Chapter 318: Magic is for the Weak (1)
Chapter 318: Magic is for the Weak (1)
Five days had passed since we left the Martial Alliance and began our road trip. Finally, we arrived at the Magic Society.
To be precise, the Magic Society branch in Geneva, Switzerland.
In the Martial Alliance, even those who would be considered members of the Unorthodox Sects or the Demon Cult in old wuxia novels are bound together by a thick sense of camaraderie. Their logic is: "Hey, aren't we all just martial artists walking the path with nothing but a single weapon?" Even the Western martial factions, the Knights, are part of the European branch under the Martial Alliance and maintain active exchange.
Mages, however, are a different breed. They don't even get along with each other depending on their school of thought, so unlike the martial artists, they maintain several different headquarters.
A prime example of this discord is the Necromancers, the group Calavera belongs to.
Structurally, necromancy should fall under the category of magic, but there is a fundamental difference between a standard mage and a necromancer.
It comes down to what Calavera mentioned: whether or not one can perceive the "soul."
Even if one learns the spells of the Necromancy school, the magic won't manifest if they cannot perceive souls. And detecting the existence of a soul is impossible for anyone except a few special individuals born with the talent for necromancy.
Something exists that becomes the target of the magic. Thus, the existence of the soul is proven. But here lies the problem.
It was impossible to prove its existence through any means other than a necromancer's magic.
Furthermore, a necromancer's ability to perceive souls is entirely a matter of innate talent.
This clashed with a rule that sits at the very foundation of a mage's way of thinking:
Even if one lacks talent, the same result must be achieved as long as the correct materials and the correct process are followed.
In other words, the fundamental rule of science.
That rule was applied to magic.
It seems magic was defined that way because many of the first mages were originally scientists.
Because of that, necromancers were not assigned to Type V—Vulgata—which denotes standard mages. Instead, they were relegated to Type S—Specialist—a category for Espers or those with unique powers that are difficult to classify.
Their logic was that if you can't sense the soul, it can't be called magic.
It was a miraculous instance where schools that usually fought each other every day joined hands just to kick someone out.
Magical Girls were another case of being exiled by the mages. They claimed that magic relying on intuition, used through simple "installs" without understanding the underlying principles, couldn't possibly be called magic.
It is, however, extremely ironic that Magical Girls ended up taking the designation Type M—Magica.
For the record, the reason Magical Girls got "M" was simply because there wasn't a single mage present when the names were being decided. Back then, priority was given to those with higher seniority.
The mages at the time were being so obnoxious toward the Magical Girls that the girls just agreed among themselves to take "M" and snatched it up first.
By the same token, the reason martial artists became Type A was simply because they wanted the first letter of the alphabet. The formal name "Arts" was just something they tacked on later.
Anyway, necromancers and Magical Girls were cases where The Society united to cast them out. Other than that, they are always busy fighting among themselves.
To give some examples:
There's the school that emphasizes the harmony between machinery and magic. These are the ones you often see behind things like the magic grenades used by the Management Bureau Defense Force.
Then there's the school that explores the origin of magic. They focus on the principles and formulas of how magic is triggered. You usually find them in academic journals.
And then there's the school that prioritizes combat above all else. They focus on the rapid casting and stability of magic, often using unverified magic formulas to achieve their goals.
Beyond these, there are countless other factions, such as Object-Oriented Magic Theory or Procedural Magic Implementation.
Some mages belong to multiple factions, some to only one. There are massive factions and tiny ones.
In short, the Magic Society is a place where these people fight all day long.
If left to their own devices, they spend every waking moment arguing over who is right.
According to the Librarian, theoretical physicists are all cut from the same cloth.
The only problem is...
Mages are the kind of lunatics who can turn their theories into actual power.
A famous example occurred in the lobby of the Management Bureau’s European Union branch, where the Combat School and the Theory School got into a fight. The result of that battle was the destruction of the lobby and disciplinary action for both parties.
As a side note, the Theory School won that fight.
Who would have thought some crazy bastard would sacrifice his entire savings to chant for three days straight just to win an argument, eventually dropping a literal Meteor?
The mages specialized in anti-personnel combat couldn't stop it. Although the Management Bureau’s five-minute response team stepped in to intercept it, they couldn't save the lobby.
That incident is famous because it was so stupid, but if you look at the smaller skirmishes, things like "discreetly" tossing a grenade into someone's lab are incredibly common. The Central Management Bureau, driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown by the constant stream of incident reports, eventually split the Magic Society into factions and scattered them across the globe.
Of course, the fact that the lobby incident happened after they were split up to keep them apart shows that they'll fight regardless. At least they aren't tossing grenades into each other's offices as often now.
Anyway, the explanation got a bit long.
As for what kind of branch and society this Geneva Magic Society is...
It is the branch with the smallest resident population but the highest overall traffic.
It is the Geneva Branch of the Magic Society, which can be called the headquarters of The Society, belonging to no specific faction.
However, the actual power this branch holds is quite small.
There are more non-mage Management Bureau Administrative Staff here than there are actual mages.
Even so, the reason this branch is considered the headquarters is because of a rule established among mages.
To officially announce anything to The Society or to register a new patent...
One must come to the Geneva headquarters.
"The presenter has fainted. Next."
"Since this isn't my specialty, this might be a bit of a naive question, but..."
"You say there's a 5% margin of error in the figures. Isn't that just a coincidence at this point?"
"It was a perfect presentation. The only problem is that the paper used as a reference has already been retracted."
