Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

EP.24 The Lair of the Ancient Magician (1)

The wooden sword absorbed the magician’s core as swiftly as a crab hides its eyes and then fell silent again.

“…”

Leon stared blankly at the wooden sword. He never imagined it could absorb a magician’s core, surpassing even mana. It was at that moment Leon truly realized that the wooden sword was a demon sword.

‘Wait a minute…’

Could it be that the demon sword also absorbed the core of the red-haired man? The core should have naturally disappeared upon death, but perhaps Leon had missed it.

Leon fell into deep thought for a moment. However, the conclusion was already determined.

‘But I can’t just seal this demon sword.’

In a world where danger could strike at any moment, deliberately not using a powerful weapon was unthinkable.

‘I’ll have to use it cautiously.’

However, his wariness towards the wooden sword had certainly increased. There might be other abilities of the sword that Leon was unaware of, and he couldn’t be sure that all of them would be beneficial to him.

During the remaining period of the exchange program, Leon did not leave his lodging. He gave up the idea of selling the items he had. Leaving traces of battle in the middle of a magic city and then boldly walking around was not an option. Even though he could hide it with a commoner’s mana, Leon decided to be cautious.

After all, the initial plan to secure mana stones could be replaced with the ones the red-haired man had.

Staying cooped up in his lodging for the remaining period, the common disciples sharing the room with him looked at Leon with eyes full of boredom.

“Wow… He’s really relentless.”

“How can he come all the way here and spend the whole day….”

There were a total of twelve common disciples. Excluding the newly arrived Leon and Aaron, there were ten. They were already continuing their training while managing their duties. The one with the highest rank among them was an Apprentice 2nd Class. Although he had long surpassed the age to enter the academy, he still had a passion for training and consistently returned to the training room after his duties were done. Even he shook his head in disbelief when he looked at Leon.

*****

Thus, the exchange program came to an end, and the day to return to Widia on the sky ship arrived. Arpina did not board the ship as she was visiting another city with her disciple, leaving Berford, a magician in the late Mystic stage, alone. For two days, the sky ship sailed smoothly.

Standing on the upper deck, Berford turned his head at the sound of someone approaching.

“Mr. Berford!”

“What is it?”

The magician approaching Berford held a red orb in his hand.

“News just arrived from the Magic Tower. An ancient magician’s lair has been discovered.”

“Huh…”

Berford let out a regretful sigh and asked again.

“Tell me the details. Were we the first to discover it?”

“…It seems so. It’s the closest location to Widia, but to be precise, it wasn’t discovered; it appears that someone accidentally triggered a magic circle, revealing it…”

“What about the magician who triggered the magic circle?”

“It seems that while searching for traces of a colleague who had suddenly disappeared for seven days, the magicians found a magic circle blocking the entrance and reported it. They identified it as an ancient magician’s lair upon seeing the magic circle. It seems they were swallowed by the lair. Since the Tower Master is in seclusion, the Magic Tower is asking what to do. As you know, the priority for relic exploration…”

“Wait.”

Berford raised his hand to silence the magician and sank into contemplation. After a while, with a serious expression, he spoke again.

“Did you say seven days?”

If it was seven days ago, it was still during the time of duels before the conference. It meant that the incident happened when the owner of the exploration rights had not yet been determined.

“Turn the ship around.”

“…Pardon?”

“We’re heading there immediately.”

“But… there’s the ‘agreement’. It could lead to a major conflict.”

Berford was aware of this, but he spoke decisively, perhaps because it was a relic of an ancient magician.

“A magician from the Magic Tower disappeared seven days ago; how can we just stand by? We must attempt a rescue.”

“…Understood. I will convey the message.”

With that, the ship’s course was changed. After five more days of flight, they headed towards the location provided by the Magic Tower. The ship hovered over a dense forest.

Berford gathered numerous magicians and said,

“We have come here in a hurry because we received news that a magician from our faction has been caught in the lair of an ancient magician.”

The magicians gathered knew that this was just a pretext, but no one openly pointed it out.

“Mystic and Arcane level magicians must all join me in the exploration of the relic. The most important thing is not to forget that our priority is to rescue our fellow magician. Those who remain should replace the mana stones and return to Widia. Gail will be in charge of them.”

