## Chapter 9 – 09. Beginning (3)
#09. Beginning (3)
Immediately after resolving to learn magic, I settled down on a small pile of stones.
Thump-
While waiting for the lesson with a slightly nervous heart, Iris brought a thin, large stone slab from somewhere.
The surface was so smooth that anyone would think it had been cut with a water jet.
There was no way something like that would be lying around in a messy place like this, so it was probably made by Iris.
I didn’t know how she made something like that with those thin, slender arms, but I figured it was probably the power of magic and moved on.
The more I thought about it, the more respect I felt for my teacher.
Of course, it wasn’t fear.
-Oh? Hyun-woo, you didn’t do your homework?
-Th, that’s… I’m sorry…
-Hyun-woo, aren’t you curious about the power of high-pressure water jets?
…Maybe.
“So, Hyun-woo? Let’s start the lesson now.”
“I’m always ready.”
“Hehe, you’re full of confidence. I like it.”
The lesson began with Iris’s refreshing smile.
Although it was accompanied by the pathetic sight of turning on a cell phone flashlight for indirect lighting because it was too dark, I had no doubt that it would be the happiest lesson of my 21 years of life.
“First, I’ll explain the basics. You said you know that what’s in the atmosphere is called mana, and what’s refined inside a living being is called magic power, right?”
“Yes.”
Even if knowledge of magic was precious, this level of knowledge was so basic that you could find it on the internet.
“Do you also know that knights and wizards are divided according to how they use magic power?”
“I’m not interested in knights…”
It seemed that there was a knight job in this fantasy world.
Of course, there are also knights on Earth.
In most European countries, the term knight was a little more famous than hunter.
“I understand. To put it simply, the difference is that knights gather magic power in the dantian below the navel, and wizards gather it around the heart. The place where knights gather magic power is called the Lore, and we call it the Heart.”
Gathering magic power in one place in the body is the same, but the decisive difference between knights and wizards is the method of operation.
“Knights who have gained enlightenment through training can release the magic power accumulated in the Lore to the outside, and that is Aura. Aura is divided into various forms depending on the weapon. Swords are called Sword Aura, spears are called Spear Aura, and so on. Each one is a powerful and sharp use of magic power, but they are only taking out magic power in its raw form. We wizards are different.”
As she finished her explanation, a green haze rose above Iris’s palm, and a beautiful rose was created.
It wasn’t difficult to realize that it was magic power.
The magic power became a rose, then a bird, then a jewel.
“Wizards can use magic power freely. Much more so than knights. There is no end to its variety. But.”
Iris began to write something on the stone slab.
Of course, there was no chalk here.
Scratch-
She was writing with magic power that bloomed from the tip of her finger. No, she was carving into the stone slab.
“…”
That’s her suppressing her magic power?
“Hyun-woo? Do you know what I wrote?”
A collection of countless formulas and shapes inside a neat circle, I had no idea what it meant with my knowledge.
However, it was a form that anyone who lived in modern times and had even a little contact with the internet would know.
“It’s a magic circle.”
“That’s right. To be exact, it’s the magic circle for Fireball, a fire-type throwing magic belonging to the elemental category.”
Iris said with a smile.
“Magic uses magic power and magic circles to create phenomena that would not normally occur. Knights use magic power to maximize the cutting power of their swords, but wizards use magic power to summon huge storms. There’s no need to judge who is better. Knights and wizards have different goals.”
Of course, knights who have reached their limits can also create phenomena that cannot occur. They can create weightless swords to kill enemies.
Even so, wizards are different from knights.
“One of the prerequisites for using basic magic like Fireball is to create a mana circle, which is the alpha and omega of wizards. A wizard without a circle is just a scholar, not a wizard.”
Both the academic approach to magic and the training to create a mana circle are equally important.
However, no matter how well you study, you cannot become a wizard if you cannot create a mana circle.
“Hyun-woo, can you show me your wrist for a moment?”
“Yes?”
“Excuse me.”
Iris’s slender fingers wrapped around my wrist.
I’ve definitely touched her chest and held her hand, but why does my face turn red and my heart beat fast every time our skin touches?
