Episode 60: Reward Beyond Dimensions (2)
Although the magical civilization boasted a 2000+ year history, casting remained an important field that was too vast for any wizard to master in a lifetime. For a wizard to increase their power, the quality of magic is important, but the speed of casting and quantity of magic that can be used at once is a defining point that cannot be emphasized enough. Many techniques have been developed to sustain these efforts. During the birth of magical correlations, superlative magic, and so on, the magical civilization’s wizards came to a firm conclusion.
“The human brain’s capacity for casting is limited to two spells at once. There is a legend that a character – an eighth circle archmage – in the past performed Triple Casting, but it cannot be seen as a human possibility. In reality, double casting is the limit for humans.”
The upper limit had been set. Still, people didn’t give up. If it was impossible with the human brain, you could target other areas to connect to it. Thus, two more casting methods were devised. Auto-casting was the first. In the reinforced civilization, it was a method that utilized mana’s memory – ‘double-casting.’ Due to this, the magical civilization succeeded in popularizing double casting. Even in the early days, magical civilization also had tighter limitations, but the development of auto-casting broke such barriers.
The second method was the multi-casting. Multi-casting was the key. It is the use of multiple magic and is also called engraving magic. As the magic circle’s technology developed, the wizards figured out how to ‘imprint’ the human body’s magic circle. If mana is injected into the magic circle according to the situation’s needs, the magic circle takes over the complex system, and the magic is revealed. Because of this, wizards can use a method called ‘multi-casting’ that uses double casting and engraving magic at the same time, but this method is not without risk.
Multi-casting requires an imprint of the human body. To exert its power, you have to endure the ‘mental shock’ that occurs as the engraved magic is revealed. Originally, the magic circle is not a technique that can be used on the human body. Since it was applied in transformation, ordinary wizards couldn’t withstand the impact of engraved magic. Therefore, conditions were attached. Only fifth circle wizards or higher should use engraved magic. Only at that level could the mental shock be endured. When such conditions arose, the amount of engraved magic that a wizard could handle would become a measure of the magician’s mental power.
Avid, president of the Royal Academy of Magic, had the experience of activating four engraved magic properties simultaneously as the double casting of his seventh circle magic. Usually, one engraved spell is luck, two would amount to genius, and those capable of producing three are called monsters…it could be said that Avid’s mental power has exceeded humanity’s restraints.
Quad casting was a rare stage even in magical civilization. There was certainly no case of quad-casting with pure brainpower; it always required a shortcut like engraving. Thus, there was no word for quad casting in magical civilization.
If a fifth+ circle wizard used double casting and two imprints, it was considered quad casting, but the magical civilization’s people refused to admit that. The reason was clear. Engraving magic was single use. It was imprinted onto the body semi-permanently, but a cool-down period is required once the magic is used. Since engraving was also a burden to the human body, many could not be withstood by the body. For that reason, the term quad casting was not allowed.
All of the magical civilization yearned to develop a technique whose power sparkled so much that it could rightfully bear the name of quad casting.
“If I could engrave, as well…”
That would alter everything. Reinforced warriors were strong in close combat. However, when dealing with many enemies, Kang Min-hyuk could exert a one-man army’s ability. His heart trembled in anticipation; Kang Min-hyuk steadied his breath to ease his excitement. It was not yet time to rejoice.
It’s great to get a quad cast, but it was important to keep in mind that he was a fourth Circle Mage.
“I’ll test my skills first. With fourth circle magic and quad casting, I can see how much firepower I can produce.”
The monster wave was the ideal training ground.
* * *
Arriving at the training ground, Kang Min-hyuk immediately activated the secret mode. Wizards rarely wanted the extent of their powers to be revealed, and for that reason, an incognito mode was born. When training in incognito mode, the keys used weren’t saved, and the video from the training field was immediately deleted. Instead, there was a prerequisite that you alone would take responsibility for any accidents that occur. The monsters would never scale the iron fence, but there was a need for consent just in case.
Beep.
[C-Class Orc Warrior]
[100]
Min-hyuk entered the settings.
An error message appeared:
[You cannot summon a three-digit monster in Secret Mode.]
It was an essential safety requirement. Instead of being guaranteed a secret, students were prevented from summoning monsters that couldn’t be handled by their age-range. The number of monsters that can be summoned for each grade is fixed, and that degree can never exceed the iron fence.
