Descent of the Legendary Archmage

The next morning.

I woke up with a very tired body.

“Uh..."

The aftereffects of Resonance were so great that despite having slept for 8 hours, I still felt fatigued.

In fact, I feel more tired now than I did yesterday.

'Maybe it's because I used Destruction as well as Resonance, but the aftereffects feel longer than usual.'

The aftereffects were normally supposed to only last 12 hours.

Since I had Destroyed 5th circle magic as well as using Resonance, even after 12 hours, my body showed no sign of returning to normal.

'I have to go to school.'

Today is a Monday.

And the current time is 7:20. It's time for me to go to school.

'It'll be hard for me to go to school in this state.'

Since I don't know how much longer the aftereffects of Resonance will last, it'll be best to not go to school today.

'Fortunately, we're only going to do some indoor and light stamina training so I don't feel too bad about missing today. I'll have to tell my father that I'll take the day off.'

If I tell him that I overworked myself in yesterday's battle, then he'll let me take the sick leave without saying anything.

I got up from my seat with my tired body and took out my smartphone.

"Hm?"

What's this?

My father had already left me a message.

[Sender: Father]

[You'll have probably overworked yourself in yesterday's fight.]

[I've told the school that you're off sick. Take a good rest today and manage your condition.]

“..."

I was momentarily confused.

'Did my father really take this much care of me?'

I even wondered if my father had genuinely sent this text message.

'Does this mean he was satisfied with my fight yesterday?'

My father's consideration for a person depends on his expectations of them.

In other words, this just means that my father has high expectations of me.

"He went back without so much as a word after the fight yesterday, so I was worried that he might've had some complaints or something..."

It seems like I was concerned for no reason.

From this text, I can gather that my father is definitely obsessed with my Bytenor style of magic.

'This is nice.'

I found myself laughing automatically.

I presented my father with the possibility of winning an Olympiad gold medal through this Dalian.

Through this fight, I presented the possibility of me winning the Olympiad gold medal to my father.

And my father must also think that the gold medal isn't so far away after all.

'Since the expectations of my father are this high, he'll probably invest more resources on me.'

At least until the end of the Olympiad, he'll protect me completely from all kinds of danger that originate from Shin Jihan.

In other words, all I have to do now is to prepare for the Olympiad.

'Then what I have to do for the rest of the month is...'

I closed my eyes again as I slowly sorted through all the things I had to do for the future.

* * *

When I opened my eyes again, 6 hours had passed.

About 18 hours had passed since I had used Resonance.

Vrrr, vrrr, vrrr!

My three Infinity Circles that had frozen over and showed no movement started to spin again. Because it had been so stiff, it creaked more than usual, but at this rate, it should be back to normal in three hours.

'If I use Resonance as well as Destruction, then the aftereffects will remain for 18 hours.

I'll keep that in mind.'

Freezing my mana for 18 hours isn't a bad penalty considering its effects.

I'll have to check the timings for each of the games in the Olympiad to see if there's a time for me to use it.

I had this in mind as I put on my master's robe which had been hanging next to me.

'This is it.'

The tiredness of my body and brain melted away in an instant.

My master's robe was truly enormously effective.

I may not be able to live without this robe from now on.

I could never leave behind this comfortable and pleasant feeling.

Wrapped in the warmth of my master's robes, I started to circulate my mana.

The Infinity Circle spins quickly and energizes my body.

And after about 2 hours flowed by.

"Perfect."

I was in my best condition as I normally was.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that my body felt as light as a feather.

Is it because I've been tormented for 18 hours?

My body must have returned to normal.

'Since my body's returned to normal, I'll have to report it to Mimir, so I'll go and visit Mimir's tome.'

I opened Mimir's tome.

As usual, a short light was emitted.

And I was soon standing in Mímisbrunnr.

“Mimir. I'm back."

Then, as usual, I approached Mimir, who was lying on the sofa, reading a book and greeted her.

Mimir didn't respond to my words.

It seemed that she was completely absorbed in the book she was reading.

I approached Mimir even more cautiously.

"...Mimir?"

Then I whispered it into her ear.

"Ah! You surprised me! Hey!"

Mimir, who was startled, got up from her seat.

“You surprised me! Why did you come in without announcing yourself and then whisper in my ear?"

Mimir rubbed her forearms.

She had goosebumps.

She must've genuinely been startled.

''Tell me you're here when you come in! I really thought my heart was going to stop beating.”

Mimir took a deep breath, rubbing at her chest as if trying to calm her startled heart.

"I did say hello though? When I came in."

"Huh? You did?"

"Yeah."

'Mimir. I'm back.'

I definitely said those words.

"...Did I not hear you because I was so concentrated?"

Mimir tilted her head slightly and pondered.

"...To be fair. The book I was reading was interesting."

And she seemed to realize just how much attention she had been paying to the book.

"Successor. I'm sorry I didn't hear. But next time, even if I can't hear you, don't come close and whisper in my ear. I just hate stuff like that.”

Mimir rubbed her ears and trembled her body.

“I'll remember.”

Apparently, Mimir has sensitive ears.

"Okay. More importantly, how did your match go? Did you win?"

Mimir patted the side of the sofa and gestured for me to sit there.

I sat myself down.

"You didn't lose right?"

Mimir strongly glared at me, as if she would not forgive me if I lost.

“Of course, I won. It was an easy victory."

