Chapter 64

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<Baek Jun-woo’s Magic Book>

-The Lightning Calamity in the Sandy Plateau, Its Cause and Resolution: Focusing on the ‘First Principle of Magical Power Behavior’ and ‘Magical Power Singularity’.

There is only one known principle of magical power behavior.

[What magical powers seek is their past selves, their forms when they were alive.]

-Baek Jun-woo, <Baek Jun-woo’s Magic Book>.

The Origin of Magic. A Small Treatise on God. p.2.

This can be called the ‘First Principle of Magical Power Behavior.’

The cause of the lightning calamity and its resolution also derive from this principle.

I focused on the fact that within [Simulation], perspective changes are unrestricted, and analyzed the lightning calamity comprehensively.

The cause was magical powers located over 10km in the upper atmosphere.

These magical powers exhibited peculiar behavior that was observed for the first time. (Peculiar behavior is also described in detail in the ‘Peculiar Behavior of Magical Power’ section.)

First, the magical powers in the upper atmosphere were extremely concentrated, comparable to a 3rd Circle mage’s Circles.

These chaotically mixed and densely concentrated magical powers repeated ancient memories among themselves, just as when muttering primordial incantations.

‘Target location confirmed.’

‘Launch authorized.’

‘Fire.’

‘How is the output of the ? lightning?’

‘Still insufficient for target values. We need more ??.’

‘Initiating scorched earth operation to gather more ??.’

‘I hope the numbers come out right this time. There are high expectations for the new ?? at ???.’

This time, because the density of magical powers was very high, their mutterings didn’t remain mere mutterings but actually affected the world.

Mana moved, and the lightning calamity occurred. (Henceforth, I will refer to natural magical power density that actually affects the world as a ‘magical power singularity.’)

The magical power singularity was like a disease… no, more like mob psychology, where even peacefully moving magical powers in the vicinity became excited and were drawn into the singularity, causing the disaster to grow like wildfire.

In conclusion,

The lightning calamity occurs because magical powers that have formed a singularity for some reason (requiring further research) reenact the attacks and experiments of gods that existed here in the past.

Therefore, the method to resolve the lightning calamity is as follows:

Draw the magical powers from the upper atmosphere down to the ground, then dismantle the magical power singularity with a powerful attack.

The method to draw magical powers to the ground is to provide them with a spectacle they cannot look away from. Recreating a moment from the past that remains in the memory of all magical powers is an excellent approach.

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+ – + – +

When Baek Jun-woo began to properly manipulate his idol, Fel shouted in anger.

“What are you doing?!”

He hadn’t used the term ‘gut ritual’ for nothing. The ceremony to lure the lightning calamity strictly followed prescribed procedures.

A method perfected and proven over hundreds… no, thousands, tens of thousands of years. Even the slightest movement of magical power and a single word of incantation had been changed only by geniuses and fortunate individuals who might appear once a century. That’s how delicately calibrated this ceremony was. Even minor changes could bring fatal failure.

But Baek Jun-woo blatantly ignored those procedures.

Right now, Baek Jun-woo was supposed to elongate the round magical power carved into the idol’s mouth area from top to bottom. Then he needed to recite the incantation, “Grievous and sorrowful. How could such a thing happen?” By doing so, he was meant to resonate with the other idols being manipulated and respond to their incantations.

However, Baek Jun-woo’s idol greatly expanded the round magical power and vigorously vibrated the magical power that extended like spider webs from its arms and legs. His magical power control itself was impressive, but the result would be catastrophic. Baek Jun-woo even ignored the prescribed incantation. He spewed out incomprehensible, meaningless words in a language that wasn’t human. It was a chilling sound like a curse.

In a ceremony that required perfect harmony, Baek Jun-woo was performing a solo. No… he was running wild.

“Baek Jun-wooooo!!!”

Was he really a spy from another faction? Was his purpose to destroy the Floating Island, Ransiel City, and the Sand Plateau? Fel was filled with rage upon rage. If not for the lightning storm rushing at him, he would have instantly thrust his spear through Baek Jun-woo.

But a moment later, Fel closed his mouth.

Fel couldn’t hear the sounds made by magical powers and couldn’t see magical power scattered in the atmosphere… but he could at least see densely concentrated magical power.

