If there was one thing absolutely necessary to use magic, it was, as expected, to sense mana and handle it as if it were one’s own limbs.
And for Hio, that was far too easy.
It was because he possessed the greatest trait related to mana.
“Watch closely. I am showing you this specially to commemorate your becoming my disciple.”
For that reason, he stared intently at Berga as he prepared to show him magic.
“The beginning starts with sensing mana and handling it. I, too, could sense mana, but it took me a little over two years to learn how to handle it. Even so, I was praised for possessing outstanding talent.”
He could feel the mana writhing around Berga.
A precise movement that could not be felt from a mere skill user.
“You seem to possess even greater talent than I, but directly moving mana is an entirely separate matter from seeing it. You will need to train for at least a year before you can produce movements like this.”
The mana moved leisurely, forming patterns one by one.
Slowly enough for Hio to properly watch and feel it.
“Next are the patterns. Patterns made of mana are imbued with special power, and combining them to confine them within a single formation—that is the second stage.”
Dozens of different patterns entered a single formation and settled into place.
“If you make one, another comes undone. If you focus on one, you cannot complete the rest. Thus, you must create and maintain all the patterns at once, and at the same time activate the formation. It took me five years just to succeed in my first spell.”
To complete a single spell, one had to grasp all dozens of patterns,
move mana to complete each pattern one by one while maintaining them,
then gather the completed patterns together and activate them.
That was why Berga could speak so proudly, even though it had taken him five years to succeed in his first spell.
Because five years was an extremely short time.
“So even if I complete magic this easily, cast away any thought that it will be easy, and devote yourself to training!”
The completion of the spell was right before him, so Berga also raised his concentration.
What made the final step a little smoother was the incantation spoken aloud.
“I shall burn all things! Fire!”
All the patterns were completed with mana, confined within a single circle, and as they exerted their power, a ball of fire was created like a miracle.
It was not some skill that popped into existence without any effort, but the crystallization of decades of labor.
It was a sight that remained beautiful no matter how many times he saw it, so Berga turned around with a satisfied smile.
“Uhehehe! How was that? Do you now have some idea of just how difficult magic—”
And then he felt a strange sense of incongruity.
“Hm?”
He had been so focused on completing his own spell that he had failed to notice it, but there was other mana nearby.
And not from anywhere else, but from near his disciple, who was standing there blankly.
That disciple, who had been standing there looking foolish, casually tossed out a word as if playing a prank.
“Um… Fire?”
Berga was about to burst into laughter at the incantation spoken in a stupid voice utterly devoid of conviction, accompanied by an equally foolish expression.
Whoosh—
But at the sight of a ball of fire appearing, he had no choice but to freeze with that exact expression on his face.
The bizarre flow of magic he had felt near his disciple.
A ball of fire identical in every way to the magic he had created.
This insane bastard had succeeded in manifesting magic in a single day.
Something that had taken him a full seven years.
And what was even more absurd was…
“…Eh?”
That hateful expression, tilting his head stupidly, not even knowing what he himself had just done.
Berga wasn’t even on the verge of death, yet his past life flashed through his mind like a lantern.
Himself, struggling desperately for two years to learn how to handle mana.
Himself, concentrating so hard on creating patterns that he even forgot to eat.
The countless trials and errors and failures he had experienced in the process. The frustration.
It was surely a good thing that his disciple did not have to experience those feelings, and yet…
“You absolute son of a bitch…”
Why was it that his eyes were growing moist?
While Berga was looking back on his past and sinking into a bout of sage-time, Hio was also in the middle of being shocked.
Not because he had immediately succeeded in magic.
If he could handle mana and could see the patterns of mana with his own eyes, what reason was there for him not to be able to do it?
However, even Hio had not expected the situation that unfolded.
「You have succeeded in casting Fire-attribute magic — ‘Fire.’」
It was because a message had appeared before his eyes.
「Would you like to register Fire-attribute magic — ‘Fire’ as a skill?」
“This… can be registered as a skill?”
Why did skill books possess such an enormous value?
Because skills could only be learned through skill books.
But if he could learn a skill simply by reproducing magic in the same way, that meant—
“I can get the effects of my traits too?”
His sub-trait, “Can’t Live Without Style!”
And the support trait, “Everything Is Doubled!”
It meant he could receive the effects of both.
On top of that, if he filled up all his endurance, it could even evolve into a hidden trait…
“This is huge.”
It was only natural that his mouth spread into a broad grin.
「Fire-attribute magic — ‘Fire’ has been registered as a skill.」
「Skill: Fire」
「Raises a small flame.」
「It is an incomplete magic formula. It will be difficult to expect much power from it.」
He had gained a serious reason to learn magic.
* * *
It had already been a month since he became the magician’s disciple.
His routine in the meantime had been extremely simple.
He woke up in the morning and prepared a meal.
Though calling it a meal was generous, since it was mostly grass and herbs that could be gathered nearby, but from time to time Berga would bring back meat.
