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Reviewing his newly unlocked skills left Se-hyeon in a state of profound shock.
“The passive Mana Circuit alone is mathematically game-breaking,” he murmured, his eyes scanning the luminescent system data. “But these active additions… an absolute wide-area divine domain and a literal system-driven extraction of disease? This is pushing past standard class parameters.”
With Mana Circuit, the baseline destructive potential of his signature Shadow Orb would naturally multi-fold, scaling directly from his inflated mana capacity. Furthermore, the massive boost to his passive mana recovery speed meant that his resource tracking was effectively obsolete—his naturally over-abundant pool would now remain permanently topped off regardless of his spell deployment.
Then came the flat 30% spell efficiency amplifier. When compounded with the 10% modification anchored to his Velstian’s Magic Gloves, his output across all elemental and spatial arts achieved a staggering 40% efficiency boost.
If the passive foundation was impressive, the active skills were flatly unfair. A divine healing art capable of covering a massive 1-kilometer zone was completely unheard of in the contemporary era. Not a single high-rank legacy Healer or Oracle on earth possessed a dynamic, mobile recovery aura of that scale. Yet, despite that localized miracle, his focus was completely captured by the dark spell: Touch of Pasarta.
“Touch of Pasarta… Can this truly be classified as a dark art?” Se-hyeon questioned, staring at the mechanics. “Extracting and storing raw illness… Depending on how it’s deployed, this transcends standard utility magic. It behaves like a god-tier absolute.”
The text made no exceptions for cellular degradation or viral strains. Under this skill, any terminal, incurable illness known to human science would be perfectly pulled from a host frame, resulting in instantaneous, absolute recovery.
By all logical parameters, it resembled a high-tier holy miracle, yet it sat firmly in the grimoire of shadow magic. The historical reason for this classification lay entirely with its creator, Zephyrus Kravan. Zephyrus hadn’t engineered this spell out of altruism; he had designed it to streamline his private biological experiments.
He used the art to harvest lethal pathogens from high-tier monsters to test their mutation rates on human captives, or purposefully extracted dozens of conflicting terminal conditions and compressed them inside a single living host to engineer entirely new, synthetic plagues. Touch of Pasarta was historically a foundational tool for high-tier magical war crimes.
“Though, what happens if I extract terminal cancer from a human patient and manually project it into a dungeon monster?” Se-hyeon mused, a cold curiosity crossing his mind. “Do monsters even have the biological infrastructure to experience standard human carcinogens?”
The global Hunter Association had never reported a single instance of a dungeon beast suffering from a human lifestyle illness. Testing whether a human terminal mutation could override the accelerated biology of a monster was an experiment Se-hyeon intended to conduct at the first available opportunity.
“Haa. Still, look at this profile. Not a single new dedicated offensive spell in this phase either,” he sighed, clicking his tongue in mild frustration. “Am I seriously going to rely on the basic Shadow Orb forever? I hope Phase 4 gives me a localized cataclysm or at least a secondary single-target nuke.”
Phase 2 had provided Sanctuary Declaration and Dark Chains. Phase 3 had delivered Mana Circuit, Healing of Divine Light, and Touch of Pasarta. Aside from the foundational Shadow Orb unlocked during his initial awakening, his entire progression path was heavily leaning into absolute control, universal scaling, and systemic utility rather than brute-force combat magic.
“Well, complaining won’t change the grimoire layout. Let’s get the memory transfer over with.”
Pushing aside his minor complaints regarding his offensive kit, Se-hyeon finalized his inspection and actively triggered the systemic synchronization.
‘Memory Transfer!’
The moment the command left his thoughts, the familiar sensation took hold. A faint, glowing geometric sigil materialized directly between his brows.
VROOOOOOM!
Instantly, a concentrated wave of neurological data regarding the dynamic applications of Healing of Divine Light and Touch of Pasarta flooded his mind, weaving into his muscle memory and magical instinct.
“Mmm.”
Because neither spell was heavily dependent on intricate physical combat choreography or high-speed martial arts sequences, the physical strain was minimal, and the processing duration was significantly shorter than his Phase 2 update. Within roughly three minutes, the mental vertigo subsided.
Whirrrr!
Faint, glowing lines of silver script traced themselves across his skin, flashing briefly before dissolving into his cellular structure.
Shhh…
As the resonance settled, Se-hyeon slowly opened his eyes, a clear exhale escaping his lips.
