The First Circle Awakens
The gates had started opening, and the whole world had zeroed in on Awakened and Mana Stones.
So I poured mana into myself with everything I had.
And after three long years, the day I had been waiting for finally arrived.
«Uuuuuu-»
The resonant hum of mana was only audible to me.
Today I was going to reach 1st Circle.
During that time, the mana I had accumulated in my heart spilled over and wrapped around my body.
It felt as warm as when I was cuddled in Mom’s arms.
But for just a second.
«Click!»
It wasn’t a sound anyone else could hear, yet one mana ring began circulating inside my heart.
After that.
«Whoosh!»
The remaining mana that had formed the circle spread out again.
Mana always had to stay in balance.
The moment it happened, the warmth vanished.
It turned cool instead, as if the mana no longer belonged to me.
“Uhu. So it really is 1st Circle already? If I had gone inside a gate, I would’ve grown much stronger by now.”
I stroked the area around my chest where my precious circle had settled.
It still felt soft and gentle, but somehow it had gotten even bigger?
“Good. I’ll be counting on you from now on.”
«Uuuung-»
The calm echo from my heart’s circle seemed to answer me.
That feeling gave me a soaring sense of liberation, as if I were flying through the sky.
“Mmmhahaha! Ahahaha! So good! Now I’m finally at the starting line!”
Too excited to hold back, I laughed out loud with my whole voice.
Of course, Mom came running over the moment she heard it.
«Knock knock»
“Ian? What’s wrong?”
“Yeah! No! I was working on my paper and it was going so well.”
“Alright. Don’t overdo it and go to bed early. Your skin will suffer.”
“Yes~”
Even with 1st Circle, I had started wrapping mana around my body.
So there was no need to worry about that stuff anymore.
The waste products that could affect my body’s aging would keep getting filtered out.
It was also the reason the hunters on TV all looked so fresh-faced.
Still… even though I was pretty now, I had to hide my face more and more.
When I got up to look in the mirror, I wasn’t tall, but my waist was slender and my chest, while not huge, was just enough to stand out.
“I guess this is normal?”
What about my face? In the engineering department, the moment I wore a skirt it was all “Engineering Goddess” talk.
Now people across the country called me the Engineering Goddess because my name kept coming up.
“Don’t get as big as Mom… I was pressing myself so hard I might shrink, but then Mom spanked me so hard it really hurt.”
I really wasn’t lying when I said I felt like my butt was on fire.
I learned that day that Hojuck-mate and Dad weren’t just making it up.
Thinking about that day made my eyes water again.
The one good thing was that, unlike Hojuck-mate, I was flexible.
When Mom hit, my hand could reach the spot.
But Mom’s physical discipline really hurt.
“Still… I have more mana than I did three years ago, but maybe it’s not mana that returned, but mana leaking out from the gates?”
If that wasn’t the case, there was no other explanation.
Everyone on Earth was getting stronger with time too.
“My last gate research paper said that hunters who go in and out of gates have generally become stronger.”
After that paper came out, people started living in temporary shelters inside gates.
It was now clear that mana inside gates was abundant.
Would training inside make it to 2nd Circle even faster?
It took three years to reach 1st Circle.
If I trained outside, I might really end up becoming a hoho grandmother before I hit 3rd Circle.
I wanted to try going inside a gate though… Dad could somehow grind it out.
Hojuck-mate? He had nothing to do with it?
The problem was how to get past Mom, this giant mountain range.
Secretly going in?
“Uuu… maybe I’d get locked in the room and fed only dumplings… I have to prove I’m safe.”
I thought and thought for ways, but the only answer was one thing.
What I was good at, and what I could do.
“I have to make golems. This time I also need to check if I can turn robots into golems.”
Anyway, I was in my final year of university.
Starting tomorrow, I would start going to Dad’s lab.
To seriously test the fusion possibility between golems and robots.
And who knows? Maybe Dad would go to a gate for research and I could follow.
…
«Zing- zing- zing-»
The way this robot walked on two legs in front of me was quite smooth.
But its size was so disappointing it only reached my knees.
“Haa… there are only these tiny ones…”
A sigh escaped on its own.
Fighting was basically about weight class.
Nothing gave reliable power like the physical force from size.
With this size, I’d probably get grabbed by goblins and have my limbs torn off one by one?
Of course I’d be in danger too?
Entering and exiting gates was out of the question.
“Eh? Our pretty daughter! Why are you sighing?”
“Why aren’t you making bigger robots?”
“You know why? The batteries are still too big, so there’s a limit to making them bigger.”
This was the robot’s dilemma.
The bigger it got, the heavier the load on its joints, and the limit came faster.
“You said to try using Mana Stones…”
“I can’t make them myself… I need development on the energy side… tsk…”
Mana Stones obtained from gates started replacing fossil fuels as fuel for power plants.
It was almost an energy revolution.
Of course it was good.
The air got cleaner and electricity became cheaper.
But the big shots only got addicted to using Mana Stones for power generation.
“Sigh…”
“I’m sorry…”
I made a big decision.
“Is there something Dad would be sorry for? Instead, go get Mana Stones.”
“Mana Stones?”
“I’ll make them for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a secret, but I know how to use magic.”
I finally spilled my secret to Dad.
Even with 1st Circle, I wanted to gauge the talent in this body and make big, strong golems by raising my circle.
I couldn’t keep wasting time like this!
“It wasn’t a magic wand?”
