Aether World Online.
A popular ga that had been in service worldwide for over ten years. It had tens of thousands of players.
This ga wasn't famous from the beginning. It gained popularity through word of mouth.
The news spread that it was a romance fantasy genre with excellent action, which attracted a large number of gars.
Baek Yu-Seok was one of the rare players who had been playing since the early days of the ga's launch.
Because of this, he had heard countless stories from many users, including a substantial number of episodes related to the Twelve Divine Moons.
The item [Sentient Spec] contained most of the information recorded in the Aether World community.
However, there was still so information it couldn't hold—things related to the 'hidden pieces' that were openly talked about among users.
Everyone had a desire for exclusivity.
When a special hidden piece was discovered in the ga, so wanted to share it, while others wanted to monopolize it and use it for themselves.
Baek Yu-Seol was the kind of person who rembered every little story that circulated only as rumors.
The main story of the ga?
There were many seasoned players who didn't know it.
Quite a few, in fact.
So much so that if you asked a veteran player with seven years of experience, "What do you think about a character nad Fla?" they might respond with, "Who's that?"
But the information within the ga was different.
Veteran players collected each piece of information, input it into their minds, and never forgot it.
Baek Yu-Seol was such a case.
While developing a character of the highest difficulty, he had to figure out detailed strategies for bosses that could be easily defeated by others, investing dozens of tis more ti to clear them.
Silver Autumn Moon.
The most famous and most mysterious of the Twelve Divine Moons.
Many players tried to dig into it, but almost no information was available.
However, Baek Yu-Seol, luckily, received such rare information through soone he knew.
'... Who was that again?'
He often ran into that person during the early days of the ga's launch.
He didn't know their real na or face, but he rembered that their ID was 'Dalso.'
Once, when he asked about the aning of that ID, he got the response, "It doesn't an anything."
One day, that person said.
"Hey, Baek Yu-Seol. This ti, I learned sothing about the Twelve Divine Moons."
At that ti, the Twelve Divine Moons had almost no influence on the main story, and the rewards were hardly known, so they weren't popular.
So Baek Yu-Seol would have answered, "I don't know, and I'm not interested."
But the other person stubbornly continued to talk about the existence of the Twelve Divine Moons.
"The Twelve Divine Moons descended from the Progenitor Mage. Did you know that?"
So people probably knew that.
It was common knowledge that ca up just by reading the main story.
Unfortunately, Baek Yu-Seol didn't know and wasn't interested.
He was busy finding opponents for duels at the ti, so he tried to answer half-heartedly, but then the person ntioned sothing quite interesting.
"If you find the Twelve Divine Moons, your character's stats can permanently increase, or you could gain a new skill."
As a gar, it would be a lie to say that didn't intrigue him.
Especially since 'Baek Yu-Seol' was a character that hardly acquired useful skills since it relied solely on teleportation.
"Do you want to hear more?"
At that mont, Baek Yu-Seok stopped his matchmaking and listened to the story.
It was truly fascinating how that friend knew so much information, and it greatly benefited Baek Yu-Seol.
He was able to develop the first character on the server to receive the Blessing of the Twelve Divine Moons.
The first Twelve Divine Moon that Baek Yu-Seol contracted with was Golden Solstice Moon.
It was the best blessing which perfectly offsetted the worst penalty of not being able to envelop his skin with mana, permanently stunting his endurance growth.
From then on, he beca very interested in the Twelve Divine Moons.
He gathered, shared, and strategized information related to them through secret routes, and at one point, he even deleted his character to start over just to contract with a Twelve Divine Moon.
In that process, his ga friend Dalso was incredibly helpful.
Wherever he got the information, he secretly shared knowledge about the Twelve Divine Moons with Baek Yu-Seol, and by combining those small hints, he managed to contract with a few more Twelve Divine Moons.
However, there was one Twelve Divine Moon with whom even Baek Yu-Seol repeatedly failed to contract.
Silver Autumn Moon.
Unlike the other Twelve Divine Moons, he didn't stay in one place. He appeared and disappeared unpredictably, making it hard to persuade and contract with him.
Is this what the difficulties of a salesperson feel like?
'Or maybe it's more like a dating simulation, fitting the ga's identity.'
... And so, Baek Yu-Seok spent several months trying to conquer Silver Autumn Moon.
'How did it go again?'
Flash.
———-
Baek Yu-Seol opened his eyes.
Leafanel's face, which was tinged with a violet hue, ca into view.
She still looked serene, but there was a hint of discomfort in her expression.
[Status effect 'Hyper Focus' has been removed.]
[The body's recovery speed returns to normal.]
[The circulation rate of mana returns to normal.]
System ssages floated before his eyes.
'Hyper Focus?'
It was a status effect he had never seen before.
Had his recovery rate and circulation rate increased?
He hadn't noticed at all.
