Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Vacation
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I decided to go see the ocean.
Anyway, I had nothing else to do.
I’d find an empty beach and build massive structures there.
Like a moving 3-meter dinosaur.
Of course, if it just moved, people would spot the magic right away, so I’d have to edit it in post like stop-motion animation.
An idea I got while watching YouTube Shorts.
This was definitely Naver blog material. No, it could even make Monthly Best.
Just imagining it made dopamine surge through me.
But there was a problem.
“Ah, I don’t have a car….”
It took at least two hours by car to get to the nearest West Sea coast from Daejeon.
Ever since the Towers appeared and the world flipped upside down once, society’s infrastructure wasn’t what it used to be.
Public transportation was barely hanging on by a thread.
Especially bus routes from Daejeon to the sea—they’d been gone for ages.
“Shouldn’t a mage have something like a teleport skill?”
Just in case, I searched online for how mages traveled.
The results were disappointing.
The only things that came up were wind-attribute mages’ flight spells.
Yeah, makes sense. They can just fly there.
Then it hit me.
“Huh? Can’t I levitate sand too?”
Right, I could make a platform and fly on it, no?
I immediately went out to the empty lot in front of my house. Confirmed no one around, then created a solid sand platform under my feet.
And slowly lifted it into the air.
“Oh, it works!”
Success. My body rose gradually.
About 1 meter high.
But my joy didn’t last. That’s when I stepped onto the platform.
“Uh…. This is scarier than I thought…?”
The platform shook more than expected.
My legs turned to jelly.
Looking down made me dizzy.
If I fell, at least broken bones.
No, with my fragile body, it’d be death.
I screamed and hurriedly dropped back to the ground.
“Did I have acrophobia…?”
Just 1 meter…?
“No, it’s because I shrank. My eye level’s so low now…. No way I’m a scaredy-cat….”
An unwelcome discovery.
I tried lowering the height, but the closer to the ground, the more interference from the floor made control harder, so I gave up.
Flight was impossible after all.
But I wasn’t giving up yet.
Soon, a new idea struck.
“Do I really need to fly? Can’t I just stick to the ground?”
I cast Desertification on a small scale.
The ground in front of my feet turned to sand in an instant.
I stepped onto it.
Then, keeping myself still, I moved only the sand under my feet forward.
Srrrrk-.
My body slid forward smoothly. Felt just like standing on a conveyor belt.
Way easier to control than constantly levitating new sand.
“Oh, this is comfy. Nice.”
But this method had a fatal flaw.
It left a clear sand path behind me.
If I went to the beach like this, my entire route would be public knowledge.
“If only I could reverse the erosion….”
If I could restore the sand path back to normal, it’d be the perfect way to travel.
Right there, I tried using the skill in reverse.
“Ugh….”
But it was hard. My head felt like it’d split.
The very concept of reverse-activating a skill was alien.
In the end, I resorted to my last option.
Asking the Mage Gallery.
[Title: Anyone tried using a skill backwards?]
Author: Anon (C33.33D)
Want to reverse a skill to turn sand back to normal. Anyone know how?
The first to react to my question were pkkachoo and Dung Beetle.
ㄴ pkkachoo: What do you mean using a skill backwards? Like rewinding time?
ㄴ Dung Beetle: Doesn’t the concept of reverse-activating a skill even exist?
Skills just trigger fixed effects. Canceling before activation, maybe. But undoing what’s already happened?
Their reactions were exactly as I’d expected. Was it really impossible?
That’s when MagicIsFirepower and Fridge stepped in.
ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: Hm, putting out an existing fire? I can do that.
Just think hard ‘be gone’ and will it. Key is sensation. Strongly visualize the image.
ㄴ Fridge: Turning ice back to water is simple. Think about thermal energy and phase change principles.
Not extracting heat, but putting it back in. Approach it theoretically.
Their advice was polar opposites.
One stressed sensation, the other theory.
My head got even more confused.
In the end, I holed up in my room for days, pondering and pondering.
The room had been a sand pile for ages.
Cheap plastic cups, wooden chopsticks, erasers from Daiso—turned to sand, then left unrestored, piling up on the floor.
I practiced the practice endlessly.
First, I followed MagicIsFirepower’s advice, relying purely on sensation.
Feeling the sand in my palm, I desperately wished it to return to its original cup.
But the sand just crumbled mockingly, as if laughing at my will.
Next, Fridge’s method.
Using Clairvoyance to thoroughly analyze the object’s structure, I tried calculating the erosion process backwards.
Imagining reversing the energy flow, reassembling molecular structures.
But my crude mental theory couldn’t budge the real sand.
Theory alone wasn’t enough.
“Damn, what’s the problem….”
I tore at my hair.
Both pieces of advice made sense.
But neither was the complete answer.
Like having a lock but the key split in half.
Time slipped away relentlessly.
Cocooned in my room, time blurred, but watching darkness turn to light outside, I vaguely guessed four days had passed.
“Huaaa….”
At some point, I was exhausted.
Mana depleted, mental strength in tatters.
I flopped spread-eagle on the floor.
The sand grains pricking my back felt unpleasant.
