Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

EP.22 Regular Exchange Festival (4)

Arpina consistently attended the duels of the Arcane-level mages, which continued on the third day. Despite her low expectations, Arpina was one of the high-ranking mages of Widia. The highlight of the exchange festival was undoubtedly the duels of the Arcane mages.

The speed was different because they exchanged spells with short incantations or trigger words, and since memorization was unnecessary, the intensity of the duels didn’t easily wane even if they lasted long. This was also the reason for separating the duels of apprentice mages and Arcane mages. The prevailing opinion was that no matter what tricks apprentice mages pulled, it was hard for them to defeat Arcane mages.

The consciousness of a mage affecting mana qualitatively changed as they reached the Arcane level, drastically shortening the time required to cast spells. If an Arcane mage calmly responded until the apprentice mage’s memorized spells were exhausted, even the slimmest hope of victory for the apprentice mage would disappear.

And most importantly, there was the existence of ‘Arcane Magic.’ Powerful spells that Arcane mages could use from the beginning of their journey. Some even said that the Arcane level was defined by the process of honing Arcane Magic, which represented Arcane mages.

“Bloom!”

At that moment, a woman with light pink hair shouted from one side of the arena. It was her Arcane Magic, the Blossoms of Joy. Flowers densely bloomed around her opponent, and the petals began to flutter. Each petal became as sharp as a blade, sweeping over her opponent. As the opponent struggled to respond to the storm-like force, a nearby mage extended a hand. Without any incantation, thousands of petals stopped abruptly.

“Roselyn wins! This concludes the duel with a victory for the Protal School.”

The woman with light pink hair bowed politely and exited the arena. Arpina also rose to her feet, ending her attendance with that match.

The mage who had lost to Roselyn was a student of Widia. Arpina turned to the female mage sitting next to her.

“Can we talk for a moment?”

“What is it?”

“The story you mentioned about Tenelon last time. I’d like to hear more details.”

Although she had already instructed Berford to inquire about Tenelon during the meeting, she also intended to gather information herself.

“Well… If you wish, it’s not difficult to tell you.”

The woman smiled gently and stood up, following Arpina.

“If you want more accurate information, you can come to our city and ask directly.”

The woman mentioned that they had detained remnants of the Black Tower in the city.

“I thought you might prefer to ask directly, Arpina.”

“Hmm…”

As Arpina hesitated, the woman spoke again.

“It would be good for our disciples to interact as well. My disciple is very curious about yours. They can broaden their horizons by observing magic from other schools.”

Arpina thought of Ria, who was almost always holed up in the training room, and nodded.

*****

“Swell.”

As Leon uttered the trigger word for the memorized spell, the wooden sword floating in the air instantly grew to a massive size, about three times Leon’s height. This was the basic form of the Moonlight Scattering Sword spell.

When Leon first encountered this spell, it had two major issues. One was that the proper spell formula was half-erased. The other was that it required overwhelming talent and had a complexly twisted formula. Mishandling it could cause mana to twist and damage the core instantly.

However, after Leon became an all-attribute constitution, these restrictions had somewhat weakened.

Of course, Leon’s belief that the restrictions had weakened applied only to the basic spells. He didn’t even consider touching the advanced spells, which were the essence of this magic. No matter how twisted and half-erased the spell formulas were, basic spells were still basic spells. Unlike advanced spells, their complexity had limits. Leon had the talent to infer and fill in the missing spell formulas. He also had a wealth of reference spells stored in his orb.

The reason he hadn’t attempted it until now was simple: there was no need to risk it. He only started seriously attempting spell calculations after acquiring the wooden sword that Kito claimed to be a cursed sword. He thought it could be quite useful when combined with the sword’s abilities.

Leon began to seriously study magic, consuming time within the orb. He attended individual disciple duels as a courtesy, but after realizing that Robert didn’t pay much attention, he stopped attending other duels and immersed himself in the orb.

The first level of the Moonlight Scattering Sword dealt with basic spells. These were all spells that an apprentice mage could learn, totaling five spells. All the spells were extremely simple.

The first was Swell, which Leon had just used. It was a spell that enlarged the sword’s size. The second was Pierce, a simple spell that launched the sword quickly to stab the opponent. It was so simple that it was only slightly faster than basic telekinesis.

Next were Blade, which simply slashed, Fission, which increased the number of swords, and Luna, which infused the sword with mystical mana. Leon had currently learned Pierce and Swell. He hadn’t had enough time to learn Blade, and the other two had unique structures that made it difficult for Leon to infer their spell formulas.

