Chapter 63
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The Illusory Peeking Blade
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Usually, enchantments were applied mainly to materials with fixed properties.
Because if the properties were fluid, you had to factor in variability when crafting the spell formula, which exponentially ramped up the difficulty—not to mention the post-processing needed to maintain the enchantment.
And if it also had volatility? The spell would vanish unpredictably mid-engraving, earning it such infamy among enchanters that they joked it shaved years off their lives.
Woooong...
The massive egg Lee Se-hun held out—the White Orchid Flame—possessed fluidity, volatility, the works.
"......"
Lea carefully examined the White Orchid Flame before her, then hesitantly lifted her brush to engrave the prepared spell.
Scritch...
The framework of the 'Spatial Separation' enchantment etched onto the White Orchid Flame's surface.
It was an effect that separated highly expansive materials into spatial layers and bound them together—essential for the Nanhwa Flame, which would otherwise burn everything, including its vessel, if left unchecked.
Woooong!
But before she could finish the framework, the red energy inside—the Nanhwa Flame—surged wildly, incinerating the painstakingly engraved spell entirely.
Lea stared at the White Orchid Flame, now a blank canvas once more, then covered her eyes with her palm and muttered.
"Screwed up..."
Fire-attribute materials were notorious among enchanters, so she'd braced herself to some extent.
But this far exceeded her expectations, making her morning resolve feel pointless. She wanted to bolt right then and there.
'A material that resets the spell every five seconds—how the hell am I supposed to enchant it?'
The 'Spatial Separation' and 'Targeted Engraving' Lee Se-hun requested were among the most voluminous enchantments she knew.
Even just engraving them normally would take hours, let alone under constant five-second resets. It was physically impossible.
'Does this even make sense? No matter how I think about it, it doesn't. But what does that guy think is possible? I fell for his sweet talk. What about the preliminary tournament? Grandma's pissed too. Should I just drop out first?'
Her head filled with all sorts of irrelevant thoughts, despite the overwhelming challenge right in front of her.
A symptom of avoiding the real issue by fixating on useless worries. A habit that had plunged her into a slump since 'that incident' a year ago was rearing its head again.
"......Hah."
Rebecca sighed, noticing Lea's state.
She'd been annoyed that Lea forgot their promise and veered off track, but part of her had hoped the encounter with Lee Se-hun might shake off the slump.
'Guess it was too much to hope for.'
She seemed to gain something from meeting Lee Se-hun, but it wasn't enough to fully overcome the slump.
Rebecca recalled her granddaughter's vibrant days as the top first-year in Borsippa, her face turning bitter. Then her gaze drifted to the White Orchid Flame.
'That kid's too much too. Even if he lacks enchantment knowledge, asking for something this absurd...'
She was only supervising now, so she'd stayed quiet. But in class, she'd have scolded him harshly.
Ordering something impossible as if it were doable—no different from bullying.
'Gotta teach him proper enchanting next class.'
As both grandmother and granddaughter stared at the White Orchid Flame, deeming it impossible.
"What're you doing?"
Lee Se-hun looked at Lea with exasperation.
"I told you to enchant it. Why're you spacing out? My arms are gonna fall off."
He wiggled the hands propping up the White Orchid Flame, urging her on. Lea's brows shot up as she glared sharply.
"You saw the spell vanish just now and still say that? How am I supposed to engrave Spatial Separation and Targeted Engraving when it resets every five seconds?!"
She appreciated the trust, but there were limits. As she opened her mouth to protest further against his impossible demands.
"Then just complete the enchantment in five seconds."
Lee Se-hun replied indifferently.
"That hard?"
"Of course it is, you lunatic!"
"Hmm. Really?"
Lee Se-hun muttered as if he genuinely couldn't comprehend her yelling.
"I don't get why you're saying you can't when you already know how."
"......What?"
What nonsense was that? The retort rose to her throat, but Lea couldn't voice it.
His casual remark suddenly brought to mind the structure of the 'White Light' enchantment she'd agonized over for a month.
'Not completing it whole... layer it instead.'
Design it so layers separate yet interlock, appearing as one from the outside—like a picture made of dozens of stacked images.
Recalling that structure, Lea swiftly swung her brush over the White Orchid Flame.
Scritch...
The framework for Spatial Separation. She completed one segment as a standalone component and engraved it as a single enchantment.
Woooong!
The enchantment finished in one go, mana circulating smoothly. Five seconds later, the Nanhwa Flame inside touched it.
Normally, it would burn away—but the enchantment gradually took on a red hue.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted, and it etched vividly onto the White Orchid Flame.
"!!!!"
Red script on pristine white paper. Seeing her enchantment successfully take hold, Lea widened her eyes and looked at Lee Se-hun.
