Volume 1, Episode 4
When he first regained consciousness, the first thing he felt was difficulty breathing. Then, he sensed the feeling of being submerged in water. Moving his body was uncomfortable, and his consciousness was hazy.
And when he regained his senses again, he felt an excruciating pain. It was as if his whole body was being torn apart.
“Aaaargh!”
He wanted to scream, but no sound came out.
It was as if something was blocking his mouth, preventing any sound from escaping.
The time of agony felt like an eternity. It was an immeasurable duration.
He had no strength, and the feeling of being on the verge of collapsing and dying was not surprising at all.
And then, at some point, he felt liberation from the unbearable pain, akin to being freed from death itself.
A bright white light enveloped him.
Although his eyes didn’t fully open, he felt that the light was sacred, giving him a solemn feeling.
“Heavenly realm, perhaps?”
However, he soon realized that it was just an illusion.
“Lady Cilfir, you always look so beautiful.”
In response to the man in his early thirties, Cilfir covered her mouth and smiled modestly.
“Hehe, thank you.”
The Cilfir in her early thirties gracefully entered the house, avoiding the man’s creepy gaze. The man, Kalak, held the position of the village’s guard captain, and three years ago, when he moved to this village, he fell in love with a woman at first sight.
Though she looked like she was in her early twenties, Cilfir had settled in this village with a little boy who appeared to be about four years old. She was a widow who had lost her husband.
At first, Kalak tried to gain her favor by being around her and even took her to the guards’ training camp to showcase his position as the captain.
He wanted to impress her with his stable appearance.
However, she never succumbed to his advances and instead kept her distance. Frustrated by the turn of events, one day, a year ago, Kalak couldn’t hold back and decided to force himself on her.
It was that evening. Filled with determination, he approached her house with the intention of violating her.
Suddenly, monsters from the mountains invaded the village.
They were orcs living in the mountains.
A fierce battle erupted between the villagers and the orcs. It was a life-and-death battle where each side fought to kill the other.
As the battle increasingly turned in favor of the orcs, the woman stepped forward. Seeing her shout unknown words from atop the fence, Kalak realized that even beautiful flowers could have thorns.
“When I think about that time… I was almost roasted alive.”
She was none other than a magician. And not just any magician, but a third-class magician capable of using proper offensive magic.
As she used magic, the orcs screamed and fled, and the villagers cheered. With a magician in the village, they were now assured of safety.
The villagers hailed her as a hero. Although nothing much changed, she was now wholeheartedly accepted as part of the village.
Once she gained the villagers’ recognition, Kalak could no longer approach her overtly. Magic frightened him, and he was also conscious of the villagers’ eyes.
But Kalak didn’t give up.
After all, magicians were only terrifying because of their magic. Physically, they were no different from ordinary people. That’s why he waited for an opportunity.
An opportunity to embrace Cilfir…
Entering the house, Cilfir smiled wryly.
Since she first settled in the village, she had noticed Kalak’s malicious intentions. Being a clever woman who had reached the third class at a young age, she was quite perceptive. Knowing Kalak’s true feelings, she acted nonchalantly.
Moreover, she couldn’t afford to be intimate with him without permission, as that could lead to dire consequences, thanks to the artifact she possessed. That’s why she could act so nonchalantly.
And besides that, there was another presence that gave her a sense of security.
She went into the house, still smiling wryly, and called out, “Ellie, Mom’s here.”
In response, a young voice rang out, “It’s not Ellie. It’s El!”
With those words, a young boy came out. He appeared to be around seven years old, with bright blue eyes that sparkled like the sky and a cute, golden blonde hair similar to Cilfir’s.
The boy called El pouted, seemingly dissatisfied with something. “If you keep calling me Ellie, I won’t talk to you.”
Though he was Cilfir’s own son, he was so adorable that Cilfir couldn’t help but be amazed.
“Fine, I won’t call you Ellie anymore. It’s El, right?”
El looked pleased, and with a teasing expression, Cilfir wiped the tears that weren’t there.
“Mom, are you crying?”
