Chapter 80

I dozed off and woke up to a commotion.

The three suns were tilting toward the western sky, bathing the world in a golden hue. Evening was beginning.

The room was filled with golden smoke and buzzing chatter.

“What’s going on…?”

Where am I? What’s happening?

“Oh, you’re awake?”

Yuria was giggling with a palm-sized wooden pipe in her mouth. She greeted me, blowing out golden smoke while placing her hand on my forehead. A cool touch.

“Oh, your fever’s gone down. You were burning up earlier, but now you’re just warm.”

“I had a fever?”

“Yeah. You were groaning. I thought that since you’re a 3rd Circle mage with 3-star Ki-blood magic, there wouldn’t be much difference between you and a 4th Circle mage… but you must have had a tough time, huh?”

Only then did I remember.

That’s right. After finishing the duel with Lytol… I crawled back to my room and collapsed, didn’t I?

“How long has it been?”

“About six hours? You were out the whole time.”

As she answered, she puffed on her pipe again. Golden smoke rose softly. Within the smoke, I noticed strange mana rippling, catching my attention.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, this? The Mage of Domestication gave it to me as a gift. He calls it ‘Sunset Tobacco.’ Want to try?”

Saying that, she suddenly pulled out an ivory stick the size of her palm and waved it. The ivory stick gradually expanded until it transformed into an elongated pipe. It was clearly a much more luxurious item than the short wooden pipe she was using.

“Why is mine so big?”

“Treating a 1st Circle nobody and a genius boy mage the same would be strange. Here, take a puff.”

Yuria filled the pipe’s bowl with a honey-like liquid and froze it with an ice spell. Golden smoke billowed up like dry ice.

I put my lips to the pipe’s stem and carefully took a drag.

The smoke flowed down my throat like liquid. It had a creamy texture with a slight grittiness mixed in. Since it was frozen smoke, it felt cool, and a drowsy feeling melted away the day’s fatigue.

“Sunset Tobacco is a nutrient in smoke form, so it’s absorbed incredibly quickly—enough to give you energy right away. It also has the effect of relaxing tense nerves, and it’s especially good for reducing the risk of magical power addiction for people who’ve suddenly gained a lot of magical power. Today, both you and we gained a significant amount of magical power.”

Whoo-

Golden smoke billowed from my mouth. Yuria stared blankly at the smoke for a moment, then asked.

“What do you think the principle behind it is?”

Principle?

Observing carefully, I could see flowing mana embedded in the smoke entering and exiting the ginseng-shaped mana that symbolized me. A nutrient that affects mana… In Earth terms, it seemed like something that affects genes themselves. It strengthens my essence to better withstand the recoil from magical power.

“Don’t you see anything else?”

“Anything else? Hmm… Now that you mention it, are there other kinds of tobacco besides Sunset Tobacco?”

I looked around at the smoke filling the room. The flowing mana came from the Sunset Tobacco. But occasionally I glimpsed mana clumped together like solid crystals. Where were those coming from…?

“Do you see something?”

Yuria suddenly lowered her voice to ask. But somehow my eyes felt hazy. After blinking several times, I could no longer see the crystallized mana.

“…No? I think I was mistaken.”

Whoo-

Feeling oddly lethargic, I exhaled smoke leisurely again. It tasted good and felt good. Then I looked around. This time I was dumbfounded.

“So what’s going on here?”

My room was so crowded there wasn’t room to set foot. Not just Yuria, Monggu, and Fel, but all of Fel’s subordinates had gathered—more than twenty people eating, drinking, blowing smoke, and chattering.

Yuria finally smiled awkwardly.

“Well… you see… though I couldn’t witness it directly… it seems the people from Jack Caravan also boldly proclaimed you would win. They all unexpectedly earned magical power, so they’re too happy to sit still.”

“So they all swarmed into my room?”

“They didn’t swarm in right away. First, we consolidated and organized the newly gained magical power at the training ground, then had dinner, and then felt restless… we haven’t been here long!”

She explained defensively. Then she glanced at me cautiously before suddenly raising her voice to get everyone’s attention.

“Everyone, look here! Today’s hero has woken up! Fortunately, he seems healthy!”

