Macrocosmic Mage

Chapter 5: Mythical

“Class dismissed.”

I stood behind the lab podium, watching my afternoon section eagerly pack away their notebooks. The quiet focus that had held the room during the lecture dissolved into chaotic energy. Chairs scraped against linoleum, backpacks zipped shut, and chatter echoed off the tile walls as twenty-eight high schoolers rushed for the door.

It was precisely 4:30 PM.

I had survived the 12:30 faculty meeting by the skin of my teeth, spent four hours grading pop quizzes with a lingering neural headache, and finally reached the end of the workday.

Normally, I would stay behind to reset the glassware for tomorrow’s chemistry labs or catch up on lesson plans. Today, my mind was fifty light-years away.

IPN.

More specifically... Photon-V.

The absurd cascade of rewards I’d unlocked earlier refused to leave my head. Every time I turned my back to write on the whiteboard, I wondered if I’d hallucinated the entire four hours inside the pod.

But the phantom notifications, the Macrocosm Mage title, the crushing weight of universal data—they were too vivid to be a dream. I needed to log back in.

As the last student ambled into the hallway, quiet settled over the science wing. Late afternoon sunlight cut through the tall glass windows, painting long, golden diagonal stripes across the black-topped lab benches.

I let out a long breath. “Finally...”

Working with practiced speed, I returned the borrowed equipment to their storage units: glass beakers, compound microscopes, graduated cylinders, and preserved specimens were cleaned and locked behind glass cabinets.

I grabbed my leather satchel, slung it over my shoulder, and headed out into the main corridor.

My shoes tapped a fast rhythm against the polished floor as I approached the administration lobby. All I needed to do was scan my biometric badge at the main kiosk and head out. If traffic cooperated, I could be back in the pod in forty minutes.

“Mr. Klovis, slow down. This isn't a track meet.”

I checked my momentum, turning on my heel.

“You look like you're escaping a fire,” a playful voice added. “And last I checked, rushing in the main hall violates student and staff guidelines.”

A polite, awkward smile touched my lips. Standing a few paces away was Shane Frias.

She wore a tailored dark-brown skirt, a crisp white blouse beneath a fitted blazer, and her dark hair was gathered neatly over one shoulder. She held a thick accordion folder against her chest, adjusting her glasses with her free hand.

It was easy to see why half the faculty and most of the senior class held a quiet crush on her. She carried an effortless, grounded charm without ever seeking attention.

I’d admired her since my first semester here. But I was the underpaid science instructor known among the student body as the "Science Monster" for grading strictly on curve. We inhabited different orbits.

“Ms. Frias,” I said, gesturing down at my feet. “Fast walking isn't running. Legally speaking.”

She laughed softly, the sound cutting through my lingering stress. “I suppose the science department gets a pass on technicalities.”

“Heading home?” I asked.

“Not yet.” She lifted the folder slightly. “I have to drop these mid-term transcripts at the Registrar's office before they lock up.”

I glanced at the wall clock above the entrance. 4:38 PM.

“You’d better step on it,” I noted. “Mr. Henderson usually locks the doors right at five.”

She nodded, pausing for a fraction of a second as she looked directly at me. “Are you heading straight out, or do you have a few minutes? I could use a hand carrying these files.”

My pulse spiked.

On any normal Tuesday, I would have agreed before she even finished the sentence.

But today was not a normal Tuesday.

Macrocosm Mage. Creation Magic. Mythical Evolution. A mountain of unanswered questions was waiting for me inside a crimson pod three miles away.

I forced a apologetic grin, pointing toward the exit. “I’d love to, Shane, but I have a hard deadline at home tonight. If I don't leave now, I'm going to get stuck in peak gridlock.”

A brief flicker of surprise crossed her face before her usual warm demeanor returned. “Ah... of course. Don't let me keep you.”

“I'll make it up to you tomorrow,” I offered, stepping backward toward the glass doors. “Good luck with Henderson!”

