Beginning of Experience
Part 1
“Spells of the 2nd circle are mostly simple. You can say they are higher grade versions of the 1st circle spells. However there are still new topics, such as granting magic to objects, so you still have to study them very thoroughly. You are able to become a high level magician only when you have thoroughly beat in the basics.”
Hereseh looked at Jiss, who had recently become one year older, with a fond expression.
It is very difficult for one to seat amongst the magicians. Unless you are of noble birth or of a skillful mage, exceptional talent was required.
Also even with exceptional talent, one needed to know to seize opportunities.
Magic was not a subject just anyone could easily pick up on.
Even after picking up magic, one also had to pour painstaking amount of effort to raise one’s magic circle.
– I guess I did start teaching him from a young age. It was really uncertain if he was going to understand magic well even as I was teaching him…… To think he mastered the 1st circle in just 4 years, he really followed through the lessons well. Though some geniuses finish the 1st circle within a year or two at the magic tower, that is also because they glimpse over subjects that aren’t their master’s specialty.
In Hereseh’s eyes, Jiss now had a solid understanding in the basic fundamentals of magic.
Usually beginners of magic try to understand magic through their own common sense and calculations.
This is because the ways of utilizing mana is very difficult and the topics covered in magic were almost of fantasy.
However Jiss was able to understand magic as they were, instead of attempting to define them in his own logic, and also showed promise in magic research equations.
When it came to the 1st circle, his accomplishments far surpassed even the students of the magic tower.
This would have been impressive even if it took Jiss several more years.
Still there were weeds of magicians who were stuck in the 4th and 5th circle, so only time would tell of Jiss’s true potential.
“You have mastered the basics of magic very well, however the upcoming lessons are going to be even more important. You must understand that all great foundations are set solely for what is to come afterwards. Just because there is a solid foundation, construction of a grand structure is not guaranteed.”
Hereseh was very stingy when it came to giving praises.
Intelligence is the very first prerequisite of becoming a magician. Because of this reason, most downfall of magicians was due to their self conceit.
There were far too many accidents that occurred, when magicians rushed their research in cockiness after receiving too much praises and being called a genius.
“The 2nd circle you are going to learn from now shouldn’t be too difficult since it is an extension of the 1st circle. The 3rd circle also should be relatively easy depending on how much effort you put into it. Ask me any question without hesitation as usual when you have something you do not understand.”
“Yessir.”
Recently Hereseh’s method of education changed also. After Hereseh’s lectures, for the other half of the lesson, Jiss leisurely read magic books then simply asked Hereseh any questions he had.
The 2nd circle magic had many mysterious magic that influenced objects and the flesh as well.
Fire starter sword, Rapid tree growth, Muscular strength reinforcement, Pain reduction, and so on.
Jiss was completely captivated by magic.
If first 1st circle displayed a power level of 10, the 2nd circle at the minimum was a power level of 30 and went as high as 120.
Jiss couldn’t help but get excited..
“Magic truly is a mysterious field full of power. What will happen if I master the 9th circle?”
There were no real reasons to ask Hereseh this question.
When Hereseh reached the 6th circle from the 5th, Rendall, Laurelle, Grona and Nedhand had a modest but a highly celebrated party.
It was to an extent where Nedhand took out all his hidden beer stash, saying how this was a worthy event to celebrate even though they were in the Elves’ Forest.
If 5th circle mages had abilities to assist their allies on the battlefield, 6th circle mages had the power to ruthlessly bury the enemies on their own.
6th circle mages had the power to heavily damage and incapacitate the cavalry and the archery line on their own, so they alone had the ability to change the outcome of the battle.
Of course the situation may change if the foe is a royal knight of the empire, however regular foes and monsters were of no challenge.
“Hm. There are many ingredients I have to gather to master the 6th circle magic.”
Hereseh began his research on the 6th circle magic. Since he did not have a master to turn to, learning a whole new magic was not an easy task. However this was a most enjoyable past-time for a magician, so Hereseh couldn’t even tell time was passing.
He thoroughly read the research materials he had gathered until now, and sold the treasures he brought from his house in Terace to buy new research papers.
He also borrowed elves’ magic records, telling them he needed them as a reference.
During this time Jiss read 2nd circle magic books.
“Understanding growth of the living, Mutual utilization of the body and mana, Substance alchemy, Hoooah. To think these are the basics of the 2nd circle…….! It wasn’t a lie when people said magicians have to study until they die.”
There were mountains of books size of thesauruses.
Magic wasn’t just arranging mana in a certain way, but also understanding core principles behind it. Otherwise not only failure in magic was guaranteed, one often suffered mana reflux.
“It seems I have no choice but to study.”
One saving grace was Hereseh wrote explanations on difficult parts of the book.
The reason Hereseh believed Jiss to be a magic research genius was thanks to Jiss having double life experience.
Jiss had mental capacities, critical thinking, objectivity, and discipline unfitting of his age of 12.
Not only his older mental age was assisting Jiss greatly, the time he spent learning magic was not short as Hereseh thought either.
Since he had been mind reading Hereseh ever since he was an infant, magic was not a mystery when he actually started to receive lessons.
‘Well it is the 2nd circle but…. there is nothing completely strange or things I don’t understand completely. Though I will still need some time to completely master them.’
He also continued to train physically with Rendall as he studied the 2nd circle.
Mana of the swordsman and magician differed.
After realization of mana, magicians store a portion of their mana into their house of mana and use their will power to synchronize with their surroundings.
Mana resided almost everywhere and was often flowing.
Magicians tapped into that same flow to create miracles.
The house of mana acted as a mediator between the flow and the user. Of course it is also more advantageous to have a bigger house as well, however the size of the house was something that only scaled with one’s realization of mana.
On the other hand, swordsmen attempt to fill their entire body with mana through training and meditation.
To surpass the limits of their body, they needed consistent effort and training to store mana in their body.
‘Euugh. This is like death. Joining the the army in the other world is probably 100 times more easier.’
Rendall was a overly protective parent.
He believed power was the only way Jiss could survive through dangerous situations in the future, so he raised him with an iron hand.
