Chapter 2 - Hellish Magic Training(2/2)
This magic lesson couldn’t be compared to a normal cramming session. I focused my mind in order to capture every single word.
“The difference lay in the danjeon. What the ascetic monk told me was, all natural energy, or mana, has no form yet still exists. It exists, but it cannot be said to be an existence— that is the true essence of natural energy. Humans randomly chose that natural energy, stored it in their danjeon, and began the accumulation of chi, or mana accumulation.”
[T/N: Danjeon is the Korean term for dantian, the sea of qi. There are three main centers: the lower, middle, and upper (Wikipedia).]
At my master’s tranquil, friendly explanation, a small flame was ignited in my heart.
‘Have I also become a mage?’
Just one month ago, I had merely been an ordinary student who knew nothing. That person was now training in unknown magic, which hadn’t existed in the world before.
“Desiring great physical strength, knights are instinctively easily corrupted, but they accumulate mana in their lower danjeon, which can produce a big mana field, and through many generations, they found a way to manipulate mana. That is the mana breathing technique of the knights. And for the mages who wished to powerfully draw the strength of nature within set laws rather than physical strength, they accumulated mana not in the lower danjeon, but in the middle danjeon, or around the heart, which could store pure energy. Prioritizing communication with spirits more than mana, the summoners accumulated mana in the upper danjeon, near the crown of the head, where they could most purely feel the energy diffused in nature. This became the differentiating factor between the knights, mages, and summoners.”
‘Mm, so there was such a deep reason.’
No matter how much I learned and learned, there was no end to this magic. It was so fun it made my heart boil.
“By any chance, did the internal chi channeling you learned from the ascetic monk also include the term ‘multi-chi channeling?’”
“Huh? How did you know that?”
‘Oh whaaat! So that multi-chi channeling I saw in wuxia novels was right?’
I didn’t relish reading fantasy or wuxia novels that much, but I enjoyed reading them to cool my mind off once in a while. That imaginary world that I enjoyed on top of my bed while eating a tasty snack— that was a heavenly resting style that only those who knew of it could enjoy. But the fantasy and wuxia that I had regarded as 100% false had gone from being fiction to reality.
“I don’t know how you know, but in the tome given to me by the ascetic monk, it was recorded as ‘Mystical Multi-Chi Channeling’. It’s an amazing mana technique that couldn’t be found on the Kallian Continent.”
‘Really, where’s the limit to this Bumdalf master?’
He surprised me every day, but after seeing the hobby lifestyle that my Bumdalf master enjoyed, I was totally amazed.
There were dozens of giant TVs installed in the central hall of the underground tower. The hall was filled to the brim with cutting-edge plasma TVs over 50 inches in size. And on those TVs, broadcasts from almost every nation on the planet were noisily blaring out in their native languages. Master Bumdalf enjoyed his time crying and laughing while watching those broadcasts. As someone who didn’t have much talent in languages, it was enough to garner my respect.
“The most pure mana in the world gathers here, where the magic tower is. As you know, over many years of industrialization, the Earth’s mana has been severely polluted. That’s why, compared to when I first came to the Earth, at least half of the mana has been polluted or lost. Since the Earth’s mana was far lower than the Kallian Continent’s in quality and quantity to begin with, that pollution has a huge effect on those training in magic. But since you met a good master, you can discard those worries. You just have to believe and follow me; your master.”
There it was, a dramatic phrase that a man used to coax a woman. Master Bumdalf stroked his white beard while spitting out a cliché phrase like ‘just believe and follow me.’ He was wearing an expression like that of a kindergartener who was starved for praise.
‘Should I cry or should I laugh? Goodness!’
“Once my master, always my master! With all my sincerity, I shall treasure master’s grace deep in my heart!” I said, putting a lot of emphasis on ‘treasure’.
Who would have thought that I would’ve become a mage? Around now, I should have been living a dreamy school life while making lovey dovey eye contact with Seo Ye-rin, who I had just started to talk to. Bumdalf, an unwelcome guest, had appeared in such a time of my life. I had wanted to imprison him on charges of abduction, but after more than a month, I had become quite fond of him.
Master Bumdalf had the slight look of a grandpa who lived encrusted to his home while farming in the countryside. Every so often, he showed a look of indescribable longing. Sometimes, I could feel an unknowable longing and loneliness in master Bumdalf’s golden eyes.
“If you feel that way, then I can’t sit around as your master. Yes, today I opened a new hunting ground just for you. You should look forward to it. Huhuhu..”
‘Ah, of course. Dammit, that look of longing is..’
The sicko master was happily spitting out a wicked laugh that didn’t match his age. I resented my purity, which had led me to misjudge the man for just a moment.
‘My family discipline is to blame for all this!’
My family discipline, which had absolutely no connection to our house tradition of ‘honesty.’ It was the main culprit responsible for a soul as pure as mine being brought into this world.