Demon-Hunting Genius Mage

[Translator - Vanilla]

[Proofreader - Kawaii]

Creeak.

A man with brilliant silver hair staggered and slumped into a chair.

"...Urgh."

Pain from grueling training pierced every part of his body. But there was something else that tormented him even more.

This thing constricted his heart.

"Huff...!"

It was the pain from the ‘mana deficiency’ that had followed him since birth.

The man, gasping as if he couldn't breathe properly, clutched his heart and said.

"I don't... have much time left."

He had tried countless elixirs to solve his mana deficiency, but none of them could improve his condition. They only delayed the onset of symptoms slightly.

Yet despite this, a faint smile played on the man's lips. A few months ago, he had stumbled upon a thread of hope by chance.

"By now... it should have ripened quite nicely."

A black-haired man who had fearlessly broken through from Sector 7 to Sector 6's main gate.

Although he was of beggar origin, Shuharn had seen it clearly. With his skill [Measure], which could gauge an opponent's power and growth, he had seen the enormous mana within the man.

'He was a monster.'

Though the amount of mana itself wasn't much, the man's mana showed a movement that constantly spread outward.

As if it regenerated faster than it was consumed.

Even more surprising was the man's rate of growth. The point at which that mana first began to spread seemed to be quite recent. A few months at most.

If that talent were to be converted to that of a knight... it was enough to surpass even himself.

And if it was the heart of a mage with such talent...

'It could cure this disease.'

It might even cure this disease that was constantly consuming his mana.

Although it would be an unethical act that required consuming another's heart, and perhaps stealing the destiny of a man who might become an enormous figure in the future.

Shuharn thought that this too was the man's fate. After all, this was a world where survival of the fittest was the norm.

"Now then..."

Clatter, clatter

After the pain had subsided somewhat, Shuharn rummaged through a drawer and pulled something out.

What emerged was a handful of black hair.

It was the hair Shuharn had cut off when he first encountered the man.

Shuharn placed it on a scroll-shaped artifact.

[Path of Pursuit], a one-time artifact that tracks the target using the user's mana.

Using this, he could find out where that black-haired man was.

The reason he had willingly let the man go was all because of this.

Of course, since this artifact was made for mages, it required mana to use, but...

Shuharn was a knight who had mastered 'aura'.

Such things were no problem for him.

"Hah!"

A crimson aura extended from Shuharn's fingertips.

He carefully pushed it into the artifact.

Tremble, tremble!

The artifact vibrated, signaling its activation.

It was only natural. Although mana and aura were different powers, their essence was ultimately the same.

Hiss!

The haze that rose along the hair soon headed somewhere.

It would lead him to the black-haired man he was seeking.

Instead of moving, Shuharn grasped the haze with his hand to read the direction it wanted to go.

And a little while later.

The haze abruptly cut off at an unexpected location.

"Hm?"

It seemed the guy had realized he was being targeted by an artifact.

But it didn't matter since he had already pinpointed the location.

"...Aldeon, is it?"

Aldeon Magic Tower.

The place where reports of raising demons had been pouring in recently, and where the situation was serious enough that Shuharn had received requests for support.

"...Heh."

Shuharn let out a dry laugh.

It had only been a few months since he first met the man.

"I thought he'd be holed up somewhere in Sector 6, learning magic on his own... but he's already entered a magic tower?"

Entering a magic tower meant that the man had become quite a proficient mage.

At the same time, it also meant that the chances of curing the mana deficiency had increased.

"Hey!"

"...You called, sir."

At Shuharn's call, an attendant waiting outside entered and bowed his head.

Shuharn spoke softly to the attendant.

"Tell the guard. I'm going to Aldeon Magic Tower myself."

It was finally time to uproot the well-grown medicinal root.

An expectant smile spread across Shuharn's face.

***

Two months since entering Aldeon Magic Tower.

Contrary to my concerns, life in the tower flowed more ordinarily than expected.

Eating meals at set times every day, attending classes, researching magic, and then going to bed.

Days repeated without any special demands or problems.

Of course, that didn't mean there were no changes.

The first change was the most important.

"Light."

I had mastered light magic.

Whoom!

Formless light materialized and appeared at the tip of my index finger.

At first glance, it might not seem different from the elemental magic I had mastered so far, but in reality, it was not so.

This was high-level elemental magic, a step above other elements.

And it was influenced by the holy power stat.

'If only the absorption would finish...'

My gaze suddenly turned to my wrist, just below the finger emitting light.

There, a silver bracelet that still hadn't lost its luster was fastened.

[Holy Oil Bracelet].

An item I had pillaged from those raiders' hideout.

The problem was that I still hadn't fully absorbed the holy oil from this bracelet.

'It should be about time...'

The stat increase from the [Holy Oil Bracelet] occurs when the bracelet breaks after fully absorbing the holy oil and fulfilling its role.

Therefore, my current holy power stat was 0.

Although holy power isn't useful unless fighting demons, it was still disappointing.

If I had combined holy power training with the magic training I'd done over the past two months, it would have been much better.

