Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

EP.4 The Mysterious Artifact

The first thing Leon saw when he opened his eyes was a dense forest. He stood in the middle of a space filled with tightly packed trees. Blinking his eyes, he found himself in the heart of the forest and looked around in a daze.

He quickly realized something strange. It was hard to breathe. The air felt heavy.

“Hmm?”

That wasn’t all. After taking a breath in and exhaling, he felt oddly refreshed. His mind felt clearer. Leon soon realized that this space was extremely rich in mana. Even someone like him, who hadn’t fully awakened his mana, could feel it.

Breathing in the heavy air made his mind clearer? There was no other explanation except that the mana concentration was very high.

‘Did I enter the space inside the orb?’

Leon thought about wanting to get out for a moment. Instantly, his consciousness flickered, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in the dormitory.

“Huh…”

The bizarre phenomenon made goosebumps rise on Leon’s arms. He returned to the space inside the orb and walked slowly, trying to gauge how large the dense forest was. After walking in one direction for about an hour without seeing an end, he realized he couldn’t determine the size just by walking. He exited the orb’s space.

The number on the orb had decreased.

[39]

He had spent an hour in the space inside the orb.

‘So the number represents time!’

Completing quests provided him with time to use the space inside the orb. Leon immediately began experimenting with the orb. First, he wanted to see if only his consciousness was drawn into the space inside the orb.

He flipped a copper coin above his head and quickly entered the space inside the orb. After waiting there for about 30 seconds, he exited the orb’s space.

Thud—

The sensation of the coin falling on his head left Leon bewildered. He had intended to check if his body disappeared into the orb’s space when he flipped the coin above his head, but the result was different from what he expected.

Leon had clearly spent more than 30 seconds in the orb’s space. The fact that the coin fell on his head immediately after he exited meant that time flowed differently there.

Leon checked the time in reality and re-entered the space inside the orb. He sat in the middle of the forest and began basic mana breathing exercises. He aimed to observe two things: how differently time flowed and whether the quest could be progressed within this space.

After spending an hour inhaling and exhaling, filling his surroundings with mana, Leon opened his eyes and exited the orb’s space. Only one minute had passed in reality.

In the span of one minute in reality, an hour had passed inside the orb. As for the quest…

General Quest

▶ Mana Perception Training (0/10)

Unfortunately, the quest had not progressed. It seemed that only training in reality was recognized, and completing quests granted time to use the space inside the orb.

Indeed, if training inside the orb were recognized, it would be like duplicating time. Leon was more than satisfied. Even this much could increase his training efficiency by several times… no, by several hundred times. Just moments ago, he had been anxious about not finding a place for mana training.

Leon flipped the coin above his head again and entered the orb’s space. He trained for another hour and came out. Only one minute had passed in reality. Leon looked around for the coin that had already fallen. Not seeing it, he lifted his bottom and found the coin underneath him. This confirmed that his actual body entered the orb’s space.

Having grasped the orb’s abilities to some extent, Leon began to reorganize his training plan.

***

Leon sat cross-legged on a chair in the quiet library, closing his eyes and breathing, trying to sense mana. Naturally, he felt nothing. Compared to meditating in the orb’s space, it felt frustratingly futile. While it was obvious that he needed to train in reality to fulfill the training time, it wasn’t just for that reason.

Training with the minuscule amount of mana he had in reality proved to be subtly effective. The effect wasn’t immediately noticeable, but when he transitioned from feeling frustrated in reality to the orb’s space, the difference in sensation made his perception sharper. Although he still felt a vague sense of almost grasping something, the important thing was that he felt he was close to sensing mana.

His intuition told him that he would soon be able to perceive mana. Three days had passed since he began alternating between training in reality and the orb’s space. Habitually, Leon pressed the reward gacha at the end of the day’s routine. When the reward stopped spinning, he jumped up from his seat.

“It’s here!!!”

▶ You have obtained a Tri-Attribute Constitution (Water, Wind, Earth) (Apply/Cancel)

Was this what it felt like for dopamine to be released? Although it was a tier below the Light and Darkness attributes or the Hexa-Attribute Constitution, which included all six basic elements, the Tri-Attribute Constitution was still an extraordinary talent. The attribute constitution itself was considered a talent, meaning his innate ability to handle mana had increased.

Leon immediately pressed “Apply.” For the first time in a while, he felt excited to check his information window.

Information

▶ Name: Leon

▶ Rank: –

▶ Quality of Magical Power: –

▶ Attribute Constitution: Tri-Attribute Constitution (Water, Wind, Earth)

Although he hadn’t awakened his mana yet, so his rank and quality of magical power didn’t appear, just seeing his attribute constitution made him smile.