Mimir opened her eyes blearily and looked at me with a furtive expression.

“Are you sure you won easily?”

The look on her face told me that she wasn't convinced that I could have won easily.

"To be honest, it wasn't easy. It could have easily gone the other way."

Facing a 5th circle mage was no small feat.

It's a good thing that my strategy worked out and that I didn't make any mistakes.

If anything had not gone as I had hoped, then in all probability it would have been me who had lost.

"Had my opponent even known a little about my magic, I wouldn't have been able to win."

I only won because of the monopoly I had on the information.

Had Joo Hawuk known that I could use 4th circle magic, he wouldn't have used fire rain.

And had he known that I could use Destruction, then he wouldn't have used Inferno at the end.

He probably would have slowly drawn out the battle without over-exerting himself, taking advantage of the gaps in my defense.

If he had done that, I would have never won.

“Even though I won, I don't feel happy at all. It just feels like I've learnt more about my shortcomings.”

I won't always have superior information to my opponent.

As I progress through the Olympiad, my magic will inevitably be analyzed and information on it will be gathered.

If I hadn't had better information, would I have been able to defeat the 5th circle mage?

As I am now, there's not a chance.

Not only are the two strong contenders for this year's Olympiad 5th circle mages, they're also users of vision magic.

How on earth can I expect to defeat a 5th circle mage who also uses vision magic, when I can't even defeat an ordinary one?

"...I have to work harder.”

If I want to beat them and win the gold medal, I'll have to work harder than I am now.

“I really like the fact that you're not arrogant. It makes me want to help you.”

Mimir smiled broadly.

There seems to be a sense of pride in her eyes as she looks at me.

''If you feel like helping me then go and get me some books on the 4th circle."

I didn't come to Mímisbrunnr immediately today just to report whether or not I had won to her.

My main purpose is to prepare to weave my fourth circle.

“Fine. What can I get you?”

Mimir got up from the sofa and headed to one of the bookshelves.

“Up to you.”

If it's Mimir, she'll bring me all the information I need step by step, even if I don't specify anything.

"Okay. Then..."

Mimir's fountain had grown as I reached the 3rd circle.

Mimir, who had been slowly walking around the library that had doubled in size, stopped at a bookshelf and took out a book.

“Read this first. It'll be a great help in learning the basics.”

Mimir threw the book at me.

The book flew at me steadily and I caught it with ease.

[About the fourth Infinity Circle, the Circle of Expansion]

That was the name of the book.

* * *

The next morning.

As usual, after I finished training in the gym, I headed off to school.

'The Circle of Expansion.'

I sat down at my seat and recalled the information about the Ring of Expansion.

[The Circle of Expansion is fundamentally different to the previous three circles.]

[The structures of the Circle of Deliberation, the Circle of Resonance and the Circle of Interference are all parallel.]

Although the properties of the three Infinity Circles differ, their structures are essentially the same.

They can be likened to mini car rails.

Some rails may be rotated 360 degrees, and some may have an overhead section, but their overall structures are very similar.

The three circles are like that.

[But the Circle of Expansion is different.]

[It has a structure where it surrounds the three circles, rather than standing parallel with them.]

However, the Circle of Expansion has its own mana circuit, that's different to the other three circles.

That's why my master said that it's fundamentally different to the three other rings.

[When the Circle of Expansion wraps around the three other circles, it results in the three circles being able to circulate more stably.]

[As a result, the overall Infinity Circle is stabilized, and the magic's efficiency increases.]

Unlike the previous three circles, the Circle of Expansion doesn't have a variety of effects.

It just stabilizes the preceding three circles and raises the efficiency of the circle as a whole. If you simply look at it like this, you may think that this is not a big deal.

But, that's false.

The Circle of Expansion is overpowered. In the first place, trivial things don't exist in the Bytenor style of magic.

[Of course, as the circle stabilizes, the consumption of your mental power, an inevitable disadvantage of the Circle of Deliberation, decreases.]

The first circle, the Circle of Deliberation.

The foundation of the Bytenor style of magic and what allows me to use my magic feely.

The Circle of Expansion reduces its only drawback, the consumption of my mental power.

[In addition, the number of resonances increases which results in its duration increasing as well as its penalty being reduced.]

The second circle, the Circle of Resonance.

A kind of joker card that allows me to use magic that's one circle higher than what I should be capable of.

The Circle of Expansion refines the shortcomings of this joker card as well.

[Furthermore, the load on the Circle of Interference is also reduced, which reduces the side effects of using Destruction.]

[Of course, it also reduces the side effects of using God's eyes as well.]

The circle of expansion covers all the weaknesses of the Bytenor style.

In other words, the Circle of Expansion holds the role of the showpiece, improving the overall quality of the already great infinity circles. If this isn't impressive, then I don't know what is.

[As it's a completely new type of circle that completely wraps around the previous three, forming a gigantic circle, weaving the circle of expansion will not be easy.]

[Its difficulty can't even be compared to weaving the other three.]

This is the only problem.

It's difficult to weave the Circle of Expansion.

[You will need at least a year to weave the Circle of Expansion.]

[It's only natural that it'll take a long time, so don't be too impatient and pace yourself.]

Unbelievably difficult at that.

'Although it's obvious that the more circles I weave the more difficult it'll get...'

The difficulty of acquiring the Circle of Expansion had transcended being simply hard.