Chapter 78: The Deep Sea Hideout and the Magician’s Misunderstanding

Chapter Seventy-Eight

‘Isn’t that… Master Baek Woon-ho?’

Lee Tae-sung was bewildered.

The familiar basket and the appearance of a herb gatherer were there, but the upright back and the firmly rooted stance made it clear that he was no ordinary herb gatherer.

Why was the man who had been traveling to find the Flame Emperor’s legacy dressed like that here?

‘Is he wandering the mountains again?’

Back at Chimgeom Mountain, he had acted like a herb gatherer just to break the boredom when clues failed to appear.

“Um… Master Baek Woon-ho?”

“!? How are you here?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing…”

Tae-sung truly hadn’t expected to see Baek Woon-ho here.

After all, hadn’t he come here to track Leo?

“I went to Cheonghwa Fortress first. It didn’t seem to be there, so I moved to Arcanos. I haven’t been here long.”

“So you’re out picking herbs again? Because you can’t find a clue to the Flame Emperor?”

“No. I found a clue.”

“!! R-Really?”

Tae-sung’s eyes widened.

“Then why are you dressed like that?”

“I have to earn money. Do you think a single coin just pops out if you dig into the ground?”

“……”

“Since this is a maritime city, everyone is focused on trade and overlooks the mountains. The terrain isn’t bad, and there are plenty of decent herbs. It’s quite a lucrative side job,” Baek Woon-ho said proudly.

It was strange for a martial artist of his caliber to be picking herbs, but he wasn’t technically doing anything wrong.

“Here, take it.”

Just then, the apothecary owner came out from inside with money and handed Baek Woon-ho a Silver Coin.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. I should be the one thanking you. It’s not easy to see herbs of this quality. Please keep bringing me good herbs in the future. I’ll pay you as much as I can.”

“If I find anything decent, I’ll come here.”

“Make sure you keep that promise!”

With the apothecary owner’s trusting gaze behind them, Baek Woon-ho began to move.

Tae-sung followed him.

“Anyway, this worked out well. Since I found a clue, I sent a letter asking you to come here. It shouldn’t have reached Elleun yet, so I’m glad we ran into each other instead of crossing paths.”

“That’s true. That could have been a disaster.”

If he had gone somewhere else and wandered around, he would have wasted a lot of time.

“But how did you find the clue?”

“It’s thanks to the Phoenix Claw Fragment. Do you still have it?”

“?”

At those words, Tae-sung thought of the item tucked away in a corner of the pack he always carried.

The Phoenix Claw Fragment.

It was an item he had found at the Flame Emperor’s Hideout on Chimgeom Mountain, and it contained strongly condensed fire energy.

At the time, Tae-sung had been able to locate the hideout by tracing the energy of this fragment with his Solar Star Power Art.

“With this?”

“You have the object, but I clearly felt the energy of the fragment back then. Since I am someone who has inherited a part of the Flame Emperor’s Hybrid, it’s not difficult for me to track an energy I’ve felt once. Thanks to that, I was able to find it.”

“Then let’s go quickly. Why were you picking herbs?”

“I can’t go right away. It’s down there.”

“?”

Baek Woon-ho pointed downward.

Tae-sung tilted his head, wondering if he meant it was deep underground, but Baek Woon-ho shook his head.

“I mean it’s in the sea. Underneath us is water.”

“!”

The maritime city of Arcanos was built on a peninsula.

It was surrounded by the sea on three sides, and Baek Woon-ho claimed the Flame Emperor’s Hideout was beneath the waves.

‘I never would have found it if not for the energy of the Phoenix Claw Fragment.’

Even if there were grave robbers looking for the Flame Emperor’s legacy, they would never be able to discover a place hidden somewhere in the vast ocean.

“But how do we get there?”

No matter how great a martial artist was, they still needed to breathe.

One could hold their breath for dozens of minutes with a single lungful of air, but they couldn’t wander around indefinitely where there was no oxygen.

One wrong move, and it would be easy to drown.

In the real-world, one could rent a diving suit, but this was the Dream World.

No such scientific items existed here.

“We can just ask a magician to cast an underwater breathing spell. I happen to know a magician. I sent word asking for help, so they should arrive soon. I was picking herbs because I had nothing else to do until then.”

“You have quite the connections. To have a magician who comes all this way just because you asked…”

Usually, magicians shut themselves in their laboratories for their own training and the advancement of magic.

They didn’t enjoy traveling unless it was for an unavoidable mission or to obtain research materials.

Unlike martial artists, they didn’t grow stronger by gaining enlightenment through combat, so there was no reason to go outside.

“Well, yes. I saved his life.”

“A magician’s life? How?”

“Back when my sworn brothers and I were starting the Crimson Brotherhood, I captured him and then let him go. Since I spared him when I could have killed him, I suppose you could call me his savior.”

“……?”

‘Wait… can that really be considered being a savior?’

—

A man in a robe stepped into the city of Arcanos.

The magician Zeroc frowned as he looked up at the unnecessarily clear sky.

It was understandable, considering he had come here against his will.

‘To think he’d ask for such a favor right when I’m stuck at a wall in my research.’

Zeroc was a wandering magician who lived alone in a hut in the forest near Arcanos.

His daily routine consisted of spending all his time on magic research.

However, that had been interrupted.

Nearly 10 years ago, he had been attacked and captured by some bandits.

At the time, he had promised to repay the favor of his life one day in exchange for being released.

Since magicians uttered spells with their mouths, the more they lied, the more their word-power was damaged.

It would make the path to becoming a high-level magician more difficult.

Therefore, upon receiving Baek Woon-ho’s message, Zeroc came to the city to keep his promise.

