Chapter 19

The Returning Archmage Is a Max-Level Player Chapter 19

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Wooooong-

Along with the now-familiar sensation, his vision changed to his home.

“Was returning to Earth always this easy?”

Thinking about all the hardship he had gone through trying to return was enough to make a hollow laugh escape him.

But all of that was in the past.

The present was what mattered most. And there was something among what he had obtained from Babel this time that absolutely had to be dealt with.

[Gloves Once Used by a Great Hero]

A smile curved across Kim Dohyun’s lips as he looked at the gloves in his hands.

Back when he was called an Archmage. The gloves that had accompanied him through countless battlefields.

This item that had been with him for no less than fifty years. Was now back in his hands once again.

It was a strange feeling.

But sentimentality ended there.

“First, shall I begin with the basic restoration?”

With a serious expression, he began constructing a magic circle.

‘At my current level, restoring about one star should be the limit.’

They had not become the symbol of the Archmage simply because he had used them for a long time.

In the past. Kim Dohyun had engraved his own unique system into these gloves.

Each star contained one power. And those stars had various support, combat, and utility functions engraved into them.

Naturally, the abilities contained within the power of the stars were fundamentally different from ordinary magic items.

But right now, all of those stars had lost their light.

There was still a long way to go before they recovered their power.

‘The ability of the first star was probably...’

It was a memory from long ago, but because he had used it more than any other, he remembered it clearly, and a broad smile naturally spread across his lips.

‘Things will be much easier from now on.’

Even while organizing his thoughts, his fingertips continued moving.

Thanks to that, a magic circle had been completed on the floor.

The inside of the hexagram-shaped magic circle was densely filled with various symbols and languages.

Naturally, this was not a simple restoration process.

Since the Archmage’s unique abilities were engraved within it, the work had to be precise and careful. And at the same time, flawless.

“Then. Shall we begin?”

Kim Dohyun’s eyes gleamed as he placed his hand, filled with condensed mana, over the magic circle.

Wooooong-!

The magic circle took on a deep blue glow and began rotating brilliantly.

The engraved symbols brightened one by one as though awakening. It was the moment the flow of mana gathered in one direction along their patterns.

‘Resonance.’

A resonance spell that synchronized wavelengths.

In his current state, with only two rings built, vibration. And wavelength synchronization were about the limit.

Originally, matching the wavelengths of a soul. Or mana required a spell of at least the 3rd Circle.

But there was a way to make up for that.

‘Awaken.’

A call of the soul and a promise.

The Archmage’s magic. The covenant formed through it awakened the ‘star.’

Wooooong-

Indeed, a wavelength began flowing from the gloves.

In response, the orbit of Arcanum Cosmos around his heart began to rotate.

Wooooooong-

The two wavelengths extended toward each other.

The item that had found its owner. The owner who had regained his item.

Between them, a single golden thread laid down a path.

As though weaving their existences together. At last, they touched and became one.

Earth and Rodinia. And even the span of fifty years.

It was the moment they became one again across space and time.

Fwoooosh-

A small light bloomed from the back of the glove.

The air in the living room grew heavy.

There was no sound. No wind.

Only a single light blooming from the glove. Completely changing the texture of the space.

The orbit of Arcanum Cosmos surrounding Kim Dohyun’s heart.

Was slowly tilting toward that light.

As though a star were reacting to another small star.

Only after a long time passed.

Did the texture of space return to normal.

The gloves were silent.

But they were no longer the same gloves as before.

Deep within the back of the glove. The first star was quietly shining.

Ding-!!

-The condition has changed.

-A reanalysis will be attempted.

-...

-Analysis failed.

-This item is beyond the System’s measurement range.

-Only confirmed functions will be temporarily displayed.

[Gloves Once Used by a Great Hero]

Grade: Judgment Pending. / Usage Restriction: Kim Dohyun.

Severely damaged after being left unattended for a long period while in a state of major damage. Minimal restoration has now been completed, and it is currently bound to user ‘Kim Dohyun.’

Unclassified Function 1: Memorize.

A smile spread across Kim Dohyun’s lips as he checked the temporarily displayed information.

“So there are limits after all.”

The fact that the System could not see through everything.

That was good news for Kim Dohyun.

For now, it maintained an emotionless attitude. But he had not completely abandoned his suspicions.

He was always wary of the System and kept watching it.

