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Chapter 34

"Aren\'t you going to do it?"

The man in front of him was blatantly provoking him, his eyes twitching.

Looking at him, Roan thought,

How did things end up like this?

\'...I buttoned the first button wrong.\'

Everything that happened was his fault.

The day they first met and talked in the library, Roan underestimated him from that moment on.

That underestimation led to his continuous defeats, and now it has even come to the point of being vaguely ignored.

However, honestly, it was unfair.

Anyone who had experienced that situation would have judged the same way.

\'His mana was a bit unique, that was all.\'

No special magical knowledge, no magical reaction. Except for the unique mana, there was nothing special about the man.

But who would have thought that such a man would achieve far superior results than him in the evaluation?

It was unfair.

And this duel was also an opportunity to resolve that unfairness and solidify his position.

\'...I am Roan Vilgef.\'

Roan closed his eyes and thought about himself.

The top student of the academy.

A rising star of the academy.

The pride of the Vilgef family.

And, a once-in-a-generation genius mage.

That was who he was.

Therefore.

When he opened his closed eyes, Roan\'s expression was bright.

"Alright. Let\'s do it, the duel."

He hated to admit it, but that man\'s magical talent was truly monstrous.

But whether that would determine the outcome of this duel was another matter.

Roan had the excellent magical knowledge and experience he had accumulated.

Roan bet on himself as the winner of this duel.

"I like that you\'re cool."

Seeing Yuhan smiling, Roan spun the practice staff once.

"We\'ll see the conclusion of the match we couldn\'t finish during the evaluation here."

"Was that still an ongoing match? I thought I won."

As if to answer Yuhan\'s provocation, a chilling ice spear appeared behind Roan.

***

The onslaught of ice spears.

Last time, since we were on the same side, I thought it was just a decent magic spell, but when I actually faced it, it was incredibly powerful.

If I relaxed even a little, I might become a skewer.

Shhh! Thud!

"Whew..."

I take a breath, watching the ice spear that narrowly missed me and stuck into the ground.

"...It\'s definitely tiring to deal with a mage."

"You\'re talking as if you\'re not a mage."

"I\'m a bit different."

It was when Roan let out a faint smile that I kicked the ground.

Thud!

The distance closed in an instant.

I had felt it when I faced the Valefor subordinate, but I decided that getting close was the best way to deal with a mage.

"Hah!"

Crack!

At close range, the elemental sphere fired from the practice staff exploded near Roan.

It was blocked by Roan\'s barrier, which boasted a level of completion as high as his ice spear.

However, I wasn\'t disappointed because the attack I was really aiming for was different.

"This will hurt a bit."

"Oh no...!"

Roan, realizing that a magic circle had formed beneath his feet, tried to throw himself away.

But.

\'Too late.\'

He couldn\'t avoid it with such slow movements. Unless he was enveloped in electricity like me.

Perhaps realizing this, instead of throwing himself away, he swung his staff.

Whoosh! Swoosh!

At the same time, a chilling coldness swirled around Roan.

The cold air, colliding with the fire magic, transformed into white smoke and spread in all directions.

Fwoosh!

Of course, Roan couldn\'t block the fire magic with the cold air he cast in such a short time. It would only buy him a brief moment.

But it seemed that was Roan\'s goal.

Before the fire magic could reach Roan\'s body,

Crackle!

The magic circle helplessly shattered.

Roan had dispelled the fire magic.

Just like I had dispelled the slick-haired guy\'s magic before.

\'...That\'s surprisingly impressive.\'

I knew he was skilled, but he\'s even better than I thought.

\'Dispelling magic in that split second?\'

Could I have done it if it were me?

Honestly, I wasn\'t sure.

That\'s how good Roan\'s understanding of magic formulas is.

\'He didn\'t disregard physical training for nothing, huh?\'

I cleared my thoughts and focused on my senses.

Currently, my vision was limited due to the smoke.

But it was rather advantageous. Even Roan, with his excellent understanding of magic, wouldn\'t be able to block a sudden attack in this situation.

\'I have the advantage in speed. I\'ll go for it in one go.\'

Just as I was thinking that,

Ping!

The white smoke cleared, and the sound of something cutting through the air reached my ears.

And what I saw before my eyes was...

"...!!"

An ice spear created without any warning.

It was rushing straight towards me.

At the same time.

Crackle!

A sudden chill hit me, and ice rising from the ground wrapped around my legs.

Thump! Thump! Thump...!

Dangerous.

Even though I knew it was magic cast with a practice staff, my heart was pounding like crazy, warning me.

It was dangerous.

The ice spear was already right in front of me, but I couldn\'t move with my legs bound by ice.

My mind went blank.

It was at that moment.

\'...\'

The crackling noises around me stopped, and I felt every single muscle cell in my body awaken.

As if time had slowed down.

So it\'s true that you get this feeling when you\'re extremely focused on something.

\'I can dodge it.\'

Crackle!

I charged my whole body with electricity and bent my back and head backward.

It was an instinctive movement.

Whoosh!

