Ch.123Fragments of Heaven’s Paper

While waiting for a response from Korkas Mine, there was one significant achievement.

The interpretation of the grand magic passed down from Anastasia was finally completed.

Jessica, who had been wrestling with the scrolls late into the night, could hardly sleep due to her excitement, like a child anticipating a picnic. As soon as morning came, she was the first to rise, eager to rush out and test the magic.

After barely managing to hold Jessica back and finishing our meal of bread and smoked meat, we moved to an open space about 200 meters away from Northern Fortress.

“Is it really okay to test grand magic in such an open area? Someone with good eyesight could probably see us from Northern Fortress.”

“It’s fine. This magic doesn’t have any visible effects.”

“Is it a succubus’s hypnotic magic?”

“Don’t say such frightening things, Seti. If Jessica were my opponent, I wouldn’t have any confidence in resisting.”

“Hehe… that sounds attractive? But unfortunately, this magic doesn’t affect other people. I’ll show you what it is now.”

As Jessica opened the grimoire in her left hand and closed her eyes, a large magic circle about 5 meters in diameter began to form beneath her feet.

The magic circle, which looked as if it had been drawn with black ink, emitted neither dazzling light nor fluctuating magical energy.

“Will, Mina, Phyllis. Could you fire your guns and Lightning Bolts from outside the magic circle toward the inside? Since it might fail, please aim so that I won’t be hit directly.”

“Got it.”

Seeing Jessica make such a request, I wondered if this was some kind of defensive magic.

With that thought, Mina, Phyllis, and I positioned ourselves a few steps away from the magic circle at appropriate distances and aimed our guns.

“Lightning Bolt {Accelerated Thunder Shot}!!”

‘Ratatang!’

‘Tang-!’

With Phyllis’s Lightning Bolt as the signal, white lightning and white magic bullets flew from our three gun barrels toward the magic circle.

As Jessica had requested, we avoided direct hits, so those spells and magic bullets should pass by her side and fly to the opposite side…

“Huh?”

The magic bullets and white lightning that flew into the magic circle slowed down as if they were being played in slow motion on an ultra-high-speed camera, and eventually came to a complete stop in mid-air.

Then, as Jessica raised one hand high, the four magic bullets and the streak of lightning scattered like dust and gathered at her fingertips.

After absorbing all the scattered magic, or rather, ‘what had been magic,’ Jessica lightly clenched her raised hand into a fist and opened her eyes.

A soft light was emanating from her sky-blue eyes, clear as an autumn sky.

“Phew, somehow it worked.”

“What did you just do?”

“I deconstructed the magic that flew into the magic circle and collected its magical energy. I’ve completely grasped the deconstructed magic’s formula and structure, and I can absorb this energy to replenish my own depleted magic or use it for other spells.”

“Human and Elven magic should differ in their fundamental theories. Is it possible to grasp and deconstruct the formula in such a short time?”

“All I can say is that this is truly grand magic left by the Great Sage. The name of this magic is ‘Fragment of Omniscience,’ and true to its name, it’s an incredible spell that allows understanding of anything related to magic.”

Jessica, catching her breath slightly, stretched her hand toward me, and from her fingertips, a small orb of light like a firefly flew toward me.

I instinctively flinched for a moment, but thinking that Jessica wouldn’t harm me, I calmly accepted the orb of light, feeling as if strength was welling up from deep within my body.

“I can also transfer the collected magical energy to others like this. Will, would you try using your skill in this state? I mean the one you used when you defeated the Minotaur and Crow.”

“Alright. I’ll give it a try.”

I place my finger on the cylinder’s engraving to reload the spent magic bullets, put the pistol back in its holster, and take my stance.

Jessica probably intends to completely analyze the structure of my skill through this grand magic.

“…This won’t work on its own. Could someone throw a stone or something into the magic circle?”

“Got it.”

Seti, who was standing furthest away, picked up a small piece of rock from the ground and threw it into the magic circle.

On its trajectory, it would hit Jessica’s head with a light tap.

The stone was only about the size of a fingertip, so it wouldn’t hurt Jessica, but it was perfect for stimulating a sense of targeting a dangerous object flying toward her.

‘Here I go!’

Skill, successfully activated.

Time around me slows down, and I can feel the brain’s command starting from the top of my head traveling through my nerves to my right hand.

My right hand reaching for the holster feels as heavy as iron at first, but the burden lessens with each passing moment, and in a sensation as if the whole world has stopped, I draw my revolver and execute a perfect fanning shot.

Second shot, third shot, and five more after that.

Six magic bullets, merged into one bright beam of light, belatedly leave the muzzle.

What follows is the meeting of a white meteor racing through frozen time and a tiny stone fragment that poses no more threat than a light flick to the forehead.

Powerless against this overwhelming and beautiful violence, the small stone fragment melts away like a snowflake falling onto a stove.

‘Taaang-!!’

Time, which had been frozen, flows again, and a long gunshot echoes belatedly.

Despite receiving a massive amount of magical energy from Jessica, I feel strength draining from my body.

It doesn’t cause magical depletion, but there’s enough recoil to make my vision blur momentarily and my body stagger.

“Whoa…”

“Are you alright, Will?”

“Yeah, I managed somehow. How’s Jessica?”

