The 1st Circle (2)
Jeron now understood the general concept of a mana circle.
It was a process of gathering the mana he had accumulated so far, drawing it near his heart, and compressing it.
Once the mana was highly compressed, it would begin to rotate in a circular motion in sync with the beating of his heart. This was the 1st Circle.
However, the compression process placed an immense strain on the heart. Achieving this through one's own strength alone was virtually impossible.
Every mage currently in existence had formed their circles with the assistance of a master.
It was said that magic had originally been passed down by dragons, and the very first human mage had been a disciple of a dragon.
The lineage had continued uninterrupted ever since, but as mana grew scarce on the Karen Continent, magic entered an era of decline.
But how did this apply to Jeron?
He possessed an alternative source: Earth.
Although the mutants were absorbing mana, they had only appeared on Earth about a decade ago. As a result, the entire planet was still overflowing with mana.
Rumble!
Jeron stirred a massive amount of mana.
Like a raging gale, the mana surged through his secondary circulatory system, triggering a flood of sensory inputs.
The four basic elements contained within the mana coursed through his entire body.
Observing Jeron's body, the Count was startled.
“No, is this even possible?”
The latent mana inside Jeron's body was far too vast to have been gathered in just a few months.
Wiping away a cold sweat, the Count used his magic tool to assist with the mana flow while casting a Shield over Jeron's heart.
An orb did not merely assist with mana supply; it also helped control it.
The mana, which had been raging like a storm, gathered toward his chest under the guidance of his spirit.
Of all parts of the human body, the nature of mana was most similar to the heart.
The heart was the source of life, never stopping from birth until death. By using the heartbeat to spin the circle, one could rotate the mana and keep it bound to the body.
What moved mana was the will.
With intense will, desire, and even the energy of his soul, Jeron guided the mana and set it spinning near his heart.
Creak!
“Argh!”
“You must endure it!”
Despite the Shield, an excruciating pain flared in his heart.
It was a pain so intense that if Jeron had attempted this alone, his heart would have ruptured instantly, killing him.
His heart grew tight and pounded frantically.
Thump! Thump!
At this moment, Jeron felt that rotating mana around the heart to form a circle was very similar to operating a machine.
The pulse of the heart was the power source, and from it, the rotational force was derived.
He used half of the latent mana in his body to form the circle, and the remaining half to forcibly expand his mana circuits.
Jeron had named these circuits the secondary circulatory system.
Until now, they had merely been used to gather mana. But from now on, they had to serve as pathways for internal mana to flow outward, making the expansion process crucial.
Perhaps because of this, dull popping sounds echoed from within him.
Thud! Thud!
As the previously blocked mana circuits tore open, a violent wave of pain—unlike anything he had ever experienced—swept over him.
He nearly lost consciousness.
The only reason Jeron held on was his sheer strength of will.
While the trauma of his past life had scarred his mind, it had also forged his mental fortitude.
Magic was the act of controlling and manipulating mana through willpower.
In that sense, magic was perfectly suited to Jeron's traits.
Eventually.
The basic opening of the mana circuits was complete, and a single, thick circle was formed.
“Pant! Pant!”
The Count was suddenly pushed back by a repelling force.
He slumped to the floor, gasping for breath.
“Are you alright, Your Grace?”
“Whew… More importantly, are you alright?”
“I am fine.”
The Count's face was quite pale.
He looked as if he might collapse at any moment. This was the result of depleting most of his mana while assisting Jeron in forming the circle.
“Check your body again. I have never heard of anyone learning magic at such a breakneck speed.”
The Count worried that something might have gone wrong.
Gathering mana this quickly and forming a circle in one go was an extremely rare occurrence.
Following the Count's advice, Jeron examined his own body.
A remarkably thick mana circle was rotating in sync with his heartbeat.
The rotation of the circle was proportional to his heart rate.
If his heart beat at seventy times per minute, the circle rotated seventy times as well.
As Jeron observed the circle, he discovered a strange phenomenon.
The circle was automatically drawing in the remaining mana in his body.
After highly compressing the mana, Jeron had dispersed the rest throughout his body, and the rotating heart was gradually absorbing that energy.
“Thank you, Count. Thanks to you, I have completed the circle.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Ha, what incredible talent. Had you been born during the golden age of magic, you would have become a grand mage. In a way, it is quite unfortunate.”
