Chapter 5

I slowly opened my eyes to the sensation of sunlight hitting my eyelids.

The sound of chirping birds can be heard.

"...Is it morning?"

I stood up in a hurry and checked the time.

[April the 15th, 2054]

[7:42 AM]

I'd last checked the time yesterday at 10:00, so a full 10 hours had passed.

"I've maintained the mana circulation for 10 hours."

Despite doing so, my head feels clear.

Normally, after exerting myself to this extent I would have exhausted all my mental strength and fainted, but I feel refreshed as if I'd woken up from a 10-hour-long sleep.

'No, that's not what's important right now.'

I hurriedly entered a meditative state.

I had to start by making sure that the circles were interwoven safely.

I closed my eyes and observed my inner self.

I felt something that wasn't there yesterday filling my body.

"So this is the Infinity Circle..."

In my body was one circle.

It was a circle so large that it couldn't be compared to the circle the size of a heart I had previously.

'I didn't know a mana circle this large could be this efficient.'

Just because a circle is big doesn't mean that it's good.

If a circle is larger, generally the maximum amount of absorbable mana will be increased.

However, increasing only the maximum capacity has no benefit.

Having a large circle just means that it takes that much more time for the mana to revolve around the circle (the time it takes to circulate mana).

Having a longer mana circulation just means the magic is processed that much slower.

So mages weave the rings of mana around the heart.

The heart is the organ which circulates blood throughout the body, and by creating a circle there, it's possible to infuse the blood with mana, and send it to anywhere in the body.

The disadvantage of having a small circle can be offset by weaving several circles together.

This is the basic principles of modern magic.

But what about my Infinity Circle?

My circle is a vast circle that encompasses my entire body, and is much larger than the size of a heart, but the speed of the mana circulation is no different when compared to the smaller circles.

If we use racing as an analogy, it's like running a track 10 times longer than all the other competitors but still finishing faster.

'I think the rate of circulation is actually better than what normal circles can do.'

It feels like I'm using the motor of a luxury sports car, while everyone else is using the motor of an electric scooter.

'Is this the difference between having mana travel via the brain and not having mana travel via the brain?'

I wondered if this was the difference between having and not having a command center.

'But it's going to take some time to properly get used to this.'

I scratched the back of my head.

What difference does having the motor of a new sports car make?

When I don't know how to use it.

Learning how to use a new motor takes time and effort.

Fortunately, I have the means of minimizing the time and effort required.

I immediately picked up the [Ray Vell Bytenor] that I had left on the floor.

Flipping the pages, I checked beyond page 8 which had originally been left blank.

[Congratulations on formally being introduced to the Bytenor style of magic.]

"As expected."

As I had expected, this book seemed to follow a structure where the pages were revealed as I accomplished more things.

[There are a lot of things I want to say, but I won't bore you with my idle talk of the past. I know that you're not at all interested in any of my nonsense.]

I calmed down my rapidly beating heart and read the next sentence.

[I'll pass on to you the basics of the Bytenor style of magic from now on.]

The Bytenor style magic.

The vision magic of Ray Vell Bytenor.

[The First Steps of Bytenorian Magic. I call this first step the 'deliberation'.]

Deliberation.

The one word made my heart beat violently.

* * *

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* * *

From then on, my daily routine returned to solely learning the Bytenor style of magic.

[The symbol of Bytenorian magic is freedom.]

[Think freely. That will be your strength.]

The infinity circle, symbolizing infinity.

The Bytenor style of magic, symbolizing freedom.

These two synergies were far more remarkable than anything I could ever imagine.

[There is no set equation for the Bytenor style of magic.]

[There's no need for any triggers, formulas, or algorithms for my magic.]

Not only do they display synergy in terms of the performance of the magic, they are also similar in how difficult it is to learn.

Basically what I'm saying is that it's disgustingly difficult.

[It's like how the human body doesn't do any calculations to move the arms and legs, breathe, or blink.]

Doing something as effortlessly as breathing is easier said than done.

It's like saying all you have to do to win in football is just kick a ball into a goal or basketball is as easy as just throwing a ball into a hoop.

[The mana is your arm. It's your legs. It's the heart and it's your head. Move it as you please.]

This is like telling a swordsman or a marksman to use their sword or gun as if it were their limbs.

I say it twice because it's important, but it really is easier said than done.

If achieving mastery at something were as easy as just saying the words, then there wouldn't be a single competitive sport in the world.

[Think freely. That's the beginning and the end of the Bytenor style of magic. That's my magic's everything.]

Freedom was such a vague term that it was hard to establish as a concept.

After going through countless trials and errors, before I knew it, 3 days had already passed.

Today is the 18th of April.

It's a Saturday.

"Transmit directly what the brain thinks..."

Even today, I was constantly revolving the infinity circle around, and raising the intensity of my magic training.

Despite waking up and spending 5 hours trying to learn the 'deliberation', I wasn't able to grasp the proper shape of the magic.

And the current time is 1PM.

It's time to go to my part-time job.

'I think I'll be able to get the feel of it with just a bit more..."

