Chapter 41 – Old Stories and Loops (Three)

Wooooooong────!

Mana raced around the boy’s heart, leaving behind a burning pain deep within his chest.

About two weeks ago.

The night they had just escaped from Sector 50 and emerged into the Wasteland.

Back then, the boy had also drawn mana into his chest to create a Ring.

Exactly like now.

Without a single difference.

It had been an attempt based purely on intuition, without any background knowledge, but in the end, it turned out to be the right method.

However, the reason the situation took on a different aspect from back then was clear.

It was that the boy now and the boy then could be considered completely different people in terms of their ability to handle mana.

The continuous battles since arriving at Sector 49.

The countless uses of Magic throughout that process.

The boy had grown explosively.

Wooooooong────!

The resonant sound of mana grew increasingly louder.

The boy’s face contorted more and more.

He reached a speed that should have taken minutes in just a few seconds.

The pain he had to endure as a side effect was extreme.

His heart rate accelerated endlessly, and his blood, heated to the extreme, raced violently throughout his entire body.

…It felt like his body could burst at any moment, and it wouldn’t seem strange at all.

Yet, the boy did not let go of the reins controlling the galloping mana.

Was it because the old man in this room, who possessed the most knowledge about Magic and mana, had not yet stepped in?

Was it out of fear of what might happen the moment he lost control of the wild-horse-like mana?

It was neither.

It was simply because he instinctively believed in one fact.

Wooooooong────!

He was certain that a tremendous reward awaited him at the end of this path.

It would undoubtedly be a kind of reward he had never experienced before.

And it would surely be a stepping stone that would allow him to take a great stride toward his goal of revenge.

Cold sweat poured down his entire body.

He gritted his teeth and endured, endured.

Then, at a certain moment.

Fizzle.

The mana vanished.

Like a meteorite that burned itself out, unable to withstand the frictional heat, it disappeared on the spot.

Success? Or failure?

Such questions did not arise.

A searing heat was felt along the trajectory the mana had drawn, and atmospheric mana was pouring into that space, filling it.

The mana that surged along the trajectory erased the existing heat and left a cool, refreshing sensation in his chest.

Soon, it completely formed a circular shape surrounding his heart.

It was the Ring he had longed for ever since he dreamed of revenge.

“This… can’t be.”

The old man’s face was speechless.

He had thought the boy would build a Circle in a short time.

But he had never, ever expected him to succeed on the very first attempt.

He, who had been called a prodigy, had taken three months to build his first Circle.

Those with average talent took about a year on average.

And that was under the premise of having a perfect understanding of the Circle and the support of a teacher.

A Circle was something that, no matter how much one could sense and handle mana, one could never create in a lifetime without talent.

Yet, the boy had built a Circle with his own power, after seeing just one demonstration and without any help.

Drip, drip.

Tears streamed down the old man’s cheeks.

As someone who had lived his entire life with a foot in the world of mana, there was no way to hold back tears when faced with such a moment of wonder.

“Amazing! Truly amazing! You’re really a genius, aren’t you?”

Veronica jumped up and down in her seat.

She couldn’t hide her excitement, rejoicing in Ray’s success as if it were her own.

The person in question, however, simply examined the Ring formed inside his chest with a calm expression.

The old man, having composed his emotions as much as possible, continued speaking.

“The Circle is largely composed of three elements: enhancement, weakening, and regeneration. But there are other elements as well. Though the proportion is very small, it’s almost every kind… Hah, is such a thing really possible?”

“…….”

Since the old man and Veronica had mentioned it before, it wasn’t difficult to understand which elements corresponded to which colors of mana.

But Ray found it easier to understand mana through the associated emotions.

Red mana corresponding to anger.

Light pink mana corresponding to sadness.

White mana corresponding to worry.

They were all emotions that left a deep mark on his heart.

The multicolored mana, centered around these three colors, flowed leisurely within Ray’s Ring like a starry Milky Way.

“Can you see the mana contained in my Circle?”

“I can’t see it, but I can sense it. If you don’t want your Circle exposed to others, you can stop the flow of mana.”

“How do I stop it?”

“That depends on the will of the Circle’s owner.”

Although no specific method was given, Ray immediately understood the meaning of those words.

By quietly focusing his mind, he could easily stop the flow of mana.

At that moment, the old man and Veronica could no longer sense Ray’s Circle.

“It would be good to keep your Circle concealed like that normally. There’s no need to go around revealing yourself as a Wizard in this harsh world. The moment you use Magic, the Circle will inevitably be revealed, but even then, the degree to which it can be sensed will vary depending on the distance.”

It was advice filled with the old man’s sincerity and experience.

Wizards possessed immense power that could defy common sense, but precisely because of that, they were also beings highly likely to be entangled in various disputes and dangers.

Ray nodded in agreement with the old man’s words.

“So. How does it feel to have created a Circle? Can you feel the distinct difference in purity compared to atmospheric mana?”

“Definitely.”

Ray marveled.

It wasn’t just a matter of high or low quality; the very texture of the mana felt like it was on a different dimension.

…The Ring’s mana he had so admired was nothing before the Circle’s mana.

