episode_0010

Fwoosh.

The flame that bloomed on his hand incinerated the surrounding air. Intense heat radiated in all directions, and the books flying around Asel hastily moved to other spots. Only the flame grimoire clutched in his hand remained unharmed.

Ena furrowed her brows at the sight.

‘He gained a core yesterday. He’s using magic without undergoing the stabilization process.’

She found it absurd even thinking about it. Was that even possible?

A mage basically has to undergo the core stabilization process. Although Asel’s core had just formed, its stability was no different from that of a skilled mage. No, in fact, it even showed superior aspects. Its mana conductivity, absorption rate, purity, and flow easily surpassed those of most mages.

However, that didn’t mean he didn’t need to undergo the stabilization process. Even if it looked fine on the surface, when delving into the deeper domains known only to the caster themselves, there were unfinished parts somewhere. If magic was used in that state, not only the core but also the caster would explode like a bomb. In a physical sense.

Despite that…

“Master?”

Ena let out a scoff, looking at her disciple who was increasing the size of the flame even further.

Flame magic originating from the Ignis Magic Tower. The magic Asel was using was, in a way, magic of a different lineage, modified from that flame magic into a unique branch of magic. It was difficult to use, and if done incorrectly, the flames could make oneself the firewood and even burn the master. Yet, he was kindling them quite naturally.

A mage who had just built his core, without undergoing the stabilization process.

‘…Now I’m tired of being surprised.’

Ena thought so, exhaling a long breath.

The fact that Asel’s talent was outstanding was something she had already known for a long time. Even if other talents suddenly popped out now, she wouldn’t feel the same感動(deep impression/excitement) as before. It was surprising, but that was all. As a master, she simply felt joy at her disciple’s excellence.

“Asel. Do you feel any repulsion when manifesting magic?”

Dispelling her thoughts, Ena first asked that.

For a mage, attribute change was extremely important.

The number of magic types a mage could use was determined by their affinity for a certain attribute. A mage of a high rank could use magic of other types regardless of affinity, but even that was limited to basic magic and they would feel repulsion every time they manifested it.

Unique magic worked with a slightly different concept, but the magic Asel activated was based on flame magic at its core. If he didn’t have an aptitude for the flame attribute, it would fundamentally be impossible to use it from the start. Ena thought that perhaps Asel might be able to manifest magic he wasn’t suited for with his outstanding mana control ability. She asked, keeping that in mind.

But Asel shook his head as if there was no repulsion at all.

“Not at all.”

“Okay, that’s good.”

Ena nodded and said.

“It seems your aptitude is towards flame magic. We won’t need to do an aptitude test specifically.”

“Ah… Is that so?”

Asel overtly showed his disappointment and extinguished the flame held in his hand.

The heat radiating from the remnants of the fire, which had vanished just by clenching his fist, completely died down. He brushed off the lingering embers on his fingertips and looked at Ena with a wry smile.

“I was hoping for lightning, if possible.”

“I was hoping for that too. Because if it were lightning magic, I could teach you directly. But with flame… It might be better to learn magic from someone else. Although I will teach you the basic magic system.”

“Is there no possibility that I might also have an aptitude for lightning?”

At Asel’s question, Ena pondered for a moment before opening her mouth.

“It’s not impossible. It’s possible if you’re a dual-attribute wielder.”

“How can I know that?”

“Either by taking an aptitude test, or by trying to use magic, like you just did. It’s one of the two.”

“Hmm…”

As soon as Asel heard Ena’s words, he started glaring at the books that were gathering around him again. It was to see if there were any books related to lightning magic. At that sight, Ena let out a chuckle.

“All the books related to lightning magic are in my archive. Since I’m the only lightning mage on the continent, I’m keeping them here.”

“Ah…”

“Are you impatient?”

Ena asked in a gentle voice. Asel nodded with an embarrassed expression.

“A little.”

“Don’t worry. I plan to do the aptitude test today as scheduled. As you said, who knows if you might also have talent in other magic types. We have to check.”

At Ena’s words, Asel’s expression eased as if he was relieved.

Walking and talking, they soon arrived at a massive hall.

From the clean wooden walls, ceiling, and floor, a strong magical power that couldn’t be hidden seeped out. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling operated by magic, and due to the magic used by the mages sitting here and there, fragments of spell formations could be felt directly.

It felt like entering a den of mages. The reality was probably not much different.

