The circuit for the Neutral Magic Bullet scroll wasn't all that complicated.
To be precise, the shapes and graphs that made up the circuit were extremely simple. Well, it was a 0-circle spell, after all.
...I've drawn so many shapes in my life. You think I can't handle this one?
The system had output a messy sequence of 65 strokes, but Park Ha-jun's sharp mind grasped the order after just skimming it two or three times, committing the flow to memory.
This was possible only because the graph was so straightforward and the shapes were mere 2D figures.
The geometric errors were simple, too.
For example, one issue was a figure that looked like a triangle but didn't satisfy the defining conditions of a triangle.
How could he just let a circuit that trampled even such a basic concept slide?
Park Ha-jun spread out a sheet of Lowest Parchment on the flat workbench and set the Basic Magic Quill in motion.
First, the massive circle that forms the core.
The magic quill brought his mental image to life.
No ink needed—the parchment drew forth magical ink on its own. No compass required—a perfect circle formed just right.
But fine control proved tricky at times.
"Damn."
The curve came out jagged, failing to capture the precise curvature.
Thickness varied from his intent, or the ink would bleed. Problems like that cropped up.
"Can't draw it perfectly like this."
He pondered the cause for a moment.
His drawing skills? No way. He could sketch 2D shapes with his eyes closed.
Not his problem, then.
Which left...
[Basic Magic Quill - Drawing Precision: 1]
Drawing Precision... Is that the issue?
Seemed like it.
To replicate the circuit accurately, he'd need a better magic quill, huh.
"..."
Letting out a low hum, Park Ha-jun moved the quill again.
Still, once I start something, I see it through.
Couldn't exactly go grab a better quill in the dead of night. Might as well finish this one first.
Park Ha-jun placed graphs and 2D shapes appropriately inside the massive circle.
Each time they began to harmonize, his expression soured just a bit more.
And when it was finally done, he let out a small cry of anguish.
"...Did I draw this?"
This was an insult to geometry.
He'd made the triangle look more convincing, but it still didn't meet the defining conditions.
A shape that didn't satisfy a triangle's conditions couldn't be called a triangle, could it?
From Park Ha-jun's perspective, it was still a total failure—nothing improved.
It looked better than the one he'd seen online, at least.
"Ugh..."
Pressing his temples, he opened his Status Window.
[Infuse mana into the circuit to complete the magic scroll.]
After a brief hesitation, he placed his hand on the parchment.
Still gotta finish it.
Even if it was wrong, the process of deriving that wrong answer was valuable.
And for that process to mean anything, the wrong answer had to exist as a result.
With that, Park Ha-jun infused his mana, and a barrage of system messages popped up.
[Designed Base Damage: 1 | Designed Mana Cost: 20 | Designed Attribute: Neutral]
[Scroll's base efficiency limited to 30% due to parchment's mana capacity. Revised Base Damage: 0.3 ... Final efficiency increased by 50% due to high circuit completion!]
A mystical glow emanated from the parchment, solidifying into an item.
[Status: Magic Scroll—Neutral Magic Bullet]
[Final Base Damage: 0.45]
[Final Mana Cost: 45]
[Attribute: Neutral]
[Circuit Completion: 2.3-circle]
"...All done?"
Simpler than expected.
Even simpler to use—just channel mana, and a magic bullet shoots from the parchment.
Not sure about the damage, but 2.3-circle completion...
Most mages hovered around the 2-circle level.
Meaning this was on par with an average mage's magic bullet. Stronger than a rifle, probably.
One sheet of parchment more dangerous than a bullet?
Park Ha-jun's mindset was still that of a civilian.
Kinda hesitant to use it.
Even carrying it felt risky. What if it went off at home?
His real interest was a geometrically perfect circuit, anyway.
Besides, the pinnacle of crafting was selling what you made, right?
...But how do I sell it?
Park Ha-jun stowed the scroll safely and searched online for info.
One post caught his eye.
-Item from a gate... how much is this worth? Thinking of listing it at the Auction House.
ㄴAround 800k G? Damn, jealous.
ㄴAwakener bros, what's 800k G in cash?
