A Hermit Mage Who Warps Even Time

Ailiya's research lab was extremely cramped.

At first, it was a private lab spacious enough to be counted among the best in the Academy, but as time passed, it became cramped.

It wasn't just cramped—it had turned into a complete garbage dump.

'It would be nice if she cleaned up a bit.'

Still, since she didn't eat well, at least nothing was rotting. Lucky, I guess.

'Clean your room!!!'

That was the thought Goggle-i had every time he was summoned by his master.

But right now, he couldn't afford to think about that.

Goggle-i was an information search spirit.

Given who his master was, he was especially specialized in searching magical ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠records.

But he had never heard of a magic that stops time.

"So, you're saying that mage named Rii can now stop time?"

He thought he might have misunderstood.

But Ail's answer was decisive.

"It's certain that the flow is being distorted."

Rii's magic had begun interfering with time.

It was a domain that even the great mages of the past had dared not touch.

A scream involuntarily escaped from between Goggle-i's beak.

"I've never seen such magic before!"

"The magic of this world isn't that impressive, after all. How many proper ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mages do you think there are here?"

"But Ail, you're more of a mage than anyone else."

"He's even more than me."

"So you mean he doesn't eat and doesn't clean up while researching?"

"Maybe."

Liberio von Solanium.

A mage he had never seen before.

But in Ail's heart, an unknown bond, an inner closeness, began to form.

"Perhaps he went to the countryside because he completed something. He might have needed space to experiment."

"But you experiment at the Academy, Ail. Would he really need to go all the way to the countryside?"

Ail fell into thought again.

This time, the answer came quickly.

"He probably didn't want to show it to those Academy bastards even if it killed him."

"Ah... because he was ignored... but still, if he showed his results before leaving..."

"You looked into it too, Goggle-i, so you know. It would have been pointless."

The fact they were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠able to find out through inquiries at the Academy.

Rii seemed to have been thoroughly ignored.

Even after creating such astonishing magic, no one gave him a proper glance.

"And he already showed as much as necessary. Stopping time was just a mention of 'possibility' that he glossed over. The core of his thesis is that it's possible to improve the efficiency of all magic with a single spell, and that is actually implementable even now."

Even at this level, it's already a magic revolution.

"The potential applications are infinite. But."

Ail leaned against the lab wall, then slid down and sat with her back against it.

Her hair, a deep blue-black reminiscent of the night sky, let out a beoseoseok scream, but Ail didn't pay it much attention.

Because there was something far more important than that.

"And yet he hid in a countryside no one can find. He created a magic that interferes with time itself—a true mage wouldn't go to die. Even if someone begged him to die, he would never die."

Rii probably didn't die.

If you've created time-stop magic, how could you even think of dying?

Of course, he'd be bursting with dopamine—he couldn't die even out of spite.

"Maybe there's something else instead?"

Rii is also a mage after all. Right. At this level, it doesn't seem like he would go to die.

Ail, thinking to herself, finished her sentence.

"Maybe he actually completed his research and is already manipulating time."

And there was evidence.

"Goggle. Didn't oppa say in his letter? That rural village where Rii went. It seems they signed a crop sales contract there."

"Uh, yeah."

Selling crops outside from a small rural village?

That wouldn't be possible with normal yield.

It means Rii's magic has more or less reached a stable level.

"Why didn't you know, Goggle-i?"

Goggle-i, however, had barely been able to find this out.

"Well, you see, it's... it's..."

"No, I'm not blaming you. I'm just curious. You're a spirit specialized in information search, so why didn't you know?"

"I don't know! I said I don't know! You need search terms! I'm specialized in magic search!"

"Anyway, since oppa brought the information, check it out properly now."

Buseureok.

Ail prepared to leave again.

"And I'm going to go see the guild master for a bit."

"Ail. Dressed like that?"

Ail looked at Goggle-i with an expressionless gaze.

"What's wrong with how I look now?"

"Well..."

"Just kidding. I have no intention of looking like this in front of people I dislike."

A little later, at the Wintervalt Ducal Residence.

"Hey."

Ail appeared before Kael.

The time it took to get to the point was about three seconds.

"That mage named Rii seems to be conducting experiments."

"Experiments?"

"He completed his theory, but he would rather die ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than show it in front of the people who wouldn't acknowledge it. What do you think a mage would do?"

"I wouldn't know. I've never not been acknowledged."

"Ha. I can't acknowledge you, oppa. Is there even a single useful magic spell used by the guild that you created?"

"I built honor through magic, used that to secure investment, and created the guild. Isn't that enough?"

"You talk well. Even though the core product is the Spirit Connector I made."

The sibling's romance-fantasy-style power struggle was brief.

"Anyway, the story was that he might be going to a quiet countryside to test his completed magic."

