"To put it simply, your Mystic Eye works in a way that's pretty close to my interpretation."
Valerie began her explanation.
"But it's operating on a higher level than that. Your Mystic Eye doesn't read multiple things at once. Like all Mystic Eyes, it focuses on reading only one thing."
Mystic Eyes were a dangerous power.
From the beginning, it was a force shrouded in supernatural mystery, something no academic discipline could fully explain.
It placed an immense burden on the brain and optic nerves, and if control was lost, the user could spiral into madness — or even death.
That's why those born with Mystic Eyes could only perceive one type of thing.
Well, perhaps there had been people capable of seeing multiple things with their Mystic Eyes.
But if so, they'd all died without exception — leaving no examples behind.
"Your eyes read everything that's happening right in front of you."
Valerie had already finished sorting through her thoughts, so she explained calmly and step by step.
Lee Chul's Mystic Eyes didn't see energy.
They didn't reveal hidden things, nor did they selectively read what the user wanted to find.
Those were merely fragments of the power his Mystic Eyes possessed.
Lee Chul's Mystic Eyes read the present.
Objects in front of him, living creatures, supernatural forces like mana or inner energy —
He could perceive the "present state" of all those countless factors.
It wasn't a Mystic Eye of the Past, nor was it one of Foresight.
If anything, it was an eye that read phenomena as they existed — perhaps it could be called a "Present Eye."
"Wow, worst naming sense ever!"
Lee Chul shouted as he barely managed to dodge a fireball.
Valerie frowned sharply.
"You've got time to run your mouth? Okay, here comes another! Let's go! Let's gooo~!"
"...!"
Valerie effortlessly conjured another fireball and continued speaking.
"By analyzing the current situation, you can make reasonable predictions about the future. Likewise, you can infer things about the past."
That was why Lee Chul's Mystic Eyes could predict a creature's movements, at least partially — and why he could deduce past events.
"There's a good term for this... What was it again... That thing..."
BOOOOOM!
Amid the thunderous explosion, Valerie blinked and finally said the word.
"Right. Causality."
Reading causality — that was the most fitting way to describe it.
"Ultimately, you're still only perceiving one thing — but because it's so advanced, it's going to be incredibly taxing on you. You'll need to develop your skills quickly. Your eyes are far too alien... too dangerous. If you don't adapt fast enough, no matter how much you improve your control, you might get swallowed by your Mystic Eyes in an instant."
And then, the next moment — Valerie flashed a playful grin on her beautiful face.
"So just to be clear — this isn't because I have anything against you, and I'm not using you for some experiment. I'm doing this entirely for your sake. So! Here comes another one!"
With that, yet another orb of magic formed — now there were three hovering in the training field.
"Gahhh!"
I gritted my teeth against the searing heat washing over me.
***
Valerie's Mystic Eye training continued all the way into the afternoon.
The moment it ended, I collapsed to the ground, my head drooping limply.
"Hehe, look how pitch black you are."
The smell of burnt hair and scorched fabric filled the air.
Covered in soot, I glared up at Valerie.
"Pfft! Did you go mining or something? I can only see your eyes and teeth!"
"..."
In the end, this happened because I failed to dodge.
The moment there were three fireballs —
I managed to evade for a short while, but I quickly hit my limit, and one of the fireballs struck me dead on.
Thankfully, Valerie canceled the spell at the last second, and I barely managed to activate an Aura skill in time to avoid a critical hit — but my clothes weren't so lucky.
"Aww, come on, open those pretty eyes of yours. It was really hard figuring all that out, you know?"
"...Well, thank you for that, at least."
I brushed the soot off my face.
Just then, Valerie crouched down in front of me, meeting my gaze.
"But there's still something I haven't figured out."
"What is it?"
"The fact that you awakened your Mystic Eyes through that ritual of the Sungmu family. Was it because it wasn't a conventional Mystic Eye that it manifested so late? Or were you just an exception?"
"..."
I couldn't really answer.