Anyway.

"Mr. First... First Place! Look at this!"

"Oh? You've succeeded."

"I guess I wasn't a talentless mage after all! Hahaha!"

This was the second change.

With Uncle Thompson being the last, everyone in the dormitory had succeeded in mastering light magic.

According to the 7th Elder Ollie Didan, talentless mages could never master the light attribute no matter how much they practiced, so everyone succeeding was certainly an encouraging development.

And the final change.

"Thompson, don't get too excited. You were the last to manifest it."

"...Don't be so quick, blond noble."

Ten noble mages, the commoner Thompson, and me. The twelve of us had grown quite close.

In a way, this could be considered the most dramatic change.

The faint traces of discrimination had completely disappeared, and we had compromised to use casual speech with each other until we left Aldeon.

Commoners and nobles having a casual chat time?

If it weren't for the mage profession, where one is recognized by ability, this would be unimaginable.

Even considering that, it was still a rare sight.

Surprisingly, it was Roan who first made such a suggestion and got the agreement of the other mages.

"Yuhan. How about your progress?"

However, Roan himself opted out of the casual chat time, saying he was more comfortable using polite speech.

If he was going to do this, why did he suggest it in the first place? Anyway, he's quite an odd fellow.

Whoosh-

"This much."

"...Ugh."

Ah, by the way, Roan and I had somewhat established a pecking order.

Over the two months following the same process, the difference in talent had become clearly evident.

It took Roan a month to learn light magic. For me, it took two weeks.

"What's with that smirk? Wipe it off right now. I can do that much too!"

"...Oh my! I failed to control my expression."

"You shameless mage...!"

It was only natural.

No matter how much of a prodigy Roan was in the academic world, said to be a magical genius born once in a thousand years...

'He's no match for a Mythic tier trait.'

From observing Roan all this time, I could infer the characteristics inherent in him.

Legendary tier trait [Genius of Magic].

It was exactly one level below my [Prodigy of Magic].

In other words, I’m a perfect upgrade of him.

So it was naturally impossible for him to catch up to me.

"Just wait a bit. I'll create the exact same light magic as you."

"...Do as you please."

It was also a bit of a bitter truth.

In a way, it meant that talent in this world was all predetermined under the data.

'I wonder how he would react if he knew this fact...'

I'm not sure how, but one thing's for certain - it wouldn't be a good reaction.

As these thoughts kept connecting, they gave rise to another question.

Well, rather than arising now, it was a question I'd been curious about for a long time but had been avoiding.

Is this world a game, or is it another reality...?

I preferred the former if possible.

To consider this as another reality would be... too horrific a world, wouldn't it?

'...Let's keep thinking of it as a game.'

It's a problem I couldn't answer on my own anyway.

I decided to think in a way that was comfortable for me.

So that I could view someone's death as merely the death of an NPC.

...So that I could maintain the minimum humanity left in me.

"Tch."

Just as I clicked my tongue at my suddenly heavy heart,

"Ooh!"

Uncle Thompson, who had disappeared somewhere earlier, entered the room with a beaming face.

"Mr. First Place! I got permission!"

"...Permission for what?"

"What else! Permission for our party, of course!"

"Party...? Ah."

Come to think of it, a few weeks ago, we had talked about this.

If everyone managed to master light magic, we'd all celebrate that day together.

It seemed Uncle Thompson had remembered this and gotten permission from the elders.

I thought it was just talk at the time.

"Are we really doing this?"

"Why? Mr. First Place, don't you like parties?"

"...It's not that I don't like them."

It wasn't welcome news.

Things always tend to unravel when you let your guard down.

There was actually something bothering me too.

'The silver-haired one might come.'

A few days ago, someone had used [Path of Pursuit] on me.

The only person who would do that was the silver-haired knight, Shuharn.

I cut it off as soon as I noticed, but he might have already pinpointed my location.

So I always had to be prepared for a surprise attack...

"Come on! Backing out now isn't manly! Let's get ready for the party!"

Uncle Thompson clearly had no intention of listening to me.

'...I guess one day wouldn't hurt.'

In the end, I had no choice but to reluctantly participate in the party.

But once it started, it was fun in many ways.

"What's with this food... Did they use magic on it? How can it taste like this?"

"Ah- That's what we call cuisine."

Unlike the first day, everyone enjoyed the prepared food.

"So then I grabbed that assassin's head and..."

"Ahaha!"

We laughed at Uncle Thompson's stories of dominating the back alleys before awakening his magical powers.

"Next time I meet a demon... I won't back down."

"...That's a good attitude."

We nodded with solemn faces as we listened to the resolution of Lief, the hot-tempered mage who had lost his younger sibling in the evaluation.

As we were all caught up in the atmosphere...

"Hm?"

"...For the light of Aldeon."

"For the light of Aldeon."

"Yuhan. Spare me a moment."

When the tower master, Dercion Pygma, called me with a rather serious face.

Somehow I didn't feel good.

***

[Translator - Vanilla]

[Proofreader - Kawaii]