Chapter 17

So…

I wasn’t just taking a beating passively.

I observed him using his Gift, again and again.

I saw it activating slowly due to the drug, and later at high speed.

The process worked like this:

His magical power surges. Then gray energy that’s normally invisible (probably only visible with extreme concentration) gets drawn into him.

When this absorbed energy is released, it bursts out woven into fairly complex patterns.

Similar gray patterns form at the corresponding destination, and he leaps through space between the two patterns.

After watching this countless times, I formed a hypothesis.

The gray energy I’d never seen before.

Energy that exists within me, within Heukseom, and even within my bow.

Energy that Lanches uses when activating his Gift.

Could this be mana?

If so, Teacher Sena was wrong again.

Magical power and mana are not the same thing.

Magical power is the force already inside the body, while mana is the energy that attaches and detaches to form patterns.

If magical power is a stamp, mana would be the ink.

When I stamp correctly, magic manifests.

Thinking of it this way, magical power and mana simply cannot be the same thing.

There was a good analogy from Earth knowledge:

When you place your thumb on a phone’s fingerprint scanner, the phone unlocks.

Magical power is the fingerprint. Mana is the scanner, and the phone is this world. Or rather, if not this world…

‘That must be it.’

I raised my eyes to look at one corner of the sky. The center of the sky. All stars revolve around that center.

Was it because my concentration had reached its peak? What had appeared only hazily before now became clearly visible.

Gray energy rose through the sky like a vortex, piercing the sky. A massive convection of gray energy filling the world.

‘The Tower of Covenant.’

The homeland of mages. Invisible yet connecting all stars like a bridge—that mythical tower was now visible to my eyes.

The magical power within me resonated with the Tower of Covenant.

Magical power is a fingerprint. After realizing this truth, I could feel the fingerprint engraved within me.

Mana rotating around the Tower of Covenant was naturally drawn in and reacted with my fingerprint.

I guided the magical power and mana to react well together.

It’s like making sure ink applies properly to a stamp, or pressing your finger firmly so the fingerprint reads correctly.

And finally, my Gift emerged into the world for the first time. Its gray pattern was far more intricate and beautiful than Lanches’.

I could see the magical powers that had been watching me all gather around.

The magical powers showed deep interest in me and my Gift. Their attention was more intense than ever before.

<Hm? This is…?>

<Could this one be real?>

<He talked a good game.>

<We can’t tell just from words.>

<But…>

<Yes. Let’s watch.>

I seemed to hear such vivid voices. Strange, but…

‘I’ll think about that later.’

Anyway, as my Gift manifested, the world turned dark.

In darkness where I couldn’t distinguish up, down, or any direction, only Lanches and I faced each other.

“You said round two… but where are you looking?!”

Lanches shouted as he charged at me.

I quickly assumed a stance and looked for a chance to counterattack…

Whoom!

Gray patterns appeared as he vanished.

‘Where did he go?’

I couldn’t immediately tell where he’d teleported.

‘Ah… the sky!’

A moment too late, I realized he’d used spatial jump to leap into the sky, and I tilted my head upward.

I could see Lanches rapidly falling from the height of a three-story building.

I thought he was quite far, but his falling speed was so fast that he was instantly right in front of me.

“Urgh!”

In the pitch-black world, I rolled across the ground to dodge his attack. I thought I’d moved clear of his landing spot, but…

Slash!

“Guh…ack…”

Excruciating pain shot through my back. It felt like I was being shattered into pieces.

Thud! Thud! My head struck the ground several times.

I don’t know how far I flew or how many times I bounced on the ground.

I only knew that something warm was flowing from my head, and my lower body had lost all sensation, perhaps from a broken spine.

I could see my entrails spilling out from my shattered waist.

‘Ah… consecutive spatial jumps…’

While falling from above, he maintained that kinetic energy and used spatial jump to appear behind me and drive his blade in.

The impact was so tremendous that my back wasn’t just stabbed—it seemed to have burst open.

