Chapter 9

The last thing Do-Jin saw was his body instantly disintegrating into golden particles. The space had filled with an unknown Magic Circle and an overwhelming amount of mana, and in that moment, he had literally scattered into golden dust.

[Your new body is being formed. Until it is ready, your soul cannot return to Lostania.]

The result was a death penalty that restricted his access to that dimension. Strangely enough, Do-Jin felt relieved. It was better to face a game over than to be dragged into some irreversible catastrophe. He knew all too well from his past life that not all hidden content was worth the trouble.

For a Regenian under Level 10, it took only a day for a new body to form. He’d only need to wait a single day before he could play again. After the death penalty ended, he logged back into LOST and checked his status.

[

Do-Jin

]

Level: 8

Class: Grimoire of Truth

Strength: 7

Agility: 8

Stamina: 61

Intelligence: 60

Skills: (1) [Open]

Traits: (0)

Do-Jin’s brain shut down. It was completely blank, as if dunked in bleach and scrubbed clean until nothing remained. Similarly, nearly all of his skills had been wiped. In his past life, he had at least retained

some

offensive magic.

“Fuck.”

***

It took him about five minutes just to gather his thoughts.

“Stay calm...” he muttered to himself.

Yes, this was exactly the kind of situation where staying calm mattered most. The damage was done. If he couldn’t undo it, the only thing left was to figure out a solution.

Do-Jin steadied his breathing and focused on the Status Window, determined to catch even the slightest difference. Anything, no matter how small.

Grimoire of Truth...?

His class had changed from "Mage" to something absurdly out of place. He’d heard of crazy stories like “I woke up and became a Hero,” or “I woke up as a 4,000-year-old Archmage,” or even “I woke up as the youngest heir of a chaebol[1] family.”

There were so many great options, so why on earth did he end up as a scrap of paper?

Although this was

definitely

a hidden class, it didn’t mean he could be blindly optimistic about it. No one understood better than Do-Jin how catastrophic an unmanageable hidden piece could be. He’d seen, heard, and experienced it enough in his past life to know better.

The slight increase in intelligence isn’t the issue here

, he thought, lamenting the skills he’d lost.

No, there is another possibility... What if all of my original skills had been wiped, and this was a completely new one?

Do-Jin forced his pounding heart to calm and opened the Skill Window, which now looked a little sparse.

[

Grimoire of Truth

]

We record, interpret, and manifest. And at the end of that path, we shall reach the lost truth.

The skill description was brief and cryptic, but one thing was clear.

“Judging by all this ‘truth’ nonsense, it’s definitely a mage-related hidden class,” he muttered.

In Do-Jin’s experience, anyone obsessed with the concept of “truth” was almost always a mage. Considering that the hidden piece had been located in Elthomagia’s most secretive space, a collective of mages, it made perfect sense.

The real question, however, was whether this hidden piece was an upgrade, a downgrade, or just another defective mess like in his past life. That was something only time and testing would reveal.

Guess I won’t know anything until I actually try using it,

Do-Jin thought, extending his hand to activate the skill.

If it was a book, then the image to summon was simple: something unfolding. And so, he pictured himself as the Grimoire of Truth. With a clear, vivid mental image, Do-Jin focused as if he was casting a magic spell. A faint golden light began to emanate from his outstretched hand. His Magic Circuit responded to his intent, coming alive.

Shrrrrk.

A translucent, golden tome materialized in the air above his palm. Its pages rapidly flipped through, each one blank and pristine.

Why...? Was this grimoire truly blank?

The thought struck him immediately.

As if it could sense his question, letters began to form on the pages.

[Accessing records...]

Shrrrrk.

The pages flipped again and came to a halt.

[Ignite]

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The name of the very first magic skill Do-Jin had learned was written on the page.

No way...

Could it be that his lost magic skills had not disappeared but been recorded inside this book? Once again, the Grimoire of Truth faithfully responded to its master’s curiosity, its pages flipping rapidly once more.

[Ignite]

[Wind Arrow]

[Ice Arrow]

[Light]

[Psychokinesis]

Page by page, every single spell Do-Jin had learned was recorded right there. In a trance, Do-Jin ran his hand across the page labeled “Ignite.” A golden light immediately burst forth, projecting the formula and Magic Circle for that spell in a stunning three-dimensional display.

[Would you like to analyze the recorded spell, Ignite?]

Analyze?

Do-Jin thought, surprised. He wasn’t entirely sure what it meant, but he figured he might as well try everything he could.

“Analyze,” he said decisively.

[Beginning analysis...]

[1%...]

[3%...]

As the analysis bar crept upward at a painfully slow pace, Do-Jin felt a familiar ache in his magic circuit. The repeated throbbing suggested that the magic pattern of the analyzed spell was cycling through his circuit over and over.

When the analysis reached 5%, a new message appeared:

[The analysis of “Ignite” has reached its limit.]

[Manifestation Proficiency has been adjusted to match the analysis rate.]

The pain coursing through his Magic Circuits vanished as abruptly as it had come.

Accessing Records, analyzing, and manifesting...

Given these steps, Do-Jin wasn’t clueless enough to sit around scratching his head in confusion. He decided to test it immediately by casting Ignite. Focusing on his magic circuit, he summoned a vivid mental image, then pulled the trigger of the prepared spell formula.

Flames fueled by mana ignited and flared to life.

Nice, it works,

he thought gleefully.

Despite having lost his mage class and all his spells on paper, he could still use magic.

What about his other spells? Would he need to go through the entire analysis process before using them?

Do-Jin decided to test Wind Arrow, a spell he had yet to analyze. An artificial gust of wind, sharp and infused with mana, rippled through the air. This confirmed that a full analysis was not needed. He could cast any spell as long as it was “recorded.”

“Then what’s the purpose of the analysis and Manifestation Proficiency?”

It's probably just a way to measure how skilled I become with recorded spells

, he reasoned.

To confirm his theory, Do-Jin cast Ignite again.

Whoosh.

The casting speed is way too fast for a spell I just learned.

At this speed, his proficiency with Ignite had to exceed the level of a Tier 1 Mage. This suggested that even at 5% analysis, he had gained a level of mastery equivalent to a high-level Tier 1 Mage or even the early stages of Tier 2. It was undeniable that this hidden class, Grimoire of Truth, was a complete upgrade from being a mage.

That black cube... was it some kind of magic analysis device created to uncover the truth?

Based on everything he’d discovered so far, it was the most plausible explanation, but that wasn’t what mattered right now. He had hit the jackpot, a

game-changing

one at that.

1. A “chaebol” is a powerful, family-run South Korean business conglomerate. ☜