The Beginning of Magic
“Understanding the nature you wish to manifest. That is the beginning of magic.”
“The beginning of magic?”
“People who learn from skill books the way you did, Master, skip that entire process.”
Ingrid spun in place as if dancing, turning faster and faster until it seemed perfectly natural that a bone might go flying off at any moment.
Still…
One word from her explanation had lodged itself firmly in my ear.
“Skip, huh.”
So acquiring power through a skill book wasn’t ordinary in Ingrid’s world either.
“It is the same in my world as well.”
“I just assumed it was normal everywhere.”
“It’s a good thing Master can learn magic so easily.”
Yeah. No point overcomplicating it.
“A spell that rearranges the fire element, compresses it, and induces an explosion. That is Fireball.”
“Yeah. Felt about right.”
I hadn’t understood any of that when I first opened the skill book. But the moment I actually formed a fireball with my own hands, the structure clicked into place—like finally visiting a landscape I’d only ever seen in photographs.
“So the order is completely reversed.”
To learn magic properly, you first comprehend the nature of the element, memorize the formula’s structure, then weave mana according to the fixed arrangement rules and seal the activation with a trigger word. That was the mechanism.
I, on the other hand, had skipped every step with the skill book’s help and gone straight to “manifestation”—just like every other hunter.
“Yet the moment Master used the magic, you walked through every preceding step as well.”
“Because of Origin of Magic?”
Like reading the formula on the answer key and plugging it straight into the method—you reach the solution almost instantly.
“A talent that allows structural comprehension, clarification, and even reinterpretation.”
Fwoooosh!
The blue ghost flames that served as her eyes burned even deeper.
“That is the power Master has obtained.”
Fireball Proficiency: 0% → 42%
One cast and proficiency had nearly hit halfway. Raising proficiency is never easy. Back in my E-rank days I dissected countless corpses just to push Corpse Crafting and Corpse Processing to 100%.
Was it the growth-type penalty that made it take so long? Half right, half wrong. Growth-type penalty triples the requirement. If Fireball had been growth-type, that cast would have netted maybe 14%. A single use never raised proficiency by more than 10%. Post something like this on HunterNet and they’d roast me as a pathological liar.
“I suspected as much, but seeing it in person is astonishing.”
“Me?”
“My radiant talent, of course.”
“······.”
She was a carbon copy of Sir Isra. Then again, these were the people who’d been called the continent’s greatest sword and the strongest of the Witch Council. One cast jumps Fireball to 42%. Swing a sword a few times and an A-rank skill pops out. With talent that blinding, I’d be overflowing with confidence too.
Ah. I have it now as well.
“Kehehehe.”
“Ohohohoho!”
Radiant talent. Honestly? The absolute best.
KWA-BOOOOM!
The training dummy, engulfed in the blast, sank clean through the floor.
“Yeah, it’s packing a punch.”
Training dummies that swap out the moment they take near-limit damage. On my first attacks they’d just stood there. By the time the rental period was almost up, a single hit sent them straight into rotation.
Fireball Proficiency – 72%
That number after only one hour. An ordinary mage would need more than two months of lobbing Fireballs to reach the same mark. Even experiencing it myself, the lack of realism left me a little dazed.
“Witch.”
“What?”
“In the end you didn’t do a single thing, did you?”
She’d claimed she would instruct me in magic, yet proficiency had skyrocketed without a single piece of advice from Ingrid. All thanks to the SSS-grade ability Origin of Magic.
“True. Advice turned out to be unnecessary.”
“Hahaha. Where did that confident attitude go?”
“Everything Master does well is thanks to my talent, after all.”
“Ha… haha.”
Sir Isra’s laughter trailed off. Having benefited so thoroughly from Heavenly Martial Body herself, any careless remark here would be insulting herself as well.
“When you hit a wall, I shall offer guidance then.”
“Khehehehehm.”
“I’ll use the remaining time for sword training too.”
“Ooooh! Truly?”
“The schedule’s awkward anyway.”
I’d run a gate and drilled magic. There wasn’t enough time left to drop by the workshop and research Armed Zombie Warrior crafting methods. Same for grocery shopping at the Hunter Market. Better to swing a sword a few more times with whatever minutes remained.
“Hahahaha! Leave it to me! I shall raise you to the realm of Sword Master, my lord!”
Sword Master? That was a bit far. Master-level—meaning the stage where one releases Aura Blade—was S-rank by hunter standards. Still, she was this excited just because I mentioned sword practice.
Raising my subordinates’ combat power while building enough personal skill to keep my own hide intact. I spent the rest of the time swinging a sword on the hill behind my studio apartment and headed home.
The next day, right on schedule, I entered the Challenging Realm.
“Intruder. Eliminate.”
This time luck was with me—a corridor layout.
“Leave them to me.”
Seogeogeok!
A blade of bone sliced cleanly through solid metal. Even with the exceptional insight Heavenly Martial Body had granted me, Sir Isra’s profound swordsmanship remained beyond full comprehension no matter how many times I watched.
“You’re cutting steel without even using Aura?”
“That is the difference in caliber, witch.”
“Is that sooo?”
Ice Bolt
Needle-like shards of ice traced elegant arcs through the air. Cracking through the gaps in the armor, the cold mass shattered the core, and the Living Armor collapsed onto the floor.
“Barely a flick of the wrist. Our iron-headed friend has to twist his whole body, doesn’t he?”
