Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Lab (2)

Magic.

One of the most commonly used concepts in fiction. A mysterious power that manifests supernatural abilities impossible in reality.

Florian Rhapsody was no exception—magic appeared in it without fail.

In Florian Rhapsody, magic worked by drawing a circle, infusing it with mana, then chanting an incantation to activate it.

The thing about magic circles was that they were extraordinarily complex shapes, making it impossible to draw them on the spot. For mages, it was essential to engrave them in advance onto staffs and the like through a spell called Memorize.

Hence the saying: a prepared mage is the strongest, but an unprepared mage is the weakest.

Every spell had its own unique magic circle. Since they were drawn using mana rather than simple illustrations, you couldn't cast a spell without attaining the specific insight for each one.

The existing method of combining spells was to memorize two spells and then use fusion magic. What Lee Yeeun had proposed was: why not draw two circles together from the very start, when you first create them?

It might sound like a similar thing, but it was completely different.

"Tampering with magic circles. There's no way those professors would accept it."

It was common knowledge that a distorted magic circle simply wouldn't activate.

To mages, magic circles were gifts bestowed by the gods. Tampering with them was tantamount to breaking an unwritten law.

Everyone assumed it was impossible, so no one had ever tried.

"Gods, my ass. There's no way some geometric shapes carry that kind of grand meaning."

They were wrong.

Just as Lee Yeeun believed, modification and alteration of magic circles was possible. The process was just so hellishly complex that nobody had ever discovered it.

Honestly, I'd thought it was absurd at first too.

It wasn't that I had complicated evidence like the other professors—I'd simply trusted professors who'd been researching for years over Lee Yeeun, who'd only just graduated, genius or not.

What made me realize that thinking was wrong was thanks to my talent.

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▼ Teachings of Seshet

: Seshet, the goddess who knows all things. She loves to flaunt her knowledge. However, only the chosen may hear the goddess's whisper.

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The ability to access Florian Rhapsody's lore encyclopedia.

When I first created Cha Eunwoo, I'd thought it was a garbage ability, but it turned out to be far more useful than I'd imagined.

The lore entries that had been meaningless in the game were, in a living, breathing world, equivalent to the truths that formed the fabric of reality.

No—they were truth itself.

There was a daily limit on how many times I could use it, but it would still be enough to play professor for the kids.

"Mmm... mmngh."

Right on cue, Lee Yeeun, whom I'd laid down on the sofa, woke up and stretched.

She must have slept well—her face looked refreshed.

She stared blankly at the ceiling, then suddenly widened her eyes. She looked around the room and locked gazes with me. Then she let out a shriek.

"Kyaah! Where am I... oh."

It seemed the events before she'd fallen asleep were trickling back, because she gradually went quiet.

Before long, her face turned progressively redder until she hung her head low. Apparently she was embarrassed about crying in my arms.

"Um, Professor. I didn't talk in my sleep or anything, did I?"

"You didn't show anything unsightly, so don't worry. You just snored a little. Do you have allergies?"

"R-really?"

Lee Yeeun shot to her feet and got right up in my face.

We held eye contact for a moment. When I let a smirk slip, she finally realized it was a joke.

"Th-that's so insensitive of you."

She balled up her tiny fist and punched my arm. Lee Yeeun hit harder than she looked.

"Keep that up and you'll never be popular with women."

"You think so?"

I proudly shoved the face of my customized character, Cha Eunwoo, right in front of Lee Yeeun.

The brief staring contest ended in my victory.

"...No."

The old me could never have dreamed of pulling something like that. But things were different now.

I wasn't the scrawny nobody I used to be. Now I could say it with confidence: I was handsome.

Still, I agreed with the insensitive remark. The last thing I wanted was to sour things with my one and only slave—I mean, disciple.

"There's no need to feel embarrassed about showing vulnerability in front of me. Comforting a crying child is an adult's duty."

Lee Yeeun, still apparently bothered, mumbled with her face buried in both arms.

"Are you even an adult? No matter how I look at you, Professor, you only look old enough to be my older brother. Ah, I mean that as a compliment—you look young. Don't take it the wrong way."

I felt a slight pang of guilt.

Lee Yeeun was twenty-one. I was twenty-two.

Think of it positively. A year older was still older. Besides, my in-game age was probably higher than that.

"I get told I look young a lot."

"Hmph. Your face is so unfair, Professor. What kind of person looks like a sculpture?"

Tell me about it. I'd been in this body for a few days now and I still flinched every time I looked in the mirror.

"That's a cliché expression. Got anything more original?"

"Aren't you embarrassed calling yourself handsome with your own mouth?"

"This professor is objectively handsome."

"Wow, that's so annoying......"

Lee Yeeun's eyes narrowed into slits as she looked at me.

But what could I do about being handsome? Honestly, acting humble with this face would be even more annoying.

"You've rested enough, so go write that report. This professor doesn't know the meaning of 'half-assed.' You'll have to give it your all."

"Yes, sir! I'll get it done in no time."

Lee Yeeun left, and I had the room to myself.

I peeked outside, wondering if anyone might come. Naturally, no one was there.

"Hoo... haah."

One deep breath, and I finished my mental preparations.

Creating a mana heart.

A mana heart was, simply put, an organ that collected mana.

Every mage drew mana from their mana heart to cast spells.

Naturally, handling magic circles also required a mana heart. It was an essential step if I wanted to support Lee Yeeun's research.

"First, circulating the mana inside my body."

I sat cross-legged and began breathing deeply and slowly.