A gaze seeking confirmation if this was okay. He grinned and held out the White Orchid Flame.
"Hurry up. My arms are killing me."
"......Alright."
If it was possible, there was no reason to fear.
She neatly tucked away the cluttering thoughts, shoving them aside, and dismantled the Spatial Separation and Targeted Engraving spells in her mind piece by piece.
'Cut unnecessary parts, compress just the core frameworks.'
Not assembling a robot toy meticulously from toe to head—build intuitively, focus on each part's role, and connect limbs at the end.
Kiiing!
Cut, paste, overlay, and finally fuse.
Each brushstroke over the White Orchid Flame densely etched spells, Nanhwa Flames blooming atop them, cracks spiderwebbing across.
Crack!
The White Orchid Flame shook violently, like an egg on the verge of hatching.
Kim In-cheol and Rebecca rose, watching intently, but the two at the heart of it didn't blink.
'Just a bit more... just a little longer...!'
She'd engraved all Lee Se-hun requested, but the Nanhwa Flame's power lingered.
Finishing now would scatter the remnants uselessly. So Lea kept drawing whatever surfaced in her mind.
'Form Fixation. Consciousness Projection. Mental Synchronization......'
Adding components to completed spells created new functions, amplifying each other.
And the moment Lea's engravings filled the White Orchid Flame.
Crack!
The fully unleashed Nanhwa Flame shattered its shell.
Woooong!
As the White Orchid Flame collapsed, the flames compressed toward the center.
The Nanhwa Flame's potential, which should have burned away, was reborn on the foundation of Lea's enchantments.
'Even as is, it'd make a decent item, but...'
Regrettably, the Nanhwa Flame wasn't the main material. Lee Se-hun, hands cloaked in Crimson Flame, smothered the compressing blaze.
Whoosh!
Flames leaked through his fingers. He reined in the rampaging inferno with Crimson Flame's flow.
Shhh...
Following his created flow, the Nanhwa Flames intertwined, knotted, and gradually calmed.
As leaking flames and palm vibrations ceased, a soft glow emanated.
Fwaaah!
Lee Se-hun spread his hands, red script embroidering the air.
Flame spells linked in endless circulation. Lea stared blankly at the ornate, fluid form.
'Is that... what I engraved?'
Enchantments she'd scrawled on instinct, without verification.
Those messy spells meshed perfectly with the Nanhwa Flames, pulsing vividly.
'......It's been a while. This feeling.'
A scene evoking her pre-slump days—confident in her talent, enchanting fearlessly.
Her chest swelled, yet regret tinged it.
'I wanted to do more.'
When would this sensation return? As the fleeting feeling faded, Lea grimaced bitterly.
"You did great."
Lee Se-hun, gazing up at the Nanhwa Flames, grinned.
"This'll let us start right away."
"......?"
Lea looked puzzled—what start?—but he turned to the workbench without explaining.
The pristine ivory etched with bizarre patterns. Lee Se-hun reached out with his left hand toward the Dream Tusk, the demon beast's molar bridging reality and dreams.
Whoosh!
Red enchantments extended flawlessly, wrapping the Dream Tusk and slowly lifting it airborne.
Controlling the Nanhwa Flames like body parts. As everyone watched in shock.
Woooong...
Purple mana began flowing from the Dream Tusk.
Its edges blurred, like fading video quality.
Feeling the weight lighten, Lee Se-hun sharpened his senses.
'Now it begins.'
The core trait of dreamlike mana: 'Dream Substitution'.
This power pushed objects to dream boundaries, the main culprit complicating Dream Tusk processing—for a simple reason.
In this state, it deflected all stimuli—fire or blade—like a mirage.
'Meanwhile, the dreamlike mana gets whittled away, and when you snap out of it, it's just plain ivory.'
A ruthless material where billions could evaporate in a blunder. Few processed it due to this trait.
'If you leave it alone, sure.'
Lee Se-hun unhesitatingly heated the Dream Tusk.
Whoosh!
Flames devoured the purple mana, blazing fiercer. Normally, it'd vaporize the dreamlike mana entirely—but the Nanhwa Flames were different.
They absorbed the leaking purple dreamlike mana wholesale, taking on a hazy cast.
"What... is......"
Handling dreamlike mana like that? Wondering if she'd just been unaware, Lea glanced back at the professors.
"......"
"......"
Kim In-cheol and Rebecca stood frozen, staring.
Grasping the situation from that alone, Lea chuckled dryly and turned back to her monstrous junior.
"How'd you do that?"
"Vermilion Bird Flames are famous for burning even human minds. So I thought of that."
Clutching the nearly scattering purple flames, Lee Se-hun answered calmly.
"If it burns minds, maybe it'd stick to the 'dreams' dreamlike mana handles too. Dreams are part of the mind, after all."