“Now, can you close your eyes and concentrate?”
I didn’t know what to concentrate on, but I closed my eyes for now.
The already dark vision became pitch black.
When sight was blocked and I couldn’t hear any sound, my sense of touch became clearer.
The touch of Iris’s hand and fingers holding my wrist, and the rough beating of my heart because of it.
“Read, understand, and memorize. That’s the framework of learning. Magic is the same. Read, understand, and accept mana. Now, focus on your wrist.”
With her gentle voice, I focused on my wrist.
Something began to be felt in the place where only my body temperature and hers were felt.
It’s cool. It’s like putting your hand in a cold river in the middle of summer.
“Do you feel it?”
“…Yes.”
“Then imagine the river flowing. Pleasant weather, warm sunshine, chirping birds, and a gurgling river.”
Iris got up from her seat, and my arm was raised above my head, and the energy felt in my wrist naturally began to flow down towards my shoulder.
At first, only my wrist was cool, but now my whole arm was cool.
And my collarbone and chest.
In the end, even my heart, which had been beating hotly, became cold. It was such a strange feeling that I wondered if I was alive.
“How is it?”
“Um… I don’t know much other than that my heart area has cooled down.”
I was surprised by the unfamiliar sensation for a moment, but the sensation gradually began to lean towards feeling cool and good rather than cold.
Now I felt that the common air, which I had felt slightly chilly, was just right.
It was an ironic phenomenon. My body was clearly cooling down overall, but I felt warm.
“What Hyun-woo is feeling now is mana. It just feels unfamiliar because it hasn’t gone through the self-assimilation process yet.”
“This is mana…?”
No wonder I felt strangely energetic.
“As expected, Hyun-woo, you have talent. Even if I had directly injected mana, it wouldn’t have been easy to feel mana right away.”
“Oh…”
When Iris took her hand away, the mana didn’t move as easily as before. But there was definitely a remnant of mana left in my body.
Especially around my heart, I could feel it gathering more and more.
“Can you close your eyes and concentrate again?”
When I closed my eyes again, a deep darkness came to me.
And the magic power that brought freshness and vitality to my whole body.
I had only closed my eyes for a moment and opened them, but I felt like a completely different person from the one 5 minutes ago.
Not quite a sense of omnipotence? But this was definitely a power that made me a completely different person from what I had been.
“Do you feel where the mana I injected is now?”
“…My heart.”
“Hyun-woo, I told you earlier, right? The mana in your body hasn’t gone through the self-assimilation process yet.”
“Yes.”
“As I explained earlier, wizards go through a self-assimilation process of accepting natural mana and making it their own. The more mana there is, the more effort it takes to assimilate, but the amount in Hyun-woo’s body now isn’t too difficult. So concentrate.”
With the feeling that the mana swirling around the heart is gradually melting into a part of the body.
Think of it as flowing through your body from the beginning, like blood flowing through your veins.
Don’t push it away because it’s unfamiliar, be friendly with it.
Mana is a wizard’s companion.
Kang Hyun-woo watched his body with terrifying concentration even before he heard all of Iris’s explanation.
A clear blue haze began to rise in this place where the cell phone flashlight was the only light.
Kang Hyun-woo was undergoing the process of self-assimilation, where mana was turning into his own magic power.
Iris was shocked by the sight. Although she didn’t show it, it was truly unbelievable talent to feel mana right away and guide it to the heart.
Even now, he was going through the self-assimilation process.
It was a process that would have taken an ordinary wizard at least several years.
Even she, who was praised as a genius, took two months to complete the introductory process of magic.
‘What is Hyun-woo…’
She was planning to just do theory lessons today and finish. She injected mana because she wanted him to become as familiar with mana as possible, and she was planning to do it regularly every day.
A little later, when Kang Hyun-woo opened his eyes, Iris was sure.
“…Hyun-woo, congratulations.”
A new wizard was born.
Ting-
[Thank you for participating in the dating consulting curriculum]
[Congratulations on achieving the initial goal of the Becoming an Attractive Opposite Sex! project]
[☆Achieved 1-Circle Wizard☆]
[Check your mailbox for rewards prepared as part of the dating encouragement fund]
