Chapter 2

The Returning Archmage Is a Max-Level Player Chapter 2

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The light that had blacked out his vision gradually faded, and Kim Dohyun opened his closed eyes.

‘...Where am I?’

His blurry vision slowly came into focus.

Beep- Beep-

A white ceiling. Fluorescent lights. The smell of disinfectant piercing his nose.

And an IV line inserted into his left arm.

‘A hospital...?’

Looking around, he could roughly infer the situation.

Inside the hospital room, the electrocardiogram monitor beside the bed emitted regular beeps, and modern buildings could be seen outside the window.

‘I made it back to Earth safely!’

Relief washed over him, but only for a moment.

‘I need to check the time.’

He had spent no less than fifty years on the continent of Rodinia.

There would be no point in returning to Earth fifty years later.

That was why he had forcibly turned back time through various artifacts and high-level magic.

If everything had gone as intended, he should have returned to the day he had run away from home fifty years ago, but since this involved space-time itself, he could not be certain that it had succeeded perfectly.

And so, just as he tried to raise himself to check directly.

Terrible pain surged through him.

Even lifting one arm was difficult.

His muscles screamed even at the simple movement of clenching and unclenching his fingers.

‘I expected it, but this is miserable.’

It was the price of crossing space-time.

All the physical abilities he had trained over decades were gone, and the current Kim Dohyun possessed nothing more than the body of an ordinary person.

No, he was worse off than an ordinary person.

Perhaps he had been lying in bed for quite some time, because a considerable amount of his muscle had atrophied.

‘It looks like the time period is off...’

If he had returned to the exact time he intended, his body should have been that of an ordinary adult man.

But his current physical condition could only be described as that of a patient.

It meant some kind of error had occurred.

‘I shouldn’t jump to conclusions before checking for myself.’

Mages were beings who grew based on tremendous imagination and exceptional intuition.

That was why they could handle that imagination better than anyone else and were not easily consumed by it.

Of course, neither his current situation nor his physical condition could be called good by any means.

He had no strength. His physical abilities were at rock bottom.

But he did not despair.

The reason was simple.

‘I can feel it.’

Compared to the mana in the Sanctuary, its density was absurdly low.

Faint, but unmistakable.

Mana existed in the atmosphere.

The moment he realized that.

Ding-!

-You have succeeded in independently perceiving mana without external assistance.

A message suddenly appeared before his eyes, but Kim Dohyun reacted indifferently.

‘Is this what the Awakened called the System?’

Because he had missed his family so much, he had constantly recalled and retained his memories of Earth and everything related to it.

And even before Kim Dohyun was born, Earth had already been home to the Awakened. As well as demonic beasts, monsters, and other beings classified as monsters.

Thanks to that, the very concept of a System was not unfamiliar to him.

Of course, this was his first time experiencing it personally, but he had occasionally heard stories about it, so he could take it in stride.

That was why he was able to remain calm even through what followed.

-Upon acquiring the qualifications for Awakening, an appropriate ability will be granted!

-The Babel System grants user ‘Kim Dohyun’ a 1st Circle.

Along with the message, a subtle ripple passed through the mana in the atmosphere.

At the same time, he felt mana filling his heart.

Thump.

His ordinarily beating heart skipped a beat.

‘This is better than I expected.’

A strange gleam entered Kim Dohyun’s eyes.

And for good reason—the mana filling his heart was rapidly taking the shape of an elliptical Circle.

Which meant.

He had become capable of using magic without any particular effort or talent.

That alone was astonishing.

‘Not bad.’

The condition of the Mana Circle settling around his heart was quite excellent.

Not all Mana Circles were the same. Their degree of completion varied greatly depending on one’s ability, knowledge, experience, and so on.

And in terms of efficiency alone, the Circle now settling around his heart would hold its own against those of most mages.

Of course, by an Archmage’s standards, it could not be called a highly refined Circle.

Thus, if the Circle he used had been an ordinary one, he would have had to forcibly disperse the Circle the System was trying to construct.

But the Circle Kim Dohyun used was not ordinary.

‘A Circle made by the System. I can put it to good use.’

As he watched the Circle form, he examined the nature of the mana entering his body.

Tingle-

The sensation of mana flowing through his blood vessels spread all the way to his fingertips.