As Phyllis supports me, I look toward Jessica and see a brilliantly shining magic bullet suspended in mid-air inside the magic circle.

But unlike the earlier magic bullets or Lightning Bolt, the bullet fired using my skill doesn’t decompose into magical energy but slowly loses its light and disappears in place.

“Haah…”

‘Thud’

“Jessica!?”

As Jessica collapses, the magic circle spread on the ground disappears, and the faint magical connection I felt between Jessica and me is severed.

It’s clear that the attempt to analyze my skill through the Fragment of Omniscience has failed.

“Are you okay, Jessica?”

“Thanks, Seti. I’m just a bit drained, so don’t worry.”

“Is it dangerous or will it have any negative effects on your body?”

“No. But I didn’t expect all that magical energy to be used up and for the recoil to reach me too. Will’s skill is amazing…”

“Did you figure it out? It looked like it failed to me.”

“Half a success, maybe? Anyway, let’s sit down somewhere and rest for a bit. I need time to organize my thoughts, so I’ll explain afterward.”

As much as I’d like to lie down on the ground and rest right away, if a Fire Drake were to appear, we couldn’t handle it in our current condition.

With Phyllis supporting me and Seti supporting Jessica, we walked the 200 meters back to our lodgings at Northern Fortress on trembling legs.

“Ugh~ I’m dying…”

“Aren’t you exaggerating? Seeing that you didn’t collapse, this must have been the lightest burden so far.”

“It seems like having more magical energy doesn’t reduce the burden. Rather, it feels like the ability gets stronger as it uses up all available magic.”

“That’s correct. Although I couldn’t completely analyze Will’s skill, it definitely had that structure.”

Jessica fanned her face with her palm to cool the sweat running down it, then began to explain the verification results.

“As you all saw, the Fragment of Omniscience is an incredible spell that can dominate magic within its range, analyze its structure, and by deconstructing its formula, even make its magical energy my own.”

“They say it’s grand magic left by the Great Sage, and it certainly lives up to its name. Does that mean you’re practically invincible against magic while it’s active?”

“Not exactly. I was able to dominate White Magic Bullets and Lightning Bolt at once because I’m familiar with them from seeing them often, but dominating unfamiliar or complex magic would be more difficult.”

Even though she says that, the fact that she can “completely counter familiar spells” alone gives her an overwhelming advantage against gunners or mages.

If those who looked down on her for being a Codex Mage saw Jessica now, wouldn’t they regret it bitterly?

“Next, regarding Will’s skill, it doesn’t seem to be a single ability but has a multi-layered structure where several magical effects activate consecutively.”

“Multi-layered structure?”

“At first I thought it was a crisis detection skill, but since around the Disease Demon’s dungeon, the ability has been gradually expanding, right? That’s not because the skill changed, but because you started drawing out its original potential according to your needs.”

Jessica’s explanation had some commonalities with what I had instinctively felt during my duel with Crow.

The power to perceive the surrounding space to detect attacks from outside my field of vision, to elevate the original quick draw technique to the realm of special abilities, and to hit targets that are physically separated but magically connected.

My self-analysis of it being a power that transcends time and space was fairly close to the truth.

“I think activating this skill’s full potential would require an unimaginable amount of magical energy. Since you can’t handle that, only the performance possible within the range of magic you can pour in is manifested.”

“Indeed, when I just used it after receiving magic from Jessica, the feeling was much clearer than before.”

“Then since both Will and Jessica managed to withstand it without collapsing from magical depletion this time, can we say it displayed its maximum performance?”

“That’s unknown. The ability that shattered the curse itself in the Disease Demon’s dungeon wasn’t activated, so it likely stopped at the level needed to just shoot down a small stone.”

To use an analogy, it’s like firing all ammunition at maximum firepower for whatever weapon is immediately needed.

To see the bottom of this ability, I would need infinite magical backup in an extreme situation.

“…Wait, then if we borrowed the power of that artifact where infinite magic springs forth—”

“Yes. In a situation where maximum ability needs to be displayed, it might solve the problem of required magical energy. But I think it’s more important to be able to consciously separate and control the effects of the skill.”

“Separate and control the effects? In what way?”

“Since I’m not the skill holder myself, I can’t say specifically… but for example, did you really need to fire all six shots to hit that stone earlier?”

“Ah, that’s true.”

There’s definitely waste in the way I currently use my skill.

When I first drew out the skill’s potential, I was in an extreme situation against the Minotaur, and with the thought that I would die if I didn’t defeat it, I poured out all the firepower I could muster.

If we assume that experience is acting as a kind of habit or mental trigger, then by changing that habit, I might be able to use just the necessary amount of ability without exhausting all my magic.

“If I could control the skill in detail, I wouldn’t have to keep it as a last-resort finishing move that knocks me out after one use. Once my condition improves, I should practice with that in mind.”

“I’d also like to use the grand magic’s help to complete a spell I’ve been conceptualizing for a while.”

“Alright. I want to get more familiar with the Fragment of Omniscience too, so I’ll join your practice whenever we have time.”

We’re in a leisurely situation anyway until we hear from Korkas Mine.

I don’t know how long it will take to achieve results, but with the mindset that even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, let’s practice getting accustomed to our new powers.