Their War

[Simulation]

In the pitch-black space.

Growl…

The orc appears.

How many times have I seen this scene by now? Maybe not a thousand times, but certainly hundreds. Among all those countless battles, I’ve only won once—the fight just now.

But as Teacher Sena had said, I struggled too much for a Ki-blood mage.

“Well… let’s try a different approach this time.”

I gripped my longsword firmly.

The sword technique I’d been learning through Teacher Sena’s hellish training sessions.

I’d ridden horses since I could walk and held a bow since I could run, and now the sword felt just as natural as part of me.

The mark of a sword is a single rough yet beautiful stroke of mana.

The mark of me is about six strokes of mana, spreading out like ginseng roots.

These two gradually intertwined, connecting as one.

“Let’s see how you handle this.”

Inside me, the power of <Saíl (射日)> still remained fully intact. The magical power, extremely compressed into needle-like form, just waited for the opportunity to be released.

“Take this.”

I focused on the orc, and the orc—

Boom!

—simply charged straight at me without any warning.

That’s an orc for you.

Crash!

I stomped my foot hard into the ground.

Normally, I would have dodged the orc’s charge while swinging my sword. No matter how much of a mage I’d become, taking an orc’s charge head-on would leave me in pieces.

But this simulation was for testing the power of <Saíl (射日)>. I had no intention of backing down.

I poured all my needle-like magical power into the sword.

The upraised sword fell vertically. Leaving a faint afterimage, it split the charging orc’s forehead.

Shreeeeek!

With a sound like metal tearing, 

Splash!

The orc’s deep crimson blood gushed out like a fountain.

Clang! Clang…

The orc’s tough hide, which had been as hard as metal, peeled back to my left and right.

A clean cut. All the way through.

“Whoa…”

I stared blankly at my sword. Not a single drop of blood stained the blade that had just cleaved an orc in half vertically.

“This is… insane.”

[Simulation End]

The orc appeared and died in just 5 seconds and 17 milliseconds. Round to the nearest second, that’s 5 seconds.

+ – + – +

I woke up at dawn again.

While at the Blade Beak Plains, I couldn’t get up at dawn for private training. There, we had been fighting for real.

So… this was the first dawn training in about two weeks.

Yesterday, Teacher Sena had told me.

-Now you’re the strongest in our nomad. Your strength is most important, so from tomorrow, skip the chores and just focus on training. Remember. If you lose… we all die.

After hearing words like that, how could I possibly slack off?

I need to get stronger.

And there’s a saying from Earth: Know your enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

So, from dawn I’ve been fast-forwarding through simulations, conducting various experiments. Thanks to this, I now have a much clearer understanding of my current abilities.

For instance, <Saíl (射日)> is incredibly powerful but limited to just once per day.

There’s no specific time limit, but once I expend all that needle-like condensed magical power, that’s it.

The spent magical power becomes loose and hazy, floating around me before being reabsorbed after a full day passes.

And then there’s the matter of Blood Channels (氣血).

When I first used <Saíl (射日)>, I remember feeling something blocked in my arms suddenly clearing, providing a refreshing sensation.

Was that my Blood Channels? Maybe that’s why the magical power flowing to my arms moves so much faster and more freely now. The magical power in my legs or chest still feels somewhat restricted.

‘Maybe I could open Blood Channels in other places too?’

Curious, I ran simulations trying to open Blood Channels elsewhere… and died.

First my lower body went numb, then my waist and legs twisted like a scorpion’s. My entire body convulsed before I vomited blood and died.

It was more agonizing than being killed by an orc.

As a result, I accidentally woke the entire nomad with my screams at dawn. My mistake for not preparing a gag this time.

But… even this pain was worthwhile.

I discovered a new possibility.

Plus, I’ve come to understand just how incredible my Gift really is.

‘What’s the big deal… couldn’t I just die hundreds of times while figuring out the right way to open them?’

Traditional Ki-blood magic had probably developed on the foundation of countless sacrifices.

While researching how to open Blood Channels, perhaps ten people would have their bodies twisted and die, then one person would accidentally find a good method and pass it down. Then using that as a foundation, when trying to find even better methods, another ten would die, and then another person would find a method and pass it down. Their disciples, afraid of dying, would make small cautious attempts until someone impatient came along shouting, “You’re all cowards! There’s no progress if you just stick to old teachings!” and then they’d die too. And die again.

Then finally someone would survive and spread a new method… and sometimes a lineage that developed that way would just all die out. And so disappear completely.

That’s how it must have developed—slowly, through all kinds of twists and turns.

But I don’t need to go through all that.

I can just run simulations.

If there’s one problem, it’s the maddening pain…

‘Couldn’t I just adjust the pain level too?’

But I immediately shook my head. Pain is a signal the body sends. If I eliminate it, I won’t know what’s happening in my body. It would also interfere with controlling magical power.

‘Still… I could use it sometimes.’

