Magic (2)
Magic (2)
Ariel was right.
Talent aside, wasn't Ariel right there beside me?
The very person who'd devised and created that Unique Magic Path from the ground up, down to every last detail.
With someone like that personally laying out the analyzed version for me and breaking down the explanations, what was there to feel daunted about?
All I had to do was stack those explanations neatly in my head, then take my time digesting them.
So, starting the very next day, buoyed by Ariel's encouragement and with my willpower fully recharged, I threw myself into studying the Unique Magic Path.
"This time it's the second-phase magic formula, the 23rd from the top left. Building on the previous formula..."
[Urrgh...]
My will was admirable, but mastery didn't come all at once.
Even with a large section of the analyzed text open on the desk and Ariel's explanations ringing clearly in my ears, it barely sank in.
The sensation of something monstrous being forcibly crammed into my head had my mouth working silently as I spun the pen in my hand without purpose.
'It's hard... and even before that, understanding the problem itself is hard.'
What Ariel had told me before finally made sense now: you needed at least a basic foundation to learn the Unique Magic Path.
She'd been exactly right.
Before you can even begin to solve a problem, you first have to know the language it's written in—the grammar, the script—just to understand the question.
How could I figure out the answer when I didn't even know what the problem was?
Every bit of study I'd done until now had been solely to raise my level enough to at least recognize the Unique Magic Path.
And even the material spread open on the desk wasn't the raw, unrefined magic formula.
It was a thoroughly user-friendly analysis: all the security imprinted across the full formula had been unlocked, and the tangled structure had been painstakingly tidied up to make it easier to grasp.
On top of that, the creator herself stood right beside me, layering her own explanations onto it, spoon-feeding me knowledge as though she were holding a bottle to an infant's mouth.
She wasn't even trying to explain it all at once. She'd broken it down into thirds and was explaining it piece by piece.
But the fact that I still struggled to comprehend... Even if I could brute-force memorize the formulas and hammer them into my brain, actually understanding them and manifesting them might well be impossible by any normal means.
[Hnnngh...]
Still, I could at least recognize them.
It wasn't theoretically impossible, and the creator herself had vouched that it could be done.
With that, there was no reason to give up.
'Keep going...'
I furrowed my brow.
First, I memorized the magic formulas wholesale, then committed the voice that whispered from beside me—no, above me—to memory as well.
Thanks to the memory capacity supercharged by the information overload of the Observation Authority, every last scrap was driven deep into my mind without a single omission.
Later, I'd synthesize the information and pursue true understanding.
Day by day, I kept piling on the information.
Cross-referencing it, building upon it, layering comprehension upon comprehension.
That comprehension slowly refined itself into an understanding of magical principles, and those refined principles circled back to raise my realm of magic.
[Ariel, would it be all right if I stepped out and walked around for a bit?]
"Of course. There's no need to ask my permission."
[Thank you.]
Even while focusing on the Unique Magic Path, I didn't let my other training slide.
I'd tear myself away, eyes brimming, from that cozy, soft embrace and borrow a practice room to condition my body.
Naturally, since I had to allocate so much time to magic study, I pushed myself hard in concentrated short bursts.
Though its share of my schedule shrank, I also reached out to other magic fields and the knowledge they required.
The Tower of Knowledge was continuously being replenished with books of every kind, in real time.
Regrettably, I couldn't just sweep through them with the Observation Authority and memorize them wholesale at a glance.
So I mainly observed only the titles on the covers, then pulled anything that looked necessary and set about memorizing it in that fashion.
With no time to dig into concentrated study right now, I planned to take them out later—outside—and study them separately.
A prime example was alchemy.
Perhaps because it was a discipline so deeply tied to magic, the collection of books on alchemy was staggeringly vast.
Alchemists were classified as invaluable personnel.
In this world, alchemy wasn't just the art of transmuting base metals into gold.
It was the discipline of processing various materials, altering their properties, and crafting them into whatever substances were required.
Because of that, its potential was limitless.
It could process the mana crystals used as primary energy sources in this world, or manipulate the properties of the ingredients needed for artificial elixirs.
Even when armaments required unique materials to achieve their performance, an alchemist's touch was essential.
Among representative armaments, one that absolutely required an alchemist's hand was the Bonghwa Sword.
Its main ingredients were the mana stone of a 3rd-Rank or higher fire-attribute monster, and high-purity gemstones containing mana beyond normal limits.
Neither the mana stone nor the gemstones could be used raw.
They had to undergo material processing through alchemy and other techniques, then pass through a long, painstaking collaborative process with a master artisan just to be crafted.
'... ...'
I tapped my head with an awkward expression.
The blueprint of the Bonghwa Sword was already lodged in my mind.
Before... during the last break, when I attended the Calamity Flame Family's Regular Gathering, the moment I gripped the family progenitor's Bonghwa Sword and pushed Calamity Flame into it, the sword's transparent blade ravenously devoured my flame and, in exchange, disgorged information about itself directly into me.
The blueprint transferred then and has been embedded in my head ever since.
'Hmm...'
The Bonghwa Sword: the symbol of the Calamity Flame family head.
The current head already wielded one, and the next head, Hong Yeon-hwa, did not yet.
And since the current head was still active, Hong Yeon-hwa's own Bonghwa Sword was probably still in the conceptual stage.
'... ...'
I set that line of thought aside for now and went back to searching for the books I needed.
These weren't ones I'd found; they were from bookshelves Ariel had pointed out and insisted I visit.
Likely her way of passing me information while circumventing the restraints as much as possible.
'Oh.'
And so, while wandering the forest of shelves stretching up from the first floor, a title caught at the far edge of my perception and made me physically flinch.
My mouth opened and closed soundlessly for a moment before I propelled myself with magic, floating lightly toward it.
