Chapter 549: Full Power
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 549: Full Power
An Elementalist capable of resonating with the elements can observe the world from a perspective similar to that of a spirit user.
This is because, in the world of magic, elements are seen as the substances that constitute nature, while spirits are seen as nature itself.
In a way, naturally resonating with the elements from birth could be considered one of the talents required of a spirit user.
In that sense, Valentina possessed the qualities of a spirit user, but she herself did not desire that path.
For a spirit user, communing with spirits was the most important virtue, but Valentina’s personality was one that disliked interacting with others.
“Awakening resonance is merely a foundational step in the Magia Lida method. Resonance is not simply about amplifying the power of the elements; it’s a concept akin to a master key that grants one the authority to interfere with nature itself.”
“…But didn’t you say resonance is something learned only after the 6th Circle? The barrier to entry seems a little too high…”
“That is because Magia Lida is a method I established upon reaching the 7th Circle.”
“Ah.”
Well, that explained it.
It was the same principle by which a third-rate or second-rate martial artist couldn’t learn an unrivaled divine art created by a master who had reached the Profound Realm.
Of course, in comics, you often see protagonists who learn martial arts just by reading a manual left behind by an absolute master, but in reality, that’s nearly impossible.
That was something only once-in-a-generation geniuses, born by a slip-up of the heavens, could do.
Even I would have taken a long time to advance my mastery of the Formless Vajra Art if I hadn't been taught by my master.
“The essence of the Magia Lida method lies in approaching the source of the elements through resonance. Even if you’ve awakened resonance, it’s a process that can take several years at the shortest, or even decades at the longest…”
The Tower Lord trailed off, giving me a peculiar look.
“But since you awakened resonance in just one day, it probably won’t take you that long. No, it would be more accurate to say you’ve become aware of something you were already doing.”
“Something I was already doing?”
“I believe I told you before. You have been unconsciously practicing the Magia Lida method.”
She continued calmly.
“To resonate with the elements, approach their essence, and ultimately wield the power of nature itself.”
Shhh-
Ice crystals bloomed around the Tower Lord, reflecting the sunlight and creating a gentle halo of light.
“That is the Magia Lida method.”
Clang—!!
At that moment, the ice crystals floating around her shattered all at once, and snow began to fall from the sky.
“All Elementalists cause resonance unconsciously, but those who can compare to you are few and far between, even in history. If others are eating with their hands, you are skillfully using chopsticks.”
“But if that’s the case, why don’t I have a talent for spirit magic?”
As the Tower Lord first said, in the world of magic, elements and spirits are not fundamentally different.
If I possessed such talent as an Elementalist, shouldn’t a talent for spirit magic naturally follow?
But as Iris had told me, the only magic I had an aptitude for was elemental and summoning magic.
When I voiced my question at the inconsistent explanation, the Tower Lord made an indifferent face.
“That’s obvious. Regardless of talent, spirits fundamentally prefer humans with pure souls. They wouldn’t like a woman who is empty like me, or a human as bizarrely unfathomable as you. No, they might instinctively avoid you.”
“Bizarre…”
“I’m just stating my impression as it is.”
It didn’t seem like something you should say to someone’s face, but as expected, the Tower Lord didn’t seem to care.
“For your information, black mages are sensitive to human souls. They will naturally show interest in you, so pray you don’t encounter a black mage stronger than you. If you’re not careful, you could be captured alive and reduced to a test subject, neither living nor dead.”
“…You are worried about me, right?”
Why did it sound like a curse?
“Who knows.”
For some reason, I felt an unsettling feeling, but the Tower Lord simply looked at me with a meaningful smile.
It was clear at a glance that, compared to when we first met, her emotions and reactions had become much richer in many ways.
“In any case, what you need to do from now on is to refine the Magia Lida method.”
“…I think you skipped a lot of the intermediate steps.”
“That’s because you no longer need to learn the basics… No, in the East, they say seeing is believing, don’t they? You’ll understand once you try it yourself. Follow me.”
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About two hours after leaving the mansion with the Tower Lord, we arrived at a desolate plain without a single soul in sight, just like yesterday.
However, when I checked our current location on my phone, it was an area completely devoid of human presence, with even the nearest town hundreds of kilometers away.
It was a place far more cut off from civilization than yesterday.
At this point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the wilderness.
Vvvvmm-
Moreover, danger alert messages had been popping up on my phone repeatedly for a while now.
[This area is an Erosion Zone. You are advised to leave immediately. If you are experiencing difficulty moving, please contact the Hunter Association or the relevant authorities as soon as possible.]
An Erosion Zone referred to land that had become uninhabitable due to a Gate Break.
In other words, we had willingly walked into treacherous land teeming with magical beasts.
‘Well… I guess there’s nothing to worry about?’
Even if this were the middle of an S-rank Gate, as long as I was with the Tower Lord, nothing dangerous was likely to happen.
“So, what should I do now?”
“Do you see that hill over there?”
“…That hill?”
What the Tower Lord’s finger was pointing at was, by no stretch of the imagination, a hill.
It was a small mountain of considerable size.
“Launch your magic at the hill. Any magic will do. However, you must use your full power.”
Seeing the serious look in the Tower Lord’s eyes, I thought I finally understood why she had brought me all the way out here.
Common sense dictated that not even ordinary animals, let alone people, could survive within an Erosion Zone.
