It was nearing midnight.
Ian rapidly skimmed through the community while working his part-time job.
‘Most of these are no better than shitposts.’
He had realized at a glance that the community’s nature was similar to that of a Gallery, but for some reason, the posts written there also felt extremely familiar. Rather than a community used by mages, it felt more like a place where people cosplaying as mages dumped their posts.
The reason the community had ended up looking like this was written in the notice. Apparently, it had copied the appearance of the most famous community in South Korea, and to be sure, that place was famous.
Instead of needlessly making a complicated new community, simply modeling it after the Gallery with the largest number of users was, from an efficiency standpoint, the best method. There was no need to pour resources into it for no reason.
‘Still, it’s a little disappointing.’
Deep down, Ian had expected the mage community to be a gathering of highly intellectual scholars. Something like an academic school where they debated the magic they possessed and proposed better directions. But that fantasy had been smashed head-on.
[Mabungi completed a spell to make breasts bigger lol]
[BugInYourEar]
(A drawing of a platypus with its arms crossed)
Mabungi, come here and sit down.
How long do you plan to live chasing only these provocative titles? Shouldn’t you go outside and catch some Mysteries, or deal with monsters that have drifted in?
This father of yours is truly worried about you……
[Comments]
-StrawberryYogurtSmoothie: This guy is insane, he is. There’s no way that kind of magic exists, there isn’t.
ㄴBugInYourEar: Flatty’s here? lol
ㄴStrawberryYogurtSmoothie: Shut up, you should. Where do you live, huh?
ㄴBugInYourEar: (A cockroach throwing double peace signs sticker)
ㄴStrawberryYogurtSmoothie: You’re a complete fucking bastard, you are.
“Is this a mage, or a Mabungi?”
Mm. It was both.
Ian heaved a deep sigh inwardly and checked a few other posts as well. Fortunately, there were several fairly useful ones.
[I became a mage a week ago. But strange things keep happening. I think I’m even seeing ghosts.]
[Rose]
(A photo of a grimoire covered in leaves)
I happened to pick up a grimoire recently, followed what was written in the book, and became a mage.
But ever since then, I keep getting caught up in strange things. Ghosts? Monsters? Things like that are showing up too.
Is this normal?
[Comments]
-ㅇㅇ It’s normal. The more you deal with Mystery, the more often you get entangled with Mystery.
ㄴRose: Mystery?
ㄴThe things you called ghosts or monsters. All of them are collectively called Mysteries, or Aberrations. The magic you use is also a kind of Mystery.
ㄴRose: Ah, so now that I’ve become a mage, I have no choice but to run into things like that often?
ㄴ(Thumbs-up frog sticker)
ㄴRose: Thank you for telling me.
ㄴSurvive well.
He would get entangled with Mystery more often……
‘Am I going to run into one soon too?’
Ian set his phone aside, and while there were no customers, went outside and put a cigarette in his mouth.
‘Judging from the part about surviving, they don’t seem to be very friendly.’
A drizzle was falling outside. It was already a cold winter, and with rain falling on top of that, a thick mist had settled over the street. Perhaps because there was no one passing nearby, the atmosphere felt somewhat eerie. It would not have been strange if something suddenly jumped out.
“……”
Ian lit the end of his cigarette with a lighter and inhaled the smoke. He quietly stared at the rain and the wet street, then pulled the zipper of his coat all the way up.
Fortunately, unlike the eerie atmosphere, nothing appeared until he finished smoking.
Ian stepped on the cigarette to put it out, dunked it once in water, then threw it into the trash can.
Jingle.
He opened the convenience store door and went back inside. Sitting on the chair placed behind the counter, he took out the grimoire and read it in a spot the CCTV could not see.
He had succeeded in alchemy, but his magical knowledge was still conspicuously lacking compared to other mages. So he had to keep studying somehow, whenever he could make time.
Moreover, the magic this grimoire mainly dealt with was not alchemy. The re-creation written in its title was the true power of this grimoire.
[If there are two objects with completely identical components, then even if their forms differ, it must be possible to re-create one of them and make the two objects completely identical. This is called the Authority of Re-creation.]
[An authority that only the being who possesses this grimoire can use and understand. A power capable of transforming a being recognized as “material” into a different form, even while it possesses the same matter.]
To put it simply, it was magic of a concept even higher than alchemy.
For example, if he were to re-create iron, it would be possible to leave the substances making up the iron alone and change only its form into all kinds of shapes.
The only thing consumed in that process was ether. Large-scale re-creation work required various preparations, but for changing small objects, ether was all that was needed.
