Chapter 47
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: A Genius for Five Minutes
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Once, I had a conversation like that with Alter.
He told me that if I wanted to develop spells, I'd be better off reading a dictionary than a magic tome.
“What do you mean by that…?”
It didn't make any sense.
I barely had the time and energy to study the essence of spells by reading books, so the sudden suggestion of a dictionary was baffling.
Besides, the Standard Common Tongue Dictionary is ridiculously large and ridiculously heavy. If a weakling like me tried to carry around a weapon like that, I wouldn't be surprised if I sprained my wrist or broke a bone somewhere.
“No two human minds are exactly alike. Even identical twins, born and raised in the same environment, will differ in their ways of thinking, speaking, and even in their smallest habits.”
“Yes, well… isn't that obvious?”
Though I questioned his obvious statement, I nodded for him to explain further.
“Apple.”
At Alter’s sudden word, I scrunched my face and stared at him blankly.
…What was I supposed to do with that?
“What kind of apple did you just picture in your head?”
“Pardon?”
“Tell me.”
“Just a red, sweet apple, I suppose.”
“A pity. The image of ‘apple’ I intended to convey was a green, unripe one, full of sourness.”
“…”
Just as I began to feel a little annoyed, thinking the old man was teasing me, he stood up, tapped his temple with a wrinkled finger, and continued.
“This is the point. There is no word in this world that can one hundred percent embody a human thought.”
“…Hmm.”
“Magic is the power of thought. And a spell is like a lubricant to aid that thought process.”
Alter once again repeated the phrase he had emphasized countless times while teaching me: ‘Magic is the power of thought.’
I had heard it so often that it sometimes echoed in my ears even as I slept.
He uttered the phrase so frequently that I genuinely worried he might ask for it to be engraved on his tombstone when he was old and on his deathbed.
…That’s actually a kind of scary thought.
“A mage is better off knowing as many words as possible. A ‘green apple’ gives a sense of youth and immaturity, while the word ‘poisoned apple’ imparts a darker, more secretive feeling. Using the term ‘forbidden fruit’ can add a divine sense, and the phrase ‘red fruit,’ though vague and faint, can be used for its comprehensive feel.”
As he explained, Alter’s expression turned to one of concern. He gently placed a hand on my shoulder and continued.
“The words you utter during the process of calculating magic have a direct effect on your brain, Lord Bin. The senses and emotions these words convey to the brain have a significant impact on the calculation. Therefore, when choosing the words that compose a spell, you must decide with care. An incorrect spell can adversely affect the calculation and even ruin the magic.”
“If there's such a risk, wouldn't it be much safer to use magic without chanting a spell? On a battlefield where every single spell is a matter of life and death, misstating a chant could get you killed…”
I gently removed Alter’s concerned hand from my shoulder as I replied.
“The rewards of a spell are as great as its risks. A proper spell at least doubles the magic's perfection. A spell that goes beyond proper, one that is excellent and perfect, can increase the magic's performance nearly tenfold.”
“…Assuming it’s completed properly?”
“You will most likely fail once or twice. But do not be too discouraged. Developing a spell is no easy task, even for a genius. Adjusting continuously through failure—that is the key to completing a spell.”
Despite my worried muttering, Alter replied with a smile.
***
*Thud.*
*Thud.*
*Thud.*
*Thud.*
The footsteps of the spider-faced giant grow louder. The sound of cracking gold fills the air, and my arms and legs begin to tremble with a faint terror.
“Huuu… Shit…”
*You’re bound to fail the first time or two. A spell is perfected by continuously adjusting through failure.*
The moment I tried to chant, that warning tore through my mind.
It would be a lie to say I wasn't scared.
I had never tested whether the spell I created would work properly or not.
There was a chance the spell could overload the magic, causing me to lose consciousness instantly.
If I passed out here, there would be no one to protect me. I would end up in that giant’s mouth and meet a gruesome death.
My lips wouldn't part easily. The fear of failure was eating away at my courage.
‘…Rex wouldn’t hesitate like this.’
I steeled myself, replaying the image of the melted orc’s back in my mind.
Ever since entering this dungeon, I had been nothing but a nuisance to the party.
I had left the role of guide entirely to Trian, and Rex had suffered a critical injury while protecting me. In the few battles we’d had, Rireu had done most of the work. All I’d done was operate an artifact a few times.
When we had to move quickly, I was carried like a piece of luggage on my teammates' backs. After the battles, I ended up hyperventilating and losing consciousness, forcing the team to waste hours in one room.
…How pathetic.
Right. Until now, I had been nothing but a burden to the team.
I was so ashamed I could barely face those who had entrusted their lives to me, believing I was a genius mage.
This was no time to be pathetically scared of uttering a few mere words.
