Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Crossroads of Enlightenment
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Right now, I was at a crossroads on the path to enlightenment.
If I could figure out the cause of my magical stagnation, it would undoubtedly be a huge help to my magic ability growth.
"What I'm lacking..."
The first thing that came to mind was my lack of mana.
It was my biggest weakness right now, and in fact, my battles relied enormously on Mana Elixirs and the Heart of Great Nature.
But pinpointing it simply as a lack of mana was problematic.
Even utilizing the effects of the Heart of Great Nature and Mana Elixirs, achieving A-Rank or higher destructive power required at least a minute of compression casting time.
A sudden thought struck me.
What exactly is the criterion for dividing wizards' ranks?
What am I lacking that keeps me from reaching A-Rank?
"...Speed, huh."
I could currently cast magic with A-Rank or higher power. Yet I still hadn't become an A-Rank wizard.
The reason was simple. It took too long to manifest A-Rank magic.
Finally, I was starting to get a feel for it.
I manifested magic above my hand. I compressed the spell faster than usual. But maybe because I rushed it, the manifesting magic lost its form and dissipated.
"Tsk..."
Failure. Trying to manifest magic too hastily only backfired.
"More skillfully, more calmly."
I manifested magic again.
It was 3 a.m.
I'd finished my long training session and was taking a short break.
The training had gone on longer than expected.
I'd let myself get carried away because I felt like I might finally achieve some growth in my magic ability after so long.
In the end, in the name of training today, I'd burned through most of my stock of Mana Elixirs.
It would have been nice if there'd been some growth in my magic ability, but disappointingly, there wasn't even any progress worth calling growth.
Ah, but it's not like I gained nothing at all.
[You've achieved the 'Drug Addict' achievement.]
[As a reward, you acquire 3,000 points.]
[Your body adapts to drugs.]
[The adaptive trait, 'Drug Adaptation (C),' has been added.]
I'd chugged so many Mana Elixirs that I ended up with this bizarre achievement and trait.
[Drug Adaptation (C)]
Classification: Trait
Description: Your body adapts to drugs.
[Permanent Effect]
> Drug Boost
Drug duration increases by 20%.
Drug side effects decrease by 30%.
Magic power increases by 1.
The funny thing was that the trait's performance wasn't half bad.
It extended the duration of drugs and even reduced side effects.
For someone like me who drank Mana Elixirs regularly, it was a pretty great trait.
"Tch."
It was late, so maybe I should head back to the dorm.
I stood up and opened the door to the private training room.
As expected, the training grounds were empty.
Well, at 3 a.m., even that girl wouldn't still be hanging around.
That was the moment I was about to step out of the training grounds.
"Kim Sun-woo?"
Contrary to my expectations, a voice called out to me from behind.
There was only one person in the entire school who would still be in the training grounds at this hour.
I turned around and said with a weary expression,
"...No way you've been training this whole time, right?"
Standing in front of me was Yoo Ah-ra, her hair tied back tightly.
Yoo Ah-ra frowned at my question.
"I'm not..."
"Hey, are you comparing us? I do it occasionally. You do it every day."
"...Shut up. And I don't train until this late very often either."
Yoo Ah-ra grumbled like that, then opened her mouth again.
"So, did you make any progress today?"
Yoo Ah-ra asked in an interested tone.
"Nope."
I shook my head.
"But I'm starting to see the path, roughly."
"Good for you. Congrats."
At Yoo Ah-ra's congratulations, I gave an awkward smile.
"What about you? Any progress?"
"Yeah, definitely. Thanks to you. Thinking about it, I realized I was neglecting a lot in my training. Especially the details of manifestation."
"Good for you. Congrats to you too."
I meant it. The growth of a major character like her would bring a lot more stability to future developments.
Especially regarding things like Lee Seo-jun's survival.
I stared at her face and used 'Character Insight'.
Name: Yoo Ah-ra
Age: 18
Race: Human
Status: Extremely fatigued
Magic Power Rank: B+
Interest Level: 1
'She's impressive.'
Whether it was because she'd just grown or if her magic power rank was always that high, she possessed a lofty B+ rank at minimum.
It wasn't quite on Lee Seo-jun's level, but considering her age, it was an unbelievably high figure.
Even judged against pro wizards, she'd be in the upper ranks.
The issue was her lack of real combat experience, so she couldn't wield that immense magic power at 100% efficiency yet.
If she fought a real B-Grade wizard, her chances of losing would be high.
In this world, experience and veteran savvy mattered more than raw magic power rank.
Still, with her innate caliber, given time, she'd grow into a monster.
'I need to step it up too.'
The next morning.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I groped around for my smartphone on the bedside table.
"Ugh... my head."
I'd fallen asleep around 4 a.m. last night, so the fatigue hadn't worn off yet.
Thanks to the music box's effect, it was a bit less exhausting than it could have been, but still not enough.
"Yawn..."
I stretched fully and sat up.
With bleary eyes, I typed out a message.
[Are you available now, Han Se-yeon?]
Sent.
As expected of Han Se-yeon, the reply came right away.
[Yes, what's up so early in the morning?]
[I have a favor to ask, so I reached out.]
The messages paused for a bit.
"...She's busy, huh."
I got out of bed and did some light stretching. Then I headed to the shower and washed up quickly.
By the time I'd finished washing and changed clothes, a reply had come.
[A favor? What is it?]
[I need Mana Elixirs. But this time, more than before. Is that okay?]
The reply came immediately.
[That's not hard. How many do you need?]