“Put more strength into your arms. Enemies on the battlefield don’t wait for you because you are tired. Swing your sword properly even if you can’t catch your breath.”
Jiss swung his sword according to Rendall’s instructions.
Over thousands of swings in standing position!
The fact that his mother Laurelle was a priestess was truly a curse during training.
Jiss was always cheated of his breaks since a single prayer from Laurelle instantly healed any injuries or muscle fatigue.
‘This is completely absurd.’
The second Rendall’s training ended, Jiss collapsed on the ground like a weed.
“You can only use high level swordsmanship when you can feel the mana within your body and utilize it. The methods of high level swordsmanship is a little complicated however it is just as hard for the opponent to block it.”
“Yes. Father.”
“Still, it seems like you have accumulated quite a bit of mana, even though it’s only been a few years since you first felt mana.”
Jiss had accumulated a large amount of mana from all the herbs he ate in the Elves’ Forest.
It was actually the setting and the food Jiss ate that had a bigger impact than his training or his physical talent. Of course Jiss was still more talented than the average knight trainees near his age.
He may be an average elementary student in the other world, but here he could be considered a future genius worthy of high expectation.
“Practice Hard Jiss.”
“Yes.”
“You will definitely be able to become a swordsman greater than I.”
“Yes. Father.”
A practitioner of the sword couldn’t help but feel envious towards the knights in this world.
Due to most of the magic armors being possessed by the nobles, it was pretty much impossible to obtain a magic armor without becoming a knight.
However Jiss had no interest of becoming anyone’s knight. After observing grave robbers all his life, there was no way he would be able to live a life of servitude.
‘Throwing away life for honor….. that doesn’t seem very right. But I guess I also feel that way since I also live in a more advanced civilization half the time.
Jiss would rather become a merchant traveling the world than become a knight.
If he were to become a knight, he would spend all his life doing sniffy work and die as an expendable.
Part 2
Rendall had been observing the state of the Gratess empire through the information guild in the city Ellim, nearby the Elves’ Forest.
As the war between the princes continued to become exacerbated, cities burned and castles crumbled.
Also since refuges were wandering everywhere, crime became prominent and bandits thrived.
Because even the archdukes aggressively intervened for a chance to benefit from the whole ordeal, there wasn’t even a feel of the war ending during the last couple years.
“So you’re saying a magician’s dungeon is a day’s worth of distance away from here…..”
“Yes. It is by the Earl Parker’s family, and people are saying recently grey fog came into the area and they started to hear weird noises.”
“Then it seems there is a good possibility of there being a dungeon.”
Rendall and Laurelle made a happy face as it’s been a long time since they had any work.
Magicians prepare various magic to protect the entrance of their laboratory.
As most magic had expiration time, eerie developments often occurred. just before they dispelled through nature’s providence.
“Anywhere is good. As long as I can get out of the Elves’ Forest.”
The bored Nedhand was also fired up by the rare occurrence.
Nedhand made farming equipments to pick fruits from trees to ease his boredom.
As dwarves manufactured even the minor-est equipments as if their lives were on the line, having trouble picking fruits due to short height was a big problem for the dwarf who had a big ego.
Though the well made equipment was abandoned, left leaning against a wall only after a few uses, was still a shining masterpiece.
“The Earl Parker Family was quite advanced in commerce, so much trading used to occur there. I want to go as soon as possible.”
Expectation also rose within Hereseh as well.
After reaching the 6th circle he wasn’t able to do much research he desired, due to the lack of ingredients and documents.
Being in the Elves’ Forest made it hard to retrieve ingredients as well, however the war engulfed outside world was just as difficult.
This was because the empire forced magicians to participate in the war regardless of if they wanted to or not.
“If the dungeon’s protection magic is about to expire, that means at least 100 years must have passed. I should be able to gain some valuable knowledge if we can salvage magic books of the past.”
Laurelle opened a map and marked Earl Parker’s castle and villages in black.
“But by the way, Parker’s Castle and big towns were engulfed by the civil war and have become destroyed. There aren’t much residents left either.”
Nedhand made a frowny expression.
“How appaling. Was it the Pleyisen race’s doing?”
Just the thought of the Pleyisen race was enough to ruin the flavor of beer.
“Yes. It is truly unfortunate for the residents there but since armies no longer have any reasons to go there, there shouldn’t be any interruptions.”
Rendall summarized the situation.
“We do not know which magician resided there before because it has been such a long time, and it is also difficult to retrieve any information due to the war. I would like to get to the area before making any decisions, does everybody agree?”
Nedhand and Hereseh nodded their heads with great enthusiasm.
“I concur.”
“Let us go.”
They looked glad to get moving, as if aching from not moving for too long.
Grona was already packing luggage for the trip. The only problem was Jiss.
“You stay in the forest and continue your training. Don’t even spend one day lazily.”
“I also want to go sir.”
“It may be dangerous.”
“But I have been traveling in dungeons ever since I was a kid.”
“The situation now is different from then. The world is in a disarray right now so safety is not guaranteed. You have just experienced this recently.”
Of course Jiss planned previously to play with Allium everyday if he were to be left in the forest alone. However it was such a waste to miss out on an adventure in the outside world.
Compared to when he was just a baby and just barely walked around, he had grew up substantially and even knew how to use 2nd circle magic.
His swordsmanship was also at a level to treat a goblin like a plaything, and of course his greatest ability was his archery.
The archery he had learned directly from Lishiansus was uncomparable to Rendall or Nedhand’s arrows.
“Honey. Let’s bring Jiss as well.”
“But…..”
“If things begin to look dangerous we will just have to explore a little less aggressively. Sir Hereseh also reached the 6th circle and there are barely any people that can catch up to Jiss’s run alone.”
He was even fast enough match the dark elf Grona in the forest. Of course this was only for a short moment due to his endurance.
“I can also guarantee he will not get caught by a non-special trap.”
“If it is Jiss, nothing rash will happen.”
Jiss was able to participate in the adventure thanks to Nedhand and Hereseh’s assurance.
Part 3
Jiss light heartedly headed towards Lishiansus and Allium’s hut.