And the materials capable of being re-created included everything, regardless of whether they were organic or inorganic.
If Ian activated re-creation using a “human” as material, then that human would only be human in terms of the elements composing them. Their form would become completely different. Even creating a monster that seemed like it came out of a movie would not be difficult for Ian.
‘I doubt there’d be any occasion to use it on a human, though.’
Even so, there was no denying that it was an extraordinarily powerful force.
Fundamentally, re-creation was based on the caster’s imagination, but in order to create something specific, it was necessary to act according to what was written in the grimoire.
For instance, something like this.
[Finger of God]
[All words written with this finger become reality.]
[Materials: One prisoner’s wrist, one key that holds a god, a small amount of flesh from a Great One]
[Converge and mix all materials together to make a single lump. Draw a magic circle over it, then activate re-creation.]
It was a sacred object with an absurd effect, and the materials required were just as extraordinary. Setting aside the prisoner’s wrist, the key that held a god and the flesh of a Great One looked extremely difficult to obtain.
The key was an item recorded in the alchemy section. The materials were quite troublesome, but in any case, it was possible to make. However, he could not even begin to get a sense for the flesh. To begin with, he did not even know what a Great One was.
‘This is a world where Mystery lives and breathes. If even a book written by an Outer God records it as a Great One, then in my current state, it’s probably impossible for me to obtain.’
No, he was not sure whether it would be possible even in the future.
When he thought of a Great One, the first thing that came to mind was Cthulhu, and wouldn’t he have to ram a steam locomotive into it if he wanted to catch one?
It was the moment Ian thought that and turned the page. With a jingle, the convenience store door opened. Ian immediately shut the book and rose from his seat.
“Welcome.”
At the same time as he gave the formal greeting and turned his head toward the customer, his gaze hardened.
The customer was a little…… big. Seriously big.
Its outward appearance was that of a gaunt woman wearing a pure white one-piece dress.
However, its height reached the ceiling, and its neck was so long it bent sideways. Its arms dragged along the floor, and its legs were grotesquely twisted and trembling.
Whether it had been shot somewhere or not, its thighs were riddled with bullet holes.
Blood dripped from between its lips, which were split wide open, and its teeth, covered in clumps of bone and flesh, were stained red.
Soon.
It turned its head toward Ian. Through its hollow eye sockets, he felt as if their gazes had met.
Ian instinctively realized.
‘So this is an Aberration.’
[Aaaargh!]
The moment he thought that, it suddenly let out a scream. Then it swung its long arm like a whip.
Ian, without asking or questioning anything, picked up the grimoire he had closed and opened it.
Flaaap!!
The pages turned on their own, presenting the magic most useful for the current situation.
[If you encounter a Mystery, do not panic. To a mage, it is no different from excellent material.]
[Whether it is material that moves while alive, or material that is already dead. To you, they are nothing more than lowly things.]
[Re-create it into a form beneficial to you.]
The pure white grimoire scattered light. At that moment, the arm the Mystery had thrust out was blocked by the grimoire’s energy and bounced away. The creature’s broken bones and flesh protruded through its skin, and Ian threw himself over the counter, reaching his hand toward the retreating arm.
“Be born anew.”
Crunnnch!!
The moment he uttered the words, the Mystery’s arm converged inward.
[Aaaargh!!]
All the elements composing the arm were crushed, torn apart, and transformed. The creature’s arm, being reborn around the elbow, compressed and crumpled as if drawing a sphere.
Crack! Crunch!!
Along with a horrifying sound, blood spread in all directions. As if it felt terrible pain, the Mystery let out a monstrous scream and used its other arm to cut off the arm that had begun to change.
With a thud, the arm, now transformed into a perfect sphere, fell to the floor. Ian stared for a moment at the object turning a brilliant red, then abruptly raised his head and reached his hand toward the Mystery’s body.
[Aaagh!]
But he did not touch it. Because the Mystery suddenly turned around and fled out of the convenience store.
It smashed straight through the door that had not even opened, then hurriedly hid itself in the rainy street.
“……What the hell.”
The tension that had built up in him for what he thought would be a fierce battle instantly drained away. Scratching his head at the sight of the now-ruined convenience store, he picked up the sphere that had fallen to the floor.
“……In any case, did I obtain an alchemy material?”
He did not know why a Mystery that looked like the Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost had suddenly appeared, why it had run away after doing so, or why there had been bullet holes in its thighs…… but for now, he had obtained one material made from an Aberration.
“Mm.”
Ian uttered the most appropriate words for a situation like this and stuffed the sphere into his pocket.
“How lucky.”