Wandering Mage Luke #2
Wandering Mage Luke #2
"Seriously? That's the average for a Bronze-tier mage?"
"Yes. Bronze-tier wandering mages are people who can pull off tricks that are just a little more impressive than what an ordinary person can do."
As if on cue, a gentle breeze drifted through the training grounds, and the flame flickering in the middle-aged mage's palm went out with a soft pfft.
"Hoo."
A beat too late, the middle-aged mage exhaled, trying to make it look like he'd blown the flame out himself.
The more I watched, the more he looked like a total fucking joke.
At least the fire I could produce lasted way longer than that.
After that, the middle-aged mage cast a few more spells in front of the adventurers, complete with his signature cringey, drawn-out incantations.
"I unleash the fang of the north wind that rends the heart━!"
A gentle puff of air that barely rustled a fallen leaf.
"The nightmare rope that binds the enemy━!"
A rope that didn't bind anything, just sort of squirmed on the ground.
Probably a Rope Trick from basic magic.
"Heugh... Heugh..."
After casting a few more spells, the middle-aged mage convulsed like he was on death's door.
I watched him and let out a sigh.
Is this what it means to be a wandering mage?
It was something that teetered precariously on the line between a hack and a genuine mage. The adventurers watching the middle-aged mage didn't look particularly amazed; they just watched with mild curiosity in their eyes. The vibe was like watching a street magic show.
"Honestly, it's kind of a letdown that this is the average for a Bronze-tier mage. I thought I'd get to see some flashy magic."
"You said it."
Both Rebecca and I were wearing disappointed expressions.
Beside us, Wendy spoke up with a gentle smile.
"Do you get it now? Why I wanted you to see that wandering mage, Luke?"
"No, I have absolutely no idea."
"To hurry up and get promoted to Silver Tier. You can't be lumped in with him as just another Bronze-tier mage. Escape the abyss and climb up to where people actually live!"
Only then did I grasp what Wendy was getting at.
She'd shown me that clown of a mage to fire up my desire to train, using reverse psychology.
It seemed Bronze-tier mages didn't get much respect from people.
It was true — a Bronze-tier mage like me got treated very differently from Kate, even though she was also a Bronze-tier nun.
I didn't have people showering me with gifts like she did.
"Thank you. Thanks to this, I've got the motivation to practice magic."
"Your growth is a win for me too, Luke. When you advance, it counts toward my achievements as your guild receptionist. Anyway, that's it for the wandering mage field trip! You two are free to go."
After we said our goodbyes to Wendy, Rebecca and I parted ways in front of the Adventurer's Guild building.
Left on my own, I was burning with the urge to train my magic. I seriously did not want to be seen as the same kind of mage as that fraud I'd just watched.
I could go to a magic shop and buy a new spellbook, of course.
But before that, there was something I needed to check first. The book I'd left stashed in my inn room for a while. That mysterious tome that spat out new spells whenever it felt like it. Now that I'd finished the giant subjugation quest and come back, wouldn't a new spell have appeared?
Full of anticipation, I headed back to the inn.
*
"It's out. It actually popped."
I'd arrived back at my inn room by late afternoon.
Spreading open the thick book I'd left on the bed, I let out a voice filled with joy. The ascetic who'd done nothing but meticulously manipulate a water droplet on the page had finally started moving in a new way.
Pictures had formed on the pages that were originally blank, further back in the book.
'What's he trying to do?'
I flipped the pages with the feeling of reading a serialized comic in a magazine. The ascetic in the pictures was no longer just demonstrating magic. He was walking a path with some kind of purpose.
In the illustration, the ascetic stopped his hand, the one he'd been using to shape the water. The droplets and crafted shapes floating around him plummeted to the ground. Leaving the soaked earth behind, he walked forward in silence.
Soon enough, he arrived at the shore of a vast lake.
After gazing around as though admiring the scenery, he began forming hand seals with his fingers. New hand seals I'd have to learn appeared, but for now, I just turned the page. I wanted to see what kind of result his magic would bring.
After he finished forming all the seals, the ascetic dipped one hand into the lake.
"Whoa."
The water that filled the lake began to bubble and boil. Bubbles surged up as if it were being heated by a fire beneath the ground. Before long, the lake was roiling, spewing steam into the air.
Like a hot spring in a volcanic region!
'He made the water in a lake boil... Is that also Water magic?'
To make a lake this wide boil in an instant.
The ascetic was clearly a mage who'd been steeped in this for ages — a veteran beyond compare to me. I was curious what he planned to do with a boiling lake.
But I couldn't find out what the ascetic intended next. Because the sequence of images ended right at that scene.
Just like the writers who deploy a cruel cliffhanger cut in a serialized novel.
Staring at the blank pages that followed, I had no choice but to cuss out loud.
Ah, that's fucking agonizing.
Isn't there some kind of preview function or something?
I mean, isn't there some capitalist feature where you drop in a coin and it lets you read the next installment early?
Just in case, I dropped a 1-copper coin onto the page, but nothing changed.
Only empty space greeted me, same as before.
'So what's the name of the spell?'
I read the tiny text crammed beneath the final illustration. Unlike the spellbooks I'd bought from the magic shop, this text listed only the key points in a compact block. Among them, I found the new spell's name.
Boiling.
A spell that raises the temperature of water.
It worked by infusing magic power into water that was in contact with the body. This was completely different from the Liquid Magic I'd been using, which just manipulated the flow of water. At that moment, I'd grasped a whole new way to manipulate water.
If it raises water's temperature, where could I use it?
Looking at the illustration of the fiercely boiling lake, I sank into thought. A spell that interferes with water temperature was bound to have plenty of applications.
