Magic Training for Survival (1)

Passing the buck.

A beautiful custom of South Korea, where one shoves undesirable tasks onto their subordinates.

Whether it’s doing a team project in a university major class, living in a group like in the military, or dividing work among several people.

When people gather and form an organization, a hierarchy naturally forms. Thus, it was inevitable that ‘passing the buck’ would exist in this world too, and as soon as I realized I had been subjected to it by the senior maids, profanity reflexively burst out.

‘Yes, understood. Is work, like other duties, from 6 AM?’

‘Yes. 6 AM…’

‘What are you talking about, Katarina. Kitchen assistant duties start at 4 AM.’

‘Right. You can come to work here from 4 AM. You’ll probably know what to do as soon as you arrive, so even if we’re a little late, just start first~.’

“Ah, r-right… It was 4 AM, 4 AM!”

‘Yes, understood, senior-nim. Then I will see you again tomorrow at 4 AM.’

The conversation from last night flashed through my mind as soon as I confirmed there was no one in the kitchen.

Until then, I had a hunch that something felt a little off, but I never imagined that hunch would turn out to be completely accurate.

“The conversation felt a bit awkward… These sluts are passing the buck to me…?”

They only had a year more of service than me, yet they’d already learned such wicked tricks. I was so habitually focused on my maid duties that I hadn’t even thought about it.

They’ll probably sneak out around 6 AM, their original work time. Even if they passed the buck to me, they can’t just not show up for work. And they’ll leisurely work at a relaxed pace, just doing the amount I’ve already completed.

…Yes, I can certainly endure that much.

It’s a game world, a fantasy world, but any place where people live together is like that.

Expecting moral excellence from a maid working in a Ducal Family was strange to begin with.

And in fact, this situation of having work delegated to me was actually quite good for me. Especially since I could freely pursue the goal for which I truly desired kitchen duty.

“It’s much better for practicing magic when no one else is around.”

Originally, I had planned to secretly and carefully practice magic while being mindful of the other senior maids, but now that I was completely alone, it meant I could use magic freely without worrying about anyone else. So, in many ways, the current situation wasn’t bad at all.

In this world, the maximum amount of mana can be increased in three main ways.

Among them, the best method is to completely deplete your mana and then perfectly refill it. By simply repeating this, the maximum mana capacity increases regardless of level; that was the law of this world.

Although there are two other methods, this was the only one I could utilize right now.

I couldn’t expect growth by hunting monsters and leveling up right now.

“I can use magic freely, and I have a way to replenish mana… Being alone is actually a total jackpot, isn’t it…?”

A place where I could use magic to my heart’s content without being discovered.

And a place overflowing with means (ingredients) to replenish mana as soon as it’s consumed.

It was such a perfect environment that I should be grateful to the senior maids for passing the buck to me, rather than being upset.

“Later, when I reach a high level, I won’t be able to grow due to mana replenishment issues, so I should raise it as much as possible while I’m still at level 2.”

Growth by depleting mana to the bottom and then refilling it is much more challenging to utilize at higher levels than at lower ones.

Depleting mana to the bottom itself didn’t differ much between low and high levels, but increasing the maximum mana at higher levels naturally came with different kinds of restrictions.

Once mana exceeding three, or even four, digits was completely depleted, refilling it entirely was a considerably arduous task.

In this world, most means of mana recovery other than sleep were food, and the human stomach had a limit to how much food it could digest at once.

One apple recovers 30 mana, so even eating three wouldn’t fully replenish 100.

To replenish 1000 mana, which exceeds four digits, one would have to eat 34 apples, which would essentially be no different from food torture. In the game, there were indeed limits to replenishing mana with food. An invisible satiety gauge in the interface would display a message saying you couldn’t eat any more if you consumed too much.

The most efficient items were usually ridiculously expensive, meant to be used only when most crucial, or were foods that most characters avoided, making them impossible to eat.

However, apart from such a distant future, my current maximum mana was only 21. Even after depleting it completely, one apple was enough to fully replenish it, making now the most efficient time to increase my maximum mana.

Moreover, this kitchen would be full of the ‘efficient items’ I mentioned earlier.

“Probably around here… Ah, found it.”

Among the sacks containing various famine crops and vegetables, I found one that seemed to have unusually small contents, and as expected, it contained bundles of mana replenishment items.

Just like the other ingredients, a considerable amount of garlic bundles, as if an entire patch of a field had been brought in.

“Chewing raw garlic isn’t really to my taste… but there’s no other option right now.”

If I were Lilith, the game character herself, I wouldn’t even be able to eat it, but fortunately, Lilith’s current occupant was Lee Ji-hwan, a healthy young man from South Korea.

As a Korean, known as the ‘people of spices,’ I would actually be grateful if I could replenish mana by chewing raw garlic.

“Before eating, I should learn some magic first.”

If I tried to replenish mana while it was already full, the total mana wouldn’t increase, so emptying my mana with magic was the priority.