And yet.

‘Repeated judgment pending.’

Earlier, the System had also failed to fully understand Arcanum Cosmos.

No. It had not even been able to classify the compressed spells used by opening Arcanum Cosmos.

And now these gloves as well.

It was difficult to dominate. Or plunder something one could not understand.

Even if the System were to reveal malicious intent someday. It meant he could likely shake it off using the power he possessed.

Having organized the information that had now become certain, Kim Dohyun shifted his gaze toward the gloves.

“It’s been a while.”

He clenched and opened his hand, savoring the sensation.

As expected of an item that had been with him for fifty years.

It fit him extremely well.

Its ability was unchanged too.

‘Memorize.’

A 3rd Circle spell. And among them, one called essential for mages.

The reason was simple.

Memorize’s ability was storage.

Because it allowed one spell to be stored for emergencies.

But the Memorize currently engraved into the ‘gloves’ was not ordinary.

If it had been the same, he would never have called it a ‘star’ in the first place.

‘Revolving Star.’

The first star. That was its name.

Its function itself was the same as Memorize in that it stored magic.

But there was one clear difference.

‘Number.’

Unlike Memorize, which was limited to one use for a 3rd Circle mage.

A fully restored Revolving Star had no such limit.

Of course, in its currently damaged state, he could not operate it as he had in the past.

‘Three.’

That was the number of spells he could currently store.

It was somewhat disappointing, but there was no reason to dwell on it.

Once he restored the star, its functions would be restored as well.

And the number of spells it could store was not the only difference.

‘Instant activation.’

There was not even any casting required when drawing them out.

A single thought.

That alone was enough to use a stored spell.

On the battlefield, countless lives could be exchanged even in the brief instant it took to speak a casting phrase.

One beat. No, even half a beat could overturn victory and defeat.

Being able to skip that entire process.

That was the decisive difference between Revolving Star and Memorize.

“Just like before. Let’s get along well.”

Wooooong-

Watching the gloves lightly resonate as though responding, a deep smile curved across Kim Dohyun’s lips.

_____________

He had forced the issue.

It was clearly something that could have been judged sufficiently from the data alone. Yet he had gone out personally.

As a result.

Surprisingly, he was facing a situation completely opposite to what the data suggested.

A hollow laugh escaped Yoo Minseok as he sat on a park bench.

‘No matter how I look at it, my prediction seems to have been wrong.’

Kim Dohyun’s daily life was extremely peaceful.

He shopped for dinner. Cooked. Waited for his family, then ate together with them.

Even right now.

He had come out for a walk with his family and was spending a warm, pleasant time with them.

‘There’s no way someone like that... is a villain.’

It was not as though no villains had families.

But the family life of a villain was not usually this ordinary.

Of course, there were occasionally villains who acted the part, but this clearly had a different quality to it.

‘Pure love.’

His affection for his family could be felt plainly.

It was so deep that merely watching them made one side of Yoo Minseok’s heart feel warm.

That could be called fortunate.

‘It’s probably right to assume he really was just lucky in the fight against Kang Cheolmin.’

Thanks to working at the Korea Awakened Association, he had seen several famous Awakened in person.

So he knew that Awakened who were powerful or possessed something special had a distinctive atmosphere or feeling about them.

But he could feel nothing from Kim Dohyun right now.

‘Come to think of it... battles between Awakened aren’t decided by strength alone.’

Condition. Environment, along with all kinds of other factors, interacted in complicated ways. And luck was included among them.

It could simply have been a case of extraordinary fortune.

He had not even fought alone.

The records stated that when Kang Cheolmin was apprehended, Kim Dohyun had been operating together with Jung Taeho’s party.

The conclusion was reached.

‘He’s an ordinary novice Awakened.’

Had whatever had caught at his intuition simply been a mistake?

‘...Instinct isn’t always right.’

Yoo Minseok rose from his seat.

He should have felt relieved, but strangely enough, something still bothered him.

_______________

It was a large park.

Since it was a popular place among residents living nearby, many people had come out for walks.

There were so many people that unless one was personally acquainted, it would have been difficult to pick out any specific individual.

But Kim Dohyun’s cold gaze was directed precisely toward one man.

‘I’ve picked up a tail.’

Slightly tousled hair and a neat suit.

With his jacket slung over one hand, he looked like an ordinary office worker one could see anywhere.

