I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents

I grabbed Younes’s right hand and stood her beside me.

“Let’s go catch the shaman.”
“…But, but I was ordered to follow Sir William…”

I spoke while looking at Younes’s blue eyes that were staring at me intently.

“You just saw it, didn’t you? He can’t use his strength.”

Younes looked at me, her arms trembling slightly.

“…Can you take responsibility if I’m punished for deviation?”

I shouldn’t say out loud what I’m thinking: ‘Why should I?’

“Just think about the results. If we catch the shaman, there won’t be any punishment. I have a sure method.”

Younes’s eyes widened.

“Do, do you really have a sure method?”

As if that’s possible.
I’m just saying whatever to make her follow me somehow.
According to ArchMage sunbae, half of it depends on the mage’s own capabilities.

“Yes, we can definitely succeed.”
“…Alright then.”

Oh, it worked.
A bluff with some spirit behind it.

Swish-

I opened my inventory and took out a potion bottle containing the Orc Army Commander’s blood that I had collected yesterday.

After hearing from ArchMage in the gallery about how to track the Orc Shaman, the first thing I asked Ricelin was where they had put the Orc Army Commander’s corpse.

I was able to extract blood from the corpse that the soldiers had moved to the warehouse using a cart to prove that I had indeed killed the Army Commander.

The Orc Army Commander’s blood and flesh.
These were all the materials needed.

“Heehik!”

A strange sound escaped from Younes’s mouth when she saw the bottle containing the thick flesh and blood.

“Wh-what are you going to use those for…?”

I could see her lips trembling.

“Do you know any tracking magic?”

Younes nodded ambiguously.

“I guess you could call it basic… I know blood-based tracking magic. But the blood magic I know, the 3rd-rank magic Sanguis Revelare, can only track the being whose blood it is. Tracking an entire race with the blood of one member is high-rank magic. You need to be 5th or 6th rank to use it.”

That was also information I heard from ArchMage.

“I heard it works for Orc Shamans.”
“What?”
“I heard that if you properly use magic to awaken the traces of spells engraved in the blood, you can find where the Orc Shaman who cast those spells is through spell tracking magic.”

Younes looked at me with a blank face.

“I heard that only orcs as a species leave traces of spells in their blood even after death. Wouldn’t an Army Commander-level orc have had quite a few spells engraved on them by an Orc Shaman?”

Should I say it’s a strange face mixing stupidity and seriousness?

“H-h-how can that be? There’s no way only orcs as a single species could…”

It’s exactly the same.
The reactions continued, matching the comments that ArchMage sunbae had listed as ‘expected mage reactions’ in the gallery yesterday.

-ArchMage) They’ll cry out that there can’t be such a specific exception in the realm of magic.

“There can’t be such an abnormal, strange exception classification in magic!”

-ArchMage) However, that’s why it’s magic. It’s the realm of the mysterious. It’s just arrogance to make definitive statements.
ㄴ Ah, but this seems familiar? Wasn’t this posted by someone when we were climbing the tower? I think it was pinned as an announcement after being selected.

ㄴ ArchMage) Yes, when I reached the 30th floor, as soon as I got access to the climbing gallery terminal, I gathered and posted information that non-mage humans wouldn’t know. To prevent as many meaningless deaths as possible.

Honestly, until then, our ArchMage sunbae-nim looked really cool.
Until the next comment was posted.

ㄴ???? Wait, you were that person?
ㄴ You were ‘UndefeatedIronBloodMagicalGirlOphelia’? Damn, I wondered where you went.
ㄴ lololololololololololololol Undefeated Iron, what? You changed your nickname well but got caught bragging about yourself after decades lololololol

ㄴ lololololololololol This is hilarious
ㄴ The person who used that kind of nickname is now ‘ArchMage’ Kya, concise and clear. You realized that simple is best. It’s a great improvement lololololol but you got caught by confessing yourself wwww

ㄴ Pioneer) The Hard difficulty guys probably all noticed but were pretending not to know, why are you suddenly self-destructing like this?
ㄴ DragonKing) Beltu-i knew too.

After that, ArchMage sunbae-nim didn’t leave any posts or comments until I closed the gallery.
Neither confirming nor denying, but sunbae-nim’s disappearance was equivalent to putting a huge weight on the confirmation side.

“Instead of just saying you can’t believe it, why don’t you try it?”

Younes still had a half-believing, half-doubting expression on her face.

“…Alright.”

Oh.
I couldn’t help but think it was unexpected to see Younes immediately picking up her magic staff.
This was something that deviated from ArchMage sunbae’s prediction.