“Understood.”

Blending into the crowd, Leon quietly sighed as he listened to Berford’s words. He had wondered what was happening when the ship’s direction suddenly changed, but fortunately, it did not concern him. Although his stay on the ship would be extended, he was relieved that he wouldn’t be dragged into the unexpected lair of an ancient magician.

Leon watched as several Mystic-level magicians and all the Arcane-level magicians, except for Gail, disembarked from the ship. He then returned to his cabin and immersed himself in his studies.

Those remaining on the deck were common disciples, personal disciples of high-ranking magicians who had not yet reached the Arcane level, and Apprentice-level academy students. There were hundreds of academy apprentice magicians, so their number was not small.

Gail, a magician in the late Arcane stage, stood before the remaining individuals and spoke.

“We need to replace the mana stones of the sky ship, so we will wait for a while before departing.”

The ship hovered over the forest. There was no space large enough for the massive ship to land. However, the ship was equipped with enough functionality to operate while the mana stones were being replaced, so it was not a significant issue.

Except for a few who were busy following Gail’s instructions, the rest murmured among themselves. There were voices talking excitedly about the ancient magician’s lair and worried whispers from those aware of the situation regarding the exploration rights.

As the atmosphere remained chaotic for a while, a massive magic circle on the densely wooded forest floor began to glow. Gail was the only one who sensed something was amiss. It wasn’t due to any flow of magical energy.

While floating in the air with levitation magic, keeping watch until the mana stone replacement was complete, Gail happened to notice the glowing magic circle beneath the ship and urgently reached out.

“Push it!”

The ship, affected by a force much stronger than basic telekinesis, moved forward, but its speed was too slow to completely escape the range. Light shot up from the magic circle, engulfing half of the ship. In an instant, half of the sky ship vanished.

“Ha…”

Gail, who was outside the range, prevented the sky ship, now essentially half-destroyed, from crashing and let out a frustrated sigh. He approached to check on the remaining people and held his head in his hands. Of all places, the magic circle had swallowed the spots where the personal disciples, common disciples, and a few academy students who had gone to their cabins were.

“Felix…”

The thought of the cherished disciples of high-ranking magicians being swallowed by the ancient magician’s lair was terrifying, but among them was also Gail’s disciple, making his heart sink even further.

***

With the vibration shaking the cabin, Leon stumbled, unable to keep his balance. Using levitation magic to steady himself, he took out an orb and a teleportation scroll from his pocket. Realizing that nothing further was happening, he put them back. The cabin had tilted 90 degrees, making it impossible to stand normally, but Leon was currently disguised as a commoner. He had no choice but to climb the wall, which had become the floor, and struggled to open the door, standing on the door frame.

Leon saw other academy students who had also come out of their cabins belatedly. One of them, floating in the air with the help of levitation magic, noticed Leon struggling on the door frame and approached. The short rod in his hand was a levitation magic auxiliary artifact. An invisible barrier formed around him, and when Leon entered the barrier, his body floated in the air as well.

“You don’t seem hurt?”

“No, I just held onto something and endured. But what on earth happened?”

Unable to use detection magic, Leon asked, and the student shook his head.

“I don’t know either. We’ll have to go out and check.”

Leon went outside with him. Confirming the dark surroundings, Leon saw the sky ship, cleanly cut in half, lying on the ground.

‘Could it be… we’ve entered the lair?’

Next to the ship, someone had used a light magic, making it noticeably brighter than other areas. Seeing people gathered there, Leon and the student naturally approached them. They were engaged in a serious conversation.

Among them was Rowen, who, floating awkwardly in the air, sighed in relief upon seeing Leon approaching. Rowen moved towards Leon.

“You managed to survive?”

“Yeah. What’s going on here?”

“…I’m not sure. It seems like we’ve been dragged into the lair…”

Leon glanced at the personal disciples and students having a serious discussion, focusing on the man with the loudest voice.

“Staying still is no different from waiting to die quietly. Haven’t we all learned how dangerous relics can be?”

“But with our skills, moving recklessly might lead us into even greater danger.”

