Book 13 Chapter 6
Episode 3
3 Years Later (1)
Three years have passed. Now that I am eleven, I am practically an adult.
Magic that pursues the ‘interpretation of the order of providential structure’ truly felt more amazing the more I researched it.
With Earth-attribute magic, I could raise fallen ground, and with Water-attribute magic, I could make it rain during a drought or, conversely, stop a downpour.
Currently, I could use all 3rd-rank magic using mental calculation, that is, the Yorhen type.
Atlas (3rd-rank) class mages are said to be capable of overturning the tide of battle itself, but honestly, I’m not sure if it’s really that amazing.
By the standards of renowned geniuses, 3rd-rank magic, for which the average age of acquisition is in the 40s, you can do it easily too.
All you need is to be able to perform triple calculations in your head. What's so hard about solving three equations simultaneously?
Amidst such rapid progress, I was receiving attention from the entire magical world and growing into a mage representing my school of magic… no, I wasn't.
Because I hadn't even taken the Bandoran (1st-rank) class test.
The reason for that is that going to take the class test is simply too bothersome.
From the start, I don't research magic to show off. That's what snobs who aim to be the [Best Mage] do.
My goal, even after three years, remains unchanged: to be the [Strongest Mage].
To be honest…
Being separated from the Dean, from the Magic Tower, and going somewhere alone, perhaps I was afraid.
Of being abandoned again…
If I were to acquire a rank, would they tell me to leave now that I could take care of myself?
In the brief moment I looked away, I was afraid this dream-like life might suddenly vanish somewhere…
If I were to go to the city, I would want to visit the library, but there was no need, because while the Osarius Magic Tower was old, it was also deeply rooted in history, and thus had a considerable number of grimoires.
Learning all of them kept me busy every day. My sleep time was at most four hours. Is that why I didn't grow taller?
One reason for my lack of sleep is that I became an attendant of the night. The main stage for magic training truly unfolds at night.
On days the Dean is away, when the sun sets, I also go outside.
If I create an illusion of myself on the bed with illusion magic, all my fellow students are such blockheads they'll never know.
Today, I was so excited, I almost hummed a tune the entire way out of the Magic Tower.
Recently, when I followed the Dean to a southern village, I heard a rumor that monsters had settled in hordes in the <White Swarm> swamp.
‘Couldn’t a mage take care of it?’
It must have been a whisper meant to be heard, imbued with such longing, but unfortunately, the Dean was not a battle mage specialized in combat.
This business trip is probably to deliver a message to a nearby lord (the weight of commoners' words and a mage's words are bound to be different), but giving up delicious food to others goes against my life's philosophy.
This is absolutely not about easing the Dean's burden, or upholding the Dean's prestige, nothing like that. It's simply for my own satisfaction.
What's important for the [Strongest Mage], I believe, is the presence or absence of a punching bag to hone the strongest magic.
If a punching bag bursts from a slight tap, how can one train in martial arts or swordsmanship?
My current situation was like that. Everything would break even if I used magic that was less than 10% of my full power.
But monsters have appeared in hordes?
This is crazy!
I have to go, I have to go, I absolutely have to go.
The magic I planned to experiment with this time was no less than three types.
They were Fire attribute, Lightning attribute, and Steel attribute, respectively, all 3rd-rank combat-series magic, and from 3rd-rank magic onwards, the power itself is incomparable to 2nd-rank.
I had been waiting for such an opportunity, where indestructible toys would roll in in droves.
“What is this brat? How did you get in?”
A horde of monsters… Hmm?
“That’s strange? I heard there were monsters, but why thieves?”
The bandit group had nested deep within the swamp.
Indeed, for some reason, they had settled in a place difficult for a regular army to enter. However, since I came by laying a direct road with Earth-attribute magic, there were no problems.
Six fierce-looking bandits approached, slowly drawing their blades. Seeing the small clumps of dried blood and fat, it seemed they had just committed slaughter.
“Haha, look at this brat. Did you come looking for your mom? How about I help you find out where your mom is? But it might take some time. We’ve had quite a few women to play with.”
Unfortunately, I am 100% immune to such immoral remarks.
“What are you talking about. You idiot, I don’t have a mom.”
For the [Strongest Mage], a background of being solitary without family might actually be more appealing.
“I’m also detecting monster energy. This is fantastic, isn't it? Yah-ha! Bandits *and* monsters, a 1+1 deal!”