ㄴAssociation exchanges 1G for 10 won.
ㄴ80 million won wtf
...
Awakeners had an Auction House in their system, trading in gold (G). Roughly 1G = 10 won.
Auction House in the system... Transactions must be safe.
He opened his Status Window.
[Skills: Magic Scroll Creation, Geometric Interpretation ... [More]]
More had various functions, right?
Tapping [More] brought up a new message.
[Player nickname required to access additional features.]
What a hassle.
He jabbed at the air with his left hand twice, typing roughly.
[Register as asd123?]
No second thoughts—he hit [Confirm].
F-rank anyway. No need to overthink it.
He'd gotten excited over Geometric Interpretation, but his abilities weren't anything special. F-rank, after all.
Good enough to do alongside professor work. And it's kinda fun.
[Registration complete. Locating position... Connecting to Korea server.]
A slew of features activated at once.
[[Quest] [Exclusive Shop] [Auction House] [Sponsorship] [Mail] ...]
"What, this isn't a game."
Lots of neat features, but first up: [Auction House].
Searched for Magic Scroll—Neutral Magic Bullet to check prices.
Magic Scroll—Neutral Magic Bullet: 20,000G
Average market price: 20,000G.
One sheet of paper worth 200,000 won? Insane.
Made in under an hour, and this much? No wonder everyone wanted to awaken.
Definitely better to sell than use.
One concern: transactions exposing personal info.
But...
-No way to track you without registering your nickname at the Association.
-But skipping Association nickname registration limits raids and gold exchanges. Basically real-name system lol.
Without registering asd123 at the Association, no one could find him.
Not like I have to hide, but... no need to rush.
The Awakener world was unpredictable.
For now, safe to list at the Auction House.
Price it at 15,000G. F-rank scroll, cheaper than retail.
He hadn't quite grasped gold's value yet, so he thought lightly of it.
But 30 seconds later, seeing the system message, he regretted it for a split second.
[Mail: 1 | Your listed Magic Scroll—Magic Bullet has sold.]
...Priced too low? Nah. I can make more of these failures anytime.
More interestingly...
[Quest Complete: 'One Step as a Scroll Crafter']
[Successfully created and sold a scroll!]
[Reward: 2x Lowest Parchment]
"Oh."
Right, [More] had quests too. Perfect timing—he was running low on parchment anyway.
Park Ha-jun placed the new sheets on the workbench.
Eyes gleaming, he drew two more. Each time, circuit completion improved slightly.
This time... sell 'em higher?
Out of curiosity, he listed one at 17,000G.
[Title: Your listed Magic Scroll—Magic Bullet has sold.]
Sold in 30 seconds.
Last one at 19,000G.
[Title: Your listed Magic Scroll—Magic Bullet has sold.]
Sold in 10 seconds.
Gold Holdings: 51,000G
What the...? For an F-rank, this makes way too much money...
Over 500,000 won in two hours. Surreal. Was this actually a solid ability?
I like it. Applies geometry, earns safe cash.
One more sheet?
Glancing at the clock snapped him out of it.
Somehow 1 a.m. Research tomorrow—he hurriedly cleaned the workshop and hit the bed.
After tomorrow's schedule, back to pondering perfect circuits.
A faint smile played on Park Ha-jun's face as he lay there.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Korea's mana-over saturated zone.
A dangerous area rife with gates and occasional breaks. One farmer lived there.
[Status]
[Name: Kim Ji-hoon]
[Trait: Otherworldly Farmer]
[Rank: C]
His unique skill:
[You can grow special crops in mana-infused soil!]
This skill forced him to farm here.
"...Ugh, tough work."
Harvesting his crops, Kim Ji-hoon checked their status.
[Status: Carrot - Packed with Beta-Carotene | Consumes to permanently boost eyesight.]
[Status: Soybean - Packed with Phosphatidylserine | Consumes to permanently enhance cognition and prevent dementia.]
"Nice."
Over-saturation yielded top-grade stuff.
He stored the harvest in his subspace storage, then leaned against a tree to catch his breath.
"Today's work done..."
Why did Kim Ji-hoon mutter to himself like a madman? Simple.
