Episode 59: The Reward Beyond Dimensions (1)
So much joy stemmed from realizing that he had safely ferried his skills between the two dimensions. Kang Min-hyuk was able to reflect upon his return, and questions arose from this process.
The first: What is Klinssman’s background? Avid knew it, and it informed his decision to let him enter the Tower of Trials.
Avid…he was an intriguing character, too. A seventh circle archmage and president of the Royal Academy of Magic. By all reckoning, he was the highest power in the UK at the time. The British Academy of Magic is a symbolic group where all power is concentrated, and Avid, overseeing it, was equivalent to royalty. In other words, being able to correspond with him was an amazing privilege not to be wasted.
What was Avid’s character? Well, he took principle seriously. He’d offered Klinssman a reward, and even though the request violated the rules, he was duty-bound to fulfill his promise. Was anybody equal to or above Avid?
More and more questions arose, inspired by his most recent venture to the other world. Kang Min-hyuk, try as he might, just couldn’t draw a line between Klinssman – who seemed to be a simple, salt-of-the-earth type – and his mysterious background.
Another question that circled endlessly through Min-hyuk’s mind was: what secrets dwell in Klinssman’s body?
At first, Min-hyuk thought it was raw talent, nothing more. However, a body that grows so quickly, like a sponge absorbing liquid, was far from a common occurrence. It was clear that his skill as a warrior was second-to-none, but that alone wasn’t an adequate explanation. Talent can’t fend off a class-A Werewolf singlehandedly. The superhuman endurance that his body showed during the Trials was another enigma. It came out totally unscathed…it wasn’t normal. Something about Klinssman was very special; indeed, it transcended age, experience, his childhood trauma, education, skill…all attempts to understand it constructed an intricate labyrinth in Kang Min-hyuk’s mind.
Both boys were considered geniuses. The term wasn’t a sufficient description for either. Kang Min-hyuk knew the word itself was a way to minimize the gifted individual’s true nature into an understandable box. Klinssman was young when his family was assassinated. It wasn’t revenge alone that motivated him, though revenge couldn’t drive somebody to unpick the fabric of reality to create a doorway between dimensions. A small, frightened child born from working-class parents concocted a plan that would shatter the laws of physics.
A further question: why were Klinssman and Kang Min-hyuk both safe in the Tower? Because his rewards had crossed over to reality, he was convinced that his spirit was present at the Tower of Trials. It was a realm that brought archmages to their knees in unbearable pain. However, his mind only began to feel pain two days later, and Klinssman’s body was completely fine. It was a mystery. Information held on tight to other questions, causing them to expand infinitely, and the Tower of Trials remained a mystery. The only answers he could find were further questions, leading him further and further from the truth like a drunken guide.
He stretched his arms high and wide, letting out a yawn as he put down his pen. The more he thought about it, the more tangled his thoughts became. If he wanted to assimilate Klinssman’s skills into his version of reality, he had to draw some conclusions. Was it this way or that way? The results of his and Klinssman’s experiences were far from normal.
To prepare for unforeseeable crises, Kang Min-hyuk felt the need to unveil the truth.
“Am I picking the lock of Pandora’s Box?”
Many evils lay crouched within it, waiting to be set free: death and sickness, jealousy and hatred. Pandora didn’t know that until she opened the box, and once the truth was seen, it could never be undone…still, curiosity raged within Kang Min-hyuk, and horror was a small price to pay for truth.
He closed the book. Reflection was finished. It was time to forget about Klinssman for a while and focus on reality.
“There’s a lot to do in the future…and a lot to do before we get there.”
It was time to harvest the fruits of the trial.
* * *
Kang Min-hyuk installed six additional mana stones in the magic circle drawn on his domestic training space floor. There were twelve in total. That amount of power would exert a force equal to the maximum output level of five. ‘Mana Room Level Five’ was an unknown realm. Although he succeeded in step three through drastic measures, he had not dared to attempt step five so far.
The level of power was different in the fifth stage. If the magic circle is operated with six mana stones until stage 4, the mana room at stage 5 raises the energy limit to twelve stones. Even in Klinssman’s world, it was a stage that you would not succeed in unless you could become an archmage.
His ordeal in the Tower gave Kang Min-hyuk conviction that he could withstand the intensity. It couldn’t be much worse than what he underwent there, could it? Kang Min-hyuk immediately operated the magic circle.
Hwaak.
Mana spread out like luminous tentacles. Simultaneously, tremendous mana pressure squeezed Kang Min-hyuk’s lungs like a cool fist, blocking the flow of his breath.
Before the Trials, he wouldn’t have endured the circle for more than a few minutes…but he was different now. He accepted the discomfort, brought rhythm back to his breath, and entered a state of serenity.
“Wolha Simbeop.”
He integrated the new hearing method. Using what he had surmised from the flow of mana seen in the Tower, he lured the ‘full’ mana into the circle. It swept in like a tsunami. The amount of raw energy was incomparable to what he’d experienced from the Guardian Gate’s deep method before. Even in the face of such enormous abundance, Min-hyuk did not show signs of confusion.