I had seen people killing and dying in the slums as an everyday occurrence. I felt absolutely no guilt about killing villains.
First, it would be best to properly draw attention and gather everyone here.
Among the eight attributes, the most flamboyant is, indeed, the Fire attribute.
“Is this kid crazy!”
The magic I will experiment with today is Fire Plowing (火耕).
“Rip out his tongue first!”
It's a 3rd-rank fire-attribute magic that divides an area into sections and causes flames to erupt from the dividing lines.
“Wait, what? What's that magic circle on his palm?”
The magic circle is a combination of three triangles.
The runes inscribed in each circle are `Yeom` (炎; blazing), `Gyeong` (耕; plowing), `Seung` (昇; soaring).
The providence alteration formula and the coordinate calculation formula are easily calculated together with a cubic function.
“Th-that, could it be… Ah, a mental calculation mage? Ru-run!”
A single line of soot spread across the entire swamp, and the sight of brilliant flames soaring above it was truly magnificent.
Its power was also beyond compare.
The dozen or so bandits exposed to the flames, far from becoming scorched corpses, instantly turned into something unrecognizable, whether charcoal or ashes.
“Aa-aahhhhhhh…!”
“Sa-sa-save me, save me…!”
It's amazing, 3rd-rank magic… I don't think the grimoires properly explained this power, did they?
Hmm, not bad.
The method of making providence dance purely with intellect, this is why magic becomes more fun the more you use it… At that moment, embarrassment washed over me.
“Huk.”
I got too excited and unnecessarily used something powerful from the start. What if everyone runs away?
However, it seemed my worries were unfounded.
Because soon, a dark blue aura surged through the flames head-on.
“Black magic?”
Whether the caster just threw it haphazardly by eye, the black magic landed in a strange direction.
At the point of impact, it clung like a tumor, gnawing away at the life force of the area and expanding further.
This is the danger of black magic.
If it hits squarely once, there's a high probability of sending the opponent to their demise, so it's a superior version of the virulent poison attribute, but I have no particular intention of using it.
- Rin, never lay your hands on black magic. Understood?
Since the Dean warned me so sternly… still, what's interesting is interesting.
“What runes did this black magic use? What about the mathematical formula? It seems based on the water attribute, so you used a circular formation (圓陣), didn’t you?”
However, if left as is, the erosion range would expand, and troublesome things would occur.
I slightly adjusted the coordinates for the power formation of Fire Plowing (火耕).
As the flames connected over that cursed tumor, all corruption was soon eradicated. At that, the black mage opened her mouth blankly.
“3rd-rank magic? Is this Special Operations? How did the Magic Alliance already catch my scent?”
From a position where the power of the flames was somewhat mitigated, a woman who seemed to proudly declare, ‘I’m a black mage,’ to the whole neighborhood walked out, draped in a dark blue robe.
She deliberately struck up a conversation.
She definitely wanted to draw attention.
Indeed, life force signals were detected approaching, dispersed from various points in the flames. It seemed she had some capable swordsmen under her command, which made my mouth water.
“Good, isn’t it? This way, I can properly experiment with the second magic.”
I’m curious.
What other black magic will she use?
She can use defensive magic too, right? She can block the magic I’m currently using too, right?
“Ah, my heart is pounding, isn’t it? It’s my first time facing a black mage.”
“This crazy brat!”
Magic circle construction, two pentagons and a circle embracing them.
Power and speed are set for lightning-attribute magic, but one water-attribute magic circle is mixed in for conductivity and power amplification. The inscribed runes are `Roe` (雷; lightning), `Jang` (場; field), `Tu` (投; throw).
Forming an electric field over the entire area, and striking with lightning at a desired location, this can be said to be a magic I created independently.
“3, 3rd-rank magic of the Yorhen type?”
What I realized while studying magic is that the four minor elements seemed far more refined and rational attributes than the four major elements.
The four major elements, called fundamentals, require an excessive amount of unnecessary knowledge.
At least the Fire attribute, thanks to the Rivendell School representing the Seven Great Schools, has seen useless runes and mathematical formulas eliminated, leaving only rational ones for future generations…
The four minor elements are elements chosen by many battle mages. Thanks to this, various miscellaneous techniques were cut away in many battles, and were being refined into complete forms.
For example, there is the Electric attribute.
The Electric attribute, derived from the Fire attribute, has reduced power but excels in speed.
This speed encompasses everything from the calculation formula of magic to its activation speed and impact speed.
