Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 977

Stepping into the bustling studio, Lenok found it filled with mages training their physical skills.

As Lenok approached the desk near the entrance, a receptionist greeted him with a friendly smile.

“Are you a new customer looking to register for classes?”

“I’m looking for someone.”

“I can only assist with class registrations. Currently, the physical training courses for mages are divided into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Would you like me to continue?”

“Just pass on a message. Claris Richelieu. I believe she’s in this studio right now.”

“I’m sorry, I cannot disclose information about other members. All morning and afternoon classes are fully booked, but there are two spots available for the Sunday and Monday late-night classes. Would that be acceptable?”

“……”

Despite the receptionist’s diligent responses, every answer seemed to lead back to membership registration.

Lenok, with a wry smile, placed his hand on the desk and said,

“I’ll take the Sunday late-night class.”

“Here is your training uniform. If you wait in the studio, you will have a consultation with Lancia-sensei, and she will guide you to the appropriate class.”

Instead of changing into the uniform the receptionist handed him, Lenok headed straight into the studio.

He wasn’t here for a physical training class, but to find Claris Richelieu.

‘Claris’s presence… it’s coming from inside the correction room.’

It seemed she was taking a class in the room at the back of the studio, where posture correction equipment was installed.

Having come this far, Lenok had no intention of causing a scene to call Claris out.

Lenok was also curious about how Lancia taught mages, so waiting a little while wouldn’t be a problem.

He sat on a chair placed along the studio wall and began to observe the mages training.

“If you rotate your shoulder like this…”

“No, that’s not it. Considering the flow of mana, you should narrow your arms-”

Students practiced the movements of physical techniques following the instructor’s actions, while others who had finished their classes were engrossed in personal training.

Some gathered in groups to review the movements they had learned and discuss the flow of mana.

The space was filled with an energy that felt foreign to Lenok, who remembered his time learning Pilates.

However, even as Lenok thought about observing the studio, he found himself recalling something else.

To be precise, what had happened at the Dark Archive he had visited just before coming to the studio.

“……”

The subspace archive of old-world sorcery, Nox Biblio. [Nox Biblio is a fictional archive that contains ancient magical texts.]

There, Lenok had borrowed advanced spells, including ‘Celestial Art: Miniature Garden,’ and confronted the lich, Naoyz Penn. [A lich is a powerful undead sorcerer.]

He hadn’t thought about it much when he had left the archive because he had immediately met Oliviera, but he still had lingering doubts about it.

Lenok’s gaze deepened as he recalled the events in the archive.

‘Even though we were in the same subspace, I couldn’t sense his presence. Either it was a clone from the start, or his main body’s power was greatly weakened.’

Lenok had realized the lich’s identity not because of his immense power or will, but because of his words and actions.

The pathetic skeleton he had encountered in the archive was quite different from the powerful necromancer he remembered.

There must be a reason why a transcendent who had successfully etched his existence into the third world looked so miserable.

Lenok suspected that the reason was related to the Dark Archive where Naoyz Penn resided.

‘Naoyz Penn said that the existence of the archive itself was his ‘price’… but perhaps it’s the other way around.’

If he wasn’t creating the archive to exist in the world, but still existing in this world to create the archive.

If that was the reason why he was holed up in the archive, translating grimoires even after succeeding in ascension.

Then, it must be because there was something he wanted to find by collecting and translating grimoires.

‘He knew that the grimoire of fate sealing was recorded in the future. He said it was something he couldn’t touch, but that also means…’

The fact that grimoires recorded in the future were flowing into Nox Biblio was something he intended.

Perhaps Naoyz Penn was waiting for books from a specific ‘time period’ to flow into the Dark Archive he had created.

If he was using mortals as librarians to organize and translate grimoires to achieve that goal-

“……”

The only thing he could be sure of was that the entire subspace ‘rose’ at the last moment when the archive disappeared.

Naoyz Penn had said that the Nox Biblio needed a lot of soul weight to exist in this world.

Then, wouldn’t the fact that the Dark Archive had risen, leaving Lenok behind, also be related to that?

The encounter with the necromancer had been extremely brief in terms of time.

While Lenok was lost in thought, pondering the lich’s appearance, which didn’t match his ominous reputation,

He heard mages talking next to him.

“That’s wrong. Mana doesn’t rotate just by extending your right arm.”

“Wouldn’t slightly bending the elbow be enough?”

“You can change the movement, but the mana flow itself gets fixed…”

The mages repeatedly extended their fists, shaking their heads in frustration.

One of the mages, who had been discussing a specific movement, made eye contact with Lenok.

The mage seemed startled for a moment, but then smiled and asked,

“You’ve been looking this way for a while now. Would you like to train with us, if you don’t mind?”

“…Are you talking to me?”

