Episode 4: I’m Here to Introduce a Good Product! (4)
“Black magic?”
“I’ve seen those who dabbled in it. It rarely ends well. The moment you touch it for a fleeting taste of power, you can never turn back. Be honest with me.”
Chepesyu fixed his gaze on the boy with trembling eyes.
Black magic.
It referred to ominous magic whose source of power was corrupted, or which gnawed away at the caster’s mind.
It included many types such as black mages, necromancers, and mind-controlling mages, but what Chepesyu was curious about was the source of the power Sid had shown.
Even in the kingdom, black magic was treated as a serious crime second only to treason; it was inevitably dangerous.
“Come now. Be honest with me.”
If his efforts until now had borne fruit, it was something to praise.
But desperate times drove people to do anything.
Even if it was a temptation offered by a demon.
At his teacher’s serious gaze, Sid became conscious of the passbook on his chest.
Just as he himself had suspected the night before, Chepesyu too was worried about the worst-case scenario of this special change.
Thump, thump…
His left chest, pressed against the passbook, pulsed with a heartbeat.
The moment the hesitant Sid opened his mouth.
Chepesyu laughed loudly and waved his hand.
“It’s a joke, you rascal! A place as remote as our monastery couldn’t possibly have cursed items or black magic tomes! I was just startled, so I said that. Startled, indeed! Hoho!”
“Director, you really are something! Haha!”
Laughing heartily, Chepesyu gulped down his lukewarm tea.
Sid, who had felt his heart tighten, also took a sip of the sweet tea.
Thanks to it having cooled slightly, a sticky aftertaste lingered.
After neatly emptying his teacup, Chepesyu smiled brightly.
“You’ve worked hard. You’ve really worked hard. To think you’ve made it this far without a proper teacher. I’m truly happy, you rascal.”
“What do you mean, without a proper teacher? Director Chepesyu is my eternal benefactor!”
“Hmm? Once you enter the Academy, I wager you’ll forget all about an old monk like me.”
Chepesyu smiled and raised his eyebrows.
At the playful smile, Sid’s heart felt warm.
Soon, Chepesyu rummaged through a bundle of old parchment in the drawer behind him.
Presently, a yellowed parchment emerged from the dust-raising bundle of papers.
“Ah… hmm… let’s see, here it is! Eirena Simpson! A mage I had ties with long ago; she must be the headmaster of the Academy now. She was a kind and beautiful person.”
“You were acquainted with the Academy headmaster?”
“What, is it strange for a monk to be friends with a mage?”
Chepesyu cackled and blew the dust off the parchment.
Dust billowed into the small room, speaking to how long it had been buried away.
The paper was very old but crisp, as if well-preserved.
Seeing the words written in elegant cursive, a smile spread across his lips.
“If I’d given it to you early, you’d have read it and lost it, so I kept it. Now then, let’s see. A gift for you…”
“A gift?”
At the word “gift,” Sid’s ears perked up.
A special magic tool?
An artifact that could amplify magic?
While Sid was wondering what the gift could be, Chepesyu took out a bronze-colored key from the drawer.
Even Sid, who knew exactly what it was, opened his mouth at the familiar object.
“It’s the key to the book room. I suppose I must give it to our little mage. Though there was a thieving cat who went in just fine without it, wasn’t there?”
“Hehe…”
At Chepesyu’s playful laughter, the boy scratched his head.
“Thieving cat” was what he called Sid, who had slipped in and out of the book room through a cat hole.
But giving him that key held a special meaning.
Chepesyu stroked his beard as he looked at his disciple.
A beard drooping like willow leaves shifted at his touch.
“The intermediate magic books are behind the third bookshelf. Eh… come to think of it, you already knew all of this!”
“Hehe, sorry.”
A boy who had figured out every hidden cat hole and secret bookshelf.
Even the director, who had pretended not to know this fact, felt his chest lighten.
Turning a blind eye to him entering the book room and giving him the key to the book room carried different meanings, after all.
Become a proper mage with your head held high, without minding the eyes of the monastery.
Sid, who could not fail to understand this meaning, expressed his gratitude.
There could be no better gift for a disciple striving to become a mage.
“Become a splendid mage, Sid. Like the mage who saved you.”
* * *
A slightly open wooden window.
Dust fluttering in the old book room sparkled between the rays of sunlight.
With plenty of time left for reading, the boy even hummed a tune as he moved his hands.
“Sis Nunim. I have a question. By the standards you told me, ‘Lightning Bolt’ costs 100 coins and ‘Fire Bolt’ costs 94 coins, right? In terms of power, Fire Bolt is better, and it consumes less mana too, so isn’t it basically a superior version in every way? I don’t see why anyone would insist on using Lightning Bolt.”
Sis Nunim.
It was a nickname only Sid used, combining ‘System’ and ‘Nunim’.
It had been three days since he started coming and going into the study while waiting to enter the Academy.
He had grown accustomed enough to the passbook to ask such light questions.
It was called a “book room,” but it was merely a small space with seven bookshelves, with more empty spots than books.
Sid read and reread the books there.
They say the makings of an outstanding mage come from reading; if nothing else, he was confident in that regard.
[Lightning and flame can be seen as similar in that they both inflict damage. However, the advantage of lightning magic does not lie in its power. While flame magic possesses a projectile—a ball of fire—lightning magic pursues the shortest path to its target.]
“Hmm, that’s complicated… so it manifests its power the instant it’s cast? It’s fast? Something like that?”
Most magic books dealt with the life story and research of a single mage.
