Chapter 31

“Don’t just rely on your senses, Hwi! Make sure you do it using your understanding of the theory!”

“I understand!”

“Your control is starting to slip! Focus!”

“I got it!”

A little bit over four months have passed since the kidnapping case. I successfully saved Luna, defeated the Black Mage with Lirael’s help, got into a scuffle with the Saintess, and got back alive. Most of my injuries were healed by Master Elara inside that cave, but the miasma poisoning I got because I breathed in some of the miasma spewing out from the Dark Mage’s berserking body and my damaged mana coating on my blood vessels needed time to recover.

I needed two weeks to recover from the miasma poisoning and another three months for me to recoat the damaged mana coating on my blood vessels. When I awakened Lirael in that cave and received her healing, the mana coating on my heart and blood vessels got much better too, so it took some time to do the recoating of the damaged parts. Not only did I need to recoat the damaged parts up to the same level, but the damage was also quite extensive throughout my body. That’s why it took time for me to fully recover.

Well, thanks to my innate high mana sensitivity and also Master Elara’s help, I managed to recover in just three months. Also, because I wasn’t allowed to use magic before I repaired my mana coating, I spent that time just studying and reading the books she had told me to read before. The number of books I needed to read was a lot, but because I had nothing else to do, I finished reading all of those books at around the same time I finished recoating my blood vessels.

Master Elara tested me on my knowledge of magic theory, history, training methods, types of magic, and a lot of other things. Once she nodded and said, “Good, now we can move to the next step,” she dragged me to the training hall.

You might be wondering what I am doing right now. Long story short, it’s a technique called Melded Magic. Melded Magic is a technique to combine two or more spells into one. The magic I used on the Dark Mage, the Explosive Rock Bullet, was not Melded Magic. It’s just a highly compressed Fireball stored inside the super-hard shell of a Rock Bullet, so it still counts as two separate spells.

Melded Magic, on the other hand, is about combining two or more different spells to create one effect. At the start of this training, it was easy. Combining Fire and Wind magic, I could create a flame that was far hotter than normal. It even changed color. Water and Earth could create mud, and if I tuned up the scale, I could even make a quagmire. Fire and Water could create hot steam that could burn anyone covered in it.

The problem started when Master Elara told me to make ice. According to the book I read, ice formed when there wasn’t enough heat for it to maintain its liquid form. It was very obvious, but the problem was that “not enough heat” part. Sure, I could force the water to freeze, but using a brute-force method like that consumed too much mana. That was the whole reason why Master Elara told me to study.

Anyway, it seemed that I needed to suck up the heat from the water to make ice, but honestly, I was stumped. I understood the “what” but didn’t get the “how”.

Splash!

The water ball floating above my hand fell to the floor, and soon after, my butt also hit the floor as I lost my balance after using up all of my mana.

“Haaah… Haaah…” Sweat dripped down my face as my gaze fell on the floor. “I really don’t get it,” I said to Master Elara under my breath.

“Gee, what’s so difficult about it?” Master Elara said as she easily conjured a block of ice, showing me how easy it was for her to do that. “Well, at least now you understand why you shouldn’t just rely on your talent, right?”

“I had no intention of doing that in the first place…” That was what I said, but I lied a little bit when I said that. I couldn’t say that I had never thought I could master any kind of magic because of my high mana sensitivity. Not only that I couldn’t use healing and enhancement magic on other people, I also couldn’t do this. I guess the path to reaching the peak was never easy, no matter what field I pursued. Gotta keep training.

“Anyway, I never thought that ice magic was a melded magic.”

“Most apprentice mages think that. For us who live in a country that experiences winter, ice is not something unfamiliar. That’s why many think that ice is just beginner magic. In reality, there’s a specific condition for ice to form, and recreating that condition with magic isn’t something easy… For most people, that is, not for a genius like myself.”

“Heh.” With a smug smile on her face, Master Elara just kept flaunting how amazing she was. I could only sit on the ground, watching her praise herself and not say anything. It had been a year since we met, so I was already used to her antics.

“Umm… Master, can you check my coating?”

A little girl bashfully walked over to Master Elara, who was still busy glorifying herself, with a pitter-patter sound.

The girl’s silver hair really caught the eye. Her pale skin was as white as snow, and while she still looked a little bit skinny, she had already put on some weight compared to the first time I met her inside that shack in the forest. The little girl was Luna, Aaron’s little sister.