He'd been living alone in this hellhole for nearly a year.
Mid-tier C-rank, so minimal Association or corporate support.
He'd hunkered down here solo, aiming to scrape together 5 billion won quick and bail.
No hired hunters to guard the farm.
To hit 5 billion fast, cost-performance was key.
And nothing beat magic scrolls for that.
"Time to browse listings."
Heading to the Auction House, he scanned the magic scroll category.
"Oh?"
Spotted a suspiciously cheap scroll.
[Status: Magic Scroll—Neutral Magic Bullet | Price: 15,000G]
Just a 0-circle Neutral Magic Bullet, but enough to drop E-rank monsters easy.
"15,000G? Why so cheap?"
Quick check for defects.
[Status: Magic Scroll—Neutral Magic Bullet]
[Base Damage: 0.45]
[Mana Cost: 44]
[Attribute: Neutral]
"...What?"
Rubbed his eyes, checked again.
No mistake.
Kim Ji-hoon snatched it up before anyone else could.
"A top-grade item at this price?"
[Base Damage] on scrolls meant power relative to a real mage's spell.
This one delivered 45% of a real spell's might.
Someone might scoff—"Less than half?"—but...
"Depends on the mage's baseline."
Not all mages cast magic bullets with the same power. Far from it.
Even same spell: 2-circle vs. 5-circle? Worlds apart.
This scroll's [Base 1] benchmark? Proven 5-circle via [Circuit Completion].
"Near half a 5-circle mage's power for 150,000 won? Insane value."
Even one-use, nuts.
Hand a mage 150k and ask for one magic bullet—what reaction?
Plenty would torch your limbs for the insult. Mages gonna mage.
But...
"Who the hell listed this at 15,000G?"
Kim Ji-hoon read the fine print at the bottom.
[Maker: asd123]
He let out an exclamation.
"...Wow, who's this guy?"
Someone actually picks such a lazy Awakener nickname.
Nicknames get used publicly plenty.
Doesn't mind being called "asd123-nim"?
"Or maybe..."
One of the old-timers from pre-nickname era. A true veteran.
Extreme laziness or OG status.
Either way, explained the maker's actions.
Why a pro like this makes basic magic bullet scrolls.
Why dump 'em cheap.
"Too lazy or bored, I guess."
Kim Ji-hoon felt a strange fondness for asd123.
"Gotta bookmark this seller."
Right then—
[Bookmarked seller has listed an item!]
"Huh?"
Quick check. Even better stats this time.
[Status: Magic Scroll—Neutral Magic Bullet]
[Base Damage: 0.46]
[Mana Cost: 43]
[Attribute: Neutral]
No-brainer. Bought it.
But!
[Bookmarked seller has listed an item!]
"Again?"
Slightly improved stats again. Just 2,000G more.
"Crazy, buying 'em all."
Snapped up three in a flash, but unease crept in.
"...Why's a maker this good only show up now?"
No way... scam scrolls?
Gulp.
Obsessed with value, Kim Ji-hoon was. Scammed out of 50k G? He'd rage sleepless.
So he cautiously unrolled the first, lowest-spec one bought at 15,000G.
Testing if it worked properly.
"...This is an investment. Better than it failing in a pinch."
Channeled mana into the scroll.
Whoosh—
Blue light raced through the circuit. A sphere shot from the parchment.
But in his excitement, Kim Ji-hoon forgot to check direction.
It pointed at his shelter, wrapped in a Barrier.
...0-circle spell anyway. Barrier's 2-circle, should be fine.
Whish! Crash!
The mana bullet smashed the Barrier at high speed.
The 2 million G Barrier from a 2-circle mage—shattered!
150k one-shot a 20 million won defense.
Well, the Barrier was old and weakened, but still.
[Status]
[Base Damage: 0.45]
[Circuit Completion: 2.3-circle]
Bullet's damage and completion rivaled the Barrier—disaster.
Kim Ji-hoon didn't care about details.
"...Wow, I'm an idiot. What about my Barrier now?"
No denying it. If he'd been smart, he'd hire hunters instead of hoarding scrolls.
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