician.”
“Another magician, what do you mean?”
“Your Majesty should visit the Magic Tower.”
The Magic Tower was known as the paradise of all magicians on the continent and was the root of all magical developments. The Magic Tower definitely had a magician capable of opening the ark.
“I apologize for not being of any help to Your Majesty,” Decimato said with a bow.
“Don’t worry about it,” Siegfried shook his head and continued, “Your advice was more than enough.”
“You are far too generous, my lord.”
“Anyway, thank you.”
Decimato left Siegfried’s office.
“I’ll be going, then,” Siegfried said.
“Please be careful, Your Majesty,” Michele saw him off.
Siegfried boarded an airship with the Ark of the Ancient God in tow and flew toward the Magic Tower.
***
The paradise of all magicians as well as the root of all magic—the Magic Tower—was located at the second capital city of the Marchioni Empire, Voluvard.
Siegfried was currently on his way to Voluvard.
“Your Majesty.”
The commander of the airship fleet, which only had three airships, reported to Siegfried, “We will have to temporarily land to cool our engines and replenish our mana stones. May I get your permission to land, Your Majesty?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
The airships in the Nürburg Continent had a shorter flight range compared to the airplanes of the real world, so they had to land from time to time to cool their engines and replenish their mana stones.
A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes upon landing.
[Southwest of Marchioni Empire: Twin Sprout Village]
“Huh? Twin Sprout Village?”
“Why? Do you know this place?” Hamchi asked.
“Yeah, I do. This is where I started my game—no, my adventure. I descended on this place three years ago,” Siegfried replied with an awkward smile.
“Kyu?”
“Who could have known that I would be able to visit this place again one day… I wonder if my master is doing well.”
“Your master is at Mount Kunlun!”
“Not that Master.”
“Kyu?”
“I told you that I used to be a magician, right?”
“Yeah, you told me…!”
“The person who taught me magic lives here.”
“I see…”
“I wonder if he’s still here… I think he already passed away...” Siegfried paused to ponde. Then, he asked the commander of the airship, “How long do we have to stay here?”
The commander of the airship, Brigadier General Crown, replied, “We will be here for at least two hours, Your Majesty.”
“Then, I’ll go somewhere for a while. Fire a signal flare if anything happens,” Siegfried said.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Siegfried went toward the Twin Sprout Village with Hamchi.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going out to see if Master is still here.”
“Do you plan to visit him?”
“Well, I guess there’s no harm in visiting him since I’m already here.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Kyu!”
Siegfried started thinking about the days when he first started playing BNW.
‘Who could have known that I would be walking this path again after three years?’
He was a noob at the time, so he was ignorant of the game. In addition, most of the information uploaded on the forums or given by streamers at the time was useless.
He was now a BNW veteran and was a hidden class holder as well. However, the Tae-Sung of that time was someone who could be perfectly described by the word noob.
‘I’m much better now, but… at the time I was… haha… hahaha…’
Siegfried was embarrassed after remembering the past. He continued walking for around ten minutes, and he passed by a rundown abandoned house on the way to the village entrance.
“Do people actually live here? Isn’t this abandoned?” Hamchi asked.
“It looks like that, but this is the academy,” Siegfried replied with a smirk.
“Kyu?”
To read the uncut version, go to pawread dot com.
“Look.” Siegfried pointed at a signboard in front of the rundown house’s door.
Percival Magic Academy
We will drill the basics of magic into you.
The Percival Magic Academy was an academy by name, but it was more like a small tuition center located in the most rural provinces back in the real world. It would be more accurate to say that it was a rundown library in a provincial backwater.
“Did you really study here…?” Hamchi asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with it?”
“I think I finally know why you were such a loser back then…”
“…”
“Do they even properly teach you here? Will you learn how to cast a fireball at least?”
“I don’t know about the rest, but they’re really good at teaching you the basics,” replied Siegfried with a shrug. He then knocked on the door and called out. “Is anyone home?”
An old magician peeked out the door and asked, “Who is it?”
The old magician was the magician running the magic academy in this provincial backwater—Percival.
“Hello, Master. Do you recognize me?” Siegfried greeted with a smile.
“Who are you? I don’t recognize you…”
“I’m Tae-Sung.”
“Tae-Sung…? Who’s that?”
“Hmm… I learned magic under you around three years ago.”
“Three years ago, you say…?”
The old magician started jugging his memories around while muttering, “Three years… Tae-Sung… Tae… Sung… Hmm… Who did I teach three years ago? Tae-Sung… Hold on… If it’s three years ago, then are you that Tae-Sung?”
“Do you finally remember?”
“Don’t tell me that you’re the youngster whose talent was as big as a quarter of a rat’s shit. Are you really that youngster who made me cry tears of blood and age a hundred years?!”
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come…’
Siegfried suddenly regretted his decision to come here.
“Yes! I remember now! You’re definitely that Tae-Sung!”
Unfortunately, it was already too late to turn back now because the old man seemed to have finally remembered him.
“Ah, yes…”
“Hoho! Look at you! It’s so good to see you again! I had never really heard from you again, so I had been wondering if you died in a ditch somewhere. Keke!”
“…”
“Can you finally cast a fireball properly? Or does it still explode in your hand?”
“T-That’s all from the past…”
“How many times did you die practicing fireball? Hmm… I think it was sixty-nine times from what I counted by myself...”
“…”
“I taught nearly five thousand disciples, but you were truly unique! Even a trash can is more talented than you! Kekeke!”
“Understandable, have a nice day.” Siegfried bowed and turned around.
‘I was crazy… I shouldn’t have come here…’ He could have never imagined that this supposedly harmless blast from the past would blast him with the memories he specifically wanted to forget.
“Where do you think you’re going?! You should come in and have a cup of tea at least!”
“I’m a bit busy, and… I’m already done checking that you’re still alive, so I’ll be on my way now…”
“Stop right there! Are you looking down on your master now that you’ve grown up a bit?!”
“Not at all, it’s just that I came out of goodwill but ended up getting called a loser and a trash so…” Siegfried said. He made it obvious that he was upset.
“Hoho! They say that the frog eventually forgets that it was ever a tadpole…”
“…”
“Well, it seems that you’ve become somewhat successful. Anyway, come in and have some tea.”
“All right.”
Siegfried ended up chatting over a cup of tea with Percival—his master from three years ago.
Their conversation lasted for two hours.
“Farewell.”
“I will come and visit you again.”
“All right, make sure you visit me again, and…”
“Yes?”
“You made the right choice by giving up on being a magician, so make sure you do your best in the new path you had chosen. I’m sure you already know, but your talent’s as big as a quarter of a rat’s shit, so…”
“…”
“I did teach you since you stubbornly insisted on becoming a magician, but I regretted teaching you since I knew you wouldn’t make it far as a magician…”
“Yes, I am also relieved that I had chosen to go down a different path. Then, I wish you good health,” Siegfried said with a smile.
“Sure, you take care of yourself, too.”
Siegfried left Twin Sprout Village and reached Voluvard, where he met a high-ranked magician by the name of Pellos.
“Hmm… So you want to open this chest?” Pellos asked.
“Yes,” Siegfried replied.
“It’s impossible.”
“Huh?” Siegfried was taken aback by the unexpected response.
