Right after deciding to learn magic, I sat down on a small pile of rocks.
Thump—
While I was waiting for the lesson to start, feeling a little nervous, Iris brought over a large, thin stone slab from somewhere.
Its surface was so polished and smooth that anyone seeing it would think it had been cut with a water jet.
Something like that wouldn't just be lying around in a chaotic place like this, so it was probably 'Made by Iris.'
I had no idea how she made something like that with those thin, slender arms, but I just figured it was the power of magic and moved on.
The more I thought about it, the more my respect for my teacher seemed to grow.
Of course, it wasn't fear.
-Oh? Hyun-woo, you didn't do your homework?
-W-well... I'm sorr—
-Hyun-woo, aren't you curious what happens when water is sprayed at high pressure?
...Probably.
"Well then, Hyun-woo? Let's begin the lesson."
"I'm always ready."
"Hehe, you're full of confidence. I like to see that."
The lesson began with Iris's refreshing smile.
Although it was so dark we had to resort to the pathetic measure of using my phone's flashlight for indirect lighting, I had no doubt this would be the happiest lesson of my entire 21 years of life.
"First, let's go over the basics. You mentioned you already know that the energy in the atmosphere is called mana, and when it enters a living being and is refined, it's called magic power, correct?"
"Yes."
Even if knowledge about magic was rare, this was the absolute rock-bottom basics, the kind of stuff you could find on the internet.
"Then are you also aware that knights and mages are distinguished by how they utilize magic power?"
"I'm not really interested in knights, so..."
As expected of a fantasy world, it seemed there was a profession called 'knight.'
Of course, they exist on Earth too.
In most European countries, the term 'knight' was a bit more common than 'hunter.'
"That's understandable. To put it simply, the difference is that knights gather magic power in their danjeon [a core of energy below the navel], while mages gather it centered around their heart. We call the place where knights gather magic power the 'Core,' and we call ours the 'Heart.'"
Gathering magic power in one part of the body is the same for both, but the decisive difference between a knight and a mage is how they operate it.
"A knight who has achieved enlightenment through training can release the magic power accumulated in their Core to the outside—that's what we call aura. Aura takes on different forms depending on the weapon. For a sword, it's called 'sword aura,' for a spear, 'spear aura,' and so on. While these are all powerful and sharp applications of magic power, they are ultimately just using it in its raw form. We mages are different."
As she finished her explanation, a green haze shimmered above her palm, forming into a beautiful rose.
It wasn't hard to realize that it was made of magic power.
The magic power became a rose, then a bird, then a jewel.
"A mage's use of magic power is fluid. Much more so than a knight's. There's no end to its versatility. However."
Iris began to write something on the stone slab.
Of course, there was no chalk here.
Screee—
She was writing with the magic power shimmering at her fingertip. No, she was carving into the stone slab.
"..."
And that's with her magic power suppressed?
"Hyun-woo? Do you know what I've drawn?"
A collection of countless formulas and shapes within a perfect circle. With my knowledge, I had no idea what any of it meant.
But it was a form that anyone living in the modern era who had spent even a little time on the internet couldn't possibly fail to recognize.
"It's a magic circle."
"Correct. To be precise, it's the magic circle for Fireball, a projectile-type fire magic belonging to the elemental system."
Iris said with a smile.
"Magic uses magic power and magic circles to create phenomena that would otherwise be impossible. A knight uses magic power to enhance a sword's cutting ability to its absolute limit, but a mage can use it to summon a massive storm. There's no need to argue over which is superior. The paths that knights and mages pursue are simply different."
Of course, a knight who has reached the pinnacle of their art can also create impossible phenomena, like creating a massless sword to kill an enemy.
Even so, a mage is different from a knight.
"One of the prerequisites for using a basic spell like Fireball is creating a mana circle—the alpha and omega for a mage. A mage without a circle is nothing more than a scholar."
Both the academic approach to magic and the training to create a mana circle are so important that you can't say one is superior to the other.
However, no matter how well you study, you can't become a mage if you can't create a mana circle.
"Hyun-woo, could you show me your wrist for a moment?"
"Huh?"
"Excuse me."
Iris's slender fingers wrapped around my wrist.
