Chapter 2
“This actually works…?”
I rubbed the tips of my fingers together.
Along with part of the fingertip peeling away, grains of sand fell off.
“So that comment was all true?”
I snapped to attention.
I reread the comment slowly.
I especially kept rereading the part about how to realize the earth-attribute magic I'd chosen.
[The basis of magic practice is to cultivate a god within your body.]
[To cultivate a god, you must stay close to nature. A god dwells in all things in the world.]
[The best method is to ingest it directly.]
[If you want the earth attribute, eat dirt every day.]
[If this practice goes on for more than 15 days, a god will dwell in your body and your bodily energy will begin to change.]
[By day 21, your body will have changed completely, and you will no longer need human food. But don’t neglect eating dirt.]
[By day 30, the god will have completely taken root in your body. At that moment, you stop being human and enter the path of a mage.]
[The choice cannot be reversed. If you plan to quit, day 15 is your last chance.]
[If you stop midway, the god fused with your body will collapse, and your body will collapse with it. You will meet certain death.]
“Damn…. So the part about dying is probably true too, huh?”
I trembled with fear.
Counting it up, today was exactly day 15.
The last chance to go back that the magic villain had mentioned.
Quit, or continue.
There was no need to even think about it.
“Why stay human? Become a mage and it’s a sweet deal.”
I shoved dirt into my mouth without hesitation.
No more tricks like dirt cookies or soaking it in water were necessary now.
From that day on, I started eating dirt in earnest.
Mage.
Even among hunters, who were hard enough to become in the first place, it was an exceptionally rare profession.
There were only four in Korea, and every one of them was A-rank or higher.
When it came to measuring national power, mages were the first priority.
Now I would become that mage.
If all I had to do was eat dirt like this, I could become a mage.
Then I could endure it however long it took.
“No, if I’m going to become a mage anyway…. I should become a stronger mage.”
I no longer just ate dirt.
Every dawn, I got up and headed for the black tower rising in the middle of the city.
I scooped up the nearby sand with a shovel. The morning sand no one's footsteps had touched yet.
Dirt was hard to eat raw, so I chose sand instead.
“Since it’s near the tower, there had to be something a little more magical about it, if nothing else.”
Mealtime. I poured a bowlful of sand into my bowl and slowly lifted my spoon.
I didn’t need side dishes or water or anything.
Crunch, grind. The sound of my teeth grinding against stone rang out ominously, but I didn’t care.
It was fine. Once I became a mage, the cost of dental implants would be nothing.
[For novice mages, meditation is recommended. Meditation is the process of sensing the god within. Cultivate the god within you.]
In my spare time, I no longer browsed the gallery. I threw all of that time into meditation.
Of course, at first I couldn’t sit still for even five minutes.
“If I just endure this, I’ll become a mage…. A damn strong mage….”
I gritted my teeth and held on with self-hypnosis.
It worked.
At first, after five minutes of meditation, I had to rest by browsing the gallery for an hour.
Before the week was over, I could meditate for an uninterrupted hour.
And on the final day, day 30, I could meditate for eight hours straight.
I inhaled deeply, then exhaled.
My mind was utterly at peace.
Ding-ding. Even the alarm announcing midnight couldn’t break that peace.
I drew in my final breath on the thirtieth day.
Long and deep, as if all the air in the room were filling my lungs.
And then it happened. Light began to pour out of my body.
[Day 31. Your flesh is reborn into a body fit to serve as a vessel for a god. Congratulations. You have now become a mage.]
“Huh…?”
I slowly opened my eyes at the feel of my loose clothes.
And then I noticed, one by one, my unfamiliar voice, my small hands and feet, my longer hair, and my perky breasts.
“What the hell is this.”
And that was how I became Korea’s fifth mage.
By becoming a woman.
***
“What the hell is going on….”
I clutched my head. When I looked in the mirror, I saw a girl with the most awkward face in the world.
Long black hair. Deep dark circles. An oversized T-shirt slipping off her body because it didn’t fit.
“No point denying it, right?”
Yeah, this was what I looked like now.
Even after fidgeting with myself several times, it still didn’t feel real.
“Was this what they meant by a ‘body most suited to a god’ or something….”
My regret surged all over again. If I’d known my gender would change too, I would have chosen more carefully. Didn’t they even say it was permanent?
“No, I can’t be sure. High-level mages can change their bodies however they want…. Maybe I could even change my gender back.”
Yeah, then my first goal would be to become a high-level mage.
I’d never actually heard of a mage changing gender, so I was skeptical whether it could really be done, but….
“Either way, I have to enter the tower. That’s why I became a mage.”
There was no room for choice. Why else would I have spent 30 days shoveling dirt into my mouth?
Wasn’t it all for becoming a mage and living well?
The only problem was the soul of a gallery addict boiling inside me.
“Ah, if I posted proof right now, it’d definitely be Best material for the whole year.”
