Chapter 550: Gordon Valentina
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 550: Gordon Valentina
Getting a dating app had often landed me in troublesome situations, and through them, I’d naturally come to learn a few things.
One of them was that, surprisingly, the sensation of waking up after a good night’s sleep was quite similar to coming to after fainting.
...My mana circle is completely empty, and my brain and magic circuits are severely swollen. Did I pass out after using magic?
My memory cut off at the scene of a giant fireball falling toward the mountain, so that was probably it.
Throb—!
Ugh…?!
Perhaps from forcing myself to use tactical-grade magic, a sharp pain shot through me, as if someone were squeezing my lungs and heart.
It was a classic symptom of mana deficiency.
I never thought a single spell would leave me like this…
If I had known that amplifying resonance would increase mana consumption exponentially, I wouldn't have pushed myself so hard.
And yet, strangely enough, I felt refreshed.
It was because the magic I had completed by wringing out every last drop of my being had been so incredibly beautiful.
The fact that I could have such thoughts while passed out in a wretched state must mean I’ve become a mage, down to my very bones.
I felt as if neurotransmitters like dopamine, adrenaline, endorphins, and oxytocin were exploding inside my head in real time.
On top of that, there was the soft sensation at the back of my head and the familiar presence right beside me.
Nine times out of ten, the Tower Lord was letting me use her lap as a pillow.
...Should I just go back to sleep?
My body already felt as heavy as lead.
It was only because it was me that I was even conscious; any other mage, or even most hunters, would have been groaning and coughing up blood in this condition.
Just as I decided to fall back asleep…
“I know you’re awake.”
“…”
“If you don’t open your eyes by the count of three, I’ll throw you into the frozen lake. Three, two…”
I cautiously opened my eyes, and they naturally met the Tower Lord’s.
I gave her a warm smile.
“Good morning. The weather is…”
The sky was filled with gray clouds.
It looked like a blizzard could start at any moment.
“Hm, not particularly good, I see.”
“Stop with the nonsense. If you’re awake, get up.”
“That’s a bit…”
I wasn’t exaggerating in the slightest; right now, it was an effort to even lift a single finger.
On top of that, the mana exhaustion had made my mana recovery rate far slower than usual.
If the Tower Lord were to leave me here, I’d have to lie here for a full day.
“Haa…”
The Tower Lord sighed, pressing her fingertips to her forehead.
She then took a small flask from her robes, skillfully uncapped it, and pushed it to my lips.
“Drink. It should help a little with your mana recovery.”
“Uh… it smells a bit foul. It hasn’t gone bad, has—Gulp?!”
“Just drink it without another word.”
Gulp, gulp—
The Tower Lord practically shoved the flask between my lips, and an unidentifiable liquid flowed down my throat.
I had no idea what ingredients were used, but the taste was so horrendous it made me want to vomit.
“B-Blegh…! A-Are you sure this is okay? I feel like my stomach is turning inside out…”
It felt like I’d chugged a whole bottle of whiskey, then tried to take a high-speed bus to Seoul while squatting on the floor and staring at my phone.
I didn’t have a mirror, but my complexion had to be ghastly.
But the Tower Lord just looked down at me with an icy stare.
“What do you think I’m going to say?”
“…‘Stop being so dramatic’?”
“You know me well.”
Thump—
“Ack!”
The Tower Lord suddenly stood up, causing me to plant my face right in the snow.
My whole body was overheated from forcing the spell, so it didn’t feel particularly cold.
…It’s actually kind of refreshing.
“Are you planning on staying like that?”
Under the Tower Lord’s continued nagging, I had no choice but to draw upon my internal energy.
The potion she gave me had cured the mana deficiency, but the feeling of utter exhaustion was something I had to handle on my own.
The true energy circulated through my body’s meridians, rapidly helping the damaged tissues recover. After about three minutes, I was finally able to get up.
As I silently noted the Tower Lord’s coldness in not even offering a hand to the very end, I vowed my revenge.
Tonight, I’m not letting her sleep until the sun comes up.
How dare she treat her husband, who was as great as the heavens, with such neglect? It was unforgivable.
If I let this slide, families would crumble, society would collapse, and in the end, my own world would come crashing down.
Just as I was quietly making my vow of revenge…
“Oh…”
The moment I struggled to my feet, a completely transformed landscape unfolded before my eyes.
The mountain that had blocked my view was gone, with only a trace of its existence remaining. In its place was an artificially cleared, wide-open vista.
And beyond it, a pure white snowfield stretched on endlessly.
“…Did I do that?”
“Yes.”
“Oh…”
I stroked my chin and let out a sound of admiration.
I was aware that I had used an incredible spell, but since I’d fainted, I hadn't been able to see the results for myself.
But the sight before me was so overwhelming that it instantly erased any such regrets.
The spell’s power was several times stronger than when I had used it against the rebel army.
To think all this was the result of just one day’s progress.
A disbelieving laugh kept escaping my lips.
“Hehe, Lady Valentina. Do you see your disciple’s achievement? To be this powerful at only the 5th Circle… even I am starting to fear my own growth.”
“…Don’t laugh like such a fool.”
The Tower Lord frowned.
Even if our master-disciple relationship was only a day old, I was shocked to learn that she was so petty she couldn’t even sincerely congratulate her student on his growth.