A clean-cut young man in a training uniform, sweating. He looked more like a scholar than a martial artist.

As Lenok stared at the man who had suddenly spoken to him, the man said,

“We thought it would be helpful if we had someone to guide our training.”

“……”

Lenok finally understood what the other person was saying and tilted his head.

As if guessing Lenok’s thoughts, the man said in a gentle voice,

“There are many mages in the studio, so the mana flow is quite rough, but there’s no reaction around you.”

“……”

“If I may be so bold, I’ve rarely seen such a well-ordered mana field. You must be a member of a distinguished mage organization.”

The man smiled, raised his arm, and rotated his shoulder.

“If you could guide our training, we’d be happy to share some useful tips when taking Lancia-nim’s class. What do you say?”

“An interesting offer.”

Since he had left his coat and staff behind, it wasn’t strange that they didn’t recognize Lenok.

However, he never expected that they wouldn’t just fail to recognize him, but would directly ask Lenok to help with their training.

Lenok chuckled and nodded.

“If you want to, go ahead. I don’t know if I’ll have anything to say.”

“Pierce, are you sure about this?”

A mage who seemed to be his colleague asked with a suspicious look, but the young man called Pierce didn’t care.

“Omer, trust me. Sometimes, when we can’t solve a problem on our own, we need a new perspective.”

“I’m not sure if it’s right to ask someone who hasn’t even taken the class for help…”

Omer said, but stepped back as if respecting Pierce’s opinion.

While other mages watched the two with interest, Pierce stepped in front of Lenok and raised his fist.

“You must know about the clash between Gyeonryoe and Chunbeon that shook Vulcan. I’ll skip the specific details.”

Whoosh!

The moment he lightly threw his fist, mana rotated along Pierce’s arm, drawing a circular magic circle.

Alternative incantation, completing magic by manipulating mana with body movements alone, without hand seals or spell chants. [Alternative incantation is a method of casting spells using physical movements instead of traditional methods.]

Pierce, who had skillfully completed the magic circle, put his hands together and said,

“To get to the point, we are researching the alternative incantation that Chunbeon used.”

“……”

“Chunbeon’s idea of replacing hand seals and spells with physical techniques was the most complete of all alternative incantations attempted so far. Moreover, the fact that Chunbeon used alternative incantation with the Blaber Magic Tower’s flame magic left room for imitation even for mages like us in the tower. But there’s a problem.”

“A problem?”

“The physical techniques needed for alternative incantation. To be precise, we can’t change the movements as we want.”

As Pierce said that, he slowly took a stance and began to move his body.

As he lowered his stance and turned his body, mana surged and glowed. It was being combined in real-time to complete a single spell.

Alternative incantation, completing magic by relying on a single physical technique without the preparation of hand seals and spells.

However, even as Pierce demonstrated the alternative incantation in front of Lenok, his expression was slightly stiff.

“At best, we can only use specific movements matched with specific mana flows like this. At this rate, its practicality is terribly low.”

“……”

“If we have to dance alone in front of an enemy to cast a single spell with alternative incantation, it would be impossible to use in battle, wouldn’t it?”

Pierce said, changing his stance with a thoughtful expression.

“The more we research alternative incantation, the more we can’t understand how Chunbeon was able to replace incantation with physical techniques alone while fighting Gyeonryoe. Was it possible because he was a genius beyond standards, or is there a secret we don’t know…”

Pierce said, turning to look at Lenok, but Lenok didn’t answer.

He just tilted his head with an expression as if he was pondering something.

Just as Pierce was about to bow with a wry smile at the seemingly lack of a solution,

Lenok said in a nonchalant voice,

“You’re mistaken about alternative incantation.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Replacing incantation doesn’t necessarily mean you have to use only physical techniques. What’s important is the act of artificially adjusting the flow of mana.”

“……”

“What you intend through physical techniques is the direction of the mana and will that first extends. From then on-”

The moment Lenok lightly slashed through the air, mana extended vertically along his fingers.

The mana that instantly flowed down Pierce’s shoulder bent low and rotated.

It drew a small magic circle in a circle on the spot.

Whoosh!

While Pierce was speechless, looking at the magic circle that had appeared in front of him, Lenok said casually,

“You adjust the flow by applying external mana and objects.”

“I, I see.”

Pierce, who understood Lenok’s words, widened his eyes.

“So, it wasn’t about completing alternative incantation using only physical techniques. If we have to consider and apply external mana sources as well…!!”

“Come to think of it, Chunbeon also had several strange heat sources all over his body when he fought Gyeonryoe.”

Other mages, including Omer, also muttered as if they had realized something.

“Was it not for the amplification of spells and mana replenishment, but a preparation for alternative incantation itself?”

“Certainly, the difficulty will be much higher than before. But it’s not impossible.”