In combat, for example: if I heated my Water Whip, its destructive power would definitely increase.
On top of the physical impact, I could inflict thermal damage on the enemy.
But aside from battle, another novel use came to mind.
'The lake picture looks just like a hot spring now.'
It gave off the vibe of a comfortably steaming hot spring.
If I could step into the picture and soak my body, it felt like I'd enjoy a bath so meltingly good I'd dissolve right there.
Come to think of it, wasn't this a pretty incredible spell? A spell that raises water's temperature just by keeping your hand submerged. This is the kind of magic that would've been crazy useful in my past life, where science and technology were highly advanced.
'I could even run a business with Water magic now.'
Create water.
Manipulate its flow.
Raise its temperature.
If I combined these three, I could genuinely operate a public bathhouse in this world.
I'd seen a big one when I visited a trade city. The owner must've been making a killing with how many people came through. Maybe when I retire from adventuring in the future, setting up a bathhouse by Yoen-su wouldn't be a bad idea.
A bathhouse run by an actual mage.
Word might spread, and noble lords might come to visit.
"I can make a solid retirement plan. Good thing I learned magic after all."
My head full of dreams about building my own shop in the middle of Yoen-su someday, I started my magic training.
*
Before I knew it, late night had arrived while I was practicing the Boiling spell. I'd been repeating the same process over and over: filling a basin with water, forming the hand seals, and submerging my hand. But as I practiced Boiling, I couldn't help being a little surprised.
'This spell succeeded right away?'
According to the book's commentary, Boiling was a spell of considerable difficulty. Neither the hand seal method nor the technique for channeling the mana within my body was simple. Yet after forming the seals a few times, I'd succeeded almost instantly. Even for a water spell I was familiar with, the speed was noticeable.
'Maybe it's because I did the mana charging with Rebecca.'
Did my magical skill improve thanks to mana charging? The warm energy I could feel in my core was definitely greater than before. Drawing mana outward was no longer difficult. I felt relieved that Rebecca and I had sex beforehand.
And as I continued using the spell until night fell, I discovered something else.
'You don't necessarily have to submerge your hand to raise the water's temperature. You can use other body parts, like a foot or an elbow.'
In the book, the ascetic cast the spell by dipping his hand in, but in practice, I could raise the water's temperature just fine using other body parts. What's more, the larger the area of skin contact, the faster the temperature rose. Using both hands was quicker than using just one.
The time needed to heat the basin water with one hand was a total of 30 minutes.
But each additional body part I submerged shaved off several minutes. The moment I realized this, the basin in my room suddenly felt way too small. It wasn't nearly big enough for me to submerge my whole body.
If I was going to train magic, wasn't it better to train with everything I had, blasting through my mana with full force?
Besides, my mana capacity seemed to have increased quite a bit thanks to last night's mana charging.
In the end, I needed a new basin.
I mean, I needed a basin that was ridiculously huge.
After thinking it over, I headed downstairs and asked the innkeeper.
"Mister Brown, do you have any spare basins in the inn's storage? Something big enough for me to fit my whole body in?"
"A big basin? Big enough for you to soak your body? I do have something like that among the leftover bath supplies."
"Let me borrow it."
The innkeeper Brown shook his head, then lifted his fingers and made a coin shape.
"Something that size, I can't lend out for free. If you borrow it recklessly and it breaks, it's a loss for me, isn't it?"
"Are you saying I should buy it?"
"Something like that. I'll let you have a wooden basin for 10 copper. It's practically new, barely ever used, so don't worry about durability."
That was no problem at all.
I had plenty of money thanks to the bounty from killing the giant.
I handed 10 copper to the innkeeper, and he quickly came back to the front desk carrying the basin. It was a basin big enough for me to fit my whole body in.
"The basin I lent you before, you can just keep it. Consider the small basin's value included in that 10 copper."
"Fine by me."
"But what exactly are you doing in your room? Other guests keep saying they hear water sounds coming from your direction."
"Showering."
"Showering?! You spend the entire day washing yourself?!"
"I'm an incubus who's cleaner than I look. And it's summer, so it's hot. If I don't wash, I feel gross."
I deflected the innkeeper's question with a decent excuse.
If I said I was practicing magic, I figured it'd lead to a long, pointless explanation. I'd have to fill him in one day, but for now, practicing the Boiling spell was more important to me.
"Take it easy, Mister Brown."
I hurried back to my room, carrying the basin. It was pretty sizable, so when I set it down on the floor, it took up a good chunk of the room. I cleared the area, figuring water might splash.
"Water."
After filling the large basin to the brim, I stripped off my clothes without a second thought.
I peeled off everything, even my underwear, and climbed into the basin stark naked.
'Cold.'
I could submerge about half my body. I shivered as I settled into the basin. The water I generated with Water magic was, by nature, extremely cold. But forming hand seals in this state would probably help sharpen my focus.
I formed the hand seals and immediately cast the spell.
"Boiling-."
Was it because I'd soaked my whole body in, like taking a bath?
The water heated up incomparably faster than before. Though there was more cold water to warm up in the basin, I could feel the temperature rising against my skin.
The water turned lukewarm, then heated further until it was warm enough to chase the chill from my body.
Maybe about fifteen minutes later, a gentle wisp of faint steam began to rise from the basin.
I stared at the basin water, which had transformed into something like hot spring water, with startled eyes. The water had heated up so much that before I knew it, I was enjoying a half-body bath right there in my room. It was so warm I felt like I could just melt into it and fall asleep.
I gazed contentedly at the steam rising toward the ceiling.
So this is the power of Water magic?
At the very least, it seemed I'd never have to worry about bathwater for the rest of my life.
'This is incredible.'
At that moment, I had become a walking, talking hot water generator.