The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 56

The Rebirth of the Mythical Archmage-57

It had been three days since the end of the team battle.

A short time if you considered it short, a long time if you considered it long.

In that time, the relationship between the 2nd and 3rd years had improved quite a bit.

“Senior Jin Hee-yoon. Please take good care of us in today’s training.”

“You’re doing it again. I told you to call me Hee-yoon unnie [older sister], not Senior Jin Hee-yoon.”

Jin Hee-yoon glared at Adela. Adela slightly avoided her intense gaze and whispered.

“……Hee-yoon unnie.”

“Yes. It’s so much better when you call me that.”

Jin Hee-yoon smiled happily and hugged Adela.

She looked like she was dying of cuteness.

“U-Unnie… too…”

“Why? Am I too weak? Should I hug you tighter?”

Adela struggled in Jin Hee-yoon’s arms. She wasn’t used to this kind of skinship and didn’t know how to react.

“Are you two really the same people who were fighting like cats and dogs three days ago?”

Ma Jin-seok chuckled as he watched them.

Just three days ago, they were glaring at each other as if they wanted to kill each other, but at some point, they became so close that they couldn’t live without each other.

“That’s how you get closer, by fighting and making up. Right?”

“……Yes.”

The reason their relationship improved so quickly was because Jin Hee-yoon had completely grasped Adela’s personality.

“Where did the Jin Hee-yoon who was going to show those arrogant juniors a lesson go?”

“Arrogant? Who? Adela? Who said that? To such a cute kid. Bring them to me. I’ll have to teach them a lesson.”

“……Where’s the mirror…”

Adela was pure in both good and bad ways.

After understanding Adela’s personality, her declaration of ‘I’ll win it all’ that day wasn’t a provocation.

It was just a judgment based on objective facts.

There was no intention of sarcasm at all.

Once she realized that, Adela started to look cute to her.

And how cute was she?

Her purity of not being able to recognize sarcasm as sarcasm.

Her clumsiness, being a novice in everything except magic.

The gap between her intelligence and her strangely clueless side.

After feeling that charm, their relationship changed dramatically.

They became close very quickly, as if they had never been on bad terms.

“Seniors. Ha-yool said there’s been a slight change in the schedule for this afternoon.”

Ji Soon-chan entered the lounge to announce the changed schedule.

“Okay. I’ll check it right away.”

Jin Hee-yoon took out her phone while still hugging Adela and checked the new schedule that had been uploaded to the group chat.

Adela’s eyes trembled even more violently.

She looked like she couldn’t believe that Jin Hee-yoon would maintain this position even while checking the schedule.

‘Help me.’

Adela asked Ji Soon-chan for help with her eyes.

It wasn’t that she disliked Jin Hee-yoon, but Adela wasn’t used to this kind of skinship. She wanted to get out of this uncomfortable situation as soon as possible.

‘……Okay.’

Ji Soon-chan nodded with his eyes.

He couldn’t just leave his friend in trouble.

“Ah. And Adela. Ha-yool is calling for you. It seems like he has something to say.”

Ji Soon-chan sent a rescue line to Adela.

“A call from the Shin leader? Then it’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”

Jin Hee-yoon released Adela with a look of great regret.

Adela, now free, let out a small sigh of relief.

“Then, I’ll see you this afternoon.”

“Okay. Have a good trip.”

Adela bowed to Jin Hee-yoon and turned to walk towards the exit.

On her way to the exit, she didn’t forget to give a grateful look to Ji Soon-chan, who she passed by.

Ji Soon-chan responded with a smile.

“Soon-chan, wait a minute.”

Jin Hee-yoon gestured for Ji Soon-chan to come closer.

“Is there anything strange?”

Ji Soon-chan tilted his head and approached.

“If we move up this schedule, what happens to the schedule after that?”

“Ah, that’s still undecided.”

The relationship between Jin Hee-yoon and Ji Soon-chan had also improved rapidly in the past three days.