“Should I just give up….”
Why did I even start this?
Oh, right. The ocean.
Go to the ocean, make mega sand sculptures, brag on the gallery.
A hollow laugh escaped.
Aimlessly, I turned one finger into a sand bullet.
Then back to a finger. So easy, so natural.
“Huh?”
That very moment.
A flash of insight hit me.
I bolted upright.
Why does my finger revert so easily?
“This is it….”
I already knew the answer. Something I did naturally every day.
Simple: It’s part of my body.
This sand hadn’t forgotten its essence as my finger.
But that sand scattered on the floor? Different.
They didn’t remember being a cup or eraser once.
“I have to tell them.”
First, the theoretical approach.
Use Clairvoyance to perfectly memorize the object’s structure in my mind.
Then, per the sensation method, strongly imprint that memory onto the sand, commanding ‘this is your true form.’
Theory and sensation. Combining two half-keys into one.
I picked up the last remaining coffee mug from the table. Cast Erosion.
Srrrrk.
The plain ceramic mug crumbled into a handful of fine sand, spilling onto my palm.
Now, reverse it.
I closed my eyes. Recalled everything about the mug from Clairvoyance.
Then fired that memory blueprint into the sand on my palm.
‘You are a cup.’
The sand on my palm began to writhe.
Slowly clumping, regaining its original shape.
Finally, there was the exact same coffee mug on my hand as before.
“Success…!”
I moved straight to the next step.
Picked up a cola can from the desk.
Aluminum can, harder than clay-made ceramic.
I tried reverse erosion again.
This was much tougher.
Failures piled up repeatedly.
Turning to sand was easy, but reverting to original metal was a whole other level.
I didn’t quit, starting from sand-like materials and gradually upping the difficulty.
Glass cup, plastic spoon, metal chopsticks.
Countless failures built experience.
Failures continued, but I didn’t despair.
The goal of certifying on the gallery and going to the beach was long gone.
Now, just this moment’s discovery, testing and surpassing my ability’s limits—this process itself was fun.
‘Did I have this thirst for knowledge?’
No idea.
Maybe becoming a mage awakened some unknown inner part of me.
Time passed.
Successful items increased.
Gradually, I challenged harder things.
The final hurdle: an old CSAT clock from the desk drawer.
A precision machine of dozens of tiny gears, springs, screws.
The most complex structure I’d handled yet.
I maxed out Clairvoyance.
Scanned the entire clock.
Infused fine mana to grasp internal structure, materials, every part’s movement.
A perfect blueprint formed in my mind.
A feat my old self couldn’t imagine.
Far beyond my original brain capacity.
Unknowingly, nosebleed trickled down.
But I didn’t stop.
Focused my mind. Turned the clock to sand, then reformed it.
One, two, three… the fiftieth try.
In that time, fifty CSAT clocks became sand and vanished.
And finally, I succeeded in recreating a perfectly working clock with my own hands.
“I did it!”
I whooped.
A different thrill from climbing the Tower.
I eyed the phone and computer on the desk in turn.
If I understood them, I could do the same, I was sure.
Of course, thinking of blowing up dozens of phones made my head spin, so no urge to try.
“What if… living things too…?”
Suddenly, I recalled failing to make a sand pigeon recently.
Maybe, just maybe, possible. If I paid the price in sacrifices….
“No, that’s not right.”
I shook my head to dispel the chilling thought.
That was too horrifying to even imagine.
“This discovery is plenty amazing.”
I’d settle for this.
Smiling, I logged into the Mage Gallery.
Time to thank those who gave the answers and certify my discovery.
[Title: Figured out Reverse Erosion. Thx thx]
Author: Anon (E5E.5F5)
(Video of turning clock to sand then restoring it.gif)
Thanks to you all, success.
Especially MagicIsFirepower, Fridge thx thx.
Original skill’s Erosion, so thought of calling reverse “Sedimentation,” but sound sucked, scrapped it.
Recommend skill names.
ㄴ Fridge: No way, how the hell did you do that?
ㄴ MagicIsFirepower: I just told you how to put out fire…? That’s a whole other dimension.
The gallery exploded at my post.
Even the ones who advised me were floored.
ㄴ pkkachoo: Next you’ll make people.
ㄴ Dung Beetle: You’re already making clones.
ㄴ pkkachoo: No, I mean real, living, moving people.
ㄴ Fridge: People’s too far, but small animals maybe. There are skills like that.
ㄴ Anon (E5E.5F5): Didn’t you all do stuff like this?
ㄴ Fridge: Hey, turning water to ice vs turning sand clock back and forth the same? You think that’s possible?
ㄴ Anon (E5E.5F5): Lol even I think this one’s insane. Admit it? Yeah admit~
ㄴ Fridge: …Gotta admit this guy’s got mad skills anyway.
I reconfirmed how amazing what I’d done was.
Whether it’s an earth-attribute magic trait or thanks to Clairvoyance, who knows.
Didn’t matter either way.
What mattered was I did it.
“…Come to think of it, I never made it to the beach.”
When I snapped out of it, the Korean Tower siege was almost over.