A shock impossible to withstand. My vision blurred.

And so…

I died.

Of course, I didn’t actually die.

The moment my Gift activated, I instinctively understood its nature.

It was a strange Gift I’d never heard of before.

If I were to name it using Earth terminology…

‘Simulation.’

Yes. That name seems appropriate.

+ – + – +

“No!”

Teacher Sena, who had rushed over after seeing Yuria’s signal flare, let out a piercing scream.

In the middle of the marketplace where tents and stalls lay in ruins,

Lanches was about to kill Baek Jun-woo.

“Where are you looking?!”

Shouting as he charged, Lanches used spatial jump to rise high into the air, then plummeted like a hawk, before jumping through space again to target Jun-woo who had just dodged to the side.

‘Good heavens!’

Teacher Sena was horrified. It was a terrifying technique. The kind of skill you’d only use against fellow Mana Users or Night Calamities. Even she wasn’t sure if she could handle such a technique if seeing it for the first time.

Snap!

Snap! Snap!

Teacher Sena frantically snapped her fingers to save Jun-woo, but she was too far away for her explosions to manifest.

In the end, she could only watch helplessly as Lanches collided with Jun-woo.

Boom!

Like a meteor crashing down, Lanches struck Jun-woo’s back with tremendous kinetic energy.

Crash! Crackle!

Their bodies merged into one as they skidded across the ground. Dust billowed and a long furrow formed in the earth.

“No! Nooo!”

Only then could Teacher Sena reach the scene, screaming. The smell of blood filled the air and bodies lay scattered everywhere. It looked as though a calamity had swept through.

“Aaarrgh… Lanches…!!!”

Believing Jun-woo dead, Teacher Sena rushed toward Lanches. But her steps gradually slowed and finally stopped completely.

Teacher Sena stood frozen in place as if she’d seen a ghost.

As the dust settled, a white-haired figure could be seen staggering forward.

Lanches lay sprawled on the ground like garbage. Jun-woo’s dagger had shattered his nose and philtrum, buried deep in his face.

“Ptui. I saw that coming, asshole.”

Jun-woo spat at Lanches’ corpse while making an incomprehensible remark.

‘Jun-woo… defeated Lanches? He killed a Mana User?’

Perhaps because her brain was overloaded by this incomprehensible situation?

Teacher Sena decided to think about something else.

‘Yuria… but where’s Yuria? That signal flare was one I gave to Yuria…’

Looking around, she finally spotted Yuria in a corner of the marketplace, cutting off a man’s neck and tossing it away.

“Phew… finally over.”

Yuria took a deep breath as if refreshed, and ran a hand through her blood-and-dirt-covered hair. She approached Jun-woo, who was staggering toward her.

Yuria extended her hand to Jun-woo.

“Jun-woo! Nice! I was able to win thanks to you drawing their attention.”

“Ha… Yuria. You’re alive. Thank goodness.”

Jun-woo sighed with relief as he took Yuria’s hand.

Twirl.

Like dancing, Yuria spun Jun-woo around by their joined hands.

“What, what is this, Yuria?! What are you doing?!”

“What’s the big deal? It’s fun, isn’t it? Don’t you know about victory celebrations? Da~ dadada! Daaaa~”

Yuria teased the flustered Jun-woo while humming a tune and dancing.

Jun-woo couldn’t fully join the dance but also couldn’t pull his hand away, leaving him awkwardly uncomfortable.

Teacher Sena’s thoughts finally cleared. She surveyed the scene with sharp eyes.

‘The bodies… eighteen… no, twenty? And one of them a Mana User. Those two killed them all?’

She looked at her two students with a troubled expression.

In one ruined corner of the marketplace, a white-haired boy and blue-haired girl covered in blood and dust danced like beggars.

Ignoring the scattered corpses and the shocked stares of onlookers.

“These crazy bastards…”

Though Teacher Sena always tried to use formal speech with her students… in this moment, she couldn’t help but curse.