21st Century Archmage

Squeeaal! SQUEAAAAAAL!

“Mommy!”

Thu-thu-thu-thu-thump!

This is when one would use the saying,always be modest.

I had been quite encouraged by my masters honeyed praise, that no one in the history of magic had risen to the 2nd Circle this fast before. But upon experiencing the bitter hell that started after I got dropped off in a rather thick forest, I started crying. As my tears flowed, I was able to realize the sages words of fuuuck.

There werent any rabbits I could catch with magic here. Time had passed so I was hungry, and for a moment I had lost my sanity.

‘Im a crazy bastard! Graaah!

I could feel an immense bloodlust from behind me. It was a slight exaggeration, but there was a boar the size of a bull running towards me like crazy, with its hide slightly roasted by my Fire Ball magic.

There was no use to being a 2nd Circle Mage. I was made to feel with my entire body that circle awakenings and mana levels were not proportionate.

‘Ah, not even a dagger but a club! Gaaah!

Even as I ran like crazy, I tasted the feeling of being driven to insanity as I looked at the wooden club in my hand. Being a Taekwondo fourth-degree blackbelt or a Kumdo 3-dan was no use. With such a miserable weapon, the jet-black boar and its quivering bacon were the essence of horror.

‘Ill die like this!

This full-course wilderness adventure, which I was experiencing for the first time in my life! Realizing that I was really going to die by getting hoofstomped by a boar, I looked for a way to survive.

‘Im saved!

Just then, perhaps by the grace of the mountain god, a huge boulder appeared in my view.

I kicked the ground forcefully and flung my body on top of the boulder.

Crash!

“Geh!”

At the same time that I jumped, the boar that had almost caught up to me crashed into the boulder due to inertia.

‘A-amazing! I felt an incredible vibration under my feet. If I had been rammed by that boar it would have been difficult to even find a shoe in the carnage.

SQUEAL! SQUEAL! SQUEAAAAAAAL!

The valiant Mr. Boar was perfectly fine even after ramming into the rock. It was glaring at me with brown, bloodshot eyes as I shivered all over, atop the rock. Just like I had thought of the bastard as meat, I was definitely a meal in its eyes.

‘Isnt this too much? What kind of 2nd Circle magic is this?

There were three parts to magic: mana, will, and manifestation. Having trained all three parts perfectly for the 2nd Circle magic Fire Ball, I realized that something was wrong. Master had said that 2nd Circle magic was the beginning of a so-called magicians training. But my perfectly cast Fire Ball wasnt enough to blacken the boars sturdy hide and bristles.

‘For my current 2nd Circle mana level, even if I cant kill that boar, it should have made that pig uncomfortable for at least 8 weeks. But since it got only 2nd degree burns… argh! What in the world is Master hiding from me! Gaaah!

The answer was clear.

It was definitely the limitations of that short-term magic circle which used Chinese-made crystals, and had started with an insufficient foundation.

Flop. SQUEAL! SQUEAL!

‘Have- have you ever seen such a shitty bastard!While I had briefly been in thought, the boar had laid down on its belly under the 2 meter boulder. It was strongly radiating the fervent intent to gnaw and chomp on my bones.

‘I have to find a way, a way!

After a month of harsh training, all that was left of me were muscles and bones, so my state of nutrition couldnt even be compared to the boars stored fat reserves. I had an ominous feeling that I would go crazy from the hunger in a day and fling myself at the boar.

‘Wait, now that I think of it…

Before dropping me off here, Master had lightly mentioned something. That there was nothing you could do about the size of your mana field, it was limited to what you were destined to have.

‘Even if Im up to the 2nd Circle, I still dont have enough mana. Moreover, Im also simultaneously accumulating mana in the lower, middle, and upper danjeons that are collectively called the mana field, so of course the mana level I can show is pretty low.

Also, Master had said I had completed the 2nd Circle, but he hadnt told me exactly how much the 2nd Circle mana level was.

‘That evil, pathetic, petty, sicko, old fart Bumdalf!

A stream of curses noisily spewed out within me.

‘It was called multi-chi channeling, right?

I had memorized Masters mana channeling method while stuck on a Mana Accumulation magic circle. I suddenly recalled the multi-chi channeling mantra that Master had carefully translated to Korean, and had explained to me in detail.

“If I can channel the diffused mana collecting in my mana field, then… that grilled pork bastard will…”

That bull-sized boar had tested the human Kang Hyuks willpower. With my willpower blazing fiercely, I closed my eyes.

‘Just wait a bit. Ill definitely turn you into a roast.

My anger subsided as I sat down crosslegged.

‘One became two, and it was called yin and yang, and the five elements that compose the world matured within that yin and yang. Each of the five elements became distinct from one another, and…

As I recited the mantra in my head, my breath stilled on its own, and my breathing became infused with the energy of Mother Nature— I was mana breathing.

Unbelievably enough, Master had drawn mana into the channels in my body with magic. I now filled that channel with the energy of my breathing as I opened it.

This was all to give that boar, who reminded me of my malicious master, a trip to heaven.

I, Kang Hyuk, was this kind of person. When being petty, I was incredibly petty. But when I was being generous, my heart was greater than the Pacific Ocean. I was a reckless child capable of being both a devil or an angel.

That was me!

* * *

“Huuh…”

Witnessing something that was difficult to believe, despite seeing it with his own eyes, Aidal forgot he was under invisibility magic and exclaimed out loud.

It was a very strange feeling to watch a rare genius who easily grasped multiple concepts just by getting taught one thing. At one point in his life, Aidal had been known as the greatest magic genius on the Kallian Continent. He had never expected to find a genius far more outstanding than even himself in this world. Though it was true that Kang Hyuks murky body energy had been cleansed by a magic circles mana, it was impossible for the boy to be so outstanding with that alone.

‘That guy… from birth, he has been a child of mana.

He thought of the grand magic Mana Clear, which could only be used by a mage of the 7th Circle or greater. Recipients of the spell would be cleansed of muddied body energy and would gain a body and mana field that could hold pure mana. And as a bonus, thanks to the cleansing of the body, your wisdom would grow, allowing you to live a smooth and easy road as a mage.

But no matter how important the disciple, mages did not carelessly cast this magic. The grand magic Mana Clear did not use mana from nature, but with the recipients own mana, and was impossible to use otherwise. So quite a lot of mana would be lost. In the worst case scenario, the casters circle could even collapse.

Aidal had used that grand magic on Kang Hyuk for a whole month as he slept.