Raising the Elf’s Genius Slayer

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Chapter

After deciding to stay longer at the Magic Tower, Enok began to learn about magic theory under Iris’s guidance.

Didn’t he learn from Rionne? Surprisingly, Enok had never really studied magic theory in detail. It was somewhat expected, though. In fact, Rionne wasn’t exactly an expert on the theory herself.

“Honestly, Battle Mages are allowed to get by like that. It’s pretty hard to perform complex calculations during combat anyway.”

So, most Battle Mages use magic instinctively. Those who can’t either dive deep into theory or find themselves out in the cold before long.

“But in the end, the reason Battle Mages can use magic like that is because a certain theory is already established. It’s difficult to instantly conjure completely bizarre phenomena with magic.”

As Enok listened to Iris’s lecture, he knocked on the desk. The desk suddenly broke apart with a bright flash.

Enok floated a ball of plasma above his hand and said, “It’s possible.”

“…Sometimes there are exceptions.”

Coughing lightly, Iris waved her hand. Several pieces of chalk floated in the air and quickly began writing words.

“In my view, your ki isn’t really magic. Am I wrong?”

“Yeah, it’s power.”

“You really don’t have any qualms about that?”

Typically, one would hide their electric power. Is he just pure-hearted or indifferent? Iris scratched her cheek as a flame flickered to life above her hand.

“Well, in my case, it doesn’t matter since I’m already pretty well-known. I have power too—specifically Flame Power, or something along those lines.”

“Oh.”

“Here’s the question. What’s the difference between magic and power?”

Enok pondered. It wasn’t like he acted that way back in the territory; why was he suddenly acting like a teacher the moment he arrived at the Magic Tower?

Of course, he hadn’t even started contemplating the answer. After all, she’d probably just tell him if he waited a bit.

“The answer is… almost nothing. Magic and power have no common ground. The only similarity is that both distort the laws of the world.”

See, she’s just revealing everything on her own.

Of course, just because she gave the answer doesn’t mean it made sense. Enok’s eyes widened in confusion.

“Should I give you an example?”

Iris moved the flame she had conjured around her hand. Soon, the flame bloomed into a flower, rooted on the desk. It didn’t burn the desk but fluttered its petals in the breeze, just like a real flower.

“Do you think I could create cold flames with my power?”

Surely, if I can make flowers, right? Enok nodded.

“Right! It’s possible. The colors can vary—blue, green, black—lots of options. Although it takes some practice.”

Iris scattered the flame flower and extended her hand.

“Now for something different. Can I create ice with my power?”

“No?”

“Why do you think so? If you think of flames as heat being dispersed, then it means I can control thermal energy, which lets me absorb the thermal energy in water to create ice, right?”

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about, but since it’s flame power, I guess that’s it.”

Iris’s expression turned a bit sour.

“…That’s correct.”

Enok grinned, while Yonia, who had been quietly listening from the back, suddenly raised her hand.

“Why can’t you do that? Just listening, it seems like it’d actually be easier than making flowers.”

“Yeah! That’s a normal response!”

Satisfied, Iris waved her hand in the air. At the same time, one piece of chalk dynamically wrote a single word on the blackboard.

‘Concept’

Yonia tilted her head in confusion.

“Concept?”

“Exactly, concept. My power governs the concept of flames. So I can become any type of flame, but conversely, I can’t create anything that isn’t fire.”

Enok shot up his hand.

“Just give me the gist.”

“…There’s just no way to casually do it.”

Iris gritted her teeth. Yet, it’s quite peculiar how she continues explaining properly.

“Your power is not just about manipulating ki; it could be the ability to govern electromagnetic force itself.”

“Ah, I see. So what’s electromagnetic force?”

“Strong force. Electromagnetic force. Weak force. Gravity. These four are called the Four Fundamental Forces. They’re incredibly powerful forces governing the universe.”

“Oh, sounds pretty good!”

Enok responded casually. No matter what it was, being one of the four main forces sounded impressive.

That wasn’t entirely wrong either. It was indeed an incredibly powerful force. Iris’s expression hardened.

“What do you think would happen if there were significant changes to electromagnetic force on a cosmic scale?”

“How much?”

“Even just the slightest change.”

“Then, I guess nothing much would happen?”

Iris let out a chuckle at his response.

“The universe would scatter.”

“……?”

“Or it would collapse into a single point.”

“Oh….”

Is it really that serious? Enok couldn’t believe it. If that were true, shouldn’t he be the strongest in this continent? With just a gesture, the universe would scatter. At that point, he might as well erase Heavenly Death from existence.

