I Obtained a Mythic Item - Chapter 12

Chapter 12 — Mana Cube (2)

A transparent and deep space tinged with a blue light.

The inside of a mana cube was like a deep ocean.

JaeHyun felt nervous for a moment at the wavelength of the concentrated mana he was encountering for the first time, but after getting used to it promptly, he started to look around.

‘This is like…… a deep and wide ocean made with mana? Fortunately, I can breathe without any problems. I was worried I might get addicted to mana or something.’

Mana addiction.

The term for the disease that appeared when one was exposed to large amounts of mana for long periods of time.

Normally, mana was similar to oxygen in this world.

It was necessary when using magic or skills, but being exposed to very concentrated mana for a long time weakened a person’s cardiopulmonary functions.

Experts called the prompted disease ‘mana addiction.’

Normally, mana addiction caused a variety of symptoms like difficulty with breathing, vomiting, fever, etc — and it was notoriously known for slowly chipping away at a raider’s life.

And so, the fact that JaeHyun was currently able to move freely meant that he was not under the effects of mana addiction.

It was truly a fortunate thing.

‘But there’s nothing good about wasting time. It might just be that the symptoms haven’t appeared yet.’

Of course, they said that a well-trained Magician could still breathe easily even under extremely overwhelming mana.

But the current JaeHyun was the very definition of a beginner Magician.

The distance between him and those superhumans was unfathomable.

After checking that his body could move properly, JaeHyun lightly inhaled.

He could feel the mana permeating his lungs and sending a tingling sensation all over his body.

‘First, finding a way out takes priority. If I remember correctly, there is only one way to escape from a mana cube.’

Trying not to sink, JaeHyun swam ceaselessly and examined his surroundings.

‘Finding the whirlpool with the heaviest mana by diving into it. That is the goal of this mana cube test.’

Under his feet, countless currents and whirlpools were rushing against each other.

Among them, there was only a single one connected to the outside world. He had to repeatedly dive into the whirlpools several times before he could find the right one to break this mana cube and escape out of here.

In other words, the goal of a mana cube was to test how sensitive one was to mana.

‘Phew… concentrate. I have to feel the wavelength of mana……’

Letting out a ‘heuk’,
JaeHyun took a steadier breath than just a moment before and lay his body horizontally, then he carefully moved his arms and legs.

Clearly remembering the sensation of his floating body, he focused all of his senses.

‘From now on, I have to keep finding the weak mana signals and go into those fragments…’

The moment JaeHyun busily rowed his arms and moved forward—

“Huh?”

He started to see something unbelievable.

At the center of the sea of whirlpools,
he found something foreign exuding magic.

“That’s… a crystal?”

Forgetting the fact that he was underwater, JaeHyun mumbled.

In the violent whirlpool before him, he found a small water fairy—
a crystal emitting overwhelming magic, as if it was just like a water purifier in this sea.

***

“Guildmaster, you’re speaking as if Min JaeHyun will surely break the mana cube and come out.”

“Of course.”

At Yoo Sung-Eun’s bright tone, Park SungJae almost scoffed.

Although he hadn’t explained it to JaeHyun, the interior of a mana cube was quite dangerous.

Being an abyss wherein almost 15 levels of deep mana of a mana room lurked,
finding a very weak signal of mana was very difficult.

‘To think that she’s making a kid who hasn’t even entered high school do it……’

Park SungJae sighed without letting anyone notice.

Of course, he too was aware that Min JaeHyun was quite talented, but this was on a whole other level.

He had seen numerous genius raiders who had to overcome various kinds of adversities, but there were not many in the world who passed this kind of test.

It was true that he was wondering if JaeHyun could do well, but…

‘What on earth is she thinking……?’

One thing.

If there was one thing he was expectant about in the midst of his worries, it was Yoo Sung-Eun’s actions.

A woman with a good grasp of finding talents and pulling high-ranking raiders into her guild.

A whiz who created the country’s top guild, Yeonhwa.

He thought that such a Yoo Sung-Eun would not have asked that student to do something he couldn’t.

“How long do you think he will take?”

Yoo Sung-Eun’s voice suddenly rang inside the silent training hall.

Park SungJae made a slightly bewildered expression and murmured a short ‘umm.’

Yoo Sung-Eung remained calm.

“In my case, it was about 40 minutes. And it was the fastest in the country.”

Speaking of her own record, it didn’t sound like she was bragging.

Park SungJae thought for a moment and answered.

“It will probably be one or the other.”

Yoo Sung-Eun’s gaze turned to Park SungJae. He calmly continued.

“He either won’t be able to break the cube, or…… he will break it with a new record.”

Park SungJae’s expression stood solemn.

If Yoo Sung-Eun really saw an overwhelming talent in him, he should at least do this much to show his worth. They offered him the greatest contract, only given to A-ranked raiders, after all.

“I think so too. But somehow… I don’t think Min JaeHyun will crawl out of there desperately.”

Hearing the words strangely filled with conviction,
Park SungJae got goosebumps all over his body as he looked at Yoo Sung-Eun.

And at that moment—

Crack! Craaaack!

“SungJae-oppa! Here……!”

