Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Mage
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Ian felt the change the moment he woke up from sleep.
“……Not tired?”
He was in charge of the dawn shift at the convenience store, so his daily routine was 180 degrees different from everyone else’s.
Sleep in the morning, wake up around lunchtime, kill time moderately, then head off to his part-time job.
Thanks to that, the fatigue never went away. His body always felt as heavy as a lump of lead, and dark circles sat perpetually under his eyes.
But today was different.
Exactly one week since he had started shoveling dirt into his mouth.
The moment Ian pushed himself up from the bed, he could feel that his body was lighter than expected.
His mind was strangely clear, and even his perpetually heavy eyelids were perfectly fine.
The reason was obvious.
‘The mage initiation process was real.’
It seemed the methods described in the grimoire had actually been true.
At first, he had done them half in doubt but with dogged persistence, but now things were different. Having felt the results in his own body, he could no longer dismiss the grimoire’s contents as mere lies.
Ian burst out laughing, sat down on the living room floor, and downed a glass of water. He stopped by the nearby convenience store and bought a lunchbox.
After eating nothing but dirt for a week, he was ravenous for real food. He heated the lunchbox in the microwave, ate it clean, tidied up neatly, and flopped into a chair.
“Summon.”
Ian muttered as he extended his empty hand into the empty air. In that instant, a burst of pure white light appeared, and the grimoire materialized in his grasp.
It was a function he had stumbled upon by chance. Even if one wasn’t a mage, simply being the owner allowed the use of this summoning ability. Thanks to it, he didn’t have to worry about losing the book or it falling into someone else’s hands.
That was one small mercy.
“……Hmm.”
He stuck an unlit cigarette in his mouth and slowly opened the grimoire. The book opened softly on its own, flipping pages according to his will until it reached the desired spot.
Page 785. The section on how to enter the world of magic.
Ian had just finished the portion corresponding to earth among the Four Elements.
Now it was time for air—that is, wind.
Fortunately, wind was far easier than earth. All it required was meditating morning and evening for a week in a place with lots of wind. A simple task.
After choking down dirt three meals a day, just seeing the word “meditation” put his mind at ease.
“No need to put it off.”
He had already completed the first stage, but Ian had no intention of dawdling. Becoming a mage sooner was better.
With no rest period in between, the moment the sun set, he climbed to the rooftop of his rundown villa, sat cross-legged, and got to it.
It was winter, after all. The wind was plentiful, and while cold, it wasn’t unbearable with a hot pack.
The problem was the meditation itself.
Ian’s only prior experience with meditation was spacing out in the shower. Being told to meditate out of nowhere, he couldn’t get a feel for it at all.
Still, he managed somehow. Gritting his teeth, he desperately tried to empty his mind.
Time passed that way.
As the sun rose and the moon followed more times, his meditation sessions proportionally lengthened.
Finally, exactly one week later.
Ian had gained the mental fortitude to meditate all day if needed.
But that wasn’t the end.
‘Merlin’s flesh.’
Or ether, in other words.
It had been one of the components of the five elements posited by ancient philosophers, though the concept had since been repurposed with a different meaning. Even so, Ian now realized that what they had claimed wasn’t false.
‘The air is full of ether.’
In fantastical terms, it was akin to a world brimming with mana.
The most fundamental, primordial energy that formed the foundation of this world—purest of all, and closest to chaos.
According to the grimoire, ether was the flesh scattered by the first mage—the greatest archmage to ever exist in this world, Merlin—upon his death.
This ‘Merlin’ was not the Merlin of Arthurian legend, but a term for some unknown entity that had existed since before the common era.
Leaving behind no records, no grimoires, no lineage, he had only strewn ether across the world and oxidized away in a blaze. Thanks to that, all other mages could come into being.
‘If this were before, I’d have brushed it off as an amusing bit of lore, but now…’
Ian gave a wry smile as he quietly observed the ether filling the world.
He still couldn’t manipulate it directly. Nor could he contain it in his body or use it to cast spells.
But he could see it with his eyes and feel it on his skin.
For now, that was enough.
Ian let out a soft chuckle as he gazed at the beautiful glow adorning the sky.
*
He had succeeded in sensing ether, but he wasn’t a mage yet. Two elements still remained.
There was no time to waste.
And so, the moment he finished the air portion of the Four Elements, Ian dove straight into the next phase.
This time, it was drinking only water for three meals a day. Fortunately, it was more manageable than eating dirt. He was hungry, sure, but his changed body made it bearable.
Another week passed. The moment Ian opened his eyes in bed, he grimaced at the filth staining the sheets.
‘Waste built up in my body.’
He had known it was coming, so there was no shock. The smell was worse than expected, though, so he tried every cleaning method he could think of.
But the stench wouldn’t budge. In the end, he stuffed the soiled sheets and blankets into a trash bag and threw them out right away.
It hurt to waste the money, but he had no desire to sleep with reeking bedding.
Having expelled the waste, his body felt even healthier. And as the grimoire described, he could now move ether directly.
Containing it in his body was still impossible. That required reaching the final stage.
“Huu…….”
