Chapter 218: Proficiency in Fire Magic (2)

Hwayoung Sunbae’s lecture on flame magic continued for several more hours.

Perhaps she was quite pleased with how I was learning according to her advice, Sunbae poured all her heart and soul into continuing the magic lecture for me.

I responded to Sunbae’s lecture with all my might, doing my best to meet her expectations.

Of course, it was a bit too much to advance to the advanced curriculum in just one day, so most of the first day’s class time was spent learning the decomposition formulas for 1st and 2nd Circle magic.

“Heat generation involves diffusion, ignition, and amplification. Be careful, because changing the order turns it into a completely different spell.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Flame Blast is just Fireball minus cohesion and aiming. Synthesizing five spells makes it 2nd Circle magic. Up to three is 1st Circle, up to five is 2nd Circle.”

“I understand!”

As I listened to Sunbae’s lecture, constantly revising the decomposition formulas, I truly felt like I was realizing just how thoughtlessly I had used my magic-based abilities.

…To think I was actually using spells like Fireball and Fire Arrow in real combat with such mediocre skills.

It was like confirming just how baseless my confidence was when I aimed to use flame magic as my main weapon after swordsmanship.

“You clearly understand now that moving on to the next Circle without properly grasping the current one isn’t growth at all, right?”

“Yes. I truly, deeply understand.”

“Then, here’s a question. I’m going to check if you’ve been listening to my lectures properly.”

“……Yes.”

“Between the 1st Circle spell Flame Blast and the 2nd Circle spell Fireball, which one do you think is the more powerful spell?”

“Uh……”

It’s natural to assume Fireball is stronger than Flame Blast.

Fireball is simply Flame Blast with added cohesion to increase its intensity and aiming for stability.

However, given the flow of our conversation, I had a feeling that simply saying Fireball was stronger would be marked as the wrong answer.

And guessing Flame Blast was stronger wouldn’t help either, because I wouldn’t be able to explain why.

I honestly admitted my ignorance and answered her.

“I believe Fireball is the stronger spell, but somehow, hearing you, Hwayoung Sunbae, I feel like Flame Blast might be the more powerful one.”

“What are you talking about? Fireball is obviously stronger because it has cohesion and acceleration added to Flame Blast. Where on earth have you been listening to my lecture?”

“……I apologize.”

What is this? I was the one who answered foolishly, yet somehow I feel like I’ve been tricked.

Still, as if my guess wasn’t entirely wrong, Hwayoung Sunbae continued with further explanation.

“Okay, here’s another question. Imagine a mage who only uses Flame Blast and another who only uses Fireball in combat. Assume both have a similar total amount of mana they can operate. Which of the two do you think would show higher efficiency?”

“Since Fireball is the stronger spell, wouldn’t the Fireball user be more efficient?”

“It depends on the opponent, but in this case, the one using only Flame Blast is generally more efficient.”

…Why are you doing this to me?

I almost lost my mind due to Hwayoung Sunbae’s teaching method, which seemed designed to make me give wrong answers, but I managed to pull myself together and asked for an explanation.

“Why is Flame Blast more efficient than Fireball in actual combat?”

“Because the mana consumption difference between 1st and 2nd Circle spells is twofold. To use Fireball once, you need to consume twice the mana required for Flame Blast. So, while it’s stronger than Flame Blast as a single-target spell, it doesn’t possess double the destructive power of Flame Blast.”

“……Ah!”

“Obviously, the mana within a person’s body isn’t infinite. Once consumed, it needs to be replenished through adequate rest and nutrition. Mana potions aren’t a cure-all either, so it’s naturally better not to use them frequently. This applies to stamina as well, not just mana.”

Perhaps because the explanation came from Sunbae, who had extensive practical experience with flame magic, every point felt clearly understandable.

Until now, I had vaguely thought that higher Circle magic simply equaled greater power, but in actual combat, where means of replenishing mana are limited, efficiency is an undeniable factor.

I remembered how I almost got into serious trouble during the previous Kraken battle after completely depleting my internal energy.

“Furthermore, if you divert the mana intended for creating Fireball, you can achieve things like this.”

As she spoke, a rather large mass of flame erupted on Hwayoung Sunbae’s palm.

Holding the fireball, which bloomed to about twice the size of a standard one, she continued her explanation.

“Do you know what this is?”

“It’s a fireball… did you increase the number of mana emissions?”

“Correct. I used the mana that would have been spent on cohesion and aiming to increase its size through mana emission. Add acceleration to this, and it becomes ‘Superheated Blast’. I don’t need to explain the difference in raw power between Superheated Blast and Fireball, do I?”

“……Yes.”

Compared to Fireball, its stability might be slightly lower, but the raw power of Superheated Blast would likely be overwhelming.

“This is just a simple example. The important thing is how you can utilize it in combat. Can you honestly guarantee that the magic you’ve learned so far constitutes all the magic up to the 5th Circle?”