It was an unfamiliar sensation.

Its nature differed from both the mana of the Rodinia Continent and the mana of the Sanctuary.

Kim Dohyun’s brow narrowed.

‘...What is this?’

The unfamiliarity itself was not the problem.

The problem was that he could not determine its source.

He could not tell at all where this mana came from or what was granting it.

He had encountered countless types of mana over fifty years, but this was a first.

Instinctively, he reached out with his consciousness toward the flow of mana inside his body.

He could block it.

For an Archmage, dispersing a Circle attempting to settle around his heart was as easy as breathing.

And just as he was about to cut off the flow of mana.

‘...Wait.’

Kim Dohyun’s consciousness took a step back.

He examined it again with a cool head.

There was no malice.

He sensed no threat either.

He probed more deeply into the properties of the mana entering his body, but found no sign that it would cause him harm.

Not knowing its source did not necessarily mean it was dangerous.

‘...Was I being overly cautious?’

It was a habit forged over fifty years of battlefields.

Reject anything unfamiliar first. Do not accept power of unknown origin.

It was a principle that had saved his life through countless battles.

But this was not a battlefield.

Kim Dohyun withdrew the consciousness he had extended to block it.

‘There’s no reason to reject it unnecessarily.’

If it seemed dangerous later, he could simply destroy it then.

There was no way an Archmage would be unable to filter out a single flow of mana entering his own body.

In the end, there was nothing to lose and only something to gain.

The moment he finished judging.

Wooooong-

A heavy vibration spread from the center of his chest.

The System completed an elliptical Circle around his heart.

Ding-!

-1st Circle creation complete.

-You have acquired the special stat Mana, increasing it by 1.

A green holographic window appeared before him, but Kim Dohyun ignored it.

He merely repeated deep breaths in and out while focusing his consciousness.

“Phew...”

His concentrated consciousness meticulously swept through the inside of his body, which was like a small universe. Most of all, it examined the heart that could be called its center.

Kim Dohyun began constructing an elliptical orbit around that heart.

In shape alone, it looked similar to the Circle the System had created earlier.

But its position and structure were clearly different from a Circle.

More precisely, it could be said to contain the System’s Circle within itself.

That was right.

What Kim Dohyun had created was a mana system resembling an entire stellar system.

It might look similar from the outside, but its structure and method of use were entirely different.

That was also why he had left the Circle created by the System intact.

‘In the end, it’s nothing more than a supplementary tool.’

The central axis would be the orbit created by himself, Kim Dohyun.

Wooooong-

Invisible gravitational force spread in every direction from his heart. Like the moment a star was born. A faint but definite pull could be sensed throughout his body.

It was the moment he completed the orbit with firm intent.

The mana drifting through the atmosphere was sucked in through his mouth and nose. No, through every opening in his entire body.

The surging mana poured into the orbit created around his heart.

The Circle created by the System was no exception. Drawn by the immense gravitational force, it was absorbed into Kim Dohyun’s orbit.

With his eyes closed, Kim Dohyun’s consciousness examined the mana system completed in the form of an elliptical orbit around his heart.

A small star sat there. The Circle created by the System revolved around it.

Like a satellite.

Having achieved what he intended, Kim Dohyun smiled with satisfaction and recalled the name of the mana circulation method he used, his own unique mana system.

‘Arcanum Cosmos.’

The moment the name surfaced in his mind.

Ding-!

-You have created a Circle with a new structure that has never existed before.

-Attempting to classify the structure.

‘Classify?’

The message felt somewhat different from those before it.

-Classifying...

-Classifying...

-Classifying...

The holographic text kept repeating the same phrase.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. The message remained frozen.

‘...Did it crash?’

Kim Dohyun’s eyes narrowed.

It had not been long since he had personally encountered the System, but until now, every response had been immediate. From recognizing mana to granting him a Circle.

Every message had appeared without even an instant of delay.

But now it was frozen.

It meant the Babel System was unable to analyze Kim Dohyun’s mana system.

‘Interesting.’

The corners of Kim Dohyun’s mouth slowly rose.

In truth, it was only natural.

Arcanum Cosmos was fundamentally different from existing Circles.

It was not something that could be forced into the classification framework known to the System.

Just then.

