Welcome to Golem Chaos (3)
Thanks to the animals’ cooperation and tireless efforts to drive out the illegal immigrant refugees, we managed to take down over thirty golems that very day.
“I’ll go look for a cheap inn that’ll take Ringling Number Three~☆!”
“Don’t just jump at anything because it’s cheap. Stick with the place we’ve been using if you can. Come to our inn tomorrow.”
“Okaaaay~!”
After parting ways with Larilura, Franc and I returned to the fifteen-copper inn. Shhhhhh—
One of the perks of the fifteen-copper inn was the small shower stall inside the room. Since I had to cover my face whenever I went out—because the room was registered under Arthur Wayne’s name—the shower facilities were a huge help in more ways than one.
Feels like I brought my girlfriend to a motel.
Listening to the sound of Franc’s shower, I opened a book. I figured I could mail the copied thesis once we reached Sargadis, so for now I was reading Crown Whoever’s treatise on enchantment magic. It was a slim little volume, the kind of palm-sized book middle-aged men carried around like joke collections or idiom dictionaries.
Flip—
The writing style was more like a memoir or essay. It seemed the disciple had simply transcribed the master’s words as they were. Naturally, the entire text was in Romanian.
<Last time, I said that the more you exclude mana from your performance, the more effective and moving it becomes.>
<However, it is also true that in most cases, flashier and larger-scale magic leaves a stronger impression on people than acrobatics.>
The opening was filled with that sort of introduction.
<For nobles and ordinary citizens alike, accompanying your performance with spectacular magical effects—as long as your skill allows—tends to get a better reaction. Unlike human acrobatics, the audience never grows bored, which is an even greater advantage.>
Yeah, that makes sense.
Even people from the twenty-first century, already used to visual entertainment, could be moved by CG in animated films. For people of this world, where anything more luxurious than natural phenomena and magic was rare, the effect would be immediate—like children who stayed excited long after leaving the theater for the first time.
<The problem is that the truly skilled mages capable of such magic have no interest in becoming clowns like me.>
<Also, remember that for fellow mages, acrobatics that exclude mana can be far more moving than merely flashy spells. The ability to understand this and use it appropriately is what separates the first-rate from the second-rate.>
<This is why I began focusing on enchantment magic.>
Flip— Flip—
After the brief explanation, the pages continued with the principles and applications of enchantment magic.
<Performing movements while excluding mana requires intense concentration and effort.>
<However, this problem can be overcome by using pre-made magic items.>
I skimmed the introductory section. It was a bad habit I’d picked up from reading mostly theses—my speed-reading had improved from hunting for citations, but my ability to read books calmly had declined. Another reason was my desire to learn enchantment magic as quickly as possible.
Kind of reminds me of Bruce Lee.
That was my honest impression while reading. Crown Whoever seemed like the type who took pride and stubbornness in performing his own stunts and techniques, like Bruce Lee or Hollywood’s Tom Cruise. Yet in the sections emphasizing safety and explaining magical principles, he also showed a rational side closer to that of a mage.
<Enchantment magic is divided into AOE-type, which enchants objects, and ABE-type, which enchants living beings—>
<For those who are not professional mages—>
I copied the following TMI into my notebook. Since there were no sticky notes in this world, writing it down made it easier to find later.
<If acrobatics performed with the human body are called performances, then magical acrobatics are combinations of spells.>
<Adding, transforming, and mixing magic with magic is very similar to circus acts. Depending on how you arrange them, you can produce the expected results—or something completely different.>
<As the easiest and fastest method, I have prepared practical exercises.>
<Combine the magic you can use with the spell structures below and apply them to your desired location.>
<※: Always consider the effects of the magic.>
The concept of spell combination apparently existed even in the era when this man wrote. Reading it, he seems like quite an ancient figure. The analogies used in the TMI and introduction were almost all from ancient civilization periods. He must have been someone from around the time of the fall. I’d thought he was a modern person working at some foreign court because Larilura liked him so much, but it turned out he was the Sejong the Great of the clown world. A minor twist.