Lishiansus was handcrafting arrows.
“It seems something good happened looking at your expression.”
“Yessir. I am going to travel to the outside world.”
Jiss explained how he was going on a dungeon exploration.
“Hm. A magician’s dungeon……… sounds entertaining.”
It looked like Lishiansus was also showing signs of intrigue. It had been a long time since he had traveled to the human world, as he only spent his time in the forest teaching elves.
“We are only going to explore the dungeon and not much else. We should be back shortly.”
“I see. Though I have to go to a human city as well. It seems I will have to come along next time then.”
Jiss wasn’t about to let Lishiansus come along, seeing as how Lishiansus always caused an incident whenever he left the forest.
Though Jiss did receive help from him last time, Lishiansus ended up completely disabling magic armors into junk.
The event was big to an extent, waves of soldiers and Pleyisen race covered the land around the center of the incident.
If it wasn’t for the civil war, the central knights would have figured out the truth of the situation.
Allium looked at Jiss with her clear eyes.
“You absolutely have to go?”
“Yup.”
Jiss was planning to feign-stop her from coming and ‘reluctantly’ let her come along.
“Come back safe.”
“………..kay.”
Allium, typical of an elf, had a ‘cool’ personality and didn’t try to stop Jiss.
‘When I come back I’m gonna play plenty of ‘doctor-patient’ and ‘newlywed’ with her.’
Lishiansus took out a bow from his house that was slightly smaller than what he usually used.
“I have something to give you. This was just finally completed recently. It should be better than the one you have been using for practice.”
“Thank you very much. I will use it well.”
Jiss skipped the whole ‘fake deny the gift as a principle’ and just quickly accepted the bow.
Elves generally fell behind dwarves when it came to creating equipment. However when it came to developing bows, they were second to none.
After receiving the bow, Jiss noticed the bow was heavier than his usual equipment.
“Sir. This does not feel like wood. What is this made out of?”
“It’s the horn of the beast that was rampaging in the forest recently.”
“The Moregis sir?”
The Moregis was a monster that resembled a rhyno.
“I was going to give it to you after some more training, but now is probably a better time seeing as you are traveling outside. The bow string is also made of the Moregis and you should be able to shoot further thanks to its greater elasticity.”
“Ah. I see.”
“Be careful. With your skills, you should only be able to take out at most 6 grey wolves or so.”
“Yes sir.”
A grey wolf is a powerful monster, where victory wasn’t guaranteed even for the experienced mercenaries.
Only a qualified person like the experienced Lishiansus was able to talk about the wolves this way.
A bow grants immense combat prowess on an empty plain, where the user is granted panoramic vision.
If there is plenty of distance between the user and the wolf, the user can capture the wolf by shooting its large stature as target and use the elvish steps to increase the distance between them.
Since grey wolves are seldom found in dungeons, there was no need to worry about them.
It wasn’t favorable to use the wolves as guard dogs, as they disliked darkness and required much sustenance.
Though very elite magicians sometimes did have hellish creatures or chimeras to guard their laboratories, these kind of dungeons were extremely rare.
When a magician reached the mastery of becoming one of the the empire and the magic tower’s best magician, the magician received preferential treatment and gained disciples.
The issue was whenever an elite magician died, the first to visit the dungeon were the disciples.
They destroyed all of the dungeon’s facilities and hoarded all of the research materials.
The conflict between the disciples during this time was serious to an extent where even murder was common.
Due to this predicament, masters often tried their best to hide their final resting place and laboratory, but most of the time they were discovered either way.
It is said a magician’s greed for knowledge is so great, when their master grows old, magicians ardently wait for their master’s death.
Part 4
“It’s been a long time since last seeing a wide plain. Sound of birds chirping ended.”
“Earl Parker’s territory is that way. We should be able to arrive there before the sunset.”
“Kuahhh. I feel alive again now that we are outside the forest. It would be perfect to just rest while gulping down beer.”
“We can stop by the alcohol store in Ellim on our way back. We should buy alcohol even if only ones left over are farmer brewed.”
“I like that also. Sounds good.”
Rendall, Laurelle, Nedhand, Hereseh, Grona and Jiss exited the Elves’ Forest.
Jiss acted as the guide when they were in the Elves’ Forest.
He had traveled much of the forest playing with Allium and running around while drinking the forest’s breath.
The true reason Jiss knew every nook and cranny was to eat as much herbs he can, but Rendall and Laurelle’s heart felt warm from Jiss’s dependability nonetheless.
“Honey. It looks like Jiss is all grown up already.”
“It seems I can increase his training intensity from now on.”
The scene of Jiss running around lively while drinking the forest’s breath and holding the bow, made Nedhand break out in horselaugh as he stated how adorable Jiss was.
The group exited the Elves’ Forest where it was closest to the Earl Parker’s territory and traveled until nightfall.
They had to find the dungeon as fast as possible, because it was better for grave robbers to not get detected by anyone before finishing the excavation.
“Hm. It seems the wavelength of mana has become unstable in this direction.”
Hereseh spoke after observing the flow of mana in the sky after arriving at the Earl Parker’s territory.
His search range had become much wider than before as he was now a 6th circle magician.
Of course if the protection magics were still active, it wouldn’t have been this simple to find the dungeon.
“Is it far away?”
“No. About two hour walking distance.”
“Let us go.”
The party sighed in astonishment as they walked in the dungeon’s direction.
The fertile land that was filled with wheat and barley just one or two years ago, was now filled with overgrown weed.
There were human skeletons everywhere and amongst them were even the skeletons of women and children.
“Seeing how there are less male skeletons, it seems they were drafted and died in combat elsewhere.”
“Looking at the conditions of the skeletons, it seems some of the children were eaten.”
“It’s chilling.”
Laurelle covered Jiss’s eyes from the cruel scene.
It was her motherly desire to not let her still immature child to witness a scene shocking enough to scar him for the rest of his life.
“My child. You cannot see this.”
“Yes. Mom.”
Jiss took peeks between Laurelle’s fingers and saw piles of skeletons.
‘Hm. So I will become like that if I get captured by the Pleyisen race.’
