Chapter 374 – I Hate Fire (1)

After the first day of the new year when the younger sisters invaded, and after spending two more days of self-vacation appropriately.

The day before yesterday, in the process of using awakening points, I remembered what I had to do, so I showed my face in a combination rather than a company for the first time in a while.

The reason is, of course, to complete the task of ‘improving flame magic’, which was given by senior Hwayoung in the previous class.

Creating the ‘3rd Circle Magic’, a task given by senior Hwayoung at the last meeting.

Among the three magics taken for that task, the Ulpha was created by mixing fire magic and cold magic… Although Frost Burst received a passing grade in its own way.

Improving the other two magics, ‘Flame Whip’ and ‘Explosive Fist’, was still a new task.

In order not to be ashamed the next time I met Hwayoung-senpai, I needed to do the assignments in advance.

This time, since it doesn’t matter if it’s a 4th or 5th circle, he told me to somehow make it a practical magic.

At first glance, it may seem easier than the previous task, which was limited to 3 circles, in that it was possible to add a unit of concept.

If you look at the reality, of course it wasn’t such an easy task.

The practical magic that senior Hwayoung was talking about meant magic that had power appropriate to the level of the magic circle.

There was no point in trying to create magic that only appeared plausible by adding stability and power as much as possible. As soon as the 5th circle magic reached the level of the 2nd and 3rd circles, it was unconditionally eliminated in the practicality category.

If the level of the circle was to be raised, the power had to be increased accordingly. Or it contains something as special as that.

Still, with Esilla’s help, he somehow managed to improve the flame whip among the two magics, so today was a practical test to see how practical the improved magic was.

And the best place to do that kind of training was, of course, a combination dungeon that was less noticeable than the company.

“Hello~.”

“Oh, hello!”

The staff at the request management counter who greeted me with a welcome smile as soon as I entered the cooperative.

Maybe it was because it was the beginning of the year when the number of hunters was declining, but even though it was daytime, it seemed quite leisurely.

“It’s been a while, Hunter Kim Seongcheol!”

“Yes, it’s been a while.”

“It seems like you go to work a little less often than before. Are you having any problems?”

“Ah, that…”

It would be nice to honestly confess that since I moved to the company, I can’t pay as much attention to the union as before, but my status at the company was ‘Seong Tae-kyung’, not ‘Kim Seong-cheol’.

I explained to the window clerk the reason why I couldn’t go to work often with a union these days with a suitable excuse.

“It’s nothing. It seems that there are quite a few days off, probably because the economic problems have been resolved recently.”

“Ah, you see…”

An employee who nodded with a low exclamation as soon as he heard the words, “The economic problem has been solved.”

In fact, it was the same as saying ‘successfully changed jobs’, so it was natural for him to show a bit of a bitter reaction.

I feel a little sorry for the staff working in the union, but the Hunter Autonomous Association was originally such an organization.

A guild organization made up of hunters whose skills were so mediocre that they couldn’t get a job at a company or foundation, or who caused problems in an existing guild and were kicked out, or who just wanted to use other dungeons as a hobby or leisure activity.

Or, like me, it was the nature of this guild called the Hunter Autonomous Association to gather hunters who raised their skills and leveled up to move to a company or foundation.

Secretly changing jobs to another guild was frequent, and it was the situation of the Guild Guild that they couldn’t even question him.

It wasn’t just a story about me, and in fact, many people were using the combination in this way.

Rather, even after moving to a different guild like me, I’m in a position where I have to be thankful just for hearing it from time to time.

I didn’t want to create an awkward atmosphere because of my job change, so I hurriedly spoke to the receptionist and asked.

“Rather than that, I’d like to receive some requests as well as enter the dungeon.”

“Ah, yes!”

As soon as I heard my words, the union staff immediately changed the atmosphere and responded to me with a friendly expression.

It was a response that showed that he had worked as a union counter worker for quite a long time.

“Are you talking about a request? How can I help you?”

“Are there any material collections related to flame-type dungeons? If possible, at a difficulty level of B or higher.”

“Are you talking about the fire-type dungeon? Please wait for a moment.”

Normally, there would be a lot of people, so I would have searched for a request beforehand and talked to them, but today, anyway, I didn’t see any other hunters besides me.

I stood at the window and waited leisurely for the information staff to find the request at the seat.

Less than 30 seconds later, an employee handed me a list of several referral candidates.

“There are three quests that can be done in the B-class flame-type dungeon. The quest here is to collect the heart of the lava spirit from the center of the volcano. As for the other…”

After listening to the contents of the three quests, the level itself was similar. It was all about defeating B-class monsters in a flame-type B-class dungeon and collecting materials.

The characteristics of the dungeon, the types of monsters, and the contents of the collection were slightly different, but in the first place, the fire-type monsters responded similarly, so there was no problem. The guild side will purchase additional materials anyway.

