Descent of the Legendary Archmage

The first circle of the Bytenor style of magic.

The first circle is known as the 'circle of deliberation'.

This, as everyone already knows, allows one to use magic freely and without restraint.

It can be said to be the supporting foundation of the Bytenor style of magic.

Then what would change if one were to have 2 circles?

Well, the second circle is known as the 'circle of resonance’.

And as its name suggests, its ability is to resonate.

It resonates with the mana in the surroundings and other mana circles and by doing so, it rapidly increases the speed of the mana circulation, therefore, resulting in the magic spell being strengthened.

That is the effect of having 2 infinity circles.

[Although the circle of resonance is powerful, it comes at the cost of fleetingly consuming your mental strength. You must always be attentive to your surroundings before using it.]

Of course just because the magic is strong doesn't mean that it's an almighty power. As it's an ability that forcefully accelerates the mana circulation by resonating with both the circle and the mana in the surroundings, it quickly depletes one's mental strength.

'The maximum amount of times I can use the ring of resonance right now is maybe twice and that's stretching it.'

And that was only once or twice if I didn't use any special magic.

So that was why I had only used 1-circle magic to fight Adella.

I was preserving my mental strength while gathering intel and waiting for the perfect moment to use my circle of resonance.

All to maximize its effectiveness.

[A trait of the Bytenor style of magic is that the more you progress, the more information you'll be able to see through the mana.]

[Having 1-circle allows you to get a momentary glimpse of the color. And having 2-circles allows you to see the structure of mana.]

I dragged out the fight using only 1-circle magic and continuously observed Adella's mana.

The light type magic's unique trait is its white color and the dark type magic's unique trait is its chilling darkness.

[Of course, even if you are able to see the structure of mana, you are only able to see it in little snippets.]

I constantly observed the moon magic the Mystic Wi clan was so proud of.

By piecing together the tiny fragments of mana structure that I saw, I was able to learn one complete piece of information.

And as a result.

‘Halo has a structure similar to that of the 3-circle magic, Light Impact.'

I succeeded in understanding the structure of Halo.

‘Light impact is a powerful, light type magic that shines light in every direction damaging any foes that get near it.'

The Mystic Wi Clan's magic was a magic that was based entirely upon ratios.

Its effect depends entirely on the ratio of light and dark type magic.

If you were to increase the ratio of the light-type magic, then the range would increase and if you were to increase the ratio of the dark-type magic, then the power would increase.

'Skills that have a high range such as Halo and Moon Fall contain a high percentage of light-type magic and skills that have high power such as Moonlight bullet contain a high percentage of dark-type magic.

'Light type magic and dark type magic are completely opposite attributes.’

This means that the light magic and dark magic cover for each other's shortcomings, meaning that the magic essentially has no weakness.

‘That's why up till now, the Mystic Wi clan's magic has been an impenetrable fort.'

It can be seen as a type of magic that is able to do everything.

‘But that doesn't mean I don't have a way of dealing with it.'

By continuously observing Adella's magic, I found a way to defeat her.

‘Halo is constructed out of 78% light type and 22% dark type mana.'

Therefore, in order to break apart Adella's Halo, I must first change the ratios of mana.

Ziiing-!

The circle of resonance rang out.

The infinity circle revolved while ringing throughout my entire body.

The moonlight was approaching fast.

And just as the Halo had reached the tip of my nose, I activated my magic.

‘Darkness Blind.'

‘Strengthened by the circle of resonance.'

The 2-circle magic, Darkness Blind.

A supporting magic spell that spreads out dark attributed mana in every direction to blind the opponent.

Normally, this spell isn't used in this situation.

However,

‘The amount of dark attribute mana that Darkness Blind releases matches well with Adella’s Halo.’

Surprisingly, my analysis of Adella’s Halo showed that the structure of its mana was very similar to the mana structure of Darkness Blind.

Hwaaaaak-!

The darkness rapidly spread out and instantly collides with the moonlight.

Upon doing so, it began to start mixing with Adella's Halo.

'After being contaminated by my Darkness Blind, Adella's Halo's ratio of light and dark has been put in a state of total disorder.'