Shwaaaaaaaa—!
Following the advice in the book on enchantment magic, I activated Beast Regression for defense. Then, checking the spell structure written in the booklet, I drew the sword I’d left in the corner.
‘Rotate the mana like when casting a spell, then transform it with the feeling of baking high-quality dishes inside a furnace…… was that it?’
Recalling the structure and method of the spell, I used Freezing Hand on the sword. Feeling the chill gathering on the back of my hand, I chanted the incantation.
“——Enchant. Freezing Hand.”
As I rotated the mana, the cold that had been about to manifest in my hand disappeared.
—Crack!
Instead, the chill climbed up the hilt where it touched the sword and gathered on the blade. The cold silver blade glowed blue!!
“This is—— sword aura!”
Of course, that was bullshit. Infusing mana into a weapon was a technique only Mithril-class adventurers could pull off. This was nothing more than an ice-attribute spell cast on the sword.
“Whoa, this is seriously badass!!”
Still, it was pure swagger!
“Shit! I can actually wield a Zanpakuto now!”
Any guy would understand this excitement! Men get hyped just holding a long stick, and now that stick was sword-shaped and glowing blue?
“Ah, I can’t hold back.”
I raised the sword. Thankfully, the inn room was spacious enough to swing it around.
“Kiyoooooooot——!!!”
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
I performed a sword dance, careful not to hit anything. White frost lingered in the wake of my blade.
“What are you looking at? That’s the afterimage of my sword.”
I struck various poses while stopping the sword! The same thrill I felt as a kid when my dad bought me a lightsaber at Everland surged up——ah!!
“I am Kang Bukho from Anyang, Gyeonggi Province——!!!”
I quickly unleashed the Three-Sum, the rapid strike technique from the Flying Heaven Three Swords style. A triangular afterimage was carved into the air!
What the hell, this is insanely fun!
This stupid Nord! If I’d learned this last night, I could’ve actually hit the golems with a Rasengan today!
Should I try enchanting the sword with Burning Hand too? No, better not. It’d probably start a fire.
—Click.
Just then, the sound of the faucet turning off came from the shower. Damn it. Franc must have finished showering. Startled, I quickly deactivated the magic. Bye-bye, my pretty sword aura. See you in the big leagues.
I sheathed the now silver blade and sat back down.
“Nord. What were you doing just now?”
Franc walked out of the shower naked, drying her hair as she asked. Her wet hair and glistening breasts scored a critical hit on my little guy.
“Practicing enchantment magic. I succeeded.”
“Already? That’s fast.”
Franc sounded impressed while drying her hair. Her breasts swayed wildly with the motion of the towel.
—Jiggle jiggle!
When my eyes remained glued to them, Franc blushed slightly, looking embarrassed.
“I should’ve gotten dressed inside before coming out.”
“No. Keep coming out like that from now on.”
“……Nord, you pervert.”
“Pervert? That’s the highest praise.”
I smiled and helped dry Franc’s hair. I couldn’t match her dexterity, but I had a secret technique of my own.
“Burning Hand. Summon Cloud.”
A dual spell combination.
“Hair dryer ON.”
Fwoooooosh—
I could now fully combine these two spells. Warm steam created by magic blew from my hands, drying Franc’s hair like a steam dryer. Franc closed her eyes and entrusted herself to my touch. Her expression showed she was quite pleased.
“Hehe. A luxurious room and even a butler drying my hair. I feel like a princess.”
“Is the temperature to your liking, Princess?”
“Yes. It’s perfect, Prince.”
She’d called me a butler earlier, now a prince. Well, as long as Franc was happy, it was fine. If I applied this magic well, it could probably work as an air conditioner too. Truly, the world of magic was profound.
Mr. Carrier. I shall carry on your legacy.
I prayed to Willis Carrier, the creator of the air conditioner. Franc, who had been enjoying my hand movements with her eyes closed, spoke.