As promised, Jin Hee-yoon retracted her statement that she had belittled Ji Soon-chan as being below standard and apologized properly.

Ji Soon-chan readily accepted the apology.

With that, their bad relationship ended cleanly.

“Undecided?”

“Yes. I heard that there was some problem with the new training facility they are trying to secure.”

“What’s with our Shin leader making a mistake?”

“It’s not really Ha-yool’s mistake, but a 100% problem on the other side.”

“Ah, I see. That’s how it is. There’s no way our Shin leader would make a mistake.”

Over the past three days, Shin Ha-yool had shown the perfect image of a leader.

Even those who were secretly displeased with Shin Ha-yool’s appointment as leader had no choice but to think, ‘He’s good enough to be acknowledged.’

“Anyway, the point is that we’re doing a unique mana test this afternoon, right?”

“Yes. The Blue Magic Tower artisans also said they had time today, so we adjusted the schedule accordingly.”

Unique mana test.

As the first step in artifact customization, they analyze the different properties of mana for each individual and adjust the artifact accordingly.

“The Blue Magic Tower is really going to be our team’s engineer…”

The 3rd years whispered.

They couldn’t believe that the Blue Magic Tower would be directly looking at their artifacts.

“Ah, right. I’ve been wondering about this. Is it true that Shin Ha-yool was the one who negotiated with the Blue Magic Tower and secured their sponsorship?”

At Jin Hee-yoon’s question, all the 3rd years’ attention was focused on her.

Everyone seemed very interested in the truth about the Blue Magic Tower’s sponsorship, which had only been a rumor.

“Yes. Ha-yool directly negotiated with Kim Kang-in and received a promise of sponsorship.”

The 3rd years exclaimed.

“Wow… That rumor was true.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Then, does that mean Shin Ha-yool was planning to win a gold medal from the beginning?”

“At first, I just thought he was an arrogant junior, but the more I see him, the more I realize he’s the real deal.”

“I saw him yesterday, and he has a good eye. His advice is better than most of the instructors.”

In this way, the trust in Shin Ha-yool within the team was gradually increasing.

* * *

That afternoon.

At the time when all the team members except me were undergoing the unique mana test.

I was having a private meeting with Kim Kang-in.

“Is the training going well?”

“Yes. It’s going as well as it could be.”

The training was also progressing very smoothly.

At this rate, it seemed possible to complete all the scheduled training and even conduct additional training.

“What about any discord within the team?”

“There’s none at all. It hasn’t been long since we joined, so there are some awkward moments, but everyone is getting closer quickly.”

The resistance or dissatisfaction with me taking on the role of leader, which was the biggest concern, was quickly disappearing.

If everyone was secretly uncomfortable with me three days ago, now everyone was secretly acknowledging me.

In many ways, the situation was as good as it could be.

“No trouble. Perfect teamwork. Perfect training schedule. Good. Let’s just keep going like this.”

“Yes. I’ll do my best.”

Kim Kang-in smiled as if he was satisfied.

I also smiled slightly.

“May I ask if the request I made has been resolved?”

“That’s been resolved. You can go to Baengnyeong Island as scheduled in three days.”

Baengnyeong Island is an island that is like a giant magic training ground.

I asked Kim Kang-in to charter the island, and Kim Kang-in readily agreed to the request.

We were scheduled to have a 5-night, 6-day training camp there in three days.

“I’ve also arranged the ship in advance. It’s the 10:10 AM ship in three days.”

“Thank you for your meticulous preparation.”

“It’s nothing. It’s just this much.”

Kim Kang-in smiled as if this was nothing.

“Ah, right. Before you leave for the training camp, could you spare some time?”

“Yes. Any time after 8 PM tomorrow or the day after is fine.”

“Then, please come to the Blue Magic Tower at 9 PM tomorrow. You can probably guess the reason, right?”

