Chapter 141

I have no intention of explaining things in tedious detail.

A brief explanation and one demonstration should suffice. They might struggle at first, but they’ll catch on quickly.

“The force direction must be perfectly perpendicular to the hammer’s bottom surface. That minimizes recoil. You’ll also need proper rhythm and Ki-blood control… but you’ll get a feel for that with practice. Now, why don’t you try it, Wizard of Extraction? I recommend starting with about 10 Morning since even small failures can be concerning for a wizard.”

I handed the hammer to Ak-hu.

But instead of 10 Morning, Ak-hu placed 500 Morning on the anvil. Crisp stacks of mana bills piled up like a heap of bricks. What? I just struck with 100 Morning, and he’s starting with 500 Morning?

Are you crazy? Do you want your arm shattered? And what kind of pocket carries 500 Morning? That’s like carrying 500 million won in your wallet in Earth money.

Ak-hu seemed to read my concerned expression and smiled at me.

“Hoho. Thank you for your concern. But after seeing the Senior Elder handle Ki-blood so deftly, this Ak-hu’s competitive spirit won’t let me back down. You said you taught yourself Ki-blood magic, right? Today I’ll show you what orthodox Ki-blood magic truly is. Now! This Ak-hu shares what has been passed down. May this knowledge serve as a step toward humanity’s victory…!”

He lifted the hammer boldly. And what happened next made me forget I was supposed to stop him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions of magical power erupted—one from his chest, one from his shoulder, and one from his elbow.

‘Wow. How did he do that? How can Ki-blood be processed to create explosions like that?’

It was like watching an intricate power mechanism. The force generated by the explosions formed a vortex. Magical power rotated from his chest to his fingertips. It condensed tightly through centrifugal force, stable like a gyroscope.

Crunch.

Had it not been a divine hammer in his hand, it would have left clear finger marks on the handle.

“Haa…! Excellent! Collapse Strike!”

With Ak-hu’s boisterous cry.

Rumble!

Lightning struck the anvil.

Bang-bang-bang!!

A recoil powerful enough to make everyone stagger burst out in all directions.

‘That’s a failure.’

If done properly, it would produce a clear sound, not such a violent explosion.

‘My mistake…’

There was no way he could wield the hammer correctly. I should have stopped him more actively… but I was too captivated by this unfamiliar Ki-blood magic.

‘How’s Ak-hu? Is he badly injured?’

I searched for Ak-hu through the thick rising steam.

But… huh? He’s fine?

Contrary to my worries, he was resting the hammer on his shoulder, grinning broadly.

“Ha! The feel of this thing is no joke! I’ve never seen anything better suited for practicing my exclusive technique ‘Collapse Strike’!”

Ak-hu gazed at the hammer and anvil with the eyes of a middle-aged man in love. Before him lay a small jewel that kept changing colors.

The cube chattered.

-Purity 95.8 percent. Higher than the Administrator’s best record.

Wow.

Wow wow.

He absorbed all the recoil from the failure with his strength? And achieved even higher purity than me?

Ah, so this is the Wizard of Extraction who can pull mountains!

I feel tingles all the way to my toes.

<Collapse Strike>?

I want to research that!

* * *

The most excited was Yuria.

“Wizard of Extraction! I want to learn that! <Collapse Strike>! Please teach me!”

“Haha! Of course I’ll teach you. I’ve heard Pathfinder doesn’t hide knowledge.”

“Absolutely right. I’ll teach you <Saíl> in return. It was originally a primordial spell discovered by the Senior Elder, but I’ve modified it into a general-purpose spell.”

At Yuria’s words, the Wizard of Resonance, Sonnet, who was standing beside her, took out a notebook with interest.

“Oh? You modified a primordial spell into a general-purpose spell? Hmm—that’s quite rare. But… even if it’s general-purpose, not just anyone can use it yet, right?”

“Ah? How did you know? So far, I’m the only one who’s succeeded. But Wizard Ak-hu should be fine.”

“Only one success… Well, this requires research. ‘Analyze the general-purpose formula of the primordial spell <Saíl> and find areas for improvement.’ Good. Note taken.”

They were chatting away like old colleagues despite having just met.

Since we had agreed to share and develop all knowledge, the results were already beginning to show.

This is positive.

Anyway,

We decided to start the real work tomorrow and just go over what needs to be done together today. Since the magical system I ultimately pursue is unified magic that doesn’t distinguish between Circle and Ki-blood, even the Ki-blood magic practitioner Ak-hu needed to hear the explanation about Circle magic.

“Excellent! Teach me anything. I’ll start refining Philosopher’s Stone tomorrow! You can look forward to it. I’ll teach others too, and we’ll be able to refine non-stop, 24 hours a day!”

Ak-hu beat his chest confidently. Reliable.

Thanks to him, I could leave the subdimensional workshop with lighter steps.

Seventeen mages full of boundless potential followed behind me.