Three weeks had passed since he began the process of becoming a mage. Only the final stage remained. Completing it would essentially transform his body into that of a true mage.
Once he became a mage, he probably couldn’t keep shuttling quietly between his room and the convenience store. He’d surely get dragged into some incident or horror.
Having lived ordinarily only to suddenly become a mage, it was impossible not to feel fear. Honestly, it was a little scary.
But he brimmed with even more anticipation and curiosity.
He wanted to know what mage society looked like, what mysteries and enigmas filled the world.
Had he remained ignorant, he might have lived that way forever, but the moment he dipped a foot in, there was no returning to that state.
More knowledge.
A desire welled up to uncover even more secrets of the world, to discover the pinnacle of magic.
‘Was I always like this?’
He was the type to dive obsessively once hooked, but this felt a bit extreme.
Still, it wasn’t incomprehensible.
Everything he had liked so far—games, instruments, novels—lacked true mystery.
Magic, however, was profoundly mysterious, and the world was filled with even greater unknowns.
It was only natural to immerse himself differently.
With that thought, Ian lit a candle on the living room floor and sat beside it.
His musings stretched on.
Now was the time to build steadily from the lowest rung. Master all Four Elements first, then move to the next stage.
“Huu…….”
With an exhale, he expelled every stray thought from his mind.
He sat cross-legged, emptied his head, and began meditating.
That was how Ian spent his days: starting meditation at noon every day and continuing by the flame until just before heading to work.
Then, a week later.
“It’s done.”
He had finally passed every stage of the Four Elements. His body had become that of a mage.
There was no dramatic sensation compared to prior stages, but he could clearly tell something had changed.
Now, he no longer had to worry about his body exploding or collapsing under the strain of using magic.
With a faint smile, Ian opened the grimoire and checked the step following the Four Elements.
[If you have realized the Four Elements and awakened to the existence of ether, you are practically already a mage.]
[However, if you wish to be a proper mage capable of wielding true magic, you must contain ether in your body once.]
[This expands and sustains your very existence, reshaping not only your body but your soul into a form befitting a mage.]
[It is not a difficult process, but failure in concentration can cause your soul to crumble and lead to death, so take care.]
[The soul is a delicate material. It is no coincidence that it is one of the Three Elements of Magic. Whether your own or another’s, it requires precise control when handled.]
“…….”
Ian swallowed hard at the mention of death. But his hesitation was brief, and his action swift.
He immediately sat on the living room floor, closed his eyes, and slowly drew the surrounding drifting ethers into his body.
There was no resistance or rejection in the process. The claim that it wasn’t difficult appeared true. As long as his concentration didn’t waver, there seemed little cause for worry.
“Huu…….”
He exhaled, drawing the moving ethers into his body. They coursed through his respiratory system, took root in his blood vessels, and gathered toward his heart via the bloodstream.
Condense. Expand. Divide.
Like undergoing weathering, the ethers crumbled in sync with his heartbeat, scattering and melting into every corner of his heart.
The moment all the ether fully dissolved and was absorbed, Ian felt as though his soul had grown far more solid.
It wasn’t an illusion. Just as the grimoire stated, his soul too had transformed into that of a mage, like his body.
There was no shift in his cognition. Humans didn’t suddenly seem insignificant, nor did he feel grandiose or lose his humanity.
Ian’s state was utterly ordinary—and serene.
‘Is that really it?’
Just to be sure, Ian flipped further through the grimoire, but there was nothing more on magic initiation.
It truly was the end.
No mana storms or flashy effects like in a game job change. Just a plain, unadorned conclusion.
It didn’t seem to involve forming circles or mana circuits in his body like in fantasy tales. Disappointing in a way, but not enough to feel let down.
What mattered most was that he could now use magic.
Ian stood, downed a glass of water, and slowly reviewed the spells listed in the grimoire.
The recorded spells were quite varied.
From simple ones like cleaning a room, turning water into wine, or duplicating clothing forms.
Alongside daily utility spells were more bizarre and aggressive ones: compressing corpses, extracting eyeballs without touch, or using another’s body as a sacrifice of consciousness.
Most spells required a sacrifice or preparation. Incantations or magic circles were reserved for large-scale magic.
‘Alchemy…… even vaster than magic.’
The Hand of Recreation placed greater emphasis on alchemy than magic. It seemed focused more on alchemy.
Ian let out a groan and slowly skimmed the alchemy section.
The items creatable through alchemy were incredibly diverse. Typical potions, ores with strange powers, swords or talismans with specific effects. Mysterious and bizarre objects captured his attention.
But most required highly complex materials.
Minerals like gold, silver, or lead were understandable, but things like monster hair, scales from the sea, or teeth from a cursed convict? He had no idea how to procure them—or even if it was possible.
‘Guess I should start with the easy ones.’
Ian skipped past the “parasite implantation drug that kills by burrowing into the heart” he had been eyeing and examined alchemy items with simpler ingredients.
In the midst of that, one dagger caught his eye.
[Primate Slayer Knife]
The required materials were a bladed weapon, salt, silver, primate fur, ether, and an insect corpse.
All easily obtainable.
Ian decided to start by crafting this one first.