Chapter 11

This is the place New World set up as the supposed entrance to the hidden theme.

As a result, no one in the village questioned this abandoned house.

Naturally, the front door was wide open.

'There was an item hidden inside that abandoned house, and it was the tool to move on to the hidden theme.'

'Honestly, when I heard it from Alessandro before returning, I thought he was just making up a story.'

Even if his intention was to use the proverb "It's easy to miss something that's right in front of you" as a keyword, to think there's an item to move on to the hidden theme in an abandoned house like this...

It's too contrived.

'If it seems like a lie, you can test it.'

'Alessandro's confident expression... Only after using lie detection magic could I know that his words were true.'

They laughed and talked without hiding anything from each other.

What's so great about that power...?

Jeong-hoon's expression turned grim.

"Phew, it's okay. For now, just think about what's ahead."

He stepped inside the abandoned house.

[Old Abandoned House]

The abandoned house was an old and worn-out thatched cottage.

The typical appearance of an old Korean thatched cottage.

That's because the place Jeong-hoon is connected to and playing in is Korea.

New World has separate servers for each country.

And the environment changes to match that server.

In Alessandro's case, he heard it was a small mansion, not a thatched cottage.

Of course, this hidden theme can only be accessed by the first user who discovers it across all servers, and after that, it disappears.

'If I take it, Alessandro will have come up empty-handed.'

There was no sign of a portal in the abandoned house.

No users would have come this far in the first place, but even if they did, there was nothing here, so they wouldn't have found the portal and would have just turned back.

However, the portal to the hidden theme is right here.

Jeong-hoon, who entered the thatched cottage, stopped in a small room inside.

The room contained a dust-covered blanket and pillow, as if someone had once used it, and in front of them, a broken crystal ball lay alone.

'I never dreamed they would put a device in the crystal ball. If I hadn't found it, no one would have, and it would have disappeared.'

Jeong-hoon carefully reached out to the crystal.

An exclamation mark appeared above the crystal ball.

[You have discovered a hidden theme!]

[You have earned 5,000 achievement points!]

An additional 5,000 achievement points.

At this rate, the achievement shop will level up soon, right?

[Would you like to move to the Field of Abundant Mana?]

When he touched the exclamation mark, a question popped up asking if he wanted to move to the hidden theme.

"Yes."

As Jeong-hoon accepted, his body was enveloped in a blue light and then swallowed by the broken crystal ball.

* * *

Capsule room.

Whoosh-

The capsule door opened, and Ha-jin stepped out.

The time was just past 1:10 PM.

"Is he really not hungry?"

Ha-jin glanced once at the tightly closed capsule and shook his head.

As always, he ordered his favorite egg cheese ramen and sat at a table, fiddling with his phone.

"Are you eating now?"

Lee Hyun-woo, the owner of the capsule room, sat across from Ha-jin.

"Hyung, aren't you busy?"

"What is there for me to do?"

Lee Hyun-woo shrugged.

He was the owner, but all he did was kill time at the counter or enjoy New World inside a capsule.

The part-timers were the ones who were really busy.

"I envy your life, hyung."

Lee Hyun-woo was born with a diamond spoon in his mouth.

Originally, he was supposed to manage a 10-story building, not a capsule room, but he changed course to the capsule room when New World became a huge success.

"Keke, you should have been born with a good spoon, too."

"Wow, that's really unlucky."

"Anyway, where did your friend go?"

"In the capsule."

"Huh... without even eating?"

"Yeah. I asked him to eat together, but he ignored me."

"Really? Well... Your friend seems really absorbed in it."

Was his name Jeong-hoon?

He was genuinely impressed by his concentration.

Ha-jin usually came to the capsule room at 9 o'clock, but Jeong-hoon would appear like clockwork at 6 AM.

He even finished and left at 1:30 AM.

Excluding travel time, that meant he only spent 4 hours at home and invested the rest in the capsule.

"He's the type to get really into something once he's hooked..."

Recently, Jeong-hoon had been living in the capsule to the point where communication was impossible unless it was through whispers within the capsule.

