The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 150

Mimir was glaring at Aslan, her face a mask of discomfort and annoyance.

Aslan, as if finding Mimir’s reaction endearing, simply chuckled.

Their interaction hinted at the nature of their relationship.

It seemed their relationship wasn’t strained, but rather, Mimir was the one who felt unilaterally uncomfortable.

“So, you can freely come and go from Mimir’s book like this?”

“Hmm?”

Aslan, who had been gazing at Mimir with an affectionate expression, turned his attention to me.

“Yes. The Book of Idread and the Book of Mimir are connected. If I want to come, I can.”

“Ah.”

Since they were connected, moving between them was possible.

It was a plausible explanation.

“That’s a lie. Don’t believe him.”

Mimir scoffed, as if she was dumbfounded.

“Even if books are connected, it’s impossible to move like that. If it were that easy, Elena would have been in and out of here all the time.”

“Ah.”

If moving between books was as easy as Aslan claimed, Elena would have visited Mimir’s book often.

At least once, she should have come.

Especially since they were close.

But Elena had never once appeared in Mimir’s book.

In other words, Aslan’s claim that moving between books was easy was a lie.

“I misspoke. What I meant was, ‘for me,’ it’s not that difficult.”

Aslan unfolded his crossed legs and crossed them the other way.

His posture was arrogant yet graceful.

“I am one of only two space magic users, along with my lord. And moving between these books is a type of space magic. Therefore, moving between books is not difficult for me.”

“So, space magic can do that too.”

I had no knowledge of space magic or how the Books of Idread and Mimir were made, so I had nothing more to say.

‘But still…’

One of only two space magic users, along with my master.

‘He really was an incredible person…’

Just like Elena.

As expected, those who served my master were all amazing.

Then, is Aslan also a 9-circle user? [A 9-circle user is a mage who has reached the highest level of magic mastery.]

That was highly likely.

No. In the first place, someone who handles space magic, a different dimension of magic, couldn’t possibly not be a 9-circle user.

Of course, he must be a 9-circle user.

“Are your questions somewhat resolved?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then, it’s my turn to ask questions.”

Aslan unfolded his legs and adopted a serious expression.

“It’s been three days since you left the fifth trial page. Where have you been and what have you been doing? I heard you didn’t even come here for two days.”

At Aslan’s question, Mimir’s eyes widened, and she turned her gaze to me.

“That’s right. Successor. What did you do for two days?”

“Well… a lot of things happened.”

I made eye contact with Mimir and Aslan in turn, then explained what I had experienced and heard.

It was quite a long story, so I took about 15 minutes to explain everything step by step.

“And I just got discharged from the hospital and came here. That’s all.”

“…”

“…”

After my story, silence filled the inside of Mimir’s spring.

Both of them seemed to be deep in thought.

Their expressions were complex.

However, the reasons for their complexity were slightly different.

“…So, the leader of the Black Magic Tower is already at the 10th circle.”

Mimir seemed troubled by the high probability that the Black Magic King had reached the 10th circle.

“To almost die because you couldn’t handle a mere three-colored cat… Pathetic.”

Aslan seemed troubled by the fact that I was too weak.

“It seems we need to increase the intensity of your training.”

Then, he looked at me with passionate eyes and said that.

It was a smile that made me very uneasy.

“Then, what happened with the match results?”

“Nothing has been decided yet. I think they might have a rematch.”

“Is there no possibility that this year’s match results will be invalidated?”

“I was a bit worried, but they said there’s no need to worry about that.”

My father and the tower masters all said that there was no way this year’s Olympiad would be invalidated, so I should rest without worrying.

“That’s a relief.”

“It is a relief.”

Well, even if it were invalidated, I had achieved my goal of raising my profile to some extent, so it wouldn’t be a big problem.

Well, it’s always good to have good things, so it would be even better if I could get the gold medal and a new record.

“Hmm. So, you don’t have any special schedule for a while.”

Aslan, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, said with a smirk.

“Yes.”

The Olympiad hasn’t made an official announcement yet.

Whatever happens, there’s a high chance I’ll have to wait in the US for a while.

