Chapter 63

The briefing was short and to the point. The moment Soso started casting her buffs, the party surged forward. As soon as they crossed a certain invisible line, the mana saturating the dungeon began to churn.

“L-look!” Theresa let out a shout.

Faint, milky-white orbs started to form all around them. The spirit forms seemed to be getting ready to hatch, pulsing like beating hearts.

Is this seriously going to work?

Although Theresa understood the plan, it didn’t stop the doubt from creeping in. Even while sprinting, she couldn’t shake the unease crawling up her spine, but they were already in too deep now.

“Move! Faster!” Do-Jin barked at her to pick up the pace, and she had no choice but to push her legs harder.

A few of the eggs popped open, and twisted monsters started to take shape, prompting a system message.

[Incomplete Spirit: Lv. 60]

The things that came out locked eyes with the intruders and made their hostility clear.

The spirits slipped beneath the surface, then launched forward all at once, cutting through the water like missiles. The timing was tight, but Do-Jin’s party made it to the target zone by a hair.

[Lesser Water Spirit: Lv. 62]

In those few seconds, the newborns had already evolved. They’d synced with the environment and turned into full-fledged water-element spirits. Dozens of them now swarmed through the submerged battlefield, turning the flooded cave into a hellhole. For a party of three, this wasn’t just tough. It was a straight-up nightmare.

“D-do we start now?” Theresa’s voice wavered as she moved to carry out her part of the plan, the one he had explained before they entered.

“Hold it! Not yet. Wait for my signal!” Do-Jin cut her off with his firm voice. “Wait for my signal...”

His Magic Eye locked onto the incoming enemies, tracking every movement beneath the water’s surface. Since Do-Jin’s vision allowed him to see mana itself, even if they tried to hide in the depths, the spirits made of pure mana were all laid bare before him.

Come on... Come just a little closer.

They closed in from all sides, swarming like a pack of piranhas, but Do-Jin remained absolutely calm. He wasn’t the prey in this fight.

“Now!” His voice cracked like a whip.

Theresa, strung tight with nerves, let out a sharp cry and brought her axe down with everything she had. She wasn’t aiming at one target but swinging at the whole pool like she could break through all of them at once.

[Lightning Burst]

It was a pattern they had seen more than once. Lightning spells didn’t just counter water. They became something else entirely. They grew stronger against their elemental opposite and turned into wide-range attacks the moment they touched water.

This time, it wasn’t only the terrain that was made of water. The enemies were as well. These spirits were water, through and through. That made the damage even more severe, and the paralysis effect hit harder than ever. As the swarm of spirits rushed up from below, they froze mid-charge, their bodies jerking violently in place.

“H-holy shit!” Theresa sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes widening.

It was one thing to hear the plan. It was another to see an entire army of monsters get locked in place.

[Electric Sphere]

Do-Jin’s next spell slammed into the paralyzed spirits. The moment it hit, all that fear vanished in a blinding flash.

A storm of sparks exploded underwater, bright enough to sear the eyes. Just like that, the spirits clustered within the blast radius were gone. It almost seemed as if they had evaporated on the spot.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Do-Jin continued firing spell after spell in all four directions, tearing through everything in sight until the whole area was cleared. When the water eventually stilled like nothing had ever happened, the only proof that monsters had been there at all were the scraps of junk loot drifting down like falling leaves.

***

Soso looked down at the now clear water, her expression changing.

Not bad at all...

she thought.

It was high praise coming from her. As the daughter of Kim Hyang-Gi, practically the poster child for meritocracy, Soso had grown up believing that incompetence wasn’t even worth acknowledging. If someone was useless, they didn’t deserve her attention. It was as simple as that.

However, even she had to admit that, for someone who had ended up working at Rael Entertainment, Do-Jin was especially useful.

No wonder Kang-Hee asked me for a favor. Guy’s worth the trouble.

While Soso was reassessing her opinion of him, Theresa blurted out her own thoughts. “It actually worked...?”

Her eyes darted back and forth between the pile of loot, the dripping axe in her hands, and Do-Jin standing there looking like this was the most obvious course of action.

Finally, her voice burst with amazement. “That’s insane, Mr. Mage! You really made it happen! I’ll just shut up, keep swinging my damn axe, and let you do all the thinking!”

The sheer amount of EXP flooding in had her practically giddy. She threw up a big thumbs-up, grinning ear to ear.

Seeing the stupidly happy look on Theresa’s face, Soso reached over and pinched her cheek. “Close your mouth before you start drooling.”

Theresa let out a muffled whimper as her cheek stretched like mochi, but even that didn’t kill her mood. She just kept grinning like an idiot.

Do-Jin broke the atmosphere by reminding them, “The monsters will respawn soon.”

Both women turned toward him.

“We wiped them all out in one go, which means they’ll all come back at the same time. We’ll do the exact same thing. Theresa, you paralyze them, I’ll wipe them out. Easy, right?”

Theresa nodded so hard she might’ve sprained her neck. “Yes, yes, yes! This is too easy! I was honestly worried at first, but it feels like we’re cheating.”

Do-Jin smirked. “Good. Healer, keep the buffs going. Mana Blessing on me, stamina recovery for her.”

Without a word, Soso cast the requested spells. They were simple buffs that restored Mana and Stamina so they could keep spamming magic and skills without breaking a sweat.

Right on cue, the faintly glowing eggs began to reform. Egg-like spirit cocoons pulsed and trembled, then hatched into monsters. The newborn spirits sank into the water and vanished into the depths, ready to attack.