There was only one reason to ask to come to the Blue Magic Tower at this time.

“Is it to imprint the unique mana on the artifact?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

The production of the artifact using the Element Mana Light commissioned to the Blue Magic Tower. The unique mana imprinting, which is the intermediate stage of its production.

It seemed like the time had come to do that.

“Then, the estimated completion date must be out as well.”

The fact that the artifact production had entered the intermediate stage meant that the production was on track.

In other words, there was a high probability that the estimated completion date was out.

“Yes. It is.”

As expected.

“Roughly when is it?”

“If it’s short, it’ll be two weeks. Three weeks at the latest. Even if it’s really late, it should be completed before the start of the Olympiad.”

* * *

After the third day of training was over.

I was studying at Mimir’s Well as usual to weave the Ring of Expansion.

“Mimir, I’ve finished reading this. Can you give me the next book to read?”

“Here you go.”

Mimir handed me a book that she had prepared in advance.

I took the book and opened it.

“How’s the preparation going?”

“What preparation? The preparation to weave the Ring of Expansion? Or the preparation for the Olympiad?”

“Both.”

“There’s no problem with the Olympiad preparation. The Ring of Expansion is the same as usual. There’s no major progress.”

I was steadily preparing to weave the Ring of Expansion, but there wasn’t any particular dramatic change.

If weaving the Ring of Expansion was a marathon, it felt like I had barely passed the 1km mark out of 42.195km.

I had gone about 100m further than yesterday, but it was so subtle that it was hard to say I had made progress.

“But when I saw you circulating mana earlier, it seemed like you had a grasp of it to some extent?”

“I did get a grasp of it. Unlike when I was breaking through, there are no parts I can’t understand.”

The information about the Ring of Expansion and the theory for weaving the Ring of Expansion were practically mastered.

“If I have enough mana, I can weave the Ring of Expansion right now.”

“Oh… Seeing how confident you are, it seems like you’ve really got a grasp of it.”

“Yeah. I can confidently say that the theory is as perfect as it can be.”

What was lacking was the mana within my body.

The absolute amount of mana needed to form the Ring of Expansion.

If that was met, I could weave the Ring of Expansion right now.

“Then the key is when the elixir will be completed. Is there any news about the elixir ingredients?”

“I received a call that they will arrive in two days.”

“What? That’s faster than I thought? I thought it would take a week.”

“With the revision of the law, the import procedures have been eased. Thanks to that, the import permit was processed faster than expected, so the schedule was moved up.”

“I always think, the successor is really lucky.”

“Hmm. I won’t deny that.”

For the schedule to be moved up with the revision of the law at this timing.

Even I thought I was lucky.

“Have you decided where to consume the elixir?”

A place with a high mana concentration to consume the blessing of mana.

I had been searching for that place.

“I have.”

And two days ago, I found a place that was perfect in many ways.

“Where is it?”

“Baengnyeong Island.”

“The training island where you’re scheduled to go for a 5-night, 6-day training camp? Is the mana concentration high there?”

“Yeah. I’ve done a lot of research, and the mana concentration on Baengnyeong Island is the highest in Korea.”

Baengnyeong Island, where we would be leaving in three days.

It was a training island where the entire island was made up of training facilities, and it was also famous for having a very high mana concentration.

“I also heard that the mana concentration has been increasing recently. It’s perfect in many ways.”

Since the already high mana concentration was said to be rising even higher recently, there was no better place than Baengnyeong Island from my perspective.

“Did you say you’re leaving in three days?”

“Yeah.”

“Since the ingredients are arriving in two days, it’s perfect timing.”

If the ingredients arrive in two days, I would make the elixir right away.

The next day, I would take the elixir to Baengnyeong Island, consume it, and then absorb the high concentration of mana on Baengnyeong Island to weave the Ring of Expansion.

The plan was perfect.

‘4th Circle.’

That blurry realm was gradually becoming clearer.