“An electro-mage, are you? Melting gold. Decent firepower, I'll admit, but with that much heat, you won't pierce my skin…”
“Bud.”
Pushing all distracting thoughts from my mind, I began to convert the electric currents enveloping my body with ‘Blooming.’
Tiny bolts of lightning erupted from my fingertips, wrapping thinly around my entire body before starting to stimulate the vast amount of mana stored within me.
“Water Vapor.”
The air all around me trembled. As if bracing for a great impact, the air particles pressed tightly against each other.
“Cumulonimbus and Rainy Season.”
*CRACK!*
A tremendous clap of thunder belatedly echoed throughout the room. A loud ringing filled my ears, but my focus remained unshaken.
“…”
After the thunder passed, a dreadful silence, like the night before a typhoon, fell over the room.
The spider giant seemed to have frozen momentarily from the immense shockwave that had erupted from my body.
…Now it was my turn to repay the teammates who had cared for me, protected me, and believed in me.
So.
“Blooming.”
Just for five minutes.
I decided to live as a real genius.
***
Rireu, Rex, and Trian stood with their backs to the golden door, their expressions tense as they steadied their breathing.
Soon, a great clap of thunder would shake their very location, and spider-like monsters would swarm them from all directions.
Rex tried to steady his breath, axe in hand, while Trian sharpened his senses to use his few remaining arrows as carefully as possible.
Rireu, too, had pushed her mental fortitude to its limit, focusing on the flow of mana within her body. Now that there was no need to limit her magic's power for fear of the thunder leaking out, it was time to unleash her full strength.
*Crackle…!*
As Rireu focused mana at the tip of her staff, ready to unleash a bolt of lightning at any moment, she felt an unnatural flow of lightning from behind her.
It was an immense pressure, the likes of which she had never felt in her life. A wave of fear washed over her, and the word ‘death’ flashed through her mind.
She whipped her head around toward the source of the unnatural current.
The golden door stood there.
“…No way.”
A bad feeling crept up on her, and Rireu muttered to herself in a small voice.
“Is something wrong?”
Trian, who had been focusing on the sensation in his fingertips, asked as he saw Rireu turn around, her face pale.
“…Get down.”
“What?”
“Cover your ears and get down, now!”
Rireu shouted at the two men with uncharacteristic volume.
“…!”
Hearing Rireu’s urgent cry, Trian and Rex simultaneously dropped flat to the floor and covered their ears.
It wasn't that they had sensed the same bizarre flow of lightning as Rireu.
But the lesson that a mage's warning was never to be ignored was deeply ingrained in the minds of these battle-hardened veterans.
Rireu also quickly swung her staff, enveloping the three of them in a barrier before immediately dropping to the ground beside them.
An instant later, a deafening thunderclap erupted, so loud it was staggering even through the barrier.
…Was this the unnatural flow of lightning she had felt?
No, this was something far more brutal and sharp, beyond comparison.
Something was definitely happening beyond that golden door…
*WHOOM!*
Light.
A pure white light pierced through her eyelids, turning Rireu's blackened vision completely white. A massive shockwave easily shattered the barrier and shook her body. At the same time, though her hands were clamped tightly over her ears, a ringing sound rocked her skull.
The three of them were swept up in a tremendous blast of hot air, sent tumbling dozens of meters. Rireu groaned, clutching her temples against a throbbing headache, while Rex grit his teeth and held his breath against the pain of the flesh being torn from his back.
“…Insane!”
Trian, whose body was relatively sturdy and who hadn't been seriously injured, was the first to recover his vision and look back. His gaze sought the epicenter of the explosion, and the first thing he saw was a white-haired boy standing wreathed in lightning, clad in a black robe.
The golden walls of the Treasure Keeper’s room had crumbled on all sides, and a rain of gold dripped from the ceiling.
Across from the boy stood a colossal giant with the face of a spider. The twenty-meter-tall giant, whose grotesque appearance would have unsettled even Trian with his thousands of years of life, had half of its body turned to black ash and blown away.
“…!”
The spider giant’s mouth moved. It seemed to be saying something, but the ringing in Trian’s ears was still so loud he couldn’t make out the words.
“…What’s wrong? You wanted me to make things interesting, didn’t you?”
The boy showed not a shred of remorse toward the dungeon’s native for having destroyed all the golden walls that had enclosed the area.
“…You wretched, wretched thing! How dare you… our shrine…!”
The spider-faced giant clutched its vanished left torso with its right arm and began to roar.
A thick cloud of dust filled the air. Seeing the yellowish haze, tinged with vaporized gold, the boy smiled.
“You might not believe me, but I didn't think it would be this powerful either.”
On the tip of the boy's slender finger, pointed at the spider giant, an immense flash of light began to gather once more.
“So don't get so angry. It's unsightly.”