“I see. These specific spells aren’t meant to be integrated into close-quarters combat chains. Their value lies entirely in macro-scale battlefield utility and conditional manipulation.”
Though they lacked the dynamic kinetic flair of his other skills, their objective utility was undeniable. The moment his consciousness fully integrated the information, the system finalized his milestone metrics.
[Memory Transfer completed successfully.]
[As a milestone reward for Phase 3 synchronization, your Base Mana has increased by +1,500.]
[Your overall Magical Proficiency across all sub-schools has expanded substantially.]
“Wow. A flat increase of 1,500 to my base mana parameter?” Se-hyeon blinked, thoroughly surprised. “What does that bring my unadjusted total to? Status Window.”
[Skills]
His unadjusted, native mana parameter had officially crossed the 4,000-point threshold.
When factored alongside the $+14,000$ provided by his EX-rank title, his cumulative mana parameter sat at a massive 18,080. In terms of raw resource tracking, that translated to over 180,000 active mana points. More importantly, under the laws of his new Mana Circuit, that full 18,080 rating was now calculated directly into the base damage formula of his offensive spells.
“A native mana stat of four thousand…” Se-hyeon muttered, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck. “If I walk into the association’s evaluation facility looking like this, how am I supposed to explain the growth curve? The entire industry is going to have a collective meltdown.”
During his initial awakening, his physical parameters had barely registered above 10, while his mana stat sat at a modest 180. To return for a Phase 2 re-evaluation with physical stats clearing 1,000 and a mana parameter exceeding 4,000 was completely unprecedented. Even in the recorded history of global ‘Irregulars’—those rare anomalies whose stats grew outside standard bounds—nobody had ever shown a vertical acceleration vector of this magnitude.
“Haa. Clearing out that massive nest pushed me into Phase 3 a full ten days ahead of my original timeline,” Se-hyeon reasoned, leaning back against his sofa. “It’s commercially safer to stick to the original plan. I’ll spend the next ten days quietly testing these new spells in the field, and then attend the evaluation exactly when I originally said I would.”
With his primary magical path stabilized, his thoughts naturally shifted toward his newly acquired secondary tree.
“Next up is Kaltraven’s crafting path.”
Focusing on his production sub-menu, Se-hyeon pulled up the required components for his tier-one potions.
[Recipe: Lowest-Grade Health Potion]
[Recipe: Lowest-Grade Mana Potion]
After cross-referencing the required flora against the contents of his sub-space storage, he confirmed that the vast mountain of herbs he had harvested from Kaltraven’s laboratory contained more than enough materials to fuel hundreds of crafting cycles.
“The flora components clearly don’t belong to Earth’s ecosystem, but thanks to the lab haul, I won’t run into a resource bottleneck anytime soon. That leaves the magic stones… I can’t exactly go crawl an F-rank dungeon just to gather low-tier dust. Since Manager Park handles our party’s liquidation, I’ll just ask him to skim a portion of my D-rank magic stones and exchange them for equivalent bulk volume of F-rank stones.”
Operating through a corporate handler made logistical adjustments incredibly simple.
“I’ll defer active potion manufacturing until I have a standardized bulk inventory of F-rank stones ready,” he decided, choosing to prioritize efficiency over hasty experimentation.
Three days passed in a smooth, calculated routine.
Se-hyeon maintained his daily dungeon clearances, systematically building his financial reserves while quietly accumulating magic stones. He had formally requested Park Sang-soo to skim a fraction of his high-grade D-rank stone drops and systematically convert them into standardized boxes of F-rank magic stones.
To ensure his dark arts carried no hidden biological backlash, Se-hyeon had spent his evenings conducting closed trials with Touch of Pasarta on various diseased animals. In every single test case, the skill performed flawlessly—instantly cleanly drawing out the target pathogens and securing them within his ring without causing any structural or physical trauma to the host animal.
And today, Se-hyeon decided it was finally time to test the skill’s absolute capability on a human subject.
“Outstanding work today, everyone. Get home safe,” Park Sang-soo announced as the logistics team wrapped up the final financial tallies outside the dungeon gate.
As the team began to pack their gear and disperse, Se-hyeon stepped forward, raising a hand.
“Hey, Jae-gwang-hyung. Do you have a minute?”