Walking out into the warm afternoon air, I let out a low sigh. Talk about terrible timing. Opportunities like that didn't come around often. But right now, the pull of the Interplanetary Network was stronger than my personal life.

The commute home felt like a crawl. Every traffic signal turned yellow as I approached, and every delivery van seemed determined to merge at five miles an hour.

By the time I unlocked my apartment door, my patience was exhausted. I tossed my satchel onto the couch, kicked off my shoes, and stepped directly into the crimson pod occupying half my living room.

The curved glass lid glided down, sealing with a quiet pneumatic thunk.

===================================================

[ Neural Link Active. ]

[ Welcome Back, Player: Photon-V. ]

===================================================

Light exploded across my vision, replaced immediately by the sharp, earthy scent of damp soil and crushed foliage.

When my eyes adjusted, I was standing in a gloom-drenched forest. Towering, ancient trees stretched hundreds of feet into the air, their dense canopy weaving together to block out the sky.

The arid dryness of the Arhod Desert was gone. The system had ejected me from the apex zone upon completion of the trial, relocating my avatar to a regional border node. [4]

Leaves rustled in the canopy overhead. Unknown creatures uttered low, rhythmic calls in the deep brush.

===================================================

[ Current Location: Planetary System 687 (Planet Krada) — Akhoi Rainforest ]

[ Verification Protocol Complete: All Archetypes & Skill Matrices Finalized. ]

===================================================

“Finally,” I muttered. “Virtual Status.”

The UI materialized in crisp, golden typography.

=================================================== PLAYER PROFILE: Photon-V =================================================== Archetype: Macrocosm Mage (Lv. 11 - Mythical) Vitality Lv. 10: 100% (Stable) Mental Activity Lv. 10: 100% (Stable) Mana Capacity: 550 / 550 Active Skills: - Creation Magic (Lv. 10 - Mythical) - Dimension Magic (Lv. 10 - Mythical) - Astral Magic (Lv. 10 - Mythical) Equipment: Celestial Ring (Mythical) Current Experience: 500 / 1000 Personal Funds: 90 Ridan Universal Time: 16:55:16 ===================================================

I stared at the tags. The vague Under Verification labels were gone, replaced by a single, terrifying word repeated five times: Mythical.

A mythical class. Three mythical domain skills. A mythical ring artifact.

I’ve been in this game for less than twelve hours total, I thought, running a hand through my hair. This isn't an upgrade—this is a balance-breaking anomaly.

Then I remembered the data load from the Tower.

“System,” I commanded. “Activate 100% Intelligence.”

===================================================

[ Command Denied. ]

[ Safety Threshold Active: Current Mental Capacity insufficient to process 100% Data Stream safely. ]

[ Maximum Allowed Activation at Current Character Level: 5% ]

===================================================

I nodded slowly. Fair enough. Trying to process an entire galaxy's history simultaneously had nearly given me an aneurysm earlier.

“Activate 5% Intelligence Data Stream.”

===================================================

[ Executing 5% Index Unlocking... ]

===================================================

The world didn't explode in pain this time. Instead, a clean, structured stream of data unfolded smoothly inside my mind.

It felt as though a massive, indexed encyclopedia had been wired directly into my memory banks. Terrain maps, resource nodes, creature behaviors, language roots, and local quest conditions for Planet Krada organized themselves into neat mental files. Concepts that would take a player months to map out manually were simply... there.

Then, a specific entry flagged itself within my immediate vicinity.

===================================================

[ Location Match: Akhoi Rainforest — Regional Anomaly Detected. ]

[ Hidden Quest Node Identified]

===================================================

I blinked, looking around at the shadowy, vine-covered trees surrounding me.

A slow smile spread across my face.

Out of all the random border zones the system could have dropped me into after exiting the Tower, it had placed me right on top of a hidden regional objective.

“Alright, IPN,” I whispered, stepping over a thick, mossy root. “Let’s see what a Mythical skill actually does.”