Dark Fantasy Normalized

18 – The Cost of the Promise (3)

“My disciple? It might be difficult, but could you stay still and maintain the current state for a moment?”

“Leave it to me.”

Bang!

As soon as Lisir confidently answered, the mana and wind gathered in his hand scattered in all directions.

Since it was magic created by relying on a moment’s intuition and instinct rather than refined experience and knowledge, it collapsed the moment willpower intervened.

“… What I meant was, just leave it to me. There’s no guarantee I’ll return it-“

“Oh, rebellion.”

Roera laughed playfully as she roughly tidied her wind-tousled hair.

“Rebellion, Miss Roera? Lisir would never do that? Actually, I must have misspoken. I meant to say to stop the magic immediately, but my tongue got twisted? Lisir just noticed that?”

“Damn. Pamon. Isn’t it tear-jerking? Even an abandoned husband wouldn’t be as pathetic. How did you end up so miserable?”

“Master, I’m sorry. I tried to concentrate, but I suddenly became distracted- It seems it’s because I relied on the sense of the moment to cast the magic.”

Even while joking around, Pamon was already analyzing the mana scattered around the place.

Her silver eyes stared into the void. Her long fingers groped the air as if touching water droplets.

“Is this the result of relying on the sense of the moment?”

Pamon muttered meaningfully and began to look around.

“What? Could it be an intrusion-“

“No, no. It’s not that-“

Pamon calmed Roera, who was about to stand up with her sword, and continued speaking.

“I just checked the state of this place for a moment? I wondered if there might be any peculiarities I hadn’t noticed. For example, is the wind’s energy exceptionally strong?”

“Oh. So that’s why he was able to create something like that wind arrow earlier?”

“I thought so too-“

“…You thought so?”

She looked at Lisir.

“My disciple?”

“Yes, Master.”

────────────

“Is your body alright? No discomfort anywhere?”

Rishir calmly reflected on his condition at Pamon’s words.

“I’m a bit tired, but it’s nothing to worry about.”

“That’s a relief. Then, my disciple? Could you recreate that just now one more time?”

Rishir nodded and immediately began to concentrate.

“…”

A mass of mana formed—

Only to scatter before taking the shape of an arrow.

Rishir tilted his head in confusion. He repeated the process.

Repeat. Repeat.

“Hoo… Hoo…”

The series of processes was repeated several times.

His breathing became noticeably rough. Several beads of sweat drenched Rishir’s face.

“…”

Roera didn’t know magic.

Therefore, she didn’t know Rishir’s current state, and thus, she became even more worried.

Roera looked at Pamon.

Is that. Is it okay to keep doing that?

She thought of asking, but in the end, Roera held back the question.

She dared not offer the opinion of an outsider, especially since Pamon’s face was so serious at the moment.

His silver eyes, hidden behind a smiling gaze, stared intently at Rishir.

“Is this really okay?”

A murmur of bewilderment.

Roera couldn’t fully grasp the meaning behind it.

*

“Huff… Huff…”

His clothes were already soaked with sweat.

His legs trembled uncontrollably.

Thud.

In the end, Rishir’s legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.

He hurriedly checked his palm in surprise.

“Phew…”

A smile of relief spread across his lips.

The arrow of wind he had just completed was still in place.

Its size was significantly reduced compared to before.

It wasn’t simply to make it easier to control.

‘Then why?’

Self-questioning. And silence.

Rishir couldn’t answer his own question.

His current knowledge was significantly lagging behind his abilities.

In other words, his abilities were growing at a pace that his knowledge couldn’t keep up with.

Rishir could clearly feel the magical arrow he had created. Furthermore, he controlled it.

“Oh…”

An exclamation escaped from Loera’s lips.

The wind arrow, about the size of a bead, moved freely according to Rishir’s gestures.

“Master?”

Rishir immediately looked up to observe Pamon’s reaction.

“…”

Deep contemplation. That was Pamon’s response.

She couldn’t take her eyes off the wind arrow Rishir had created.

‘Certainly-‘

Pamon recalled the first wind arrow Rishir had made.

It had the shape of a regular arrow.

Its structure was also straightforward.

He had shaped mana into the form of an arrow and then implemented the properties of wind.

The problem was.

Rishir had not yet mastered the shaping of mana.

Not to mention the control of properties.

Shaping mana is the next step after controlling mana, but controlling properties is an entirely different category.

It is not even an element included in the basics of magic.

“How many steps did we skip just now?”

Countless steps must be taken, from the formalization of mana to the control of its properties.

Is it really possible to reach the destination by skipping those steps?

It was a phenomenon that Pamon could not understand.

Perhaps no wizard could understand it.

Therefore, Pamon formulates a hypothesis to understand it.

Maybe-

He might not have skipped the intermediate steps.

He might have already gone through all those intermediate steps.

He just doesn’t realize it himself.

“Ha!”

As his thoughts reached that point, a chuckle escaped from Pamon’s lips.

“Master…?”

“Hehe. What is it, Lishir? Whatever it is, you must have made a really stupid mistake. Anyway, you were so full of yourself-“

Roera interpreted Pamon’s laughter in her own way and mocked Lishir.

The b*stard sitting on the floor and the arrow of wind floating above his hand somehow looked pitiful.

“What is this? A scene of collective bullying? The b*stard couldn’t escape his predetermined fate of contempt?”

“Puhat…!”

But the laughter that followed corrected their misunderstanding.

Pamon sat down.

Her back shook repeatedly.

And in between, the sound of laughter that she couldn’t completely swallow.

After a while.

Pamon finally raised her head.

“Sorry, Lishir. Well, Lishir playing with a cute little magic arrow is just too adorable, isn’t it?”