“…You’re making that face again, the one where you’re thinking something strange.”
“Haha, surely you don’t think I’d do that in front of my master.”
“Haa…”
The wrinkle between the Tower Lord’s brows deepened.
After shaking her head with a sigh, she flicked her fingers.
Rumble—
In that instant, two chairs made of ice rose from the ground.
They looked like they’d freeze my butt just by looking at them, but the Tower Lord crossed her legs and sat down without a care.
Following her lead, I cautiously settled into the chair opposite her.
…It’s not cold?
It seemed she had adjusted the ice’s temperature at will.
Of course, it was still ice.
It was still cold and hard.
“Before we get to the main point, I have a few questions.”
“Questions?”
As I shifted around in the slightly uncomfortable seat, the Tower Lord’s demeanor turned serious.
“How did you resonate with the fire element?”
“Huh? That was just… huh?”
At that moment, a fact I had forgotten flashed through my mind.
I had only succeeded in resonating with the ice element; I hadn’t yet resonated with any others.
But I had just brazenly resonated with the fire element.
How?
“…To resonate with the fire element, one must take a lowest-grade fire resistance potion and meditate in flames for hours. The potion keeps you from dying, but it’s accompanied by immense pain.”
The most painful death was, without a doubt, being burned alive.
For the record, just because one could handle the fire element and possessed magic power didn’t mean they could withstand being in flames unharmed.
They could endure it longer than an ordinary person, but mages felt the pain all the same.
“You skipped that entire process. It’s highly unusual. Of course, it’s not impossible if one’s elemental affinity is excessively high, like mine, but…”
The Tower Lord trailed off, looking at me with a meaningful gaze.
“Even so, it seems you’d be able to resonate with the other elements as well.”
“…”
Just as she said, a baseless confidence was welling up in my chest—a confidence that I could resonate not only with fire, but with all the elements I could wield: lightning, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness.
There had been no sign of this just yesterday.
Even resonating with the fire element, looking back, had been an unconscious act.
Could it be…
At that moment, a phrase came to mind.
—In the world of magic, anything that can be imagined can be realized.
What if I had unconsciously, strongly, imagined that I could resonate…?
Of course, that was normally impossible.
If one could resonate with an element just by doing that, mages wouldn't be doing the crazy act of meditating in fire.
“Will this cause any problems?”
“No. It won’t. But it does mean I have nothing left to teach you.”
“…What?”
The Tower Lord continued with an indifferent expression.
“I was planning to teach you an improved application of Magia Lida. Since you’ve already grasped the basics on your own, I judged it would be better to adapt the method itself to suit you, a user of multiple elements, rather than just teaching the next step. After all, Magia Lida was originally created solely for ice magic.”
The Tower Lord gave a rare, small smile.
It seemed I was seeing her smile more often lately.
“But you perfectly executed the Magia Lida method with the fire element, as if to prove me wrong. You amplified your resonance with the element to approach its very source, and as a result, you displayed power that surpasses a typical 6th Circle spell. No, it would be more accurate to say that single-handedly casting a tactical-grade spell was already far beyond my expectations.”
“…You’ll keep it a secret, right?”
For the record, under international law, tactical-grade magic cannot be used by individuals.
I only knew the spell formula because Hyena had let it slip; normally, such magic is very strictly controlled.
Of course, major cities had barriers that could block tactical-grade magic, but honestly, I didn't think they could have stopped the spell I just cast.
“Even if I reported you, the old fogies of the magic world wouldn’t hand you over to the UN. Besides, the various nations would try to win you over rather than arrest you.”
“Old fogies?”
“You don’t need to know. They’re a bunch of greedy old hags with no talent, no skill, and no ambition for improvement. Even if they contact you first, just ignore them. They’re a useless lot.”
The Tower Lord clicked her tongue, an expression of blatant disgust on her face.
It seemed she was talking about the elders of the magic world.
“In any case, what you need now is repetitive practice.”
“…So all my lessons are over in just one day?”
“Technically speaking, yes.”
“…”
“I’m kidding. I’ll teach you ice magic that isn’t taught at the Magic Tower, so pay attention.”
“Oh!”
Damn, I knew I could count on you!
I faced the lesson with a beaming smile.
I began to get excited at the thought that I might learn not only the Tower Lord’s personally developed ice magic, but maybe even a new tactical-grade spell if I was lucky.
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“Tsk, you still haven’t memorized the spell formula? How many times do I have to explain it?”
“If you don’t understand, ask a question. Pretending to understand and getting it wrong is a waste of time.”
“I’ll say it again: guessing by feel isn’t talent. It’s luck.”
“Haa… I don’t understand how you could possibly calculate this to get such a result. Is math illegal in Korea or something?”
“What you’re using right now isn’t ice magic. It’s just a lump of ice.”
“One more time like this, and I’m skipping the explanations. It’ll be faster to make you understand with your body.”
“You’re not conserving mana, you’re conserving thought. Both are a waste.”
“…”
Under the rapid-fire barrage of the Tower Lord’s critiques, I was completely sunk.
To call it spartan was an understatement.
The Tower Lord was beating me up with her words.
“Since you’re teaching me anyway, you could use some nicer words…”
“Then memorize it when I’m using nice words.”
“…”
In that moment, I found myself missing my affectionate lessons with Iris, who would smile gently and let me touch her chest even when I got the answer wrong.