An Incomplete Theory and a Dragon's Legacy
The ancient ruins were incredibly old.
They could have been dungeons left behind by mages from a bygone era, or forgotten laboratories, or the remnants of long-lost organizations.
The one thing all such places had in common was that their records were never complete.
Extremely ancient documents were often jumbled together without any system, and many were abruptly cut off in the middle.
“Ah…”
That was why Lim Dojun felt such deep disappointment.
The grandiose parchment written in ancient draconic script, titled Dragon-Style Magic Theory, had its contents vanish starting from the middle.
He had been reading with intense focus when the text suddenly stopped.
No matter how thoroughly he searched through the other materials the mercenaries had brought back, or even dug through the piles of documents himself, there was nothing that continued from where it left off.
Everything else belonged to completely different fields or was utterly useless.
You have learned the skill ‘Incomplete Dragon-Style Magic Theory.’
The message appeared just like that.
Because the material was incomplete, he had only been able to learn an imperfect version rather than the complete theory.
Even so, an enormous amount of knowledge had flooded into his mind. Still, he couldn’t help feeling regretful that he hadn’t been able to secure everything beyond what was provided.
Regretting it won’t change anything.
This must have been as far as their connection could reach.
As he was thinking that…
You have learned dragon magic, albeit incompletely, with a human body.
Great Achievement!
You have been awarded 1 Achievement Point.
“!”
Lim Dojun was startled.
He was even more shocked than when he had obtained the Dragon-Style Magic Theory.
“An… achievement?”
Achievement Points.
They could raise one’s potential, and if enough were gathered, they could even heal injuries once thought incurable—a miraculous ability.
He had thought he would need to work hard and earn more someday, but he never imagined it would happen this quickly.
I thought you could only get them by doing things that would become known to others…
He hadn’t done anything that would spread rumors or make his name known. He had simply acquired a skill.
Yet he had still received an achievement.
Only now did Lim Dojun truly understand the system.
It really did award Achievement Points for accomplishing things that could genuinely be called achievements.
Lim Dojun opened his status window.
Skills: Jiren-Style Combat Technique, Crystal Dragon’s Will, Blue Magic Tower Basic Mana Control, Low-Class Magic, Incomplete Dragon-Style Magic Theory
Current Status: All injuries caused by the Crystal Dragon’s curse have been fully healed. However, the Crystal Dragon’s residual Will still remains.
You have learned a portion of Dragon-Style Magic Theory. If you acquire more knowledge, it may evolve into the complete theory.
Along with the skills he had learned so far and the single Achievement Point, there were new lines of text he had never seen before.
If I keep gathering knowledge, it will become the complete theory?
It was a hopeful message.
The experience of knowledge pouring in only to be cut off had been incredibly frustrating. Knowing he might be able to fill in those gaps someday made him feel much better.
Unfortunately, there was no additional information about the achievements themselves.
It simply told him he possessed one point.
When I first arrived here, it said I had 20 points, and that spending 10 could heal my injuries.
But now, even though his body was stiffening again, it gave him no information about injury recovery.
From that, he could make an educated guess.
It seemed Achievement Points only revealed what they could be used for once a certain threshold was reached.
In other words, you needed to possess at least 10 points before the system would tell you that you could spend 10 to heal injuries.
In that case, there was only one thing Lim Dojun could do.
I will continue gathering Achievement Points. Until I can resolve every side effect caused by the Crystal Dragon’s Will!
Lim Dojun clenched his fist tightly.
Judging from what he had accomplished today, it didn’t seem like it would take that long.
Descending the mountain was not as difficult as climbing it, so Jo Difel didn’t complain much as they made their way down.
After all, the mercenaries had carried all the heavy documents, and the Magic Tower never expected its mages to handle such labor.
A mage’s role was strictly supervision and management.
However, after the excessive hike, Jo Difel had practically passed out. Lim Dojun took it upon himself to handle the mission completion report.
After that, he headed straight to the training room.
“Hoo…”
Standing in the center of the spacious training room reserved exclusively for the branch leader, Lim Dojun recalled the Dragon-Style Magic Theory.
-Sssssss
A chill slowly began to rise from beneath his feet.
Human magic involved gathering mana, chanting spells, casting according to formulas, and manifesting them.
Dragon magic had none of that.
It used the infinite mana emitted from a Dragon Heart, controlled by pure Will, to impose one’s intent directly upon reality.