But he was absolutely not ordinary.

Even his footsteps were light and discreet.

An Awakened. And among them, one who could be called fairly skilled.

‘A guild. Or maybe the Association?’

He was not from overseas.

Judging from his appearance alone, he was Korean.

Kim Dohyun could not determine his exact affiliation, but it was not difficult to understand his objective. The reason for approaching him.

‘Private.’

Having ranked first consecutively, Private had become a major issue among the Awakened.

Indeed, the topic was constantly mentioned on BabelNet.

Since Private’s growth potential was not merely high but practically certain, they would want to recruit him under their banner.

But his trail had absolutely not been discovered.

He had maintained the boundary perfectly.

There was nothing among the revealed information that could provide a clue to his identity.

In the first place, he had barely given them anything that could even be called a hint.

Which meant the man had not approached him because he had identified him.

Indeed, the emotion in the man’s gaze just moments ago had not been surveillance, but curiosity.

Of course, what mattered right now was not the man’s identity. Nor his objective.

‘There was no malice.’

It meant he had no impure intentions.

But that did not mean Kim Dohyun could simply relax.

The man merely lacked malice. That did not mean he possessed goodwill.

For now, he was simply neutral.

‘You may know the depths of deep water, but never the depths of a person’s heart.’

In the end, there was only one thing he could say with certainty about the man who had approached him.

‘Either he’s lucky. Or he has good instincts.’

The very fact that he had approached despite lacking any special information was proof of that.

He was not an ordinary Awakened.

For now, Kim Dohyun had brushed it aside by pretending not to know anything. But he had absolutely no intention of treating it carelessly.

‘I need to look at the phenomenon.’

Every phenomenon a mage observed had a reason behind it.

The sudden tailing by an unidentified man.

Now that the phenomenon had occurred. It was possible to predict to some degree what would come next.

‘This is only the beginning.’

Things like this would continue happening from now on.

Unknown people might approach him.

Perhaps.

The man from just now might continue approaching him as well.

As someone with a precious family. With things he needed to protect, it was not exactly a pleasant situation.

‘But it really can’t be helped.’

Because while living in modern society, it was impossible to completely hide one’s family.

Even if he tried to conceal them, there would ultimately be limits.

In the first place, this was not something he could stop simply by forcing it.

Naturally, that did not mean he intended to stand by and do nothing.

Just as he always had.

‘Prepare.’

As he always said. A mage was one who prepared.

Kim Dohyun continued calculating in his head with a hardened expression when.

“Oppa, what do you think?”

His younger sister, Kim Haeun, entered his field of vision.

But Kim Dohyun was not flustered.

Although he had been continuing his predictions and calculations in his head, he had not completely ignored his conversation with his family.

In the first place, that level of multitasking was not difficult for Kim Dohyun.

“Either one. I don’t care whether you pour the sauce over it or dip it.”

“What kind of answer is that? Boring.”

“I just think it’s fine as long as it tastes good.”

“See? I can never have a proper conversation with Oppa.”

“Then which side are you on?”

“Actually, I don’t care either as long as it tastes good.”

“That’s my little sister. A true food expert.”

“Feels like you’re subtly making fun of me?”

“I’m openly making fun of you. Calling you a pig.”

“What!?”

Kim Haeun puffed out her cheeks in playful indignation.

“I’m kidding. Kidding.”

“Mom. Dad. Oppa is teasing me again!”

Kim Haeun urgently looked toward her parents, but she had no allies.

“Haeun really does have a huge appetite.”

“Even Dad thinks you could probably do YouTube later.”

“How could this be... I don’t have a single person on my side?”

At Kim Haeun’s reaction, their parents burst into laughter.

“Mom just means it’s nice to see Haeun eat so well.”

“Hahaha! Dad was joking too. You exercise so much, so isn’t it only natural that you eat well?”

“I knew Mom and Dad were on my side.”

Kim Haeun smiled brightly.

Meaningless chatter continued afterward, but perhaps everyone loved this sort of ordinary life, because they kept laughing and talking without end.

From the outside, they simply looked like a happy family.

No. Kim Dohyun genuinely felt happy as well.

That was precisely why.

His thoughts were busier than ever inside his head.

‘The best preparation.’

In order to protect this happiness he was enjoying now.

What he could do.

No. He thought of what he had to do.