Asel’s eyes sparkled, and he swept his gaze around in all directions. He had seen many magics since entering Wihaim, but this was the first time he was seeing various types of magic this closely. Interest naturally surged, and his mana core tingled.

Ena left Asel to it and strode towards the far end of the hall. Asel slowly followed behind her.

There were surprisingly many mages seated in the Witches’ Assembly hall. From young mages summoning spirits to play with, to mages kindling flames in their hands to light pipes, to mages holding crystal balls and bestowing various spell formations within them, to mages gathered together discussing magic, etc. Casters of various personalities threw a glance this way once and then looked away.

Asel then happened to make eye contact with a young girl and bowed his head towards her. Since Ena looked similar to the girl in appearance, he did it thinking she might also be a mature mage.

“Hmph!”

But far from accepting the greeting, she flushed deeply in the cheeks, made a snorting sound, and sharply turned her head away. At that ridiculous sight, Asel narrowed his eyes.

‘If she were in the slums, she wouldn’t have lasted long.’

A judgment made in an instant. Asel lost interest in the girl and scurried towards Ena’s side.

“Where do I get my membership card?”

“That one over there.”

Ena pointed to someone with her hand.

It was a woman with a pipe from which smoke was rising held in her mouth. Her appearance was naive, looking like she had just become an adult, but her demeanor was not. The composure that only a mage who had accumulated undeniable experience and reached a high rank could show flowed from her body.

She was clearly powerful at first glance. As soon as Asel saw her, he felt his mana core stirring and nodded.

“Ena.”

She smiled and called Ena’s name. Ena waved and approached her.

“Long time no see, Irina.”

“Indeed. How long has it been?”

“I don’t know.”

“Actually, I don’t know either.”

Phew.

Irina said, exhaling smoke from her pipe, then cast her gaze towards Asel. Asel looked at her scarlet eyes and bowed at the waist.

“Hello.”

“Yes, hello. I don’t know how many years it’s been since a man came in here.”

Male mages also existed in the Witches’ Assembly. However, they had left long ago, unable to endure the atmosphere here filled with only women. Thanks to that, it had been a very long time since a man, especially a young boy, set foot in this place.

Perhaps because of that, Irina was quite interested in Asel. The fact that he was the protagonist of the noisy rumors Bel had been spreading added to her interest. Her eyes were full of Asel.

“I’d like to get a membership card.”

But as Ena stood in front of Asel as if protecting him, what reflected in Irina’s eyes changed to Ena’s expressionless face. Irina looked at her blue eyes for a moment, then let out a chuckle and nodded.

“Is it for that child?”

“Yes. Because he’s my disciple.”

“I heard about it from Bel. She must have switched her vocal cords with an orc’s, she was going around screaming loudly. Thanks to that, there’s probably no one in the Witches’ Assembly who doesn’t know you’ve taken on a disciple now.”

Irina said so, waving her hand in the air, and asked Asel.

“Little one, what’s your name?”

“It’s Asel.”

“Your gender would be male… How old are you?”

“I’m 12 years old.”

“You’re young. But it’s too late an age to start learning magic. But well… Our Ena must have taken you in with some thought.”

Irina shaped mana into a rectangular form. She refined the lines with the tip of her pipe and recorded Asel’s personal information within it.

“Have you awakened your mana?”

“Yes.”

“Show me.”

Asel immediately kindled mana on his palm. Irina reached out her hand as if to tear off a part of the mana mass and said.

“It’ll hurt a little. Bear with it.”

“Yes?”

It was before he could even perceive it. Irina instantly reached out and tore off a part of Asel’s mana.

No, to be precise, she *tried* to tear it off. Despite Irina’s gesture, Asel’s mana remained motionless.

“?”

A question appeared on her face. She looked at Ena, who was standing quietly beside Asel, with a look that asked what this was. Ena chuckled and whispered into Asel’s ear.

“Tear off just a little mana and give it to Irina.”

“Ah, yes.”

Asel nodded and tore off a minuscule amount of the kindled mana and handed it to Irina.

It was control ability of the highest degree. Separation and distribution of mana, absolutely impossible for a mage who had just started learning magic. Irina’s face went blank for a moment, but she immediately cleared her throat and straightened her expression.

“Ahem. Thank you.”

“Yes.”

