Macrocosmic Mage

Chapter 4: The Awakening in Arhod Desert (3)

The moment I confirmed the prompt, every geometric array etched into the chamber floor flared with blinding golden radiance.

The tower trembled to its very foundation.

Countless threads of dense, liquefied mana spilled from the arched ceiling, converging on me in a roaring vortex. Although no physical breeze stirred the air, my coarse tattered tunic fluttered wildly as the ambient pressure spiked.

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[ Milestone Compensation Calculating... ]

[ Updating Baseline Player Profile... ]

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MILESTONE REWARDS DISTRIBUTED:

Base Attributes: Promoted to Level 10 (All Primary Categories) - Archetype Evolution: Charmer → Macrocosm Mage - Domain Skill Unlocked: Creation Magic (Lv. 10 - Under Verification) - Domain Skill Unlocked: Dimension Magic (Lv. 10 - Under Verification) - Domain Skill Unlocked: Astral Magic (Lv. 10 - Under Verification) - Artifact Awarded: Celestial Ring - Universal Experience: +1,000 XP - Maximum Mana Capacity Expanded: 500 / 500 ===================================================

Before my brain could digest the list, a second prompt flashed with an insistent chime.

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[ Experience Threshold Exceeded. Character Level Up: Level 1 → Level 2. ]

[ Bonus Reward Applied: Class Level Increased by +1. ]

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I stood frozen, staring at the golden UI.

Creation Magic. Dimension Magic. Astral Magic.

These weren't standard introductory spells like Lesser Fireball or Spark. The names alone sounded like end-game foundational mechanics.

And then there was the archetype title: Macrocosm Mage.

Ten minutes ago, I was a Level 1 Charmer with a baseline Mana pool of 50 and ten copper coins to my name. Now, the system had dismantled my character profile and rebuilt it from scratch.

This is ridiculous, I thought, a quiet wave of dread replacing my excitement.

Veteran players spent months—sometimes years—grinding reputation, clearing dungeons, and refining builds just to qualify for advance class evolutions. Ashfall had spent a full year preparing just to extract a five percent lore index.

Yet on my very first day, on an introductory quest, I had pulled a complete dataset.

If the local player base found out—

No. They already know.

The global announcement had already fired across every server node in the network. Right now, millions of players across Planet Krada were asking the exact same question: Who the hell is Photon-V?

Before I could panic further, the system interface flashed red.

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[ High-Density Knowledge Transfer Initiating... ]

[ Verified Neural Access: 100% Indexing Capacity. ]

[ Commencing Data D******d... ]

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“Wait—download?” I frowned, stepping back. “D******d what?”

The system offered no clarification.

A millisecond later, an agony unlike anything I had ever experienced exploded inside my skull.

“Agh—!”

I collapsed to my knees, clutching my head as my vision shattered into white static.

It felt as though a high-speed data cable had been plugged directly into my cerebral cortex. Millions of overlapping voices, mathematical equations, star charts, extinct language trees, lost historical timelines, and planetary blueprints flooded my conscious mind simultaneously.

I saw stars being forged in cosmic dust; I saw orbital defense grids collapsing over ancient cities; I saw complex mana-circuit diagrams mapping out the fundamental laws of gravity and space.

My brain felt like a low-capacity hard drive trying to store an entire planetary archive in seconds.

“Stop... stop!”

The pressure spiked, threatening to burst my eardrums. Every second dragged out like an eternity.

Then, with the suddenness of a snapped cord, the torrent cut off.

Silence returned to the apex chamber.

I stayed on my hands and knees, gasping for breath as drops of sweat struck the cold stone floor beneath me.

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[ Data Transfer Complete. ]

[ 100% Intelligence Dataset Indexing: Active. ]

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Resting my weight against the pedestal, I forced myself up and summoned the status window with a raspy command: “Virtual Status...”

=================================================== PLAYER PROFILE: Photon-V =================================================== Archetype: Macrocosm Mage (Lv. 11 - Under Verification) Vitality Lv. 10: 100% (Stable) Mental Activity Lv. 10: 60% (UNSTABLE) Mana Pool: 550 / 550 Active Skills: - Creation Magic (Lv. 10) - Dimension Magic (Lv. 10) - Astral Magic (Lv. 10) Equipment: Celestial Ring (Under Verification) Current Experience: 500 / 1000 Personal Funds: 90 Ridan Universal Time: 12:04:16 ===================================================

I stared at the numbers. My Mana had increased more than tenfold, and my archetype was flagged with a mysterious Under Verification tag.

But my eyes stopped on a single line.

Mental Activity Lv. 10: 60% (UNSTABLE)

“So that’s why my skull feels like it was hit with a sledgehammer,” I muttered, wincing as a sharp throb pulsed behind my eyes.

Then my gaze drifted down to the time log.

Universal Time: 12:04:16

My heart skipped a beat.

12:04 PM?

I had entered the pod shortly after eight in the morning. Had four hours really elapsed inside the simulation?

I called up the real-time system clock sync. It matched down to the second.

“Oh, no...”

The emergency faculty meeting at school. The department head had made attendance mandatory for all science staff.

Time: 12:30 PM.

I had exactly twenty-six minutes to throw on a suit, commute four miles through afternoon traffic, and sit in a conference room without looking like I’d just survived a cosmic mind-upload.

“System, Log Out!” I yelled.

The apex chamber shattered into millions of glowing blue prisms. The ancient book, the stone pillars, and the golden UI screens dissolved into mist. Darkness took hold for a brief second before physical gravity slammed back into my body.

With a soft pneumatic hiss, the glass canopy of the crimson pod slid open.

Cool apartment air rushed into my lungs.

I scrambled out of the pod, nearly tripping over the power converter cables cluttering my tiny living room floor, and grabbed my phone off the counter.

12:05 PM

It hadn't been a dream.

I didn't have time to process the mythical spells, the universal knowledge database sitting in my head, or the global bounty that was likely forming around the name Photon-V.

If I wanted to pay my rent at the end of the month, I needed to keep my job.

I grabbed a clean shirt from the closet, darted toward the bathroom, and began frantically preparing for work.