Truthfully, while researchers had uncovered the method behind the Trial's design, its underlying principle remained unknown.
No one fully understood the process by which latent abilities were awakened in the bloodline — nor why every member of the Sungmu family was born with supernatural powers.
The best anyone could do was speculate — that some form of ancient sorcery or forbidden art was involved.
"Well, either way, I don't think that's something I can figure out. Sorry. ...Though I might be able to find out if I ran a precision scan or cracked you open."
Valerie mumbled the last part under her breath, barely loud enough to hear.
It was such a terrifying statement that I wondered if I'd misheard.
I instinctively took a step away from Valeri.
"...No, it's fine. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually."
"Well, whatever. All that's left is training now. But first — we need to give it a name. I told you I don't like the current one... Something based on analysis sounds okay since it's about observing phenomena... Ugh, but these eyes are so complicated that coming up with a good name is hard. Causality Eye? Nah, too plain. And you're right — your suggestions really are terrible."
"I don't need a name. There's no point in giving it one anyway."
Seriously, what's the point of slapping some cringey name on it?
Sure, aura techniques or martial arts secret skills often get names to help with visualization.
But this wasn't that kind of power.
It wasn't the type of ability that needed to be visualized or chanted to activate.
"What?! It's a powerful Mystic Eye — of course it needs a cool name! Since it reads causality, how about 'God Eye'? Or maybe 'Solomon's Eye'? Or, since we're in the East, something dramatic like 'Demon Emperor's True Eye'... or 'Yama's Eye'?"
"..."
As I suspected, Valeri's naming sense was absolutely tragic.
"Let me say this again — what's the point of naming it?"
"Why not?! Wouldn't it be awesome if, every time you activate it, you say something like 'These eyes see through the darkness...' and then shout 'Yama's Eye!' as you open them dramatically? Come on, that's peak coolness!"
"...Darkness? Where did that come from... And I never agreed to call it Yama's Eye."
At this point, I was too tired to even argue.
Frankly, I'd never understood those guys who yelled out their technique names mid-fight.
In fact, even at Sungmu Academy, people who did that were treated like third-rate fighters.
I mean, what's more impractical in a real fight than shouting 'Sword Technique Number Whatever!' in the middle of battle?
If anything, with the Mystic Eye, hiding it was an advantage. Why would I go around announcing it?
"Valeri... you're messing with me, aren't you? Be honest."
"I'm not! No, but really — wouldn't that be so cool?"
"Didn't you tell me to get rid of pointless habits before we started training?"
"Well... yeah, I did say that..."
"Then go rename your own eyes, Valeri. I'm not doing it."
I brushed the dust off myself and stood up.
My clothes were so burnt that they crumbled to pieces with every pat.
...Looks like I'd need to go buy some spare clothes.
"I'm gonna wash up first. And you said you're not helping with training this afternoon because you've got analysis work to do, right?"
"...Ugh, but it's such a shame. Really won't reconsider?"
"Not a chance."
I appreciated the training help — but "Yama's Eye"? Absolutely not.
Valeri pouted, twisting her long hair around her finger.
'Still... it would be nice to have a cool-sounding name for my paper.'
Wait — come to think of it, couldn't I just make one up myself?
It's not like this kid's going to step into the academic world anytime soon.
Besides, if she hadn't helped me, I wouldn't even know the nature of my Mystic Eye.
Right? Normally, it's the discoverer who gets the naming rights.
'Demon Emperor's True Eye... Yama's Eye... hmm, maybe Demon King's Eye? Or go full French style?'
And so, unbeknownst to Lee Cheol, Valeri's secret naming experiment continued in the background.
***
Mystic Eye adaptation training began at the crack of dawn — right after breakfast.
Breaks were given just before I ran out of mana, but they weren't really "breaks" — they were just for recovering enough mana to continue.
"Hey! I know you're good at moving your body, but rely on your eyes more! You dodged that last one with your reflexes, not the Mystic Eye!"
Valeri shouted as she launched six different types of magic at me at once.