Park SungJae quickly turned to the direction Yoo Sung-Eun pointed at.

It was where the Mana cube was.

And at what was happening right before his eyes, he mumbled softly.

“There’s a…… crack in the cube?!”

With astonished expressions, the two looked at each other.

Park SungJae quickly took out his phone and checked the time.

‘It’s been 10 minutes. In just 10 minutes… There’s a crack in the cube.’

Park SungJae and Yoo Sung-Eun gulped — and couldn’t tear their gazes away from the Mana Cube.

The two thought, at almost the same time—

‘What the hell is happening in there?’

Inside the bluish darkness of the ocean,
JaeHyun was in the midst of examining the crystal he had discovered a moment ago.

The crystal shining with a weak, purplish light was giving off a strangely-heavy smell of magic.

Intuitively, JaeHyun knew that this crystal was the source of this mana cube, and he realized that it was the root of the mana creating this place.

“I can feel a thicker magic from this crystal than the one flowing out of this sea.”

Forgetting to even hold his breath, JaeHyun mumbled as he stared at the crystal.

“That means, the one who is keeping this mana cube running is this crystal.”

There was a big possibility that the purplish crystal was an artifact created to control this sea.

And that meant.

‘If I break it, I can go outside. There’s no reason I have to look for the mana whirlpool.’

A smile slowly grew on JaeHyun’s face as he was thinking.

Perhaps Park SungJae and Yoo Sung-Eun didn’t think he would break the mana cube in this way, but JaeHyun decided not to care about it.

Yoo Sung-Eun told him to break the mana cube, but she didn’t tell him a specific way of doing it.

That meant if JaeHyun used a slightly more expedient method, she would have to accept it.

JaeHyun endured the dizziness that slowly came and grabbed the crystal.

一 This is an improper approach!
Crack!

When he put a little bit of force into his hand, the crystal cracked easily and shattered into fragments.

一 You have succeeded in breaking the mana nucleus!
JaeHyun listened to the system alerts that came one after another with a slight smile.

Although it was very far from the proper method.

“Well, whatever.”

一 You have cleared the mana cube.

一 Passive Skill 《 Essence of Mana Application 》 has been acquired.

一 Transporting to the real world.

***

Crack!

Soon, as the mana cube stopped working, the blue gate outside broke into pieces.

This showed that JaeHyun had succeeded in breaking the mana cube.

“My god……”

Park SungJae stared at the spreading fragments of the cube with a dazed expression.

Normally, the number of magic raiders who could break a mana cube was 7%.

The average time it took them to break the cube was a little over 3 hours.

Among them, those at B-rank took 2 hours. Those at A-rank took an hour and a half. S-rankers took about 30 minutes to an hour. But what JaeHyun managed was a time that no one in the world had managed to do.

Until now, the person who had managed to break the cube the fastest was Camilla from America.

With a record of 36 minutes, she was a genius Magician who was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

But JaeHyun had broken that record.

With a difference of 26 minutes.

‘No one would think this was possible. A kid still in his 3rd year of middle school breaking a mana cube in 10 minutes……. Is there anyone who would believe this?’

But this was the reality happening right before their eyes.

Park SungJae felt a tingling numbness from the tremors shaking his whole body.

Thud. Thud.

<A moment later>

JaeHyun appeared from within the machine. Looking at JaeHyun’s appearance which showed no signs of addiction, Park SungJae once again started talking.

He ran over to JaeHyun, who was walking over, and almost yelled out.

“A-amazing! Min JaeHyun. In just 10 minutes. You succeeded in breaking out of the mana cube in just 10 minutes.”

“Huh? Does that mean I did well?”

JaeHyun was quite bewildered.

He had thought that he had found the mana nucleus quite quickly, but to think it took 10 minutes.

He used to be a Warrior, so he didn’t know how great of a feat this was,
but looking at their reaction, he guessed that he didn’t get a very bad score.

‘Well, there was a bit of luck involved. A good score is still a good score.’

<At that moment>

Yoo Sung-Eun asked as she approached JaeHyun,

“Min JaeHyun. How were you able to break out of the mana cube this quickly?”

“Huh? That’s… At the end of the sea, I found a crystal for some reason. When I broke it……”

JaeHyun slurred the end of his sentence as he scratched his head.

That was because he wasn’t very happy about admitting that he used an expedient way to break out of the mana cube quickly.

Yoo Sung-Eun might also be a bit disappointed in him.

But Yoo Sung-Eun’s reaction was very different from what he expected.

“What?! You broke it? That crystal?”

Yoo Sung-Eun blankly mumbled with a confused expression.

‘The mana cube’s nucleus is the bowl where all the magic is condensed. If it was an ordinary person, they wouldn’t be able to find it or break it. The fact that he managed to destroy it… means that the mana Min JaeHyun possesses is greater than that possessed by the whole mana cube.’

A shiver ran through her body.

Yoo Sung-Eun looked at JaeHyun with cold sweat flowing down her back.

Soon, a smile filled with greed spread on her lips.

“Okay. Min JaeHyun. Putting Yeonhwa Guild and my—Yoo Sung-Eun’s—name on the line, I swear that we will help you become the greatest Magician.

Are you prepared?”