- Bolba
What had been our second drink became a third, and only after we had emptied that as well did we slowly begin wrapping things up.
“Cheon Danbi, try gathering information about black mages. Even rumors are fine. Since the black mages have already started moving, there should be stories going around. Especially if you hear anything about the Chungcheong-do area, make sure you tell me.”
“Got it. Don’t worry. I’ve got regular mage customers at the herb shop, and local merchants too, so I’ll dig around for information here and there.”
At my request, Cheon Danbi answered confidently.
“I’ll try contacting the Hall of Magic and attend the World Mage Conference as well, so I can look into the overall situation.”
“That’s a good opportunity. Maybe black mages like Yasin, or even the Magic Tower, are connected to black mages in other countries.”
“Anyway, let’s find ourselves a lead.”
After Cheon Danbi and I shared our plans, I looked back at Gil.
“Gil, you should focus on training for now, until you get used to your abilities as a mage. You’ll need practice to properly control the power that suddenly grew inside you.”
“The mage is right. Until that mana becomes fully yours, you need to take good care of your body. Ah! I’ll pack some potions that should help you. And come visit the herb shop from time to time.”
“Yes. I will. Thank you.”
Gil looked back and forth between the two of us and bowed deeply. His face had brightened.
Rather than my telling him to train, he seemed happier about Cheon Danbi telling him to come visit the herb shop.
“Then shall we get going?”
I was the first to spring up from my seat and head toward the counter. I was the one who had to pay for the meal, after all.
But there was no employee in sight.
As I was looking around, Cheon Danbi came over and said,
“You don’t have to pay for the meal.”
“What? Why not?”
“This is a place where I eat on credit. They originally do business with my shop. I supply them with the ingredients they need.”
“Food ingredients?”
I asked, puzzled. An herb shop supplying a restaurant with ingredients? Did that mean the food we had eaten was made with such precious ingredients?
“No, not food ingredients. You know how dwarves like making all sorts of strange things. They go looking for every kind of material imaginable. Who else could provide materials that can only be found in Neo Forest? Me, that’s who!”
Cheon Danbi said with a wink, then laughed brightly.
As expected, my first impression had been right.
Cheon Danbi was definitely sneaking in and out of Neo Forest, gathering this and that.
‘A thief… No. Let’s call it a druid’s privilege.’
I chuckled to myself.
Cheon Danbi added in a low voice,
“Want me to tell you a secret? This restaurant is just the tip of the iceberg. If you go down underground from here, it connects to a dwarven village.”
“Really? I thought dwarves only lived in designated zones.”
“Officially, yes. But since when has the world ever run exactly according to official rules?”
So the restaurant seemed to serve as something like an entrance to the dwarven village.
Now I understood why the outside of the restaurant had been made so hard to recognize.
In a word, it was a restaurant that had no particular intention of attracting customers.
As we were about to leave, the middle-aged waitress came out from the kitchen.
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“Yes. It was very delicious. Thank you for the meal.”
As she looked proudly at Gil, who bowed politely, the woman suddenly held something out. It was a small, round, orange fruit.
“It’s a Bolba fruit. Try it as a palate cleanser. It’ll freshen your mouth.”
“Thank you.”
The woman handed me a Bolba fruit as well.
“Then we’ll come again next time.”
“Yes. Please do. Mages are always welcome here.”
The woman spoke with a warm smile.
Each of us put a Bolba fruit in our mouths and left the restaurant. Coming out from that place that had felt like the inside of a cave, the sunlight dazzled my eyes.
The first taste of the Bolba fruit was a little numbing. Once the tingling sensation passed, my mouth really did feel refreshed. The aftertaste was extremely clean. It was a flavor I had never tasted before.
‘An exotic taste. No, should I call it a different-race taste?’
Oudin’s memories informed me that Bolba fruit was a dessert dwarves enjoyed. But the taste itself had not been engraved in them.
This world really was a world of many races. I savored that fact on the tip of my tongue.
After turning through alley after alley again and arriving in front of the herb shop, Cheon Danbi looked at the parked car and said,
“What are you going to do with the car like this?”
“Well, it rolled its way here, so I guess it’ll roll somehow. The problem is that this car isn’t mine. The repair costs are going to be insane, aren’t they?”
“Ah! If you’re going to have it repaired, just leave it here. There’s a car center run by a dwarf I know. Let’s leave it there. They do business with me too, so they’ll give you a good price.”
“Really? That’s great. Then I’ll leave it with you.”
I handed the car key to Cheon Danbi.
In any case, I couldn’t return the car in this state, so I had no choice but to get it repaired.
“Are you going to take the bus?”
“We can just walk back slowly. Then I’m off. Contact me right away if anything happens.”
“Okay. I’ll contact you when the car’s done being repaired.”
“Noona, goodbye.”
“Yeah. Take care. Gil, look after yourself.”
After saying our farewells, Gil and I slowly walked toward Itaewon.
I felt as if I had come to Cheon Danbi and gotten many things resolved.