The Count expressed genuine regret.
Because the mana of the Karen Continent was depleted, it was practically impossible to reach the 2nd Circle.
The Count believed that if only mana were abundant, Jeron could have reached a formidable level.
The circle pulsed and rotated.
Jeron felt his five senses expand further.
Sounds became clearer, and his vision sharpened.
He could see things that had been invisible to him before forming the circle.
He could even clearly see insects crawling on the floor.
While Jeron's combat capability would skyrocket, it was not without its drawbacks.
His sense of smell had also become highly sensitive, allowing him to clearly catch the foul odors drifting in from outside the lord's castle.
Jeron decided to look on the bright side.
Since his sensory perception had sharpened, it would undoubtedly save his life when facing mutants or on the battlefield.
Jeron turned to the Count, whose pale face was slowly regaining its color.
“Count, it might be a bit presumptuous of me to ask at this moment, but…”
“Go ahead.”
“Could I learn a simple spell?”
At Jeron's words, the Count's face turned pale once more.
***
The lesson began two hours later.
Although the sun had completely set, the torches placed throughout the area provided enough light for the lesson.
The Count looked much better than before.
Jeron would have preferred to postpone the lesson by a few days if possible, but he had no choice if he wanted to cross over to the industrial complex next time.
The Count was also a busy man, so he wanted to teach Jeron magic today if possible.
A straw dummy was set up in the training ground.
To practice magic, he needed a target.
“If the Magic Tower heard about what happened today, no one would believe it. That is how incredible your achievement is.”
“It would have been impossible without you, Count. Who else could control a Shield with such precision?”
“Hahaha, that is true. Though I gave up the path of a mage at the 1st Circle, I have mastered the spells of this level.”
He's a simple man.
Jeron smiled faintly.
Young or old, no one disliked praise.
The atmosphere grew warmer.
Although the Count was pushing himself a bit because of the gifts he had received today, he was also genuinely curious to see if Jeron could use magic on the very day he formed his circle.
“If you manage to cast a spell today, it will be a new record. No one has ever used magic within a single day of forming their circle. That was impossible even during the golden age of magic.”
“I look forward to your guidance.”
They stopped their banter.
The training ground had been completely cleared.
As night fell, a tropical night seemed to be setting in, but just not being under the scorching sun was a relief.
“As you know from reading the overview of mana cultivation, magic is, in short, the process of shaping and releasing mana through willpower.”
Jeron nodded.
He knew how magic was used.
What Jeron wanted to know was how magic was actually released, and what secrets were hidden within the formulas and hand signs.
“Let us take Magic Missile, the foundation of magic, as an example. Magic Missile is the act of using wind-attribute mana to compress air, calculating the formula, and hitting the target. The key here is that if you fail the calculation, the magic will not manifest.”
“What exactly is this formula calculation?”
“Once you succeed in separating and shaping the wind-attribute mana from your pool, you must calculate the distance to the target to fire it. You must also account for wind flow and terrain. Fortunately, there is no wind today. The distance to the target from here is about five meters. You compress the mana, calculate the distance, and fire.”
“It sounds simple.”
“It is not simple at all. A spellbook is a compilation of complex formulas, including the required amount of mana. Even a simple spell like Magic Missile has a formula for how much mana must be channeled. If you do not limit the mana precisely to that formula, the magic will not manifest.”
Here, Jeron realized something.
The spellbook detailed the exact amount of mana required for a spell to manifest.
Even if one calculated the amount of mana precisely and manifested the magic, calculating the distance was no easy task.
The required mana also varied depending on the distance.
A spellbook was essentially a type of mathematics textbook containing those formulas.
“1st Circle magic is relatively simple. It is even easier when the terrain is a straight line like this.”
Boom!
The Count calculated the mana, distance, and wind flow, then fired a Magic Missile.
The head of the straw dummy shattered and blew apart.
“Oh!”
“What do you think? It is stronger than you expected, is it not? That is the nature of magic. As long as it is successfully cast, its power is quite formidable. Even 1st Circle magic is enough to defeat most opponents. It is even better when combined with swordsmanship.”
Listening to the Count's explanation, Jeron memorized the formula in the spellbook.
Then, he estimated how much mana was needed to manifest Magic Missile and practiced it repeatedly in his mind.
If you're good at basic arithmetic, shouldn't mastering 1st Circle magic be a breeze?