"......"
"Of course, dreamlike mana's dreams might differ, so raw wouldn't work. That's why I used Targeted Engraving to make it adhere easier and Spatial Separation to coat it against burning."
Looking at the purple flames that fully devoured the dreamlike mana, Lee Se-hun spoke satisfiedly.
"Turned out just as planned."
A method that would stun others, conceived and executed casually. Lea unwittingly asked.
"Not scared?"
"Of what?"
"That your conviction might be wrong."
Staring at the flames, Lea muttered incomprehensibly.
"Failure means it all vanishes."
Her eyes on the flames, but gaze elsewhere. Seeing this new side, Lee Se-hun vaguely grasped her slump's root.
'Must've seen something brutal.'
Challenges carry failure risk; failure demands price. Obvious, but the weight varies.
Those who've lost irrecoverable treasures never take failure lightly.
'Not doubt in talent... fear of failure.'
He'd seen it in others, lived it himself—knew how deeply it rooted.
His words could reshape a once-maestro's future. Choosing carefully, he decided and spoke slowly.
"Then don't do it."
"......What?"
"Exactly that. If you're scared, don't."
Gazing at the rising flames, he said flatly.
"No guarantee risky paths are better. Why force it? You're not a masochist."
"But you..."
"I have no other path."
His whisper, soft yet clear, for Lea's ears only.
"Not enough time to stick to safe routes."
Even now, as a regressor, the future shifted constantly.
To counter countless variables, he needed minimal leeway.
"You......"
Lea looked at him oddly.
Growing faster than any cadet, yet time short? What horizon drove those words?
As she hesitantly probed his hunted air.
"So, what'll you do?"
Lee Se-hun asked, meeting her eyes.
"No need if you don't want. Your choice."
"......"
"And from personal experience, safe or risky—only one thing matters."
He hadn't lived exemplarily, but one lesson burned deep.
It'd convey his true heart. Thus, he shared his thought.
"Pick the path without regrets. That's it."
"......"
The simplest, heaviest advice amid tiresome counsel. Lea gazed at the flames again.
Hazy purple, dreamlike inferno burning mirage-like. No room left for Nanhwa Flames, but dream substitution via dreamlike mana created change.
'The spells crossed into dream boundaries, opening space.'
Like overlaying backpaper for new margins. Good for more enchanting, but not easy.
Prior engravings faintly ghosted through, like images on thin paper.
'Add Erosion Reinforcement and Mana Amplification without affecting previous... insane.'
No easier than Nanhwa—tougher, even. Higher failure odds. Lea steadied her breath.
'Regret... regret, huh.'
She'd thought failure bred regret, from irrecoverable losses.
But ignoring this task, denying the flashing inspiration—wouldn't that breed regret too?
Facing the challenge, Lea recalled her entry into enchanting.
'Hold it looser.'
Slender white hands gently guiding her childish grip, amid mana stone dust messing the house.
'It wasn't enough......'
The woman, drenched in father's blood, brushing past and leaving home forever.
"......Yeah."
Recalling her unseen, must-find mother, Lea gripped her brush tight.
"No time for nitpicking!!"
Slash!
A bold line slashed the flames, ignoring faint spells.
Centering it, her brush began new engravings.
Woooong!!
First: Erosion Reinforcement. The dreamlike flames, faintly reality-bound, delved deeper into dreams, blurring further.
One slip, and two Hero materials gone—but Lee Se-hun responded coolly.
'Can't break her flow.'
His new dark mana 'Moon Shadow'. Thin as moonlight shadows, it pierced the dreamlike flames like arrows.
Moon Shadow Black Spirit Thread
Chijik!
Moon Shadow-reinforced Black Spirit Threads clung and bound the flames. Lea instantly reworked the structure accordingly, continuing engravings.
'Minor errors are fine.'
As her junior trusted her skill, she trusted his. Dumping all aftermath on him, her brush moved hesitation-free.
Woooong!
Lee Se-hun suppressing rampaging flames, Lea engraving relentlessly.
Like long-time partners, their work meshed; purple flames filled with dense script.
And as Lea's brush dotted the final period.
"Done!!!"
Clap!
Her shout synced with Lee Se-hun's palms slapping together crisply.
Not just the Dream Tusk—even the dreamlike flames illuminating the workshop vanished tracelessly. Lea tensed unwittingly, glancing at him.
"Nice work."
His palms parted, revealing the completed dagger.
[Artifact 'Illusory Peeking Blade' has been completed!]
An artistic dagger born from the collaboration of an outstanding blacksmith and an enchanter who blazed a new trail! The duo's skill in perfectly unleashing the potential of two notoriously tricky materials merits thunderous applause.
[Judgment result: 'Illusory Peeking Blade' grade is 'Hero'.]