To do that, I needed to learn magic first, so I had to carefully choose the first spell to learn. The amount of skill points obtainable per level was limited anyway, and I didn’t know when the opportunity to level up Lilith, who was currently level 2, would come.

“Learning mediocre monster-hunting magic would be useless. Buff spells are also meaningless alone.”

In fact, I had already decided on a spell ever since I heard my workplace would be moved to the kitchen today, so I used 2 of my current 3 skill points to acquire ‘Clean’ first.

If I were the protagonist, I would have prioritized other skills, but this magic was what Lilith needed most right now.

So, I clasped my hands together to open the information window and unlocked ‘Clean’ first from the list of acquired skills. Immediately, I felt a sensation as if magical knowledge seeped into my body.

“Oh, ohhh…”

My spirits were lifted by this strangely thrilling sensation I felt for the first time, and though I didn’t quite understand the principle, I had a feeling in my mind that I could use ‘Clean’ right now.

“Shall I try it once?”

The amount of mana consumed per ‘Clean’ spell was 20.

For a basic spell, it consumed a considerable amount of mana, but for me, whose goal was to increase my total mana, it was more of an advantage. Besides, the ‘Clean’ spell was inherently worth consuming that much mana.

As soon as I focused my senses on a clove of garlic placed on my palm and used the ‘Clean’ spell with the feeling of releasing mana, a subtle vortex formed in my palm, and the garlic clove was cleanly separated.

In this world, the ‘Clean’ spell was for tidying up dirty things.

Whether it was peeling vegetables, cleaning dirty dishes, or even cleansing a part of one’s body, it was a spell that could be used in any direction if one put their mind to it. Such versatility made it well worth acquiring as a first spell.

『Current Mana: 1 / 21』

“…It worked.”

I confirmed that the ‘Clean’ spell worked properly and that mana was definitely consumed.

I then consumed the remaining 1 mana with a vague feeling of ‘letting it flow out,’ reducing my remaining mana to 0. To refill my completely emptied mana reservoir, I picked up one of the garlic cloves on my palm.

The amount of mana that could be replenished with a single clove of garlic was an astonishing 50. Compared to other mana-replenishing foods like apples or tangerines, it was an item of absurd efficiency.

However, due to the pungent smell and acrid taste of raw garlic, most characters treated it as ‘inedible food.’ Only a few characters, including the protagonist, were set to be able to eat a few cloves.

Furthermore, due to the setting that heating it would destroy its nutrients, this raw garlic had to be thoroughly chewed for efficient mana replenishment.

‘There’s no reason to refuse this when just half a clove of garlic can replenish all my mana.’

If I were Lilith before regaining my past life’s memories, I probably wouldn’t even attempt such a thing. But since I still had the memories of Lee Ji-hwan, who lived 26 years in South Korea, this much garlic was nothing to a Korean….

-Crunch.

“……Ugh?!”

As soon as I bit into half a clove of garlic, the pungent aroma filling my mouth almost made me throw up what was inside.

‘…What is this? Did garlic always taste like this?’

Even without ssamjang, I don’t recall raw garlic ever tasting like this before?

Could it be that after becoming Lilith in the game, my body’s taste perception also changed to Lilith’s?

“Ugh… G-gh…!!”

I barely managed to regain my senses, which were almost overwhelmed by the pungent garlic scent that seemed to cover my entire face, and successfully swallowed the half-clove of garlic in my mouth.

I thought I could eat raw garlic without any trouble, but I never imagined such an unexpected obstacle would stand in my way.

It was a moment that made me reflect on my past, when I used to curse at characters in 『Luminor Academy』 for lacking grit because they wouldn’t eat garlic.

If it’s this painful, it’s natural that one can’t swallow it raw.

“Mana…. M-mana is…”

Even amidst the pain, I still had to confirm what needed confirming, so I clasped my hands together again to bring up Lilith’s information window. There, the significantly changed maximum mana was clearly displayed.

『Current Mana: 21 / 21+1』

The trace of mana being completely emptied to the bottom, then refilled by eating garlic. And the increased maximum mana as soon as it was refilled.

At the very least, it was a change that confirmed the recent suffering was not meaningless.

Currently, it was only an increase of 1, but by around level 10, the efficiency would expand to an increase of about 6-7. No matter how I thought about it, this was the only ‘most efficient’ way to increase maximum mana.

“The Bad ending… Absolutely not…”

To avoid a future where I’d be subjected to that damn pig bastard, I couldn’t just sit here crying. So, I used the ‘Clean’ spell once more to empty my mana, then tossed the remaining half of the garlic clove into my mouth.

“Ugh…!”

Enduring the nausea rising from my gut, I somehow chewed and swallowed the mana supplement.

Once this moment passes, I don’t know when the next opportunity will come.

My workplace could change again starting tomorrow, and this training method would be difficult to utilize even if the senior maids decided to come in early on a whim. So, I had to treat each day as my last chance and give it my all.

Even if it meant swallowing an entire field of garlic, I absolutely had to avoid the Bad ending.

No matter what, never.