At first, I couldn't even dodge three fireballs.
But now, I could avoid a decent variety of magic attacks.
"Damn it..."
I gritted my teeth and kicked off the ground.
This was no longer a level where I could just "use the Mystic Eye well" and dodge everything.
Among the spells flying toward me were fireballs that suddenly exploded, poisonous smoke, lightning strikes, and freezing magic.
Each had its own unique properties — some would vanish without warning or change shape mid-flight.
I had to predict all of those changes using the Mystic Eye and react accordingly.
'This is the first time I've trained solely for the Mystic Eye.'
Even at Cheonwisan, I'd trained my sixth sense along with the Mystic Eye, but never focused this exclusively on it.
Up until now, my Mystic Eye training had mostly been about searching for things or discerning specific details.
Prediction, analysis, selection, and focus.
By using every aspect of what my Mystic Eye could do, I was growing at a rapid pace.
As I dodged another fireball—
Beep-beep-beep—
Suddenly, an alarm went off from somewhere.
"Hmm, looks like we're done. What a shame."
Fwoosh! Pop!
With a casual flick of her water staff through the air, all the magic around us burst and vanished like popped balloons.
"Huff, huff..."
I wiped away the sweat pouring down my face like rain.
"It's already two o'clock? Ugh, I'm exhausted."
Valerie stuck the tip of her water staff in her mouth like a toothpick and stretched her arms out with a groan.
Training my Mystic Eye with Valerie didn't last all day — it usually ran from after breakfast until about 2 p.m.
"Heading straight to translation work now?"
"Yeah, I have to. The magic contract's bound to it, so even if I wanted to slack off, I couldn't. Not that I mind — it's pretty fun."
Valerie let out a quiet chuckle.
I trained like a madman, only stopping for the bare minimum of rest — but the same went for Valerie.
Not only did she help with my training and do translation work, but she also kept up with her own personal research without missing a beat.
"You going right back to training?"
"I will once my mana recovers a bit."
"Hmm. The training we do together is brutal enough. You should really take a break."
"You don't take breaks either, Valerie."
"...Fair point."
My Mystic Eye had grown tremendously — but that was only the Mystic Eye. I couldn't afford to neglect any of my other training.
"If it were anyone else, I'd probably tell them to take breaks even if I had to force them... but you? I guess you'll be fine."
Valerie added thoughtfully.
"Your body's recovery ability really isn't normal. Are all the people from Sungmuiga like that?"
"We are generally pretty sturdy. But recovery ability... what do you mean exactly?"
Ever since I'd entered this workshop, I hadn't used any healing arts or recovery magic. Why was she suddenly bringing this up?
Seeing my puzzled expression, Valerie explained.
"You didn't notice? Not just your mana recovery — your Mystic Eye regeneration, your brain's recovery rate... it's weirdly fast. Almost unnaturally so."
I paused to think.
It was probably due to the Sungmuiga lineage — or the effects of the Jahaseokcheong technique — but now that she mentioned it, even factoring those in, my recovery speed was unusually fast.
"You're one to talk, Valerie. You should take it easy too."
"I'm being careful in my own way."
"It's been a while already. Is the translation proving difficult?"
At my question, Valerie furrowed her brows.
"There isn't a single problem in this world that's difficult for me."
"...Right."
Where on earth did this endless self-confidence of hers come from?
Sometimes, I seriously thought it would be nice if she and my aunt — who tended to spiral into self-loathing because of her past trauma — could mix their personalities about fifty-fifty.
...No, wait. If that happened, wouldn't their eccentricities double too?
A terrifying thought.
Thinking something like that would probably jinx me.
"Hm? What's with that look on your face?"
"It's nothing."
"You really do make that expression from time to time, you know."
Valerie snorted lightly and crossed her arms.
"Anyway, we're almost there. Just wait a little longer. All that's left is the final calculations. Once I'm done with that, I just have to double-check if the translation's correct, and that's it. Worst case... three days."
With a faint smile, Valerie left the training hall.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]