19 – 【The Priest Who Uses Magic】
Sia didn’t need to learn magic step by step.
Two spheres floating above Sia’s hand.
“This is mana?”
“Yeah. That’s mana.”
She was a genius.
# # #
In an era where early education was spreading like a trend, parents spent money to find out if their children had any talents, making them do as many things as possible.
They made them do sports, and they made them do music.
But if they didn’t have property at home, they almost always made them do swordsmanship and magic. Because if they won the lottery there, it would be a jackpot.
If they had talent in swordsmanship, they could become a knight and receive a salary to live. If they had talent in magic, they could become a royal magician in the capital or go to the Tower of Magic.
It was a life-changing moment in an instant.
However, since there were many cases of getting hurt or dying in swordsmanship, parents considered magic to be the greatest talent.
Among parents who were interested, there was a well-known method of confirming talent.
It was the breath.
Since mana is abundant in nature, as children grow up, it naturally accumulates in their bodies. Mana is also mixed in their inhalation and exhalation.
Breathing exercises exist today. Everyone simply breathes and inhales and exhales mana.
The method of confirming talent here is whether they can manipulate their breath. Can they manipulate their breath?
If a child can sense and handle mana, they can shape it using steam.
Usually, I create shapes using the steam that comes out of my mouth. I make bubble shapes with my breath.
In addition to bubbles, I also create shapes like triangles or stars.
By determining the size of the bubbles and how many bubbles I can handle, I can assess the potential of a child. It means that I can predict in advance how far a child can grow just by using my breath. That’s why passionate parents use the size of the bubbles their child creates to determine if their child will become an even greater magician. Our child is better at controlling than anyone else. They even engage in arguments like that.
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And their actions are actually effective.
It’s a measure of natural talent. In the Tower of Magic, they evaluate emerging magicians in a similar way. It’s not using breath but using spirits. Anyway.
Of course, talent isn’t everything. Effort to develop the talent is necessary after it’s discovered. If you start ahead, you can reach your goal faster than others.
And in the case of Sia,
“Whooaa!”
She was at a level of enjoying magic.
#
Dozens of spheres flying through the air. The floating mana followed strange rules as it flowed.
“It’s already… an astonishing level.”
Sia is not a magician who has learned [Flow].
In other words, it means she is individually controlling dozens of spheres.
Sia hasn’t even learned how to [Activate Multiple Spells Simultaneously] or have it as a basic skill. What kind of crazy talent is this?
No.
This is not just talent.
It’s the manifestation of the goddess of mana.
“Hooaaah!”
“Hoo-.”
“Hwa- Ha!”
“hahahahaha!”
It seems like the fun is gradually increasing.
Every time Sia exhales, the number of bubbles only increases.
Lucion’s face is gradually tainted with horror.
It’s over a hundred.
Wait.
Just a moment, Sia.
Sia?
‘Is it really tonight?’
But the bubbles were too visible, even though it shouldn’t be at this hour. What Sia did was to mix sanctity into the breath, making it shine. Sia wanted to confirm with his own eyes what he had done.
‘There’s nothing to teach.’
Lucion was supposed to teach how to coat magic with sanctity. The little priest was already doing it.
Lucion recalled the past. How much time did it take to coat the sword with sanctity? It took a month, shooting it two or three times, and that was it.
‘It’s unfair.’
Lucion sincerely thought it was fortunate that Sia was on their side.
#
“Next, you’re going to make bubbles on the palm of your hand.”
Harnessing the mana emanating from one’s breath marks the next step. It involves extracting the mana within the body. Typically, success comes after several attempts.
“Like this?”
Once again, Lucia succeeded on her first try. Thanks to that, Lucion could experience standing dumbfounded.
Does this even make sense?
A sense of disappointment lingered.
Let’s move on immediately.
“The next step.”
Lucion raised his hand, holding a yellow circle in one hand and creating a long rod above the other.
The energy in the yellow linear form in his right hand was dark, while the soft blue energy in his left hand was mana.
Lucion moved his hand towards Lucia, instructing her to do the same.
After observing for a while, Lucia added color to the two bubbles in her hand. Just like Lucion, she chose yellow and blue.
However, unlike what Lucion did, she couldn’t replicate the shape of the line and ended up with an elongated oval.
‘Indeed, I can’t imitate the darkness.’
“hahahahaha.”
Lucion’s laughter made Lucia glare at him as if expressing displeasure.
“What’s wrong? What’s with you?”
“No. You did too well. hahahaha.”
“I feel bad…”
Just being able to imbue two different attributes into magic simultaneously was already remarkable. It might even be considered the appearance of a genius of historical proportions.
Lucia remained unaware of this fact.
Sometimes, I did go to the village, but I mostly lived in the orphanage.
Of course, no matter how much of a genius you are, you can’t do everything.
There are things that magic and divine power alone cannot accomplish. And you can’t live by uncovering all dangers alone. That’s also why parties are formed.
“Lucian definitely needs an inspector.”
Lucion can take on that role. It’s better that way.
Lucion suggested reaching the extreme of the sword. It would be economical.