The ice-attribute techniques Lim Dojun had learned from low-class magic were Ice Arrow and Thorn of the Earth.
Because they were registered as skills, he could cast them silently with enough proficiency. But dragon magic was not bound by such limitations.
-Crrrrrack!
The chill that had spread across the floor writhed like a living creature and surged into the air.
One stream became a whip that lashed at the surroundings. Another portion turned into thorns that targeted the feet of imaginary enemies. Near Lim Dojun, a shield of ice formed and floated gently in the air.
All of this happened simultaneously with just a glance, and maintaining it felt as natural as breathing.
“Haha…”
Ice magic that manifested exactly as he envisioned.
This felt less like magic and more like an ice-based superpower.
Lim Dojun instinctively realized something.
I must not let anyone know about this.
Being able to enter the world of magic in a single day could be explained away as the feat of an extraordinary genius. But this had already surpassed any reasonable standard.
What if some insane mage appeared and suggested cutting him open for research?
He would keep his mouth shut until he had the power to protect himself.
“Ugh… My body… I’m really going to die.”
Jo Difel groaned as he sat up.
The aftereffects of that brutal mission—which had included mountain climbing—had knocked him out cold the moment he returned.
He had only meant to sleep for a short while because he had a mountain of research waiting, but when he opened his eyes, it was already the next morning.
And yet his entire body ached so badly he felt like he might actually die.
“If it weren’t for those damn contribution points, I would never have taken a mission like that.”
Dragging his aching body, Jo Difel headed to the material storage room.
There was an ingredient he needed to exchange for with his contribution points.
Forget-me-not petals.
A rare medicinal herb that was the key component in the elixir he was currently researching.
With this, I can finally create a Grade 4 elixir!
Jo Difel’s major was alchemy.
As expected of the Blue Magic Tower, his focus was on freezing-based alchemy. While there were many subfields, what he was researching now was elixirs.
This was the critical moment—whether he could break free from the label of a low-class mage and successfully produce a Grade 4 elixir.
The forget-me-not petals he had poured his blood and sweat into acquiring would help him cross that wall.
After exchanging for the forget-me-not petals at the storage room, he returned to his lab with a bright smile on his face.
“Huh? Difel. I heard you went on a mission yesterday?”
A classmate who recognized him called out.
“How was it?”
“How was what?”
“What do you mean, what? You went with that person, right?”
“Who? Are you talking about Jun?”
Jo Difel tilted his head in confusion.
Jun was a junior, so why was his classmate speaking as if he deserved honorifics?
His classmate looked shocked.
“Whoa! You’re already that close? Close enough to call him so casually?”
“What the hell are you talking about? Explain it properly.”
“What’s there to explain? You went together and you don’t know? The branch leader apparently took on an absolutely monstrous genius as his disciple. I heard he’s been grabbing every mage he sees since yesterday and bragging about it while spitting all over the place. Their first mission together was the document transport you went on.”
“……?”
He hadn’t known.
He had never been particularly well-informed about internal Magic Tower gossip to begin with, and yesterday he had practically fainted.
“J-Jun is the branch leader’s disciple?”
Delcrein, the branch leader of the Blue Magic Tower in Bellangs, was a famous talent-obsessed fanatic.
A devil who wouldn’t even treat someone as a mage if they lacked talent.
Hmm. With effort, you might reach average.
Those were the words Jo Difel had once heard when he met the branch leader.
He had never met him again after that.
There was no way a busy man like the branch leader would bother with an average talent like Jo Difel.
“You’re so lucky. You’re already close enough to speak comfortably with the branch leader’s disciple?”
“……”
His classmate spoke with clear envy, but Jo Difel’s face turned deathly pale.
D-did I… make any mistakes yesterday?
What had he done?
He had snatched the water the branch leader’s disciple brought and drank it.
Once they reached the mission site, he had done nothing and made the branch leader’s disciple do everything.
When they returned, he had dumped the report on him and gone straight to his room to sleep.
“Haha. Your future looks bright. I’m so jealous. Well, those of us without connections will go back to our research. Take care.”
His classmate patted Jo Difel on the shoulder and left first.
“……”
Even so, Jo Difel remained frozen in place for a long time.
It felt like dark clouds had gathered over his life.
Lim Dojun stayed shut inside the training room for several days, thoroughly studying low-class magic and Dragon-Style Magic.
Learning magic for the first time in his life was fascinating, and Dragon-Style Magic in particular suited him perfectly.