The reason you hear such things when you listen in is because of this rule.
Thanks to that, countless lunatics come to the Geneva headquarters to stay for days, and there are even mad mages who live here permanently, specializing in "discussions" that are actually just brawls.
Since it's that kind of place, it's only natural that The Council of the Magic Society is also located in Geneva.
According to the mages' rules, the Chairman can decide the location of the meeting, but since the location has never once changed from Geneva, The Council is effectively based here.
After finishing this long explanation, I looked at my disciples.
"Now, do you see why the Geneva headquarters is so small?"
When I finished, I got two different reactions.
Han A-bin was staring at me with her mouth hanging open.
And Baek Si-hyun, who had been nodding off for who knows how long, was fast asleep.
As I watched them with a satisfied expression...
"I have a question."
Han A-bin spoke up slowly.
"What is it, Student Han A-bin?"
I threw the question back, matching the academic atmosphere of The Society.
Han A-bin slowly shook her soot-covered face and spoke.
"Where in that explanation is the reason why we were hit by a bazooka?"
It was a grenade, not a bazooka, but I suppose that's not the important part.
"I told you. Unlike the mages fighting outside, the ones holed up in The Society are just keyboard warriors with power."
Pop.
As soon as I finished speaking, another classroom exploded.
Someone probably got pissed off during a presentation and fired off a fire spell.
"It just means this is a place where things like grenades fly around regularly. But you felt it when you got hit—the magic in it wasn't lethal. It means they still have at least a shred of sanity left."
Even as I explained, a mage dashed across the lobby in a hurry, followed by a crowd of other mages firing spells at him.
"We are at the Magic Society, right?"
"It says right there on the sign: 'Magic Society and Management Bureau Geneva Branch.'"
The sign was so covered in soot that it was hard to read, though.
"To me, it feels less like a Magic Society and more like a clean version of Nanjido."
A-bin, your tongue is getting sharper by the day.
Where did the kind, brave, and righteous Hero A-bin go?
Still, she wasn't entirely wrong.
It's a rule of the Magic Society not to intervene unless someone is fatally injured.
"A researching mage is also an Awakened... a Hero. The theory of a mage without strength isn't worth listening to. That's why they fight like that. If you just beat down someone spreading an annoying theory, you can stop that theory right then and there. Though you can't do much once they gain supporters."
In the first place, magic is incredibly complex.
If the foundations are fundamentally different, even completely contradictory theories can hold up. That's why magicology is full of all sorts of crazy talk.
"That's insane."
"Right? But that's the basic philosophy. The 1st Generation Mage Geezer who laid the foundation for magic said so himself."
He was a real piece of work, that 1st Generation geezer.
"Why haven't I heard of someone so famous?"
"It's understandable. He passed away from old age about twenty-five years ago."
When I said that so nonchalantly...
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that..."
Han A-bin turned pale and began to take back her words.
But honestly, it wasn't that big of a slip-up.
"No, it's fine. He was already frail when he first became a Hero, and he passed away peacefully after doing everything he needed to do. It was a good death."
He had the skill, his character wasn't bad, and some even say the reason Awakened rights in Europe are decent is because he established that magicology.
The only problem is that the magicology he established is so bizarre that it created this mess.
However, the reason I think it was a "good death" isn't because of those things.
It's because he passed away without having to see the countless disasters that followed. That's a good death in my book.
As I finished my supplementary explanation...
"Sigh..."
Han A-bin let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky.
Though she couldn't see the sky, blocked by The Society's ceiling.
"The Magic Society I imagined wasn't like this."
The Magic Society A-bin imagined, huh?
Is she talking about the kind of stuff you see on TV?
Where dignified mages exchange words as if in a debate, spouting professional knowledge?
Or maybe she meant them drawing glowing Magic Circles and going through trial and error.
"Are you talking about a laboratory or a debate hall atmosphere?"
"...Something like that?"
"They do have those. It's just that the Geneva Branch isn't like that. Other branches are much tamer."
Truly, the faction-specific branches are tamer than this. I'm not saying they don't fight, just that they fight less.
"...What exactly is magic?"
"Who knows. To be blunt, even now, new magic systems are being created, so you can't just cut it short and say, 'This is magic.'"
Even if we exclude Magical Girls, who are born knowing how to use it...
Aren't there magic systems within the mages themselves that are polar opposites?
There are runes, the five senses, or Hanja magic that work by drawing a few lines, while other systems involve drawing Magic Circles that are practically paintings. Defining exactly what magic is is extremely difficult.
However, as someone who once studied magic in search of power, this is what I think:
"When you were a kid, did you ever draw a picture, scribble, or pray while making a wish?"
"Is there anyone who hasn't...?"
Exactly.
That's why magic is a field that anyone can enter through learning, just like martial arts.
"You can think of magic as that, but developed to an extreme degree. Though to reach higher levels, you need to build up belief and a system."
If you can't create a system yourself, you can entrust your belief to a system created by someone else.
The belief that a child's scribbles called "magic" can actually happen.
Because the basis of all magic starts from the belief that it will be realized.
Perhaps magic is something that begins from someone's wish.
Well, the reality in front of me is more important than such dream-like wishes.
"Are you done with your questions now? Let's go return the car."
"What about Si-hyun?"
"Just let her sleep in the car."
The long journey had ended, and we had finally arrived at the Magic Society.
We were greeted by a grenade filled with non-lethal magic, but regardless, we had reached the Magic Society in peace.