I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game

Medieval Fantasy.

A world filled with stereotypes—dwarves wielding hammers, elves with bows, and shirtless barbarians.

I love games brimming with such clichés.

Because it’s precisely in these cliché-ridden games that my hipster instincts shine.

A strength-based orc mage from a wandering background, a bard-turned-heavy-armored tank archer, a pacifist vegan barbarian...!

I revel in crafting builds that make people go, "Why would anyone play like that?"—and in watching these unconventional builds carve out their own strengths.

The sheer thrill of a strength-based mage smashing through fortress walls with a massive staff.

The exhilaration of an archer blocking a barbarian’s axe head-on while drawing their bowstring.

The overwhelming emotion when a pacifist vegan barbarian prevents an all-out war through sheer speechcraft…!

I don’t know how I ended up like this, but I simply can't get immersed in a game unless I’m embracing some sort of absurd concept or pointless shenanigans.

Maybe it’s because, in real life, I also chose a disastrous build—dropping out of high school to pursue music.

…Let’s not talk about that. It only ruins my mood.

Click.

[Ju Meok]

Orc / Mage.

LV 99.

[Jom Bi]

Dwarf / Archer.

LV 99.

[Dae Tong Ryeong]

Dwarf / Barbarian.

LV 99.

My beloved children—raised with love, dedication, and endless research—greet me on the character selection screen.

Ju Meok is holding this game’s ultimate mage item, which triples spell power. Yet, he has never once attacked anyone with magic.

Because I dumped every single stat point into Strength, leaving him with so little Magic Power that he couldn't even learn spells.

Ju Meok may be a mage who can’t use magic, but that minor drawback is completely overshadowed by a significant advantage.

He is ridiculously hard to kill.

Passive spells that enhance a mage’s survivability—like [Arcane Shield]—don’t require Magic Power to acquire.

On top of that, [Blessing of the Spirits] is a passive spell that can only be obtained through a special in-game event, boasting overwhelming defensive capabilities without any Magic Power requirement.

With Ju Meok’s lack of spellcasting ability turning into an advantage, I could pour every excess skill point gained from leveling up into passive survival abilities!

Didn’t I just say being unable to learn magic was a downside? Well, sometimes, a disadvantage can double as an advantage.

Like how a bad boy’s strength is being a bad boy—and his weakness is also being a bad boy.

Anyway, every time I create a character, I focus on crafting the most unique yet efficient build possible and sticking to it.

And maintaining that delicate balance of being "oddly useful yet hilariously terrible" requires meticulous research.

Didn’t someone say that once? The more bitter the suffering, the sweeter the fruit.

Seeing my creations thrive in a world full of clichés is the greatest joy in my life these days.

Those who blindly follow "optimal" builds—rolling human mages or orc barbarians—will never understand this feeling.

“Phew… Let’s do this.”

Today, I plan to relive the thrills that Ju Meok, Jom Bi, and Dae Tong Ryeong have given me once more.

Because my proud fourth child’s build has finally been completed.

Behold—the One-Shot Mage.

A result of four months of testing, creating, and deleting hundreds of characters. Many builds came and went, but only one stood out as perfect.

[Distribute your character’s stat points.]

Without hesitation, I moved the mouse and allocated the stats. My hands showed no signs of doubt.

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Endurance: 1

Magic Power: 20

Luck: 1

At a glance, any seasoned gamer would have one thing to say:

"Hey, does this character even function?"

For survival, characters usually invest at least a few points into Endurance, and a little bit of Luck is useful to avoid penalties in dialogue choices or encounters.

A typical mage build would lower Magic Power by around 7 points and distribute the remaining points into Luck and Endurance as preferred.

But my One-Shot Mage needed no such thing.

What Luck? What Endurance? That’s no fun.

I’ve tested it hundreds of times—turns out, you don’t need that stuff at all.

[Class Selection]

After distributing my stats, I quickly selected the Mage class without hesitation.

Choosing Barbarian after investing 20 points into Magic Power wouldn’t be a meme build—it would be trolling.

And my 4000 hours in this game would never forgive such a thoughtless, shallow mistake.

[You have selected Mage. Choose your spell type.]

In this game, Mages can limit their available spell types during character creation.

You can set it to learn all five core magic types—Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, and Lightning—for versatility. But this comes at the cost of significantly weaker individual spells.

Conversely, limiting a mage to a single magic type—Fire or Wind, for example—yields devastating spell potency, far beyond that of generalist mages.

Striking a balance between versatility and power is part of the fun when making a mage.

But for me, with all my research completed, there was nothing to consider.

I swiftly disabled all elements except Lightning.

Once again, this build was about One-Shot Destruction.

To turn everything to ash in a single strike, I had to push the potency of one magic type to its absolute peak.

[Race Selection]

I didn’t hesitate here, either.

‣ [Human]

Humans struggle in the early game but have incredible late-game potential.

I had experimented with picking Orcs to compensate for the character’s fragile health, but their sluggish late-game progress proved frustrating compared to Humans.

