1.

For Kim Buja, it was a dream.

"I really want to play a mage for once."

It was a symbol of wealth.

Just like in novels, it was a class that devoured money on an astronomical scale—a role worth its weight in gold. No, it was more expensive than diamonds.

Simply playing one in a game wasn't difficult. Since this wasn't a fantasy novel, but a game where magic was cast via skills, the mage was usually one of the basic classes available to all players. In fact, the number of players playing mages was formidable.

The only problem was this: Could a mage actually turn a profit?

For Kim Buja, whose life's greatest mission was to earn in-game currency to survive in reality, the mage class was incompatible with his existence, no matter how hard he tried. It was the representative class for sucking up not only the master's time but also his cash.

Camping at the auction house all day to learn a single spell was standard procedure. If you wanted to learn professional-grade magic, you had to bundle up game currency—which was nothing more than scraps of data—convert it into cash, and offer it as tribute just to enter the so-called magic tower as a mere apprentice.

That wasn't all.

Learning magic costs money separately, and for some reason, the system was incredibly picky about attributes. The image of holding fire in one hand and water in the other, as seen in novels, was dismissed as an absurd thing.

Even in a mere game. So, it had always been a romantic ideal.

Spending tens of thousands of dollars to learn magic, spending hundreds of millions to equip all sorts of magical gear, and then standing alone amidst countless monsters and players, sweeping the battlefield by spamming spells.

Even if such people couldn't earn back what they spent, they always walked away with that much in fun. These were the wealthy players who had been gaming longer than Kim Buja—people who lost money at every turn yet spent it faster than anyone else whenever a new item was released.

Kim Buja didn't just keep that fantasy to himself, either. He had tried it before in single-player games.

He had unleashed his imagination and poured it into the game just as he had envisioned, but he couldn't find the unique zest of an online game.

In the end, it was about the recognition of others. The satisfaction derived from admiration and shock. Wasn't that the true beauty of being a mage?

So he had prayed and, in reality, too.

'If I awaken, let me awaken as a mage.'

Although a mage in reality was also a profession that required money, there were plenty of people lined up to support that cost.

But even that didn't happen. Instead, he ended up with a class that took the mage's con—spending money—to the extreme.

Now was the moment to resolve that deep-seated desire.

This was the reason Kim Buja desperately wanted to meet Fly.

'Ideally, it would have been better to meet him when he's higher level, but…'

Mimicry!

A chance to live the mage's dream, and to use the skills of the world's best mage at that!

Since it was a skill that required a whopping twenty-three gold per use, he thought it would be best to imitate a Legendary class like Fly. In an event like this, it could become the most efficient skill.

If he was lucky.

'Please.'

He hadn't experimented with how it activated yet. So, he maintained a proper distance and tried using it.

Vwooom.

Mana stirred, wriggling as it crawled forward.

His biggest worry was, of course, what to do if he got caught.

Right now, their levels were similar, and Kim Buja was ahead in items, so he could just disguise it as an attack, pretending he intended to backstab him from the start. However, if Fly noticed that his skill had been imitated, it would be a strategic leak that would negate the very meaning of participating in this event.

Especially for Kim Buja, who had set Fly as his target, this skill had to be kept a secret as much as possible. Even if it became known that such a skill existed, the conditions for it must absolutely not be discovered.

There wasn't much to be discovered anyway, but mysticism always added an invisible threat to the opponent.

[You have used Mimicry.]

[23 gold has been consumed.]

Fortunately, as expected of a skill that costs 23 gold per use, the effect was certain.

It was stealthy enough to make him wonder if he even needed to get this close. Fly, who was pouring out attacks, merely glanced at the approaching presence but showed no particular reaction. Approaching him wasn't suspicious either, as there were so many players running away from the flying filth.

I had to leave while I wasn't suspected!

He moved to the opposite side, pretending to dodge the falling excrement. Then, he stopped and turned his head again.

Absurdity and shock washed over him.

The thought that he might be suspected due to his sudden gaze was nothing compared to the shock that suddenly washed over him.

* * *

Legendary class players known to the public usually revealed themselves.

Unless they did, it was hard to infer a specific grade just by looking at skills in a world where countless classes existed. To receive public attention or to officially receive material support, they would reveal their status windows or prove their class skills.

Fly fell into the latter category.

He had established fame from the start that didn't require material support, so it wasn't out of greed for material things. What he wanted was the fame of the guild bearing his name.

In fact, the guild's reputation climbed day by day. It was inevitable.

He had a Legendary class. A mage, a class anyone would admire, and a mage class that had reached the pinnacle at that.

Elemental Wizard.

The overwhelming, flashy skills and power captivated people. Naturally, even though he didn't reveal his status window, they acknowledged it.

'That class is Legendary. Those skills have to be Legendary.'

No one denied it.

Kim Buja was the same. Watching the flashy videos that were uploaded not often, but very occasionally, he believed it too. If those skills weren't Legendary, then a real Legendary must possess power from a completely different dimension.

