ura, a specialized mana force, was far stronger than the current me.

“Then can you block a bullet?”

“What? A, a bullet?”

I had absolutely no clue what he wanted to say. I mean, besides Superman, no one in the world was capable of blocking a bullet with their bare body.

“I can deflect not only bullets, but large cannonballs as well.”

‘Dayum, he’s really an old fart Super Bumdalf.’ From the way he said it, I could tell that it definitely wasn’t a lie.

“Just believe in me. As long as it’s not a dragon, I’ll make it so that everyone else will call you their elder brother.”

‘Elder brother? I’m not even a gangster or anything.. sigh.’

My master’s earnest wish was to get me employed as a gangster. There was no way to rebuff such a stubborn old man.

“By all means, do as you wish.”

Until I was out of here, there was no freedom for me. It was a slight exaggeration, but this was the first time in my life that I longed so much for my country, South Korea, the republic of the free.

‘I’m coming, mom.’

No matter how I thought about it, Master’s magic circle was tremendously dangerous. Master was an immensely intelligent being who had lived for over two hundred years, but the way he acted wasn’t much different from the preschool kids in my neighborhood. And I was the pitiful loser who was getting bullied and robbed of my money by such a preschooler’s violence.

“Um, Master..”

Before I positioned myself in the middle of the magic circle, I earnestly called my master.

“What?”

Master was picking his nose without knowing my feelings of being dragged to the slaughterhouse. He apathetically answered without even dislodging his finger.

“Th-this one doesn’t use Chinese-made crystals, right?”

Chinese-made crystals, which had made me decisively hostile to the magic circle’s reliability last time!“Hyuk, let me ask you one thing.”

“Yes?”

Master suddenly asked a question.

“Do you think it’s possible to live without Chinese-made goods these days?”

“..”

There was nothing more for me to say. I went to the middle of the magic circle and sighed deeply as I sat down cross-legged.

‘Okay, there are sometimes nice Chinese-made goods.”

I tried comforting myself.

But the problem was, those nice goods only appeared by random chance with the same probability of finding a pearl while eating an oyster.

* * *

‘I thought it would take half a year, he’s an amazing kid.’

The totally dejected Kang Hyuk sat on top of the magic circle and assumed the mana channeling position. As he looked at Hyuk, Aidal the Archmage was unable to repress his awe.

Actually, even among the genius mages in the Kallian Continent, it normally took them at least half a year to condense mana and barely reach 1st Circle Magic. If magic was as easy to learn as the sword, then mages and even dogs and cows would gain the title of Archmage. Working that hard was normal in magic.

But surprisingly enough, in slightly less than two months, Aidal’s new disciple Kang Hyuk had been able reach the 2nd Circle. And he had done so by merging a knight’s mana field, the lower danjeon, a mage’s mana field, the middle danjeon, and a summoner’s mana field, the upper danjeon.

‘I have to send him when he’s risen to the 3rd Circle and the fusion of his mana has naturally occurred. But there’s no time. If this mana is held back any longer, it will burst out.’

With a look of regret, Aidal gazed at his disciple, who knew nothing and was channeling. Contrary to the Kallian Continent, Aidal had not been able to find materials for producing high-quality crystals. The result of that was that unlike his calculations, the mana that had been held in the Dimensional Travel magic circle could not stabilize and had begun to activate. As per the Law of Mana Restoration, the instinct of powerful mana was to return to its original state.

‘Now everything is up to your luck. I can only pray that the great god Adeine’s blessing is upon you.’

Though it wasn’t as dangerous as the Dimensional Travel magic circle, this Forced Knowledge Transferal magic circle was also very dangerous.

Though Hyuk’s body had been cleansed through the grand magic Mana Clear, getting to the 2nd Circle was the limit for generating circles by forcefully injecting mana. From the 3rd Circle onwards, he would have to gain circles through enlightenments without anyone else’s help.

That’s why people called magic a study for wise men.

‘I will pass on all the magic theories I have comprehended in these past two hundred years to you. After I do so, it’s all up to you. Your life will change by as much as you are able to comprehend.’

Once Kang Hyuk was completely absorbed in mana breathing, Aidal opened a side door. The door opened to show a magic circle 3 meters in diameter.

It was the core magic circle that could impart all the magic knowledge inside Aidal’s head using magic.

‘Awaken, my disciple! And let the whole world know of Aidal’s great disciple!’

The wall of the 9th Circle, which he had not been able to achieve.

Aidal wished. He wished for his one and only disciple to become a great Archmage who would surpass him.

“Magic Inheritance!” A clear magic incantation burst from Aidal’s mouth as he closed his eyes.

Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Countless mana particles slowly poured from the magic circle. Each particle possessing a color of its own, the mana swirled into a whirlpool.

The mana at the magic circle that Kang Hyuk was sitting on also began to dance. The magic was filled with Aidal’s earnest wish for Hyuk to become a great archmage.