Chapter 13
“How is it? It’s smaller than the big guilds, but it has everything it needs.”
“Yes, it’s nice.”
The Mir Guild had come to measure his mana.
This inspection was necessary: to plan methodically going forward they needed a rough idea how much mana he’d absorbed from the artifact upgrade.
The Mir Guild had noticed his performance and authorized the use of the mana-meter, so Juhyeok went straight to the guild building for the measurement.
“From the training hall to the cafeteria, for a mid-sized company it’s actually pretty good.”
“Yes, it’s nice.”
Yena, who kept going on about how great the place was when she showed him around, had offered to let him tour the facilities before using the mana-meter — and since he had nothing better to do he’d accepted.
True, it wasn’t on the level of the big guilds he’d toured during academy field trips, but it wasn’t embarrassing to take someone there.
‘I wouldn’t use it much anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.’
Still, the training facilities were nice enough to make him a little envious.
But only a little.
If a few nice facilities were enough to make someone join a guild on the spot, he would already have been part of a guild by now.
“Aren’t you answering a bit half-heartedly? I thought seeing the facilities might change your mind…”
“You’d do the same for any other guild, so don’t be disappointed.”
“…That’s comforting.”
Yena sighed deeply.
She’d tried hard today to break through his emotionally ironclad barrier, but it was still hard to charm someone who had ignored big guilds before.
“We’ve heard enough about the guild. Can we use the mana-meter now?”
“Shall we? There’s no use hearing more if it’s not making you more interested.”
Having shown him everything, she escorted him to the mana measurement room.
They took the elevator up to the top — the seventh floor — and when the doors opened, a huge room stretched out.
“The whole floor is the mana-measurement room.”
“The mana-meter is a delicate device, so we can’t put other types of offices here.”
Some guilds, worried about wasted space, built smaller-than-recommended measurement rooms, but those were mostly small or unscrupulous guilds — the kind you’d see in stories where greed overtook common sense.
“If you don’t follow specifications, errors can happen, so you should avoid shortcuts. Places that don’t have this set up properly are not to be trusted.”
“I only see them in the news sometimes, but are they really that common?”
“Very. New hunters with low ranks and no experience, like Juhyeok, get stuck in those guilds and end up getting crushed.”
After graduating the academy with low grades and being assigned E or F rank, new hunters usually have limited options. Most of them can’t get into mid-sized companies and have to go to small ones if they want a job. Going into parties without a guild or support is practically impossible, so most of them reluctantly join small guilds.
Society is full of people trying to suck the lifeblood from those hunters.
If it hadn’t been for the training chamber, Juhyeok might have been in the same position.
“Still, for someone like you who’s getting offers from several guilds, it’s not something you need to worry about.”
Yena opened the door singing lightly.
Inside there was a large circular mana-meter and, across from it, a glassed control room.
“We set everything up before you came, so you can step right in.”
“Understood.”
They closed the measurement room door and Yena moved to the control room. From a microphone on the desk she said, “You’ve used a mana-meter before, so you know how it works. Put your hand in the palm-shaped guide.”
Juhyeok, used to the device from the once-a-year academy checks, placed his hand as instructed. Then an unexpected message popped up.
[If you ingest this mana-stone, the Training Room can be upgraded immediately!]
[Ingest the mana-stone and absorb the mana.]
“…”
He had seen similar text when he pulled the mana-stone from the mutant orc before.
“Eat the mana-stone and absorb its mana.”
He’d seen the latter message before, but the earlier one claiming an instant upgrade was new.
‘Upgrade immediately?’
Even calculating as a D-rank, it would normally take two years of effort to upgrade. The claim that it could be filled in one go stunned him.
Juhyeok looked at the mana-stone powering the meter.
‘I heard the mana-stones used in mana-meters are usually A-rank or higher.’
If the academy field trip explanations were right, that was an A-rank stone — containing mana far beyond a D-grade stone.
‘If it’s A-rank, does that mean the upgrade is possible right away?’
His head started turning with possibilities. If he simply reached out and swallowed it, he could be upgraded without two years of toil.
“Please wait a moment, measurement in progress.”