‘I can now proudly say that I have the talent of a mage!’

Leon, who had been pacing in the dormitory lounge, quickly entered the space inside the orb. He immediately sat cross-legged. He inhaled deeply, focusing on the breath entering his body, and followed the flow of air inside him without missing a beat.

After concentrating on his breathing for a while, Leon opened his eyes.

‘It’s definitely different.’

The feeling of having awakened his five senses heightened Leon’s concentration even more. He continued training for another six hours. Although he hadn’t fully realized mana yet, he was now certain that it would happen soon.

Leon exited the space inside the orb. The number on the orb read 43. He had been using it for six hours daily. Initially, he had considered using all the time he accumulated in one day, but he decided to save it for a more efficient moment.

Leon slept in reality. While it was more time-efficient to sleep inside the orb, the mana efficiency of the orb’s space was so overwhelming that he couldn’t afford to waste time sleeping there.

“Oh, right.”

Caught up in the excitement of the reward, he hadn’t properly checked the quest window for changes.

General Quest

▶ Mana Perception Training (0/10)

Breakthrough Quest

▶ Awakening Mana (In Progress)

The general quest remained the same, but a new breakthrough quest had appeared. The content indicated that he was indeed close to awakening mana.

Leon decided to change his approach to rewards. Although there were still many better constitutions left, he thought it was time to explore other rewards. He chose an elixir. While a useless constitution would have to be discarded, an elixir, no matter how poor, would still be beneficial to someone at his level.

He briefly considered a magic book but decided it wasn’t urgent. Low-level magic suitable for his Tri-Attribute Constitution? He could find that in the magical archive where he worked. Although the spells were outdated, having been replaced by newer ones, they would still be useful shortly after he awakened his mana.

Of course, he needed permission from the elderly librarian to access the books in the magical archive. Returning to his dorm room, he slept, and the next morning, he sought out the old man as soon as he arrived at work.

He knocked on the door, and the old man opened it immediately. He had never allowed Leon into his room.

“What is it?”

“I have come to seek your permission for something.”

A look of curiosity crossed the old man’s face.

For days, Leon hadn’t made any requests. Suddenly asking for permission must have seemed unexpected.

“May I read the magic books in the magical archive? Of course, I mean the books on the first floor. I won’t even go near the second floor.”

“…”

The old man stared at Leon for a moment before smiling kindly.

“It seems you must be bored with nothing to do.”

“Ah… yes.”

The old man stroked his chin for a moment before speaking.

“If you complete a task for me, I’ll let you read them. I’m even willing to give you merit points. How about it?”

“What kind of task is it?” Leon asked cautiously.

“I thought you’d accept right away, but you’re a careful one. Hmm… it’s not really a task, more like an errand. If you go out the main gate and head left towards the outskirts, you’ll find a mountain managed by Widia. You just need to dig up a few herbs I need. It’s a safe area, so you should be able to handle it.”

Leon considered investigating the mountain before accepting but decided against it. Being overly cautious wouldn’t help him right now. He might even be disliked for being unnecessarily careful.

“Understood. If you write it down, I’ll go and get them. By when do you need them all?”

“They’re easy to find near the entrance, so two days should be enough. Oh, and you know you’ll have to do this after your work hours, right?”

Leon, who was well aware of this, nodded. The old man told him to wait a moment and went back into his room. After about five minutes, he returned and handed Leon a piece of paper. The paper listed the names of several herbs along with simple drawings.

“These are ingredients for making an elixir, so be careful to dig them up from the roots to the leaves.”

Taking the paper, Leon thought that a mountain where herbs for making elixirs were managed would indeed be safe.

“I will keep that in mind.”

Leon turned to return to his original spot.

As Leon turned to leave, the old man’s eyes, which had been kindly watching him, grew calm. The corners of his mouth, which had been raised in a gentle smile, stiffened.

At that moment, Leon turned back. He had just realized that he might need some sort of verification from the old man to access the area where the elixir herbs were located. The old man’s face quickly returned to its original expression.

Leon stared at the old man’s face for a moment but didn’t linger. He spoke calmly.

“I think I need a verification token.”

“…I will give you a token.”

“Understood.”

Leon turned around again. The old man didn’t keep his eyes on Leon’s retreating figure and went back into his room.

***

After finishing his work, Leon spent two hours on mana perception training. He left his room when the dormitory residents started to return. For the next two days, he planned to reduce his sleeping time to gather the herbs. He briefly regretted accepting the task, realizing it would take quite a bit of time over the next two days.

However, that thought quickly subsided. If he couldn’t use the old magical archive, he would have to change his reward system plan. More importantly, he had a good idea.

What if he grew the herbs in the mana-rich space inside the orb?