Do-Jin didn’t even blink. “Get ready.”

At his signal, Theresa raised her axe, brimming with confidence.

“Now.”

As she swung on command, an arc of lightning came to life. Blue sparks exploded, lighting up the water as spirit-shaped monsters locked up and twitched in place from the surge of paralyzing force. The timing was impeccable, and it all played out like before.

Spell after spell was fired in rapid succession, faster than any mage of the same level could’ve pulled off. Do-Jin wasn’t simply controlling the crowd but dominating the whole battlefield.

A stream of messages flooded into Theresa’s peripheral view.

[EXP Gained]

[EXP Gained]

[EXP Gained]

Normally, those notifications wouldn’t even appear unless she turned them on manually. This time, she had deliberately set them to cover her entire screen.

Fucking gorgeous. I’m in heaven...

Was this what a digital high felt like? Her pupils were blown, her focus completely gone as she stared, entranced, at the endless chain of notifications crawling up her screen.

Then, Do-Jin’s voice cut through her trance. “Let’s go pick everything up.”

“Yes, sir!”

Without a second thought, she splashed into the water, diving in to collect the loot. There wasn’t a single complaint on her lips, no grumbling about being ordered around, no whining about having to do the grunt work.

Where the hell else am I gonna find a party that feeds me free EXP for swinging an axe once every three minutes? I’d be a dumbass to decline this sort of work.

She waded through the shallows like a farmer harvesting rice or a country kid digging up snails, picking up every last item floating underwater. Soso let out a small huff, watching the absurd enthusiasm on Theresa’s face.

“I’ve never seen her this excited before. Is the game really that fun?”

Do-Jin arched an eyebrow. That was probably the first time Soso had ever initiated a conversation with him. He didn’t know, but Soso’s sudden small talk only meant that she was starting to respect him in her own quiet way.

“Aren’t you still playing too?” he asked. “You must be enjoying it.”

“I mean... not really. I’m just here ’cause she is.”

Even as she said it, Soso paused and actually thought about whether LOST was fun. Her gaze flickered back to Theresa, who was beaming, looking more delighted than Soso had ever seen her.

“Maybe a little. I guess it’s kinda fun,” she replied finally.

Whether she enjoyed playing the game itself or just watching this idiot swim through loot piles was a whole different question.

“You’ll like it more the longer you play,” Do-Jin said. “This world pulls people in.”

Lostania wasn’t just a game, and Do-Jin knew it. It was a world that pulled one in without trying, and he had already fallen for it once.

“Alright, let’s get back up here. They’re respawning.”

Theresa’s ears twitched at his words. In an instant, she popped her head out of the water, scanning her surroundings like a meerkat on high alert. Then, she scurried back to the island, looking ridiculously eager.

“I’m ready to go!”

The EXP and money farm went on for quite some time.

***

The first chamber of the Lavre Lake Underwater Cave dungeon contained exactly fifty-three monsters per wave. It took less than thirty seconds to wipe them all out. Then, they had a two-minute window before the entire batch respawned simultaneously. In one hour, they were slaughtering over 1,200 spirits. With that kind of massacre rate, the gains were unprecedented.

Do-Jin had jumped up four levels in just fifteen days, hitting Level 68 like it was nothing.

At this level, maybe I could squeeze into the top ranks...

The official ranking system hadn’t gone live yet, but there was a community-maintained level leaderboard on Lotranet, tracking players who had verified their levels publicly.

Do-Jin’s current level would’ve put him somewhere around rank 500. Of course, there was no telling how many sweaty no-lifers out there hadn’t posted their levels. Even if that number doubled, he would probably still be hovering just inside the top 1,000, enough to earn the ‘ranker’ label.

“

Hyaah

!!” Theresa gave an exaggerated shout, snapping Do-Jin out of his train of thought.

He assumed the monsters had respawned again while he was spacing out. Fortunately, her enthusiastic battle cries worked like a natural alarm system that kept them from ever getting caught off guard.

Damn, she really is built like a meerkat.

Do-Jin fired off his spell automatically. There was no hesitation or checking. At this point, he didn’t even bother watching the results. He’d cast Electric Sphere so many times over the past two weeks that it was second nature.

Thanks to his ongoing analysis with the Grimoire of Truth, both his casting speed and spell output had leveled up big time. As long as he aimed it right, the spirits were toast and there were no exceptions. He let out a quiet snort as the familiar scene played out, spirits disintegrating in the water as if they had never existed.

Not that it really matters if I’m ranked or not. I mean... I’ve literally regressed. Obsessing about the top 1,000 is a joke.

The idea of stressing over rank at this point just felt ridiculous. He’d already gotten there in his past life. Being a ranker didn’t even count as a proper checkpoint. At best, it was just the starting line.

I’m not aiming to be some run-of-the-mill number one. I’m here to become an overwhelming force. Something strong enough to keep this world from falling apart.

Do-Jin refocused as he activated his Magic Eye: Silent Night.

The future’s the future. If I want to get there, I’ve gotta focus on the now.

As his vision sharpened, he saw the surrounding mana begin to stir and funnel toward a single point. Mana that should’ve been used for respawning regular monsters was instead concentrating, forming something far bigger.

Fifteen days... Goddamn. It sure took long enough.

That particular phenomenon only occurred when a powerful, unique monster was about to be born. It was the moment the first named monster of the Lavre Lake Underwater Cave was finally unlocked.