“No, absolutely not.”

“Spells like Flame Tornado or Scorched Earth became famous and formalized because they are so efficient, but mages fight by using spells in much more diverse ways in combat. This naturally includes countless unnamed spells that aren’t generally known.”

“Indeed, combat requires such a variety of magic.”

“Even spells that aren’t good enough to be formalized can often be useful in unexpected situations, as can spells that would normally just get in the way. And sometimes, selfish bitches hoard their own unique spells and use them as secret weapons. Relying solely on memorizing existing spell formulas is tantamount to declaring you won’t even consider using all these other spells.”

“I’ve truly learned a lot.”

It somehow turned into more of a mental reprogramming session than a magic lecture, but looking back, every word was true.

If I had decided to grow on my own without her help, I might have spent my life completely unaware and wasted time in pointless pursuits.

It was a moment where I realized again the need for the will to grow independently, rather than relying solely on the levels gained through awakened abilities.

Just as my head started to feel tired from the flood of new knowledge and mental discipline, Hwayoung Sunbae finally concluded today’s lecture.

“Let’s stop here for today. Learning too much at once will only increase how much you forget.”

“Understood.”

“And I’ll give you homework too. Bring it by the week after next.”

“…Homework?”

“Yeah, homework.”

The word, which evoked nostalgia for my school days but wasn’t exactly missed, came out of her mouth.

“By the week after next, create one 3rd Circle spell. Make sure it’s not one that’s been formalized yet.”

“……You want me to create it myself?”

“I don’t want a 3rd Circle spell made by simply synthesizing six or seven spells. Bring one that’s at a level where it can actually be used in combat. Making something mediocre will just cause you more trouble.”

“……”

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“…Understood.”

I’ve only just started to grasp the concept of magic, and now I’m being told to create a 3rd Circle spell out of the blue.

This was a different kind of Spartan education compared to Eunyoung Noona’s.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

As I was organizing the overwhelming information flooding my mind, I heard Hwayoung Sunbae’s voice.

“We decided on pizza for dinner, right? Do you have a preferred topping?”

“Anything is fine… Oh, do you happen to have Hawaiian pizza?”

“You don’t need to worry, I wouldn’t order something like that anyway.”

“Huh? No, I mean, if you have Hawaiian, I was going to say I’d prefer that…”

“What…?”

Hwayoung Sunbae’s expression twisted as if asking, ‘What kind of guy is this?’

“Just because you’re a guy, you like sweet and sour pizza? You look like the type who’d only eat chicken breast pizza.”

“It’s not because I’m a guy, I like it because it’s delicious. Fruits become sweeter and tastier when baked, you know.”

“So why do you need to taste that sweetness even on pizza?”

“And fruits are healthy too. As far as I know, even semen gets a little sweeter.”

“……We’ll order half and half. You can have the pineapple part all to yourself.”

“Understood.”

As if she didn’t want to eat pineapple pizza herself, she reluctantly compromised.

“…It’ll take about an hour.”

“It’s peak delivery time, so it’s understandable. We’ll wait patiently.”

“Okay. Then, while we wait, browse through those pharmacology books over there and pick out anything you might need.”

“……Huh?”

“Well, since I came all the way here, I can’t just send you back empty-handed. If there’s anything you need, I’ll give you a few things when we head back tomorrow.”

…Just how generous is this teacher going to be?

“It’s okay. You don’t have to go to so much trouble.”

“I want to take care of you. Just accept it when you can, don’t refuse.”

“…Understood.”

Bringing it up again would likely just lead to the same exchange, so I took out the pharmacology book she indicated and opened it.

I didn’t really need anything right now, so I wasn’t sure if there’d be anything worth taking.

If worse came to worst, I considered taking some stamina or mana potions to give to Hye-eun, when a single pill, used for a different purpose than the usual potions, caught my eye among them.

“Sunbae, what is this used for?”

“Let me see… What is it, it’s just a cold medicine.”

“Is it really just cold medicine? Not something with other side effects?”

“What side effects would cold medicine have? Cold medicine is cold medicine.”

…Then again, I admit it was a rather foolish question.

Still, cold medicine itself was quite an appealing item. After all, diseases caused by bacteria or viruses couldn’t be cured by my recovery skill.

Especially since both Hye-eun and I suffered from colds this past summer.

Thinking it would be good to have one, I asked her.

“Can I take this one?”

“…You want that? We do have some leftover stock, but I wouldn’t exactly recommend it.”

“Why not?”

“It’s definitely effective, but the method of administration is rather… unpleasant.”

“Unpleasant method of administration, you say?”

“…It’s a suppository. You insert it into the rear opening.”

“……”

The moment I heard the answer from Sunbae, a quiet smile spread across my lips.

It was the moment another way to utilize this medicine naturally came to mind.