A cunning trick to avoid complicated explanations by simply drawing me into the situation and glossing over things.

That strategy was very effective.

When Yuria called everyone’s attention, the already noisy room became,

“Oh? Whoooah!”

“Waaah! Divine Mage! You were amazing today!”

“Thanks to you, I’ve reached a new level! From now on, I’m putting all my faith in the Divine Mage!”

It was filled with an enormous noise like planes taking off simultaneously. It was deafening.

Wait, what? They even reached new levels?

Fel explained the situation.

“Well… their hard work finally bore fruit through this incident. Del and Shado, who were 2nd Circle, have become 3rd Circle mages.”

As he gestured subtly, the middle-aged man Del smiled shyly and bowed his head. Next to him, Shado, a man in his early thirties, bowed with knife-like precision.

Huh? Wait a minute…

…Shado?

…

Am I still half-asleep? My head feels fuzzy…

It took me a moment to recognize him.

Ah, right. Shado. Though he wasn’t noticeable because he was so quiet, he had always been guarding Fel at close range. Like Fel’s shadow.

So 2nd Circle mages reached 3rd Circle… It seems what we gained from this duel was greater than I thought.

While I was laughing in bewilderment, Fel approached and threw his arm around my shoulders.

“You were amazing again!”

Then he suddenly dragged me to the center of the room.

“Come on! Make some space!”

As soon as he said that, a circular space formed in the center of the room, sofas were moved, and food was spread out on the floor.

Fel plopped me down on a sofa and declared meaningfully:

“Now we’ll have a Q&A session with the victor!”

And then it was chaos.

The mages cast wind magic to keep me cool and served sweet, refreshing foods floating in mid-air.

At first, I thought this was ridiculous to do to someone who had just woken up… but after eating a bite, then another, drinking, and taking a few puffs of Sunset Tobacco, I started feeling good. After all, these people here were comrades who fully believed in me. There was nothing to hide, so I answered their questions freely.

This session became a time for me to review the battle as well.

“Why didn’t you use Transportation?”

Fel asked.

“Like Saíl, Transportation is magic that operates on a different track from existing magical systems. Pan-Dalus seemed quite wary of the madmen from the Magic Tower.”

Fel nodded in understanding.

“Fair enough. We can’t trust the Society either… but if the Magic Tower found out, it would be no ordinary matter… those lunatics would sell their souls for knowledge.”

Hearing Fel’s words gave me chills.

Han Se-hoon and Kasha, who had targeted me, were from the Society. If the Magic Tower mages were even greedier than them… I couldn’t even imagine what kind of people they might be.

“I guess I should keep Saíl and Transportation sealed like ultimate weapons for now.”

“Good thinking. The Tower of Covenant is a real mess.”

Fel said bitterly.

The next question came from Yuria.

“From what I saw today… even at 3rd Circle with 3-star, there seems to be a big difference in raw power compared to a 4th Circle mage. Wouldn’t it be better to give up Ki-blood magic and become a 4th Circle? You could become a 4th Circle right now, couldn’t you?”

Yuria was currently challenging 1-star Ki-blood magic on my strong recommendation. So she had a lot of interest in this topic.

I decided to do the calculations properly.

Certainly… developing Circle and Ki-blood simultaneously was inefficient in many ways.

Both were mediocre.

If a 2nd Circle requires 3 units of magical power, then a 3rd Circle requires 9 units. To create a 4th Circle would require 27 units of magical power, and the maximum residual magical power a 3rd Circle mage could accumulate was exactly 27. This was true even for me, who was simultaneously developing Ki-blood magic.

This is where the problem arose.

When fighting Lytol, my residual magical power was about 19 units. That was the magical power I could actually use in battle, and I divided it between Circle and Ki-blood.

I distributed approximately 12 to Circle and 7 to Ki-blood, which meant I could only memorize eight spells. The saw teeth on my third Circle, where memorized spells are engraved, increased or decreased according to residual magical power. If I had invested all 19 units of residual magical power into Circle, I could have used 13 memorized spells like Han Se-hoon.

Of course, thanks to the 7 units allocated to Ki-blood magic, I could use ‘Bolt,’ but it was difficult to say that benefit outweighed having five more memorized spells. Especially for someone who couldn’t pre-identify an opponent’s abilities with [Simulation], having five more memorized spells might be more helpful.