Furthermore, judging by the ominous energy emanating from the mountain, it was like a ticking time bomb.
It was home to at least several hundred magical beasts.
Even if the nearest town was hundreds of kilometers away, there was no telling when the pack of magical beasts, short on food, would move toward the town.
‘Full power, huh…’
A smile crept onto my lips as I took a staff out of my inventory.
It was a bit out of the blue, but as a man, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation.
Ever since I had successfully resonated with the elements, I had been constantly overwhelmed by the urge to use magic.
“But isn’t this national land? Is it okay to destroy everything?”
“It doesn’t matter in an Erosion Zone. Even if a problem arises, I will take care of it, so you don’t need to worry.”
At the Tower Lord’s words telling me to trust her, I gave a light nod.
‘Hoo…’
I took a slow, deep breath and closed my eyes.
The ‘Corrupted Starlight Staff’ that I had received… no, borrowed from the treasury of the Orsia Grand Duchy had the characteristic of absorbing the user’s magic power to enhance the might of their spells.
Normally, I set a certain limit, but for now, I allowed it to absorb as much magic power as it wanted.
Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp!!
The staff began to greedily devour my magic power.
In the meantime, I focused on the elements in the atmosphere.
One of the disadvantages of elemental magic is that it is heavily influenced by the environment.
Being in the middle of Siberia, the element of ice was overwhelmingly abundant, but that wasn’t important.
Resonance also meant assimilation, a strong connection with the elements.
As long as the element I wanted existed, overcoming the disadvantage of the environment was no trouble at all.
Sizzzle-
The snow that had piled up to my knees melted in an instant due to the fire elements gathering around me.
My pants got dirty with mud because of it, but I paid it no mind and continued to focus.
‘…At first, I didn’t understand what the Tower Lord meant when she said I had to exchange senses and emotions with elements that don’t even have a sense of self.’
But it didn’t take long for me to realize that such things weren’t important.
In the world of magic, what cannot be imagined cannot be realized.
Conversely, it also meant that if you could imagine it, you could realize anything.
In short, if you concluded that elements had no self and couldn’t even imagine interacting with them, then resonance could not be established.
Ultimately, resonance began with perceiving elements not as mere substances, but as subjects of interaction.
Vwooom-
The elements in the atmosphere began to respond to my will.
As a bonus, the surrounding temperature rose sharply.
Creaak-
As if it were the price for trying to use magic beyond my capabilities, the muscles throughout my body groaned, and my magic circuits rapidly overheated.
Due to the excessive operation of magic power, my mana circle felt like it would burst at any moment, and my brain was on the verge of overloading.
But I did not stop casting.
Instead, I willingly threw myself into the vast ocean of magic.
“Fire is not destruction, but a cycle.”
Magic had developed with non-verbal casting as a basic premise.
It was true that the longer you took to chant, the stronger the magic became, but on a battlefield where your head could fly off in the blink of an eye, doing so was no different from screaming for someone to kill you.
But not now.
I know that the end is the beginning.
Resonate with me, O red element.
Your pulse in my heart.
My will in your flame.
The same catastrophic scene that had once unfolded before the tens of thousands of rebels who had gathered to conquer Pendria, the capital of the Orsia Grand Duchy, was now being recreated here.
“…Fall, Celestial Flame.”
Rumble-rumble-rumble-
A massive fireball, revealing itself as if pushing aside the gray clouds, plummeted toward the mountain teeming with magical beasts.
Even amidst the pain of my vision turning red and my nose bleeding profusely, it was a magnificent spectacle that drew forth a gasp of admiration.
[Inferno Nova]
KRA-BOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!!!
An immense heat and a deafening roar engulfed the world.
*
Thud-
Valentina caught Kang Hyun-woo as he collapsed.
He was in bad shape, even at a glance.
His face was deathly pale, and blood was flowing ceaselessly from his eyes and nose.
They were the classic symptoms of magic power deficiency.
If he didn’t recover his magic power as soon as possible, there was a high chance it would lead to permanent disability.
The bigger problem, however, was his internal state.
His overheated brain and magic circuits were about to cook his other organs, and his mana circle was literally on the verge of bursting.
“A 5th Circle mage using 6th Circle magic…”
It wasn’t theoretically impossible.
But in reality, it was an act of folly so far beyond common sense that even ten lives wouldn’t be enough.
It was no different from saying you would move a dump truck with the engine of a compact car.
An ordinary mage would have died from their brain exploding during the casting.
Valentina let out a small sigh and parted her lips.
Then, she glanced around needlessly before blushing and pressing her lips against Kang Hyun-woo’s.
The chilling energy, rapidly transferred through the contact of their mucous membranes, began to quickly cool his body.
But when the fire elements clinging to his side kept interfering, Valentina frowned and stirred her magic power.
As she forcibly lowered the surrounding temperature, the fire elements fled in terror.
‘For elements to respond to this extent to the resonance of a mere 5th Circle mage…’
It was an unprecedented event in the thousands of years of magical history.
Slowly pulling her lips away, Valentina turned her head.
Beyond her line of sight stretched a landscape that had been so utterly devastated that it was hard to find even a trace of what was there before.
The earth was burning, and not even the corpses of the magical beasts that had occupied the mountain could be found.
Valentina wore a strange expression at the result that had far surpassed her expectations.