“To fail to grasp the profound mysteries contained in a single sword stroke… how pitiful.”
The two undead growled at each other while racing to carve and smash Living Armors. Meanwhile—
“Grrrk.”
The Armed Zombie Warrior clung to a single Living Armor and strained. The armor’s plating had crumpled; places where the axe had bitten deep were gouged wide open. Kwaang! The armor never fully broke through. Excess force that couldn’t be fully dispersed simply punched inward and crushed the core.
Yeah. That was normal.
“Um, Hunter-nim? Would you like some popcorn?”
“Thanks.”
Crunch. Tasted fine, but these people had brought popcorn into a gate raid.
“There’s nothing left for us to do.”
Couldn’t exactly deny that.
“Slow down a little so I can collect the magic stones.”
“Hahaha. I have not even finished warming up yet.”
“I haven’t even shown real magic yet.”
Burning with motivation was great, but maybe spare a thought for the people trying to keep up? Sir Isra alone had once cleared this gate at SSS rank. Now Ingrid had joined her. Watching them compete to demolish Living Armors made even following along exhausting.
“Intruder. Eliminate.”
“Intruder. Eliminate.”
The boss monsters—the Twin Living Armors—appeared.
“Witch.”
“Hmph. Don’t order me around.”
The charge pattern the melee dealers had once warned about came again, but—
Ice Bolt
Ice shards burrowed into the knee joints and collapsed the Twin Living Armor’s center of gravity. Kung— The boss slammed into the ground, unable to control its own speed.
Imperial Sword Style – Modified Isra Form
One stroke split the helmet in half. The second cleaved through the chest. The Twin Living Armor toppled and never rose again.
“Whoa.”
Only a few days ago the first raid had been a desperate struggle. We’d barely blocked the charge and broken a bone sword just to bring it down. And now we were dropping it this easily?
“Not quite the day before yesterday. More like five days ago.”
Thanks for the fact-check. Real helpful.
◈ Durability: 219/240
◈ Steel boots forged with magic. Comfortable fit and easy to walk in.
◈ Physical Defense Lv 12
◈ Movement Speed +10%
This time the Twin Living Armor’s feet dropped. Sir Isra presented the item with a formal, almost courtly posture—complete with a performance I’d never seen before. She was clearly conscious of Ingrid.
“Weird feeling.”
Boots made of iron. When I slipped them on they were surprisingly soft and didn’t hinder walking at all.
“You should use them, my lord.”
“Yeah.”
What I currently wore was ordinary footwear. In fact every scrap of clothing on me was everyday wear. Where would I have found money to invest in my own gear? Everything had gone straight into undead crafting.
Heh. The day has finally come when I get to wear a magic item.
“There’s this as well, Master.”
Ingrid held out a fractured soul stone. At last—the entire reason I’d been running this gate back-to-back had appeared.
“Fascinating. Traces of a soul remain, yet they are incredibly faint.”
A meager energy that didn’t even register as an otherworldly spirit. A little disappointing, but if it helped craft a new undead, I was more than grateful.
You have cleared the Challenging Realm.
Rank: SSS
100 D-rank Magic Stones awarded.
“I’ll only take forty today.”
“Thank you so much!”
Don’t mention it. You’re the ones making the gate run so comfortable.
With the fractured soul stone secured, the time had come to create a second Armed Zombie Warrior.
“At last the knight order gains another member!”
Emotion flooded Sir Isra’s thoughts—genuine, overflowing gratitude.
“What, so expanding the knight order makes you happier than my personal safety?”
“A-absolutely not! Only with a larger order can I better protect my lord!”
“The longer the excuse, the more suspicious it sounds.”
“Khehehehm!”
Well, fine. Let’s go with that.
After the gate clear I stopped by the Hunter Market.
— Owlbeast bones, 150 kg.
— One intact Orc Grunt corpse.
— Twelve sheets of orc hide.
Those were the basics. Why the hide? Among the materials listed earlier was an “intact” orc corpse. Think about it. How pristine can a monster corpse really be after hunters kill it? They would have cleanly targeted instant-kill spots like the neck or heart. Even so, damage always remains. Every time I crafted an undead I had to patch those spots by hand.
“No wonder your craftsmanship keeps rising.”
Sniff. Some people just click a button and raise undead in droves…
“But instead you met me.”
“And you have me—your sword, Isra.”
These days I no longer envied pure necromancers. Heavenly Martial Body and Origin of Magic alone were enough to slap most necromancers across the face three times over.
All right. What else should I buy?
Even while grinding through my packed daily schedule, the moment I had spare time I summoned the Armed Zombie Warrior.
Corpse Processing
I didn’t necessarily need to modify the undead. Using mana, I examined its interior, studied the structure of the already-completed Armed Zombie Warrior, and gave myself feedback on the incomplete parts.
“Oho. So that is what you were doing.”
“What’s with that reaction?”
“You kept stroking the Armed Zombie Warrior so fondly, I assumed you simply enjoyed solid, reliable things.”
Excuse me, subordinate? Do you want a beating?
“Hoho. Thoughts worthy of an iron head.”
I had refined the theory in my own way. Now it was time to prove it. After purchasing additional materials that would raise the Armed Zombie Warrior’s completion rate according to the crafting method I had simulated and improved in my head, I returned to the workshop wearing a resolute expression.