Did he still think I was the magic girl type? How old was I? Please forget it already!!!
“Yeah.”
“For real? Did you awaken?”
“The only sad thing is I can’t show it.”
If I had known, maybe I should’ve learned 1st Circle spells like Shield or Magic Missile?
I was a little too obsessed with golems.
Really, just a tiny bit. Like dipping a spoon into the ocean once.
“Umm… Dad, if I lie to you, will I get in trouble?”
“Why would I lie for this? It’s a secret from Mom?”
“Ah! You’ll be in big trouble?”
“My only daughter’s life is in danger.”
“I get it. But according to Mom, you shouldn’t do things like being a hunter?”
“Of course not.”
Anyway, I confessed, and I was going to make the 1st Circle Mana Core that was the heart of the golem.
It would be overwhelmingly lighter and smaller than an absurdly heavy battery pack.
It would be much more helpful.
“I have to make a Mana Core.”
“What’s that? Wasn’t it about Awakened shooting fire or lightning?”
“Uh-huh…”
Want to talk about my past life? Dad’s shock would be huge.
“I said I could use magic, right? I should be able to do something.”
No choice. Just stall.
Something like “I can do it,” but that wasn’t really possible.
And Dad would get tempted by an energy source that could replace battery packs?
“Really magic?”
“Kid! I can do it! Believe me!”
“Mana Stones are expensive…”
“Even the smallest one is fine.”
“How much research budget is left…”
Research budget… Yeah, magic research always costs money, right?
Wait a second, thinking about it? Materials for a giant golem, then Mana Stones inside it?
I really needed to earn a lot of money?
“Please. I’ll make sure you don’t regret it.”
“Hey! It’s my genius daughter’s story! If Dad won’t help, who will!”
“Yeah! Just trust me!”
I had a reason to be confident.
The amazing achievements of modern civilization.
A 3D printer.
When I first saw this thing, I was shocked.
Drawing a blueprint on a computer and printing it out in the exact shape I wanted was revolutionary.
‘Compared to the old days of carving magic circles one stroke at a time with a chisel on metal plates, I can now create magic circles with almost no precision error.’
The precision of the Mana Core meant efficiency, and higher efficiency meant more power in a smaller size — that was obvious.
‘What kind of Mana Core will be made?’
With anticipation making my heart race, I sat in front of the computer as soon as Dad left to get Mana Stones.
I moved the mouse and keyboard stroke by stroke to create the blueprint.
I was working on a design for a 1st Circle Mana Core with three magic circles drawn in a roughly 15 cm diameter.
«Click click»
“Ah~ It’s amazing I can make such beautiful magic circles so easily with a click. Most of all, this means mass production! Modern science is amazing! Hooray!”
In the empty lab, I couldn’t help but jump and dance with joy, when the door opened and a new visitor arrived.
«Creak-»
“Eh? Ian was here?”
“Hello, Sensei.”
“Call me oppa…”
“Later.”
“What are you doing?”
“Just drawing something.”
This guy kept glancing sideways secretly, but what was he looking at?
“Are you making some kind of art piece? Decoration? Jewelry?”
“Right? It’s so unique and cool, isn’t it?”
To someone who didn’t know, it would just look like complicated geometric patterns.
He was still staring from the side, but there was no need to hide.
This wasn’t something you could simply copy because it was the same design.
Everyone had different fingerprints, so the Mana patterns were different and everyone had to use different magic circles.
Even if someone stole my magic circles, they couldn’t make them work.
‘If a genius in magic appeared and analyzed the unique circuits, maybe, but that’s something no one has ever done even in my past life?’
«Click click»
Still, with just a few mouse clicks I could draw a perfect circle… The world was really convenient now.
Now I would convert the blueprint and put it in the 3D printer!
«Zing- zing- zing-»
Not fast, but the way the layer stacked up was so lovely.
If I wanted to make something even better later, I would need to use metal, but would metal 3D printers be expensive?
«Ziiing- clunk!»
Since it wasn’t a super-large 1st Circle Mana Core, it was made quickly.
And Dad came back right away.
He had gotten Mana Stones really fast.
He didn’t steal them from someone else’s lab, right?
“Oh? This is what you meant?”
“For now I made it with plastic, but later when I make it with metal it’ll be even better.”
“Hmm. I’d better increase the research budget somehow.”
“I’ll run it at home.”
“Why?”
In the corner of my eye I saw the TA and a staff member from the department office cleaning the lab.
The Mana Core was just a weird decoration, but the way I handled it would be the problem.
It would float and shine, and people would freak out?
…
“Ah!”
It was just that they were a little annoying.
It wasn’t that they had bad intentions in coming.
This was just because I was too popular.
People came to volunteer for free just to see my face.
“Should I go early?”
“It’s okay though?”
“I’m too curious about this…”
“Come now!”
Scared it might break, I carefully put it in a box with bubble wrap.
I hadn’t added the Mana Stone yet, so I could make it again, but I didn’t want to waste time?
In the car going home.
«Buuung-»
“Ian.”
“Neng?”
“You did something like awakening too, right?”
“Exactly, it’s different from the hunters on TV.”
“Yeah. It’s all good. Just don’t do anything dangerous, okay?”
“Of course! If I did, Mom might really grab my hair and drag me away.”
“Ahaha…”
The way home hugging the box with the precious Mana Core and Mana Stones was really warm.
With parents who cared about me this much, how could I possibly do something dangerous?