After filling his stomach like that, it was simple.
Study.
More study.
Study, study, study, study.
“Haa…”
The amount of learning was enough to make him sigh on its own.
“If I’d known it’d be like this, I would’ve quit ages ago.”
At first, he had thought it would not take long.
After all, he had watched Berga’s magic and learned it immediately.
But Berga was firm.
“You! Absolutely! Without fail! Must build your foundation solidly from the ground up! Until then, know that you will not learn a single other spell!”
It meant that precisely because his talent was so great, he had to perfect the basics before moving on.
For Hio, who had only intended to gobble up the magic and leave, it was nothing short of a dreadful thing to hear.
“Be honest with me, old man. You’re jealous because I’m too good, right?”
“Tsk! What nonsense is that! Once I die, you will be the last magician remaining in this world, so you have a duty to learn all of my knowledge!”
Berga was so firm that there was nothing else he could do.
He had no choice but to learn the ancient language in order to interpret ancient magic books, and to learn what kind of power each mana pattern possessed.
“Ehew… There’s seriously a filthy amount to memorize.”
At least things like patterns were worth studying.
Since they were directly connected to the casting of magic, there was a certain fun in memorizing them this way and that, and even trying to create the patterns himself once in a while.
But… the ancient language was truly not fun.
“It’s not like I can just not do it, either.”
Magic was a field of study that had already been lost for far too long.
Because of that, most books were written in the ancient language, and even in the Honor Shop, which he had checked just in case, the language scrawled on the covers of books labeled as ancient magic tomes was ancient.
Back when it was just a game, he had definitely been able to read them smoothly.
“Do you know how hard it is to learn a new language…”
Looking at the bundle of papers Berga had made for him, telling him to memorize this first, Hio let out a deep sigh.
If one were to be precise, it was something like a vocabulary list.
No, before that, it felt like learning the alphabet from scratch.
“Ehew, what a life.”
Hio sighed again and again, and Berga watched him with satisfaction.
And around then, Berga left Hio behind and went down underground.
“Keep studying. I’ll be going down.”
“…I told you there’s no need to keep researching that.”
What Berga had been researching underground.
It was none other than research on the creation of skill books.
“You needn’t concern yourself. Just focus on your studies.”
Once he learned that, everything clicked into place.
The magician still alive inside the Magician’s Tomb.
The two missing skill books.
Berga would eventually complete his research, create two skill books containing his own magic, and then die.
But to Hio, skill books no longer held much meaning.
If he learned magic, it would be registered as a skill anyway.
“Why would a man who gets fits at the mention of skills make skill books in the first place?”
“That is precisely why I must prove it all the more. The world prattles on about skill books being divine tomes or what have you, but in the end, such things are merely byproducts of magic.”
“Yes, well, good luck, old man.”
“Tsk, tsk… What a way to speak to a master as high as the heavens.”
As Berga clicked his tongue and went down, Hio shouted at his back.
“Ah, I’ll be stepping outside for a bit, old man!”
Berga waved his hand dismissively as if telling him to do whatever he wanted, then descended to the lower floor.
Once his figure had completely disappeared, Hio rose to his feet.
“These days, once he goes down, he almost never comes back up…”
Perhaps because his research was nearing its end, whenever Berga went underground, he seldom came back up.
Which meant Hio could finally check.
“Just how flashy a magic spell turned into a skill will be.”
* * *
The sun sets quickly in the mountains.
When Hio slipped out of the house, the sky had already grown dark.
“First, not the skill—the real magic.”
Based on his memory, he moved his mana.
What had at first looked like meaningless patterns to him now made a little sense, as if his studying had paid off; he could understand what meaning some of them held.
“…Fire.”
All the patterns were completed, and the darkened surroundings brightened slightly.
A flame smaller than a fist.
A spell from which one could hardly expect any killing power compared to the effort, mana, and mental strength invested into it.
That was precisely why he could not understand it even more.
Though it had only been a short month, he had learned about the power of patterns from a real magician.
According to the patterns that went into this, there was no way the result should be a measly little flame like this, and yet this was what came out.
It felt as though something… extremely important was missing from magic.
“…I don’t know. Let’s just try using the skill.”
This time, he did not move his mana himself, and simply raised his will.
The will to use the skill registered in the system.
Both hands stretched straight toward the sky.
And soon, a message appeared before his eyes.
「Skill — ‘Fire’ has activated.」
In that instant, a light so bright it seemed it might blind him burst forth, forcing Hio to shut his eyes.
And when he slowly opened them again, what he saw was a colossal flame.
A blue flame floating in the direction his hands were stretched.
That sphere of fire burned so fiercely it was not merely red, but piercingly blue.
It was so enormous that looking up from below, he could not fully take its size in at a glance.
The blue fire that had risen into the darkened night sky hung there like a miniature sun.
“Whoa…”
At that majestic sight, Hio let out a short exclamation.
“This has gone completely insane.”