The woman who refuted the man’s words glanced towards the group of personal disciples.

“Perhaps… Gail-nim will come looking for us. It might be best to wait quietly…”

“Do you think they know where we are?”

As their opinions clashed, Rowen raised her hand.

“If that’s the issue, I have a solution.”

She showed them the red necklace hanging around her neck.

“If I send a signal, my master will be able to find my location.”

“If it’s Merlin…”

“Wow, that’s a relief…”

Leon quickly grasped the situation and scanned his surroundings. With no immediate danger, his expression remained relatively calm. The place, which looked like a cave, was dark, but there were lights embedded in the ceiling, emitting a soft glow.

‘Is this the lair of an ancient magician…?’

The space was so vast that it seemed impossible for a human to have created it. Moreover, the entire area was meticulously lit.

As Leon scanned the surroundings, he soon noticed two passageways branching off in the distance, resembling a fork in the road.

Just as the group seemed to have reached a consensus, a woman spoke with a voice mixed with relief.

“We need to check if anyone is still trapped inside the ship…”

Unfortunately, her words were cut short. A distinct sound of something hard hitting the ground echoed through the cave.

Sssrrk- Sssrrk-

And then, people realized that a continuous, subtle scraping noise had been leaking into the air. The sound of something scraping against the cave surface sent chills down the spines of those listening.

“Scorpions?”

By the time people noticed something was amiss, dozens of scorpions were already approaching them from a distance. These scorpions, covered in ivory carapaces, were much larger than a human, even as they crawled.

“Kill them.”

At someone’s command, the magicians snapped to attention and began preparing their spells. Numerous spells flew towards the scorpions, but their advance didn’t slow in the slightest. It seemed the magic of Apprentice magicians couldn’t penetrate the scorpions’ carapaces.

Leon, along with the common disciples, had been staying back, but he realized they needed to run. They had to start running now while there was still distance between them.

But would people listen to him?

Leon felt frustrated and frowned. As he was pondering what to do, someone with a similar idea shouted loudly.

“We need to run! Everyone, back off!”

Finally, people stopped casting spells and began to retreat. The speed of their retreat gradually increased until they were fully running away from the scorpions.

“To that passageway!”

Despite their best efforts to run towards the passageway, the distance between them and the scorpions didn’t seem to close significantly.

The distance between them and the scorpions was actually decreasing.

“Levitation magic…”

“But what about those who can’t fly…?”

Levitation magic consumed a tremendous amount of mana, but with their lives at stake, there was no time to be picky. The problem was that not everyone could use levitation magic. No one could bring themselves to suggest leaving those people behind, and they hesitated.

Leon stepped forward. Seeing the two branching passageways, he thought it was actually a good thing. He had been feeling frustrated about not being able to use magic.

“Everyone, run to the right passageway.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I’ll draw their attention by going to the left. You all run away.”

“Are you crazy?”

Rowen shouted sharply, startled. Leon shook his head and pulled out the wooden sword from his subspace.

‘It’s better to use magic while moving alone. If it gets dangerous, I can always teleport away.’

If he could just buy some time, Rowen’s master would have a higher chance of finding them using the necklace. There was no better plan.

“Go to the right! Quickly!”

With that shout, Leon ran towards the left passageway, striking the ground with the wooden sword. The approaching scorpions flinched and stopped, then all turned to look at Leon. He didn’t stop after one strike but continued to hit the ground.

The scorpions then changed direction and started running towards Leon. To the others, it looked like he was desperately trying to draw their attention.

There were no high-ranking magicians present who could sense the magical waves emanating from the wooden sword.

“Hey, no!”

Rowen tried to grab Leon, but someone held her shoulder.

The man who had been strongly voicing his opinion from the beginning shook his head.

“It’s too late. Don’t render his sacrifice meaningless.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Can’t you see his intention? He thought we’d all die if we continued like this!”

As the situation became urgent, he abandoned any polite tone.

“If we hesitate, we’re done for! Do you want to ruin his sacrifice?”

He took care of the small-framed Rowen, who was biting her lip, and hurriedly ran towards the right passageway.

“Let’s go! Everyone, conserve your levitation magic! We can’t let his death be in vain!”