episode_0017

Gareth, the arcane magician who was assigned to be the general disciple examiner this time, looked at the two pieces of paper in his hand one by one.

These were the answer sheets of the students who passed the final general disciple exam.

One is an answer sheet that shows the efforts of an average person, just as expected.

There was no reason not to attach it since it met expectations.

The problem was something else.

“Hoo… … Hmm… … .”

The more I read, the more amazed I became.

And then I started to doubt.

‘Is this possible at the level of an ordinary person?’

This exam question asked whether you could create a regular flow of patterns according to your own logical structure.

It didn’t matter whether it was correct or not.

Of course, all the applicants would be ordinary people with a single attribute, so I didn’t expect any magical talent.

Do you at least have the intelligence to awaken Mana?

This was a test to find out.

However, the answers written on the test paper Gareth was currently holding exceeded those expectations.

The lowest level of water magic. Even more so, gentle.

I didn’t reach that conclusion, but I reached it perfectly.

The logical structure was also very clean.

As if they had seen through the nature of this magic and were deliberately pretending not to know.

‘No matter how I look at it, it’s impossible… … .’

If you gave this to an Academy student as an assignment right now, would they be able to come up with a similar answer?

It would be easier to conclude that it’s water magic.

However, in the process of reaching the answer, it would be difficult to have a logical structure as clean as this.

Gareth licked his lips as he carefully looked at the answer sheet written in neat handwriting.

‘It’s a shame that someone with such great intelligence doesn’t have magical talent.’

Up to that point, Gareth didn’t need to consider it.

Gareth decided to call them both.

It was for the final interview.

I had to do another physical examination just in case, to see if he was a spy from another magic tower.

Especially at the moment when he decides to take a closer look at the owner of the answer sheet currently in his hands, Leon.

Someone kicked open the door to Gareth’s office.

“Who…!”

Gareth frowned and looked up, then saw who had opened the door and sat up abruptly.

“Huh, Arpina! What are you doing here?”

Arpina Winterfritz, the mysterious sorceress.

Gareth’s face was filled with doubt at the appearance of a wizard whose status was just below that of the top lord within Widia.

Why would a high-ranking wizard come here, who has no need to come here, or even care, and thinks it is a waste of time…?

“Are the general disciple interviews over?”

“No… …I was just about to do it.”

“There’s a kid named Leon there, right?”

Gareth glanced at the paper and nodded hurriedly.

“There is.”

“Just paste him. I did the interview.”

“Ah… …Is that so?”

Gareth barely managed to keep his head from tilting.

If she was like that, then so be it.

“Okay. Can I call in just one person to interview them?”

“Yeah, do whatever you want.”

“Okay!”

Gareth answered with a lot of energy, but Arpina turned around immediately as if her business was over.

‘what?’

Gareth looked again at the name Leon written on the answer sheet.

‘Are you interested?’

If not, there would have been no need for Arpina to come to me in person for such a trivial matter.

‘somehow…….’

There’s no way a normal person could write an answer like this.

With his mind clear, Gareth decided to remember the man named Leon.

Because if it’s someone Arpina is interested in, there’s a high chance that they’ll rise to success.

***

A notice for successful applicants was posted on the bulletin board.

Among the two names written in a single line was Leon.

Since I passed without even having an interview, it seems that Arpina spoke well.

Leon’s friends from the daycare gathered around to congratulate him.

Although there were times when I felt envious, most of it was pure congratulations.

“Don’t forget us even after you become a wizard, Leon!”

He was a boy who always clung to me and wanted to play cops and robbers at daycare.

Leon naturally patted the child’s head.

For a brief moment, I was able to enjoy the purity that cannot be seen in ruthless wizards.

The next day.

Leon encountered a brown-haired young man who appeared to be an adult soon in front of a five-story building.

He was one of the remaining ones who passed, along with Leon.

“I didn’t see you at the last interview, so I thought I was the only one who passed.”

He quickly struck up a friendly conversation with Leon, but Leon only accepted him moderately and went into the building.

A bespectacled man standing at the door greeted the two.

“I’m Peter, who passed last year. I was waiting to explain the basic rules to you and show you around the building.”

In this way, Leon learned the structure of the five-story building under Peter’s guidance.

The first floor was used as a place to receive training from occasional visiting wizards or to entertain guests.

The 2nd and 3rd floors were all training rooms, and the 4th and 5th floors were dormitories.

There was a small training ground in the basement.

‘It’s simple.’

In some ways, it could be seen as appropriate treatment for an ordinary disciple.

To begin with, the training room itself was structured in a way that did not at all take into account secret-level magicians.

It was judged that a wizard with a single attribute would not be able to reach the level of a secret artist.

“You can move the luggage after training is over today.”

“Yep.”

Unlike Aaron, who answered right away, Leon indicated his intention to refuse.

“I have a private room.”

“Oh, you seem to have been working hard.”

Peter didn’t really scold her.

Since it was a room assigned to me as a public service, no one would say anything if I used it.

After the introduction, basic training in magic followed.

This was done by another established wizard, not Peter.

He was in charge of managing the general disciples and measuring their progress in training.

“If you came here hoping for great magic, you’d better wake up from your dream. After all, wizards are just like scholars who seek the source of wisdom. If you don’t have the ability to navigate the cold world of magic on your own, you’ll eventually be eliminated. ”

The wizard, Robert, spoke at length about something that would be of interest to a layperson like Aaron who was just beginning to learn magic.