“It’s about implementing the change in the nature of mana outside the body, not inside, and using it for incantation.”

As Lenok said that, he raised a cluster of pure white light in front of Pierce.

When two clusters of light, glowing in different colors, collided, they bounced off each other, repeatedly splitting and merging.

Crack, crack!

The vivid mana light pulsed fiercely in the air as if it were alive.

While other mages were speechless at the unrealistic mana manipulation, Lenok continued to explain.

“Amplification and repulsion. Resonance and overload. Diffusion and projection. Preparing the board according to various situations, and using physical techniques to replace incantation.”

“……”

“This is the essence of the act of replacing incantation.”

“That’s really amazing…”

As Lenok lightly shook his hand and withdrew his mana, Pierce, who had been staring blankly at Lenok, muttered.

“I’ve never seen anyone explain and break down another great mage’s incantation with such deep understanding. May I ask what your affiliation is…”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m sorry for the late introduction. I’m Pierce Drickman from the Matterhorn Magic Tower.”

When Lenok responded indifferently, Pierce hurriedly took out a business card from his pocket.

“If you ever visit our tower in the future, I would like to invite you as a magic consultant…”

“I’m Wibias from the Enolas Magic Tower. Please, visit our tower as well…!!”

“I’m Omer Ruart from Garbatia. I was deeply impressed by your insight-”

“I’m Kendrick from the Claire Research Institute!”

At the same time as Pierce took out his business card, other mages also began to introduce themselves.

They had also understood that Lenok’s explanation clearly resolved their doubts about alternative incantation and grasped its core.

Through the conversation, they had realized that he was a mage with a very high level of understanding of spells.

However, Lenok shook his head, looking at the mages who were eagerly handing him their business cards.

“I’m not interested. I don’t plan to stay here long, so I don’t want to hear any unnecessary offers.”

“Ah… I see.”

“I’m sorry. I was rude.”

Although somewhat disappointed, the mages readily stepped back.

Due to the individualistic nature of mages, many of them were quite averse to this kind of solicitation.

However, Lenok chuckled as he looked at the mages.

“You’re mistaken. It’s not that I won’t explain alternative incantation.”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t the very reason you came to this studio because you’re interested in alternative incantation?”

Lenok said, glancing sideways.

“I can watch you for a while until the person I’m looking for arrives.”

“Mage-nim…!!”

“You’re so kind. How did we meet such a fate today…”

Lenok began to give advice to the mages who were practicing alternative incantation in front of him.

“Your center of gravity is too high. Refining the flow is more important than mana adjustment.”

“You haven’t decided which mana movement to assign to which action. You need more practice.”

The reason he was explaining and advising in detail about the alternative incantation he had used under the identity of Evan.

It was also to observe and learn the system magic emanating from the alternative incantation they were practicing, but also because alternative incantation itself was not a technique that could be perfectly imitated just by being taught.

Unless they could handle mana while predicting and judging the entire battle situation in real-time like Lenok, most mages could not imitate even a tenth of the performance Chunbeon had shown.

However, just by Lenok watching and giving advice, the mages’ alternative incantation skills began to improve rapidly.

They quickly reached the level of replacing incantation by changing their movements arbitrarily, rather than matching movements to the desired magic.

The mages also realized this and repeatedly praised Lenok.

“You explain things so easily. Excuse me, but are you a teacher by profession?”

“I never thought I would meet such a kind sorcerer in a megacity.”

The mages, who had become friendly as if they had been training together for several days, began to open up without hesitation.

“Someone with this level of insight must have many disciples. I envy your disciples.”

“Indeed, the inheritance and development of magic are achieved through constant exchange and communication.”

“Gyeonryoe, who has settled in Vulcan, should also know this fact.”

“That’s right. Instead of interacting with other towers, he just closes his doors and lives in seclusion…”

“……”

When Lenok just smiled silently, other mages also began to chime in.

“When it was said that a magic tower would be built in Vulcan, I thought the position of mages in this city would rise.”

“I acknowledge his talent and potential to reach such a level at a young age, but if he doesn’t care about nurturing successors and lives alone, he will only make more enemies.”

“Although the battle with Chunbeon ended in Gyeonryoe’s victory, if you really think about it, Chunbeon also had a point, didn’t he?”

“Not only the alternative incantation he showed, but also his skill in handling flame magic was flawless.”

“It’s unlikely, but if a fight breaks out again, this time-”

“Gyeonryoe…?”

At that moment, the other mages’ expressions froze with smiles.

A voice, as if in disbelief, echoed from behind Lenok.

Claris, holding a towel in one hand, stood there looking at Lenok with a dumbfounded expression.

“Why are you here?”

“……”

A chilling silence.

The mages, who belatedly understood the situation, turned as pale as corpses.

“I have something to discuss regarding the deal with Oliviera.”