Chapter 511: The First Lesson (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 511: The First Lesson (2)
Astral.
A microcosm born within the mental world of a mage who has reached a certain level of mastery.
Why such a vast space forms within a mage is still a matter of heated debate among them.
Some claim it is a natural evolution for approaching the laws of the world, while others say it is nothing more than a great library encompassing everything a mage has ever built.
“Neither opinion is wrong. Both are correct to a certain extent.”
The White Tower Lord pointed to a massive blackboard installed on one side of her workshop.
It was densely packed with high-level magic formulas that were difficult for me to even comprehend at my current level.
“Conception, recording, organization, and proof. These are the basic steps of research. Some mages seem to neglect recording, overconfident in their own memory, but I despise fools like that.”
For a moment, the Tower Lord’s eyes grew cold.
“Recording and organizing what you have learned is the foundation of everything. It’s the same for studying and for magic. A mage is one who finds the path to the next stage within the vast space of the Astral through such acts.”
Clatter.
The Tower Lord placed several marbles she had taken from her pocket onto the table.
Red, yellow, blue, brown, green, white, and black.
The seven marbles each emitted a faint glow of a different color.
“To reach the 6th Circle, you must now contain the seven elements you possess within your own set of laws.”
“My own set of laws…?”
“There’s no need to overcomplicate it.”
The Tower Lord took out a new marble from her pocket and flicked it lightly with her fingertip.
The marble, as expected, fell to the floor and rolled under the sofa.
“Gravity and friction. The fundamental laws of the universe that make a marble roll. On top of that, there’s inertia, normal force, air resistance, rotational energy, and linear kinetic energy. Just as countless laws are prerequisites for a single marble to roll, you too must establish the laws for your own universe—your Astral.”
The Tower Lord tilted her teacup and continued.
“Do you now understand why I scolded you for being foolish? If you had tried to reach the 6th Circle with just one element, it would have been entirely possible within the remaining class time. In terms of your mana circle’s capacity, the resilience of your magic circuits, and your absolute amount of magic power, you already surpass the average 6th Circle mage. And your physical conditioning is on par with S-rank Hunters.”
“…Thank you?”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“I acknowledge that your talent is dozens, even hundreds of times greater than that of ordinary people, but the wall you must now overcome is several times higher and thicker. So I will say this one last time.”
Clink.
The Tower Lord set down her teacup and stared at me.
“Challenge the 6th Circle with three elements. Fire, lightning, and darkness should be sufficient.”
“…I’m sorry, but my mind hasn’t changed.”
“Then give up on the 6th Circle. If you were a half-blood of a long-lived race, it might be different, but with the lifespan of a pure-blooded human, it would be nothing but a waste of your life.”
“I refuse that as well.”
At my firm reply, the Tower Lord briefly looked me up and down before rising from her seat without a word.
She walked over to a pile of items stacked like a tower in a corner of the workshop and began searching for something.
…How unexpected.
Her reaction was completely different from the verbal lashing I had anticipated.
And here I thought she was the tidy type… This place is a complete mess.
The inside of the workshop she had led me into was an absolute disaster.
It was incomparable to the relatively neat reception room.
Still, the chance to see an archmage’s workshop wasn’t something that came around often, so I looked around with a sense of excitement.
But that, too, was short-lived.
Whoosh—
“Catch.”
The Tower Lord threw something at me.
It was a small wooden box. It was covered in a thick layer of dust, as if it had been left untouched for quite some time.
Click.
Inside the wooden box was a purplish elixir pill.
“What is this…?”
“A pill that separates the soul from the body. I developed it when the government wanted to mass-produce Battle Mages.”
“Oh? And how did that turn out?”
“Nine out of ten became catatonic.”
“...?”
“And the one remaining became a 6th Circle mage as desired, but was consumed by madness and killed on charges of slaughtering thousands.”
“…”
“Do you understand why I’ve given you such a failure of a creation?”
I slowly shook my head.
I had a rough idea, but I didn’t want to know.
“Eat it.”
But the Tower Lord paid me no mind and delivered my death sentence.
“The Astral is a subspace that exists in a mage’s mental world. Naturally, the more distinct the soul’s presence becomes, the more authority one gains to intervene in the Astral. If you’re lucky, you might be able to find a clue.”
“…And if I’m not lucky?”
“You won’t die, so there’s no need to worry so much. At worst, you’ll become a vegetable or a bloodthirsty murderer. And should you become a murderer, I’ll send you to the afterlife in an instant.”
“…I think I’ll just leave.”
“No.”
Crack—!!
“?!!”
In that instant, a magic power that felt like it was freezing my lungs washed over me, and my legs were encased in ice from the knees down.
My body had no time to react.
Moreover, though it was just ice, it wouldn’t budge no matter how much strength I put into it.
“M-Tower Lord! This joke has gone too far… ugh?!”
“You talk too much.”
The Tower Lord grabbed my jaw and forced my mouth open.
Her grip strength was unbelievable for a mage.
“The path of magic is to rewrite the laws of the world. To do that, you must first define your own laws.”
“Mmph, mmph!! Mmph!! (Y-You should at least tell me the trick to it first!!)”