“Hey, Nord. Do you think I could learn enchantment magic too?”
“You? There’s no reason you couldn’t.”
If my girlfriend wanted to learn, why wouldn’t I teach her? I nodded reflexively.
“Dwarves are masters of enchantment magic, so you might even learn it better than me. But don’t you need to learn magic first?”
“About that, look at this.”
Franc raised her hand as if scooping water.
“Burning Hand.”
Fwoosh—
Franc’s hands glowed red. Not enough to produce flames, but there was no doubt the magic had activated. I stopped drying her hair in surprise.
“Huh? Franc, you can control the heat output now?”
“Hehe. I practiced in secret. I succeeded for the first time yesterday.”
Franc smiled proudly at my reaction, like a child showing off a drawing. Even objectively, this was something to be proud of. Unlike me with my unknown cheat key, it hadn’t been long since Franc started learning this magic. How many days had it been since we bought the spellbook from Gentrig? A week, maybe?
“Freezing Hand didn’t improve no matter how much I practiced. But since this is a fire-attribute spell, I managed to control it somehow.”
Franc explained. Maybe, as she said, her dwarven bloodline helped with learning magic.
“Dwarves have an affinity for fire or earth-attribute magic?”
“Yeah. My mother could use a few earth-attribute spells too.”
As far as I knew, magic in this world didn’t have a tier system. It wasn’t structured so that when your level rose, new skills unlocked like “this is a 1st-level spell, that’s a 9th-circle spell.” Of course, there were high-difficulty and low-difficulty spells. They were usually called low-tier and high-tier magic. The N-star mage ranking the Mage Guild used worked on a similar principle—if you could use six difficulty-100 spells, you were a 6-star mage. But when you dug deeper, magic also came down to talent and aptitude. Some people learned in a day what others could never learn in a lifetime. Just like academics on Earth. I was good at math but terrible at Korean.
Shit, how the hell am I supposed to know what some writer was thinking when they wrote this?
They probably thought things like “deadline in one hour, I’m screwed” or “what’s for dinner tonight.” At least that’s what I thought while writing my thesis. Anyway, just as Earthlings’ innate talents and inclinations determined their academic achievements, people of this world’s constitutions and aptitudes determined how quickly they learned magic.
That’s why mutation magic developed.
Mutation magic existed precisely for changing one’s constitution. Most of the time it ended with “Oh no! I turned into a bug!”
“Anyway, got it. Let’s learn enchantment magic step by step. Using one or two spells right away won’t dramatically increase our combat power.”
“Okay.”
Franc nodded at my words. If it was a magic item other than rune magic, having Franc the dwarf make it would probably result in much higher quality. The thought that my girlfriend might personally craft the weapons or clothes I used made me feel a little excited.
“By the way, Nord, since we’re on the topic.”
Franc spoke while running her fingers through her now-dry hair.
“Teach me how to handle mana.”
“Mana?”
Given that Franc could use magic now, she probably meant not the basics of magic but “how to circulate mana through the body.”
“We’ll be Bronze Class soon. If we’re going to keep fighting as adventurers, I need to get stronger too.”
Franc’s expression was very serious. Had she been thinking about the future in her own way? Well, there was nothing strange about it. While I usually made plans for the future, Franc had probably been seriously considering our future as well. We just hadn’t talked about it before, so I hadn’t known. It was nothing unusual.
So I nodded readily.
“Alright. Get ready. We’ve still got plenty of night left. Let’s start today.”
“Today? Okay. I’ll get dressed, so wait.”
“——No.”
I gently sat Franc back down as she tried to stand. She looked at me with wide eyes. My lips curled into a mischievous smile.
“Heh heh heh. Princess. Do you happen to know…… what the most primal magic in this world is?”
“Huh? Huh? W-well, I don’t know. What is it? What?”
Franc, who had been completely naked this whole time, stammered in confusion. I leaned in and whispered the answer into her ear.
“Sex.”