Chapter 346 (1/2)

* * *

One day after he started learning magic.

Scribble, jot—

Su-hyeun drew a circle on the ground.

It was a fairly well-drawn circle, too. He filled it up with some lines and then opened his mouth to give a command, “Crush it.”

Gugugugu—

A powerful force began bearing down on the surroundings with the middle of the circle acting as the center.

“Gravity.”

Crunch, cruuuunch—

The sand particles found all around the circle got crushed and became even smaller than before. A rather strong pressure continued to bore down, but it didn’t impact Su-hyeun at all.

“…Hmm.”

Su-hyeun turned toward Ellid who was observing the proceedings and asked, “What’s the matter?”

For some reason, he had been making a puzzled expression.

Ellid alternated his gaze between Su-hyeun and Miru who was snoring peacefully to the side before finally asking his question, “Fella, are you really a human being?”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, first of all, there’s the matter of this child following you around and then…” Ellid shifted his gaze over to the magic circle Su-hyeun drew on the ground. “I also think your rate of learning magic is pretty much impossible for a human being.”

“But there’s no rule that says all humans must learn magic really slowly, is there?”

“Well, sure. There’s no such rule. However, your learning speed is even quicker than that of dragons.”

“Is that so?”

“You haven’t learned it elsewhere first, right?”

“Well, I’ve never been taught how to cast magic, but…” Su-hyeun replied while drawing the next magic circle. “I’m quite familiar with injecting ‘will’ into something.”

“You’re familiar with it?”

“Yes. I know something like that.”

Su-hyeun smiled faintly while making his reply.

“It’s similar to controlling the Somersault cloud and Palm Leaf,” he thought.

According to Ellid, you needed three things to cast magic: one, magical energy; two, a medium of some kind; and three, one’s will.

Su-hyeun had so much of the first requirement that it was practically overflowing.

The second part was taken care of not with theoretical formulas but magic circles brought to life by his drawing skills.

Therefore, the remaining issue was with the third requirement.

But then, he had been practicing that part for a while now by learning to command both the Somersault cloud and the Palm Leaf.

No, actually…

“Magic is so much easier.”

Both the Somersault cloud and the Palm Leaf were proofs of fairly high-leveled qualifications of godhood, so they required so much more concentration and willpower to command when compared to simple magic spells like this one.

Indeed, compared to those two, handling average magic spells was as easy as breathing to Su-hyeun now.

Meaning, even the third requirement needed to cast magic—”will”—didn’t prove to be a hindrance for him.

Su-hyeun stopped drawing the magic circle and stood up before placing his hand on the ground.

Ellid closely watched, wondering what Su-hyeun would do next.

And right at that moment…

“Freeze up—”

Crack, craaackle—

Simply by audibly saying the activation phrase that also indicated his desire, the ground began freezing up instantly. The surrounding air temperature plummeted as if a truly bitter cold front had suddenly rushed in.

As he thought, it was possible after all.

“As long as there’s enough magical energy, I can still bring about a powerful end result with my will and a simple magic spell like this.”

Of course, one had to pay the corresponding penalty afterward.

“The magic energy consumption is not very efficient, though.”

This was why the magicians kept creating different spells—the more complicated the formulas, the more complicated the magic circles. Those things weren’t simply for amplifying the power of the spells, however.

They were the results of all their research into increasing the magical energy consumption’s efficiency, which, in turn, would allow them to use much stronger magic.

While watching Su-hyeun getting ready to activate the next magic spell, Ellid crossed his arms and muttered to no one in particular. “Has he memorized the magic circles already?”

Not just in the manifestation of his will but Su-hyeun also proved to be top class in memorization and his understanding of the magic circles.

The last part was mostly due to Su-hyeun’s long-time interest in the compositions of the magic circles and his continued analysis of them that began back when he was still Kim Sung-in, but Ellid didn’t know that, so he could only think of it as his latent talent.

“Well, I guess we can just skip the basics, then.”

Crimson scales suddenly rose up above the eyes of Ellid who was currently in the figure of an old man.

“Interest.”

That was the most wonderful emotion for a dragon that had been living for a very long time.

Ellid had lived for far too long and lost interest in much of the things in existence, but then, he ended up experiencing something that his knowledge base said was impossible, and that roused his interest again for the first time in several dozen millennia.

“It seems that I won’t get bored for a while,” the dragon mused.

* * *

By the second day, Su-hyeun was able to converse and cast magic at the same time.

“Hmm, how should I put this? The feeling I got was like looking at the god of the dead,” said Ellid.

“The god of the dead, you say?”

Pah-bababababak—

Su-hyeun gestured with his hand, and countless sharp wooden spikes shot up from the ground.

He “drew” the shape of a magic circle inside his mind and poured his will into it, all the while chatting to Ellid.

“Indeed. It wasn’t the magical energy nor the dark magical energy normally utilized by the dark magicians. That creature commanded something far darker than theirs, kind of similar to the ominous energy the undead possesses.”

“Could that be…” Su-hyeun stopped casting magic briefly and roused up a different kind of energy in his hand. “Something like this?”

Shu-wuwuwu—

From his hand, a faint but black-colored aura began spreading out.

At the same time, Ellid, who was sitting on the wooden chair, jumped up from his spot. “But, how…?!”

“It’s called ‘Death Aura.’ Just like you said, it’s a type of energy required to command the dead, sir.” While saying that, Su-hyeun extended his hand to a spot on the opposite side to Ellid and commanded, “Arise.”

Shu-aaaahk—

The Death Aura whipped up and coalesced on a spot before turning into a single figure. Prince Nezha soon made his appearance and knelt down before Su-hyeun.

“It’s like this,” said Su-hyeun.

“Fella, you were a dark magician?”

“Sir, you know better than anyone that that’s not true.”