This caused the Halo, which was usually a spell with a fixed range, to malfunction.

‘With the addition of the dark type mana, instead of the moonlight spreading out, it began to contract.’

The moonlight, which had been gathering momentum, suddenly started to return back to Adella, as if time was being reversed.

'My Darkness Blind had reduced Adella’s Halo's range to less than a quarter of what it should’ve been.'

A gap appeared in between Adella’s Halo due to the moonlight disappearing.

"...!"

And through the gap, Adella's flustered expression could be seen.

She had an expression on her face that showed that she had no idea what just happened.

Upon seeing Adella with such an expression, I smiled to myself.

'I believe that you'll soon become my goal.'

Suddenly, I remembered what Adella had said to me and her face came to mind.

That face reminded me of the Adella of the past who's eyes sparkled even after being defeated by me.

It made me feel something I had never felt before.

'Try and catch up with me.'

This was my declaration.

'I'm back.'

‘This is my magic that all of you have looked down on.'

A declaration I was directing at her whilst simultaneously directing at all those people who were watching over me.

Burn!

'Blast lance.'

The 2-circle magic, Blast Lance, blazed from my fingertips.

‘Strengthened by the circle of resonance.'

The circle of resonance shook the Blast Lance and caused the spear of fire to blaze even more spectacularly.

'Condense.'

I forcefully held back the Blast Lance from bursting out and increasingly concentrated its power, making it more and more solid.

A spear of fire that I had created by pouring every last piece of mental strength I had into it.

'Go.'

Sweeeek!

It flew towards Adella.

Ba-dump, ba-dump-!

The sound of my heartbeat was thunderous.

I could see Adella's body slowly tilting before falling almost in slow motion.

And afterwards.

"The fight is over! Winner! Shin Hayul!"

"Woahhh!!"

“Shin Hayul!”

“Shin Hayul!"

The cries masked out the sound of my heartbeat.

Eventually, it felt like the cheers were instead filling up my heart.

"...I won.”

No matter how often I felt it, the sweet taste of victory never got old.

* * *

After the match had finished, I used the break to be interviewed by the journalists. Although I wanted to rest a bit longer, I had to clear up any misunderstandings that could have arisen as a result of the match.

“So are you saying that you're not a 5-circle user?”

"Yes. I'm not."

I used 2-circle magic at the match today.

And as a result, people thought that I had woven my fifth circle.

I had something to say about that.

“Then how were you able to use 2-circle magic...?”

“I used vision magic.”

"Vision magic?"

"Yes."

‘‘I assume you're not referring to the Magic Shin Clan's vision magic, so what type of vision magic is it?

‘‘It's a vision magic that has the effect of enhancing other magic spells. ”

'‘Enhancing... other spells?"

"Yes. Just like my Wind Spear."

"Ah...!"

There are many reasons why I'm saying this.

First of all, achieving 5-circles at age 18 is a bit too outrageous.

There will definitely be people who are suspicious.

‘And soon when I start to be able to use 3-circle magic, the same problem will occur.'

Because then that would mean that I would become a 6-circle mage, and that would be frankly unbelievable.

Therefore, I had to clear this all up now.

"Although it may be a great vision magic, how does enhancing spells relate to being able to use 2-circle magic spells?"

"It's simple."

I had thought about how to explain it in advance.

"I've improved Memorize."

"...Sorry?"

"I've improved the spell so that I'm able to use magic spells that are 2-circles lower than the number of circles I have."

Exclamations burst out amongst the reporters.

“I-is that kind of thing possible?”

‘‘Yes. Memorize is a magic spell, too.”

"I suppose that's true but..."

The reporter's response showed his doubt.

Though that kind of response was to be expected.

It was hard for even me, who had made up this story, to believe it as well.

Now then, how should I try and prove it?

And it was at that moment when I started to have those kinds of thoughts.

"I see. You really enhanced and used Memorize."

"Th-the Blue Magic Tower's master."

"Why is Kim Kangin here...?"

All of a sudden, the Blue Magic Tower Master approached us with a smile.

"I failed to predict this. To think that you had really improved Memorize's flaw."

