Chapter 160

Chapter 160

TL/Editor: raei

Schedule: 5/week

Illustrations: None

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'Lucky me,' Ian thought with a smile as he checked his Arcana cards.

Originally, Ian had 8 cards. But with the addition of the [Death] card, he now possessed 9 skill cards in total. The number of skill magic spells he could use also increased to 9.

'I'll think about which magic to imbue later.'

A skill card could hold one type of magic. Ian had verified the power of skill magic in real combat many times. Skill magic, which bypassed the process of communicating with mystery and produced instant results, was truly unfair cheat magic, to say the least. While others were muttering incantations, it felt like he alone was clicking skills like in an RPG.

The more skill cards, the better.

Ian felt a moment of curiosity. Getting skill cards was good, but what were the conditions?

'Do I need to recruit companions?'

Nothing happened when he was traveling with Jubal. But when he recruited Maria, a skill card appeared.

'The status window mentioned something about fate,' he recalled. Pioneering fate, was it?

Ian thought of a certain wizard who had a suspicious fondness for the word 'fate' - the space-time wizard Gerard. He made a mental note to ask Gerard about skill cards when they met again.

Ian inserted the newly acquired [Death] card into his Arcana deck.

---

---

Ian's group steadily advanced toward their destination. There were still no attacks or ambushes, and the weather was ridiculously good. The party members were relaxed, exchanging silly jokes. Thanks to this, Maria quickly became friends with the others.

"So Belenka is from the east?" Maria asked.

"Yes. A place called Wintz in Baekguk... Not a very nice place."

Belenka had left her homeland as if she'd been chased out. It was a land with no particular memories or affection.

"It doesn't matter where you lived. What's important is the land I'm standing on now."

"You're a strong person" Maria said with a chuckle.

Surprisingly, Belenka and Maria conversed well. The exile code of being driven out of their homeland also matched quite well.

"Didn't you also run away because you were sick of your village?"

"Well... I can't deny that," Maria admitted.

Belenka and Maria laughed together.

Thinking that Maria was adapting well, Ian called her and Kira over for a magic lecture-orientation.

"Kira. You're studying Maronius language well, right?"

"Uh... yeah?!" Kira's shoulders twitched.

Ian narrowed his eyes.

"You should've been able to review on your own, at least?"

"O-Of course! Definitely! I've been reviewing!"

Kira shouted, quickly turning her head away.

Ian was truly a good person, but he was terrifyingly scary when talking about magic! Kira thought Ian's education was strict. This was because Ian and Kira had different magical standards.

Ian himself wasn't aware, but he had acquired Maronius language very quickly due to his innate magical talent. Even Eredith, the super-genius wizard, had taught him with admiration. Ian was a case of growing into a wizard through one-on-one education with Eredith.

Of course, he had no idea what the learning development level of other wizards was like!

'She's been skipping studies again,' Ian thought, looking at Kira with disapproval.

It was a misunderstanding that would have killed Kira with indignation if she had known. In reality, Kira was diligently reviewing Maronius language. It's just that her progress didn't meet Ian's standards...

"Kira. Fire magic is incredibly difficult. No wonder my master tried to dissuade me when I said I'd become a fire wizard."

"No, no. You can't draw the line like that," Ian said.

"Is that not right?" Maria asked.

"The stroke is crooked. Then it's hard to tell if it's 'ere' or 'daom'. Do you know how many cases there are where meaning changes with just one stroke difference?"

"..."

The magic she actually encountered was difficult beyond imagination. Maria followed Ian's lesson, floundering helplessly. The word "followed" was a bit of an exaggeration. It would be more accurate to say she was dragged along.

"This won't do. Kira. Show her an example," Ian said.

"M-Me?!" Kira exclaimed.

"Who else is there besides you? Should I bring Belenka?"

Kira wrote letters on the sand with an expression like a student called out by the professor during a lecture.

"This is 'ere'... and this is 'daom'..."

"No, no! Don't write them so close together!" Ian shouted.

At that moment, Kira and Maria felt a chill run down their spines... Something invisible appeared behind them!

Drawn by the Maronius letters Kira had written too close together, something had approached!

Ian hurriedly erased the letters on the ground and shouted, "[Go back!]"

The mystery disappeared smoothly as if nothing had happened. Thankfully, it was just the curiosity of a resident out for a neighborhood stroll.

"Geez! I told you before! If you write the letters too close together, it becomes a magic circle!" Ian scolded.

"S-Sorry..." Kira mumbled.

"What do you do when it's ambiguous? I told you to write in a circle, didn't I?"

Ian started frantically writing letters on the ground with chalk. Kira and Maria just blankly watched Ian write letters with machine-like precision.

'So that's a wizard...' Kira thought.

'A real wizard looks like that...' Maria mused.

Ian dusted off his hands and said, "This is enough!"

In reality, Ian truly thought it was a really, really easy task. Well... he had only written letters on the ground! But to the two newbie wizards, Ian looked like a hardcore veteran.

Ian's letters, so natural and smooth, were arranged in a circle as if drawing a perfect circle. They looked like a work of art. It was a level that Kira or Maria could never imitate even if they were reborn.

"It's so... difficult?" Kira said.

Ian replied in bewilderment, "Difficult? This?"

Ian looked at Maria to check. Maria shook her head and said, "It's amazing skill. Someone like me could never even imitate it."

"???"

Ian was confused. He just wrote letters on the ground?!

As Ian made a face of incomprehension, Kira and Maria sighed simultaneously. This is why geniuses... This wizard... doesn't understand the hearts of ordinary humans!

"Hmm. It might feel difficult since it's the first day. Right?" Ian tried to reassure them.

"..."

"It's not... right? Guys?"

Watching Ian laugh awkwardly, Maria quietly turned her head away. Magical language was, indeed, incredibly difficult. Thinking about having to learn such letters in the future, Maria felt her vision go dark...

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