Engraving magic circles was a task mostly left to the lower-ranking mages.
Although they were supposedly management, there was only one Class 4 Mage present. These individuals took turns in this role for an obvious reason.
‘In reality, it is ridiculous for a Class 4 Mage to be present just to engrave scroll magic circles.’
It was to learn from me. Among them was Ruan, who had revealed she was a disciple of the Magic Tower.
“How is it? Are you interpreting it well?”
“……Be quiet.”
Ruan seemed to have been called a genius at the Magic Tower as well. She had attached herself to me with confidence to interpret the magic circles, but her expression spoke for the results.
‘I told you Jinbeop is not easy.’
The feeling of being the only one who knows something that others do not. It is always thrilling.
“Oh my. Aren’t you being too harsh?”
“What do you mean harsh? It is harsh to expect us to interpret magic circles like this.”
“My, your tongue has grown sharper than your interpretations, Ruan.”
“……Bad guy.”
“Yes?”
“……It is nothing.”
The mages of the Magic Tower were tearing their hair out just as much as I was feeling my thrill, but what could they do?
‘Everything is according to the contract terms.’
I said I would reveal the magic circles, but I never said I would teach them.
The confident mages of the Magic Tower had agreed to these terms as well. Because of that, they could not cling to me asking to be taught.
‘They would not ask to be taught out of pride, anyway.’
Watching them lock themselves in small rooms every day, staying up all night like madmen and racking their brains, was quite entertaining.
It was a bad hobby, but it felt like watching an engineering student who could not understand the material despite having the textbook right in front of them.
“I am acting according to the contract terms, you know? Hehe.”
“……I know, so please go. Away.”
It was a pity, but my time poking them in their rooms ended there.
“Hey. Did you actually forget? Today is the day to reveal another magic circle, isn’t it?”
“Ah!? Is it already today?”
“Yes. So come quickly. There is no use in just holding onto this, you know?”
“……Yes.”
It was time to slowly take these mages and use them for other tasks.
‘I must use them in various fields.’
I led Ruan and the mages, who were haggard and exhausted from several sleepless nights, to move out.
“Let’s go, with the bad guy!”
“……”
The unveiling of a new magic circle. It was for no other reason than to give them more work.
“We are going to engrave magic circles here?”
“Of course. Previously, my exclusive serf… no, my subordinate handled this, but since there are many mages now.”
I brought the mages to the top of the fortress walls. The target was the outskirts of Ruan Castle, which had been completed first. Magic circles designed by Birence were to be engraved here.
‘Birence was quite disappointed.’
Birence was someone who enjoyed working his enemy, Reton, to the bone. Now, the Magic Tower mages would have to do Reton’s work.
The installation of the fortress defense magic circle.
It was full of disappointment for Birence, but on the other hand.
“Still, it would be powerful if a Magic Tower mage does it, right?”
“Well… since I will be designing the magic circles myself, it will not be much different from Reton doing it.”
“Then let Reton do it! Why use Magic Tower mages?”
“Because that is faster.”
“……I have no choice. I will go help with the designs elsewhere.”
They were convinced quickly.
How many mages were there from the Magic Tower alone? If they were mobilized, the speed of engraving magic circles would inevitably increase.
‘It is the same as the Kingdom’s magic corps coming to build it.’
It was equivalent to having mages who would cost tens of thousands of gold a day as mercenaries come and help.
Swish. Swish.
I gathered them and showed them how to engrave the magic circle.
“Now, you can engrave it like this.”
“How does it work?”
“Oh. This is new again.”
When I showed them a new magic circle, their eyes lit up despite how they had been clutching their heads over the ones they could not interpret before.
‘They are interesting. They are similar to Murim people obsessed with Mugong.’
‘When were they just tearing their hair out? How could they have such expressions now?’
I kept them in suspense for a moment.
“Originally, I shouldn’t be teaching you directly because of the trade.”
“……Ah.”
“Ah, please teach us!”
They looked at me like baby birds wanting food, unable to endure even a short pause.
I ignored the other mages and looked at Ruan.
“Oh my. What should I do about this? Being a bad guy, my mouth won’t open easily, you see?”
“……”
The mages who were watching me all turned their eyes to Ruan. What a focused gaze.
“……Ah, teach us.”
In the end, I made Ruan declare surrender.
‘Still fun.’
It felt like watching kids who were completely obsessed with one thing.
“Hehe. Then shall I teach you?”
“Yes!”
“Oh! We humbly ask for your guidance!”
“So, this thing called a magic circle, unlike ordinary magic circles…”
Smiling slyly, I calmly explained the functions of the magic circle.
Of course, there was almost no explanation about the Jinbeop. I only gave them a hint about how it was driven, only a very small part.
‘The difference between Jinbeop and magic. Whether you use nature or conform to it. It is an easy yet difficult difference. That is the beginning.’
Unexpectedly, Ruan managed to understand my explanation well.
“So in the end, doesn’t it mean you put naturalness into it while using Mana through the magic circle?”
“Hm?”
“I mean ‘coexistence’. You didn’t mix the two concepts, but you made them coexist, right?”
She hit the core of this artificiality quite well. But that core was…
‘……Coexistence.’
Something resonated with me.
