CHAPTER 122. But what’s the problem?
Before long, time passed, and vacation arrived.
The academy students were brimming with excitement for the vacation they’d waited and waited for.
As that blazing enthusiasm made even the city of Hazen buzz, Aster stood in front of the Warp Gate Administration Office.
He was there to see off Demian and Chenbi, who were returning to House Brando.
“Friend, even so—won’t you be lonely by yourself?”
“Who knows.”
“Vacation is long. You might get bored. If you do, contact me anytime. Then I’ll tell Ransi to bring you over.”
“Yeah. I’ll accept the thought.”
Unlike Demian’s warm suggestion, Aster’s answer had no soul in it.
But among House Brando’s retainers present, not a single one took issue with his attitude.
They simply….
‘Heh heh—Young Master Demian has become so dignified.’
‘The Head of House should return from his travels as soon as possible and see that 모습…!’
They just wiped away tears of emotion at how different Demian was compared to before.
But for Aster, it was hell.
- Friend, you know? Vacation is like two months. It’s really long, right? Then won’t you get bored? You might. I feel like you might.
Once in the morning when they met. Again during every break when he came to Aster’s seat. Lunch, dinner… no—whenever it crossed his mind, he started up constantly.
The repertoire was always: vacation is long, being alone is boring, if you really have nothing to do then definitely contact him, anytime is fine…. It ended as a suggestion that wasn’t a suggestion, a pressure that wasn’t pressure, a recommendation that wasn’t a recommendation—anyway.
‘An obsessive monster.’
That was Demian.
“Hoo.”
Anyway, after spending some time exchanging farewells with Demian and Chenbi, who were about to return to House Brando—
“Young Master Demian, Chenbi. It’s time. Please go in.”
When the blunt servant Ransi informed them that it was time for the Warp Gate, Demian looked visibly disappointed.
“Already?”
For the record, Chenbi would also be staying at House Brando for this vacation. Gamo Bianca had invited Chenbi’s family to Brando altogether.
“Friend, vacation is long! If you get bored, definitely! Contact me! I’ll tell Ransi!”
“Aster, see you when vacation ends. And just in case… if you have time, please come. My parents say they miss you too. You don’t have to feel pressured—if you have time. Yeah, if you have time. Don’t feel pressured.”
After leaving their final farewells, the two walked toward the Warp Gate Administration Office.
House Brando’s retainers followed behind them.
Because Demian kept turning back, Aster kept waving until the two were completely out of sight.
After a moment of that—
“…They gone?”
They were gone.
‘Finally….’
A single thread of color bloomed across his colorless face. His wandering soul returned.
“…Vacation!”
At last—it was vacation.
But his joy was brief.
Piiiiiik! Ppibik!
The smile flowering on Aster’s face instantly wilted at the appearance of Breakfast No. 1, flying in from afar.
Piiiiiik! Ppik!
“…Can’t I rest a little?”
Ppibik! Ppik!
Breakfast No. 1 flapped its wings as it perched on his head as if it were its own home.
Aster let out a long sigh at its angry gestures.
Thuk!
Breakfast No. 1 thrust its foot right up in front of him. Even setting aside whether a bird’s body structure could allow such a pose, he didn’t want to unfold the note dangling from its ankle.
But if he didn’t, Headmaster sunbae—standing firmly behind Breakfast No. 1—wouldn’t let it slide.
“Haaah….”
Rustle.
It was obvious what it would say, but he unfolded the note anyway.
And sure enough, it was exactly the message he expected.
It’s study time. Stop slacking off and come up to Lafiter.
To be honest, Demian’s persistence wasn’t lethal enough to rip Aster’s soul out.
What was truly lethal was that word written in the note: “study.”
But why study all of a sudden?
The origin went back a few days, to right after he obtained Yeokcheon’s fragment.
- That… is not magic.
- Then what is it?
- Quite literally, it is Yeokcheon’s ability. Even if it’s Yeokcheon… I never thought something like this would be possible.
Head Librarian Teheman’s excited face. Up to there, it was fine.
No matter what, Aster thought he’d gotten an ability that was pretty useful.
But only for a moment.
The joy that had swelled up shattered into pieces in his conversation with Head Librarian Teheman.
- From what I see, it seems to be an ability used by intuition rather than understanding and calculations of logic. Is that correct?
- Yes. For now, that seems to be the case….
- Then there is not a little you must learn.
- …?
It’s an ability used by intuition—what is there to learn?
As he tilted his head, Teheman said, “Wait just a moment,” and then started rummaging around Lafiter’s upper floors.
That’s when he realized for the first time—
That different people have different standards for what counts as “not much.”
- For now, study just this much. It isn’t a lot. It’s less than you’d think.
- Thud!
The old man—why is he so strong? When he set down the stack of books he’d been holding, the ground trembled.
- This is… “less”?
- Then is it “a lot”?
- …….
The height of the books stacked up to exactly Aster’s eye level.
The titles were utterly bizarre.
<Space and Magic>, <Space and Liquids, Solids, and Gases Are…>, <The History of Ancient Magic and the Perception of Space According to Culture and Philosophy of…>
Space and Magic, sure—but what? Space and solids and gases…. The perception of space according to the history and culture of magic….
Just the titles alone were suffocating.
But there was an even bigger problem.
- Rest easy. This is only the basics.
- …….
He couldn’t not ask.
- Do I really… have to learn all of this?
