“I greet the Lord of the House.”
When I returned home, the servants were already waiting in the mansion garden.
“Shall we prepare a meal?”
After getting out of the car, I stood silently for a moment and looked up at the sky.
Dusk. The moon revealed amid the dying glow of sunset, and the satellite orbiting that moon. Clouds spreading like colors mixed across a palette.
It was, indeed, a landscape worthy of being called fantasy.
“My lord······?”
It was the butler, who had extended his arms to receive my outer coat.
“······Yes.”
“Understood. As for your meal—”
“I’ll skip it.”
As soon as I entered the mansion, I went up the stairs and headed for my room.
I did not feel the slightest bit tired or weary.
──「Iron Man」──
◆ Grade
：Unique
◆ Description
：Innate physical ability and constitution.
：His physical potential can truly be called of the supreme line.
──────
One of the many traits I had added for fun, 「Iron Man」. Thanks to it, physical fatigue was faint, and my mana recovery rate was also fast.
However, there did seem to be a certain amount of mental fatigue, so I went to the bathroom and showered first. Since I had 「Mysophobia」, washing itself was happiness and recovery.
After finishing a clean shower, I sat in the reading chair in the study. Then I took out one of the magic books I had borrowed through Allen.
「Basic Manipulation Magic」
Today, I intended to learn the manipulation-type magic most intuitively related to Sword Control: ‘telekinesis.’
Of course, since I wasn’t Deculein from the start, I had none of the magical accomplishments this guy had accumulated before. Therefore, my foundation as a mage was practically a wasteland.
Nevertheless, the source of my overflowing confidence was, as expected, the trait 「Comprehension」.
“······.”
With an unwavering posture, I opened the book.
[ Preface ： The Value and Significance of Manipulation Magic ]
The thick book’s table of contents had only four entries. Basic wind direction manipulation, basic umbrella manipulation, basic camouflage, and basic telekinesis.
Naturally, I skipped ahead to basic telekinesis.
[ 4. Basic Telekinesis ： Understanding Telekinesis(念動) ]
：Telekinesis, if one must categorize it, belongs to non-mainstream magic. Of course, the manipulation category itself is treated as minor among the Eight Categories, but even so, it is worth learning as a stepping stone to increasing a mage’s capabilities. Now, observe the following formula······.
······I was at a loss for words for a moment at its contents.
To my eyes, it was an unfathomable record from an alien world.
It was no exaggeration; on every page of the book, the formula for the magic called ‘telekinesis’ had been dismantled and analyzed stroke by stroke. To put it metaphorically, it was like a complex Chinese character separated into each individual stroke.
Even the explanations and calculations for the ‘amount of mana required for a single line’ and the ‘flow of mana leading into the next line’ exceeded ten lines per stroke, and the total volume reached a staggering sixty pages.
“······Indeed.”
Would my 「Comprehension」 truly apply to magic as well?
Could I understand the operation of such a complex supernatural power?
In that uncertain situation, I closed my eyes.
After turning on a certain ‘switch’ in my mindscape, I opened them.
My vision was dyed blue. The light in the room shimmered and wavered like stars.
In a world that blurred like an Impressionist canvas, my focus turned toward the magic book.
My two eyes looked only at the described formula, and 「Comprehension」 activated at that moment.
My mind boiled hot. A forced exhilaration surged all the way to the crown of my head.
Thus my consciousness soared beyond merely seeing and hearing, to a higher-dimensional horizon.
──Telekinesis.
The magic formula left the book and floated into the air.
A turbulent form like a talisman, with curves and straight lines tangled together in every direction. Along those complex and subtle lines, my mana flowed blue and luminous.
A ray of mana light beginning from a single point formed a line, filled a plane, and before long manifested magic.
This was the representation of magic constructed by my 「Comprehension」.
An image within my mindscape.
The magic circle called 「Telekinesis」 formed in the air of the mansion in brilliant light, and soon seeped into my head.
──Inject mana into the interior of an object, condense that mana like a core, and allow the caster’s will to control the object.
In other words, the caster controls not the object itself, but the ‘mana core’ within it.
Therefore, the essence of this magic is to compress the core’s size as much as possible, thereby strengthening the circuit of the formula that holds the object.
I understood that principle of telekinesis, and the magic was ‘memorized’ in my brain.
“······Haa.”
The moment I escaped the control of 「Comprehension」, I exhaled the breath I had been holding. My temples ached, and my eyes felt swollen to the point of bursting.