Irina took the mana Asel handed her and pushed it into her pipe. She inhaled the smoke in that state and exhaled, and Asel’s mana, contained in the smoke, slid into the interior of the rectangle. The remaining smoke adjusted the shape of the rectangle and filled its interior with gray.

“Done.”

As the gray filled up, the rectangle floating in the air trembled briefly, then fell to the floor with a thump. Irina picked up the fallen object and threw it to Asel. It was a card the size of a palm. Asel skillfully caught the card and examined its contents.

The contents written were nothing special. Below the large letters that read “Witches’ Assembly Membership Card”, his name, age, gender, and a description of his mana circuit were written in small letters. Asel put the membership card away in his pocket and bowed his head towards Irina.

“Thank you.”

“He’s a truly polite friend. I like him.”

Irina said so, then got up and tossed her pipe into the air with a flick. At the same time, the pipe turned into smoke and disappeared. She roughly ruffled Asel’s black hair and said.

“Membership card issuance is done, now we need to add your name to the Witches’ Assembly register. Ena, is it okay to do it right away?”

“Yes. We need to finish quickly and go do the aptitude test.”

“Ah, right, we need to do that too.”

After a short conversation.

Irina led Asel to a corner of the hall.

In the corner, there was a sheet of pure white paper and a cube with a hole large enough for a finger.

“Just put your finger inside there, and think of your name, and you’re done. Do you have any questions?”

“No.”

“Good.”

Irina nodded and gestured towards the cube with her chin. Asel put his finger into the cube without hesitation.

With a cracking sound, a sharp pain was felt at the tip of his finger. His face furrowed at the unexpected pain, but he didn’t pull his finger out. It was from being surprised, but the pain itself was nothing much. It wasn’t enough to make a fuss.

Blood flowing with a throbbing pain dyed the transparent tube of the cube red. The blood moved as if flowing through a pipe, then suddenly stopped, and began to spurt out through a small hole located at the top of the cube.

All the blood, which wasn’t even much, came out of the cube. It drew a circle in the air and was all sucked into the paper placed next to the cube as if being absorbed.

In an instant, the paper was dyed with blood. But it wasn’t scattered randomly. Asel realized that the blood written on the paper had drawn his name and let out an exclamation of admiration.

“Is this Blood Magic?”

“That’s right. One of the Elders is a vampire. They made it.”

As soon as the blood dried, the paper with his name written on it flew off somewhere with a whoosh. Asel followed Irina’s words that he could take his finger out and pulled his finger from the cube. Curiously, there was no wound.

A method of extracting blood without causing a wound. Perhaps this was also a type of Blood Magic, Asel thought.

“Okay. Ena, it’s all done.”

Irina said so and turned her head towards Ena. Ena, who had been surrounded by Bel and other mages, turned into a pure white lightning bolt and arrived in front of Asel in an instant. She gently stroked Asel’s head and nodded.

“It didn’t hurt?”

“It was bearable.”

“That’s good.”

Ena smiled gently. Irina, who watched the scene, wrinkled her expression as if slightly fed up.

“You… Are you Ena? You’re usually expressionless and give one-word answers, but you’re even smiling in front of your disciple.”

“Don’t slander me.”

“I can’t believe this.”

Irina shook her head with a wry smile. Then she looked at the mages gathered around and continued speaking.

“They’re probably all very interested in you. Because you suddenly took on a disciple, when you ignored the Elders even when they told you to raise successors.”

“It’s not my fault I didn’t find anyone satisfactory.”

“Yes, that’s right. So there’ll be a lot of interest directed at your disciple too. They’ll be curious about what kind of person could satisfy your eyes. They might even try to take Asel away from you.”

“If they want to die, tell them to go ahead.”

Ena spat out in a chillingly low voice. Irina replied as if dumbfounded.

“…You know killing among Witches’ Assembly members is impossible, right? Unless they’re colluding with demons.”

“I don’t care.”

“Don’t do that. I’m saying this because I think you’d actually do it.”

Ena clicked her tongue and placed her hands on Asel’s shoulders.

“Anyway. We’re done here now, so we’ll leave.”

“Just do the aptitude test here. Letitia is here right now too.”

“Alright, I’ll do that then.”

“Conversation is so boring. Be a little charming. How long are you going to live as a virgin?”

“I’ll handle it myself.”

Ena said so, then turned around sharply, leading Asel.

Irina shook her head repeatedly and shouted.

“Letitia is on the other side!”

“…”

Ena turned her body back around.