They listed the fruits of a mage’s lifelong devotion to research, and only in the final chapter did they introduce the method to learn it.
In other words, a single spell contained one person’s entire life, and thus became one book.
Of course, there were ‘grimoires’ that omitted such methods and conveniently transmitted spells, but where could one easily obtain such things?
Thus, a fledgling like Sid had no choice but to read thick books over and over to learn a single spell.
Vague words like ‘Until you understand it!’
But as you know, our Sid is clever.
They say he is faster than others at ‘understanding through reading’.
[Unlike
“Aha. So it doesn’t just mean it’s fast, but that it strikes the target directly without any projectile?”
[That is correct.]
“Ungh. I learned something new. Even at the same power level, lightning magic is harder to avoid.”
Thanks to having obtained a kind teacher, Sid focused on his reading with a bright grin.
Listening to the passbook’s advice helped far more than figuring out sentences alone.
Having already finished one bookshelf, the boy returned the finished ‘Understanding Lightning Magic’ to its place.
Although the books remaining in the monastery only covered the basics, it was precisely these ‘basics’ that Sid needed most right now.
But as he picked his next book, the passbook in his bosom spoke up.
[Customer. Your current understanding of magic is fairly satisfactory. Reading books alone cannot affect your mana capacity, so we recommend using a different method.]
“A different method?”
He became interested in the passbook’s advice.
He had vaguely read only books until now; receiving such advice was a first.
“How?”
[By consistently consuming mana.]
“Aah! I know that. Mana is like a waterway. Is that what you mean?”
Mana was like a waterway.
It was a metaphor commonly spoken by many mages.
They said mana was not flowing water but a ‘waterway’—its role was to channel what came in, not to contain it.
Moreover, the beauty of this metaphor lay in the fact that the more mana was ‘properly’ used, the larger its vessel grew.
Just as a great flood widened a waterway, a mage’s vessel grew under the influence of the magic they used.
The theory among mages was that by widening the waterway in this manner, it would one day become a great river.
For a boy who had ‘never succeeded at magic’ and thus never even allowed water to flow, a small stream had finally been born.
And Sid was currently experiencing this theory firsthand.
His capacity, which had originally been a mere ‘75 coins’, had grown to ‘81 coins’ in three days.
Of course, there were almost no spells that could be used with ‘6 mana coins’, but feeling himself grow day by day, the boy enjoyed his daily life as if it were a gift.
[Contents] Balance Check
[Amount Withdrawn]
[Amount Deposited]
[Balance] *281 (Chepesyu Monastery)
‘Hmm, I’ve saved up quite a bit. Should I practice Lightning Bolt tonight?’
The boy, pulling out a book, plopped down in his seat.
The ‘balance’ displayed in the passbook was a generous figure of 281 coins.
Though it granted ‘1%’ interest on held mana at midnight, he wasn’t foolish enough to hoard that meager amount out of greed.
What the boy had to do was steadily expend and consume mana.
It was important to widen the ‘waterway’ in that way and increase his capacity.
But perhaps displeased with the boy focusing on reading, the passbook’s nagging continued.
[Customer’s current method of growth is inefficient. We recommend finding an efficient method.]
The voice that rang out every time he focused on the text made the boy furrow his brows.
He had thought it was taciturn at first, but it turned out to be quite the nag.
Moreover, covering his ears was useless against this voice.
“I’m constantly consuming mana. What exactly do you want me to do?”
[Mages have respective specializations such as flame, frost, and so on. You too need to focus on one.]
“A specialization?”
Just as he was starting to get annoyed, the passbook’s words snatched the boy’s interest.
They were words that made him nod.
From flame mages, frost mages, and even black mages.
Most mages tended to focus on one field rather than learning various types of magic.
There was meaning in accumulating know-how by focusing on one thing, but it was also because the more one used a particular field, the more accustomed they became to the changes in mana.
“Hmm, you have a point!”
The boy, licking his lips, fell into happy imaginings.
Scorching and destructive flame magic?
Sharp and lethal frost magic?
But the scene that came to mind was only one.
The blazing wyvern that had given birth to his dream of becoming a mage.
“Then I’ll go with flame magic! Fireball, Flame Strike! Phew, there are so many!”
Excited, Sid snapped his fingers.
He was as cheerful as if choosing his favorite toy from among many laid out before him.
[Flame magic does not suit you, Customer. Please think carefully.]
“Hmm… why?”
At the blunt dismissal, Sid lowered his hand.
Like a child scolded for trying to do what he wanted, he became sullen.
[Flame magic is honest magic whose power is determined by the amount of mana consumed. With your current capacity, you cannot compete with other mages.]
‘Ngh.’
It was a blow straight to the heart.
From the start, there was no benefit for Sid, who had less mana than others, to wield magic honestly.
The boy, pouting his lips, opened his mouth half-annoyed, half-hopeful.
“Then what magic suits me?”
Sid looked at his chest.
Whatever the case, since it was a gift that had opened the path of magic for him, there was no harm in listening to her words.
He simply felt disappointed that flame magic—the very symbol of ‘coolness’—did not suit him.
[According to information gathered under the terms of membership, your body is currently in a considerably developed state. Based on abilities already acquired, you are expected to demonstrate considerable efficiency should you become a Knight or Monk.]
“No, I want to become a mage!”
At the sudden suggestion to become a monk, Sid raised his voice.
As the boy’s eyes went wide, the passbook calmly continued.
[That was a joke. Deriving a magic that can be linked with personal information and basic techniques gathered so far. Confirmed. The skill in question is
— To be continued in Episode 5 —