First Coincidence, Second Inevitability, Third Destiny
There's an old saying: the first is coincidence, the second inevitability, the third destiny. My first spell was a miracle born from one coincidence piled on another. For the second, I'd cast it with precise calculations right in front of everyone, brimming with confidence. So what about the third? I ignored everything—just defined the world on my own terms. Pouring that realization straight into the mana. Borrowing mana’s power to reshape the world exactly as I wanted. "Ahh, now I get it. This whole process is what they call magic."
It was a beautiful process, like a single masterpiece of art. If that's magic, then for me, magic might as well be destiny itself.
Kaboom— The explosion started far off by the pond and rushed right up to my face. But I didn't even turn my head, didn't blink an eye. Of course not—my magic is the dawn that bursts forth from the ashes of my past self. The shockwave from that past couldn't possibly touch the me of now.
At the same time, a faint warmth began to spread from my hand. Was it the heat from the explosion? Or the gentle warmth of Rune's hand resting on the back of mine as she quietly watched me? I turned to her with a smile. How was that? Nailed it, right? I figured the smile alone would get the message across without words.
Yes, our Seha did wonderfully. Rune smiled back just like me, gazing at me in silence. But for some reason, it felt like I could hear her inner thoughts.
Dawn of Ashes understanding has increased.
Mana has increased to 5. (3 → 5)
At some point, those status window alerts had been hovering in the corner of my vision. I dismissed them and looked around. I'd cast the spell in the middle of a huge pond, so the aftermath wasn't too bad. A few embers had scattered nearby, but Rune had easily taken care of them. If I had to nitpick, the pond itself had shrunk—I must've evaporated the water. Staring at it bubbling like a hot pot of spicy stew, a sudden thought hit me.
"There weren't any fish or plants in there, right?"
"Luckily, it was an empty pond—no one lived there. I never imagined your spell would be this powerful, but thank goodness you picked this spot."
I'd been worried I'd turned a bunch of pond fish into stew with my magic, but looks like that was fine. I figured an explosion over water would just fizzle out with a little sparkle at most. I hadn't even dreamed it'd pack this much punch. Sure, the mana density here was way higher than in the rest village, but the real reason had to be my enlightenment. The status window even confirmed my understanding of the spell had gone up.
Dwelling on the afterglow of my spell only lasted a moment before Rune spoke up.
"Seha, I've got a question—mind if I ask?"
"Of course! I'll answer everything I know."
I didn't even need to hear the question to know what Rune wanted to say. She'd ask how I pulled off such powerful magic, right? Heh, even Rune's shocked by my talent. I'd been a total theory dunce during lectures, but now in practice, I'd stunned everyone without meaning to—straight out of a cliché. With my magic skills leveling up, my confidence soared, and my shoulders straightened right along with it. With this spell, clearing 2F will be a breeze. Magical beasts, dark elves—Dawn of Ashes one-shot, and they're all off to the afterlife equally.
Rune wouldn't have anything left to teach me now—she'd probably tell me to head down the mountain. But contrary to my expectations, her words caught me off guard.
"You tapped the staff on the ground earlier, and all your spells so far have been cast the same way, right?"
"Yeah, but 'so far' is just three times total."
"Not sure if I should be happy about this or not..."
She suddenly turned her head aside and started mulling it over by herself. I could only stand there quietly, gauging her mood. I thought she'd praise my powerful magic and we'd roll into that classic scene. I'd even been practicing how to humbly accept it without changing expression. This was a shock.
Come to think of it, other mages cast differently. Jeonghyeon Yeo's spells, Ivelin's—they all activated lightly with a single incantation. What had Ivelin chanted again? When I was falling off the cliff, he'd said, "Breath of the World Tree, awaken once more at my fingertips!" and a mighty wind had blown. Unlike me, who needed all sorts of prep, they had a different way.
After a long silence, Rune spoke again.
"Seha, for today, I'm scrapping everything I planned to teach you."
"Huh?"
"What I taught you today was all background knowledge for defining the world. How to draw magic circles, elemental properties—those were just basics to build a solid foundation."
Rune set down the books she'd been holding. Yeah, everything she'd taught from those was boring, esoteric theory. No clue how to apply it, just rote memorization—zero motivation.
"You've already perfectly established the image of magic in your heart. Sticking to conventional knowledge would only harm you at this point."
"So learning it would actually be bad?"
"Take the example of channeling mana components into a triangular magic circle to convert it into stable water-attribute mana. That's just a setup to make world-defining easier when you're first learning."
"So I could imagine water attributes tied to a star shape instead, no problem?"
"Exactly. If only you'd grasped it this morning like that—why'd you get smart now?"
I'd just understood and nodded along, but it felt like she'd poked fun at me. Rune was always kind and gentle, so probably not intentional. I'd go with that.