“How’s your condition?”

“It’s good.”

Aslan’s lips curled up even more.

“Then, there’s no problem with starting training right now.”

“Yes. There’s no problem at all.”

“Good.”

Aslan got up from his seat.

“Mimir-nim. Can we consider our conversation over?”

“Yeah. For now.”

“Then, may I take him with me?”

“I don’t care.”

“Thank you.”

Aslan gave a small nod and took a step towards me.

Then, he grabbed my hand and drew a large line in the air.

At that moment.

Crack-!

The air split open.

“Then, Mimir-nim. I’ll come to say hello again.”

“…Don’t come. Just send the successor back safely.”

“I’ll come again.”

“I said don’t come.”

“I will definitely come.”

Mimir lost her words and frowned.

“…Do as you please.”

“Yes.”

Mimir sighed softly, and Aslan chuckled.

And right after that.

“I’m moving.”

Aslan grabbed me and threw himself into the crack in the air.

“Wait…”

Just for a moment.

There was no time to say that.

I was pulled by Aslan’s force and broke through the crack in the air.

And before I knew it, I was standing in the center of an empty training ground.

“From now on, I will correct your weak body.”

At Aslan’s murderous aura, I broke out in a cold sweat.

This was almost at the level of killing someone.

Aslan’s lips slowly curled up. At the same time, my anxiety grew.

“Welcome to hell, Successor.”

Hell.

That word was definitely not a metaphor.

‘…Am I not going to be able to walk out of here on my own?’

Aslan Polohamruin’s hellish training.

Imagining the terrifying intensity of the training, I swallowed hard.

* * *

About two hours after Aslan’s training began.

“Huff, huff…”

I was sprawled out on the floor, gasping for breath.

The sky was yellow, my head was throbbing, and I felt nauseous.

I didn’t have the strength to move even a finger.

It was a classic case of exhaustion.

“Pathetic. You can’t even endure this much training.”

Looking down at me, Aslan shook his head.

‘…This much?’

For a moment, I almost cursed out loud.

How could this be called ‘this much’ training?

Was ‘this much’ a euphemism for ‘hellish’ or ‘almost died’ in the past?

‘If it were Soonchan, he would have fainted in 5 minutes.’

Aslan’s training was truly hell itself, so much so that even I, who prided myself on my stamina, couldn’t endure it.

It was truly training in name only; it was more like physical torture.

“Get up. How long are you going to rest?”

“I haven’t… even rested for a minute…”

I hadn’t even rested for a minute, so what did he mean by how long I was going to rest? I tried to argue, but I was too out of breath to speak properly.

“Do you think you’ll have a minute to rest on the battlefield? Stop making excuses and get up.”

Aslan looked down at me with a pathetic gaze.

“Is the successor planning to disgrace his lord? Stop whining and get up. You’re worse than a half-wit.”

His gaze and words were scratching at my pride.

I gritted my teeth and desperately tried to get up.

But.

“Ugh!”

My body wouldn’t listen to me.

My legs were trembling like a sick chicken and wouldn’t move.

My arms were also trembling like an aspen and showed no signs of moving.

Complete exhaustion.

Not a single drop of stamina remained in my body.

It wasn’t a matter of having a strong will or not.

I was physically incapable of moving my body at all.

“…Hmm. It doesn’t seem like you’re faking it.”

Looking at me, Aslan frowned.

It wasn’t a frown of being pathetic or disappointed.

“I can’t understand it. Considering the strength of the Infinity Circle, there’s no way you can’t endure even this much.”

A frown of confusion.

It was a frown that stemmed from not being able to understand the current situation.

“Don’t tell me. You’ve been so focused on magic training that you’ve never done any physical training?”

At those words, a surge of anger welled up inside me.

I hadn’t missed a single day of physical training. How could he say I hadn’t done it even once?

It was unfair.

“I…”

Just as I was desperately catching my breath and trying to retort.

“No. If you had neglected physical training, you wouldn’t have been able to complete a circle of this intensity…”

Before I could say anything, Aslan contradicted his own opinion.

“…Then what is it?”