Weaving carefully past the countless bridges spanning between opposite shelves, I ascended higher.
I reached the topmost shelves, the ones tucked right at the very edge: the Observation Records Section.
The Five Towers were all linked, with the Tower of Harmonization as the hub.
The Tower of Knowledge, in particular, also served as a repository for caches of information.
Since there were no concerns about information limits or security, everything was supposedly stored here.
So even data kept classified by the Association, or the surplus data measured by the observation teams, was kept here in book form, I'd been told.
The shelves before me were stacked with intelligence on dungeons.
I pulled out one book and rechecked the title.
'Dungeon NE4-5659... temporary designation, Clear Mirror? This is it.'
The Association's temporary designation was Clear Mirror.
That was the temporary name attached to the dungeon containing the Curse-Lifting Jewel.
My fingertips trembled as if suddenly plunged into ice water.
I fumbled the book open and channeled mana into it, drinking in the information.
A flood of data crawled into my mind.
'First observed three months ago... relatively recent. The dungeon interior... nearly identical to the descriptions in the original. Grade... 1. And here...'
Thankfully, it hadn't been cleared yet.
Not that a strategy team previously attempting clearance and losing all contact was cause for celebration; regardless, it remained unconquered.
A dungeon of this scale, at around Grade 1, wasn't something that could be cleared easily.
Even if the information were updated from the outside, it was most likely still unconquered.
Because it hadn't been cleared, its rewards were unknown.
But if the data from the original work—data observed by the Tower Master of Observation—was correct, the reward for this dungeon was the artifact known as the Curse-Lifting Jewel.
'Found it.'
There was even a location.
Not the vague location from the original, but an exact coordinate, carefully documented.
My heart thudded hard.
Of course, problems remained.
The dungeon was Grade 1.
At the high end, its monsters could near the 4th Rank, and if an Alpha individual appeared, you could face a 3rd-Rank monstrosity.
Alphas weren't that common, but in the worst case, there was still the danger of getting into a life-or-death tussle with a 3rd-Rank creature inside a trap-riddled dungeon.
'Found it...'
But I'd found the location.
The fact that I could grow and eventually make an attempt at it—that realization alone felt as if it lightened my heavy heart, if only by a little.
'Now if I can just figure out how to clear it...'
I'd obtain the Curse-Lifting Jewel.
And if it were then used on me, even the curse tied to my lifespan would be resolved...
- Say, our dear Baek Ha-yul, would you do me just one favor?
Right then.
A thought suddenly surfaced, and my head—until then brimming with nothing but hopeful thoughts—went completely still.
'... ...'
For a long moment I stood there, adrift, lost in my thoughts.
And I still hadn't sorted that dilemma out cleanly even by the time Ariel came to get me.
* * *
Among Yule's many talents, one was imitation.
His mana was pure and could become anything, and Homogenization imitated the properties and attributes of mana and the Innate Talent within.
Thanks to being an All-Rounder, most techniques were within his grasp to master, and Myriad Transformations imitated the endlessly branching paths, the Innate Talent, of entire technique categories.
The essence of magic was imitation. Even if the realm of pioneering one's own Innate Talent edged closer to creation, what had already been created could be imitated.
He could do it.
It wasn't completely impossible, so if he kept butting his head against it, it would eventually become possible.
His talent wasn't poor, and he'd even received the creator's endorsement.
It was possible.
If he kept butting his head against it, the gloom would gradually lift.
That was the thought Yule carried as he continued to train.
Everyone's like that.
You can't see everything from the very start.
Distant things appear impossibly far away, and what's plunged into darkness is visible only as blackness.
To face something directly with the naked eye, more often than not you have to physically walk up close to it first.
And then...
"...You've succeeded."
Ariel, who had been briefly lost in idle thought, swept her gaze lightly around the room.
Particles of mana that had been drifting freely through the air were slowly settling.
The magic that had been manifested moments ago was subsiding, and the pure white mana that had composed the formula drifted to the floor like tiny pellets of graupel on a winter's day.
At the center of that receding mana was Yule, slumped on the ground. He let out the deep sigh he'd been holding and drew the scattered mana back into himself with long pulls.
"I only intended to build a foundation so that you could continue your studies outside... but to succeed at manifesting it while still within, you truly surpass my expectations with your achievements."
It was not yet perfect, of course.
He had barely, and only just now, managed to manifest it.
Not perfectly realized, with its core and Innate Talent fully structured, the way Ariel could currently wield it.
It was closer to deploying something like an outer frame.
But even that was an astonishing result.
He had replicated the framework.
That was enough.
The interior could be filled with Ariel's substance, or in the future, as Yule grew, he could fill it with his own.
Filling it was now his own task. Whatever form it took, Yule would be more than capable of filling it and putting it to use.
"...Yule?"
When she approached to congratulate him on such an achievement, his expression was anything but joyful.
He looked visibly glum instead.
It wasn't a look meant for the very moment he'd succeeded at a magic he'd labored so hard to achieve.
Ariel felt her heart sink.
Had something happened to the child?
"What's wrong? Did your mana backflow somehow...?"
[No...]
When Ariel rushed over in alarm, he immediately started fussing and buried himself in her arms.
Flustered, Ariel soothed Yule even as he kept pressing his face firmly into her embrace.
"Are you hurt somewhere...?"
[No...]
"Then...?"
[Soon...]
"Soon...? Ah..."
Even as she continued checking his condition and asking if anything was wrong, the Confession Necklace soon let out a soft click.
At the voice, clearly drenched in wistfulness, Ariel let out a small gasp of realization.
Time had flowed swiftly while he'd trained in the Unique Magic Path.
And so, quite naturally, it was simply that their time was starting to run out.
"......"
Ariel's expression grew complicated.