Still, it would be awkward to go around shouting that I’d become a mage right away.
It’s rich coming from me, but there are a lot of maniacs on the internet.
Meaning a casually uploaded photo could easily expose my personal information, plain and simple.
“Still, it feels like too much to upload absolutely nothing…. Maybe I’ll just test the waters first?”
I just couldn’t hold back that much.
My fingers reflexively turned on my phone and opened the gallery app.
[Title : Hunter Bro just awakened as a mage, how’s it look?]
[‘Magic’ is a blocked word.]
“That blocked-word crap is seriously infuriating.”
Magic Villain, or Mavil for short. Had that bastard been enduring this humiliation all along? For that long, too?
It was hard to bear as a fellow mage.
I was once again tempted to 'normalize' the gallery, but barely held back.
“Hoo… hold it in, hold it in.”
If I hadn’t had the strength I built up from 15 days of meditation, this would’ve been hard.
I took a deep breath and wrote again.
[Title : Hunter Bro just awakened as a ma123ge, how’s it look?]
A Hunter Bro who used to laze around at home… awakened as a ma123ge. What now?
“No one’s reading it. Damn.”
Not even comments—just 2 views.
Was it too clickbaity?
I was in the middle of coming up with fresh bait that would actually work on people.
A comment alert sounded.
ㄴMagic is open to everyone. Magic opens its door when you cleanse your mind, body, and spirit and face yourself. The method is as follows. First, to cleanse the body, eat dirt for 30 days…(more)
“Wow, nice to see you, you bastard.”
I meant it. I was genuinely thrilled to see this person. I could even call him my benefactor. After all, he was practically the one who turned me into a mage.
I immediately posted a reply.
ㄴ I followed your words and really awakened as a mage. Who are you?
I waited for an answer. 1 minute... 5 minutes... 10 minutes....
Hoping no one else would see the post first.
Especially hoping the reply would come before some mod bastard deleted my post, I waited for Mavil’s answer.
A little later, a reply notification rang.
ㄴ What, there was actually a bastard who copied this?
ㄴ Didn’t I post it so people would copy it?
ㄴ Uh... yeah, but I didn’t think there’d actually be one.
ㄴ Anyway, I became a mage. Who are you?
ㄴ That’s a little hard to explain here... Come over here first. Delete this post.
Mavil handed me a link and a password, then deleted all the comments in an instant.
I deleted all my posts as he said and went to the site in the link.
A community site similar to the one I usually used, but a little different, appeared.
[Mage Gallery]
[Gallery intro : This is a gathering of mages.]
[Viewing is restricted.]
[Password : ]
“It’s like a backroom gallery. I totally got it.”
I entered the password Mavil had given me. Then the gallery’s true form appeared before my eyes.
[Title : Fridge, the magic combo efficiency you told me about yesterday was terrible. What happened?]
Author : Magic Is Firepower
(a crudely enlarged drawing of some weird-faced old man)
Did you trick your older sister?
ㄴ Fridge : Ah, I said it gets better if you keep using it.
ㄴ p깟쮸 : You think I’d tell you that for free? Yeah right.
ㄴ Fridge : I don’t lie like you do.
“Could these people really be the Korean mages? Supposedly there were only four of them.”
Looks like I’ve been invited to something incredible.
I read the gallery posts and first took in the atmosphere.
“Hm... just a plain old social gallery.”
A social gallery. It’s what happens when a gallery stagnates because there are too few users.
In a place like this, every user knows each other inside and out.
It was such a strange place that even anonymous ㅇㅇ would have its identity figured out in no time.
“Could I even fit in here?”
As you’d expect from a gallery with only four users, this place was covered in slang only they knew.
Even I, a gallery junkie, found far too many words I couldn’t understand.
“No choice. I’ll go in head-on.”
I steadied my breathing and carefully wrote the post.
[Title : I’m a newbie who just awakened as a mage, got a question.]
[Author : ㅇㅇ]
I copied Mavil’s comment and awakened, though.
So what do I do now?
And the moment I posted it, the comments exploded.
ㄴ Magic Is Firepower : ?
ㄴ Fridge : ?
ㄴ p깟쮸 : ?
ㄴ Magic Is Firepower : What’s Mavil?
ㄴ Beetle : That’s me. Anyway, glad you came—just give us some proof.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : How am I supposed to prove it?
ㄴ Beetle : Ah, if you just awakened, you probably don’t even know how to use magic yet. Give it a try.
ㄴ Magic Is Firepower : No, seriously, what does Mavil mean?
ㄴ p깟쮸 : Are you really a newbie? Are you really a newbie? Are you really a newbie? Are you really a newbie? Are you really a newbie? Are you really a newbie?
ㄴ Beetle : No, hold on a second.
A little later, a link showed up in the comments.
When I clicked the link, a YouTube video opened. It was a video of an Indian man explaining basic magic.