Wind Sprint (Part 1)
“Ugh, I’m dying.”
In the elven forest Jess was now 9 years of age.
This was quite a significant period in the Marca continent. As his body began to grow and his bones set in, he was able to handle and use mana.
Of course, black magicians train those who are just 4-5 year old in magic as quickly as possible.
If magic was learned early then there was a greater affinity with mana, and the potential for future growth increases, of course there were side effects.
The possibility was high for the body to grow deformed or for the brain to crumble like tofu because it could not withstand mana.
When considering basic safety, it was common to deal with mana at the age of 9.
Herz drew a magic circle on the ground which gathered mana.
“There is no need to worry overmuch. If you cannot feel or recognize mana you could make a living as a magic scholar.”
So far his progress in the academic field of magical theory was outstanding for his age.
This point of time was the most important moment as a magician to take advantage and try to feel mana.
“Ease your mind. Everyone has mana and you do too.”
“Really? What if I’m the only one who doesn’t…….”
“Focus on the very minute senses. You will surely feel the flow of the mana in the world.”
Jess slowly closed his eyes.
[For this guy to inherit my magic, he has to feel mana… will he? If he surely cannot do so, then it must end. Magic Scholars. Compared to the sense of accomplishment of building up magic with magic circles, it is an easy job worse than a goblin’s eye gunk.]
Herz kept thinking from the side.
This was an important moment for Jess so his thoughts became more complicated because he was his teacher.
[Ah. Jess needs to feel mana…… Even if he does not have an exceedingly excellent sense, he has got to have beyond the average level. After all that he’s learned so far, if he’s not a dull fellow it should not take long before he can feel mana. If not, that guy really does not have the talent.]
Though it was unintentional, Herz’s worries were disruptive.
Compared to a knight’s, a magician’s sense of mana and control should be far more superior. Otherwise, due to the conflict of mana it was highly likely to become crippled.
The worldly thoughts that were heard repeatedly interrupted Jess’s concentration.
This was the moment of a lifetime.
If mana cannot be properly handled, then it will be difficult to be anything except merchants, scholars, farmers, or blacksmiths.
Jess went deep into his inner self.
From the moment you feel the mana in your body it was said by some that you will slightly understand your own will.
Once a degree of commitment and amount of mana was gathered one was capable of acting as a full-fledged magician.
In the case of swordsmen, by using the fullness of mana and reconstructing their body, they can have mystically strong power.
Mana… I think I can do that?
He fell into a deep meditation in order to feel the mana.
Alrium is really beautiful. Jean Sora together with Lee Hee-Jin are still only kids … Other elven women are also really beautiful. Slender legs and body are just perfect …… (TN: Jean Sora and Lee Hee-Jin were previously translated as boys but I guess they were girls)
He blew away two hours on meaningless worldly thoughts because he did not have the pure spirit of a nine year old.
He could not feel the mana that made up the body’s activities.
Herz’s anxiety expanded.
[It’s sad but I guess he has no natural talent when it comes to sensing, as expected. To control mana enough to rise up as a high rank magician he should have sensed and realized it by now. But if he feels it by the end of the day he can be at a level higher than an ordinary magician.]
The simple incantations of the lower circle are easily done, but complex spells with dozens of formulas are not possible without carefully managing the connection and conversion of mana.
During that time Jess had been actively training his body, it was also to stimulate and grow his mana.
He had received sufficient education as a magician that created a foundation in his body.
It was normal that his senses were better than the average person.
“There’s time so keep on trying.”
“Yes. Master.”
“Do not lose any of your senses and just have faith that you do have mana.”
Hertz departed after leaving those words.
Sometimes it takes a whole month to be aware of mana if one has dull senses, so he left him with some time alone so that he would not be rushed.
What the h.e.l.l is mana, and where is that stuff?
Jess began to cast out his worldly thoughts about Alrium and explored his body while tossing around the fundamental questions.
All these familiar impressions are just a part of my body. Where and what the h.e.l.l am I to feel.
He had to feel mana but there was nothing that felt strange or unusual.
Mana is a natural energy that is naturally present, it is spread all over the world…
Easier said than done isn’t it. I wonder if my senses are dull and I don’t know it.
The first time being aware of mana was difficult.
Mana within oneself was weak and does not move well, because of this it was difficult to feel and handle it with willpower.
Black magicians even stabbed the bodies of their disciples with a knife in order to awaken their mana.
It was to create the moment of when mana, the source of life, became the most active.
What the h.e.l.l.
When Hertz used magic, energy was visible. And even when Rendall used his swordsmanship the mana used in his body was seen directly.
Anyone can have it… Even though I saw it with my own eyes, I don’t understand it very well.
Each time Rendall and Hertz used their swordsmanship and magic, a strange feeling from the mana was invoked. Focusing his consciousness on that as a basis, he felt a ray of pure energy in his body.
This was the mana I heard so much of? This was overflowing in the world.