After all, he hadn't been injured, and he was so absorbed in wandering the ntal world that he didn't have ti to sense the circulation rate.
"... This isn't easy."
He had spent the entire day trying to awaken the abilities of Silver Autumn Moon, but the more he wandered through the ntal world in concentration, the stronger the abilities of Pink Spring Moon beca.
Of course, this wasn't a bad thing.
The fact that he was growing so rapidly ant that Baek Yu-Seol hadn't been using even 1% of Pink Spring Moon's abilities until now, and it was only now beginning to grow explosively.
But it was frustrating because he couldn't figure out how to manifest the blessing of Silver Autumn Moon.
No one in the ga had ever unlocked Silver Autumn Moon's true abilities...
Twitch.
"Huh?"
Lost in thought, he suddenly saw Leafanel's fingertips tremble.
Was it just his imagination?
It passed in a split second that he wasn't sure.
"Leafanel? Did you wake up?"
There was no response.
She still lay there without even the slightest movent.
'What is this?'
Sothing felt off.
A very, very tiny... sothing was nagging at his senses.
It was a feeling so subtle that Baek Yu-Seol wouldn't have noticed it under normal circumstances, so he sharpened his senses and slowly got up to circle around Leafanel.
Sothing had changed.
But while he could sense that a change had occurred, he couldn't tell what it was.
"This is..."
He slowly brought his head closer to Leafanel.
Sothing seed like it might appear, like it might be sensed.
He reached out his hand.
The faint purple, translucent barrier surrounding Leafanel particularly caught his eye.
And then, just as Baek Yu-Seol's fingertips were about to touch the purple barrier...
Chills!!
A chilling sensation ran through him, putting his entire body on alert.
But he didn't react hastily.
A rash action could make the situation worse.
Instead, he withdrew his extended hand and spoke to the empty air.
"How long are you going to keep spying from over there?"
A very sharp sense that he wouldn't have felt before.
But now, with his sixth sense and the blessing of Pink Spring Moon sufficiently trained, he could faintly detect it.
"... Oh my. What a surprise."
Surprisingly, Baek Yu-Seol's senses were accurate.
A voice ca from what had seed like empty air.
When Baek Yu-Seok slowly turned his head back, a woman appeared from that spot.
'... A dark mage.'
The traces of a dark mage contractor were clearly indicated in the Sentient Spec.
In fact, even without the spec, it would have been very easy to recognize that she was a dark mage.
A purple horn protruded from her forehead, and her skin, a violet hue, was adorned with even darker purple tattoos.
This was proof that she was not an ordinary dark mage.
Click-clack!
Wearing a tight leather jacket, she walked gracefully, like a model on a runway.
"Hmph... We're eting for the first ti, right? I've heard a lot about you. I didn't expect to et you in a place like this."
This was their first eting.
But recognizing her identity was not difficult at all.
[???]
[Dark Mage Contractor]
[Physical Doppelganger]
[Curse of the Spirit]
The term Curse of the Spirit was clearly indicated in the Sentient Spec.
This occurred when soone killed a spirit and then received a curse from the heavens...
At present, she was a clear suspect in the murder of Leafanel.
'The fact that her na doesn't appear...'
It was probably because, even in the original ga, her na never appeared.
Information unknown to the players wasn't recorded here.
But was it really necessary to know her na?
Just identifying her was enough to raise Baek Yu-Seol's tension significantly.
'A doppelganger.'
There must be a reason why she sent a doppelganger instead of coming in person.
Probably, the reason was...
'She can't enter this place.'
Baek Yu-Seol narrowed his eyes.
A physical doppelganger.
The na sounded simple, but it was an almost perfect doppelganger spell that very few mages in the world could use.
Doppelganger magic itself was rare, and even if soone used it, it was usually impossible for the doppelganger to act with its own will.
But she was controlling it with her soul.
If he were an ordinary mage... He wouldn't have noticed it.
Even Baek Yu-Seol only vaguely noticed sothing was off with the help of Pink Spring Moon.
It was the Sentient Spec that inford him it was a doppelganger.
'I'm still far from catching up to the senses of the spec.'
Well, it hadn't even been a day since he awakened his abilities, so trying to surpass the spec would be too ambitious.
'I can't afford to underestimate her.'
There was too much he didn't know about her.
Since there was hardly any information recorded in the Sentient Spec, he needed to play the psychological ga aggressively.
So, Baek Yu-Seol deliberately pretended to be unaffected and spoke up.
"For a coward who doesn't even have the courage to co here herself, what do you want?"
"... Oh my. What a sharp kid, huh?"
"Do I look like a kid to you?"
"Hmm..."
He appeared to be an unmistakable teenager.
To a dark mage who had lived for over a hundred years, he would be less than a sapling, let alone a kid.
However, if his appearance was deceptive, the story changes.
