34 – New Theory
“It didn’t work.”
I tried to manipulate Kristine’s magic power at Celiana’s request, but it failed yet again.
“It’s strange. It works with the princess, but not with mixed-blood family members…”
Celiana said as if it were odd, touching her cheek.
‘Even though the blood isn’t mixed…’
Something definitely was strange.
Despite Kristine having significantly less magic power than Betty, it didn’t yield to my will.
Just like with Celiana, even the slightest intervention of my consciousness caused fierce resistance.
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“I’m tired, brother…”
The difference with Celiana was that, in less than a minute from leaning on each other, Kristine was tired.
I detached from her, offering her a magic potion I had tucked in my waistband.
“You worked hard. Drink this.”
Kristine weakly received the potion and drank it down.
“Ugh! It’s dreadful…”
Remarkably, her expression of fatigue faded almost instantly.
“It’s natural for the body to resist.”
Celiana interjected.
“Magic is the source of vitality. If you let it be moved freely by others, life’s at risk. The subconscious protects itself automatically.”
“I see…”
How could Betty have moved her magic?
“The difference between the princess and commoners is perhaps… a magic overflow disorder.”
At Celiana’s conjecture, I had an epiphany.
“Perhaps because she has too much magic and I used the overflow.”
“Um… Yes! That’s certainly possible.”
‘No, that can’t be it.’
Remembering that time, I felt almost all of Betty’s magic being drawn into me.
While the two were contemplating, Kristine, who had regained her energy, darted toward the basket in one corner of the room.
In the basket was a soft velvet blanket, and on it was a white stone, curled up and sleeping.
“Is this White Stone? It’s so cute! May I play with it, brother?”
Kristine pleaded, with a begging face.
“Sure, you can play with it once it wakes up.”
I couldn’t resist that face.
After all, she had gone through all the trouble of participating in the lesson.
“Wow! Thank you!”
Kristine hugged me once, picked up the basket, and left the room.
I was a bit baffled and stared at the door through which she had disappeared.
‘I meant to tell her once it woke up…’
“Thomas, could you invite the princess to attend the lesson?”
Celiana’s curiosity seemed far from satisfied.
“I’ll ask her next time I see her.”
“Thank you! Shall we start the lesson now?”
The fact that White Stone was kidnapped left my mind.
Taking a brief respite, the lesson began.
“Today, we’ll be learning about level 2 Fireball magic.”
‘Ah, finally, fire magic.’
Indeed, when it comes to magic, it’s always about fire.
It’s also the most impressive.
However, there was another magic that I wanted to learn before that.
“Excuse me, teacher? Is there a magic that can make me stronger?”
“Do you mean physical enhancement?”
“Yes, something like that.”
The reason why I wanted to learn this was simple.
I wanted to break the reality where I was constantly overpowered by beauteous women.
Continuing like this, I felt like I might lose my masculinity.
“Among the level 2 magic, we have a Body Strengthening Magic. Let’s learn that.”
“Okay.”
“Body Strengthening Magic is often used by swordsmen or martial artists. Some people even have their unique enhancement techniques.”
‘Hmm?’
This was a little different from what I knew.
“So, that’s also magic? Those… unique techniques?”
“Yes, in such cases, they would be considered self-developed magic.”
I felt a bit confused. From what I had seen in the genre so far, magic and physical enhancement were totally different fields.
Even the Aura Blade, which also uses mana, was not classified as magic.
I came up with a hypothesis and asked,
“So, do we call all the incidents caused by moving mana ‘magic’?”
“Yes, that’s the general definition.”
Another question arises.
“So, who created the levels, names, and usage methods of magic? Was it dragons?”
The words Hex Younga had said not long ago came to mind.
A line often heard in the genre. ‘Practitioners of magic, the dragons.’
“The level magic we’re learning now is all standardized by humans.”
I had an epiphany from her word, ‘standardized.’
“Ah… Levels and pre-determined names had created stereotypes…”
In the end, the level magic was just humans frequently using magic they were accustomed to and optimizing it according to difficulty.
Just like Gauss realized the arithmetic sequence on his own, magic can be innovated on one’s own without necessarily learning from someone else.
‘The level magic system is undoubtedly the most efficient, having been accumulated for an extended period of time.’
Considering the dark magic as an example, it would have been enough to create a magic missile in an elliptical shape, a typical genre trope.