It was lucky that Arcanos was relatively close, but he couldn’t help his irritation.

“It’s been a long time.”

“…Your face is the same as it was back then.”

“You look like you have a lot of complaints.”

“How could I not? But I won’t do a sloppy job just because of my mood, so let’s get going. You said you needed me to cast an underwater breathing spell?”

“Please.”

After meeting Baek Woon-ho, Zeroc moved toward the seaside.

Once they arrived at a deserted pier, Zeroc chanted an incantation and cast the underwater breathing spell on Baek Woon-ho and Lee Tae-sung.

“It’s done. You’ll be able to breathe normally now once you go in.”

“Thank you.”

“I wonder what kind of treasure hunt you’re planning in the sea… Phew. Let’s just go.”

Zeroc waved his hand.

To maintain the underwater breathing spell, he had to follow them and continuously extend its duration.

Zeroc naturally assumed they would achieve nothing.

‘They won’t give up after just one day. I’ll probably have to follow them around for at least a few days.’

He hoped they would give up sooner rather than later.

“Are you only casting the underwater breathing spell? Is there no spell to keep us from getting wet or to help us withstand the pressure… or something like that?”

Tae-sung asked, and Zeroc frowned.

“Do you think magic is something that just does whatever you ask? Maintaining a single spell is already difficult enough.”

“Ah, I see. I didn’t know.”

Tae-sung had asked out of pure ignorance, and Zeroc realized this, so he didn’t say anything further.

After that, the three of them entered the sea.

They gradually sank and moved into the depths.

As they moved further from the surface, the light faded, and everything became dark.

Furthermore, they swam through a crevice in an underwater cliff where almost no light reached.

Great masters were said to be able to see their surroundings with even the slightest bit of light, but it was still inconvenient.

‘I think it’s that way.’

Tae-sung looked into the darkness.

Since Baek Woon-ho said he had sensed it, Tae-sung also focused, and before long, he felt the energy of flames.

Since the level of the Heavenly Fire Holy Law Art he had learned was much higher than the level of the Solar Star Power Art he had back then, it wasn’t difficult.

However, it was hard to find the way in the dark, so Tae-sung called for Ashaka.

*Flash!*

Ashaka created several light sources, brightly illuminating the surroundings.

Thanks to that, swimming forward was no longer a problem.

Baek Woon-ho looked at Tae-sung, who had summoned a spirit, with slight surprise and then gave him a thumbs-up.

*Blub blub blub*

“?”

Unlike Baek Woon-ho, Zeroc, who was beside him, was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

He was so startled that the underwater breathing spell he was maintaining momentarily flickered out.

After gulping down a mouthful of water, he hurriedly stabilized the spell, but even then, his gaze never left Tae-sung.

‘H-He was a Spirit Magician!!?’

He thought the boy was just some ignorant martial artist, but that wasn’t the case at all!

What kind of existence was a Spirit Magician?

Among the paths of magic that required talent to even walk upon, it was the field that required the most innate talent.

Furthermore, if they could summon spirits, they could use a variety of magic along with the unique spells of the spirits themselves, earning them immense respect even among other magicians.

To Zeroc, who was currently stuck at a wall and couldn’t even cast multiple spells properly, a Spirit Magician was someone he couldn’t even dare to look at.

‘I… What kind of attitude did I have toward such an amazing magician…?’

The arrogant words and actions he had displayed earlier flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

His mind went blank.

If he was a Spirit Magician, he must be from a high-ranking noble family or a rising star of a Magic Tower with incredible talent.

Almost all Spirit Magicians were like that, and Zeroc was restless as he realized what he had done.

‘Why is he acting like that?’

Tae-sung was puzzled by Zeroc’s strange behavior after he had swallowed some water.

However, he couldn’t pay it any more mind because they had arrived in front of an underwater cave in the middle of the cliff.

The entrance of the underwater cave looked artificially carved to anyone who saw it.

‘This is it!’

‘We found it.’

Tae-sung and Baek Woon-ho exchanged glances, and then Baek Woon-ho held out his palm.

A red light flickered for a moment, and then with a *boom*, the entrance was shattered.

‘A Distance Palm!?’

Tae-sung was startled.

It was clearly a technique from the Heavenly Net Flame Hand, but it had been launched through the air.

‘If I keep training the Heavenly Net Flame Hand, can I use the Distance Palm too?’

After reaching Level 6 in the Heavenly Net Flame Hand, he had been able to imbue its energy into his sword, so he had neglected it a bit.

He had thought that throwing weapons was enough for ranged power, and he felt he should focus on the Heavenly Net Flame Hand or his swordsmanship more in the future.

He had even gone as far as making a spirit contract just to secure a long-range skill, but it turned out he could have solved it if he had just consistently practiced the Heavenly Net Flame Hand.

‘Come to think of it, I don’t have any skills I’ve raised past Level 6.’

Both his highest-proficiency skills, the Flame Sword Style and the Heavenly Net Flame Hand, were stuck at Level 6.

While obtaining new skills was good, it seemed necessary to continue training his existing ones.

The three of them swam through the shattered cave entrance.

Unusually, the passage led upward, and as they swam up, they were able to climb onto dry land inside the cave.

“This is strange. We’re clearly under the sea, yet there’s a place like this.”

The air was rich with oxygen.

It was likely a natural formation within the cliff, but it was a mysterious place nonetheless.

“Actually, that’s not what’s important right now.”

“You’re right.”

Baek Woon-ho and Tae-sung’s eyes sparkled.

They had reached a place with traces of the Flame Emperor.

What kind of legacy would they find here…

“I will take the lead! Please work me like an ox!”

“……?”

“……?”

Suddenly, Zeroc bowed his head and dashed forward.