I Became a Magical Genius After Regression

Chapter 5

[Qualification 2│Handling Mercenaries]

∥Mercenaries 3/3 (Completed)

∥□□ Access Rights (Acquired)

∥Magic Arrow -10 seconds (Acquired)

∥Small Amount → 50 Cooper (Acquired)

∥System│Auto Material Sphere

∥Connection Complete

“Hmm……”

Randell stroked his lips as he looked at the letters in front of him.

Dark circles were prominent under Randell’s eyes.

Yesterday, he had used up all his mana and had no strength left in his body, yet he still went to find the mercenaries locked in the warehouse. It was inevitable.

―For now… let’s keep hitting until it works.

―P-please, spare me……

Randell conducted a small experiment on the bound mercenaries.

You never know. There might be more instructions to handle something later.

So he meticulously experimented to see how much injury was needed to be recognized as ‘handled’.

It was simple.

He hit them for about 5 minutes, checked if the letters changed, and if there was no change, he hit them for another 10 minutes, 20 minutes… until the letters changed.

It seemed to take about 3 hours.

In the end, ‘handling’ meant causing injuries severe enough that they couldn’t walk for about 2 months.

‘Well, they deserve to die anyway.’

They kept pleading that they were drunk, but that didn’t absolve them. It just gave more reason to hit them.

So they got beaten more.

‘They’ll probably spend the rest of their lives in a quarry or a mine.’

* * *

Mercenaries are those who live on the edge, so how rough must the guild that handles such mercenaries be?

Pleading won’t work, and you’ll probably be sold into slavery right away.

That’s only if the crime ends in an attempt; if it were carried out directly, it would be execution without mercy.

In fact, that’s what happened before the regression.

Anyway, the mission given by the text was successfully completed.

‘First… about this access permission.’

The unidentified square symbol seemed to be a corrupted text due to some error.

Seeing the name appear as soon as the reward was received.

But even seeing the name, it was still unknown.

‘Connected to the Auto Material Sphere?’

At first, I wondered what this was.

So, after beating up the mercenaries last night, I fiddled with various things… but honestly, I still don’t know.

This is all I figured out.

“Sphere.”

Randell raised his hand and quietly muttered.

Then a blue sphere rose above his palm.

The apple-sized sphere was just a sphere.

Apart from glowing bluish, there was nothing special about it.

What I figured out was that it had no form.

It wasn’t made of mana either.

If you keep looking at it, these characters would appear.

∥Synchronization: (0/9)

“What’s synchronization? Where am I supposed to use this…?”

Randell smacked his lips and muttered.

The second reward was just as troublesome.

∥Magic Arrow -10 seconds (Acquired)

The second reward was the casting reduction that Randell had been eagerly anticipating.

In fact, he was so focused on the casting reduction that he didn’t realize he had forgotten something.

‘I don’t even know if this has been applied or not.’

The casting of magic was different from visible money or something like a sphere.

To know if the casting time has been reduced, you have to try the magic yourself.

‘And that’s the problem.’

Magic Arrow is the most basic magic of the 1st circle.

So, it was the first magic to try after the Light magic that calls for light.

But no matter how basic it is, you need a circle in your body to use magic.

A magician cannot use magic if there is no circle in the mental world.

No matter how much mana you have, no matter how fast you can calculate the formula, it was impossible.

‘Then let’s make a circle first.’

In fact, I was going to learn magic a little more slowly.

I was thinking of following my father, an herb gatherer, and picking herbs first.

When a magician processes herbs with mana, their efficacy doubles.

It’s something any magician can do.

But why would magicians do such chores?

Of course, the demand is high, but the supply is low, so if you take it to the city, you could sell it at a pretty high price.

So, I was going to use that to make my family’s life a little more affluent.

But now there was no time for that.

‘It’s a casting reduction…!’

It was what Randel had longed for all his life in his previous life.

Although the timeline had changed, his desire for casting was stronger than ever.

Could anything else catch his eye?

Even now, just imagining it made his heart pound.

‘And… this might not be the end.’

Imagine if the casting time of Magic Arrow was really reduced by 10 seconds.

What if such letters appeared again?

If he completed the mission again and reduced the casting time by another 10 seconds?

From 30 seconds to 20 seconds, from 20 seconds to 10 seconds, from 10 seconds to… 0 seconds?

