The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 197

We began searching for Laplace, guided by Miho.

“Is she really leading us the right way? Why are we going back and forth like this?”

It wasn’t so much ‘searching’ as it was ‘wandering’ aimlessly.

“The mana density within Mount Baekdu is so high that it creates a maze-like structure. It might look like we’re going back and forth, but she’s actually following the correct path.”

But it only looked like we were wandering.

Miho was properly tracking Laplace.

“Of course, I know that mana detection is useless inside Mount Baekdu. I also know that we have to go around to find anything.”

Captain Charles wasn’t visiting Mount Baekdu for the first time.

As such, he would naturally know about the incomprehensible structure of Mount Baekdu.

“What I’m saying is, it’s fine to wander, but why haven’t we even left the entrance of Mount Baekdu yet? And we keep going back the same way…”

“That’s probably because it’s the shortest route to Laplace. Probably.”

“Probably. This is ridiculous…”

Captain Charles sighed deeply.

It was understandable why Captain Charles was sighing like that.

We were supposed to be looking for Laplace, but we were just going in circles around the entrance.

Even I, who fully trusted Miho, was starting to feel a bit frustrated. How much more frustrated must Captain Charles be?

“Wouldn’t it be better to just head towards the crater lake? Maybe she’ll sense something different there. …Of course, I don’t know if we can even get there with the mana in this state.”

It seemed like his distrust of Miho was growing in real-time.

“It’s not that I don’t trust her abilities. Considering the characteristics of Mount Baekdu, it’s just that changing our location might be a good idea.”

No, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Considering her past success in detecting the Shadow, his trust still seemed strong.

“Um. No. I think it’s best to leave it as it is.”

Miho’s expression was still confident. There wasn’t a hint of doubt to be found.

Miho was definitely tracking Laplace.

Doing anything more here would only be a hindrance.

‘Miho must have a reason for being here.’

Whatever the reason, Miho was the only one who could find Laplace.

Whether she was doing something pointless or not, it was best to let Miho do as she pleased.

“…Okay. I guess you have your reasons.”

Captain Charles sighed deeply. He respected my opinion, but his expression showed that he was still frustrated.

“There aren’t even any decent monsters around here. It’s boring. Haaam.”

He yawned widely, clasping his hands behind his neck, as if he was getting sleepy from the hours of meaningless walking.

His eyes were slightly teary, indicating that he was genuinely sleepy.

“Ah, right.”

Then, as if he had realized something, he turned his gaze towards me with a glint in his eyes.

“Since it’s boring, we can keep the promise we made earlier.”

“The promise we made earlier?”

What promise was he talking about?

I tilted my head slightly.

At my reaction, Charles’s expression turned sour.

“…The secret to blocking the Thunder Bird’s lightning. You asked me to teach you, didn’t you?”

“Ah. That’s right.”

Come to think of it, I did.

The induction of electrons using telekinesis.

I had asked him to teach me that secret.

I had completely forgotten about it.

“You forgot about it? Fine. I won’t teach you. Ah. My pride is hurt. So you’re looking down on my magic, huh?”

Captain Charles pouted slightly and grumbled.

He seemed to think that his magic had been disregarded.

“I’m sorry. I was a bit distracted, but I had no intention of looking down on it.”

“Fine. I’m already sulking.”

I tried my best to cheer up Captain Charles.

Or, was it not that much effort?

“How could I possibly look down on such great magic? It’s the most amazing magic I’ve ever seen.”

The most amazing magic.

At those words, Charles’s body twitched.

“…Really? You think my magic is the most amazing?”

“Yes. Of course. I think it’s the best among the magic that exists in this era.”

I was being sincere.

Magic that exists in this era.

So, excluding the Vaitern system, it was probably the best.

At least, in my opinion.

“Ahem. Is that so? Is that what you think?”

As if he had felt my sincerity through my gaze, Captain Charles coughed awkwardly, looking embarrassed.

“…Then, do you want to know about my magic?”

“Yes. I’m very curious about how you can perform such a miraculous feat of striking and guiding electrons with telekinesis.”

“A miraculous feat… Ahem. Well, it is a magic of that level.”

At the continued praise, Captain Charles’s expression melted instantly.

He was surprisingly easy to please.

He also seemed weak to compliments.

“Alright. Then I’ll have to teach you.”

Captain Charles crossed his arms with a smug expression.

“First, you know how to use telekinesis, right? Or have you used it?”

“Yes. It’s a basic magic.”

I had used telekinesis many times.

Although, compared to Captain Charles’s telekinesis, mine was just a clumsy attempt.

“Then you roughly know. The basic telekinesis listed in the open-source library has a ‘whoosh’ feeling, right?”

“…Excuse me?”

Whoosh?

“But the original telekinesis I use has a ‘swish’ feeling! That’s where the difference comes from.”

“…”

Charles excitedly continued his explanation.

“If you use telekinesis with a ‘shwip’ feeling like this…”

But I couldn’t understand what he was saying at all.

What was ‘whoosh’ and ‘swish’?

My head was filled with question marks.

After that, Charles’s explanation continued non-stop.

It must have been about 20 minutes.

“See? Like this. Electrons can be guided like this. Got it?”

Finally, all the explanations were over.

Charles smiled triumphantly with an expression that said, ‘How was it? Easy, right?’

“…Yes. I understand.”

I understood.

I understood very well.

“I understand very well that Captain Charles is a typical genius-type mage.”

“Hey. Don’t praise me like that already… It’s embarrassing.”

“It’s not praise.”

A type that relies solely on their own intuition.

As such, a type that is almost incapable of conveying their knowledge to others.

“Captain Charles. Do you often hear people say that you’re bad at explaining things?”

A genius among geniuses.

Captain Charles was one of those people.