His mind split, like two trees spawning from the same seed. One guided the path of mana, and the other alleviated the shock caused by mana. His breath moved through him, consistently stable. The effect of the Bony was outstanding. One mind would not have been able to handle the mana received by the Moon Hae-beop, but it wasn’t difficult when it was distributed between two minds. Mana was absorbed quickly, and the circle shook. The circle’s shell peeled away like an insect shedding strange skin, and the source of luminous blue mana was revealed.
A similar phenomenon had occurred when Kang Min-hyuk first used the sim method; it was a reconstruction of circles. The mana absorbed by the moonlight method strengthened the circle and acted as a catalyst for a new circle, which grew stronger and stronger. Min-hyuk felt his consciousness expand like a balloon gathering air, to a level beyond human ability. He maintained his composure throughout. The hypothesis that strengthening mental power would benefit himself and Klinssman was being exercised in Kang Min-hyuk’s body.
Ku gu gu gu gu.
Kang Min-hyuk’s body began to accept mana comfortably. Then, Kang Min-hyuk, wanting to utilize all that he’d learned, separated the fire attribute mana from among the elements and formed a new circle around that circle.
“Fire attribute circle.”
It was the trick that Elisha had taught him – he was eager to try it right away. The formation was not difficult.
A separate circle was traced thinly around his heart, thinly and thinly, orbiting independently of the three rings imprinted there already. A lot of changes had occurred inside. Unlike the beginning, the circle was harder and received much mana, and other fire circles were present. Creating a fire attribute circle is not as easy as you might think. However, Kang Min-hyuk was able to simultaneously guide mana and separate fire attributes with the split’s effect, and thanks to this, it was possible to form a fire circle without too much trouble. From then on, whenever he used fire magic, the mana accumulated in the fire element circle would naturally come out and add its power to the spell.
Time passed. Kang Min-hyuk was serene throughout the chaos of change that flooded through him. Was it because he spent a long time in the Tower of Trials? Kang Min-hyuk’s mana-filled space was not painful at all, which led him to a new level.
“Okay. I think I’m done here.”
As mana disintegrated around him, Kang Min-hyuk touched his heart.
“I’m a fourth circle wizard.”
There were four circles and one fire circle. Due to the fifth level of the mana room and the lower depths, Kang Min-hyuk entered a new level.
* * *
Kang Min-hyuk arrived at an empty classroom, seeking the head of Department Choi Byeong-ho. He immediately headed to the training ground inside the Academy.
It was one building dedicated to the experimentation of a Monster Wave. Students had to see how quickly they could deal with an influx of enemies. Monster waves were nothing special. When many monsters appear at the gate, the purpose of training is to eradicate them as quickly as possible with as little consequence—a different formula from Suseongjeon.
If Suseongjeon directly forms a line of defense in the city, this training is guaranteed to be safe in the first place. The student stood upon a high, iron fence, meaning that spells were cast from a guaranteed space of security. Open ground spread out below the fence, and monsters appeared through a passage at the end of the room. In this version of the training, the species and number of monsters could be pre-programmed.
Beep.
[D-Class Orcs]
[5]
Students weren’t supposed to set the waves for themselves, but Choi Byeong-ho’s esteem for Kang Min-hyuk meant that he held a symbolic master key to the entire department. He could train as he wished, and therefore could manipulate the settings to suit his needs.
[Input complete.]
A harsh, metallic voice was heard from the machine.
[I will summon 50 D-class Orcs.]
[For your safety, never go down under the iron fence.]
SWOOSH.
Tsutsutsutsutsu.
The steel door opened. An orc emerged from the darkness; behind it rushed the rest in fierce momentum. They all rushed toward Kang Min-hyuk, but there was nothing they could do because of the high iron fence.
Kang Min-hyuk had a question:
Double casting existed even in the reinforced civilization. It’s not using the memory of mana; it’s a way to use the brain to prepare two magics simultaneously. What if his brain, with improved mental power, could prepare two magics at the same time and use them in separate consciousness? He couldn’t be sure it would work. There was really only one way to find out…
Hwaak.
Mana spread. The split occurred, and both minds were activated simultaneously.
On the left: “Fire wave!”
The right? “Fire blast!”
He changed the system of mana, and he didn’t stop there. As each brain performed one spell, one additional command was given.
‘The left: “Shock wave double-cast!’
‘The right: “Windfist by double-cast!”
He deliberately used different properties of magic to make the system more complex.
As he looked down at the Orcs trying to climb the iron fence, Kang Min-hyuk’s magic peaked.
“Fire Wave.”
“Fire burst.”
“Shock Wave.”
“Wand Fist.”
Bbbbrrrrrrr
Kcrkcrkcrkcrackle!
Magic burst forth simultaneously and repeatedly. As it swept away 50 orcs in one fell swoop, Kang Min-hyuk’s expression was stained with surprise.
“…Whoah…it actually worked.”
How would he label his discovery? If two spells are double casting, then the name for this would be Quad Casting. Four spells at once!
In magical civilization, there were several ways to manifest magic simultaneously, from auto casting that utilizes mana’s memory to multi-casting using engraved seals. However, the fundamentals of the quad casting that Kang Min-hyuk used were different. Even in the magical civilization, quad casting was an unprecedented and unheard-of state.
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