Looking at the man focused on his book, Lia thought. He was clearly reading to raise stats. And he likely thought only the library’s books did that.
I’ll tell him.
After a moment’s thought, Lia approached him.
“Excuse me,” she called.
“…?” The man, having just finished a book, closed it and looked at her, his expression full of curiosity.
“It’s not just here that stats increase,” Lia said.
“What?” he replied, his voice tinged with surprise.
Smiling at his reaction, Lia continued, “Stats increase elsewhere too. You just need to read books.”
“Okay,” he said.
“…?” Now Lia was puzzled.
Why’s he reacting like that?
Unlike before, his voice was oddly calm.
What’s with this woman?
Soohyuk was quite confused.
Why’s she suddenly talking about stats?
Approaching out of nowhere to say stats don’t only increase here? That any book would do? He wondered what she wanted, what reaction she expected.
Did she want me to be shocked?
Maybe she hoped he’d be surprised.
“You just read books, not just here,” she said again.
“I know,” Soohyuk replied, nodding.
“What?” she asked, her expression now filled with surprise. Her voice carried that same shock as she said, “Then why are you here?”
A perfectly reasonable question.
“To read books,” Soohyuk answered.
“Books?”
“Yes, this is a library, isn’t it?”
Soohyuk replied to her question, glancing around before looking back at her. Her questions continued.
“You’re not reading for stats?”
“Nope.”
The woman said nothing more. She stared at him silently for a moment, then turned away. As she did, Soohyuk opened another book and started reading.
Swish.
[Wisdom increases by 1.]
After finishing, Soohyuk closed the book.
Is she gone?
Checking the message, he looked around the library. The woman was nowhere to be seen. She must have left.
Well, if stats only increased here, maybe she’d have stayed.
If stats were exclusive to this library, she might have remained.
Swish.
Soohyuk stood and walked to the shelves for another book, thinking.
How long will it take?
He was incredibly curious about how long it would take to read all the library’s books.
“Ha, finally graduated,” Yeonjung muttered, his voice full of regret.
“You were so excited, why the regret?” Soohyuk asked.
“It’s not regret, more like… emptiness?” Yeonjung replied. He’d longed for graduation, but now that it was over, he felt hollow.
“Really?” Soohyuk asked.
“You don’t feel anything?” Yeonjung countered.
“Hmm…” Soohyuk let out a hum, thinking. Then he said, “I’m a bit bummed I can’t use the library anymore. That’s about it.”
Soohyuk felt some regret, but it was entirely about the library. Graduation meant he could no longer use the school library.
Well, not impossible, but going to school just for the library? That time was better spent elsewhere.
Better to log into Pangea.
Now, Soohyuk had Pangea, filled with unread books. Spending time in Pangea reading was more efficient than visiting the school library.
“Welcome!”
“Hello.”
“Let’s sit here.”
Arriving at a Chinese restaurant, Soohyuk and Yeonjung responded to the owner’s greeting and took a seat.
“What’re you getting?”
The two began choosing from the menu.
“Champon. You?” Soohyuk said.
“Jajangmyeon! It’s jajangmyeon for graduation,” Yeonjung replied.
Soohyuk chose champon, Yeonjung jajangmyeon. With their choices made, Yeonjung called out, “Owner! We’re ready to order! One champon, one jajangmyeon, and some water dumplings, please!”
“Got it!” the owner replied, completing the order.
Yeonjung turned to Soohyuk and continued, “Where are you at?”
“…?” Soohyuk raised an eyebrow at the sudden question. Where was he? In the restaurant, obviously.
“Pangea,” Yeonjung clarified.
“Oh,” Soohyuk exclaimed, understanding. “I’m still in the library.”
“What?” Yeonjung asked, his face full of confusion.
“You’re still in the library?”
Yeonjung’s surprise came from Soohyuk still being in the library.
“Dude, aren’t you there too long? It’s been a month and a half. You’re not planning to stay there forever, are you?”
Pangea opened on December 31, and today, February 15, was graduation day. A month and a half had passed, and Soohyuk was still in the library?
“There are still books I haven’t read,” Soohyuk explained.
He’d read a lot, but not every book in the library. There were still sparkling books left.
“Leaving after you read them all?”
“Yeah,” Soohyuk nodded.
He’d leave Oren, the starting town, once he’d read every book in the library.
As they talked, their food arrived.
“Where you headed after? Got a plan?” Yeonjung asked, picking up a water dumpling.
“The Magic Tower,” Soohyuk replied, removing mussel shells from his champon.
“Going mage?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why not somewhere else?”
Many mage-aspiring players went to the Magic Tower, but only a few chose other empires or kingdoms. Over time, it became clear that starting elsewhere was better.
“Not just for growth, but the NPCs there are jerks, I hear,” Yeonjung said.
It wasn’t just one or two things—growth speed, treatment, almost everything was better outside the Magic Tower.
“They say if your level’s too low, they won’t even talk to you.”
The Magic Tower was full of mages, and most NPC mages were exceptional. Newbie players just starting magic wouldn’t get good treatment, especially with so many other players around.
“I have a reason to go to the Magic Tower,” Soohyuk said.
“A reason?” Yeonjung asked, his face skeptical.
“Not the library again, right?”
“Exactly,” Soohyuk replied, poking through his champon with chopsticks.
“All the shells out?”
No more mussel shells in sight. Soohyuk grabbed a handful of noodles and slurped them down.
Wow.
He couldn’t help but be impressed.
Pretty good.
The spice level was perfect for him.
Do they deliver to my place?
Soohyuk thought about the distance between his home and the restaurant.
I’ll ask on the way out.
It was a tricky distance. He decided to check later and turned to Yeonjung.
“…?” Soohyuk was puzzled. Yeonjung was staring at him, a water dumpling in hand.
“What’s up?” Soohyuk asked.
Yeonjung popped the dumpling in his mouth, chewing with a bewildered expression. “You didn’t start Pangea just to read books, did you?”
“Yeah,” Soohyuk said, reaching for a dumpling.
Not entirely for books, but they were the biggest reason. Reading in Pangea was cheaper than in reality, and it offered endless new books.
“You gonna keep reading forever?” Yeonjung asked again.
“Nah,” Soohyuk shook his head.
“I’ll hunt monsters and do quests too.”
He wasn’t just reading. He planned to hunt and complete quests, but for a reason.
To meet conditions.
Someday, he’d read all the Magic Tower’s books. To read new ones, he’d need new libraries. Like the Magic Tower’s library requiring a mage job, other libraries had conditions. Hunting and questing were to grow his character to meet those conditions.
“Really?” Yeonjung nodded at Soohyuk’s response and continued, “Then let me know when you need help. This semi-ranker will back you up!”
Though Yeonjung started Pangea a bit later than Soohyuk, he poured all his effort into growing his character. His ranking was quite high—not among the top 1,000 rankers, but within the top 3,000, earning him the title of semi-ranker.
A semi-ranker’s help, like Yeonjung’s, was invaluable. Given Soohyuk’s level, nothing would be impossible with his support.
“Alright, I’ll hold you to that,” Soohyuk replied with a smile.
Dang I wonder if it’s possible to grow that fast
Tho be hilarious it’s a vr pod and they done positive benefits