The Academy’s underground grand library. Hidden within it, a group of individuals entered the Great Magic Dungeon, defeated a ghost, and safely reached the end of the dungeon.
If everything went according to Sera’s plan, they would simply solve the quiz given by the wizard’s spirit at the end using the player’s knowledge, and then receive the reward—Double Casting.
Not like this, where they’d cut down the spirit in one strike and find the secret lab he left behind instead.
“This is….”
Beyond the collapsed dungeon walls, Yuri let out a gasp mixed with admiration as she gazed upon the exposed wizard’s study.
Sera, who used systems and status windows to cast spells as an amateur magician, didn’t know—but to Yuri, who had purely studied and mastered magic—it was nothing short of a treasure trove left by a great intellectual.
“Amazing….”
As if entranced, Yuri naturally walked deeper into the study. Seeing this, Sera shouted a warning just as the magic circle inside the study lit up and fired an interception spell towards Yuri—
“Oops.”
KABOOM-!
Kail, who swatted away the incoming magic with his hand, warned Yuri to be careful before entering the study with her.
Sera, who had been blankly watching from behind, finally snapped back to her senses and followed after them.
Inside the study, Kail found piles of documents written in unreadable ancient runes.
“What does it say?”
“Just a moment.”
However, Kail didn’t need to read the characters himself. Just as someone else swung the sword to slay ghosts for the team, there were magicians who could read and would do the reading for him.
Yuri began sifting through the research materials left by the magician, muttering in concentration.
“So that’s how it works… so that’s why… it’s possible to do this here…?”
Muttering incomprehensible words, Yuri’s magic power began leaking out. The magic enveloped her lightly, then started spinning around her.
Watching the swirling magic, Kail realized it was a familiar sight. He quickly became alert, guarding her to ensure no interference as she gained enlightenment.
“I understand.”
FWOOSH-!
The moment Yuri opened her mouth, the magic power erupted outward in all directions. Drawn by the intense light, Sera and Arthur watched dumbfounded as Yuri spread her hands and calculated the spells.
“Come forth, the resonance of a thousand thunder strikes—”
“Run, run, run!”
As if her mouth had a motor, Yuri chanted two spells simultaneously and successfully manifested both in her hands.
A thunderous spear crackled, and a blazing fiery sword burned bright.
Both were symbols of a 3-star magician, meaning she had become an Expert Level—3-star magician.
“Congratulations, Yuri.”
“…Yeah.”
With a dazed look, Yuri released the magic and collapsed. Catching her, Kail realized she had fainted from exhaustion due to lack of magic power.
The moment Kail lifted Yuri, the world began to crumble.
“Ack, no!”
As Sera’s panicked voice rang out, Kail was swallowed by the dungeon.
* * *
“Ow ow…”
“Uh, uh…”
When I opened my eyes, we were back in the Academy’s underground library.
Seeing Yuri unconscious in my arms confirmed that what we had just experienced wasn’t a dream.
“Ahhh, nooo!”
Realizing we were outside, Sera dropped to the floor in despair, crying OTL-style. Confused by her dramatic tears, I asked why she was so upset.
“What’s wrong? Why are you so sad?”
“We didn’t get anything!”
“Yuri became a 3-star magician and even did Double Casting.”
“That’s because she read the research material! We didn’t bring any of it back!”
Hearing Sera’s outburst, I tilted my head and asked again. What was the problem with not bringing back the research material?
“Can’t you just ask Yuri to rewrite it?”
“What?”
“She gained insight from reading it, so she must roughly remember the content. Just have her copy it down.”
I gave her a look of disbelief for not thinking of such a simple solution. Finally realizing, Sera frantically began searching for pen and paper.
Before Yuri’s memory could suffer any damage or errors, she planned to make her write down everything as soon as she woke up.
Almost simultaneously with Sera finding pen and paper, Yuri opened her eyes just in time and stared blankly into space.
“This is…”
“Yuri! Sorry to bother you right after waking up! Please write this down first!”
“…What is it?”
Still groggy, Yuri glared at Sera, who shoved paper and pen at her, but realizing what she wanted, she immediately began scribbling something down.
Too focused to disturb, I quietly slipped away with Arthur.
“Honestly, it feels like we were only called to fight ghosts from the start since we can’t read those characters.”
“Right.”
“…But still, I get it for me, but why did they call you, Arthur?”
“Well, I’m not sure?”
Unlike me, who could mercilessly cut down ghosts or golems alike with an Aura Blade, Arthur was just a student-level Aura User with a large amount of aura.
The Academy was crawling with User-level students, so there was no real need to include Arthur…
“Does he have some secret ability I don’t know about?”
I shrugged, looking at Arthur. I hadn’t saved him in the game, so I skipped the second playthrough out of laziness.
“Nothing to do… should we pick a book and read?”
“…Kail?”
“Yeah.”
“You haven’t forgotten where we are, right?”
“Huh?”
Casually shrugging, I glanced around. Did it matter? This underground library teeming with lingering spirits, curses, sealed magic, and demons?
Please, I’m an Aura Master.
These books weren’t heavily chained forbidden tomes; weak curses like these didn’t scare me.
Opening a book nonchalantly, Arthur gawked at me—but seeing I was fine, he tilted his head.
“…Why are you okay?”
“The stuff here should be fine for you too, right?”
“For me too?”
“Yeah, if what you’ve got is real.”
Tapping my chest as I spoke, Arthur decided to trust me and picked up a random book, sitting beside me.
ROOOAAAR-!
After a dragon-like roar of a heartbeat echoed, Arthur marveled at his unharmed body, glancing at me sideways.
Seeing she was fine, I smirked knowingly.
‘It really works.’
I didn’t expect her to be completely fine. If she got cursed, I’d save her, but it seems the dragon’s heart had more abilities than I thought.
Lost in such thoughts, we continued reading. Though we weren’t cursed, honestly, most of the books were incomprehensible academic texts.
“All done.”
Time passed, and Yuri finally finished transcribing the research material she had seen.
Only then could we leave the underground library.
* * *
The transcribed research material was immediately taken to the Headmaster. He greeted Sera like a beloved granddaughter but shifted to a professor-like demeanor upon seeing the material.
“Hmm… how can we trust this is real?”
“Like this.”
Yuri instantly performed Double Casting with 3-star magic. Watching her succeed where even Duke Walter, a six-pointed star magician, had failed, the Headmaster’s eyes sparkled.
Now convinced the material was genuine, its origin didn’t matter much. It was groundbreaking enough to overturn current magical theories and lead future academia.
“Good. I’ll personally hand this over to the Imperial Palace and the Magic Tower. It’s too dangerous for either side to monopolize.”
Saying this, the Headmaster smiled warmly at Sera and Yuri.
“You two will be rewarded. Expect it. Discoveries like this don’t happen often. Sera, you might even receive a noble title.”
“A noble title!?”
“Yes, though it’ll be a lower rank…”
Hearing this, Sera jumped for joy at the prospect of becoming nobility.
Watching her, the others smiled warmly.
Assured the material was safely handed over, the group left the Headmaster’s office. With a Master-level magician like the Headmaster holding it, security wouldn’t be an issue.
Or so they thought.
The next day, the Headmaster casually informed Kail’s group that the research material had been stolen.