"Seems like it. He quickly ate some bread and milk and went back into the capsule."

"Haha..."

Ha-jin felt a headache coming on.

He felt guilty, as if he had led his friend astray.

Jeong-hoon was originally an engineering student who wasn't interested in capsules.

After being discharged from the military, he was a model student who planned to attend school while studying for certifications to get a job at a large company... Ironically, now he had become a complete game addict.

"But your friend has incredible concentration, doesn't he?"

No matter how fun New World is, it's not easy to go that far.

"He has amazing concentration. When he was in elementary school, he even appeared on a program called 'Young Genius.'"

Young Genius.

A game survival competition for 8 to 13-year-olds.

It was said that all the children who appeared on that show had extraordinary abilities.

"Wow, really? Your friend was a genius."

"More than a genius, he was recruited because of his incredible memory."

"Memory?"

"Yeah. You could almost call it an absolute memory. Once he puts something in his head, he never forgets it."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. So when it came to games involving memory and concentration, no one could keep up with him. But he was a bit weak in calculation, so he came in third."

"Isn't third place still amazing?"

"It is."

Jeong-hoon never missed being first in his class in middle school either.

After his father passed away in an accident, his grades dropped a bit because he started working part-time to help his mother, but even those lowered grades were still within the top 10 in the entire school.

"Huh? Hey, look at this. A level 11 player beat an instructor NPC."

Lee Hyun-woo, who was fiddling with his phone, tilted his head.

Ha-jin, who was eating ramen, looked up.

"What?"

A video was playing on the phone that Hyun-woo held out.

In the video, a beginner martial artist was sparring with an NPC instructor.

'Level 11?'

Ha-jin's expression suddenly turned serious.

The face was blurred, but the level 11 beginner martial artist...

For some reason, he looked strangely like Jeong-hoon.

'No way... It can't be, right?'

No matter how weak the instructors at the Beginner Village training center are, they should still be around level 25 to 30, right?

It can't be. Even if he chose Martial Artist, he's not the kind of friend to do something so absurd.

Look. A level 11 user is beating up a level 30 instructor.

And even dodging all of the instructor's attacks.

'No. Jeong-hoon can't fight like this.'

His skill convinced Ha-jin that it wasn't Jeong-hoon.

* * *

[You have entered the Field of Abundant Mana.]

[You have discovered a hidden theme!]

[An additional 10,000 achievement points will be awarded.]

[The Achievement Shop will be upgraded from Lv.1 to Lv.2!]

Jeong-hoon's vision went dark and then returned. He was no longer in the thatched cottage but in the middle of a field.

The mana field was made up of cube shapes.

Since he was inside one of those cubes, the floor, walls, and ceiling were made of blue bricks tightly stacked together.

"So this is the hidden theme."

This was the first time he had entered a hidden theme.

A space so full of mana.

A refreshing feeling washed over him.

[Mana Amplification Field is activated.]

[Mana is abundant.]

[Mana enters your body and settles in.]

Mana flowed naturally into Jeong-hoon with each breath he took.

'This is incredible...'

It was truly astonishing.

To think that a place so full of mana existed in New World.

He had only heard about it, but experiencing it first hand was on a different level.

[Magic Power stat increases by +1.]

His Magic Power stat increased by 1 even though he hadn't leveled up.

'Good. I can increase my Magic Power a lot here.'

Jeong-hoon had never used magic before.

Unlike magic, divine power focuses on healing, detoxification, and support, so Steadfast Will reacts even with just its use, but magic is not like that.

Due to the setting of being a profound discipline, magic was something that couldn't be easily learned unless you had the Mage class.

Even for Jeong-hoon, who was an all-master, magic was a path that opened very late.

That's why he learned only one magic spell and used it in battle.

It was the same after his return.

Even with magic power and the flow of magic memorized in his head, Steadfast Will did not react as if it were firmly solidified.

Of course, this was a problem that would slowly resolve over time, but the hidden theme would accelerate that process.

[Would you like to start training?]

Jeong-hoon pressed accept.

[Scanning user.]

[No circuit diagram found in the body.]

