Immediately after resolving to learn magic, I sat down on a small pile of rocks.
*Thump-*
As I waited for the lesson, a little nervous, Iris brought a thin, large stone tablet from somewhere.
The surface was so smooth, it looked like it had been cut with a water jet.
There was no way something like that could be lying around in a messy place like this, so it was probably made by Iris.
I didn't know how she made something like that with those thin, slender arms, but I figured it was magic and moved on.
The more I thought about it, the more respect I felt for my teacher.
Of course, it wasn't fear.
"Oh? Mr. Hyunwoo, you didn't do your homework?"
"T-that's… I'm sorry…"
"Mr. Hyunwoo, aren't you curious about the power of high-pressure water jets?"
…Maybe.
"Then, Mr. Hyunwoo? Let's start the lesson now."
"I'm always ready."
"Hehe, you're full of confidence. I like that."
The lesson began with Iris's refreshing smile.
Although it was accompanied by the patheticness of using my phone's flashlight as indirect lighting because it was too dark, I had no doubt that it would be the happiest lesson of my 21 years of life.
"First, I'll explain the basics. You said you know that what's in the atmosphere is called mana, and what's refined inside a living being is called magical power, right?"
"Yes."
Even if knowledge about magic was precious, this level of knowledge was so basic that you could find it on the internet.
"Do you also know that knights and mages are divided according to how they use magical power?"
"I'm not interested in knights…"
As befitting a fantasy world, there seemed to be a job called knight.
Of course, they exist on Earth too.
In most European countries, the term "knight" was a little more famous than "hunter."
"That's possible. To put it simply, the difference is that knights gather magical power in the lower abdomen, while mages gather it around the heart. Knights call the place where they gather magical power a 'Lesser Core,' and we call it a 'Heart'."
Gathering magical power in one place in the body was the same, but the crucial difference between knights and mages was the method of operation.
"Knights who have gained enlightenment through training can release the magical power accumulated in their Lesser Core to the outside, and that's Aura. Aura is divided into various forms depending on the weapon. Swords are called 'Sword Aura,' spears are called 'Spear Aura,' and so on. They are all powerful and sharp uses of magical power, but they are only taking out magical power in its raw form. We mages are different."
After finishing her explanation, green heat haze rose above Iris's palm, and a beautiful rose was created.
It wasn't difficult to realize that it was magical power.
The magical power became a rose, then a bird, then a jewel.
"The use of magical power by mages is free. Much more so than knights. There is no end to its diversity. However."
Iris began to write something on the stone tablet.
Of course, there was no chalk here.
*Scratch, scratch-*
She was writing with magical power that bloomed at the tip of her finger. No, she was carving into the stone tablet.
"…"
That's what she's like while suppressing her magical power?
"Mr. Hyunwoo? Do you know what I wrote?"
A collection of countless formulas and shapes inside a neat circle. With my knowledge, I had no idea what it meant.
However, it was a shape that anyone who lived in modern times and had even a little exposure to the internet couldn't help but know.
"It's a magic circle."
"That's right. To be exact, it's the magic circle for Fireball, a fire-based throwing magic belonging to the elemental school."
Iris said with a smile.
"Magic creates phenomena that wouldn't normally occur through magical power and magic circles. Knights increase the cutting power of their swords to the extreme with magical power, but mages can summon huge storms through magical power. There's no need to rank who's greater. The directions that knights and mages seek are different."
Of course, knights who have reached their limits can also cause impossible phenomena. They can create swords without mass to kill their enemies.
Nevertheless, mages are different from knights.
"One of the prerequisites for using basic magic like Fireball is to create a Mana Circle, which is the alpha and omega of mages. A mage without a circle is just a scholar, not a mage."
Both the scholarly approach to magic and the training to create a Mana Circle are equally important.
However, no matter how good you are at studying, you can't become a mage if you can't create a Mana Circle.
"Mr. Hyunwoo, can you show me your wrist for a moment?"
"Yes?"
"Excuse me."
Iris's slender fingers wrapped around my wrist.
I've definitely touched her chest and held her hand before, but why does my face turn red and my heart beat fast every time our skin touches?