In this way, when there are similar requests as candidates, the way to select a request from a general hunter’s point of view tends to come down to one thing.

Of the three, it’s the quest with the best reward.

“I will accept it as a request to collect obsidian material from the granite cave.”

“Are you referring to the collection of obsidian material in the granite cave? Has confirmed.”

A window clerk who carves a request with a special engraving after taking my horse and the B-class hunter certificate of the combination.

In less than a few seconds, the number of the obsidian material collection request was imprinted on the hunter certificate of the combination written ‘Kim Seong-cheol’.

“Please do not forget the collection quantity and payment date.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Yes, thank you!”

Receiving the staff’s greeting, I slowly moved from the request counter with the Hunter certificate I had received again.

Immediately before entering the B-class dungeon Granite Cave, I first approached a wizard hunter who was sitting in the lobby resting room for the last time.

As it is a research and training for magic, which is a task given by senior Hwayoung, it seemed that my practicality in magic from the perspective of other magicians would be important in its own way.

Even if it feels like it’s quite practical, in my opinion, it might not look like that to other mages.

Of course, I didn’t have the audacity to ask someone I didn’t even know to look at my magic, so I had to ask someone I already knew about magic.

And among my acquaintances, there was only one wizard at most, excluding senior Hwayoung.

“Did you wait a long time, Cha Yu-ri?”

“…”

Cha Yu-ri was sitting half-reclining on the sofa in the lobby of the cooperative, wearing a round navy wizard’s hat.

As soon as she heard my words, she slightly lifted her tucked-in hat and immediately raised her head slowly to check my face.

As if she had waited for me for a long time, I could feel a bit of grumpiness in her expression.

“… Late.”

“I’m sorry, Cha Yu-ri. I was going to accept the request while entering the dungeon, but it got a little late.”

“Why do you want to go into a flame-type B-class dungeon? You can just go to the old tree’s grave as usual. Or use the company dungeon.”

“I couldn’t reserve the company dungeon this time, so there’s nothing I can do. And the tomb of the old tree is a little dangerous because it handles fire magic.”

“Chit.”

Of course, it wouldn’t happen if I wielded a bit of fire magic, such as a dungeon like the tomb of an old tree burning down, but at least it was a much easier environment for accidents to occur than other dungeons.

In addition to that, Hwayeong-senpai seemed to be testing my magic in the fire-type dungeon again this time.

In many ways, it was the right way to understand the intention of the questioner and practice flame magic in a flame-type dungeon.

That’s why I asked Cha Yu-ri, who is the same magician, for advice on my magic research, even though they deal with different attributes.

“…”

Seeing that expression on her face as if she was uncomfortable with something, it seemed that for some reason she didn’t like today’s date very much.

… I honestly don’t know what that is, just by looking at that reaction.

“Isn’t it because I didn’t like the fact that I called Cha Yu-ri on my day off?”

“… It’s not like that.”

“I was asking if I could go on a date with Cha Yu-ri during training, but if it’s because you’re tired, you can go in early…”

“I said it wasn’t like that. Are you going to keep saying the same thing over and over again?”

“…”

Until yesterday, I wondered if he was tired after summoning Cha Yu-ri, who had returned from demonstrating magic at a year-end event in the middle of the year, but judging from this reaction, it seemed that he wasn’t angry at that part.

In the first place, when I contacted him over the phone the day before yesterday to ask if we would meet today, he answered in a rather pleasant voice, so I didn’t think so.

If she wasn’t angry at that part, she might not like the idea of ​​asking her, a wind mage, to look at her fire magic.

“Is it because you don’t like watching my magic? Because fire magic and wind magic have slightly different properties…”

“You think I’m such a low-level wizard? Although I can’t handle fire magic, I know the principle and how it works better than you. In the first place, most of magic except for the most basic spells are made with similar concepts.”

“Well, I felt that way too because I used fire magic and cold magic together.”

“That’s why I can judge whether your magic is practical or not, even with my eyes closed.”

“Still, open your eyes and judge.”

“… That’s what it says.”

Anyway, looking at her appearance like this, she didn’t seem to be dissatisfied with the fact that the magic I wanted to see was fire magic.

If it wasn’t this or that, I couldn’t quite figure out what the hell I didn’t like.

Obviously, there seems to be something I don’t know about that I don’t like.

“Then maybe…”

“It seems like you’re misunderstanding something, but it’s not that I’m particularly angry or offended, so don’t get me wrong. It’s rude to keep asking if you’re angry when you’re not angry.”

“Ah yes…”

Seeing her insisting on ‘I’m not angry’ like this, she didn’t seem to like asking questions, so it became difficult to ask Cha Yu-ri directly why she was angry.

In the end, we entered the B-level dungeon, Granite Cave, without finding out why Cha Yu-ri was upset.

To try out the improved version of the newly improved flame whip and receive its evaluation.