Until now, I thought of merely mixing Jinbeop into magic circles. I never thought that the two could coexist at once.
But when I thought about it.
It did not matter whether the basis was a Jinbeop or a magic circle. The important thing was.
‘Coexistence. And interaction. Was it that?’
That the two things I had kept separate could, in a way, move together as one.
I had told others that they could not understand Jinbeop or that their interpretation of magic circles was lacking. But actually, the one who was most lacking was.
‘Me.’
It was none other than me.
Even though I knew both, I had merely stopped at combining them; I was lacking in making the two coexist and harmonize.
‘……Harmony.’
I could not move forward because I had kept the two separate.
What I possessed was Mana. The Mana that exists in nature.
‘Isn’t this Mana something that embraces everything that eventually becomes Aura or Mana?’
I was the one who divided everything—calling it Jinbeop, or magic circle—even though anything can be transformed, harmonized, and conformed to.
‘Was it like that?’
Thud—
It felt like something that had been blocking my heart was cleared away. Something that had been balled up and stagnant. The preconceptions fixed in my head shattered like breaking glass.
And.
My own understanding.
“……So that’s how it is.”
It gave birth to a new step.
That was an understanding of Mana, a realization that encompasses Jinbeop and magic. The moment I established that entire understanding all by myself.
Gooooooo—
The Mana that had started to boil subsided calmly.
It was not merely sunk. It had simply settled deeper and more calmly, coiling itself up.
Kwooooong!
Right now, to gain the driving force to go even further!
It was a momentary change!
“Ah…….”
That was a joy that leaked out of me before I knew it.
The Mana boils, sinks, and surges. It seemed close to chaos, but there was harmony within it. It was a tuned harmony.
An end to the movement that was rushing toward the climax!
At that very moment when it reached its peak!
The four Mana circles thickened, grew larger, and fluctuated.
1000
The Mana that had been surging fiercely created yet another circle with a huge resonance.
One. Two. Three. Four.
And five.
The circle was increasing by one in an instant, sucking in the Mana from the entire surrounding atmosphere.
Usually, when a mage witnesses the realization of the same type of mage—
-“The greatest miracle in the world.”
And at the same time.
-“The greatest nightmare in the world.”
It had two meanings.
That was the state of mind of the mages looking at Rayrn.
As Rayrn’s Mana fluctuated and he pulled it up, their hearts fluctuated more and more. They felt a thrill at the movement of Mana, which is rarely seen.
“H… how…”
To them, that was an uninterpreted miracle.
Originally, a mage’s realization was like that. A mage is someone who dreams of this very moment throughout their life as they understand the world and contain Mana in their bodies.
Realization is something that is not obtained just because you try to obtain it, nor is it given up just because you want to give it up.
Even though mages devote themselves to magic every day with the feeling of grabbing at straws, the realization is also something that ends without being reached for a lifetime.
Many masters of the Magic Tower teach them to pass on that realization, but those who reach it are always the minority.
But to think that a mere individual, not even a mage of the Magic Tower, who had just entered his late teens, succeeded in learning that!
“……Rayrn, wasn’t he a Magic Swordsman?”
“He is an Aura Expert.”
“Ha… hahaha…….”
He was not someone who had spent his whole life only on magic, but someone who was dared to be estimated as an Aura Expert with the sword as well, and he gained realization in front of them.
It is said that in the Royal Capital, a craze is blowing among noble families to teach swordplay from an early age after seeing Rayrn’s skills.
‘……It will be worth seeing if rumors spread in the royal family.’
If rumors of Rayrn’s status as a mage spread, what kind of craze would blow in the Royal Capital this time? There was no way to know.
And for Ruan, who was watching that scene.
‘He is a monster… I thought there was at least a chance to catch up in magic. Was I wrong?’
She was feeling awe more deeply than anyone else.
To her, Rayrn was a complicated being.
Rayrn, who negotiated more skillfully than a merchant. He was someone who used magic methods she had not even imagined. He was also a unique existence who had no reservations towards her, a disciple of the Magic Tower.
Affection? It was not like that.
Ruan was not so soft or stupid as to suddenly develop affection just because he treated her, a disciple of the Magic Tower, without reservation.
It was just that.
However.
‘……Ha.’
Because she was talented enough to be a disciple of the Tower Master, she was just trembling and feeling it more than others.
Because she could feel the flow of Mana around her more clearly than others! Because she could feel it more deeply and interpret the reason for that movement at least a little bit.
‘Amazing.’
She only knew that the movement of Mana shown by Rayrn was irrational, huge, and powerful, more than anyone else.
That was a wonder, a jealousy, and also.
‘……He might be okay.’
It was almost a turning point for her to see Rayrn differently.
“Whew.”
The first thing Rayrn said after waking up from his realization.
“……Thanks to you, I gained a profound epiphany, Ruan. I thought of a way to use you all even better, thanks to this.”
If only he hadn’t spoken about using her openly!
“……Indeed, a bad guy.”
“Affection? Don’t make me laugh. That man was a corrupt mage, no, a corrupt Lord.”
“Hehe. Don’t you want to hear my new interpretation after gaining realization? As long as the conditions are met. As long as the conditions are met.”
“……A truly bad guy.”
In addition, he was a corrupt merchant.