When Baek Jun-woo’s idol alone opened its magical power mouth wide and made its entire body tremble violently, the remaining sixteen idols responded in unison. The resonance of magical powers amplified several times over.

The idols, which had looked like solemn divine statues, suddenly seemed to come alive.

They appeared vividly alive, truly suffering and sobbing.

“What is this…”

Fel’s eyes widened.

The atmospheric magical power that would normally be invisible… gradually took form. There was only one thing this meant.

‘The calamity is descending.’

This was a phenomenon that should have appeared only after conducting the ceremony for at least an hour. Fel himself hadn’t even manipulated his idol yet to draw the magical power’s attention, so it should have taken even longer. The mana users beating drums would have suffered devastating damage during that time.

But… before even 10 minutes had passed, the ceremony was moving to the next stage. Now only five mana users had died. It wasn’t a small number, but Fel had been prepared for total annihilation.

‘How is this possible…’

Rumble… rumble…

The lightning storm that had been rushing at Fel to kill him gradually subsided. Even the calamity’s attention shifted from Fel to the idol.

The calamity hovering in the sky… descends upon the idol.

“What kind of magic did you use…”

Fel muttered with a dumbfounded expression.

+ – + – +

Screech! Wooong!

A sound only I could hear. The idol I was manipulating opened its crudely made mouth of magical power wide and powerfully emitted the simplest of sounds.

Fel calls the process of luring the calamity a ‘gut ritual,’ but from my perspective, this isn’t a ‘ceremony’ but a puppet show.

The idols that underwent magical crafting are crude, primitive puppets imitating a mage’s Circle… no, the ancient gods made of magical power.

The three idols lying like corpses and the fifteen idols surrounding them are clearly enacting a scene from a funeral. Fel doesn’t understand the meaning and merely follows the procedures handed down from ancient times… but I’m different. I know exactly what it means.

If the great war between gods in ancient times was real… then the gods would have witnessed countless deaths and held countless funerals. Gods who wore bodies of magical power and were promised immortality. Yet such companions died one after another. What memory could be more deeply etched in the unconscious than that? Even their bodies, already dead and scattered as magical power, remember that grief.

The ceremony to lure the lightning calamity… was an act of touching that subconscious, inviting magical powers to the funeral of the puppets we created. Even the magical power singularity causing the lightning calamity at 10,000m in the upper atmosphere.

But the idols we created were too crude, and it took too long to create the funeral atmosphere. The round magical power that couldn’t even reach 1st Circle was a clumsy mouth incapable of reciting a proper line. Such a mouth would struggle to attract magical power’s attention.

So the method I chose was to imitate the most rough and primitive sound that could be mimicked even with crude vocalization organs… at the same time, the sound most fitting for a funeral.

Namely, the sound of crying.

Screech! Screeech! Wooong! Uhhh…

I pressed down hard on the idol’s magical power, greatly expanded it, and made it tremble wildly.

Boom boom!

The drum beats of the mana users, and,

Woong.

Whoosh.

Whoooong.

The sorrowful murmuring created by the mages through the idols blended perfectly with the pitiful crying sound I created.

Unintelligible muttering laid low in the background, and above it, the chief mourner’s wailing rose like a violin solo in high pitch.

My idol takes on a character. An ancient unnamed god who can’t believe the death of a closest companion… is recreated through my idol.

Waaaaaah!!

The idol wailing toward the sky.

The lightning storm responded with one last struggle.

Crack-boom!

After randomly spewed lightning incinerated three mana users and two 1st Circle mages into sand…

Dark red magical power overlaid my idol.

At last, the magical power singularity descended onto the idol.

Fel, who had been pouring anger at me, now seemed to come to his senses and issued new orders.

“All mana users activate the sealing formation! Mages maintain the descent ceremony! I… will decide the outcome!”

Fel’s shout shook heaven and earth.

The thirty-six surviving mana users and twenty-one mana users who had been on standby simultaneously scattered mana beads and activated the magic engraved on the sacred ropes.

A sealing formation to prevent the magical power singularity from escaping once it descended.

In addition, Fel added one special magic.

<Duel Arena>

When Fel’s memorized spell activated, mana resembling Earth’s Sumerian cuneiform connected the magical power singularity that had settled on the idol with Fel’s mana. A constraint like an iron chain binding them together.