When I met her inside that shack, I thought that her hair was grey. It turned out that her hair was so dirty that it looked grey, but after she washed up properly, its natural color came out, and it was a beautiful silver, similar to Lirael’s hair color.

Master Elara took her in as her disciple after that whole Dark Mage fiasco and had already started her coating process. According to Master, Luna had high mana sensitivity too, though not as abnormal as mine. She was just above average. That alone wouldn’t be enough for Master Elara to take her in as her disciple, of course, but she did have another talent that really interested Master Elara.

“Hmm? You’re done? Let me check your coating, then,” Master said as she abruptly stopped glorifying herself and checked Luna’s coating.

“It’s good. At this rate, it won’t be long before you can make a contract with Lirael.”

That’s right. Luna was actually someone who could make a contract with Lirael. Lirael herself confirmed it. According to her, when she first met Luna, after I was brought to the Tower following my collapse in the cave, she could immediately tell that Luna had a strong connection with Lunar Spirits like her. Lirael got so excited that she offered a contract to Luna on the spot, and Master Elara witnessed the whole scene right in front of her eyes. That was why Master Elara took Luna in as her disciple.

“Umm… How long do you think I can do that, Master?”

“Around two years if nothing goes wrong. Just finishing your first coating is not enough for you to safely make a contract with a spirit, after all. According to the ancient text, you need to at least be the equivalent of an Intermediate Mage by today’s standards.”

“I see…”

“Well, don’t rush. Just take things one step at a time,” I said to Luna, cheering her up. “If you rush it, you’ll end up hurting yourself. Once you make a contract with Lirael, you’ll hold some of her power inside you, so you need a proper coating. Otherwise, your heart and blood vessels are going to burst, and believe me, it’s not pleasant.”

“Hah! Speak from experience, huh?” Master Elara said to me. “Hwi is right. You need to take it step by step, lest you wreck your body.” Master Elara knelt down to match my height as I sat on the floor and roughly patted my head. “Your senior here had his heart and blood vessels burst when he unknowingly used mana before and almost died because of it. You should trust him when he says it’s not pleasant.”

“Gah! Stop it! Stop messing with my hair!”

“But Lirael needs a contractor…” Luna said, looking downcast. I couldn’t blame her. Ever since Luna and Lirael met, they’d been like peas in a pod. They’d grown so close so quickly that it felt like they’d already been friends for a lifetime. A week ago, while Lirael was together with Luna as usual, she suddenly passed out. She woke up not long after, acting like she was fine, but it was clear that she was nearing her limit.

For a spirit to maintain its existence, it needed one of two things: worship or a contractor. Without either one, it would perish. When the Moon Goddess Arianrhod still had worshippers, she shared the power she gained through their worship with her subordinates, one of whom was Lirael, so Lirael didn’t need direct worship or a contractor at the time. But now that there were no worshippers of Arianrhod left and her connection to Arianrhod had been severed, she needed another way to maintain her existence. Faith took too long to build, so getting people to worship her wasn’t a realistic short-term solution. Thankfully, Luna was here, but even then, Luna needed time to grow as a mage before she would be ready to make a contract with Lirael.

For now, supplying mana to Lirael could help prolong her existence here, but ultimately, this was just a stopgap. Lirael needed to make a contract as soon as possible.

Right now, Master Elara had put Lirael to sleep with her magic so she wouldn’t have to spend her energy needlessly. That was most likely why Luna felt the need to get stronger quickly.

Master Elara got back on her feet and gently patted Luna. “It will be fine. Lady Lirael will still be here in two years. I’ll make sure of that.”

“…Hm.” Luna nodded her head. Her face was still sullen, but she must have understood that this was the only way she could save Lirael.

“Anyway, that’s all for today’s training. Go clean up first. Don’t the two of you plan to visit Aaron?”

That’s right, both Luna and I planned to visit Aaron today. After we met again at the Tower, Aaron tried to learn magic, but it seemed that he had no talent for it. There were plans to have Aaron study under a professional, like a craftsman or blacksmith, so he could learn proper skills, build a decent life for himself, and get out of the slums. But then a certain individual took notice of him and brought Aaron back with him.

“You should go now. It will take a while to reach Sir Cedric’s place.”

The one who took Aaron with him was Sir Cedric, the man Master Elara had a crush on and someone known as the King’s Sword.