[C-Class Orc Warrior]
[90]
The system accepted Kang Min-hyuk’s request.
[I will summon 90 Class C Orc Warriors.]
[For your safety, never go down from the iron fence.]
Pushwook.
Tsutsutsutsutsu.
The steel door opened, then, familiar orcs appeared.
The orcs were fierce. Looking at them, Kang Min-hyuk entered the casting of the most powerful magic he could muster. His brain was divided.
“Flame magic on the left.”
“On the right: wind magic to enhance the effect of the flame.”
His casting speed was fast. His head was tight, and he quickly completed a complex magical system. His improved brainpower was definitely causally linked to the casting speed.
Hwaak.
Mana rose in blue plumes. When their shape changed, Kang Min-hyuk used magic.
“Inferno.”
“Inferno.”
Rrrrumble.
He began with the flame magic. Flames were thrown towards the Orc warriors in a straight line and were sprayed like a flame thrower. When the intense heat slammed into the Orc warriors, the wind magic was also unleashed. A fierce wind raged around Kang Min-hyuk.
“Wind Tornado.”
“Wind Tornado.”
SWOOSH!
Hwareuk, Hwarryulreuk.
He felt like his mana was slipping away. When the wind swept into the field of flames, it turned into a ‘firestorm,’ and the C-class Orc warriors were helpless. They somehow ran into the iron thirsty to attack Kang Min-hyuk, but the fence was made of special minerals and did not collapse. There is no choice but to be unilateral. Numerous orcs fell.
Pick-pick!
From their burnt skin, a bitter smoke rose. It had only been a few minutes. After using the four spells, more than half of the Orc warriors died.
“…Is this the true power of magic?”
The process could be said to be Kang Min-hyuk’s specialty. He used the highest level of four magic. The magic power increased by strengthening the circle, and when using the fire magic, the fire circle added extra power. He worked within the fourth circle, but his magic was beyond the power of the fifth.
According to the normal strategy, the firepower required to defeat class-C Orc warriors was four circles. However, in a limited space, firepower beyond that was poured out, and there was no way for Orc warriors to withstand it.
“Rune Flare.”
“Rune flare.”
Another 4th Circle magic was used in succession to finish off the remaining Orc Warriors. It happened so quickly that Min-hyuk impressed himself, but in an instant, he ran out of breath when he had used more than two-thirds of his mana.
“Hoowook, hoowook.”
An ordinary fourth circle wizard would already feel dizzy and fall. However, even though Kang Min-hyuk used that much magic, his mana did not expire. This was another feature specific to Kang Min-hyuk. He accumulated a considerable amount of mana compared to wizards of the same level through his mana room training and circle enhancement. Thanks to this, he could use magic more times than others, even without mana fairy tales.
‘If I combine mana fairy tales with the mana I currently have, I could use magic about 20 times in one battle.”
It was great, but he wasn’t satisfied. If he used four spells simultaneously, his mana would end when he used five.’
Five was an unpleasant number in a long-term battle. Mana recovery was not so fast, and using mana to its limit can be dangerous. If the bottom of mana is exposed, it can cause temporary exhaustion.
Quad casting could emit strong firepower, but its persistence was low. That was a problem to be solved in the future. What was certain was that Kang Min-hyuk had incomparably strong firepower that couldn’t be matched in the fortified civilization. Then, he became greedy.
“Wouldn’t it be possible to deal with Class A monsters with this level of firepower?”
Kang Min-hyuk’s eyes changed at the prospect.
* * *
The ability to take on class A monsters defined the difference between an auxiliary wizard and a valuable one. It’s not confirmed, but the sorcerer says that it takes six circles of magic to gain the potential to battle class-A enemies effectively. Kang Min-hyuk remembered something he had learned in class:
“If you see that C-class monsters have circle four magic and B-class monsters have circle five magic, I am sure that the value of a wizard will be re-established when they reach the level of the sixth circle.”
It seemed a good argument. Kang Min-hyuk agreed, and that’s why he became greedy.
“My magic has more power than five circles. It may not be as powerful as the sixth, but it already has a firepower level that cannot be compared with others. Wouldn’t this be enough to take on A-class monsters?”
It was only a hypothesis. He needed to check. At least on the iron fence, where safety was guaranteed, the risk was not high even if such an experiment was conducted.
First, he needed to rest.
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