The magical power singularity had no chance to escape.

All that remained was a bloody battle where only the victor would survive.

Befitting a 3rd Circle mage, Fel’s memorized spells poured out in an instant.

<Spear Ghost!>

Mana leaped from Fel’s third Circle and soared into the sky. Much more complex mana patterns rained down from above, enveloping Fel and his spear. Fel’s ginseng-shaped mana merged with the spear’s mana and transformed.

‘What effect is this?’

Fel’s stance with the spear changed. He already had the skilled posture of a spear master, but… now it was different. He seemed to have become the spear itself. It was similar to the mana user technique ‘Mana Sword’ but far more complex and higher-dimensional.

In any case, what was certain was that it wasn’t a direct attack spell but some kind of buff.

In that state, Fel recited a few more spells. All were supporting spells.

<Steadfast Body>

<Spell Penetration>

Even his Gift that manifested next was an enhancement type.

[Physical Strengthening]

Looking at the mana now… Fel was no longer human.

All sorts of mana patterns intricately intertwined, transforming him into an entirely new being.

Blue magical power flowed like veins through the Jack family heirloom, ‘Anti-Magic Spear,’ and <Spell Penetration> mana wedged into the spear blade, breaking down all magical phenomena it touched.

“Haaaaah!”

Whoosh!

Even I, a 3-star Ki-blood mage enhanced to the 5th level, almost missed Fel Jack’s movement.

Whether due to the <Spear Ghost> spell, his spear technique had already transcended mastery to reach the realm of the superhuman.

His strength, maximized by various buffs, focused on the spear tip without a single ounce of waste.

Crack-splash!

The Anti-Magic Spear pierced the idol along with the magical power singularity. Blue magical power exploded, tearing the magical power singularity apart, and,

Ka-boom!

The dark red magical power singularity writhed and spewed lightning like blood.

“Aaaagh…”

“Kyaaaah…”

The screams of warriors burning to sand echoed in my ears. I couldn’t dodge the lightning either. But lightning spewed in desperation couldn’t penetrate my Ki cultivation and enhanced body.

“Tastes sour…”

The lightning and flames were just like a tear-jerking lemon taste.

I shook my head to clear the residual lightning and watched Fel swinging his spear like a madman.

“Aaaaargh!”

Unfortunately, in his caravan, Fel Jack himself was the only mage who could directly damage the magical power singularity with the Anti-Magic Spear.

Whiiing!

Crack-boom!

But during the time it took to thrust the spear once and get struck by lightning once, he, despite being covered in all sorts of buffs, kept getting blackened. Sand from who knows where kept trickling down, srrrk, srk.

The rate at which he was tearing apart the magical power singularity seemed slightly slower than the rate at which his body was being destroyed.

“How annoying.”

Everything had gone overwhelmingly well.

The descent ceremony succeeded before much damage occurred, greatly weakening the lightning calamity. This was because the magical power singularity became distracted by the idols’ funeral and lost its previous intention to spew lightning.

Nevertheless… this situation still appeared to be a crisis.

‘Firepower is insufficient.’

Even with just the reflexive lightning from the magical power singularity, Fel was taking damage, and the mages controlling the idols were one by one turning to sand and collapsing.

‘So this is the power of a B-grade calamity…’

I nodded.

Alright. I understand well. How strong you are.

And that means… it’ll be truly exhilarating when I win, right?

I took out a white stone from my pocket. It was elongated with ripple-like patterns.

A unique and powerful magical tool I obtained from Han Se-hoon.

Ordinary magical tools draw out engraved magic by infusing mana. But this ‘Stone of Wind’ eats magical power.

It was almost like a living creature.

When I infuse magical power, something sleeping within the stone awakens.

Through the Stone of Wind, I feel the beating of a heart.

Han Se-hoon’s ultimate technique that tormented me incessantly.

Fortunately, both the attack skill <Beast of Wind> and the defensive skill <Wind’s Protection> could be activated with the same incantation.

“Ah, how sad! Even you who were once most free have become fossilized. I grant you flesh and breath briefly, so you! Please dream of a mighty whirlwind.”

<Beast of Wind!>

Whoooosh!

Grrrrr!

From my hand, a fierce storm howled like a beast as it awakened.

Like an angry wolf, it charged toward the magical power singularity.