“Do you think this is some kind of staff levitation training? If you wish to one day reach the same realm as me, you must carve out your own path.”
“Mmph, mmph-mmph!! (W-What is this on the very first day of lessons…!!)”
I shouted desperately, but it was nothing more than a hollow cry.
“Do not let your guard down. Not if you don’t want to be devoured.”
In the end, the Tower Lord pushed the elixir pill past my throat.
Gulp.
*
To reach the 6th Circle, Kang Hyun-woo had once sought advice from Iris.
Iris had told him it would be best to seek help from a fellow Elementalist, but that was a lie.
She knew very well how to solve the bottleneck that stood in Kang Hyun-woo’s way.
The problem was that the method was far too radical. So much so that she couldn’t bring herself to tell her beloved.
Fundamentally, a human is composed of a body and a soul.
And just as Valentina, the White Tower Lord, had said, the more defined the soul’s outline, the easier it is to access the Astral.
One could easily step into realms utterly unreachable through simple meditation.
But it wasn’t all good.
Because the boundary between life and death becomes blurred.
If one crossed that boundary and failed to return, they would inevitably meet the same end as the mages who had taken the pill before.
Where am I…
Finding himself in a vast expanse of space, Kang Hyun-woo looked around.
It was a familiar place.
It was his own Astral space, where everything he had built up until now floated about in disarray.
Something… feels different from when I meditate…
It was a place he visited as often as he ate, every time he meditated, but this time it felt unusually alien.
It was as if he’d been thrown naked into the deep sea, a place he had always entered wearing a diving suit.
And that expression was accurate.
Thrown into a near-infinite space that a mere human’s cognitive abilities could not fully grasp, an immense, indescribable pressure began to bear down on his mind.
Wooooo—
‘…’
All he could see was darkness.
He couldn’t sense the presence of any living thing.
But he felt as if something was watching him from beyond the darkness.
Or perhaps, it felt as if something was opening its massive maw to swallow its prey.
And that prey was none other than himself.
—Do not let your guard down. Not if you don’t want to be devoured.
Only then did Kang Hyun-woo begin to vaguely understand the meaning of the Tower Lord’s final words.
What was trying to swallow him was not some unidentified monster hiding beyond the darkness.
It was the Astral itself.
With the boundary between life and death forcibly blurred by the Tower Lord’s pill, Kang Hyun-woo was, for all intents and purposes, in a state of astral projection.
And a soul without a body is as vulnerable to external attacks as a newborn baby.
Vulnerable enough to be devoured by oneself without even realizing it.
Tsk, would it kill her to explain things in a little more detail?
Kang Hyun-woo grumbled internally at the White Tower Lord as he stared down at his own hands.
His entire body was translucent, enough to see clearly through to the other side.
Like a ghost.
And with each passing moment, he was becoming more transparent.
That wasn’t the only problem.
…My memories are fading faster than my body. I can’t even recall my parents’ names, let alone anything from my childhood. At this rate, I’ll even forget my own name.
And in the end, he would forget even himself.
Who he was.
Why he had come here.
Ultimately, upon reaching a state where he could no longer recognize himself, he would be swallowed by the Astral, just like the other mages who had become catatonic.
He could endure it for now, but Kang Hyun-woo instinctively realized it was only a matter of time. He immediately kicked off into the void and flew toward a nearby planet.
—!!!!
It was a speed unimaginable in reality, but since being able to breathe effortlessly in space was already absurd, he didn’t bother to point it out.
Afterward, Kang Hyun-woo settled himself in the center of the planet and sat in the lotus position as he usually did.
And he quietly closed his eyes.
If he didn’t want to be swallowed by the Astral, he had to constantly recall his memories.
From personal information like his name, age, and gender, to his most important relationships.
But Kang Hyun-woo did not do that.
Although it was semi-forced, the reason he had entered the Astral, going as far as to take a perilous pill, was solely to find a clue to reach the 6th Circle.
So, simply holding out until the Tower Lord helped him would be the same as kicking away an opportunity that had rolled right up to his feet.
…If I can’t even overcome this much, I won’t be able to achieve anything.
High risk, high return.
Instead of retracing his memories, Kang Hyun-woo began to focus all his resources outward, concentrating on expanding the scope of his perception.
To be able to fully cover, if not the entire Astral, then at least the planetary system he was in.
And further, to establish his own laws within that system.
It was a mad gamble that could leave him a vegetable if he made one wrong move, but Kang Hyun-woo did not hesitate in the slightest.
*
While Kang Hyun-woo was racking his brain, forcibly expanding his cognitive space, the Tower Lord was carefully watching him stand there, unconscious.
The inner core of the Millennium Hwari he had yielded to her had been of great help, so she intended to intervene if things got truly dangerous.
Besides, she was personally curious about him.
…To think a mere 5th Circle mage can withstand my chill. His body temperature is higher than a normal person’s, but that alone doesn’t explain it…
Vrrr—
Just as Valentina’s fingertips were about to touch Kang Hyun-woo’s cheek, the phone she had placed on the table began to vibrate and ring.
“…Tsk.”
Checking the name displayed on the phone screen, she furrowed her brow in open annoyance.