Jess was slightly taken aback because of the familiar sense of mana.
Just as if you were to go to cold place and it would feel cold, was this not the same usual feeling he had experienced all the time since he was a baby.
This world was engulfed and filled with a tremendous amount of this energy.
The other world was barren with almost no mana, so the big difference was felt even more.
He had struggled even more because he had tried to concentrate and find a new sensation.
Jess’s situation of easily feeling mana had already existed in the continent, archmages are said to have been different from the start.
Even if archmages don’t learn from other people, it was said that they learn how to grasp and manipulate mana from an early age.
It was also the same for such races as the elves, demons, and the chosen dragonkin.
In my case, given how I’m not truly a baby it might be more difficult to determine my talent. Though I might be a genius… I’m not a very outstanding genius.
In this world, if you can feel mana that was significant potential in and of itself.
But Jess was tough and stringent with himself.
I should not have great expectations. Just ‘cause you have a keen sense of your legs doesn’t mean you will be a sprinter.
For a while he watched his body’s internal mana move.
When you collect mana to form a small house close to the heart then that can be said to be the first circle.
The manner of increasing the density of mana and building the house by continuously expanding it to become harder and larger was the basic type of growth for a magician.
Although first circles are magicians, there was no meaning as the ability was not that much different from the general public.
At best they could clarify a bit of the surrounding light with magic, or shoot a magic arrow that was enough to drop a bird.
Like other magicians Jess built a house of mana near his heart, which was the source of life.
He said it was good to evoke a large and solid brick house. The building materials should be used out of the mana of this world.
Ever since building the house of mana, he started to absorb the mana flowing outside.
The density of mana in the elven forest was higher than any other place. Then Jess drew in the familiar scent of mana.
Then after a while, when the time it takes to eat two bowls of ramen had pa.s.sed by.
Jess took a look at the inside of his body.
Although he thought of a solid brick house, in his heart there appeared to be a small mud hut that seemed to have bits of straw roughly placed over it.
A precarious house that could just as soon go away if hit by any rainstorm!
There are limits to the first circle so it can’t be helped. Once it becomes increasingly harder and wider I should be able to embrace more mana.
Managing too much mana for the first circle phase was absolutely prohibited.
On the day that the house of mana collapses the body can never again learn magic, of course, one could even lose their life.
Jess completed the first circle and lightly opened his eyes, in his vision were many golden strings.
“Huh? What is this?”
This was the elven forest so he thought the lines he saw were golden spider webs.
He thought this for a moment, but soon could see that it was not.
It ran anywhere on the walls and ceilings, but was never dense like a spider web.
“Aren’t they strange?”
Jess’s knit his eyebrows while carefully putting a finger on the golden line.
[Fruits… I’ll eat them when they ripen. They’re a gift from nature. I also wanna eat bitter bark.]
[Nature is great.]
[Well… I’m an elf. How nice to be an elf. Elves are the best.]
“This is somehow a familiar feeling?”
This time Jess touched the golden line connected to his body .
[Arrggg, I feel hungry. I would kill to drink a beer and have well done meat! The elven forest is boring and quiet and there’s nothing to eat.] (Ned, the dwarf)
[Fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven… Eungh. So hard. Still, I must complete one hundred. Then one hundred once more!] (Rendall, his father)
[The elves of this forest are really living peacefully. Are those in my hometown well?] (Riga, his mother)
“What? This is mind reading.”
Jess’s natural ability.
Sometimes if there was a strong desire it was even possible to read thoughts from a distance away. However, these golden lines also allowed him to read other’s thoughts from far away just by touch.
“But this is a little bit different. Did it make reading people’s thoughts better?”
At the end of agonizing for a while he left the house.
Walking by, numerous golden lines that intersected in the elven forests could be seen.
It was a mystical golden line that was only visible to himself.
The golden lines were connected between Jess and the elves, the same was also true among the elves.
There were no golden lines between Jess and those he was completely ignorant of.
The golden lines seemed to form between the fellow creatures that led some unknown fate.
I don’t understand what the principles are… Anyways, with that I can read people’s thoughts from a distance. At least I’ll be able to go somewhere and not be swindled.
Jess decided to call those connections between creatures the lines of destiny. (TN: omg, that’s so corny)
Such a fine day, the wind of the forest was cool and calm and sunlight was shining through the leaves.
Being able to see these things… Maybe I’m really a G.o.d? I mean I also have an excellent sense of mana. No. No. I should not have useless vain thoughts. Elves may live for over 1,000 years and dragons live for 10,000 years. There’s even a demon somewhere that can shatter the continent, compared to them I’m fairly normal.
Unfortunately, with his position, Jess could not think of himself as very special, since there were existences lined up in this world that could cause tsunamis or call thunder and rain.
Because he had a special ability not other people had, not even elves, he could only live in this world comfortably as a pet.i.t bourgeois. (TN: lower middle cla.s.s)
Of course, he was already no longer an ordinary little boy.