Faking a cry, Cilfir wiped her tears again.
“No, honey. Mom’s fine. It’s just… seeing El getting upset with Mom… sob!”
“Oh, uh?”
Startled by Cilfir’s tears, El looked puzzled. It was as if he didn’t expect such a reaction from Cilfir.
But seemingly maintaining his pride, El tried to act nonchalant. However, his eyes were sneakily glancing at Cilfir, who was shedding tears.
“Boo-hoo!”
Cilfir’s crying sounds grew louder.
In response, El approached Cilfir cautiously and asked in a mosquito-like voice, “Mom… are you crying?”
His expression seemed to say, “How come you’re crying?” But seeing Cilfir cry like that, El couldn’t help but act calm.
But he was secretly stealing glances at Cilfir, who continued to weep.
“When you act like this… I feel more at ease, thinking of you as a friend… Adaptability can be scary.”
Mumbling to himself, El’s attitude had changed, now exuding maturity rather than his childlike demeanor.
“That’s right. There’s no one else for Mom to rely on. Sigh…”
El couldn’t help but smile at Cilfir, who always watched over him.
Though she had lost her husband at a young age, Cilfir was his only hope. And for Cilfir, El was like a ray of hope. El couldn’t bear to disappoint her expectations.
However, he was still too young to reveal everything he possessed.
El examined his current training progress.
“Magic is already mastered up to second class, and I’ve fully grasped the theory, so getting to the third class shouldn’t be a problem. Well, I have to accumulate mana first… By the time I’m around fifteen, if I achieve the third class, I’ll be considered a genius. If I say I mastered the first class at ten, then maybe I can learn up to the fifth class in three years.”
El’s words would shock anyone who heard them.
Being a mere seven-year-old and already a second-class master of magic! Moreover, stating that he could learn up to the fifth class by the age of ten was even more astonishing.
What kind of level was the fifth class? Wasn’t it comparable to a Marquis in a kingdom, receiving treatment not inferior to that of a war mage? Such a feat achieved at the age of ten was simply incredible.
In fact, El was the reincarnation of a young man named Kim Jun-seong.
As El recalled the time when he first discovered the existence of this world, a bright smile formed on his lips.
“That’s right, what I thought was the heavenly realm turned out to be another world.”
Ever since he lost his parents at a young age, the fact that he was now living with his mom, Cilfir, brought him immense happiness.
Though his father was absent from this world, it made El even more determined not to let Cilfir down. He dedicated himself to magic in order to live up to her expectations.
Suddenly, a smile crept up on El’s lips.
“Phew, it was fortunate that the magic formulas here are similar to mathematics on Earth. Otherwise, it would have been challenging to meet her expectations.”
When he first opened the magic book, El was shocked. The complex magic formulas written inside were remarkably similar to mathematics on Earth.
That fact proved to be very useful for El.
“Magic formulas are much more complicated and challenging than mathematics. But for me, who knows the mathematical formulas on Earth, they are much easier.”
He was ecstatic about that fact. Simply memorizing the mathematical formulas on Earth could significantly shorten the casting time of magic here.
Thanks to that, El could quickly master magic without much difficulty.
However, magic was not a simple discipline. Understanding magic formulas alone was not enough.
“To advance to higher levels, I need to learn how to utilize the mana I perceive…”
While understanding the formulas was possible through explanations, comprehending the nature of mana was extremely challenging.
El had grasped the concept through explanations, but it was an intangible property that he couldn’t fully comprehend based on mere descriptions.
El had hit a wall before the mana that blocked his way.
But by chance, he found a way again.
The breath control he had learned in his previous life was the clue to breaking through the wall. It was supposed to enhance concentration, so El had practiced it even though it was forced upon him.
To clear his mind, El practiced breath control, and during that time, he experienced something he had never felt before. He could easily sense mana, which he had been unable to perceive before.
Furthermore, by controlling his breath, he was able to store mana within his body. Currently, the amount was minimal, but as his body matured and the amount of mana he could hold increased, he would be able to easily break through the Third Circle of Mana Barrier.