Then finally, if the casting time of all magic was reduced to an extreme level—

‘The Archmage of 1-second casting!’

Randel shuddered at the thought that came to mind.

High-circle magic takes 30 minutes just for the incantation.

If you could spray it once per second, it would be nothing short of a walking catastrophe.

“I can’t believe I’m imagining something so cringeworthy. Is it because my body has become younger?”

Randell muttered to himself and chuckled.

But even as he said that, he was busy planning in his head.

‘Did it take three months to create the first circle back then?’

When Randell first started learning magic, it took him about that long.

It seemed long at first glance, but it was an absurdly short time by others’ standards.

It usually takes about a year for someone called a prodigy in magic to create the first circle.

If one’s talent is below average, it could take several years.

In contrast, Randell took only three months.

This showed just how extraordinary Randell’s mana affinity was.

‘But even that is a bit long.’

However, Randell was now looking beyond that.

What is the greatest advantage of returning to the past?

It is that you can avoid trial and error.

[Things you can do]

[Things you should do]

[Things you shouldn’t do]

These three things are usually learned through a mentor or by crashing into them headfirst and breaking through.

But Randell already knew all of these through his experience of regression.

And if you know all three of the above.

‘You also know what the shortcuts are.’

Randell grinned.

* * *

There are all kinds of wizards in the world.

But the method of gathering mana is similar.

When a talented person concentrates, the surrounding mana gathers, and they absorb it.

‘The problem is that it’s terribly slow.’

Mana moves slowly.

And if you lose concentration in the middle?

Mana returns to its original place.

Therefore, the process of accumulating mana had to be slow.

But how many things are there to do in the world?

Research, training, requests, romance.

A wizard’s time is too precious to just sit and gather mana.

So, each renowned wizard had their own secret method.

A way to gather mana a little faster, a little more.

Wizards called it ‘Mana Formula’.

‘And the Mana Formula I know is…’

Randell looked towards the other side of the house.

* * *

In the forest with a small path.

‘Oh, there’s one more here.’

Rustle, rustle.

Randell, who was walking through the forest while looking around, stopped in front of a tree.

The tree, which seemed to have fallen long ago due to a typhoon, was mostly decaying and returning to the soil.

But it approached Randell differently.

‘The mana is quite dense here.’

There is a spell called Detecting in the 2nd Circle.

It’s a spell to check the concentration of mana around or to find traces of mana, but Randell had rarely used it.

Because he didn’t need to.

Even without using such artificial methods, he could just ‘feel’ the level of mana around him.

Thanks to his overwhelming affinity for mana.

‘Here it is.’

Randell thrust the branch he was holding as a substitute for a staff into the rotten tree trunk.

Then, feeling a solid sensation at his fingertips, he pulled it up like a lever.

Then, a mushroom with multiple branches like deer antlers rose above the humus.

Although it was large, its surface was smooth and its color was bright red, making it look somewhat dangerous to eat.

“The mana content… Oh, it’s top grade.”

Randell murmured in a joyful voice, brushing off the dirt from the mushroom and putting it into the leather bag he was carrying.

It wasn’t just mushrooms in the bag.

There were various things like fresh green grass, moss, and small flowers.

But they all had one thing in common: they were all suspiciously colorful.

‘Good, this should be enough for a 1-circle.’

Randell hummed a tune as he wrapped up his day’s work.

* * *

The next morning.

Standing in a clearing in the forest, Randell looked around.

It was a place close to the village, so there were no herbs to pick or game to hunt.

Since there was nothing, naturally, there were no people passing by.

‘The mana around here is abundant… just perfect.’

Randell had come here to gather mana.

There were no particular restrictions on gathering mana.

Usually, he would just gather it in a comfortable position.

Even if someone interrupted him, nothing would happen.

However, what Randell was about to do was far from the conventional method.

It was a suspicious sight to anyone, so it was best to stay out of sight if possible.

‘Okay, let’s start.’

Randell rummaged through his bag. What he pulled out was the last red mushroom he had picked.

‘This should do, right?’

Randell tore off a piece of the mushroom, about the size of a fingernail, and stared at it for a moment.

Gulp.

He swallowed it whole.

And after about five minutes.

‘Hmm… it’s coming.’

At first, nothing happened, but as it began to digest, his vision suddenly spun.

It was to be expected.

The red deer antler mushroom is a highly toxic mushroom, often used to make deadly poisons.