He almost had no fear concerning the corpses.
He had witnessed tons of corpses of monsters and humans already, ever since he was piggy backing on Grona’s back as a baby.
Fear of death and danger was even less significant in the reality world. Dangerous events happened but they were still of rare occurrence.
However in this world, death was unpredictable and prominent.
Though the pursuit of power was an entertaining aspect of training, the true reason he trained hard was to live as long as possible.
‘Will the Pleyisen race boil me? Nha. They are simple minded so they might just fry me……….”
As the night came, the party traveled while thinking useless thoughts.
They walked over the land as the skeletons resonated blueish light.
It was extremely dark as they did not light any torches and the wind produced weird noises as it shook the grass and the trees.
Everyone had an eerie feeling, but they were able to endure it as they were experienced grave robbers.
This was because there wasn’t much of a difference between corpse and merchandise display for grave robbers.
Jiss was also at an age to know what was truly scary.
‘Nothing is scarier compared to mother Laurelle’s nagging.”
Hereseh continued to search for distortion of mana.
“It seems it is near this vicinity. The way mana wavelength is lightly spreading here looks like rapid magic deterioration.”
The entrance of the dungeon was located past two mountains from the Earl Parker’s castle.
Not only the dungeon was well hidden in the mountain range where people usually didn’t venture into, it was extra difficult to discover due to the protection magic.
The entrance to the dungeon appeared like a miracle when Hereseh pushed away the unstable mana.
“I will enter first.”
“Let us go together.”
Rendall and Nedhand stepped into the dungeon with their weapons out.
Jiss also took out the bow he had received from Lishiansus as a gift.
‘I should use it if there are monsters. I should be of help with this.’
He also had a sword on his hip.
It was a sword Rendall and Laurelle bought from a blacksmith.
Grona looked at Jiss proudly, as she thought of how the small boy she used to piggyback is now all grown up. Grona also took out her bow.
She made a proposition to Jiss.
“Do you wanna make a bet?”
“What kind of a bet?”
“Who hunts more monsters. The loser does the dishes.”
“Sounds good.”
There was nothing more foolish than making an archery bet against an elf. However it was doable against dark elves who specialized more in the spirit arts or offensive magic.
Not to mention he also learned archery from the continent’s best archer Lishiansus, accuracy and distance were also not very important in a dungeon compared to just rapid firing.
Jiss and Grona entered the cave as they escorted Laurelle.
“The door that hides truth. Make the visible, invisible.”
Hereseh entered lastly after casting a phantasm magic on the cave entrance just in case, to deter any possible intruders.
Part 5
“Be careful.”
“Time is not of an essence, so you can take your time.”
Jiss slowly approached the traps he discovered in the dungeon to disable them, as he received words of encouragement from the party.
There were traps installed on the walls and the floor in this dungeon. There were some that activated via magic, but there were also considerable amount of mechanical traps.
First time grave robbers often questioned why mechanical traps were needed in a magician’s dungeon.
However mechanical traps were quite useful.
It was normal for magicians, who normally researched alone, to be wary of intruders who aimed for their treasure and research.
If the intruder happened to be a single talented magician, apparatus such as arrow traps proved to be quite effective defensively.
Even if a thief or a dwarf was in the mix, mechanical traps were useful for providing precious time to prepare for combat or to flee the scene.
Magicians were also able to cast offensive and defensive magic circles beforehand then activate them.
From a magician’s point of view these traps acted as protection for research records, materials, and corpses, however they were used more reliably to protect their livelihood.
“At least two of the three strings connected to the trap are fake……. No. Looking at the precision of the other traps hm. All of them could be fake also.”
Jiss found the string that actually activated the trap hidden under a rock. It was a trap that hurled venom when pressure was applied.
“The trap can be deactivated by neutralizing or sealing the venom but that is silly and takes too much work…….. Lets see.”
After lifting couple more rocks, he found a part of the string that was knotted. The trap was able to be deactivated by untying and tying the string to the ring sticking out on the side.
In places like a magician’s dungeon, most traps were usually made able to be temporarily disabled for the residence’s convenience.
“Hm. Great work.”
Nedhand nodded his head, as Jiss completed his task spotlessly.
Magicians were not trap experts so their mechanical traps had much sloppiness to them.
They may have installed traps with their smart heads, but you can say they lacked the finishing touch and the ability to hide them well.
The place with traps truly difficult to disarm was a high noble’s grave.
This was because they spent considerable amount of money to hire specialists to install dual or even triple step traps.
However most traps were safely dispatchable as long as they were discovered beforehand.
This was because grave robbers endlessly improved upon their skills.
“Then let us keep moving forward. Looking at the equipment, the magician seemed to have been considerably skillful.”
“It seems like it wasn’t a waste to come all the way here.”
“Hope we make a good killing today……”
The exploration continued.
Jiss and Nedhand both looked for the hidden traps, and Jiss had the role of disabling them.
This was a great grave robbing learning experience for Jiss, since old traps often did not activate correctly or became practically harmless due to old age.
After walking for a while, Nedhand was awed by the dungeon’s size.
“This dungeon is considerably deep.”
“It seems it has been over 20 minutes since we came in the dungeon. The magician’s magic power must have been great if he was able to dig this deep.”
Grona had great interests towards magicians.
Like Hereseh, She was also able to cast simple magic as she was a Dark elf.
“There may not be much treasure since magicians have the tendency to have their own unique desires. However I am still curious to what research this magician was doing.”
Hereseh’s expectations were growing due to the grand size of the dungeon. Then Jiss stopped the party as they were just about to turn a corner.
“One moment.”
“What is it?”
“What is going on?”
“You can stop if you are scared. You did well already coming this far.”
“Let’s rest a little if you are tired.”
Rendall, Nedhand, Rendall and Grona who expressed concerned for Jiss after he spoke but a single phrase!
They trained him intensively during practice, however in real time, they didn’t want him to force himself where it was dangerous. However these weren’t the reason why Jiss stopped.
– Eliminate all intruders. Eliminate all intruders.
This was because a strong will was being transmitted from ahead.
Beginning of Experience
Part 1
“Spells of the 2nd circle are mostly simple. You can say they are higher grade versions of the 1st circle spells. However there are still new topics, such as granting magic to objects, so you still have to study them very thoroughly. You are able to become a high level magician only when you have thoroughly beat in the basics.”
Hereseh looked at Jiss, who had recently become one year older, with a fond expression.
It is very difficult for one to seat amongst the magicians. Unless you are of noble birth or of a skillful mage, exceptional talent was required.
Also even with exceptional talent, one needed to know to seize opportunities.
Magic was not a subject just anyone could easily pick up on.
Even after picking up magic, one also had to pour painstaking amount of effort to raise one’s magic circle.
– I guess I did start teaching him from a young age. It was really uncertain if he was going to understand magic well even as I was teaching him…… To think he mastered the 1st circle in just 4 years, he really followed through the lessons well. Though some geniuses finish the 1st circle within a year or two at the magic tower, that is also because they glimpse over subjects that aren’t their master’s specialty.
In Hereseh’s eyes, Jiss now had a solid understanding in the basic fundamentals of magic.
Usually beginners of magic try to understand magic through their own common sense and calculations.
This is because the ways of utilizing mana is very difficult and the topics covered in magic were almost of fantasy.
However Jiss was able to understand magic as they were, instead of attempting to define them in his own logic, and also showed promise in magic research equations.
When it came to the 1st circle, his accomplishments far surpassed even the students of the magic tower.
This would have been impressive even if it took Jiss several more years.
Still there were weeds of magicians who were stuck in the 4th and 5th circle, so only time would tell of Jiss’s true potential.
“You have mastered the basics of magic very well, however the upcoming lessons are going to be even more important. You must understand that all great foundations are set solely for what is to come afterwards. Just because there is a solid foundation, construction of a grand structure is not guaranteed.”
Hereseh was very stingy when it came to giving praises.
Intelligence is the very first prerequisite of becoming a magician. Because of this reason, most downfall of magicians was due to their self conceit.
There were far too many accidents that occurred, when magicians rushed their research in cockiness after receiving too much praises and being called a genius.
“The 2nd circle you are going to learn from now shouldn’t be too difficult since it is an extension of the 1st circle. The 3rd circle also should be relatively easy depending on how much effort you put into it. Ask me any question without hesitation as usual when you have something you do not understand.”
“Yessir.”
Recently Hereseh’s method of education changed also. After Hereseh’s lectures, for the other half of the lesson, Jiss leisurely read magic books then simply asked Hereseh any questions he had.
The 2nd circle magic had many mysterious magic that influenced objects and the flesh as well.
Fire starter sword, Rapid tree growth, Muscular strength reinforcement, Pain reduction, and so on.
Jiss was completely captivated by magic.
If first 1st circle displayed a power level of 10, the 2nd circle at the minimum was a power level of 30 and went as high as 120.
Jiss couldn’t help but get excited..
“Magic truly is a mysterious field full of power. What will happen if I master the 9th circle?”
There were no real reasons to ask Hereseh this question.
When Hereseh reached the 6th circle from the 5th, Rendall, Laurelle, Grona and Nedhand had a modest but a highly celebrated party.
It was to an extent where Nedhand took out all his hidden beer stash, saying how this was a worthy event to celebrate even though they were in the Elves’ Forest.
If 5th circle mages had abilities to assist their allies on the battlefield, 6th circle mages had the power to ruthlessly bury the enemies on their own.
6th circle mages had the power to heavily damage and incapacitate the cavalry and the archery line on their own, so they alone had the ability to change the outcome of the battle.
Of course the situation may change if the foe is a royal knight of the empire, however regular foes and monsters were of no challenge.
“Hm. There are many ingredients I have to gather to master the 6th circle magic.”
Hereseh began his research on the 6th circle magic. Since he did not have a master to turn to, learning a whole new magic was not an easy task. However this was a most enjoyable past-time for a magician, so Hereseh couldn’t even tell time was passing.
He thoroughly read the research materials he had gathered until now, and sold the treasures he brought from his house in Terace to buy new research papers.
He also borrowed elves’ magic records, telling them he needed them as a reference.
During this time Jiss read 2nd circle magic books.
“Understanding growth of the living, Mutual utilization of the body and mana, Substance alchemy, Hoooah. To think these are the basics of the 2nd circle…….! It wasn’t a lie when people said magicians have to study until they die.”
There were mountains of books size of thesauruses.
Magic wasn’t just arranging mana in a certain way, but also understanding core principles behind it. Otherwise not only failure in magic was guaranteed, one often suffered mana reflux.
“It seems I have no choice but to study.”
One saving grace was Hereseh wrote explanations on difficult parts of the book.
The reason Hereseh believed Jiss to be a magic research genius was thanks to Jiss having double life experience.
Jiss had mental capacities, critical thinking, objectivity, and discipline unfitting of his age of 12.
Not only his older mental age was assisting Jiss greatly, the time he spent learning magic was not short as Hereseh thought either.
Since he had been mind reading Hereseh ever since he was an infant, magic was not a mystery when he actually started to receive lessons.
‘Well it is the 2nd circle but…. there is nothing completely strange or things I don’t understand completely. Though I will still need some time to completely master them.’
He also continued to train physically with Rendall as he studied the 2nd circle.
Mana of the swordsman and magician differed.
After realization of mana, magicians store a portion of their mana into their house of mana and use their will power to synchronize with their surroundings.
Mana resided almost everywhere and was often flowing.
Magicians tapped into that same flow to create miracles.
The house of mana acted as a mediator between the flow and the user. Of course it is also more advantageous to have a bigger house as well, however the size of the house was something that only scaled with one’s realization of mana.
On the other hand, swordsmen attempt to fill their entire body with mana through training and meditation.
To surpass the limits of their body, they needed consistent effort and training to store mana in their body.
‘Euugh. This is like death. Joining the the army in the other world is probably 100 times more easier.’
Rendall was a overly protective parent.
He believed power was the only way Jiss could survive through dangerous situations in the future, so he raised him with an iron hand.
“Put more strength into your arms. Enemies on the battlefield don’t wait for you because you are tired. Swing your sword properly even if you can’t catch your breath.”
Jiss swung his sword according to Rendall’s instructions.
Over thousands of swings in standing position!
The fact that his mother Laurelle was a priestess was truly a curse during training.
Jiss was always cheated of his breaks since a single prayer from Laurelle instantly healed any injuries or muscle fatigue.
‘This is completely absurd.’
The second Rendall’s training ended, Jiss collapsed on the ground like a weed.
“You can only use high level swordsmanship when you can feel the mana within your body and utilize it. The methods of high level swordsmanship is a little complicated however it is just as hard for the opponent to block it.”
“Yes. Father.”
“Still, it seems like you have accumulated quite a bit of mana, even though it’s only been a few years since you first felt mana.”
Jiss had accumulated a large amount of mana from all the herbs he ate in the Elves’ Forest.
It was actually the setting and the food Jiss ate that had a bigger impact than his training or his physical talent. Of course Jiss was still more talented than the average knight trainees near his age.
He may be an average elementary student in the other world, but here he could be considered a future genius worthy of high expectation.
“Practice Hard Jiss.”
“Yes.”
“You will definitely be able to become a swordsman greater than I.”
“Yes. Father.”
A practitioner of the sword couldn’t help but feel envious towards the knights in this world.
Due to most of the magic armors being possessed by the nobles, it was pretty much impossible to obtain a magic armor without becoming a knight.
However Jiss had no interest of becoming anyone’s knight. After observing grave robbers all his life, there was no way he would be able to live a life of servitude.
‘Throwing away life for honor….. that doesn’t seem very right. But I guess I also feel that way since I also live in a more advanced civilization half the time.
Jiss would rather become a merchant traveling the world than become a knight.
If he were to become a knight, he would spend all his life doing sniffy work and die as an expendable.
Part 2
Rendall had been observing the state of the Gratess empire through the information guild in the city Ellim, nearby the Elves’ Forest.
As the war between the princes continued to become exacerbated, cities burned and castles crumbled.
Also since refuges were wandering everywhere, crime became prominent and bandits thrived.
Because even the archdukes aggressively intervened for a chance to benefit from the whole ordeal, there wasn’t even a feel of the war ending during the last couple years.
“So you’re saying a magician’s dungeon is a day’s worth of distance away from here…..”
“Yes. It is by the Earl Parker’s family, and people are saying recently grey fog came into the area and they started to hear weird noises.”
“Then it seems there is a good possibility of there being a dungeon.”
Rendall and Laurelle made a happy face as it’s been a long time since they had any work.
Magicians prepare various magic to protect the entrance of their laboratory.
As most magic had expiration time, eerie developments often occurred. just before they dispelled through nature’s providence.
“Anywhere is good. As long as I can get out of the Elves’ Forest.”
The bored Nedhand was also fired up by the rare occurrence.
Nedhand made farming equipments to pick fruits from trees to ease his boredom.
As dwarves manufactured even the minor-est equipments as if their lives were on the line, having trouble picking fruits due to short height was a big problem for the dwarf who had a big ego.
Though the well made equipment was abandoned, left leaning against a wall only after a few uses, was still a shining masterpiece.
“The Earl Parker Family was quite advanced in commerce, so much trading used to occur there. I want to go as soon as possible.”
Expectation also rose within Hereseh as well.
After reaching the 6th circle he wasn’t able to do much research he desired, due to the lack of ingredients and documents.
Being in the Elves’ Forest made it hard to retrieve ingredients as well, however the war engulfed outside world was just as difficult.
This was because the empire forced magicians to participate in the war regardless of if they wanted to or not.
“If the dungeon’s protection magic is about to expire, that means at least 100 years must have passed. I should be able to gain some valuable knowledge if we can salvage magic books of the past.”
Laurelle opened a map and marked Earl Parker’s castle and villages in black.
“But by the way, Parker’s Castle and big towns were engulfed by the civil war and have become destroyed. There aren’t much residents left either.”
Nedhand made a frowny expression.
“How appaling. Was it the Pleyisen race’s doing?”
Just the thought of the Pleyisen race was enough to ruin the flavor of beer.
“Yes. It is truly unfortunate for the residents there but since armies no longer have any reasons to go there, there shouldn’t be any interruptions.”
Rendall summarized the situation.
“We do not know which magician resided there before because it has been such a long time, and it is also difficult to retrieve any information due to the war. I would like to get to the area before making any decisions, does everybody agree?”
Nedhand and Hereseh nodded their heads with great enthusiasm.
“I concur.”
“Let us go.”
They looked glad to get moving, as if aching from not moving for too long.
Grona was already packing luggage for the trip. The only problem was Jiss.
“You stay in the forest and continue your training. Don’t even spend one day lazily.”
“I also want to go sir.”
“It may be dangerous.”
“But I have been traveling in dungeons ever since I was a kid.”
“The situation now is different from then. The world is in a disarray right now so safety is not guaranteed. You have just experienced this recently.”
Of course Jiss planned previously to play with Allium everyday if he were to be left in the forest alone. However it was such a waste to miss out on an adventure in the outside world.
Compared to when he was just a baby and just barely walked around, he had grew up substantially and even knew how to use 2nd circle magic.
His swordsmanship was also at a level to treat a goblin like a plaything, and of course his greatest ability was his archery.
The archery he had learned directly from Lishiansus was uncomparable to Rendall or Nedhand’s arrows.
“Honey. Let’s bring Jiss as well.”
“But…..”
“If things begin to look dangerous we will just have to explore a little less aggressively. Sir Hereseh also reached the 6th circle and there are barely any people that can catch up to Jiss’s run alone.”
He was even fast enough match the dark elf Grona in the forest. Of course this was only for a short moment due to his endurance.
“I can also guarantee he will not get caught by a non-special trap.”
“If it is Jiss, nothing rash will happen.”
Jiss was able to participate in the adventure thanks to Nedhand and Hereseh’s assurance.
Part 3
Jiss light heartedly headed towards Lishiansus and Allium’s hut.
Lishiansus was handcrafting arrows.
“It seems something good happened looking at your expression.”
“Yessir. I am going to travel to the outside world.”
Jiss explained how he was going on a dungeon exploration.
“Hm. A magician’s dungeon……… sounds entertaining.”
It looked like Lishiansus was also showing signs of intrigue. It had been a long time since he had traveled to the human world, as he only spent his time in the forest teaching elves.
“We are only going to explore the dungeon and not much else. We should be back shortly.”
“I see. Though I have to go to a human city as well. It seems I will have to come along next time then.”
Jiss wasn’t about to let Lishiansus come along, seeing as how Lishiansus always caused an incident whenever he left the forest.
Though Jiss did receive help from him last time, Lishiansus ended up completely disabling magic armors into junk.
The event was big to an extent, waves of soldiers and Pleyisen race covered the land around the center of the incident.
If it wasn’t for the civil war, the central knights would have figured out the truth of the situation.
Allium looked at Jiss with her clear eyes.
“You absolutely have to go?”
“Yup.”
Jiss was planning to feign-stop her from coming and ‘reluctantly’ let her come along.
“Come back safe.”
“………..kay.”
Allium, typical of an elf, had a ‘cool’ personality and didn’t try to stop Jiss.
‘When I come back I’m gonna play plenty of ‘doctor-patient’ and ‘newlywed’ with her.’
Lishiansus took out a bow from his house that was slightly smaller than what he usually used.
“I have something to give you. This was just finally completed recently. It should be better than the one you have been using for practice.”
“Thank you very much. I will use it well.”
Jiss skipped the whole ‘fake deny the gift as a principle’ and just quickly accepted the bow.
Elves generally fell behind dwarves when it came to creating equipment. However when it came to developing bows, they were second to none.
After receiving the bow, Jiss noticed the bow was heavier than his usual equipment.
“Sir. This does not feel like wood. What is this made out of?”
“It’s the horn of the beast that was rampaging in the forest recently.”
“The Moregis sir?”
The Moregis was a monster that resembled a rhyno.
“I was going to give it to you after some more training, but now is probably a better time seeing as you are traveling outside. The bow string is also made of the Moregis and you should be able to shoot further thanks to its greater elasticity.”
“Ah. I see.”
“Be careful. With your skills, you should only be able to take out at most 6 grey wolves or so.”
“Yes sir.”
A grey wolf is a powerful monster, where victory wasn’t guaranteed even for the experienced mercenaries.
Only a qualified person like the experienced Lishiansus was able to talk about the wolves this way.
A bow grants immense combat prowess on an empty plain, where the user is granted panoramic vision.
If there is plenty of distance between the user and the wolf, the user can capture the wolf by shooting its large stature as target and use the elvish steps to increase the distance between them.
Since grey wolves are seldom found in dungeons, there was no need to worry about them.
It wasn’t favorable to use the wolves as guard dogs, as they disliked darkness and required much sustenance.
Though very elite magicians sometimes did have hellish creatures or chimeras to guard their laboratories, these kind of dungeons were extremely rare.
When a magician reached the mastery of becoming one of the the empire and the magic tower’s best magician, the magician received preferential treatment and gained disciples.
The issue was whenever an elite magician died, the first to visit the dungeon were the disciples.
They destroyed all of the dungeon’s facilities and hoarded all of the research materials.
The conflict between the disciples during this time was serious to an extent where even murder was common.
Due to this predicament, masters often tried their best to hide their final resting place and laboratory, but most of the time they were discovered either way.
It is said a magician’s greed for knowledge is so great, when their master grows old, magicians ardently wait for their master’s death.
Part 4
“It’s been a long time since last seeing a wide plain. Sound of birds chirping ended.”
“Earl Parker’s territory is that way. We should be able to arrive there before the sunset.”
“Kuahhh. I feel alive again now that we are outside the forest. It would be perfect to just rest while gulping down beer.”
“We can stop by the alcohol store in Ellim on our way back. We should buy alcohol even if only ones left over are farmer brewed.”
“I like that also. Sounds good.”
Rendall, Laurelle, Nedhand, Hereseh, Grona and Jiss exited the Elves’ Forest.
Jiss acted as the guide when they were in the Elves’ Forest.
He had traveled much of the forest playing with Allium and running around while drinking the forest’s breath.
The true reason Jiss knew every nook and cranny was to eat as much herbs he can, but Rendall and Laurelle’s heart felt warm from Jiss’s dependability nonetheless.
“Honey. It looks like Jiss is all grown up already.”
“It seems I can increase his training intensity from now on.”
The scene of Jiss running around lively while drinking the forest’s breath and holding the bow, made Nedhand break out in horselaugh as he stated how adorable Jiss was.
The group exited the Elves’ Forest where it was closest to the Earl Parker’s territory and traveled until nightfall.
They had to find the dungeon as fast as possible, because it was better for grave robbers to not get detected by anyone before finishing the excavation.
“Hm. It seems the wavelength of mana has become unstable in this direction.”
Hereseh spoke after observing the flow of mana in the sky after arriving at the Earl Parker’s territory.
His search range had become much wider than before as he was now a 6th circle magician.
Of course if the protection magics were still active, it wouldn’t have been this simple to find the dungeon.
“Is it far away?”
“No. About two hour walking distance.”
“Let us go.”
The party sighed in astonishment as they walked in the dungeon’s direction.
The fertile land that was filled with wheat and barley just one or two years ago, was now filled with overgrown weed.
There were human skeletons everywhere and amongst them were even the skeletons of women and children.
“Seeing how there are less male skeletons, it seems they were drafted and died in combat elsewhere.”
“Looking at the conditions of the skeletons, it seems some of the children were eaten.”
“It’s chilling.”
Laurelle covered Jiss’s eyes from the cruel scene.
It was her motherly desire to not let her still immature child to witness a scene shocking enough to scar him for the rest of his life.
“My child. You cannot see this.”
“Yes. Mom.”
Jiss took peeks between Laurelle’s fingers and saw piles of skeletons.
‘Hm. So I will become like that if I get captured by the Pleyisen race.’