However, there must be a reason why it was set in a spherical shape due to the better efficiency.
As I lost myself in thought, Celiana interrupted my musings.
“Dragons used only the Dragon Language. Other sentient creatures like elves, humans, dwarves, and others began to mimic them.”
“I understand.”
“Good. Let’s continue with the lesson.”
After learning the theory of physical enhancement from her, I succeeded right away.
I did succeed.
Minus the fact that I burnt out all of the energy from my bracelet within less than 30 seconds.
“Ugh!”
I was rolling on the floor.
“Ah, I’m sorry, Thomas. I didn’t expect the duration to be so brief…”
While I practically bounced off the wall and finally stopped.
“It’s, it’s okay…”
Using the very crude and simple test method of casting physical enhancement and resisting her push.
While applying physical enhancement,
‘What am I pushing against?’
I wondered, her strength seemed insignificant,
But the moment the magic was undone, I was flung as if I were in a traffic accident.
“To use physical enhancement for an extended time, the power of the bracelet is insufficient.”
Celiana pointed out the limitation.
The theory of physical enhancement was simple.
Comparing energy to firewood, it is about burning your energy to increase its volume in your body.
However, the consumption was so fast that the amount of energy contained in the bracelet could not bear it.
Suddenly, I missed Betty’s energy.
Her energy was such that even if I had used the physical enhancement continuously all day, I would not have run out.
“I can’t just grab someone and start a fight with them.”
“Shall we try again? After all, our goal is to learn magic.”
She suggested, but
“I don’t have any magic energy left.”
I pointed to my depleted bracelet.
“I knew it might come to this, so I brought a few treasures from home.”
She released the magical sheath from her waist that she had shown me before, and took something out timidly.
It was a twin-edged dagger with a sharp tip almost like a needle.
“It’s a Mithril Mangosh. The purity of the Mithril is almost 100 percent. Try holding it.”
I received the Mangosh from her and held the handle in both hands.
Then, Celianna shook her head.
“You need to hold the blade. The Mithril part is the blade.”
“Ah…”
Like a person throwing a knife, I held the blade of the dagger in my hands.
The amount of magic energy felt was about five times that of the bracelet with the two Mangosh combined.
“Now, would you like to try again? The idea is to burn the firewood and use that energy. Better if you can actually feel the heat.”
‘Heat?’
Upon hearing that word, a system came to my mind.
The heat obtained by burning firewood disperses into the air in no time.
But the system I knew of perpetuates the heat for a long time once produced.
It was,
‘Ondol’
In particular, I thought of the modern boiler system.
By heating and circulating the water, the heat efficiency is optimized.
I thought about circulating the magic energy like blood flowing in my body and gradually heating it.
And visualized it just like that and activated the magic.
“Hmm…”
Certainly, it feels a bit less power than using the energy immediately after burning it.
But the differenct wasn’t big, and once the power boiled, it could be maintained with much less magical energy.
“Now, shall we test it?”
“Very well.”
She started to push me again.
She pushed with all her might, but I didn’t budge an inch.
‘Indeed, when I use body strengthening, I’m stronger than a woman’s usual strength.’
I have no idea what it would be like if they used enhancement magic too.
After about 2 minutes, she gave up and backed off.
“Whew, it seems like the power of the Mangosu is finally drained?”
“…..”
I quietly handed the Mangosu to her.
She grabbed the blade and cried out in astonishment.
“Not even a tenth of its power has been used?!”
I sheepishly scratched the back of my head.
Celliana turned her head sharply, glaring at me as if she would eat me.
“For sure the enhancement magic had been active… But how…?”
“Well… um. I used the magic a little differently.”
At hearing that, Celliana brought her face very close–so close that her nose almost touched me.
“H.o.w.?!”
It was terrifying.
I explained to her the concept of the boiler and how I applied it to body enhancement.
During the explanation, she stopped me for a moment, took out a pen and notebook and started taking notes avidly.
After finishing all the explanations.
“Thomas, come with me to the university right now.”
“Pardon?”
“You should become my graduate student immediately.”
She, who always speaks softly, unusually used a strong tone.
“Celliana, calm down for a moment…”
“No, if you want I can even arrange you to be an assistant professor right now!! We need to write this as a thesis ASAP…!!”
Maria walked in due to her raised voice, and it was a while before the situation settled down.