He stroked his chin with his right hand and examined my body from head to toe.

He repeated this thorough examination four times.

“I don’t know.”

As a result, his brow furrowed even more. He had an expression that said he couldn’t understand the current situation at all.

“Is there no other way but to examine it directly? Inner contemplation isn’t my specialty.”

Aslan clicked his tongue as if he had no choice, then sat down on the spot and placed his hand on my chest.

“I’m going to start inner contemplation now. Don’t resist.”

Even if I wanted to resist, I didn’t have the strength to do so. The two hours of training had taken away not only my stamina.

My mental strength was also almost depleted.

In my current state, even moving mana was difficult.

“Hmm. The circle itself is of excellent quality…”

I could feel Aslan’s mana moving through my body.

It was moving precisely along the circulation path of my Infinity Circle.

It was a near-perfect mana guidance, considering that inner contemplation wasn’t his specialty.

“Then why…”

Aslan’s mana guidance continued for two laps, three laps.

When he started the fifth lap.

Aslan’s mana suddenly stopped.

“…This is.”

As if he had grasped something, he widened his eyes and stared intently at one part of my body.

The area below my navel.

Should I call it the lower abdomen?

Anyway, Aslan was staring intently at that area.

“Ha. So that’s what it was.”

Then, he suddenly burst into a hollow laugh.

He had an expression that said he was dumbfounded.

“…Is there a problem?”

“Is there a problem?”

Aslan laughed hollowly again and looked at me.

“It’s absurd. You can’t even recognize this as a problem?”

Aslan took his hand off my body and got up from his seat.

“It’s so basic that I couldn’t even imagine it. I just assumed it was there.”

Aslan said, staring at my abdomen again.

“You. Why haven’t you trained in the Dantian Circulation Breathing Method?”

“Dantian Circulation Breathing Method…”

In this world, there are ‘knights’ separate from mages. [Knights are warriors who enhance their physical abilities through mana.]

They use a technique to strengthen their bodies by concentrating mana in the ‘dantian’ located in the lower abdomen to create a ‘core’. [The dantian is an area in the lower abdomen believed to be the center of vital energy.]

What these knights mainly do is the ‘Dantian Circulation Breathing Method’.

You can think of it as the equivalent of ‘mana circulation’ for mages.

“If you’re talking about the breathing method used by knights, yes. Of course, I’ve never trained in it separately.”

Why would I, a mage, train in the breathing method of knights?

Of course, I’ve never done it.

“…The breathing method used by knights?”

Aslan asked back with an expression that said, ‘What nonsense are you talking about?’

“Since when has the Dantian Circulation Breathing Method… the mana core become the exclusive property of knights?”

“…Huh?”

Since when? Isn’t it from the beginning?

“That reaction of not knowing the reason…”

Aslan widened his eyes with a look of disbelief.

“Don’t tell me all the mages of this era don’t know the Dantian Circulation Breathing Method?”

“Yes. Since mana circles and mana cores are mutually exclusive, of course, no one has learned it.”

There are research results that show that if you create both a knight’s mana core and a mage’s mana circle at the same time, it will explode.

And not just one, but dozens of research results say so.

“…It’s getting more and more absurd the more I hear.”

Aslan scoffed with an expression that said, ‘Don’t talk nonsense.’

“Listen carefully. Mana circles and mana cores are not mutually exclusive. They are in a relationship that enhances each other’s power. In your words, they are in a symbiotic relationship.”

Aslan concentrated mana on his index finger and colored it.

“Look at this.”

Then, he started listing incomprehensible calculations in the air.

“This is the result of calculating the stats of two 4-circle users, one who hasn’t created a mana core and one who has, and quantifying them.”

Aslan, who had finished the calculation in an instant, reversed the formula in the air and positioned it so that I could see it clearly.

I couldn’t understand what kind of calculation formula it was based on or how it was calculated, but I could see the result at a glance.

At the end of the formula, there was a result of an average of 2.0734:1, along with these words:

[The presence of a mana core shows a difference of about twice the magic efficiency compared to the same achievement.]

“…Twice?”

Is the difference this big?