I compromised at that level.

I looked up. It was still dark outside the tent. So should I research more Ki-blood magic now? After thinking briefly, I shook my head again.

After all, my achievements are still low. Gathering more magical power and fully establishing myself as a mage should come first, not Blood Channels.

‘I’m definitely not avoiding it because it might hurt…’

The magical powers watching me seemed to ripple as they mocked me.

Whatever they think, I’ll go my own way. Satisfying the magical powers is important as a mage, but that doesn’t mean I should be dragged around by them.

After all, inspiration comes when you accomplish something the other party didn’t expect.

I absolutely… am not avoiding it because it might hurt.

“Right… I should investigate some fundamental questions as well.”

I did another huge stretch to wake myself fully.

Due to our desperate struggle for survival, I hadn’t been able to consider some essential questions that demanded answers. Questions that I must keep in mind even if I can’t answer them immediately.

‘Magical power and mana.’

The miraculous forces that exist in our world. We take them for granted since we’ve experienced them since childhood… but from an Earth perspective, they’re quite extraordinary.

‘Why do they exist here but not on Earth?’

‘By what principle do magical power and mana create magic?’

‘When magical power interacts with mana to form specific patterns, magic manifests… but why? Why do patterns create magic?’

‘Why do we need both magical power and mana? Why can’t magical power’s “stamp” solve everything?’

‘What, fundamentally, is magic?’

The questions multiplied endlessly.

I questioned things I’d previously taken for granted. Methodical doubt. I’d learned this from the Earth scientist’s memories. He called it “rationalism.”

Invisible but undeniably real forces. Magical power and mana.

Earth had something similar.

Suddenly, I recalled two names.

Names that shone like stars in the Earth scientist’s memories.

Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

Earth had its own mysterious forces.

Gravity, for instance.

An invisible force holding everything together.

Newton interpreted gravity mystically.

‘An invisible force pulls everything together. What is it? It’s universal gravitation… that is… divine providence affecting all things.’

Einstein rejected this interpretation.

‘A force pulling everything together, and that’s divine providence? That’s just explaining the unknown with another unknown. It’s not rational.’

Challenging the mythical theories of his time, Einstein eventually developed a magnificent theory that elevated human civilization to the next level.

‘The force pulling everything together, gravity, never existed in the first place. The sun, moon, and earth never pulled each other. They simply remained in place, as they always have. What curved was each object’s time axis, and what moved was nothing but time itself.’

Honestly, I don’t fully understand what this means. I absorbed his memories through the Stone of Memory, but I couldn’t absorb his insight.

But I did deeply internalize his attitude.

‘Just explaining that magical power and mana behave in certain ways isn’t enough. I’m going to discover what magical power truly is, what mana truly is, and why, when, and how they came to exist.’

I pulled back the tent flap and stared at the swirling column of mana at the center of the stars—the Tower of Covenant.

I was fortunate compared to Earth humans. They couldn’t see their truths with naked eyes… but I could see, touch, and even climb my truth.

The Tower of Covenant. The answers must be there.

And…

[Simulation]

Even if not immediately, someday I would uncover all these mysteries with my most powerful weapon.

‘Let’s start by investigating the principles of <Saíl (射日)>.’

The more simulations I ran and the more data I accumulated, the closer I would get to the truth of this world.

+ – + – +

[Simulation End]

“Hmph…”

Despite running numerous simulations, I still couldn’t immediately grasp the principles of <Saíl (射日)>.

All I observed was that when I uttered “<Saíl (射日)>,” the magical power inside and outside me reacted instantly. Why this happened… I had no clue.

‘I suppose you can’t expect immediate results.’

I stretched vigorously and stood up. My head throbbed briefly. I must have run too many simulations since dawn.

‘Time for some physical exercise, then breakfast?’

I was about to do some light calisthenics before leaving the tent when suddenly the magical powers around me behaved strangely. The powers that had been randomly clustered now all aligned in one direction, performing what looked like a chorus.

There it was again. The “Primordial Incantation” thing.

<Unable to recognize ??. Error.>

<Error.>

<Approving ??’s request.>

<Approval complete.>

<Activating ??’s ???.>

But I still couldn’t understand their words. The clear intention and meaning contained in <Saíl (射日)> wasn’t present here. Just hollow voices.

What could they be… approving? Who’s requesting what?

‘Approval? Who? What?’

The more I observed, the stranger the magical powers’ behavior became. They seemed to have some purpose… and sometimes they appeared to be imitating something.

Wait a minute… imi… tating?

Boom boom boom-

I felt like I’d just grasped something important, but… before I could organize my thoughts, the ground began to shake.

“Ahhhh!”

Screams erupted outside. I quickly pushed aside the tent flap and rushed out.

And then I saw it.

“What… is that…?”

3 meters? No… 4 meters?

At the center of our nomad stood a massive metal giant. It had emerged from the ground.