"Now, can you close your eyes and concentrate?"
I didn't know what to concentrate on, but I closed my eyes for now.
The already dark vision became pitch black.
When my vision was blocked and I couldn't hear any sound, my sense of touch became clearer.
The touch of Iris's hand and fingers holding my wrist, and the rough beating of my heart because of it.
"Read, understand, and memorize. The framework of learning. Magic is the same. Read, understand, and accept the mana. Now, focus on your wrist."
Along with her gentle voice, I tried to increase my focus on my wrist.
Something began to be felt in that place where only the temperature of me and her was felt.
It's cool. It's like putting your hand in a cold river in the middle of summer.
"Can you feel it?"
"…Yes."
"Then imagine the river flowing now. Warm weather, warm sunlight, chirping birds, a trickling river."
Whether Iris got up from her seat, even my arm went up over my head, and naturally, the energy felt in my wrist began to go down towards my shoulder.
At first, only my wrist was cool, but now my whole arm was cool.
And even my collarbone and chest.
In the end, even my fiercely throbbing heart became cold. It was such a strange feeling that I wondered if I was alive.
"How is it?"
"Um… I don't know much other than the fact that the area around my heart has cooled down."
I was surprised by the unfamiliar sensation for a moment, but the sensation gradually shifted from cold to cool and pleasant.
Now I felt that the shared air, which I felt was slightly chilly, was just right.
It was an ironic phenomenon. My body was clearly cooling down as a whole, but I felt warm.
"What Mr. Hyunwoo is feeling now is mana. It's just that it feels unfamiliar because it hasn't gone through the self-assimilation process yet."
"This is mana…?"
No wonder I felt strangely energetic.
"As expected, Mr. Hyunwoo has talent. Even if I had directly injected mana, it wouldn't have been easy to feel mana at once."
"Oh…"
When Iris took her hand away, the mana didn't move as easily as before. But there was definitely a remnant of mana left in my body.
Especially around the heart, I could feel it gathering more and more.
"Can you close your eyes and concentrate again?"
When I closed my eyes again, a deep darkness came to me.
And even the magical power that brought freshness and vitality to my whole body.
I had only closed and opened my eyes for a moment, but I felt like a completely different person than I was five minutes ago.
Not quite omnipotence, but this was definitely a power that was making me a completely different person than I had been so far.
"Do you feel where the mana I injected is now?"
"…My heart."
"Mr. Hyunwoo, I told you earlier, right? The mana in Mr. Hyunwoo's body hasn't gone through the self-assimilation process yet."
"Yes."
"As I explained earlier, mages go through a self-assimilation process of accepting mana from nature and making it their own. The more mana there is, the more effort it takes to self-assimilate, but if it's about the amount that's in Mr. Hyunwoo's body now, it's not that hard. So focus."
With the sensation that the mana swirling around the heart is gradually melting into a part of your body.
Think of it as flowing through your body from the beginning, like blood flowing through your blood vessels.
Don't push it away because it's unfamiliar, be friendly with it.
Mana is a mage's companion.
Kang Hyunwoo observed his body with terrifying concentration before even hearing all of Iris's explanation.
A clear blue heat haze began to rise in this place where the flashlight of his cell phone was the only light.
Kang Hyunwoo was undergoing the self-assimilation process in which mana turned into his own magical power.
Iris was shocked by the sight. Although she didn't show it, it was truly unbelievable that he had felt the mana at once and guided it to his heart.
Moreover, he was now undergoing the self-assimilation process.
It was a task that would have taken an ordinary mage at least several years.
Even she, who was praised as a genius, had taken two months to enter the world of magic.
'What is Mr. Hyunwoo…'
She had intended to only do theory lessons today. She had injected mana because she wanted him to become as familiar with mana as possible, and she was planning to do it regularly every day.
A little later, when Kang Hyunwoo opened his eyes, Iris was sure.
"…Congratulations, Mr. Hyunwoo."
That 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 project!]
[☆Achieved 1-Circle Mage☆]
[Please check the rewards prepared in the mailbox as a dating incentive]