Over the past few weeks of shared combat drops, Se-hyeon had gradually softened his boundary with the crew, casually addressing the veteran porters as ‘hyung’ to establish a comfortable rapport. Despite his casual tone, Park and the porters strictly maintained formal, deferential honorifics when addressing him; to them, he was a high-value combat asset whose raw potential commanded absolute respect.
“Yes, Hunter Jang? Is there something you need from the cargo log?” Jae-gwang asked, turning around instantly.
“Haha, I’ve told you a dozen times, hyung—you can drop the formal honorifics when we’re off the clock,” Se-hyeon laughed.
Jae-gwang waved his hands frantically, a modest smile breaking through his tired features. “Ah, I appreciate the gesture, Hunter Jang, but I truly find this baseline comfortable. Professional boundaries keep things clean.”
Se-hyeon didn’t push the matter. Given the vast discrepancy in their social and economic standing within the hunter industry, it was natural for the veteran porter to remain cautious.
“Fair enough,” Se-hyeon nodded, shifting his tone to something more personal. “More importantly… how is your wife doing? Has the new treatment showed any material changes?”
Thanks to the massive financial bonuses Se-hyeon had injected into the team’s baseline payouts, he knew Jae-gwang had completely overhauled his wife’s medical regime, moving her to a premium oncology track.
Jae-gwang’s expression instantly dimmed, a heavy, exhausted sigh escaping his chest. “Haa… we integrated the new advanced therapies alongside her standard rotation, but there’s been zero clinical improvement. At this point, the medical team says we’re simply fighting to prevent immediate systemic collapse, but since the tumors have fully metastasized throughout her vital organs, even maintenance is slipping. The attending physician told me yesterday to start finalizing hospice arrangements… but hearing it plain like that doesn’t make processing it any easier.”
The weight of a lifetime spent watching a partner slowly fade away was a crushing burden.
Looking at the hollow, exhausted eyes of his porter, Se-hyeon spoke softly, choosing his words with care. “I’d like to pay my respects and visit her briefly, if that’s alright with you. Would it be acceptable if I dropped by the hospital evening?”
The sudden, deeply personal request caught Jae-gwang completely off guard. He blinked in confusion. “Wait… an Awakened of your caliber wants to visit my wife’s ward? Haha, Hunter Jang, you really don’t need to trouble yourself with something like that.”
“We’ve only been running gates together for a short time, hyung, but as far as I’m concerned, we operate as a unified party,” Se-hyeon insisted gently. “The rest of the guys are in perfect health, so I can always catch up with them down the line. But your wife is fighting a clock. It feels right for me to visit. Let me do this.”
Seeing the absolute sincerity in the young mage’s eyes, Jae-gwang offered a deeply grateful, embarrassed smile. “I… I don’t even know what to say. Thank you. She’s currently admitted to Room 402 at OO Hospital. Just text me when you arrive at the clinic, and I’ll come down to guide you up.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll head home, grab a quick shower, and see you there shortly.”
An hour later, Se-hyeon stepped through the sliding glass doors of the medical complex, carrying a modest basket of fresh fruit. He sent a brief text, and within minutes, Jae-gwang emerged from the elevator bank, his face tired but welcoming.
“Hunter Jang! Haha, you truly meant it,” Jae-gwang said, stepping forward.
“I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep, hyung. I wasn’t sure what her dietary restrictions were, so I just put together a standard fruit arrangement.”
Jae-gwang took the basket, his voice thickening slightly. “You didn’t need to spend capital on this… but thank you. Truly. Let’s head up.”
They rode the elevator in silence to the oncology ward, stepping out into a corridor lined with sterile white doors.
“She was in the intensive care unit until earlier this week,” Jae-gwang muttered quietly as they walked down the hall. “But once the clinical consensus hit absolute zero, they moved her back to a standard double room. The administration is actively pushing me to sign the discharge papers for a dedicated palliative care facility… it’s incredibly suffocating.”
Every won Jae-gwang generated from his hazardous dungeon labor was immediately consumed by the hospital’s billing department, yet the clinical metrics continued their steady downward trajectory.
“The harder it gets, the more you have to hold your ground, hyung,” Se-hyeon said softly, his hand resting briefly on the man’s shoulder. “The world is unpredictable. Miracles happen when you least expect them.”
Jae-gwang let out a hollow, self-deprecating chuckle. “A miracle? Even if a genuine anomaly occurred in human biology, it wouldn’t waste its time on people like us, Hunter Jang. I stopped praying for a turnabout a long time ago. At this stage, I’m simply holding onto her hand out of sheer, stubborn attachment.”