Those thoughts became even firmer after he awakened. The power held by a growth-type class. If that were converted into an offensive class, it should produce at least that level of destructive power.

So he had never doubted it until now.

It was the same now. The reason he was surprised wasn't that he saw that Fly's class wasn't a Legendary grade.

"I figured out how he clears dungeons solo."

It was because he had inadvertently discovered Fly's secret.

Of course, it wasn't definite information. What Kim Buja could see wasn't the other player's class, but information about the skill he had imitated from their possessed skills.

[You have imitated the Undead Summon skill.]

[90% effectiveness is applied.]

[The level of Undead Summon is adjusted.]

[Undead Summon]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Level: 4

▶ Summons a deceased corpse as an undead.

▶ Maximum Summon Count: 5

▷ This is an imitated skill. It vanishes after 1 use.

▷ The summoned undead lasts for 30 minutes.

If it were the level 69 Fly, Buja might have passed it off as just one of many skills.

It would be strange for a mage who handles all elements not to have dark attribute magic. He just hadn't thought about it.

But the current Fly was not level 69. He was at best in his level 10s, yet he had invested all the few skill points given to him into the Undead Summon level.

The mechanism for receiving skill points was usually one every 5 levels. An additional one at level 10. There were cases where they were given for the first clear of high-grade dungeons, but leaving that aside, it meant he had poured almost all his skill points into this.

Why?

The reason was simple because it was his main skill.

One might think he wanted to show a different side since it was an event, but it was more logical to see it as the driving force that created an overwhelming gap with the 2nd-place ranker, as well as Fly's hidden trump card.

"That's huge." Buja expressed his admiration.

It would be the same in the event. Since he could just use strong elemental magic matching the attribute of any monster, there was no need to reveal Undead-type magic.

"Ah."

Kim Buja, who was continuing his deduction, soon discovered a flaw in his thinking.

The players were watching.

Every single skill used in the event is visible to the spectators. Even if they couldn't see the skill details by imitating it like Kim Buja, the information that he used a certain skill would spread to the whole world immediately.

Then why? Why now? Could it be something that could be his secret technique?

He might have wanted to show it. A brief timeline of the real Fly's six-year growth period in the event.

Or he might have wanted to show it in a different sense, if he was still mainly using this skill.

'I won't hide it anymore.'

There was enough reason for that. He hadn't done so for five years, so there must be a reason for his change of heart now.

The tutorial ended.

It meant he would adapt to and match the changes. It meant he would show that what he had shown so far wasn't everything to the people and to Kim Buja.

Buja's and Fly's eyes met by chance. The corners of Fly's mouth curled up into a crescent.

'I was wrong.'

The moment Buja saw that smile, he realized it clearly. It wasn't for the people, but something Fly prepared solely for Buja.

Goosebumps rose for a moment. Fly was wary of him, too.

It wasn't impossible that this was just paranoia felt in the moment, but that smile was clear.

What was most surprising was the timing. The feeling of his heart being pricked the moment Fly provoked him with his own thoughts, in a situation where he couldn't possibly know that his skill had been imitated.

He avoided the gaze and went his own way. There was no need to face him and grate on his nerves. He needed to show his own confidence in the event, but there was no benefit in letting his personal emotions build.

For now, Buja just had to show it with his own abilities.

He fired his remaining arrows toward the crumbling lump of filth. He happened to make eye contact with Fly, but anyway, it was time to check the skill called Mimicry, and he just had to keep doing what he was doing.

What remained was experimenting on the skill's performance! Just how naturally would the effect of Mimicry manifest?

To do that, he had to catch the field boss.

Catching it didn't seem difficult. After all, the players who came as representatives of their respective countries were only flustered at first; they just had to learn its patterns and diligently hit the field boss, which would crumble before the gold anyway.

With the little damage from the remaining twenty-or-so players, combined with Fly's attacks and Kim Buja's attacks, the field boss eventually fell.

It looked easy, but it was a raid that took about three hours. A powerful field boss that made one wonder what would have happened if Kim Buja's 300-gold costing special flame mine hadn't made the biggest contribution.

Watching the crumbling field boss, Buja moved his mana without hesitation.

"Undead Summon."

The final gift was given as holograms poured down on the players waiting for rewards.

"Groooaaar!"

Chaos and confusion came from the resurrection of the field boss, announcing its robustness with overflowing filth once again!

Kim Buja neatly summarized the situation.

"You guys can watch the holograms outside."

It was going to end up like this anyway. Though he never dreamed he would make a field boss his underling.

Turning his gaze, Buja saw eyes full of countless resentments and failure to grasp the situation. Added to that was Fly's shock.

He shrugged his shoulders at him.

'If possible, let's not stand out in the beginning.'

As if he had never thought that, he showed it.

'This is me.'

He smiled as a longsword was summoned in one hand

* * *

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.