Yena bustled around inside the control room as the meter whirred. If he took the stone now and swallowed it, she wouldn’t even notice in time.
He turned his head.
The meter hummed and the stone sat inside it. Yena, busy with the controls, didn’t look over.
One bite, and the Training Room could be upgraded.
‘….’
Sweat trickled down his face.
Was this how Eve felt before she bit into the forbidden fruit, tempted by the serpent?
It seemed like a gift from the heavens — a reward for the insane amount of effort he’d put in.
He agonized.
While he hesitated and wiggled his left hand, Yena’s busy figure reminded him of the promise from yesterday.
[The favor you did — saving Jaehwan and Suhwa — won’t be repaid with just a few requests.]
“…”
Slowly, Juhyeok relaxed his left hand.
Not long after, the meter’s noise stopped and Yena said, “…Measurement complete.”
“What did the results show?”
“Well… could you come in here and we’ll talk?”
Her reaction was oddly reluctant.
Juhyeok stepped into the control room; Yena, looking a little gloomy, stared at the monitor.
“…”
“What’s with that expression?”
“Sigh…”
Her sigh was smaller than the playful one earlier, but it carried something deeper.
“Don’t be disappointed, Juhyeok. Sit and listen.”
She pulled the chair back a little and pointed to the monitor, where a graph traced the same curve as before.
“There’s absolutely no change compared to the last mana measurement from the academy.”
Her voice had calmed. She spoke as if she felt sorry, unable to look him in the eye.
“That means it wasn’t a re-awakening, I guess.”
“…”
His mana had not increased at all — meaning the mana from the stone he’d consumed hadn’t registered.
‘I expected my mana to have increased.’
He had thought that if the artifact stored the mana, the amount in his body would change too. But the meter showed no difference.
‘I don’t know the mechanics, but this is good for me.’
If his internal mana had increased, hunters with detection-type skills might have noticed him. If someone with a high-grade detection skill had checked, the artifact might have been discovered. So it was good news that his internal mana hadn’t changed.
He nodded inwardly, quietly pleased. Yena asked with a concerned expression:
“Don’t be too upset. The fact that you beat a mutant orc with low mana just proves how good you are — you did it on skill alone.”
“I already suspected as much, so it’s fine.”
Juhyeok accepted the result calmly. Maybe that made her pity him more. Yena held his hand and comforted him.
“Even if it wasn’t a re-awakening, our guild’s interest in recruiting you won’t change.”
“…”
She grabbed his hand suddenly. He felt warm and saw his reflection in her brown eyes.
At that moment he made up his mind.
“All right.”
At least he wouldn’t regret not touching the mana-stone today.
“Son, how was the guild?”
“It’s just a guild.”
After the mana measurement he visited the hospital room. His mother, about to go into surgery, greeted him in her patient gown with a bright smile.
“I looked up the Mir Guild online — it’s really nice. The guildmaster is famous.”
“Is that so? I didn’t check.”
“You should. It could be your workplace later, you have to be thorough.”
Since meeting Yena, his mother had become fixated on the guild. She had time in the hospital to scroll through guild news on her phone and text him updates every hour.
“Did you see what I sent earlier? Don’t get into weird small guilds where wages are withheld and accidents happen — check everything carefully.”
He almost said “I’m not joining anyway,” but that would only lead to more nagging about safety, so he smiled a little.
His mother took his quiet reaction as agreement and showed him news on her phone, chattering happily.
“Look — there are so many guilds out there trying to exploit low-ranked kids like you.”
“That’s true.”
“Sigh… those guilds deserve punishment. How could they prey on desperate kids just to fill their own pockets?”
‘Guilds that deserve punishment.’ He listened half to his mother as she spoke and suddenly his attention snapped to that keyword.
“Do you think those kinds of people should be punished, Mom?”
“Of course. Even if they’re hunters and adults, it’s wrong to use naive kids like that. Ghosts don’t do anything — those bad people don’t get taken away.”
“…Yeah. That’s right.”
Juhyeok nodded and rubbed his left arm. Then, genuinely agreeing with his mother, he said:
“They’re the kind of people who should get punished.”