- There are idiots who sometimes believe intuition—what is called “insight”—is an inborn talent, but that is not the case at all. The richer the foundational knowledge, the richer the insight becomes. And therefore, you….
Since he was handling “space,” he needed to master all kinds of thought and contemplation about space.
…That was the defense from the accused party: Head Librarian Teheman.
“…Damn it.”
That was the defendant Aster’s lament.
Ppibibik, ppikppik!
“…Fine. Let’s go, then. Go.”
Head Librarian Teheman, despite his appearance, was an extremely tenacious man.
He’d skipped out for just one day, and Teheman immediately called Headmaster sunbae.
After that, life under Breakfast No. 1’s surveillance.
“At this age… studying….”
The grumbling of an academy first-year.
Lafiter’s upper floors.
The studying conducted under Head Librarian Teheman’s leadership didn’t end until around midnight.
“Hoo… Seriously, I’m going to die.”
I rubbed my dry, tired eyes and left Lafiter.
I definitely went in during the day, but when I came out, everything was dark. The sun that had been hanging high had already handed the sky over to the moon.
These had truly been brutal days.
‘Have I ever studied like this before?’
Of course I had.
Collision Style, whatever else—when I was creating techniques for operating magical power, it was even worse than this. Once I latched onto a book and holed up with it, I’d dig into nothing but books for days on end.
But if you asked whether it had been as hard then as it was now…
Well. I could say with certainty: absolutely not.
‘Now is hard.’
Several times harder.
Why? Probably because it was forced studying. People are like that. When you want to do it, you can go on for days—but when you have no interest, you can barely endure even an hour.
But if you asked whether there were no results at all….
‘That’s not true either.’
I casually checked my surroundings for any presence, confirmed no one was there, and lit a Mana Orb.
Sseu… sseu….
Three or four Mana Orbs embroidered the air. They all moved at once right after that.
Paat!
The three or four Mana Orbs moved without any trajectory and blinked in place. And then, soon—
Pababababababat…!
They even kept switching positions in midair again and again.
“Definitely… it seems effective.”
On the first day, I could barely move even one. Now I could easily move three or four. And not only that—continuous movement like what I just did.
It was a level I couldn’t have imagined before.
But.
‘…Mana Orbs are still the limit.’
The fireball I’d lit in the air went “puh-sik,” lost its light, and faded away.
For now, spatial movement was limited to Mana Orbs.
‘And I can’t compress them either.’
It was an undeniably disappointing situation in many ways.
Ah, but it wasn’t completely useless either.
Spatial movement—yeah. So, “Blink” only works on Mana Orbs.
‘But that’s only when I’m moving something that isn’t me.’
When the target was me, it was different.
Like now….
Jjeueueueung—!
With a bizarre sound, the surrounding scenery flipped.
It didn’t feel like I moved—rather, it felt like space itself swapped. Like the stage backdrop in a play changing.
‘Now… I can set the destination point pretty well, too.’
I went ahead and marked coordinates in the academy’s thicket.
Sasasaak, sak….
The surrounding scenery transformed in an instant, and I placed myself safely among the dense trees.
This, too, would’ve been unimaginable just a few days ago.
When I escaped the spiral staircase, I set the destination wrong and got flung out so badly.
If there was another object at the destination point, you got bounced out. And when you tensed up and tried it twice in a row, seriously—
‘…Well. Once you get used to it, it is convenient.’
Anyway, seeing results like this—regardless of my personal likes and dislikes—studying with the Head Librarian was indeed quite beneficial.
What did the Head Librarian say again…?
- It’s the basic method of study before learning ancient magic. Using “insight” is the same for ancient magic, after all.
Right. He said this was the basic study method for ancient magic.
And hearing that, I suddenly had this thought.
Good thing I was born in modern times. If I’d been born in ancient times, I wouldn’t have learned magic even if it killed me.
“Anyway….”
Tap!
After blinking out of the academy, I started moving again.
I slipped into an alley, put on a mask from Subspace, and lightly wrapped myself in perception-interference magic.
Why disguise myself in the middle of the night…?
The reason was simple.
Ppogak, ppogak.
The pouch hanging at my waist. The calling beads inside were cracking in real time.
One shattered about an hour ago, and then beads continued cracking at roughly ten-minute intervals.
“What’s so urgent with this guy now?”
Clicking my tongue, I headed to Professor Parun’s residence.
And so I arrived at Professor Parun’s office.
“This time you came rather quickly. A fortunate thing—for you, and for me.”
“…?”
The eyes of Professor Parun, whom I hadn’t seen in a while(?), were quite sharp.
No—honestly, it wasn’t “a while” for me. I’d seen him in passing earlier at the vacation ceremony.
But that gaze was different from the morning.
Sharper still.
“What now? What is it?”
At my question, Professor Parun rubbed at his creased brow and spoke.
“Information just came in.”
“…Information?”
“Yes. In the end, it seems Lortel and Deculan have decided to make the deal.”
In other words, Lortel had decided to sell the Infinite Chain to Deculan.
“But… so what?”
“…Do you not understand the seriousness of the situation? It means the Infinite Chain is about to fall into Deculan’s hands.”
“So what?”
I couldn’t understand what was so serious at all.
“Has Deculan already received the Infinite Chain?”
“…No.”
“Are they trading today?”
“…No.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“…?”
Parun’s brows knit together sharply again, and I opened my mouth.
“Don’t we just rob them first?”