I typed the message.
[100 bottles.]
How many—
It was Friday, time for the first class: Specialty Training.
The students headed to their respective classrooms based on their specialties. When Specialty Training rolled around, their footsteps lightened.
They naturally preferred hands-on classes they were confident in over boring theory lessons.
I arrived at the Manifestation Magic Training Hall and, as usual, politely greeted the teacher, Lee Hee-young, before heading to my spot.
"Hyaat!"
"Ha!"
Man, the students were extra enthusiastic today. Was it because the second midterm was coming up?
Everyone looked pumped.
"Hey."
When I got to my seat, Yoo Ah-ra next to me greeted me.
"Oh, hey."
Yoo Ah-ra glanced at me, then faced forward and started her training.
Whoosh.
A fireball rose above her hand.
She glared at it fiercely, and the fireball's magic power began to intensify bit by bit.
You could really feel her insane determination.
Well, that's the kind of madness you need to be called a genius.
"Hmm..."
Normally, she'd manifest a massive fireball and hurl it around explosively, but today she was focusing on detailed manifestation training.
She was following my advice from the special class last time to concentrate on manifestation training.
'I should train too.'
After warming up lightly, I began.
Since I'd decided on a training direction, I focused on increasing manifestation speed. Of course, I couldn't use Mana Elixirs here, so I trained by moderately controlling my mana.
"It's not working well."
Just then, I sensed someone behind me. Glancing back, I saw the Manifestation Department teacher, Lee Hee-young, watching me and Yoo Ah-ra.
"Both of you are focusing on manifestation training today."
Lee Hee-young had always emphasized the importance of emission and manipulation training over the destructive power of manifestation.
Hearing her mention focusing on manifestation made me feel oddly guilty.
A glance at Yoo Ah-ra's expression showed she felt the same.
"Oh dear. Why the faces? You're doing great. You can't just do emission and manipulation every time. Balance is key."
Lee Hee-young smiled as she spoke.
"And you two are already proficient in emission and manipulation, right? I think focusing on manifestation for a while is fine."
I nodded at her words.
"But what made you suddenly focus on manifestation training?"
Lee Hee-young asked with an intrigued look. Yoo Ah-ra glanced at me and said,
"Kim Sun-woo gave me some advice."
"Hmm... I knew it."
Lee Hee-young looked at me with eyes tinged with a strange emotion.
"Good advice. Manifestation magic grows by progressing through stages, but a lot of people miss that. Manifestation, emission, manipulation. Training each in order until proficient is best."
Yoo Ah-ra and I nodded.
"Alright, I'll check one by one. Ah-ra, start your manifestation."
At her words, Yoo Ah-ra began manifesting. A blazing fireball rose above her hand.
In the past, her magic felt like hurling around massive clumps of mana haphazardly, but now it felt refined.
"Good job. It hasn't been long since you started focusing on manifestation training, but I can already feel a difference from before."
I agreed with her.
The fireball floating above her hand was small, but it brimmed with condensed, potent magic power.
This must be what they mean by magic that's inherently powerful even without compression.
"Now, Kim Sun-woo."
When my turn came, I manifested magic. As usual, I did compressed manifestation at the maximum speed I could manage.
Seeing the magic orb floating above my hand, Yoo Ah-ra and Lee Hee-young looked a bit surprised.
"Excellent. Using advanced techniques like compressed manifestation—very good. But..."
Lee Hee-young trailed off.
"I sense a bit of desperation in your manifestation, Sun-woo."
"Yes?"
It hit the nail on the head. Lee Hee-young looked at the magic orb above my hand and asked me,
"Sun-woo, were you manifesting with the intent to increase your speed?"
"Yes, I thought it was the fastest way for me to grow right now."
"Hmm."
Lee Hee-young pondered my words before speaking.
"Increasing manifestation speed is quite difficult. Especially with compression manifestation—it's even harder. It doesn't just require talent; it takes an enormous amount of effort."
She was right. Speeding up the manifestation of powerful magic is genuinely tough and demands a ton of time and work.
"How about this?"
"Yes?"
"Don't compress—instead, focus on the details of manifestation."
"Details?"
At my question, Lee Hee-young looked at Yoo Ah-ra.
"Yoo Ah-ra, manifest your magic."
"Yes."
Yoo Ah-ra manifested magic above her hand.
A fireball rose above her hand.
You could tell at a glance it held tremendous power.
"See? Yoo Ah-ra's has strong magic power even without compression, right?"
"Yes."
"Where do you think that difference comes from?"
"The details of manifestation... Ah!"
It clicked.
I'd been so fixated on technique that I'd overlooked the fundamentals.
Manifestation details.
The destructive power of magic varies based on how realistically you manifest it.
For example, when creating an ice spear, the sharpness of the tip, the clarity of the ice—details like that determine the spell's power.
The magic I used was a simple orb.
Unlike spears, arrows, spikes, or swords, since it was just a basic sphere, I figured details weren't a big deal.
"...What an idiot I've been."
Now that all classes were over.
I headed straight to the magic training hall. I opened my subspace and pulled out one of the few remaining Mana Elixirs, chugging it down.
Without even feeling the surging mana, I immediately manifested magic.
A round magic orb, just like always.
I couldn't overhaul the model with intricate details, but sharpening the clarity was definitely doable.
I pushed my imagination to the max.
A sharp circle. A vivid sphere.
Not a blurry orb from magical light, but a crystal-clear sphere like a real ball.
As time passed, the magic orb began to take on a more distinct shape.