'Hmm. What's this?'
The woman, Soya, narrowed her eyes.
Even though it was a doppelganger, her senses should be over 90% the sa as her true body.
Yet, she couldn't feel anything particularly special from Baek Yu-Seol.
No. It was even more suspicious because of that.
Soya slowly circled the garden with Baek Yu-Seol in the center, and walked like a model.
From the boy, she couldn't detect the usual mana aura that was commonly found in other mages.
Specializing in doppelgangers and various magical techniques, she was incredibly sensitive and relied on mana senses rather than vision.
Yet, Baek Yu-Seol felt like a mirage—visible but not really there.
"You're quite interesting."
"You'd have a hard ti handling ."
"Oh-ho, why? Do you already have soone?"
"Sothing like that. She's a very strong woman, way too much for you to handle."
Although there was no such woman in this world, Baek Yu-Seol blurted out anything to buy ti.
"So, what did you an by what you said earlier? I'm actually here right now. I could kill you right now."
Baek Yu-Seok chuckled and spread his arms wide.
"Then go ahead. Do it if you can."
Soya extended her fingers.
Purple mana slowly began to emanate from her nails, but it didn't shine brightly.
'With this level of mana... Will it be enough?'
Although her senses were similar to her true form, there were definite limitations to the amount of mana a doppelganger could use.
'This mysterious kid.'
Besides, she had heard stories about Baek Yu-Seol.
He had dealt with several high-level dark mages, and more recently, he had even beco widely known for killing the successor of the "Last Witch."
'Is this monstrous guy... really just a high school student?'
'Are all humans missing a few screws in their heads or sothing?'
'How could they confine soone like him to the status of a re high school student?'
'Of all things...'
She bit her lip slightly, making sure Baek Yu-Seol couldn't see it.
It was good that she had co to check on Leafanel's condition, but she had ended up facing an unfavorable opponent.
If he had been an ordinary Class 6 mage, she could have easily killed him with the doppelganger, but Baek Yu-Seok was different.
Having confird that Elf King Florin had visited the Third World Tree, she needed to avoid a major confrontation at all costs.
"... What do you want?"
Having no other choice, she completely withdrew her mana and took a few steps back, and asked irritably.
Only then did Baek Yu-Seol smile.
'It worked.'
The fact that he could recognize a doppelganger and that, due to his mana concealnt technique, his abilities were undetectable by ordinary senses.
And he had managed to deceive her to so extent using his own reputation that he had built up over ti.
Of course, rash actions were forbidden.
If he provoked her too much, she could suddenly turn hostile and thrust a blade at his throat.
Dark mages were known for their quick tempers.
"What I want... I don't have anything specific, but I am curious about sothing."
When she tilted her head, urging him to continue, Baek Yu-Seok hardened his expression and spoke.
"You killed the spirit Leafanel and absorbed her heart. Isn't that right?"
She remained silent, her expression turning stiff, but Baek Yu-Seol continued.
"But in the process of absorbing the spirit's heart... sothing went wrong. To put it in crude terms, you got indigestion. You tried to digest a power far beyond your level all at once, and that's what happened."
"... You should watch your words."
He spoke as carefully as he could.
Thinking about how she attacked Leafanel, a slightly sharp tone slipped out unconsciously.
"So you ca back to properly absorb that energy. But... It looks like you still haven't figured out how to do it, am I right?"
She bared her white fangs slightly, showing hostility, but soon she calmly regained her composure.
For a dark mage, that was quite an impressive level of anger managent.
It was comndable.
'Disgusting.'
Seeing a dark mage controlling their emotions wasn't pleasing to Baek Yu-Seok, but he endured it.
"So, what do you want?"
"It's simple."
When Baek Yu-Seok stretched his finger into the air, the subspace tore open.
Seeing this, Soya was startled and almost stepped back, but she held her ground with superhuman patience.
'Subspace?'
How could a re high school student use a spell that only mages of at least Grand Mage level in spatial magic could use?
Before she could even question this, Baek Yu-Seol pulled sothing out and tossed it to her.
"This is..."
"It belongs to a dark mage. Find that guy and kill him. Then I'll help you fully absorb that heart. Think of it as a kind of paynt for the task."
"What...?"
Could that really be possible?
How exactly?
She couldn't believe it, but the person in front of her wasn't just an ordinary high school boy.
There was sothing special about him, and... Perhaps he really did know how to fully absorb this 'spirit's heart.'
Soya lowered her head to look at the item thrown by Baek Yu-Seol.
What lay on the ground was an old shoe.
But it was just an ordinary shoe with no fragnts of dark mana or anything else.
'She won't feel anything, will she?'
Of course not.
Because it was just trash.
"... Who do I need to kill?"
Eventually, tempted by his offer, Soya spoke up.
Baek Yu-Seol smiled and said.
"Chelven. Kill that man."
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