“Of course, that’s not going to happen. If such a thing were to occur, one of the supreme gods would scatter the power.”

“Supreme gods, huh?”

“They exist. Though, to be honest, I don’t really know. It’s better not to figure it out.”

It sounded like a joke, but Iris was serious. Discussions related to supreme gods should generally be avoided. If one were to offend them, the very existence of this world could be erased.

“Hmm.”

Based on Iris’s atmosphere, Enok felt a sense of unease wash over his face. The idea that a being capable of easily preventing the scattering of the universe existed… that thought left him completely baffled.

“Tsk, enough! Just finish telling me what you were about to explain.”

The class continued in an atmosphere that had become somewhat heavy.

*

Enok left the Magic Tower, reflecting on what he had learned from Iris.

Ah, by the way, he had just realized that the Magic Tower was quite far from the territory ruled by Iris. Since mages of Master rank can manipulate space, he figured she must have found a way to come here.

‘Space, huh.’

That was still an impossible task for Enok. Although he reached the Master level, he hadn’t achieved anything near that level in the realm of magic. It was the sorrow of being an all-rounder.

Accepting that it was unavoidable, Enok thought about what he could do next. After all, that was why he had decided to remain in the Magic Tower.

‘Plasma. Nuclear fusion. Railgun.’

Important keywords. Somehow, he started dealing with powers instead of magic, but they were impressive nonetheless.

‘For now, let’s start with the railgun.’

Since that had the lowest difficulty among them, he planned to learn it quickly. He didn’t have a solid grasp of the principles, but he at least knew how to do it, so it shouldn’t be too problematic.

– Whether you handle ki or electromagnetic force, you should be able to use the railgun. It’ll be surprisingly useful, so give it a try.

Of course, trying it inside the tower would probably lead to trouble, so Enok stepped outside the city into the vast plains. Yonia, who came along to watch, grumbled.

“Do you realize you just passed out? You might collapse again at this rate.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Even if he drew power, he only felt a slight throbbing in his chest without any serious issues. Thinking he wouldn’t end up dead, Enok unleashed the ki.

Zzzzzt-!

The widely spread ki gathered under Enok’s will, forming two long rods made of electricity.

“The direction of the ki…, was it like this?”

He remembered something about current and the right-hand rule and whatnot, but he didn’t recall the details. Whatever, the result is what matters. Enok readied his aim and targeted a nearby tree standing tall in the distance.

Crackling—!

The rod of ki surged forward, unleashing a terrifying energy. Enok compressed the ki into a bullet.

‘If I place this on top, the current will flow and the bullet will fire, right?’

Sure, it was a bit odd to say that the barrel and bullet were both made from ki, but hey, it’s the same thing!

Enok threw the bullet. It landed perfectly between the two rods, connecting them and triggering the shot.

Boom────────!!!

A fierce wind erupted. After squinting his eyes, Enok turned to look at the tree he aimed for….

“Oh.”

From where he stood to the distant tree, a long groove was carved through the ground. It was just a tree, so he wasn’t sure how much power was behind it, but it was better than he expected.

“Wow.”

Yonia clapped her hands in astonishment at the display. Then, she suddenly went pale.

Zzzzt-!

Dozens of barrels appeared in the air. Enok’s eyes sparkled as he grinned.

“Wait, just a moment…!”

Crackling────────────────!!!

The plains were no longer just plains.

*

Having gained confidence from the railgun, Enok immediately moved on to the next stage: plasma.

Boom-!

He stomped the ground, blocking out all the ki around him. The laws began to warp, and the materials that made up the ground started to plasma-ize, shining brilliantly.

The plasma he created could be manipulated as he wished. Then a thought struck him—Enok attempted to create a halo of plasma above his head…

[Dad────!! That’s insane! Absolutely insane!!!]

Feeling an instinctive alarm that something was about to go wrong, he hurriedly stopped. He had almost blasted his head off in real-time.

“Phew.”

After dodging a near catastrophe, Enok changed his approach. He realized that whenever he attempted to manipulate energy around his body, problems arose. So couldn’t he just let that energy fly?

Iris once mentioned that if you shaped it into a donut and made it rotate, it could lead to nuclear fusion or something. That energy produced was said to be beyond imagination. So what if he shot that out like with the railgun?

“That sounds fun!”

“Wait. Hold on. At least explain what you’re about to do…!”

─────────────────!!!!

To sum it up, it almost cost him his life.

“Huh, this isn’t easy.”

It seemed like this would take quite a while to master.

“Eh, mom….”

For now, he decided to drop Yonia, who had fainted, back at the tower. He figured it was best to keep the fact that elves get scared too under wraps.