[Would you like to construct a circuit diagram?]

At that question, the corners of Jeong-hoon's mouth lifted.

The circuit diagram is like a power source for using magic.

Just having magic power doesn't mean you can spam magic.

New World was designed to maximize the strengths of each class, and unlike other classes, Mages complete their first class advancement by constructing a circuit diagram.

That was the reason Steadfast Will hadn't reacted.

'I have to construct it.'

As Jeong-hoon accepted, his body felt a surge of heat, and a single circuit diagram was created near his chest.

[Circuit diagram constructed.]

[Additional construction is not possible.]

To think it would end so simply.

The overpowered nature of the hidden theme gave him goosebumps once again.

'With this theme alone, I've gained an additional circle.'

Circuit diagram, in other words, a circle.

Alessandro found the hidden theme and gained an additional circle here.

That's why he could have a higher circle compared to his level.

This hidden theme was a big stepping stone for him to rise from an Archmage to a Sage.

The fortuitous encounter of this hidden theme had come to Jeong-hoon.

'I've started off on the right foot.'

Although creating the circuit diagram in the beginning was tough.

Now that he had created it, his growth would become smoother from here on.

This was because the conditions for activating Steadfast Will had been met.

'Shall I test it out right away?'

As Jeong-hoon channeled his magic power, the circle near his chest began to rotate rapidly.

Normally, this would be a time-consuming process, but this place was overflowing with mana.

As the circle rotated, it continuously absorbed the surrounding mana.

And slowly, recalling his memories, he formed the magic.

Even though he was called an all-master, learning magic was extremely difficult, so he mastered only one spell and used it actively.

Now it was time to learn that magic.

[Martial Artist exclusive skill, 'Steadfast Will' is activated.]

[Skill, 'Magic Missile (Normal)' is acquired.]

He succeeded.

* * *

Whoosh-

The capsule door opened, and Jeong-hoon stepped out.

"Huu."

Jeong-hoon stretched his stiff body.

From the training hall to the hidden theme.

Was it because he invested all his time in New World except for the minimum sleep?

His fatigued body screamed in protest.

Well... It was natural to feel this way since he only ate one meal a day and focused on New World.

"I need to rest today."

Until the game becomes reality, he has to live with an ordinary person's body.

Although he had a personality that was intensely focused on one thing, Jeong-hoon had a weak constitution since childhood, so there were many cases where his body couldn't keep up.

His body, which had become somewhat healthier not long after being discharged from the military, was holding up, but if he lost his health once, it would take a lot of time to recover.

That would inevitably reduce the time he could invest in New World.

So he needed to take care of his body.

"Huh? You were here?"

As he approached the refrigerator to get a drink, he found Ha-jin sitting at a table.

"Oh? Are you done with the game? You're done, right?"

Ha-jin jumped up and ran towards Jeong-hoon.

"Yeah. I'm done, but why?"

"Hey, I saw someone who looks just like you."

"Someone who looks like me?"

"Yeah. I don't know who it was, but a level 11 player was beating up an instructor."

"Ah, that was me."

Ha-jin's jaw dropped as Jeong-hoon calmly affirmed it.

"What the fuck?"

"Can't you tell just by looking? That was me. I sparred with an NPC instructor at the Martial Arts Hall."

"No way... You're that good at fighting?"

"It's a game."

"A game? Dude, the only things that get adjusted in virtual reality are your level and stats. But you, at level 11, defeated a level 30 instructor. How am I supposed to understand this?"

"I'm not level 11 anymore. I'm level 16 now."

"Level 11 or 16, it's all the same!"

Beating up an instructor at either level was an incredible feat.

"Anyway, I'm tired. I'm heading home, so come with me if you want."

"Home? That's not the point right now! Guilds that are interested in you are leaving comments non-stop!"

"Love calls?"

If it's love calls, it must be from guilds.

If they're sending love calls just because of one sparring match with an instructor, it's probably from small to mid-sized guilds.

"Prepare to be amazed! It's from Ho-yeong! Ho-yeong!"

"Ho-yeong...?"

Jeong-hoon's steps faltered.