I've definitely touched her chest and held her hand, so why does my face still flush and my heart pound every time our skin touches?
"Now, could you close your eyes and concentrate?"
I wasn't sure what I was supposed to concentrate on, but I closed my eyes anyway.
My already dim vision became pitch-black.
With my sight gone and no sounds to hear, my sense of touch grew sharper.
The feel of Iris's hand and fingers holding my wrist, and because of it, the wild thumping of my own heart.
"Read, understand, and memorize. That's the framework of learning. Magic is the same. You read, understand, and accept mana. Now, focus on your wrist."
Following her gentle voice, I focused my concentration on my wrist.
In that spot where I had only felt my warmth and hers, I began to feel something else.
It was cool. Like plunging my hand into a cold river on a summer day.
"Can you feel it?"
"...Yes."
"Then imagine a river flowing. A warm day, gentle sunlight, chirping birds, a babbling stream."
Iris must have stood up, because my arm was raised above my head along with hers, and the energy I felt in my wrist naturally began to flow down toward my shoulder.
At first, only my wrist felt cool, but now my entire arm was cool.
And then my collarbone and chest.
Finally, even my wildly beating heart grew cold. It was such a strange sensation that I started to wonder if I was even alive.
"How is it?"
"Hmm... Other than my heart area feeling cool, I'm not sure."
My surprise at the unfamiliar sensation was brief. The feeling began to shift from 'cold' to 'cool and pleasant.'
Now, the air in the cavern, which I'd felt was a bit chilly, felt just right.
It was an ironic phenomenon. My whole body had cooled down, yet I felt warmer.
"What you're feeling right now is mana. It just feels unfamiliar because it hasn't undergone self-assimilation yet."
"This is mana...?"
No wonder my body felt strangely full of vitality.
"I knew you had talent, Hyun-woo. Even with me directly infusing mana into you, it's not easy to feel it on the first try."
"Oh..."
When Iris let go of my hand, the mana didn't move as easily as before. But the remnants of it were definitely still inside my body.
I could feel it gradually gathering, especially around my heart.
"Could you close your eyes and concentrate again?"
Once again, I closed my eyes, and deep darkness found me.
And with it, the magic power that brought a refreshing vitality to my entire body.
I had only closed and opened my eyes for a moment, but I felt like a completely different person from who I was five minutes ago.
Maybe not a sense of omnipotence, but this was definitely a power that would make me a completely different person from who I'd been until now.
"Can you feel where the mana I infused into you is now?"
"...In my heart."
"Hyun-woo, I mentioned it earlier, didn't I? The mana in your body hasn't gone through the self-assimilation process yet."
"Yes."
"As I explained before, a mage takes in natural mana and makes it their own through a process of self-assimilation. The more mana there is, the more effort the process takes, but the amount currently in your body isn't enough to be too difficult. So, please concentrate."
Focus on the sensation of the mana swirling around your heart gradually melting into a part of your body.
Think of it as something that has been flowing in your body from the very beginning, like the blood in your veins.
Don't push it away because it feels unfamiliar; treat it as something friendly.
Mana is a mage's companion, after all.
Before Iris had even finished her explanation, Kang Hyun-woo was already observing the inside of his body with terrifying concentration.
In this place where the only light was a phone's flashlight, a clear blue haze began to rise.
Kang Hyun-woo was undergoing the process of self-assimilation, turning mana into his own magic power.
Iris was stunned at the sight. Although she didn't show it, to feel mana instantly and guide it to the heart was an absolutely absurd talent.
And now, he was even going through self-assimilation.
This series of steps was a process that would have taken an ordinary mage several years.
It was the initiation into magic that had taken even her, hailed as a genius, two months to complete.
'Just what in the world is Hyun-woo...?'
She had planned to end today's lesson with just theory. She had only infused him with mana because he needed to get as familiar with it as possible, and she had intended to do it periodically every day.
A moment later, when Kang Hyun-woo opened his eyes, Iris was certain.
"...Congratulations, Hyun-woo."
A new mage had been born.
Ting—
[Thank you for participating in the Dating Consulting Curriculum]
[Congratulations on achieving the initial goal of the 'Becoming an Attractive Person of the Opposite Sex!' Project]
[☆Achieved: 1st Circle Mage☆]
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