He grabs my shoulders with an excited expression.

"Haha! I'm impressed. I saw something truly spectacular."

"...Thank you."

As the Blue Magic tower's master said this, his eyes were shining with a ruby hue.

He was examining my body with his 'Eye's of ruby'.

I had heard that his eyes were able to detect even the slightest tremblings of mana caused by the clashing of mana circles.

By the way, once you achieve 5-circles, your mana will constantly tremble.

Therefore, if he can't detect any kind of trembling, he'll be able to confirm that my words are indeed the truth.

"As expected. It seems you haven't woven your fifth ring."

‘‘Yes. I haven't.''

Of course, at this point in time, my infinity circle doesn't release any trembling.

"M-master of the Blue Magic Tower. Is that true?"

"Yes. It's the truth. I can't sense the trembling of mana that should be present in a 5-circle mage from Hayul. Hayul isn't a 5-circle mage."

"Ah!"

"Of course, there's no illegal artificial intelligence or illegal doping either."

The Blue Magic Tower's master put his hand on the back of my neck and laughed.

"Forget illegal AI, I can't even detect the presence of normal AI from him."

Then, he touched my body in various places and laughed again.

"And I can't see any trace of illegal doping."

"Then is he really..."

‘‘Yes. Hayul is telling the truth."

"Ah!"

Only then did the reporters finally look like they believed me.

I guess there really is a difference depending on who says the words.

“Oh, would I be allowed to put this in an article?”

‘‘Yes. Of course. You can even add the fact that I authenticated it. Haha!"

"Oh! Th-thank you so much!"

The reporters bounced out of the room in joy.

This kind of reaction is to be expected.

Not only were they able to have an exclusive interview with me, but they also were able to gain highly credible information from the master of the Blue Magic Tower. When they get back to their companies, they're probably going to get praised a whole bunch.

“By the way, Hayul. Everything from your Flame Vulcan to your Blast Lance. It was the very definition of perfection.”

The master of the Blue Magic tower kept patting me on my shoulder to the point that it started to hurt a bit.

"...Thank you."

"Especially the Darkness Blind! I didn't know that it would cause that kind of response when it interacted with Adella’s Halo! Could it be that the reason you preserved your strength at the start of the fight was to analyze Adella's Halo?"

"...Yes."

"As I had thought! I was wondering why you kept trying to engage in close combat, but it was all to make Adella use her Halo! To think that every single one of your actions were planned beforehand. I can only express my admiration. It's been so long since I was last impressed at a magic battle that I feel incredibly satisfied after watching yours. In fact, I'm so satisfied that I feel like I've stuffed myself full with the highest quality food..."

* * *

"...I'm completely out of energy."

I learnt the hard way why the Master of the Blue Magic tower was called a chatterbox.

He talked so much that I thought that he might've had a machine gun attached to his mouth.

Though, of course, that served as a testimony to just how interesting my match was. But after 20 minutes of being pestered, my energy had no choice but to deplete.

‘Anyway, thanks to the Master of the Blue Magic Tower, I was easily able to get through the interview.'

I skimmed through the news articles.

[Shin Hayul's secret is vision magic? Let's dig up everything there is to know about his magic.]

[The Master of the Blue Magic tower authenticates Shin Hayul's claim for the second time! Is the Magic Shin Clan finally cooperating with the Master of the Blue Magic tower?]

[Everything behind Shin Hayul's victory.]

[The shattering of the Mystic Wi clan's magic! What kind of impact will this have? Each country's representative for the magic Olympiad.]

In the midst of the countless news stories that were spreading out, I was able to confirm that a considerable number of them were on my Vision Magic.

With that, any misunderstandings about me being a 5-circle mage should be dispelled.

“And in the future, I'll be able to use my magic as freely as I wish to.”

Since I have the convenient cover-up story about having a Vision magic spell that improves other magic spells, no matter what magic I use later on, I shouldn't ever be in a situation where people are suspicious of me.

Even if I were to use 3 or 4-circle magic no one would catch on.

It's perfect.

"All that's left now is to..."

Successfully get through the 3 matches I have left, and begin negotiations with my father.