In this way, what I gained was little compared to what I lost.

Let’s say the total magical power needed to enter 4th Circle is 40 units. Adding the fixed magical power of 1 unit for 1st Circle, 3 units for 2nd Circle, and 9 units for 3rd Circle makes 13 units of fixed magical power, plus 27 units of residual magical power to create a new fourth Circle. However, before fighting Lytol, my total magical power was about 45 units—13 units of magical power fixed in Circle, 13 units fixed in Ki-blood, plus 19 units of residual magical power. In other words, if I had dismantled my Ki-blood, I could have reached 4th Circle with power to spare.

And upon entering 4th Circle, I would immediately attract the attention of magical power and could fully recover the magical power used to create the Circle. If I used 27 units of magical power to create the fourth Circle, I would get 27 units back—a creative magical power supply.

If I had dismantled my Ki-blood to immediately become a 4th Circle, my residual magical power would have actually increased to 32. Converted to memorized spells, that would be twenty-one.

Eight memorized spells and three Bolt shots, or twenty-one memorized spells and unlocked 4th Circle spells.

Anyone could see that advancing to 4th Circle would be more beneficial.

“So, why are you so obsessed with Ki-blood magic?”

To Yuria’s question, I calmly organized my thoughts.

Is 4th Circle really beneficial? No. It isn’t.

“I didn’t use Saíl today, right? Saíl can’t be used with Circle alone. To withstand the spell’s recoil, you need to strengthen your body with Ki-blood magic. And if I can use Saíl, I won’t have trouble against a 4th Circle mage.”

Hearing my definitive answer, she nodded.

“You’re saying we should also follow that path?”

“Yes. Even if we struggle for now, that’s the correct way to use magic. And since I’ve decided to seal Saíl and Transportation… I’ll continue researching ways to face mages of higher levels than myself. Next time, even under the same conditions, Lytol will never be able to defeat me.”

After explaining that much, I looked at Yuria strangely.

“But didn’t I explain this before?”

To my question, Yuria’s eyes flashed oddly.

“Hmm… I just wanted to hear that answer.”

As she spoke, blue currents swirled around her body. Even ordinary people would see something like heat haze. This was a characteristic of ki (氣), magical power processed through Ki-blood.

Because Ki-blood isn’t as noticeable as Circle, I hadn’t realized until she moved her magical power.

But… this is…

I snapped fully awake.

“2-star…? Are you crazy! What if you had an accident while opening Ki-bloods…!”

Just yesterday, Yuria was challenging 1-star Ki-blood, and now she had suddenly achieved 2-star… While it was something to celebrate, it was too reckless. Incorrectly opening Ki-bloods could leave you partially paralyzed. That’s why I had planned to proceed carefully after checking risk factors with [Simulation]!

To my surprise, Yuria answered calmly.

“Did you forget? What my Gift is? I can’t see magical power with my eyes like you, but I definitely felt it. The sensation.”

“Ah…”

That’s right.

Yuria’s [Magic Eye] is a Gift that grants transcendent perception and motor skills. But more importantly, it’s a Gift that, like Ki-blood magic, directly uses magical power.

“It suddenly dawned on me. I realized that I already knew how to create Ki-blood.”

The bluish magical power rippling around Yuria’s body. Now that I looked closely, the way her magical power moved was different from mine. She had forged her own path.

But even so…

“But Jun-woo, there was a good reason why I rushed to raise it to 2-star.”

“Why?”

“As for why I did it… ask your Gift.”

Gift?

What could have happened to make her look so coldly serious?

Though puzzled, I didn’t ask twice and followed her suggestion.

[Simulation]

Yuria facing me alone in the darkness.

I asked. The Yuria in the simulation would know the same things as the real Yuria.

“What’s going on here?”

She answered with furrowed brows.

“I seemed to be the only one who felt something was off. You seemed to have just let it slide.”

“Let what slide?”

“Think about it. How many 2nd Circle mages survived from Jack Caravan?”

“Well, Del and Shado, two of them…”

“Really? Just two? Change your simulation conditions. Go back to our physical state before arriving at the Tower of Covenant.”

Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine.