Chapter 2

Chapter 2

2. Drawing Cards (2)

It was absurd.

What am I even looking at right now?

‘What is Level Up, and what are all these messages?’

Some message appeared.

Out of nowhere, saying I achieved a condition, obtained a trait.

I’d never heard or seen anything like this.

A mage does something called Level Up?

···What kind of nonsense is this.

And that’s not all?

Three cards are floating in front of me.

And those···.

‘Aren’t these all magic names?’

The card rank increase thing was a bit hard to understand, but [Mana Control], [Fireball]. These were all magics I knew.

“······.”

But what am I supposed to do with them?

Just as I couldn’t understand.

[Choose one of the three cards.]

A strange message appeared.

Choose one among these?

What would be good.

Naturally, [Fireball] was appealing.

But I drain mana nonstop anyway.

Then isn’t this better?

Learning [Fireball] when I don’t even have mana··· what’s the point.

Damn it, whatever.

[Selected Mana Recovery (Common).]

[Mana recovery amount has increased.]

Spot!

The card disappeared.

What was in front of my eyes became clear again.

“······.”

Swoosh.

I quietly looked at my hand and body in turn.

The mana stone held in my hand, faded in color by 1/3.

And the mana that had increased inside my body.

‘So right now I’ve learned [Mana Recovery]. Somehow the way it drains feels different too···.’

Mana doesn’t drain wildly like before.

No, to be precise, it does drain, but I can feel it filling up little by little.

“······.”

What in the world just happened.

* * *

I calmed my mind and organized the situation.

Something strange appeared, and I learned magic.

I can still feel the effect now.

‘···It definitely drains, but it’s filling up minutely.’

What was it like originally?

It just drains straight through.

Like simply overturning a basin filled with water.

But now?

‘Like leaving the faucet slightly open and pouring?’

Yeah, exactly this level.

It leaks, but it fills little by little.

Just from learning that [Mana Recovery] once.

There are more differences from before.

Clearly, just a moment ago, I felt something completely full.

But now I feel somehow empty and vacant.

Why is this happening?

It definitely felt completely full with the mana stone.

‘Did my mana vessel get bigger?’

Is that why I feel this way?

Yeah, I think I heard something like that somewhere.

Mana is like muscle, and if you train hard, it increases more.

···But I haven’t done any training or anything.

Anyway.

‘If I have mana, can’t I use magic?’

Yeah, I have mana now too.

Then wouldn’t it be okay to try?

“Search, search···.”

I immediately turned on Newtube and searched.

Of course, there’s no clear information.

It’s a lecture sold expensively even at academies, so who would generously post this on Newtube?

But there are things like the absolute basics.

Things like mana operation methods, the absolute basics.

-Hello, subscribers! Today I’ll tell you about one of the basics that is the foundation of a mage, and if you can’t do this you should quit being a mage! ‘Mana Operation Method’! If you do this well, you can even light a fire in your hand?

Oh, really?

I watched the video, and watched again.

It sounded easy when said.

It said to move the mana filled in the heart.

Just like I moved the mana from the mana stone.

‘···Since I moved it from the mana stone too, will it work?’

I tried feeling the mana inside my body.

Somehow I could feel it a bit better too.

I slowly tried moving that mana from the heart to the forearm, to the wrist, to the fingertips.

No, I attempted that.

“······.”

Hm, it’s not working well.

Again.

And again.

I repeated it like that several times.

But.

“Ah, no wonder people pay money to learn magic···.”

A monologue burst out on its own.

Ah, it’s ridiculously hard···.

What can I do with this.

I looked at the comments on the video.

└This guy’s scamming...

└Even if this is the most basic of basics, if you could do it just by watching a video like this click! who would bother going to an academy?ㅋㅋ

└There aren’t any suckers who actually try this after being fooled, right?

└View count baiting is crazy~

“······.”

Ah, so it really doesn’t work.

Yeah, it was damn hard to do.

‘I got happy just because I barely got some mana.’

Sigh, of course it would be like that.

I got happy for a moment, but it was all for nothing.

Thud—.

I just lay down flat on the floor like that.

‘I got a little excited for a moment. Only ruined my mood for nothing.’

It was brief, but my head was a flower garden.

Handling mana, realizing magic.

Becoming a certified mage, getting a job somewhere.

Receiving a high salary and becoming rich···.

I even imagined already dating an idol member, getting married, and having two pretty kids.

“My life is just like that.”

I had a hell of a delusion for a moment.

What could someone like me···.

‘Wait a minute.’

I abruptly sat up my upper body.

Because something suddenly came to mind.

‘But how did that card draw appear for me?’

What did I do for it to appear?

I rewound my memory for a moment.

I held the mana stone, drew out the mana, and since it was leaking I kept filling it. And then it said I leveled up···?

‘Could it be···.’

I picked up the mana stone I had left on the desk again.

The mana stone faded in color by 1/3.

In other words, that means 2/3 still remains.

Wooong—.

I drew out the mana from the mana stone like before.

I felt it being sucked into my body again.

Even more intense and faster than the first time.

‘It’s filling, filling··· it’s filling up···.’

I closed my eyes and felt the flow in my body.

I could definitely feel it better than the first time.

Where the mana inside my body was flowing.

I wonder how long I did that.

Around the time the mana stone had completely lost its purple light.

[Leveled up.]

“······!”

[Reward is given.]

It appeared again.

Whirrrrr—.

Those three cards are spinning round and round again!

<​Passive>[Mana Efficiency](Common)

-Mana consumption when casting magic –10%

<​Passive>[Projectile +1](Common)

-Number of projectiles for projectile-type magic +1

<​Active>[Fireball](Common)

-Common magic of the fire attribute system

-Acquire Fireball magic.

“······.”

Oh, my prediction was right.

When I filled it full with mana, it appeared again.

And different ones came out too.

‘[Mana Efficiency] and [Projectile +1]? If I learn this, does the number of projectiles just increase?’

How difficult is that.

They said upgrading a learned magic is harder than learning a basic magic.

Think about it.

Whether the power would be the same for a kid using one Fireball and a kid using two or three.

Naturally, even using the same magic, a mage who handles it better gets better treatment and has better skill.

But just with this···.

‘I can learn it with a click?’

···Hehehe.

A hollow laugh came out on its own.

But it was obvious what to learn.

[Acquired Fireball (Common).]

This time I learned a proper magic.

Krr, [Fireball].

They say you have to spend hundreds of millions to learn this.

“Shall, shall I try?”

Since I learned it, I should use it.

···Will it really work?

But how am I supposed to do it?

I don’t even know how to handle mana yet?

‘If it’s Fireball, fire ignites in the hand······.’

Fwoosh!

“······!?”

Fire caught on my hand?

Since handling mana was hard, I thought realizing magic would be even harder···.

“It wasn’t.”

I misunderstood.

* * *

Screech.

I came outside for a moment.

Because I had nothing to eat and wanted to buy something.

‘If I use this from now on, I think I could earn money too.’

Of course, it’s still insufficient.

Because the only thing I know how to do properly is just one.

But if time passes?

Then will I do tutoring and stuff too?

‘They say tutoring fees alone are hundreds of millions, billions.’

Ah! My head became a flower garden again.

Saving money to leave Sillim-dong, dating, getting married.

“···Hehehe.”

A laugh came out on its own.

Just imagining it is fun.

Step, step.

The path heading to the convenience store like that.

It was when I was passing through a narrow alley.

Someone was coming this way, and I naturally stepped aside with my shoulder and passed.

But.

“Hey, you there.”

“······?”

The man I had passed called out.

Swoosh, when I turned around.

‘Wait a minute. That person?’

He looks familiar somehow.

Wondering who it was, it’s the man I saw at the convenience store.

The person who got caught by the police right after leaving.

“You’re the one, right?”

“······.”

“You were at the convenience store earlier, right?”

“······.”

He’s the owner of the mana stone.

This person got caught, so why is he out?

“Oh, it is you. You tried to call me earlier, right?”

“Uh, yes. I did.”

“Why? Why did you try to call me?”

The probing is somehow strange.

It feels like he already knows why I called.

···But I already used up all the mana stone.

Step, step.

“Tell me. Why did you try to call me. Was it because of what I dropped? That’s it, right? Right?”

“······.”

I couldn’t reply.

It’s true, but this person’s eyes are a bit strange.

“Oh oh··· that’s right, right. Thanks to that I got released quickly. The police chased me because of the mana stone. Hehehe. But even when they searched it didn’t come out, so they just let me go? Idiots.”

He got caught because of the mana stone?

They said just possessing a mana stone when you’re not a certified mage is a crime. So that was true.

“Now then, hand it over.”

“···What do you mean?”

“My mana stone that you stole. You have to return it now, right?”

“Ah, that···.”

“Why, you don’t have it? Then where did it go! How did I get that, why don’t you have it! I even killed a person to get that!”

At that moment.

The man’s eyes, who had said something bizarre, seemed to spin, and then···.

“Then it can’t be helped···.”

The man raised his right hand.

He spread his feet to shoulder width, brought his left foot half a step forward, slightly twisted his upper body, and brought his right hand in front of his chest.

···What is he doing?

Some change occurred in that man’s right hand.

I started to feel the aura of mana at the fingertips, and faint light leaked out.

It went on for 3 seconds, 4 seconds, 5 seconds.

The man’s brow gradually wrinkled.

It looked like he was concentrating quite a bit.

‘···Is he trying to use magic?’

I watched that appearance carefully.

This time he did a different action.

His right hand drew a specific trajectory.

From top to bottom, bent inward, then outward again.

Then he muttered something alone, mutter, mutter.

In that state another 2 seconds, 3 seconds···.

Fwoosh!

Soon I understood what he was doing.

Because flames soared from that bastard’s hand.

“You. Do you know what this is? It’s called [Fireball]. Hehehe. It took several years to learn this. What choice do poor bastards like us have if we want to learn it?”

“Ah, ah··· [Fireball].”

“Why, is it amazing? Look as much as you want. The police who see your corpse burned pitch black won’t be able to know who did this either. Hehehe.”

Ah, ah.

So he’s been using [Fireball] until now.

Swoosh.

I quietly raised my hand too.

And just thought.

My hand blazing fiercely.

Fwoosh!

“Uh, uh?”

The bastard was flustered.

“This is what you did, right?”

“Uh, uh··· y-yeah···.”

The bastard blinked, blinked as if flustered.

He looked at his own hand, then at my hand.

“Th-that, but you··· uh, how do you do it so fast?”

“I want to ask. Why does it take you so long?”

“···Wh-what?”

“You just have to think about it.”

Is this hard?

I couldn’t understand.

“Th-that’s impossible··· hic!”

The guy suddenly hiccuped.

He seemed quite surprised.

Swoosh, swoosh.

He even backed away.

The expression that had been hehehe with good momentum was nowhere to be found.

He looked considerably scared.

‘Since it’s come to this, let’s ask one thing.’

I was curious anyway, so this is good.

“But before throwing this, let me ask one thing. You said you got a mana stone earlier. Which request office do I have to go to for them to give mana stones?”

“···Wh-what?”

“I think I’ll need quite a lot of mana stones. Do you know anything?”

“Th-that is···.”

Somehow it seems like he’ll tell me?

© Jeongkim#1mtau