“Should I keep teaching magic to Lucian for now?”
The lectures continued.
#
Lucion merged the circle and the rod held in both hands in the center. The rod pierced into the spherical shape.
Crack!
Sparks flew.
Two origins that refused to mix. Like the same poles of magnets repelling each other, the two origins did not merge. However, forced by the background of divine power, the two energies were forcibly combined.
It was something like [Water and Fire].
Different dimensions, you could say.
Originally, sword energy and mana couldn’t be mixed.
But divine power could exert force.
If not causing harm, force could be applied to energy as well, and two energies that didn’t mix well could be combined.
It allowed temporarily aligning two different energies at the same coordinates.
‘The form is more like forcibly confining hostility in one direction.’
No matter what, if you use it well, it will produce a rising effect.
Examples of sword techniques and mana, and synthesis tools include:
[Storm of Rising Thorns (sword technique)],
[Ritual of the Whirling Blade (magic) wielding a sword], and so on.
Of course, it was very difficult, so there was only one person in the kingdom who could use it in their past life.
Known as the [Noble of the Outer World], Count Naitar. His talent was the fusion of geometry, combining lines and circles from different dimensions.
He dominated the era? He was quite famous, but he died young, riding the wrong era. Most people didn’t like geniuses. Rather, they were afraid. Afraid of being exposed. Afraid of losing their position. Afraid of making political mistakes. And so on.
This time, it might be different.
Lucion and Lucia will also use the technique, so someone who can match them will appear.
“Be prepared, Naitar.”
Lucion deeply thanked Naitar, who would already be making a name for himself when he arrived at the royal capital.
#
Although it’s uncertain how it was in the past, the trend now is that it is more efficient to excel in one field rather than mastering various fields. If you lack something, you can seek help from other experts.
But Lucion pursued a fusion.
Not only Lucion, but almost all priests did the same.
“Because that’s how we make a living.”
Techniques that are always cool.
Stylish techniques.
Priests had to live and die by their form.
Not to live in abundance.
To survive, one had to walk that path.
The reason was simple.
‘Charm, it turned into money.’
Of course, one could survive without being obsessed with money. It was possible to live by only providing care and service. After all, there were donations, and there were customary fees for requests for treatment.
However, the cost of living was higher than expected, and medical expenses were steep. The fees priests received for their services were not sufficient to cover the cost of clothing at the level they needed.
Some astute priests managed to curry favor with the nobility and achieve success, but they were a very small minority.
In summary, the clergy had been generous, but with the emergence of a disastrous financial hole, they almost closed the doors for good.
It was bound to happen again.
As the clergy also played the role of nurturing priests in the academy, closing the doors would mean cutting off the priests’ path.
‘Doesn’t matter.’
In the previous life, the clergy was also useless for Lucia’s demon army expedition.
‘Let’s focus solely on Lucia.’
The only way to save Lucia.
‘The only way to make Lucia stronger.’
Coincidentally, Lucia, a born genius, was successfully combining two elements again, very skillfully.
“Is this how you do it?”
Yes, this is how it’s done.
But he didn’t want to answer that way.
“No.”
Lucion couldn’t confidently meet Lucia’s gaze. Lucia immediately noticed.
“Don’t lie.”
When Shia pressed, Lucion played dumb.
“Is it really true?”
What Lucía did was a fusion of elements.
It had to be a fusion.
Lucía was a genius. Enough to learn what Lucion had barely learned in three days in just one day.
“I’ll show you again, watch closely.”
Lucion created two circles on the palm of his hand.
Burning flames and crystallized ice.
He brought them together at eye level and fused them.
What was created was [Burning Ice]. It was a spell primarily taught to wizards who specialized in elemental fusion magic.
Originally, the elemental magic Lucía was supposed to teach was a basic level 2 spell. However, Lucía was already learning a level 5 [Fusion].
‘Can I do it?’
She discreetly checked Lucía’s reaction.
Lucía looked at the mixture in Lucion’s hand with shining eyes.
The result Lucía had produced before was merely mixing two paints, creating a mixture of colors.
On the other hand, the magic shown this time was a fusion of ‘attributes.’ It was not just merging energy, but creating a new attribute called [Burning Ice].
Lucía followed Lucion in fusing two attributes.
And this time, she succeeded at once.
In Lucía’s hand was a completed [Frozen Flames], not [Burning Ice].
“Ha.”
Lucion covered his gaze with his hand. He wasn’t sure what to resent.
“I’m closing the business starting today.”
Due to Lucia’s exceptional abilities, Lucion decided not to teach magic to Lucia anymore.
“Wouldn’t it be faster to learn it yourself?”
#
Despite reaching a higher level, Lucia wanted to learn the Explosion magic.
Although Lucion tried not to teach any more magic, Sia persistently clung to Lucion for two days, melting his resolve.
Lucion, with a barely lowered upturned corner of his mouth, spoke calmly.
“Listen carefully…?”
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“Yes! Awesome, Sion!”
‘After learning, she’ll undoubtedly change.’
Lucion couldn’t easily overcome Lucia.