* * *

“We have two worlds. One is the world we’re in now, the Star Continent, and the other is the world beyond, the Tower of Covenant. In ancient times, the Tower of Covenant was called the ‘Divine Realm.’ Yes, that’s right. It was called the Divine Realm because it’s where gods resided.”

Looking up at the sky, all the stars revolve around a central point. The Tower of Covenant stands at that center. The center of the world. The source from which all mana flows.

“I’ve told you that the essence of all things is letters written in mana, right? If you create and maintain the pronunciation of ‘water’ with your Circle, water appears before our eyes. Real, drinkable water. But letters always require definitions. Just as the symbols for ‘water’ and ‘fire’ may look similar, but their meanings are completely different. So where were these great letters that create the world defined? Yes, that place is the Divine Realm, the Tower of Covenant. For example, this water here is the result of calling forth the letter ‘water’ recorded on the 90th floor of the Tower of Covenant. Whether it’s water created by magic or water that was already here, all water in the world can be considered copies of the original concept, ‘water,’ recorded on the 90th floor.”

Originally, the gods wanted to create a structure where these duplicated records would converge again, returning to the original concept, a complete circle. If their plan had succeeded, it wouldn’t matter if the water on the 90th floor was damaged. The unchanged records outside the tower would flow back in and correct the damaged records. But that plan failed long ago, so it’s not our concern. The problem now is that the original ‘water’ recorded on the 90th floor has been damaged and isn’t repairing itself naturally.

“For a fundamental solution, we need to advance to the 90th floor and correct the record of water. But that’s absolutely impossible within a year. That’s why we need barriers and protective talismans that can temporarily restore water to its previous state.”

I gestured.

Whirr-

The cube responded immediately, creating two holograms in the air.

“This on the left is the original ‘water.'”

Three curves and five ovals intertwined to form a single pattern.

“And this on the right is the degenerated ‘water.'”

One curve had been broken into two short pieces and two long pieces, and one of the ovals had half disappeared, leaving only four ovals and one semi-circle.

Whew. Looking at it like this, it’s serious.

“The temporary method for stabilizing water is simple. Create a magical field covering a specific space with mana generated inside your Circle. In that state, pronounce the original ‘water’ precisely. Then all water within that space returns to its original state. It’s similar to how iron filings form a specific pattern when you place a magnet over them.”

I prepared two cups of water.

Since the god fragment had temporarily corrected the distortion in mana, the water in the cups was currently stable, just like before.

‘Now that I think about it, that god fragment used an incredibly brute-force method. …Can’t blame him though.’

He couldn’t modify the original water template on the 90th floor. Instead, he created a new record that introduced a specific error in all copies connected to the water original. An extremely power-consuming method. No wonder there was a one-year limit.

I removed the error created by the god fragment from the water in the left cup. Immediately, the water began to boil and rose out of the cup.

“This water on the left is the degenerated water. In a year, all water will return to this form, and people not protected by barriers will all die. But if we place this cup inside a magical field and call forth the undegenerated ‘water’ with our Circle…”

Whoosh-

The boiling, floating water returned to its original state. Some went back into the cup, and some flowed down my hand onto the floor.

“The principle is… simple.”

Yes. It was simple. For me, who could distinguish the colors of magical power and even see mana.

The problem was the other mages.

Unable to see mana, they had no way to verify if their Circles were producing the correct results. It seemed like they could use 1st-grade magical sight to perfectly copy at least the movements of the Circle, but that too had limitations. They couldn’t see the colors and contrasts of magical power. They could only clearly see the outline of the Circle but couldn’t distinguish its fine structures, so they kept missing the small movements inside the Circle.

That’s why no matter how hard I explained, Refinement always grumbled, “There he goes again, talking about things only he understands…”

It was happening now too.

The group of supposedly top mages of Pathfinder were collectively blinking their eyes, tilting their heads, and making “hmm…” sounds as they sat there.

“Well… I’ve explained the principle to you. I’ll continue researching ways for you to reproduce this.”

Oh, my head.

I might end up having to develop the protective talismans and barriers against water extinction entirely on my own.

Feeling somewhat gloomy, I was about to move on. Until the genius mage known as the darling of magic stepped forward.

“Wait!”

He fixed me with a meaningful smile and met my gaze.

“Senior Elder! Wait a moment! Let me demonstrate the method of the blind. Every time I couldn’t understand your enigmatic words and suffered humiliation, but today I intend to get my revenge properly.”

Refinement fluttered his black coat and pulled out stick-like objects from his chest, tossing them into the air.

Five, ten, twenty, dozens of sticks spun in the air, growing larger until they became enormous steles over 3 meters tall, floating leisurely above Refinement’s head.

“Now, Senior Elder. Give me two cups of water. One with stable water before degeneration. The other with degenerated water. Quickly please. This Wizard of Refinement will perfectly explain the difference between them and the magical implementation method using modern magical theory!”

Wow.

Wow wow.

Really?