“Usually, it takes 2 to 3 years for those with a single attribute to awaken mana. And that is the time it takes when you train intensively. However, you are only given 1 year to focus on training. After 1 year, you will be assigned work and have to train in parallel, and the longer you do that, the longer it will take to awaken mana.”

He spoke calmly and with a straight face, like a normal wizard.

“It means that you must somehow awaken Mana within a year.”

He then went on to talk about salary.

“Unlike when you worked as an entrance resident, you will receive your salary in mana stones. Since transactions between wizards are made in mana stones, if you can step onto the path of a wizard, you will receive a satisfactory salary.”

Leon was more interested in the promise of one year of training time than in the talk about salary.

‘Can I just focus on training for a year?’

Leon was satisfied that he could now concentrate on his training without worrying about what anyone thought.

One year was enough time for Leon to advance to level 4.

‘I should say that after practicing like a rat for a year, I have roughly attained enlightenment of mana.’

It was faster than the 2-3 years Robert had mentioned, but judging by the pressure he was putting on them to do it somehow, it didn’t seem like it was completely impossible.

After the first training session, Leon, who had been observing things for a week, went to see Robert.

“Can I learn common magic?”

Robert’s brow furrowed slightly when he heard that.

“You won’t even wake up? When you reach level 1, you’ll foolishly tell me?”

“Still, I think it will help you understand and awaken to mana if you know it.”

Robert thought that was presumptuous, but he couldn’t say anything harsher.

This is because I remembered what my fellow wizard Gareth had said.

I heard that Arpina is interested in you.

“Well… Since you haven’t awakened Mana yet, I can’t tell you directly, but I’ll give you a magic book with common magic written on it. Look at it and try to understand the principles. It might work, as you said.”

Robert said something he didn’t mean at all, took out a thick magic book from the subspace, and handed it to Leon.

Leon accepted it with open arms.

“Thank you.”

After that, Leon was locked in the training room.

There were several types of public magic.

Among them, there were a few that were particularly valuable enough to make me feel glad that I decided to learn them.

Most of them don’t require a spell, so it would be useful to learn them.

First, basic saltation.

It was a magic that could exert physical force even in places that Leon could not reach.

The second is navigation magic.

By spreading mana around, one can sense the presence of people or traces of magical power, and by applying this, one can also determine the level of one’s opponent.

The third is emotional magic.

By infusing artifacts with magic power, you can easily figure out how to use them.

The fourth is magic infusion.

The magic that Pornina Leah used, Infusion, was this.

It spread magical power throughout the body, temporarily giving one physical abilities that surpass those of ordinary people.

However, the magic infusion technique required a spirit channel.

And the fifth is the art of division.

It was a magic that allowed one to use multiple magic by dividing consciousness into several branches.

For example, holding an artifact with basic psychic power while using other magic, or calculating double or triple magic at the same time.

Of course, at Leon’s level, double and triple magic were impossible right now.

At best, I was able to memorize magic by handling an art fact with basic psychic skills.

However, it could be seen as a common magic that becomes more important as the level of the wizard increases.

In addition to that, there were other useful magics such as floating magic, basic healing magic, and clean magic, so much so that Leon regretted not knowing about them until now.

“Floating magic consumes a lot of magic power… … .”

Leon’s feet, which had been floating in the air, landed back on the floor.

Leon devoted all his time for two weeks to learning common magic.

Public magic was also included in basic magic, and the quest proceeded the same as before.

As he became more familiar with floating magic, Leon came out of the training room after a long time.

He would stay in the training room and not come out unless he came out to get food occasionally.

I also slept here.

As I was promoted to the 3rd level, I was able to go without food for about 3 days without any problems, so that kind of closed-door life became even more resilient.

Leon stretched and went down the stairs to the first floor.

And there I met a colleague I hadn’t seen for two weeks.

‘What was your name… … Ah.’

It was Aaron.

The brown-haired man glanced at Leon with a surprised expression.

“Have you been stuck in your room and just been doing the vomit method until now?”

“Yes.”

Leon was still speaking to him.

Leon was most wary of people who were overly friendly from the first meeting.

“Wow, that’s great. Does it work?”

One of Aaron’s eyebrows rose slightly.

He asked curiously, but there was a subtle wariness in one corner of his face.

“I think so… …I’m not sure.”

When Leon pretended not to know and answered vaguely, he said with a relieved face.

“Take it easy. Robert said that resting is more helpful than straining your mental strength, right?”

“That’s right.”

When Leon, who had responded appropriately, turned around to go back to his room after a long time,

A man ran in from the entrance.

It was Peter, who was one year older than him.

“You were just there? Leon, you have a guest here.”

“Are you a guest?”

“Yeah, she’s a girl around your age?”

“Ah.”

‘Are you here to congratulate me on becoming a regular disciple?’

Leon turned his head toward the door, thinking that it was Leah who had come looking for him, but he couldn’t help but tilt his head at the sight of red hair poking out from the crack in the door.

“Why are you here?”

“What… . Why! Can’t I come?”

It was Rowan.

“No, there’s no reason to come. You don’t even want to talk to normal people?”

“읏… … .”

Looking at your flushed face, it seems like you remember the way you’ve shown yourself so far.

Leon’s head tilted a little more at the sight.

‘Why did you really come?’

Suddenly Leon’s gaze turned to something she was holding in her hand.