The Genius Programmer Turned Wizard - GPW Chapter 8: The Shallow Hollow (1) (Part 1)

A half-day carriage ride from the capital brought them to the small town of Graham.
A group of men and women were making their way up a wooded hill nearby.

At the front walked a man carrying a spear.
Behind him, another man held a shield.
Trailing them was a man with a bow slung across his back.
A few paces away from the group, walking slightly apart, was a girl wearing a wide-brimmed hat and holding a staff.

Adeline Rubylake.
Her crimson hair seemed to blaze like fire, and her red eyes glowed with intensity as she mulled over her thoughts.

‘What the hell is the problem…?’

It took her one month to reach the 1st Circle.
Six months for the 2nd.
And one year and three months to reach the 3rd Circle.
Others took ten years to get to the 3rd Circle—she did it in just two.
Naturally, rumors of her genius spread like wildfire. Some even called her the Crimson Saint.

But now, two years later—
She was stuck at the threshold of the 4th Circle.

From the 4th Circle onward, it became the realm of true talent—something even slow learners couldn’t reach in a lifetime.
Her master had gently consoled her, saying even geniuses usually needed at least eight years.

‘Ugh… but I feel like I’m right there. Just one more push…’

She knew she was almost there.
It felt like the doorknob was already within reach.
She could see it.
She had even grabbed it.
Twisted it, too!

But the door wouldn’t open.

‘Why? Why won’t it open? I’ve done everything right! What the hell is this?!’

Just as she was about to lash out at her own mana circle in frustration—

“Ugh, I’ve got a bad feeling about this… this shield’s way too heavy…”

Her overly sensitive ears picked up something irritating.

‘The shield’s too heavy?’

There was only one person carrying a shield.

A freckled young man with brown hair.
His name was… Ron, if she remembered right.
She focused her senses on his mana.

Then she checked the shield.

‘What the…’

There was no trace of magic.
Which meant there was no reason for the shield to feel heavy.

“Goddammit, you’re so loud. Hey, hand over the shield if it’s that bad.”

A sharp, grating voice stabbed into her ears.
It was Liam Windweaver, the leader of the party.
He tried to forcibly take the shield from Ron.

“N-no, I can’t do that.”

But Ron clutched it tightly and refused to let go.
Liam’s brow twitched upward.

His mouth began to move—he looked like he was about to explode.

“Whoa, whoa, no need to kill the vibe. It’s just a shield.”

Ethan [에단], the rogue who had been silently observing from the back, stepped in with a smirk.
When no one responded, he naturally turned to her.

“Right, Miss Adeline?”

She didn’t answer.

“Miss Adeline?”

“Quiet.”

“Huh?”

“I said quiet.”

She was looking up the slope—toward the dungeon entrance.

“There’s a mage up there.”

—

Kedgan Maddox, the grizzly bear.

Weird guy, but a good one.

He gave me a recommendation letter, a clean set of clothes, and even covered my travel expenses. Nearly for free.

So I got a carriage, made my way to Graham, and without wasting time, hiked straight to the destination.

The Shallow Hollow.

A dungeon with an awkward name, and just like in the game, its entrance was awkwardly carved into the slope of a hill.

‘Took forever to find in the game too.’

If it weren’t for the Adventurer’s Guild flags planted around, it’d be easy to walk past without noticing.

But there were things here the game had never shown me.

Symbols like:

[!Պḙ]
[☾↳⊙]

Warped, fragmented letters…
And floating, hologram-like script drifting in the air.

‘What… is this?’

It looked a lot like a status screen—
Which meant it was probably magic-related code.

‘Is this how it appears when the syntax is broken?’

Whatever it was, it wasn’t normal code.
The magic in this dungeon wasn’t ordinary either.
It might be a fragment of ancient magic, or something tied to it.

I squinted, focusing on each drifting symbol.
I tried to read it—tried to make sense of it.

And then—

They crumbled into dust and vanished.

‘Shit…’

More symbols flowed out from the hollow, but like the first ones, they scattered before I could lock them in.

…

I took a single step forward.

And—

“Hey. You there.”

A sharp voice called out from behind.

I turned around and found myself staring at a mage with crimson eyes and fiery red hair, staff raised.

Adeline Rubylake.
Rising star of the Red Magic Tower, and the youngest 3rd Circle mage ever.

There may be many red-haired mages, but none with a shade as vivid as hers.

‘Finally found them.’

I glanced behind her.

Liam, Ron, and Ethan—
The full party had arrived.

That meant the dungeon crawl could begin.

“You’ve got three seconds. State your affiliation and purpose—”

She twitched her staff menacingly.

I quickly pulled the recommendation letter from my pouch.

“I’m an apprentice mage, joining by recommendation.”

“What?”

Just as I was stepping forward to hand it to her—
A magic circle began forming at the tip of her staff.

‘Wait, what?’

Depending on the spell, I could die here.

But then—

The circle instantly shifted into code.
And the code flowed straight into my head.

If it’s `Mana type: default`, that means it’s an attribute-less spell like Magic Missile or Magic Shield…

It wasn’t conscious thought.
It was almost instinct.

My mind had already begun analyzing the magic circle.

‘This syntax… I’ve never seen it before. Why did they write it like this?’

It was a completely different syntax from Crow, the Mage of Origin’s magic, and my eyes darted over it in confusion.

At that moment, whoosh—the letter of recommendation flew from my hand.

I wasn’t too shocked, since I had a rough idea of what kind of magic it was.

Ziiing—

But then, a magic circle began forming again on her staff.

Translatin_Otaku

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