Beeeep-!

Along with a short warning sound, the hologram flickered once.

-Classification failed.

-No matching structure exists in the existing database.

-Attempting reanalysis with higher authority.

-...

-Reanalysis impossible.

-Decision deferred.

-The structure will be temporarily registered as ‘Circle (Unclassified).’

‘Unclassified...’

It called it a Circle, but in a sense, even the System itself was admitting that it was not actually a Circle.

Since it could not classify it, it had merely assigned it a temporary name.

-Based on the amount of mana currently contained within the Circle, the special stat ‘Mana’ increases by (2).

It contained at least twice as much mana as the Circle originally created by the System.

However, the way the increase in stats was displayed seemed slightly different from before.

‘I’ll have to check exactly what’s different...’

It was only natural, considering this was something personally devised by an Archmage and a power that transcended the concept of conventional Circles, but the System reacted differently.

-An astonishing achievement!

-The Babel System recognizes user ‘Kim Dohyun’s’ achievement.

-You have acquired the title ‘Pioneer.’

[Pioneer]

Grade: Rare

Effect: Increases the special stat ‘Mana’ by 1.

Along with the message, a faint ripple passed through the mana in the atmosphere.

At the same time, mana was absorbed near the satellite like a small celestial body.

Thanks to that, he now had a fair amount of mana to spare.

‘I can use magic right away.’

To use magic, one had to form a Circle and then fill it with mana.

That was basic knowledge and the natural sequence of things.

But because the System had filled the Circle with mana, there was no need to wait.

Kim Dohyun’s eyes gleamed as his consciousness drew up the mana within his body, and a faint but definite flow of magical power bloomed from his fingertips.

Whiiiing-

The moment pale blue light spread from both of Kim Dohyun’s hands, he activated a spell internally.

‘Recover.’

It was an extremely basic spell.

Even its effects were nothing remarkable.

Rather than completely healing wounds, it merely accelerated the recovery process slightly. If used by an ordinary mage, that would be all.

But if it was used by Kim Dohyun, who had been called an Archmage.

The blue light slowly began sweeping over his atrophied muscles.

He used magical power to relax the muscles throughout his body.

The stiffened muscle tissue gradually loosened, and as the magical power reached even his joints, however faintly, his rigid range of motion slowly began to return.

Ding-!

-F-rank skill ‘Recover’ has been registered in the Skill Window.

-Perfect execution confirmed.

-Skill ‘Recover’ has risen to rank F+.

-Excellent mana control!

-As a special reward, the stat ‘Mana’ increases by 0.1.

At the message before him, a hollow laugh escaped Kim Dohyun’s lips.

‘Isn’t this way too easy?’

The value 0.1 might not seem particularly large on its own.

But there were already hundreds of spells coming to mind.

Although there were far more that he could not cast right now because of his limited mana, in the end, that was only a matter of time.

‘I might be able to regain my power faster than I expected.’

Of course, there were things he needed to check first.

‘Fortunately, I’ve recovered enough to move for now.’

Thanks to using Recover, his stiff body had recovered to some extent.

Although it was not a complete recovery, he was certain he could sit up, and Kim Dohyun raised his upper body without hesitation.

Tingle-

A dull ache spread throughout his entire body, but it was nothing compared to earlier, when he could not even lift one arm.

Thanks to that, he was able to carefully remove the IV line and detach all the sensors stuck to various parts of his body.

Beeeeeeep-!

A warning alarm rang loudly throughout the hospital room.

‘Noisy.’

He would have liked to stop the machine and silence it, but that was not his priority right now.

Kim Dohyun climbed down from the bed and began walking.

The sensation of cold tiles reached the soles of his feet.

He staggered, but did not fall.

One step.

Two steps.

Slowly but surely, he made his way toward the hospital room door.

Slide-

The moment he opened the door.

“...Huh?”

His eyes met those of a nurse passing through the hallway.

The nurse’s face instantly turned pale.

“P-Patient!?”

Clatter-!

The clipboard in the nurse’s hands fell to the floor.

“Doctor! The patient in Room 301 is awake!”

Her urgent shout echoed down the hallway.

Soon, the sound of several pairs of footsteps followed, and the hospital corridor that had been filled with nothing but silence instantly became chaotic.