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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 7
“R-Really?”
Lina was flustered.
Kaylen’s behavior was completely unexpected.
Up until the school break, she had been able to control him just fine, but now she could feel that he had slipped out of her grasp.
‘Well, I’m glad he’s still willing to do the mana charging.’
Her main objective had been achieved, but she didn’t feel good about it.
If Kaylen suddenly refused to do it from now on, there would be no way to control him.
“Let’s get going.”
“Ah, y-yeah…”
Instead, it was Lina who had to jump up at Kaylen’s urging.
She kept a smile on her face, but inside, she felt uneasy.
‘I can’t afford to lose Kaylen…’
The mana stone was already charged up to nearly 80%.
Just a bit more and it would be complete, but if Kaylen pulled out now, there’d be no way to make further progress.
Technically, she could do the remaining 20% herself—
‘But doing mana charging takes a whole week—why would I go crazy and do it myself?’
She had no intention of doing that.
‘And it’s the second semester now—no other guy would help either.’
The magic academy gathered only the kingdom’s top talents.
No matter how pretty Lina was, no guy would be dumb enough to waste time charging a mana stone during the critical second semester—especially when their promotion to third year was on the line.
Graduating from the academy versus stopping at the second year made a world of difference in treatment.
‘I have to find a way to keep him charging.’
20% left—just five to seven more charging sessions.
She had to keep Kaylen around at least until then.
With that in mind, Lina guided him to the magic circle.
“Here it is.”
“Ohh.”
A large magic circle filled the entire room.
Even at a glance, it was packed with intricate spells.
Seeing that, Lina smugly said,
“Fufu. It came up in class today too, didn’t it? Our family’s magic circle.”
The mana charging magic circle, originally offered to the kingdom by House Florence, gradually became more widely known.
Eventually, it was fully disclosed and even used in lectures.
But even if the magic circle became common knowledge, it didn’t matter much to House Florence.
The reason became clear soon enough.
Lina walked lightly toward the magic circle.
She took out a hairpin and pricked her finger.
“Ouch.”
A few drops of blood dripped from her finger and were absorbed straight into the circle.
Then the blue-glowing magic circle began to turn red.
Seeing that, Kaylen nodded to himself.
‘So the circle itself must be optimized for the bloodline of the family.’
Ancient magical families typically possessed a few of these secret magic circles.
Anyone could technically use them, but depending on whose blood was used as the catalyst, the efficiency could vary—sometimes by nearly double.
That was why the Florence family continued to be favored, even after the circle had been made public.
"Alright."
As the magic circle turned completely red, Lina quickly stepped back.
She moved with the swiftness of someone avoiding a fire pit.
Seeing that, Kaylen let out a quiet, hollow laugh.
‘She really guards her own mana like treasure.’
Once the magic circle is activated, just stepping inside it begins the mana charging process.
But since mana charging takes several hours, a short time inside doesn’t actually drain any mana.
Still, Lina seemed unwilling to give up even that small amount.
“Here I go.”
“Ah... o-okay!”
Kaylen’s expression turned serious as he strode confidently toward the magic circle.
His target was the center of the circle, where the mana stone was located.
‘It’s pretty big.’
At the center of the circle was a sky-blue mana stone.
Its size was about the same as a human head.
‘Judging by this, it must be of low grade.’
Typically, the smaller and more vividly blue a mana stone is, the higher its grade.
By that standard, this one wasn’t particularly impressive.
As Kaylen was thinking that, a memory surfaced.
It was from before his possession—when the original Kaylen had looked at the mana stone in awe.
—Wow. So this is a mid-grade mana stone. That’s amazing...
‘This is mid-grade? Mana stones must’ve regressed over time.’
A thousand years had passed, yet things felt more primitive than in the past.
That thought passed briefly.
—This is how you charge mana, right...?
In the memory, the original Kaylen began to operate his mana circle.
He circulated external mana through the circle, feeding it into the mana stone.
As Kaylen followed the same process, he began to understand.
‘So this is how it works. It’s completely different from a knight’s method.’
Knights accumulate mana.
Mages draw mana in.
Whether it’s the mana in a mana heart or the mana forming a circle, it’s all drawn from the outside and then shaped.
But for mages, that’s only a means to help release mana more effectively—structurally, they’re not meant to store it, but to disperse it.
‘So this is why magic swordsmen never appeared.’
Because you can’t fully comprehend both accumulation and release at the same time.
‘Still, this isn’t easy to get used to.’
Even Kaylen, who had reached the level of Grand Swordmaster, wasn’t exempt from that struggle.
He understood it in his head, but when he tried to apply mana, his body didn’t respond accordingly.
He had spent over half a century focused on accumulation—it made sense.
‘This is interesting.’
Two completely opposite concepts.
It required a complete transformation—like turning a right-handed person into a left-handed one.
But Kaylen slowly began to adapt.
‘If I hadn’t reached the Grandmaster level, this might’ve been impossible.’