“…I might be a little hurt by that.”

“And-“

Pamon fell into thought.

“Puhup…!”

And then burst into laughter again.

“Risir?”

“Yes, Master.”

“What on earth are you?”

“…Yes?”

Pamon kneaded Risir’s face with both hands.

“Where did such a mysterious and precious being come from?”

“Master…?”

“My disciple?”

“Yes, Master.”

Feeling mana.

Handling mana.

And when one can shape mana into the desired form, they finally become a qualified wizard.

Formal magic.

It was the standard by which a wizard’s qualifications were proven.

Risir proved his qualifications as a wizard.

And- and- and-

I don’t know.

What did Risir prove?

What did he achieve?

“Congratulations?”

“…Yes?”

Therefore, Pamon dared not define it.

He simply blessed it. His talent and qualities.

*

After pouring all his mental and physical strength into a short period of concentration, Risir immediately fell asleep as soon as he took a rest.

Pamon and Roera. And Duran.

The remaining three resumed their meeting.

The topic of the meeting was thoroughly focused on Risir.

Vendel’s possessions.

Among them, what could be helpful to the current Risir.

The talk about Vendel’s secret vault came up then.

In fact, it wasn’t much of a ‘secret.’

For a prestigious family like Vendel, there is always at least one secret vault hiding the family’s treasures.

It was an open secret known to everyone who mattered.

The problem was the location of the vault and its contents –

“Only the head of the family knows that.”

“Oh~ that’s convenient~”

“…Convenient?”

Pamon left the house, leaving behind a cryptic remark.

A few hours later.

Pamon returned as if nothing had happened.

Accompanied by a hideous plant zombie carrying a large chest.

“…”

For a moment. Just a moment, Roera thought.

Ah.

Should I just go back to Vendel?

Lishir and Pamon.

At this very moment, Roera’s world was collapsing bit by bit with these two.

“Well then. Now that we’re done here, shall we start preparing to leave? Haiyern.”

*

*

*

──────────────────

[Title: What is a rank?]

Content: They keep talking about ranks in the story, but

Is it roughly equivalent to levels?

ㄴ : Yeah, roughly levels 1~4 are 1st rank

ㄴ : Levels 5~9 are 2nd rank

ㄴ : Levels 10~19 are 3rd rank

ㄴ [Author] : No way, I was being praised for being 3rd rank, but I was just a nobody

ㄴ : From the player’s perspective, yes, but in the context of the world, it’s quite strong lol

──────────────────

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[Title: Level＜ How important is this?]

Content: Usually, combat power varies greatly based on rank

If there’s a rank difference, it’s almost impossible to win

– : It’s important, but not absolute

– : Yes, players can overcome it with skill

– : Even in events where NPCs fight each other, sometimes the lower rank wins

– [Author] : Why is that different?

– : Skill

– : To make it easy to understand, it’s like [a level 30, face (low)] you losing to [a level 10, face (high)]

– : Good analogy

– [Author] : Good analogy, my foot

– : So that’s why we always lose…

──────────────────

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[Title: How to clear all in Hyern?]

Content:

[Photo]

This is the list of fates I’ve cleared

What else do I need to clear here?

– : Did you catch the witch?

– [Author] : You have to set it up so I can catch it, damn it

– : Why the swearing…

– : It’s understandable

– : It’s not meant to be cleared all at once

– : You have to go around the area, clear events, level up, farm, and then crush the fate with your specs. If you don’t clear the events, you won’t have the specs to clear the fate

– [Author] : I’m level 27 now, can’t I clear the witch with this?

– : If you clear it and prove it, you’ll get Banpo Ja-i, 20 bitcoins, and a fully-optioned Tesla

– [Writer] : Seriously, what’s that witch’s level, for real?

– : ＜Link＞

– [Writer] : ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– [Writer] : No, but why the hell’d they put that in the starting area?

– : Fate’s mostly like that, lol

– : She’s the boss there, so especially so

– : Still, that witch is an angel compared to other area bosses

– : True lol

──────────────────

…

…

…

──────────────────

■Party has been formed■

■Lishir

Level: 10

Race: Human

Class: ???

■Loera

Level: 21

Race: Human

Class: Swordsman

■Pien

Level: 31

Race: True Ancestor

Class: Magician [Mind Magic / Blood Magic]

■Pamon

Level: 58

Race: Dark Elf

Class: Magician [Nature Magic / Shadow Magic / Black Magic]

──────────────────

In the dead of night, when everyone was asleep.

Pamon left his quarters and headed to the library of Haiyern.

“Ah. As expected, it’s here too.”

＜That- ugh. Isn’t that the autobiography of the madman who wanted to marry that mirror?＞

The Star of Radiance.

A notorious eccentric known for his extremely narcissistic personality and all sorts of bizarre behaviors stemming from it.

Despite such notoriety, he was one of the greatest wizards of the current era, having earned the name of a star purely through his magical prowess.

＜For a grand wizard who bears the name of a star to self-publish his autobiography and spread it all over the world… What is this, some cheap promotional novel? Why would you want to read that?＞

“Because it’s the autobiography of such a person.”

＜What?＞

The content of the autobiography was truly absurd, thanks to his innate talent combined with his pathological narcissism.

So Pamon chuckled.

＜What is it? How ridiculous is it that you’re laughing?＞

“Well, it says he reached the third rank in less than a week after learning magic? And, in the process of mastering formalization, he suddenly acquired temper control.”

＜…Huh? Isn’t that Lysir’s story?＞

“That’s right.”

＜What?＞

Thud.

Pamon closed the book and shook his head.

“My disciple’s story is even more outrageous than this guy’s.”