Even if its power is lacking, if it accurately targets a weak point, it can be used far more powerfully than ‘Fire-attribute magic that fails to hit the enemy.’
I spoke at length because it's my favorite attribute, but the same applies to other minor elements.
Ice, Steel, and Virulent Poison magic also, each from Water, Earth, and Wind attributes, extracted only their lethal power.
The pioneers of the minor elements, Grand Mage Ryuken and Grand Mage Zelnyx, how genius they must have been. How wonderful it would have been if I could have met them and asked them about magic.
But despair crept in from the moment I harbored this fantasy. Those two were figures from as many as 500 years ago.
“Th-that, that can’t be! ‘That person’ said there were no mages of such skill here, a Yorhen-type 3rd-rank battle mage, a master like that in this backwater──!”
Once the spell formula is activated, no further calculations are needed. All that's required is to designate the coordinates.
With what? With my index finger.
After swiftly pointing at the black mage about ten times with my fingers from both hands, I then pointed once at each of the life signals rapidly approaching.
“Yaa!”
“Ack!”
“Yah!”
“Kkuek!”
“Yaa!”
“A-bat!”
The high practicality of the minor elements is, after all, in their casting speed and impact speed.
However, inevitably, a cognitive gap occurs from magic circle construction, rune engraving, and mathematical calculations.
Remedier-type, or rather, written-calculation mages, even spend additional time rummaging through grimoires to find magic suitable for the situation.
“Yap!”
“Eueok!”
“Yaa!”
“Aak!”
“Shyashat!”
“Kkeueok!”
That's why battle mages are said to need warriors to take the vanguard, but that doesn't suit me, who pursues the [Strongest Mage], that is, a lone wolf.
That's why I created this magic.
Once I've definitely deployed the electromagnetic field, it's like having unfolded a domain, and all power over life and death can be said to have fallen into my grasp.
Hmm…
This is awkward. No more life signals are being detected now. Except for just one person, the black mage.
“Are there no more? I still have three shots left. Encourage your subordinates to exert a little more effort. I haven't even tried one of my magic spells yet.”
“Hee, hee hee hee, you young brat… you don’t even know what real magic is, so you must be overly proud…”
“What, are you going to tell me? What real magic is? Show me, show me, hurry and show me!”
The black mage's body began to grotesquely inflate as she spoke. From her entire body, the Abyss (深淵), the source of black magic, was detected swelling up.
“Soon ‘that person’… the second pillar of the Black Church… the true master of magic… will soon… all of you… this entire false world…!”
“That's what a black mage should do! Unleash your full power! What kind of magic will you use? What runes will you use? Black magic uses forbidden Orbios symbols, doesn’t it? Then what magic circle will you base it on? What rank magic? What magic should I use for your magic to be properly experimented with? Tell me, quickly!”
“This crazy brat…!”
While it was quite interesting to see what would happen, the Abyss's diffusion power was more dangerous than fire.
It would be troublesome if something strange happened unnecessarily nearby. A request might come to the Dean to restore the contaminated land.
This is absolutely not because I'm thinking of the Dean, but because if the Dean is busy, it's my loss, as there's no one else to ask about magic in the Magic Tower except for him.
“I said I still have three shots left, didn’t I? If you acted so cool, you can naturally block this, right?”
Yap, one shot with my right hand, Yat, one shot with my left hand, Yap, and one more shot with my right hand.
Fire is the natural enemy of the Abyss.
Even lightning, derived from the Fire attribute, possesses the power of fire, making it possible to burn away the source of the Abyss.
“Kkeu-euh-euh-euh, Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah…”
An indescribable sense of emptiness enveloped my entire body, almost making my knees buckle.
No, is this it? If it’s a black mage, then, what was it, huh?
After resentfully but easily blocking all of my experimental magic,
“Hahahaha! Is this all you’ve got, mage! Then now, face my [strongest] black magic!”
Shouldn't she have shouted something like this? And then I would have unleashed the entirety of my magic, and in such a fated battle…
“I’m… so… rry… Ma… ster… Jes… s… ■.”
The black mage, whose source of power was severed by the lightning, collapsed, unable to finish her bizarre act, her body charred black.
That gave me a good assignment.
Fire Plowing completely turned the target into ashes, so perhaps lightning magic is indeed lacking in power due to its attribute's limitations? I should research ways to compensate for its inherent power.
I'll do that when I get back to the Magic Tower…
Fortunately, I eradicated the bandit group led by the black mage, so now it was time for some very decent rewards.