After reaching the realm of a Transcendent, the freedom he gained in manipulating mana proved helpful.
Kaylen slowly began moving his mana circle, following the memories.
‘So this is how it works.’
Even though he had the memories of the body's original owner—
In less than ten minutes, Kaylen had begun rotating the mana circle.
But he didn’t stop there.
‘Let’s try storing it at the same time from here.’
No matter how much swordsmanship supports and magic unleashes, it was meaningless if they couldn’t be used simultaneously.
He received mana—part of it circulated through the circle, and part began accumulating in the mana hole.
Two completely opposing actions, fundamentally incompatible.
Raina bit her lips nervously.
‘What’s he doing?’
As if his behavior wasn’t strange enough already.
Kaylen went into the circle to charge the mana stone, but instead of doing so, he just stood there without moving.
“Kaylen?”
She called out softly, but there was no response from him.
‘Ugh. Seriously! I need to get to class…!’
Everything about Kaylen today was irritating.
‘Normally, I’d just leave… but something feels off.’
Given how much Kaylen’s recent behavior had changed, she felt uneasy leaving him alone.
As Raina hesitated in front of the magic circle, a knight escort approached her.
“Miss, the carriage has arrived…”
“Oh, already?”
“Yes. Starting today, your lessons begin an hour earlier.”
Raina had already reached the 3rd Circle and fulfilled the requirements for advancement.
But she wasn’t content with that—she was aiming to be at the top of her class.
To support her, the Florence family had set up a packed schedule even after regular classes.
“Sigh. Alright, then…”
She wanted to see Kaylen finish charging, but being late for class was a bigger problem.
“Please don’t worry. I will keep a close watch on the young master.”
Though his words sounded polite because Kaylen could hear, what he really meant was that he would monitor him carefully.
‘He’ll be fine…’
Raina tried to calm her uneasy heart.
In truth, even if something did happen, it wouldn’t be serious.
The magic circle for charging mana stones was renowned for its safety.
At worst, it would only result in a slower charging speed.
‘Right. I need to go for now.’
Raina glared at the still Kaylen one last time, then turned on her heel and exited the magic circle zone.
Her place was taken by the escort knight.
‘That guy really has changed.’
The escort knight, Alkas, quietly watched Kaylen, who stood there with his eyes closed.
He hadn’t looked closely earlier since they were just exchanging greetings and walking, but now, taking a proper look, Kaylen was completely different from before.
‘Even his posture has changed. His presence is different.’
In the past, he had been a flabby, overweight pig who couldn’t even support his own body.
Now, he stood tall like a giant mountain.
‘With some training, this body would be more suited for a knight than a mage.’
Kaylen had a large frame and long limbs.
Physically, he was an ideal fit for a knight.
Of course, that assumed he would lose the excess weight.
‘But he’s already a mage—would he really become a knight? Even if it goes well, he’d end up like me.’
Alkas let out a powerless smile.
Maybe in the past, things were different.
But in the current era, the status gap between knights and mages was vast.
In this world where mages were far more privileged, what kind of mage would be crazy enough to become a knight?
‘I was the top graduate of the Knight Academy, and I’m just a bodyguard now.’
Bodyguard to the son of a count.
For someone who ranked first at the Knight Academy—a place where the kingdom’s best talents gathered—it was a rather lacking position.
But now, for knights from commoner backgrounds, stable jobs like this were all they had left.
‘How did it end up like this…’
While looking at the changed Kaylen, his thoughts naturally shifted to lamenting his own situation.
Alkas shook off the distractions and focused on his duty.
About two hours passed like that.
Suddenly, a change occurred in the magic circle.
‘Huh?’
More precisely, it happened in the mana charging gauge located at the left corner of the complex magic circle.
The charge meter, which was in a bar format, had already reached 80%.
‘But… something feels off.’
Normally, when charging mana, the gauge should rise gradually, but now it seemed like the value was subtly fluctuating up and down.
‘…What is this?’
Alkas had never received any instructions from Raina on what to do in such a situation.
As he hesitated for a moment, the range of fluctuation in the gauge started growing larger and larger.
‘This isn’t good. I have to pull him out!’
He decided this could lead to something dangerous if left alone.
“Hoo…”
Suddenly, Kaylen let out a deep breath, and the charging process stabilized.
After that, the charge gauge began to rise steadily—just like Alkas had seen in the past.
“Huh, it’s fine…?”
Alkas, who was about to step into the magic circle, stopped in his tracks.
‘I don’t know what’s going on… I’ll report it to the young lady when she returns.’
‘I’ll need to revise my plans.’
Kaylen never intended to quietly charge the mana stone from the start.
Originally, after finishing the training using the mana stone, he had planned to leave immediately.
But as time passed, the situation changed.
‘This mana stone… I can use it.’
A faint smile appeared on Kaylen’s lips.
‘This mana—I'll take it for myself.’
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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