I took out the fountain pen from my inner pocket and infused it with mana. The mana seeped into the fountain pen, and its long barrel floated up by my will alone.
“It worked.”
「Basic Telekinesis」, which I had not understood in the slightest just one minute ago, could now be manifested without deliberately recalling the formula or intricately controlling my mana.
It was proof that the entire magic had been ‘memorized’ in my brain.
─Magic that has been completely understood is memorized in the brain, and magic memorized in this way can be used whenever desired, even without deploying the formula. No, the brain deploys the formula ‘unconsciously.’ This is called ‘Memorize.’
It was the moment I personally experienced something I had once only read as part of the setting.
“This is good, but······.”
The fountain pen was still bobbing about according to my will.
However, if basic telekinesis was only at this level, then even if I learned advanced telekinesis, I would not be able to reach the realm of Sword Control that I imagined.
“So it is not non-mainstream magic for nothing.”
Was there no way to strengthen this performance somehow? Of course, with this guy’s limited talent, whatever I did would be difficult······.
While stroking my chin and pondering, a sudden clever idea came to mind.
“If I engrave a magic circle across my entire body.”
There are several major premises to magic in this worldview.
The most representative among them is, ‘the larger the magic circle, the greater the power.’
“Then.”
If, through the trait 「Comprehension」, I could understand my entire body,
and not only my brain, not only my heart, not only my dantian—
if I could engrave a magic circle across this entire body.
“······It’s worth trying.”
Of course, it was obvious that it would place a burden on my body. There would certainly be unexpected side effects as well.
But let us think one step further from there.
Is this body not an 「Iron Man」?
To begin with, the madness of making the entire body ‘memorize’ magic is possible only because it is an 「Iron Man」.
“Suuup······ Hoo.”
Excitement rose in me at the thought that it might work, but I calmed myself with deep breaths.
My remaining mana was 800.
Since I was only going to get a slight taste anyway, this much was enough.
Using 「Comprehension」, I sent mana flowing through my entire body.
“······!”
A terrifying pain surged up.
As if the bones and muscles of my whole body were being crushed with a hammer, or as if every muscle in my body were twisting together and tearing apart, an agony impossible to compare with anything else.
Crackkk······! Crnchhh······!
All of it was the sound coming from my body.
My joints twisted, and my heart shattered.
My ribs snapped apart, and shards of bone stabbed into my lungs.
At least, that was what I felt.
──However.
Even under that mad baptism of pain, this body did not let out a groan. It did not bite its lip.
Though it could not suppress the sweat flowing down, it absolutely would not bend at the waist.
An aloof, unwavering posture.
A tenacious immovable mind.
Dignity.
With that near-mad bravado and noble ego, I carried out—the most primal comprehension.
I thoroughly controlled the mana within my body and made it race through my blood vessels.
With that flow of mana, I bestowed my will upon every part of my flesh.
Not only the heart, but the muscles, bones, and organs. I was engraving the formula of telekinesis inside my skin······.
Snap—!
At the same time as the clear sound of something being severed, a sense of exhaustion came over me.
It was a failure.
My mana was depleted, and the time of comprehension ended.
I opened my eyes halfway. My entire body was burning with rashes, redness, and itchiness.
Of course, I did not scratch. It was an act unbecoming of dignity.
“······The rest later.”
「Mana ： 1 / 3,375」
I failed because I lacked mana. It ended with only a little engraved around my shoulder.
Fortunately, however, this was not a process that required me to return to the beginning upon failure.
In other words, it was a sequential comprehension.
To compare it to a game, since I had already cleared Stage 1, even if I lost at Stage 2, I would not return to Stage 1, but restart from Stage 2.
“Two weeks.”
Neck, shoulders, arms, hands, stomach, thighs, calves, feet. I understood with my body the time required for roughly eight parts.
Two weeks for 「Basic Telekinesis」.
For a higher realm, such as 「Beginner Telekinesis」 or 「Intermediate Telekinesis」, it would take far longer.
“······.”
Having organized my thoughts up to that point, I rose from the chair. Since my entire body was drenched in sweat, I showered first.
I washed my body with natural body wash, and lay on the bed wearing a robe.
“Pajamas······.”
I felt like I might pass out at any moment, but my body was demanding pajamas. As if it could never tolerate the sight of sleeping in a robe.
“Fuck that······.”
I refused to put them on by force.
Since I was Kim Woojin, not Deculein, I would not be controlled by some personality made of mere code······.