According to her, everything I learned today was useless? Forget the triangle water or stability nonsense. I'd already built my unique image—past self as ashes, new self as dawn. No room for other concepts. But now that she said it was unnecessary, I got curiously itchy about it. It wouldn't affect my magic anyway, but one sudden question popped up.
"But what's the connection between water, triangles, and stability? I get the others maybe, but water moving and being stable? No idea."
"Seha asking about lesson content first—I'm touched. Since it's your first question, I'll explain thoroughly."
Asking her triggered something wrong. I'd never seen her stop talking during her solo lectures, and now I'd poked the bear. Probably stuck listening for dozens of minutes. And yep, spot on.
"Let's start with the simple link between triangles and stability. Triangular structures are the most stable in architecture. Intuitively, it's because the load disperses evenly. So why call water stable? Water absorbs heat incredibly well, unlike most liquids. It takes way more heat to boil. Does that make intuitive sense now?"
"Whoa~ My curiosity's totally satisfied!"
That should wrap it up, right? I nodded like I'd gotten it.
"No, Seha, there's more. Intuitive understanding's done—now calculations. Water molecules consist of three particles, forming a 104.5° triangle when observed closely. See the connection? But it doesn't end there—this structure makes water even more stable. ...Thanks to the mutual attraction in this triangular pull, water maintains homeostasis."
"......"
"Got it now?"
"Thanks for teaching me..."
No more complex questions to Rune. Maybe Silleia's chatterbox gene came from her mom. Elves take after their parents just like humans.
"Seha, what was I saying before we got sidetracked?"
"You said to forget today's lessons and teach new stuff."
"Right, that was it. Hang on a sec?"
She swung her right arm through the air.
"Ta-da!"
A staff popped out of her hand.
"Whoa~ How'd you do that?"
"Elf secret."
"..."
"Kidding—it's too advanced for you yet. First, let me show why I pulled out the staff."
Rune winked playfully, then gripped her staff with a serious expression. Unlike me, just a slight movement stirred the surrounding mana wildly.
"This is the prep you did before your spells."
"The swing strength varies, but yeah, I always amplified mana that way."
"Now watch how I do it."
Seemed no different? She closed her eyes, focusing, but the ambient mana didn't budge.
"Feel my mana's vibration?"
"Nope, the air's mana feels totally still."
"Don't focus on the floating mana—focus on me."
Focus on her? Looking at Rune, I saw her light green long hair, pointed elf ears, high nose—nothing else stood out. Not with eyes, then?
Sensing mana movement, something different pulsed from her chest. Chest sounds weird—heart. Her heart was emitting mana waves like my staff's core.
"What you've done with the staff is like... setting your whole house on fire because it's cold. Overloading the core for one spell, drawing more power than needed. Normally, such a brute-force method wouldn't activate magic."
"Normally it wouldn't work?"
"Right. You succeeded for one reason: your world concept and image are that solid."
That's praise, right? Hit with a sneak compliment, my cheeks flushed and I grinned.
"Not praise—listen properly. Remember the house example? What happens if you burn it down?"
"The house burns, and you go down with it."
"Exactly what you did. If you couldn't handle that massive mana, it'd burden your body. No more of that, okay?"
"Got it—no more. So how should I handle mana?"
Instead of answering, Rune pointed to her own chest.
She'd said before to watch her heart emit mana. That must be the key to using it without backlash.
"Change your heartbeat to emit mana?"
"..."
Rune just stared silently. Guess from here, no more hints—time to figure it out myself. My last guess was wrong. Mana rose to 5, but controlling my body via mana was separate. Pumping mana into my heart wouldn't change its beat. Even if it did, it'd mess up the rest of my body.
No answers came. Time for a mindset shift. I placed both hands on my chest, feeling my heartbeat. Hmm... even if someone touched me, they couldn't tell chest from back. Still pre-puberty, no worries. No, not the time!
Eyes closed, I felt my heartbeat through my hands again. Thump thump. It hit me. Of course—no need to change the heartbeat.
Not adjusting heartbeat to mana's vibration—but resonating mana to my heartbeat. Mine beat about 90 times a minute right now, a bit fast from tension. Just sync mana to that rhythm. I'd done this before. Calculated the overloaded core's vibration, matched it to my senses, cast the spell.
Easiest mana control yet. Thump thump. Got it! That's the vibration Rune used.
I opened my eyes and looked at her. Her jaw was dropped in shock—first time seeing that.
"Thought it'd take at least a week—you're way faster."
"Hehe, not that much..."
"This time it's real praise—enjoy it."
Yeah, this sensation meant no more staff dependence. Rune watched my joy approvingly.
"Congratulations. You've stepped onto the true path of a mage."