Starting with Ail's slightly delayed explanation, the conversation soon flowed toward Rii.

"So, the search? How is it going?"

"Already departed."

Kael replied indifferently.

"Have you tried contacting through the Spirit Net?"

"I tried, but he doesn't read it. We should also consider the possibility that the mage you're looking for named Rii is not him."

"......Understood."

Kael looked at Ail.

"Nothing to say?"

"This is a transaction. Why should I be grateful?"

Ail left the Wintervalt manor with quick steps.

One fact people don't know well.

The original healing farming game unexpectedly has the internet.

Romance fantasy and healing farming game.

The current world, a fusion of the two genres, was roughly the same.

'Spirit Communication.'

It's communication using low-level spirits.

It's an old technology, but unfortunately, it cannot be used without talent in spirit magic.

'So this great thing was only used by spirit mages in the past.'

If there had been a proper engineer, they would have jumped on this immediately.

Can use spirits for long-distance wireless real-time communication?

A communication revolution would have come even a hundred years ago.

But those romance fantasy guys with their brains melted by romanticism.

They didn't disappoint.

They said such things and didn't properly develop the technology.

No, forget romance—letter writing is inconvenient.

Even you nobles complain about how slow it is to exchange news.

With the internet right there, is it right not to develop it?

Where's the nobility in using low-level spirits for such tasks?

It's ridiculous.

Until recently, it's said that only spirit mages used this incredible technology.

But even here, there's always a way.

'The Magic to Win a Spirit's Heart.'

It's a magic that the romance fantasy female lead supposedly developed as a child.

But the family ignored the magic's potential, and the setting is that the female lead was hurt by that.

'Thanks to that, even after transmigration, the female lead milked this incident in front of her family.'

I really don't know why she emotionally abuses them over something from before her possession.

But that's not the important part.

Basically, it's a world inside a cathartic romance fantasy created to make the female lead shine.

Naturally, the magic the female lead developed is useful.

Even ordinary people without spirit affinity can summon low-level spirits.

They can't do anything great, but being able to use spirit communication is important.

But there are drawbacks.

It takes a long time to summon spirits, and the low-level spirits that are brought with effort often run away.

What if I apply the efficiency magic formula I created?

'Spirit Hypnosis App.'

Almost at the level of a hypnosis app.

As soon as the magic was activated, bursts of light exploded in the air in an instant.

The gathered low-level spirits began to speak in their own voices.

As you can tell from their lines, they are really out of it.

'It really is at the level of a hypnosis app.'

The summoned spirits are mostly incompetent, but there's no problem when connecting to the Spirit Net.

After looking over the spirit lineup for a bit,

"You."

He chose one and activated the communication magic.

Ppat-!

Then, a translucent holographic window quickly appeared before his eyes.

It's an ability used by information-related spirits, and this is why long-distance communication is possible.

The touchscreen function is a bonus.

Sseuk sseuk.

He scrolled down and carefully examined the page's contents.

[This is the Alchemy Board!]

[New notifications... over 100 of them have piled up...!!!]

"100?"

[If it exceeds 100, it becomes hard to count!]

Messages are pouring in from alchemists across the empire.

The reason is simple.

The first evening after arriving at the Solanium Basin.

I logged into the Spirit Net and posted a crop sales announcement.

Red Thorn Vine, Motherless Hook, Wedge Berry, and so on.

They are rare alchemy ingredients that only grow on farms left unattended for a long time.

But the title of the announcement was [Crop Sales Contract].

This way, I pay less tax.

Under imperial law, things produced on a farm are considered crops, so it's possible.

A tax-saving tip in the fantasy world.

So what I posted on the Spirit Net was actually an alchemy ingredient trade.

Since revealing my real name would be troublesome, I used the nickname 'Yudong' to post it.

How many days have passed since then?

Messages keep coming.

I was planning to sell modestly, but so many desperate messages kept flying in that I couldn't even trade properly.

Plus, the prices people offered kept going up.

'Should I wait a bit longer?'

That's why I left some leeway in trading for the past few days.

Well, it was the alchemists who most actively embraced the romance fantasy female lead's spirit-WiFi.

These people, they'll do anything to get ingredients.

But I didn't know it would be this much.

I read over 100 messages, but there were still many unread ones left.

[There are still over 100 messages remaining...!]

"I read 100? There are 100 more?"

[If it exceeds 100, counting becomes difficult!]

Ugh.

"Just mark the rest as read."

[Processing complete!]

Even the content is all the same anyway.

I've already decided what to do with the alchemy ingredients, so there's no need to read them all.

'I'll just put them up for auction.'

Ttak.

After putting the ingredients up as auction items, I added one more detail to the announcement.

[Shipping costs to be paid by recipient]

If you have ingredients of this quality, the supplier is the boss.