There was no actual need to sit like this for mana training. It was simply the image that came to mind when you thought of "mana training," so I went with it.

Hisssss—

Inside my body, things that could only be described as tiny particles—or maybe a dense fog—swirled around chaotically.

Sensing the mana was a success. Now, how to move it?

On a hunch, I tried physically shifting my body this way and that, but nothing changed.

If anything, it broke my concentration and I lost track of where the mana was. Then again, if it could be moved that way, everyone in the world would be a mage.

How long had I been sitting still like this?

Would some epiphany just hit me if I kept waiting? I didn't know. That wasn't my style anyway.

I'd try something—anything.

Empty my mind and meditate? Fuck that. I was sick and tired of sitting around doing nothing, waiting for an opportunity to come to me.

Opportunities were seized by people who moved.

Throw out that dreamlike bullshit about clearing your mind.

Thoughts must not stop. Use your head. Think. About what I need to do.

Mana—that word brought something to mind.

In fantasy novels, it was common to divide mages' levels by something called circles.

What was it again? Something about forming a ring made of mana near the heart being the foundation of magic.

It sounded far-fetched, but then again, so did the world I was currently living in.

I made the image I was trying to manifest in my head a little more specific.

Instead of simply moving the mana, let's try spinning it in the shape of a ring.

Whirr—

I'd failed earlier because I moved my body directly.

Instead of moving myself, I spun the chair I was sitting in. The sensation of my body rotating. I needed to feel this sensation and engrave it.

Spin.

Spin more. Don't stop.

It started slowly, but the force kept building.

Maybe it was too much—even though this was the body of Cha Eunwoo, an Awakened with all stats at 10, I was starting to get dizzy. I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Move."

I couldn't stop just because it was hard.

This thing called mana still showed no sign of budging.

Push harder. Abuse the body.

"......!"

Then, in the middle of all that, a tickling sensation reached me. Was this the mana?

I had the feeling that if I let this chance slip, it would never come again.

Faster. I had to push even harder.

CRASH—!

"Huh?"

It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened.

I'd spun too much and the chair broke. I went sprawling on the floor.

Just when I'd felt like I was about to grasp something—I had to give up because of a chair?

Without thinking, I sprang to my feet and assumed what's commonly called the elephant trunk pose. Then I kept spinning like a madman.

Anyone watching would've doubled over laughing, but I was dead serious.

A body spinning ceaselessly like a helicopter's propeller.

I couldn't feel the fatigue from the grueling exertion, couldn't feel the dizziness.

And finally.

Something inside my body began faintly revolving too.

"It's coming."

I would make this mine no matter what.

Forgetting even to breathe, I poured every ounce of focus I had. It lasted less than a second—an impossibly brief moment—but I felt it.

The mana that had only moved passively until now rotated in the direction I wanted.

"AAAAAH!"

I'd seized it. There was no way I'd forget.

I dredged up the short memory and whipped my body into motion. The still mana began moving in response to my command.

So this is what it's like.

The sensation of moving mana.

It felt as if the ocean were surging.

In reality, it was probably more like ripples in a small pond, but right now, those tiny ripples felt like the biggest wave in the world.

At last, the completed mana heart settled firmly inside my body.

I could feel the power flowing from the mana heart clearly.

I'm a mage now.

I've become a citizen of this world.

As my nerves settled and the surge of emotion subsided, my body changed accordingly.

Every sensation I'd been desperately ignoring until now came flooding back at once.

"BLERGHH!"

I couldn't hold back the rising nausea and heaved onto the floor. My head felt like it was splitting open. Dizzy. Did I spin too much?

My body wasn't satisfied with expelling every last bite of food I'd eaten—it kept pushing out stomach acid.

After throwing up maybe ten times, what came pouring from my mouth was cloudy blood.

"I'm dying, fuck. If I had to make one more mana heart, I'd be dead."

My mouth spat curses, but the corners of my lips were turned up high.

The fulfillment of having accomplished something. It was a damn good feeling.

After grinning to myself for a while, I surveyed the inside of the faculty office.

Yeah. It's a disaster.

The floor was covered in the filth I'd vomited, and the chair was spectacularly destroyed.

On top of that, I'd thought I'd been spinning in place, but apparently not. Things all around the room had small cracks or were chipped from colliding with me.

"...What do I do about this? Clean it up tomorrow."

I was too exhausted for now. Time to clock out.

I crawled like a zombie to grab my things and was about to leave when—

"Professor! Good morn— EEEK! What happened in here?"

...the door opened and Lee Yeeun walked in.

"If you're visiting this late at night, did you forget something important?"

"Late at night? It's morning."

"Morning? That can't be......"

Lee Yeeun strode over to the window and pulled open the curtains.

Swoosh!

With direct evidence shoved in my face, I had no choice but to accept it. What lay beyond the window was the morning sun.

"How embarrassing. To think I lost track of time."

"You're embarrassed about the wrong thing, you know? What is this mess? Good grief. You're drenched in sweat. What happened?"

What happened? I spent all night making a mana heart, that's what.

That mana heart that even beginner mages all have.

If I confessed that, every bit of my carefully crafted image would shatter.

No choice but to dodge this one too.

"I just had a brief... hmm, I'm tired. Let me rest for a moment."

"Huh? No, wait—Professor! Professor!"

The moment I closed my eyes, sleep engulfed me.

After staying up the entire night and pushing my body to its limits, wanting rest was only natural.

My closed eyelids felt heavier than a thousand pounds. Just a short nap.