“…N-No? I only hear people say that I’m talented at explaining things?”

He slightly averted his gaze and whistled as he answered.

His words and attitude were clearly a lie to anyone who saw him.

* * *

After that, time passed again.

Seven hours had passed since we started exploring Mount Baekdu.

Nevertheless, we were still wandering around the entrance of Mount Baekdu.

“What? For someone who said they didn’t understand, you’ve got a good grasp of it. Was my explanation perfect after all?”

In the meantime, I had been focusing all my attention on learning Charles’s magic.

Thanks to that, I managed to grasp some of the knack.

“…Absolutely not, so don’t go around giving that kind of explanation again. It’s a matter of Captain Charles’s dignity, so I’m giving you serious advice.”

Just in case, I’m saying this.

It’s definitely not because Charles’s guidance was good.

The reason I was able to imitate Charles’s magic, even if it was just superficially, was purely thanks to the power of the Divine Eye.

I analyzed the magic that Charles demonstrated with the Divine Eye and reproduced it as it was.

Of course, it was just a superficial imitation, far from the real thing.

“…This. When guiding electrons. It’s hard to control the power. How do you do it?”

“Ah, you just do it with a ‘sssh’ feeling. If you try to apply too much force, it will backfire…”

Charles’s genius-style explanation began again.

He probably thought he was explaining it in the kindest way possible, but the words I was hearing were a parade of things I didn’t understand at all.

“Got it?”

“…Yes. I listened well.”

I listened to the explanations with one ear and let them out the other.

No, I did listen, but I couldn’t understand them, so I just let them go.

“You really are a genius among geniuses.”

Charles’s magic was very intuitive.

The strike of electrons through telekinesis.

I felt deeply why this magic only existed in theory.

First of all, controlling the power was unbelievably difficult.

You had to apply just enough force to move the tiny particles of electrons very subtly.

This was truly absurd.

This control was something beyond the level of subtly adjusting power, it was something unknown.

It was so difficult that I didn’t even dare to try to follow it.

How was he doing it so freely?

‘It’s also absurd to accurately target electrons that can’t even be seen and move only a small number of them separately.’

This was something I could do, but only because I had unlimited practice time.

This was not something that could be used in a real battle where lives were at stake every second.

“This magic… I don’t think I can use it.”

“Why? You seem talented. You’re the first person other than me to grasp the knack this well. Even Madam couldn’t do it.”

Captain Charles’s eyes were blazing.

It was like the expression of a veteran player who had discovered a newbie.

Or like the expression of someone who had just discovered a kindred spirit they had never found before.

“No. Whether I’ve grasped the knack or not, I can’t use it.”

“Why? If you just refine your senses a little more and match it with the AI’s assistance, you can definitely use it in real combat…”

In the middle of his sentence, Captain Charles closed his mouth.

He opened his eyes wide and muttered, ‘That’s right…’

He seemed to have realized it.

“Yes. I’m not compatible with using AI.”

I was an unsuitable person who couldn’t use AI.

“…That’s right. I forgot.”

The Vaitern system was magic that was manifested through thought.

And no matter how brilliant a mind one had, they could not calculate and control the movement of each and every electron.

This was not in the realm of thought.

Calculating such things was entirely in the realm of AI.

That’s why I couldn’t use Charles’s magic.

“Sorry.”

“No. You don’t need to apologize. It just means that I’m so outstanding that you unconsciously forgot that I’m incompatible, right?”

“…Yeah. Honestly, who would think you’re incompatible after seeing you?”

Captain Charles smiled bitterly as he answered.

“It’s a shame… If you had mastered it, it would have definitely been a great power.”

“Yes. It’s a shame for me too.”

As Charles said, if I could just raise my senses a little more, it would be possible to pinpoint and strike electrons.

But that was the end of it.

Without AI, it was absolutely impossible to use it in real combat.

“It’s a shame, but I’ll have to give up.”

It was said that there was nothing impossible for the Vaitern system, but this was physically impossible.

I guess it was worthy of being called the culmination of future magic. There were definitely points where it was superior to the Vaitern system.

I had such thoughts.

‘Still, I learned something good. So, magic can be used in this way too…’

The advantage of controlling something that is invisible but definitely exists.

It felt like my thinking had broadened a bit.

It was like I had gained a new realization.

My head felt clear.

“…Huh?”

At that moment, something flashed.

“Why? What is it?”

“Controlling something invisible…?”

“…? Why is that?”

“Something invisible…”

My mind spun like a top.

Charles’s words were instantly erased.

What filled my mind now was only the sparkle of that moment.

‘The uniqueness of the Ring of Awakening. The reason I couldn’t understand the incomprehensible structure was because I was trying to understand mana as mana, wasn’t it?’

Air is made up of numerous components.

And those components are also made up of numerous atoms and electrons.

That means that mana might also be made up of numerous components.

‘Special components that make up mana.’

Something more important than mana, something that has never been discovered or observed, might be contained within mana.

‘The origin that makes mana exist solely as mana. The origin.’

The origin of mana that is needed to weave the Ring of Awakening might be something like that.

‘That’s right. This is it.’

My heart was beating fast.

With that realization, everything I couldn’t understand until now began to be understood sequentially.

To put it in a metaphor, it was like reinserting the concept of ‘arithmetic operations’ that had been forcibly extracted and forgotten from the brain of a mathematician who had already mastered everything in mathematics.

With the missing foundation fulfilled, it felt like everything was solved.

‘Then, what’s needed to weave the Ring of Awakening is…’

I was quickly organizing my thoughts when it happened.

Kang!

Miho cried softly.

“Miho? Did you find something…”

I didn’t even have time to ask Miho why.

Flash-!

A bright light that suddenly burst out enveloped the entire entrance of Mount Baekdu.