He almost had no fear concerning the corpses.
He had witnessed tons of corpses of monsters and humans already, ever since he was piggy backing on Grona’s back as a baby.
Fear of death and danger was even less significant in the reality world. Dangerous events happened but they were still of rare occurrence.
However in this world, death was unpredictable and prominent.
Though the pursuit of power was an entertaining aspect of training, the true reason he trained hard was to live as long as possible.
‘Will the Pleyisen race boil me? Nha. They are simple minded so they might just fry me……….”
As the night came, the party traveled while thinking useless thoughts.
They walked over the land as the skeletons resonated blueish light.
It was extremely dark as they did not light any torches and the wind produced weird noises as it shook the grass and the trees.
Everyone had an eerie feeling, but they were able to endure it as they were experienced grave robbers.
This was because there wasn’t much of a difference between corpse and merchandise display for grave robbers.
Jiss was also at an age to know what was truly scary.
‘Nothing is scarier compared to mother Laurelle’s nagging.”
Hereseh continued to search for distortion of mana.
“It seems it is near this vicinity. The way mana wavelength is lightly spreading here looks like rapid magic deterioration.”
The entrance of the dungeon was located past two mountains from the Earl Parker’s castle.
Not only the dungeon was well hidden in the mountain range where people usually didn’t venture into, it was extra difficult to discover due to the protection magic.
The entrance to the dungeon appeared like a miracle when Hereseh pushed away the unstable mana.
“I will enter first.”
“Let us go together.”
Rendall and Nedhand stepped into the dungeon with their weapons out.
Jiss also took out the bow he had received from Lishiansus as a gift.
‘I should use it if there are monsters. I should be of help with this.’
He also had a sword on his hip.
It was a sword Rendall and Laurelle bought from a blacksmith.
Grona looked at Jiss proudly, as she thought of how the small boy she used to piggyback is now all grown up. Grona also took out her bow.
She made a proposition to Jiss.
“Do you wanna make a bet?”
“What kind of a bet?”
“Who hunts more monsters. The loser does the dishes.”
“Sounds good.”
There was nothing more foolish than making an archery bet against an elf. However it was doable against dark elves who specialized more in the spirit arts or offensive magic.
Not to mention he also learned archery from the continent’s best archer Lishiansus, accuracy and distance were also not very important in a dungeon compared to just rapid firing.
Jiss and Grona entered the cave as they escorted Laurelle.
“The door that hides truth. Make the visible, invisible.”
Hereseh entered lastly after casting a phantasm magic on the cave entrance just in case, to deter any possible intruders.
Part 5
“Be careful.”
“Time is not of an essence, so you can take your time.”
Jiss slowly approached the traps he discovered in the dungeon to disable them, as he received words of encouragement from the party.
There were traps installed on the walls and the floor in this dungeon. There were some that activated via magic, but there were also considerable amount of mechanical traps.
First time grave robbers often questioned why mechanical traps were needed in a magician’s dungeon.
However mechanical traps were quite useful.
It was normal for magicians, who normally researched alone, to be wary of intruders who aimed for their treasure and research.
If the intruder happened to be a single talented magician, apparatus such as arrow traps proved to be quite effective defensively.
Even if a thief or a dwarf was in the mix, mechanical traps were useful for providing precious time to prepare for combat or to flee the scene.
Magicians were also able to cast offensive and defensive magic circles beforehand then activate them.
From a magician’s point of view these traps acted as protection for research records, materials, and corpses, however they were used more reliably to protect their livelihood.
“At least two of the three strings connected to the trap are fake……. No. Looking at the precision of the other traps hm. All of them could be fake also.”
Jiss found the string that actually activated the trap hidden under a rock. It was a trap that hurled venom when pressure was applied.
“The trap can be deactivated by neutralizing or sealing the venom but that is silly and takes too much work…….. Lets see.”
After lifting couple more rocks, he found a part of the string that was knotted. The trap was able to be deactivated by untying and tying the string to the ring sticking out on the side.
In places like a magician’s dungeon, most traps were usually made able to be temporarily disabled for the residence’s convenience.
“Hm. Great work.”
Nedhand nodded his head, as Jiss completed his task spotlessly.
Magicians were not trap experts so their mechanical traps had much sloppiness to them.
They may have installed traps with their smart heads, but you can say they lacked the finishing touch and the ability to hide them well.
The place with traps truly difficult to disarm was a high noble’s grave.
This was because they spent considerable amount of money to hire specialists to install dual or even triple step traps.
However most traps were safely dispatchable as long as they were discovered beforehand.
This was because grave robbers endlessly improved upon their skills.
“Then let us keep moving forward. Looking at the equipment, the magician seemed to have been considerably skillful.”
“It seems like it wasn’t a waste to come all the way here.”
“Hope we make a good killing today……”
The exploration continued.
Jiss and Nedhand both looked for the hidden traps, and Jiss had the role of disabling them.
This was a great grave robbing learning experience for Jiss, since old traps often did not activate correctly or became practically harmless due to old age.
After walking for a while, Nedhand was awed by the dungeon’s size.
“This dungeon is considerably deep.”
“It seems it has been over 20 minutes since we came in the dungeon. The magician’s magic power must have been great if he was able to dig this deep.”
Grona had great interests towards magicians.
Like Hereseh, She was also able to cast simple magic as she was a Dark elf.
“There may not be much treasure since magicians have the tendency to have their own unique desires. However I am still curious to what research this magician was doing.”
Hereseh’s expectations were growing due to the grand size of the dungeon. Then Jiss stopped the party as they were just about to turn a corner.
“One moment.”
“What is it?”
“What is going on?”
“You can stop if you are scared. You did well already coming this far.”
“Let’s rest a little if you are tired.”
Rendall, Nedhand, Rendall and Grona who expressed concerned for Jiss after he spoke but a single phrase!
They trained him intensively during practice, however in real time, they didn’t want him to force himself where it was dangerous. However these weren’t the reason why Jiss stopped.
– Eliminate all intruders. Eliminate all intruders.
This was because a strong will was being transmitted from ahead.