Gil had been healed, we had been treated to a meal, and even the car had been left in her hands. It felt as if every problem had been cleared away.
My stomach was full, and so was my heart.
‘Cheon Danbi really is a healer.’
But this was not a situation where I could simply indulge in such leisure.
I recalled the face of the black mage Yasin. I recalled his magical skill, which had surpassed mine even though he had been controlling things remotely.
It was clear. In order to go find Samir, I had to train my magic. I had no time to relax.
* * *
That night, Gil fell asleep early. He had eaten dinner and taken the potion Cheon Danbi had prepared for him, and it seemed to contain some kind of sleeping agent.
She probably meant for him to rest well in order to recover.
I entered the magic space with the crows. While the crows went about feeding, I trained my magic.
For hours, I sat without moving and maintained my concentration. I tried controlling the waves of mana within me in detail, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.
Between each breath, I continued controlling it without missing even an instant, so the mana waves would not be interrupted. I rode atop the waves and played with them.
‘At this point, it feels like the gaps have been filled.’
After spending a long time absorbed in moving my mana waves, I rested briefly, then moved on to the next stage.
I absorbed as much mana from the magic space as possible and filled my mana reserves. Mana filled every corner of my body so thoroughly that I could feel its heavy presence.
With that, I tried manifesting various kinds of magic.
By making my control more precise, I extended powerful mana waves more intricately than usual and loaded with a far greater amount of mana.
‘Ice!’
‘Freeze!’
‘Flame!’
‘Flare!’
‘Motive Force!’
‘Telekinesis!’
Even with basic spells everyone knew, the power was different.
The intensity of concentration guaranteed the precision of the mana waves. The strength of intent accelerated the output of magic.
A clumsy mage could only see mana as a lump of energy. But when one saw and moved mana as waves, magic with precise circuits emerged.
Oudin had been outstanding at controlling waves from the very beginning. That was why he had been able to become a great mage whom others admired.
‘But I’m going to surpass him. By adding power to precision.’
What Cheon Danbi had said while healing Gil had given me a hint.
The size of the vessel that held mana was not absolute.
Most mages, when they accepted a large amount of mana, could not control the chaos that arose inside their bodies and ended up causing mana overload.
I just had to control that chaos.
Long hours of focused training served to analyze and control that chaos.
That was why, even after absorbing the maximum amount of mana from the magic space, I could easily output that tremendous amount of mana as magic.
‘Done!’
Even with just one night of training, the achievement was remarkable. I was quite satisfied. It wasn’t complete yet, but I felt as though I had found the direction.
Even though I had trained all night, I was not tired at all. On the contrary, my entire body was brimming with vitality.
Carrying that vitality within me, I left the magic space.
Gil was still asleep, but when I moved back and forth inside the room, he opened his eyes. Sleep still clung heavily to them.
“You’re awake? I’m going to the Hall, so stay home and rest. Sleep some more. Don’t go anywhere. Nothing good will come of it if those biohacker bastards spot you.”
“Yes. I’ll stay home.”
Gil answered, half sitting up. It occurred to me that I also needed to find him a room to stay in.
I couldn’t have him keep staying in my room. For now, I still didn’t want to reveal the magic space to anyone else. Even if that person was Gil.
I had to hurry with finding a room. It was dangerous for Gil to keep living outside any longer.
The biohacker organization would be after him too, but Yasin had also seen that Gil was with me.
“I’ll be back.”
“Have a safe trip.”
When I had gone all the way down the rooftop stairs, the landlady came out of the first-floor owner’s entrance to throw away food waste.
“You’re heading out early today?”
She was the same person as my landlady from the previous world. Just as my room on the rooftop was the same, the landlady was the same too.
But her attitude was quite different.
The landlady from the previous world had always treated me dismissively, since I had been no different from an unemployed bum, but now she was treating me extremely politely.
The way she kept bending at the waist must have had something to do with the fact that I was a mage in this world.
In an unexpected place, I was reminded once again of the privileged status of mages.
“Yes, hello.”
I greeted her indifferently, no different from how I had in the previous world. Then something suddenly occurred to me, and I asked,
“By any chance, do you know of any rooms for rent around here? A younger cousin came to stay with me for a bit, and I’m thinking of getting him a room somewhere close in the neighborhood.”
The landlady was something of a fixture in the neighborhood.
In an area like this, with many multifamily houses, asking a landlord could be faster than going to a real estate office to look for a room.
Sure enough, the old woman answered with delight.
“Is that so? We have a room in our house. The student who lived on the second floor just moved out, so he can go in there.”
“That’s great. Then let’s do that.”
“Since he’s your younger brother, Mage, I’ll even make the rent cheap.”
“Thank you. But I have something to take care of right now, so I need to head out. I’ll look at the room when I come back and we can talk more then.”
“Of course. Go take care of your business.”
Unexpectedly, I had found Gil a room with ease. Of course, I had to check the room, but unless there was a serious issue, I intended to have him move in.
Most importantly, if he was in the same building, it would be easier to protect him.
With a light heart, I headed toward the Hall of Magic.