If there was any regret, it was that the Circle’s size was fixed, limiting the amount of mana he could use at once.

“How do I expand the Circle?”

The old man stifled a laugh at Ray’s demeanor, which seemed to say that even this miraculous achievement wasn’t enough.

“The theory is simple. You just need to rotate mana again above the first Circle to leave a trajectory. The third Circle is the same; leave a trajectory above the second Circle. But it’s by no means easy. From the second Circle onward, the required number of rotations and the difficulty of rotation increase exponentially. That’s why most Wizards remain at the 1st Circle for life.”

The old man had three Rings.

It meant his understanding of mana was high and he had devoted a long time to Magic.

Ray drew atmospheric mana back into his chest and tried to rotate it above the existing Ring.

The mana orbited, but it felt much stiffer than before and couldn’t gain proper speed.

It drew only a short tail before, as Ray lost concentration, it scattered like smoke and returned to the atmosphere.

“…It doesn’t seem like something that can be finished in a short time.”

“It’s important to consistently circulate mana to pave the way even in normal times. That is a Wizard’s training method. Since you’ve just built a Circle, your fatigue must be considerable, so rest for a while and then we’ll have the lesson….”

“No. That won’t be necessary. I’d like to move on to the next step right away.”

The old man looked at Ray’s resolute face for a moment and then nodded.

A thought occurred to him.

Before he died, he might not have enough time to pass on all his knowledge to this boy.

‘If I told other Wizards he built a Circle in a few seconds, they’d laugh it off as an absurd joke.’

The talent the boy possessed was beyond imagination.

Originally, he had envisioned a systematic educational process for the boy, who had never formally learned Magic, but it seemed that wouldn’t be necessary.

“I will use Magic. Can you try to follow along once?”

“Yes. I’ll try.”

The old man’s right arm stretched out straight.

His palm faced upward toward the ceiling.

The mana contained in his Ring rippled, and a portion of it was drawn out, traveling along his right arm toward his palm.

The mana gathered above his palm mixed together and turned gray.

Crunch.

It was at that moment that a gray crystal bloomed in the air.

Small crystals that kept forming around it began to stick together, and soon a small pebble was completed, falling onto the old man’s hand.

The old man placed the smooth pebble on the table and asked,

“How about it? Can you try it?”

The one flustered by those words was not Ray, who was asked the question, but Veronica.

Of course, Ray had just shown an unbelievable, astonishing feat by completing a Ring in one go.

But using Magic was a separate domain.

If the Ring required the ability to handle mana, using Magic required academic knowledge.

‘The basics of Magic are accurately knowing the types and proportions of the elements that serve as materials. Formula calculations are also needed.’

If the mixture was even slightly off, the elements would repel each other and bounce away, requiring precise and delicate control along with correct knowledge.

But to ask if he could use Magic right away without any explanation?

That was impossible unless it was a Magic he already knew.

And she didn’t think Ray would know the complex Magic the old man had just used, which involved at least seven different elements.

That was why.

“Yes. I’ll try.”

The reason Veronica couldn’t help but be startled upon hearing Ray’s answer was.

“Huh? Ray, you’re going to try?”

“I think I can do it.”

Ray spoke in a calm voice, looking into Veronica’s wide eyes.

The battle he had fought with the man in the basement.

Back then, he had also imitated his opponent, hardening his skin like metal to overcome the crisis.

It had been an unconscious action in a desperate situation, but he didn’t think he couldn’t recreate the same thing now.

…Of course, the Magic just now used more colors of mana than back then.

But it wasn’t a problem.

Because every single moment of the old man using the Magic was vividly etched in his mind.

Hoo.

One deep breath.

Ray meticulously retraced his memory, picking out the necessary colors of mana one by one from within his Ring.

Compared to the three main colors, the quantity was extremely small, but since almost every color of mana was present within the Ring, preparing the materials wasn’t a problem.

He extracted only the exact same amount of mana for coloring as used in the old man’s Magic and moved it.

From the Ring to the chest.

From the chest to the right arm.

From the right arm to the right palm.

Ray’s body trembled at the smooth sensation the mana left behind as it passed through each part of his body.

It was a shock akin to a child who had always painted with hardened paints suddenly encountering freshly squeezed paints.

A faint excitement and a pounding heart.

The mana that arrived at his palm, guided by Ray, drew graceful movements as it mixed together.

And when a single, definite color emerged.

Crunch.

A gray crystal bloomed in the air.

Crunch. Crunch-crunch.

The crystals that kept forming began to stick together.

‘Grandpa. You said Magic can only be used after learning the theory, right?’

Veronica, too shocked, sent a look, but the old man was not in a state to answer her.

He couldn’t take his eyes off Ray.

He was simply panting with an overwhelming sense of awe.

Crunch!

Finally, the completed pebble fell onto Ray’s hand.

Its size was similar to the old man’s, but its surface was rough and bumpy, showing a big difference in smoothness.

“Splend─.”

“I’ll try again.”

The old man’s words, filled with overwhelming emotion, couldn’t continue.

Because another gray crystal was blooming above Ray’s palm.

At a speed dozens of times faster than just before.