As he tested it himself and explored its various applications, the days flew by.
The training room was equipped with water, a bathroom, and simple snacks, so there was no need to leave. That was how so much time had passed.
Through this process, he came to understand both the power and the limitations of the magic he had learned.
The biggest limitation was clear.
I don’t have nearly enough mana.
Regular magic was one thing, but Dragon-Style Magic was a mana-devouring monster.
He hadn’t done much at all, yet it drained his internal mana at an alarming rate.
The cause was simple.
“Because I don’t have a Dragon Heart.”
It was only natural that problems would arise when a human tried to use dragon magic.
One was supposed to process the infinite mana emitted from a Dragon Heart using a dragon’s Will. All Lim Dojun had was the Will.
With only half the equation, it was inevitable that he would feel the shortage.
In that case, the solution was also simple.
“I just need to obtain a Dragon Heart.”
If he could acquire a Dragon Heart and gain access to an infinite supply of mana?
Only then would he be able to truly wield Dragon-Style Magic.
Of course, any other mage who heard this would have laughed at him.
The idea of obtaining a Dragon Heart from legend was something even children wouldn’t entertain.
But for Lim Dojun, it was something he had to obtain anyway.
He needed to supplement the knowledge from the Incomplete Dragon-Style Magic Theory, and acquiring a Dragon Heart would likely help with Achievement Points as well.
Just learning the incomplete theory gave me an Achievement Point. If I obtain a Dragon Heart and learn the complete magic, I should gain far more points.
His tasks were roughly decided.
He needed to learn better mana control techniques, search for Dragon-Style Magic and Dragon Hearts, carry out missions, and build up achievements.
There’s a lot to do.
He would take it one step at a time.
With that thought, Lim Dojun stepped out of the training room.
The first thing he saw was a note tucked into the doorframe.
I didn’t want to disturb you since you seemed deeply focused. I went to the main headquarters and had a serious talk with the Disciplinary Elder. I told him it was ridiculous that the Magic Tower’s rules prevented me from supporting you! Hehe. So come find me when you’re out. I’ve brought you a present.
— Your Master, Delcrein
A summons from his master, Delcrein.
If it’s a present… could it be a higher-grade mana control technique?
It was what he had requested from the beginning, and Delcrein had said he would do his best. There was nothing else it could be.
Lim Dojun found himself looking forward to it without realizing.
Even now, his body was stiffening little by little in real time.
It would be a long time before he became stiff enough to need a wheelchair again, but he still felt uneasy.
Lim Dojun quickly made his way toward the branch leader’s office.
“Um…”
At that moment, a familiar person called out to him.
It was Jo Difel, the senior he had gone on the mission with a week ago.
“Senior!”
Lim Dojun looked at him with a genuinely pleased expression. He felt grateful toward him.
Thanks to Jo Difel, he had been able to examine the ruins’ documents to his heart’s content.
Obtaining the Incomplete Dragon-Style Magic Theory was largely due to his efforts as well.
How could he not feel favorable toward him?
Jo Difel waved his hand with an awkward expression.
“H-have you been well… I mean, have you been well?”
“Yes, I’ve been doing fine. Senior… um… you don’t look so good.”
Lim Dojun had been about to ask, “You’ve been well too, right?” but changed his words.
The deep dark circles and exhausted eyes were clearly not normal.
“H-haha… I got a bit too absorbed in my research. Anyway, are you busy right now?”
“Hmm. I am a bit busy, but a moment should be fine. What is it?”
He did need to hurry, but if his benefactor Jo Difel was calling him, he could spare a little time.
“That’s a relief. I have something to give you.”
“?”
Jo Difel handed him a small bottle.
Inside, a brilliant sky-blue liquid shimmered.
“This is my latest masterpiece. It’s a Grade 4 elixir called ‘Forget-Me-Not Essence Potion.’”
“Oh! Senior, you wanted to make a Grade 4 elixir, right? Congratulations!”
They had talked while descending the mountain, so Lim Dojun knew what kind of research Jo Difel was doing.
He had heard the goal was manufacturing Grade 4 elixirs. Of course he had to congratulate him on succeeding.
“Yeah. So… I’d like to give this to you.”
“!”
Lim Dojun was startled by the unexpected gift. Jo Difel continued with trembling lips and a shaky smile.
“So… could you maybe consider what happened before as a mistake and let it slide?”
“……?”
Lim Dojun tilted his head in confusion.
What happened before?