With a somber expression, Jae-gwang pushed open the door to Room 402. The room was designated for two patients, but because the adjacent bed was currently unoccupied, the space felt isolated.
“Come in. This is my wife, Ji-ah.”
Se-hyeon stepped into the room. Resting beneath the stark fluorescent lights was a woman whose physical frame had been completely ravaged by disease. She was emaciated, her skin pale and drawn tight over her cheekbones, her breathing maintained entirely by the rhythmic, mechanical hiss of an oxygen mask.
Gasp… gasp… gasp…
Her chest rose and fell in a shallow, labored cadence, her eyes closed in deep exhaustion.
“Is she sleeping?” Se-hyeon asked quietly.
“Most of the time, yes,” Jae-gwang replied, his voice breaking slightly. “The breakthrough pain is so severe that standard clinical analgesics don’t even register in her system anymore. The ward staff has her on a continuous morphine drip just to keep her stable.”
Narcotic palliation of that scale was a tool reserved exclusively for end-stage systemic failure. Her clock was running out.
Staring at the frail woman, Se-hyeon finalized his internal calculus and turned to face his porter, his expression turning intensely serious.
“Jae-gwang-hyung. There is something critical I need to disclose to you.”
The sudden, absolute gravity in Se-hyeon’s demeanor caused the veteran porter to visibly flinch. “Hunter Jang? What’s wrong…?”
“The truth is… within my active magical profile, I possess a highly specialized, non-standard spell designed to completely extract and eradicate disease from a living body.”
Originally, Se-hyeon had planned to execute the intervention covertly—intending to wait for an opportunity where Jae-gwang stepped out of the room to discreetly deploy the skill. But after observing the raw reality of the ward, his conscience refused to let him play god behind a desperate man’s back. Altering the biological framework of another person’s spouse without informed, explicit consent from the legal guardian felt like an absolute violation of human decency.
He needed to lay the cards on the table. If Jae-gwang rejected the premise out of fear or skepticism, Se-hyeon would respect that boundary and step away completely.
Hearing the words leave the mage’s mouth, Jae-gwang’s eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated shock. “A… a spell that removes physical disease? Hunter Jang, does an ability like that even exist within the hunter system?”
In the entire global history of the Awakened, such a concept was entirely undocumented. Even the most celebrated, legendary high-tier Clerics and Saints affiliated with the world’s premier guilds could only accelerate cellular regeneration or mend physical trauma; they could not rewrite cellular decay or systematically purge advanced carcinogens from a host. To hear that an offensive combat Mage possessed a supreme healing art defied all established logic.
“I know it sounds completely impossible, but it is an objective reality within my kit,” Se-hyeon stated calmly, meeting the man’s frantic gaze. “However, you need to understand the parameters: I have never executed this spell on a human subject before. Because of that, I cannot provide a clinical guarantee of success, nor can I definitively map out the potential biological side effects. My private trials on animal models suggest the extraction process is entirely clean, but because this is an unverified human trial, the risk factor is real.”
Jae-gwang’s mind went completely blank, his hands trembling as he stared at the floor. “This… this is a massive decision…”
“I understand completely,” Se-hyeon agreed softly. “Believing that a combat mage possesses a miracle cure is a massive leap of faith, and even if you accept it as truth, navigating the unknown variable of a breakthrough spell is terrifying. Take your time. This isn’t something you should decide under pressure.”
Right as the words left his mouth—
Twitch.
A frail, trembling hand weakly reached out from beneath the sterile hospital blanket, her thin fingers pressing against Jae-gwang’s wrist with what little strength she had left.
“Ji-ah?!” Jae-gwang gasped, instantly dropping to his knees beside the mattress.
The woman’s eyelids fluttered open, her gaze unfocused but completely desperate as she locked eyes with her husband, her lips moving beneath the clear plastic of the oxygen mask. Her voice was too faint to cut through the hum of the medical equipment, prompting Jae-gwang to lean his head down, pressing his ear directly against her lips.
“Ji-ah… say it again, I can’t hear you.”
Beneath the steady hiss of the machine, a weak, desperate whisper reached his ear.
“Gasp… gasp… I want… to do it. Let him… try. Please… gasp…”
She hadn’t been asleep at all. Drifting in and out of a morphine-induced haze, she had heard every single word of their conversation.
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