Roan\'s ice spear flew past my eyes.

A warm liquid flowed from my forehead with a stinging pain.

It was around then that the ice binding my legs shattered due to the electric transformation magic.

Crack!

"What the...!"

Thud!

With my movement freed, I leaped forward as if possessed by something.

An explosive speed incomparable to before.

I put that momentum into my fist and threw a punch.

Crack!

Roan quickly put up a barrier, but my fist broke through it and struck Roan\'s abdomen.

"Ugh!"

Roan collapsed to the floor with a pained expression. Thick saliva dripped from his mouth.

"Good job. That was a good fight."

"Damn it...!"

I approached Roan and offered him a hand, but he slammed his fist on the ground in frustration.

"...Why did my magic...!"

He was unusually emotional. Seeing him speak, it seemed he couldn\'t accept that his barrier had been broken.

I forcibly lifted Roan and said,

"It had to break."

"...My magic was much more solid than yours."

"Yes, it was. But solid magic isn\'t necessarily stronger."

"...What do you mean?"

"I told you. Training helps with magic."

"...So you\'re saying that came from your physical body?"

"That\'s right."

Roan lowered his head, lost in thought.

His mind must be quite complicated. It must be the first time he\'s heard that the physical body affects magic.

Perhaps his values as a mage, which he has held until now, might be shaken.

\'Well, I can\'t do anything about that.\'

Ultimately, this was a problem he had to solve himself.

I patted Roan\'s shoulder and glanced back.

"..."

There, the nine mages who had been watching the duel were standing there speechless.

They must have felt something by now.

"If you\'re done watching, shouldn\'t you get back to what you were doing?"

The first one to react was Mr. Thompson.

"As expected, the answer is training! Woooh!"

Thompson gritted his teeth and lifted the iron bar imbued with weight magic.

Following him, the others, who had been looking discouraged, started to come to their senses one by one.

"I-I will also definitely train!"

"Huff! Huff!"

"Haaa!"

Immediately after the duel with Roan,

The training center quickly heated up.

***

Clatter, clatter.

Inside the carriage provided by the academy.

I was inwardly admiring the comfortable ride when I turned my head towards the seat next to me.

There, Roan was still deep in thought with a serious expression.

Unable to bear it any longer, I broke the silence first.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

"...Ah. Um."

Roan opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure of what to say.

"...I was just re-examining what magic is all about."

"What magic is?"

"Yes, but the answer isn\'t easy to find. I don\'t know how magic came about in the first place, what the source of mana is, what the relationship is between magic, the mind, and the body... I don\'t know anything. I only realized my own ignorance."

"..."

This guy really is a natural-born mage. To be grappling with these thoughts for so long, thoughts that I\'ve never had and never want to have...

"What I\'m most curious about is... where were the great mages in history, and Aldeon, trying to reach?"

"Now that you mention it..."

In the game\'s story, mages with some fame always wanted to reach somewhere.

Some called it the end of magic or the pinnacle of magic.

Aldeon\'s goal was also to reach that end using the \'true light\'.

Anyway, the important thing is that they wanted to reach \'some kind of end\'.

"The end of magic..."

What exactly lies at the end that they so desperately longed for?

Maybe because I was playing the mage class, but I was also curious about this part.

Perhaps someday, the time will come when I, too, yearn for that end.

But it was too early to worry about such things.

Especially now, with the imminent danger in front of us.

"It\'s not too late to think about that when the time comes."

In just one month, a great war with demons is scheduled. Now, finding a way to overcome this problem was our top priority.

"Hmm, that\'s true."

Roan nodded, agreeing with my words.

"Certainly, our level is too low to be worrying about such things. It\'s better to do it after reaching a higher circle."

Well, he seems to have taken it in a different sense, but it doesn\'t matter.

More importantly...

"So, have you finished thinking about physical training?"

"Ah, yes. I\'ve decided to focus only on magic. I\'m not confident in using my body, and above all, my talent lies in magic."

"I see."

It seems he\'s decided to go with the orthodox mage build.

"Aren\'t you going to persuade me more?"

"The choice is yours."

There was no reason to persuade him further.

He was already growing well, and above all, the orthodox mage build wasn\'t bad either.

In fact, if you don\'t have physical abilities like [Former Owner of the Sword Saint], it might be better to focus on magic.

As I was thinking that, Roan smiled and said,

"The movement you showed at the end of the duel, Yuhan, was truly amazing. It certainly made me think that training isn\'t for nothing."

Hmm? Sudden praise?

"And so?"

"Even though I lost the duel... it\'s my turn now."

"Your turn?"

Roan said so and pointed out the window.

And there it was.

"...The Magic Academy?"

There was a place with a cluster of advanced spires, so developed that it was hard to believe it was the same Asternon.

"I\'ll show you what kind of results can be achieved by focusing on magic."

It was completely different from the academy 100 years ago, the setting where I played the game.

What in the world happened there?

And what will I gain from that place?

"This... is exciting."

I wanted to meet those mages, who were mages to their very core, as soon as possible.