The five spells were not particularly interconnected and were used separately.

‘Perhaps they can be linked at the Arcane level.’

It seemed that the final spell, Luna, which infused the sword with mystical mana, was the core of the basic spells. Leon canceled the spell and retrieved the sword.

‘Sure enough, since I filled in the missing parts of the spell formula myself, the mana consumption is extraordinary.’

Although Leon had learned Pierce and Swell, he had inferred and filled in the missing parts of the spell formula, making them different from the original spells. The fact that the mana consumption was unusually high for basic spells confirmed this. The more mana he infused, the more it consumed. The bigger it grew, the faster it became.

‘Is this really a spell that an ordinary mage can handle?’

It was clear that Leon had made some mistakes.

‘Should I be thankful that there are no adverse effects?’

Leon put the wooden sword into his subspace and stepped out of the orb. He thought about the ongoing duels of the Arcane mages. While he was genuinely curious about their duels, that wasn’t the reason he had stopped his training.

The most popular duels in the exchange festival meant that many people would be watching. It was the perfect time for Leon to discreetly sell the items he had.

Leon left his lodging and once again sought a secluded place to change his clothes. He couldn’t change inside the building. As he entered a deserted alley and was about to grab his orb, he suddenly froze. A chilling intuition ran down the back of his neck.

‘Detection magic!’

Leon felt the flow of mana scanning his entire body. He swallowed hard. Despite carefully scouting the area before entering, someone had hidden and used detection magic in this secluded spot. What could this mean?

‘Since when have they been following me?’

Leon’s nerves were on high alert as he pulled out a heap of scrolls from his subspace. E-rank Blink, Triple Fireball, Flame, Shield. D-rank Water Prison. And as a last resort for emergencies, B-rank Emergency Designated Teleport.

“Infusion.”

While he discreetly muttered the trigger word for the memorized mana infusion spell, mana surged, and something rushed toward Leon. The ominous magical energy made Leon panic. He immediately grabbed the shield token he was carrying.

“Defensio!”

A shield formed around Leon instantly, but he didn’t stop and continued to infuse mana into the shield scrolls without a break. By the time four layers of shields overlapped around Leon, a powerful impact had already struck the token’s shield.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The shield shattered as soon as the magic hit. The token in Leon’s hand couldn’t withstand a single spell and broke. The shields created by the scrolls were also destroyed one by one. Seeing the black substance piercing through the shields, Leon instinctively leaped backward. The magic that had pierced all the shields struck where Leon had originally stood.

Bang!

With a dull sound, the magic that had shattered the ground remained there, not disappearing. The sight of the black, writhing goo made Leon feel strangely nauseous.

“Hmm?”

A voice filled with curiosity emerged, and a figure rose from the shadows. Seeing the red-haired man who soon fully emerged from the ground, Leon’s sense of crisis peaked. He instinctively felt the danger.

‘An Arcane-level dark mage…’

Even though Leon had come thoroughly prepared to face an Arcane-level mage, the reality of confronting one made him tense. The red-haired man glanced at the token pieces scattered on the ground.

“…So it was you who interfered with our plan? I was unsure since you looked like an ordinary person.”

“…”

Leon was at a loss for words. Did that mean he attacked without even being sure who it was? This guy was insane.

“You must have some means to hide your power. What’s your real level? It’s clear you’re not Arcane.”

Seeing the man’s sneering face, Leon didn’t hesitate and pulled out his wooden sword.

“Pierce!”

Having just come from training, two of his four memorized slots were filled with sword spells. The wooden sword, infused with as much mana as he could muster, shot towards the man. Leon didn’t expect this attack to work on the man. After all, he was an Arcane-level mage. It was merely a tactic to buy time.

‘I need to take the initiative with the wooden sword, summon the guardian golem, and if that’s not enough, throw all the E-rank scrolls to buy time and then summon Arpina’s magical creature…’

While Leon’s mind raced, the man simply flicked his hand upward at the approaching wooden sword.

“Block.”

The writhing black goo leaped up and formed a shield in front of the man. The tip of the wooden sword struck the shield.

Thud—

“Ugh…”

The moment the wooden sword touched the shield, the man frowned. In an instant, the black goo dispersed, and the wooden sword embedded itself in the man’s chest.

The man, whose chest had been pierced, flew back and collided with the wall.

Bang—

His body then slid down powerlessly and collapsed onto the ground.

“…”

Leon stared blankly, his mouth agape.

“…Huh?”

In his hand was a green flute he had just taken out from his subspace.