I don't think there's even a real need for me to say this but I've been abandoned by my family.

The support from the family was cut off a year ago.

From food to textbooks, I had no choice but to work and buy them all myself.

If I didn't at least do some part-time work, I wouldn't have enough money to survive.

On the bright side, The Obelisk Academy employs a system where only those who have paid the school fee in full can enroll.

Thanks to that, I was able to avoid the worst case scenario of having to pay for my school fees as well.

If I had to earn money for my school fees as well, I probably would have chosen to just leave.

Or I might've been involved in something illegal.

"Poverty really is a sin."

In order to buy tomorrow's food, I have to work hard today and tomorrow.

I got up from my seat, smiling bitterly.

Magic also requires money to learn.

I changed into my outdoor clothes and headed out.

"The weather's good."

The sky was sunny and joyful.

Just like my mood.

* * *

After finishing my part-time safely,

I returned straight to the dormitory and did everything I could to learn the Bytenor style of magic.

'I'm going to go insane.'

It feels like it's just barely out of my reach.

Like some sort of thin, invisible veil is blocking my hands from grasping it.

In the study of magic, this kind of thing is called the "Wall of Enlightenment."

I have to break this wall, but I can't think of the right way to do it.

"What could be the problem?"

I already knew the theory to a T.

The newly revealed theories that I had learnt combined with the theories I had already gotten, meant that my understanding of the theory of the Bytenor style of magic couldn't be any more perfect.

And I genuinely understood everything.

My analysis of the structure of the infinity circle was also complete.

I even came to fully understand how the infinity circle interacted with the Bytenor style of magic.

"But why can't I do it?"

The problem was that despite doing all this, the magic would not properly activate.

This is why I was actually losing my mind.

I don't know what else I can do anymore.

'Did I miss anything?'

I read out the contents step by step once again.

There were 3 entire notebooks just on the theory, and this equated to over 100 pages.

It took more than an hour just to check over it again.

"...It should be perfect."

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find anything I had missed out. I scratched my head. It's so frustrating.

"Ehh..."

Then I noticed the mountain of notes and documents that had piled up.

I had flipped between the pages so many times that some of them were starting to wear out, and in-between the pages there were hundreds of post-it notes which made everything look disorderly.

"What a sorry sight..."

As I looked onwards at the mess I had made, I felt a strange feeling.

I'm sure I had seen this sight somewhere before.

"Oh."

I remembered.

"...The day when I tried to create my second circle. "

Age 12.

When I was still called a prodigy.

It was a time when I held the entire weight of my family's expectation on my back.

I had prepared for a few months to try and create the second circle.

I had revised the concept of magic circles, seen which structures would interweave, checked what type of chemical actions would occur, found which size circles were most efficient and so on.

I'd compiled all the information that there was to know.

'I'm going to perfectly create my second circle!'

My mind was clustered with these arrogant thoughts.

And of course, I failed to create the second circle.

It was my first ever failure.

I remember crying in anger.

'Hayul.'

Back when my family was still kind to me.

My father embraced the me kindly and said:

'Perfection is just a word that restricts you and binds you down.'

'Overthinking things may be to your advantage, however, sometimes it's best to just stupidly charge forward.'

I couldn't understand what he had meant back then.

But for some reason, I felt like I could understand it now.

I immediately got up from my seat.

Then, I sat down as comfortably as I could, and focused on my mind.

I emptied my brain, and erased all the distracting thoughts.

As I concentrated solely on the revolving of mana, the thought of removing all thoughts vanished as well.

'I took the long way around.'

Nowhere in my master's message was there any mention of having to have any understanding of the Bytenor style of magic and the infinity circle.

The only thing he said was to think freely.

I had overcomplicated this simple sentence.

'Perfection is a fictional word created by human arrogance.'

There is no such thing as perfection in the study of magic.

It seemed that the me who had been short sighted due to my urgency had not realized such a basic thing.

I softly smiled and circulated my mana around.

Diing, ding,ding.

A clear, resonant sound rang out.

There was not a single distracting thought in my mind.

[It's like how the human body doesn't do any calculations to move the arms and legs, breathe, or blink.]

Only my Master's words were present, shimmering like a haze.

[The mana is your arm. It's your legs. It's the heart and it's your head. Move it as you please.]

That was the enlightenment that I had needed.

A minor, but giant, realization.

[Think freely. That's the beginning and the end of the Bytenor style of magic. That's my magic's everything.]

Just as how slightly tilting your head makes you view the world in a completely different light.

Enlightenment is just as trivial.

Phwaa!

A flame blazed over my palm.

Instantly.

With just a thought, a flame appeared.

There was no need for the eight-stepped magic of old, nor for the two-stepped modern magic.

Instant casting.

Just as how one doesn't think about moving their arms.

Just as how one doesn't think about breathing.

Flowers of flames blossomed according to my will.

[The first step in the Bytenor style of magic. I call this first step the 'deliberation'.]

"I've succeeded..."

It was the moment when I succeeded in taking my first steps as a mage of the Bytenor style.