-ArchMage) If you suddenly tell them to find traces of spells, nine out of ten will ask what magic they should use.

But she didn’t ask that question.
As if she knew what magic to use, she bent down to look at the Army Commander’s flesh and the blood sloshing in the potion bottle.

“Do you know what magic to use?”

Younes slowly nodded.

“Well, tracking is part of my main specialization in magic… I at least know that the magic to use in this situation is called Arcana Revelare.”

It was the same name as the magic mentioned in ‘UndefeatedIronBloodMagicalGirlOphelia’ sunbae’s comment.
Still, this person was a smarter mage than I expected.

Younes sprinkled blood on the flesh as I instructed, then cast the magic.
Younes’s mouth slowly opened.

“Reveal the secret.”

And at the end of those words, a dark red glow rose from the Orc Army Commander’s flesh.
Younes’s face had changed slightly.

“…There really are traces of spells engraved in the blood. I really don’t understand why only orcs as a specific species have this characteristic.”

Now the bewilderment and disbelief were gone.

“Usually, all traces of spells and magical blessings disappear when the recipient dies, but only the orc race remains like this.”

Her current expression seemed to be one of a mage filled with curiosity.

“It’s my first time tracking a spell caster, but I think I can approach it the same way as tracking a magic caster.”

The 3rd-rank knight who came as reinforcement was useless, but fortunately, it seemed like a useful mage had arrived.

Zzzzt!

Right after another spell manifested, drawing a magic circle, a blue light flickered in front of Younes’s eyes for a moment.

“…I can see it. The direction appears as a blue line. But as expected, it seems only I can see this line.”

Younes, who was speaking, suddenly returned to her dumbfounded face from earlier.

“Heehik! Th-this means I have to directly follow you and guide you!”

I wasn’t flustered at all.
I was planning to take her along anyway.

“Guide me.”
“Hik!”
“I won’t let you die.”

As I was focused on reassuring and persuading Younes, Ricelin, who was standing beside us, interjected.

“I’ll come along too. If we’re going to take the Orc Shaman’s head.”

I can leave Younes’s protection to Ricelin.
I feel like I’m becoming a worse person, but it can’t be helped.

Ricelin said she would gather potions and simple rations, so we should depart in 20 minutes.

“Ahem!”

The 3rd-rank knight William, who glared at me with a deeply wrinkled face while clearing his throat, limited his expression of dissatisfaction to just that action.

“I can’t fully trust your words, so I’ll focus my efforts on dealing with the orcs I can see.”

Is it because he was openly humiliated? Or because he got hit a few times? The action he chose itself wasn’t particularly problematic. It could be called very normal.

Someone had to focus on protecting the castle wall itself.
If that breaks, my quest breaks too.

“That’s a very good idea, Sir Knight.”

At my words, William suddenly shuddered.
What’s wrong with him?

“Please guard it well.”

I then moved with Younes, Ricelin, and one 2nd-rank Lucerna mercenary.
To the front of the castle wall.

‘I need to defeat the boss and get to the 3rd floor waiting room by tomorrow at the latest to participate in the exchange meeting without problems.’

Quick and decisive.
I decided to take out the Orc Shaman quickly.

Kwaaaaaaak!

An orc’s scream-like shout lashed at my ears.

Seeing the excessive red glow in this one’s eyes too, it was undoubtedly an orc that had received a spell blessing from the Orc Shaman.

According to Ricelin, an orc in a frenzied state.

There were no orcs with such eyes at the entrance of the forest.
We started encountering them when we reached the middle of the forest.

[Mana Body Enhancement Lv.2 – Activating skill.]

I felt mana spreading from my mana heart.
With the black javelin, the black short spear, I vertically struck down on the head of an orc rushing from the left.

I cut off the heads of two orcs rushing from the right with one swing of my straight sword.
Blood and flesh stuck thickly to my armor.

Currently, my level had risen from 8, which was my level at departure, to 9.

Unlike the starting point of the 2nd floor stage where I leveled up after killing five or six orcs, I didn’t level up even after slashing more than twenty orcs.

But what I definitely felt was improving was my sense for battle.
It was as LightSword said. While the sparring with Golem mk2 certainly provided great nourishment for me, an even steeper growth platform was actual combat.

Right after killing two frenzied orcs that rushed in without hesitation even after seeing three others die.
Younes’s trembling voice, awkwardly standing beside me, was heard.

“We’re almost there. We’ve gotten close to the being predicted to be the Orc Shaman.”

Finally.