If someone were to ask me in the future whether they should try this build…

Well, picking an Orc to compensate for weak Health and Strength isn’t a bad choice either. If you want an easier early game, selecting Orc here is a viable option.

Of course, I’m going to pick Human.

[Select Your Background.]

[Royalty]

[Nobility]

[Commoner]

[Serf]

[Vagabond]

No hesitation here either. My mouse moved straight to Vagabond without a second thought.

A high-status Human starts with decent equipment, but they suffer from an inherently lower Critical Hit rate.

With my Luck stat at 1, my base Critical Hit rate was a mere 1%, which was a significant handicap in a combat-oriented playthrough.

However, a low-status Human starts with poor equipment and a harsh environment, but their Critical Hit rate is significantly higher—20% with Luck at 1.

On top of that, starting as a Vagabond grants a passive trait called [Composure], which prevents the character from losing their cool in any situation. For a fragile mage prone to status effects, this was an absolute necessity.

There’s a reason Vagabond is the go-to starting choice for Rogues.

Since Rogues rely solely on Critical Hits for damage and need [Composure] to avoid breaking stealth when hit by an area-of-effect Fear attack, this trait is indispensable.

[Select Your Spells.]

“…Lock Bolt, lock Lightning Strike, lock Charging Light… lock Arcane Shield too…”

My mouse moved with unprecedented speed, disabling almost every spell in the Lightning Magic Tree.

Locking spells functioned the same way as limiting magic types—it reduced the number of available spells but increased the power of the remaining ones.

I locked every single spell in the Lightning Magic Tree—except for one.

[Bloom]

[Consumes all stored Mana, elevating the character to a transcendent state for 5 minutes. After use, the character becomes afflicted with a status effect that prevents movement for a set duration. Can be used once per day.]

The pinnacle of Lightning Mages—Bloom!

A spell that compresses and unleashes all the Mana stored within a Mage’s body over five short minutes.

With enough stored Mana, it had the potential to obliterate even the final boss of the game with a mere gesture—arguably the most overpowered spell in existence.

Of course, it had its drawbacks.

Because it emptied all stored Mana and inflicted a status effect after its duration expired, its usage had to be carefully timed.

Misuse it, and you’d find yourself lying on the battlefield, helplessly napping while the fight raged on.

Plus, since it could only be used once per day, it wasn’t exactly practical against regular enemies.

…No, let’s be honest—it was completely useless against regular mobs.

That’s why most conventional Mages either ignored this skill entirely or invested a single level in it as a last resort.

Conventional Mages, that is.

[Bloom LV40]

I didn’t just lock every other magic type besides Lightning—I locked every single spell in the Lightning tree as well.

Except for one spell—Bloom.

By embracing all these massive drawbacks, I was rewarded with an insane surplus of 120 skill points in my Skill Window.

I dumped every last point into Bloom without hesitation.

The result? A grotesque monstrosity—a Level 1 character with a Level 40 spell.

“…Perfect!”

The One-Shot Mage might have had the drawback of being able to use only one spell, but in exchange, it was a spell of unparalleled power.

Most Mages cycle through multiple spells to clear mobs, but my One-Shot Mage had no such luxury.

Why? Because all those versatile and convenient spells were locked away.

With no spells available for mundane battles, my character would inevitably store up massive amounts of unused Mana.

And when my One-Shot Mage finally unleashed Bloom, it would eclipse any other Mage’s Bloom in sheer destructive force.

Since Bloom scales directly with stored Mana, no Mage wasting their spells on minor skirmishes could ever match its power.

This was another case where a disadvantage transformed into an advantage.

At this point, some might ask:

“But what about all the mobs rushing at you? How do you handle them without regular spells?”

Admittedly, mobs were a major obstacle for the One-Shot Mage.

With practically no Health or Strength, I couldn’t just bludgeon them with a staff like Ju Meok.

And since I picked a lowborn Vagabond instead of a highborn Noble, I didn’t have strong mercenaries to carry me through early fights either.

…Well, I already had a solution for those obstacles.

You’ll just have to watch and see how I turn this flawed mess into a legendary Grand Mage.

[Enter Character Name.]

[Han Bang]

Han as in "One," and Bang as in "Hit."

A clear and resounding name, embodying my absolute determination to obliterate everything in one hit…!

Sure, it sounded absurdly Eastern for a medieval fantasy game, but I didn’t care.

Character names weren’t exactly a major factor—the fact that my first three characters were named Ju Meok, Jom Bi, and Dae Tong Ryeong proved as much.

Grinning at my proud fourth son’s name, I clicked the Start Game button.

[Welcome, Han Bang.]

[This world is tormented by demons crawling from the depths of hell, half-demons born of those demons, and countless creatures twisted into monsters under their influence.]

As soon as I hit Start, the game launched into its typical generic medieval fantasy exposition.

[Dwarves, Humans, Orcs, and Elves have set aside their conflicts to form a unified army against the demonic threat…]

The sheer cliché of it all was almost impressive.

Then, at that moment—

[Your help is needed.]

Thud.

Consciousness faded to black.