The lethal dose is the size of a finger, but the amount Randell consumed was already dangerously high.

‘Ah, it’s quite strong.’

After the dizziness, his whole body started to tingle.

Randel leaned his tingling body against the tree trunk.

If the pain gets worse than this, it will be hard to concentrate. He had to start concentrating before that happened.

“Hoo.”

Concentration was easy since he had been doing it for over 20 years.

As soon as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he quickly entered a state of immersion.

And what he felt instead were the surrounding mana particles.

Randel projected his will onto those mana particles.

―Come to me…

Swoosh.

Then, the mana particles floating between the trees slowly began to gather towards Randel.

The forest, being connected to the mountain range, had a higher density of mana than other places.

Mana inherently possesses the attribute of vitality.

It nurtures life, dispels curses, and illuminates darkness.

Therefore, it is more abundant in forests than in cities.

‘When you think about it, wizards are really something.’

They process this life-loving mana with magic to freeze, burn, and torment their opponents in all sorts of ways.

It was truly a cruel thing to do to mana.

But he couldn’t blame others.

Right now, Randel was doing something even more cruel to his own body.

‘Ugh… This is no joke.’

The aftermath of eating the mushroom, the pain that was getting worse, made Randel grit his teeth.

The effect of the poisonous mushroom was tremendous.

At first, it was just itching, then his limbs started to tingle, and now it felt like his whole body was being eaten by ants.

He was doing his best to endure it, but it wasn’t easy.

The veins in his neck bulged, and his face was so flushed with blood that it looked almost black.

‘Just a little more, just a little more…’

Still, Randel desperately concentrated.

As mentioned, mana has the attribute of vitality.

So, just as water flows from high places to low places, mana flows from places rich in life to places that are weak.

Just like Randel’s body now, to the place where life is weak.

Srrrk.

At first, it was just a little slow in approaching.

The mana that had been like that began to approach as quickly as Randel’s body was dying.

Vitality.

To fill the place where death comes with life.

Swooosh—

As time passed, it reached the point where he could hear hallucinations like the sound of the wind.

If the previous, normal gathering of mana was a 10, now it was about 50.

It was almost a fivefold difference.

‘Wow, trying this myself, it’s no joke…’

Even in the midst of terrible pain, Randel clicked his tongue unconsciously as he looked at the amount of mana.

Randel obtained this mana technique from a ruin.

It wasn’t written in the ruin, but he got it from the old corpse of a wizard who died while excavating the ruin.

In fact, if you think about it, there was an overly simple aspect to calling it a mana technique.

Isn’t it just about eating poisonous herbs and gathering mana?

Someone who didn’t know might grumble, saying, “What kind of mana technique is this?”

‘But that’s not all.’

Originally, the changes in the world start from breaking a part of the framework of one’s way of thinking.

This mana technique was the same.

Which crazy wizard would think of eating poisonous herbs and gathering mana?

Moreover, the amount of toxicity one could handle was determined by the circle and the amount of mana one had.

Of course, the nature of the poisonous herbs that had to be eaten so as not to conflict with the mana was also limited.

In other words, if you just picked up and ate any poisonous herb thinking, ‘Isn’t it just about eating poisonous herbs?’ you would end up dead, mana and all.

‘Even if it doesn’t seem like much, several wizards must have died making this.’

Of course, there were mana techniques of higher dignity than this.

According to rumors, the imperial family’s mana technique utilized the movement of stars and the flow of seasons.

Randel couldn’t even imagine the depth of how such a mana technique would come about.

‘Even if I had learned something similar, it wouldn’t have mattered. But well, it’s not really necessary.’

Still, Randel didn’t care.

Randel did not have the royal family’s mana formula, but instead, he had a mana affinity that would go down in history.

With that talent alone, he was already at the level of a walking legendary mana formula.

If, in addition, he could combine it with a mana formula that, although dangerous, had the highest mana gathering speed…

* * *

And exactly three hours later.

“Ugh!”

Randel, who had been meditating, suddenly coughed up blood.

Black, dead blood flowed down his chin.

But Randel’s expression was nothing but peaceful.

Thanks to the amount of mana he had gathered, which was beyond imagination.

The toxins in his body had already been completely purified by the mana.

Crunch, crunch.

Randel mumbled as he chewed the next poisonous herb.

“First circle, this time it will be done in a week.”