I’m Not the Mastermind

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How much time has passed?

Yujin felt his mind swirling in a haze. He could hear echoes in his ears, and the visions before him seemed like an illusion.

His limbs began to twitch as he moved mana to construct and maintain a massive magic circle.

Since he was drawing power from Tiamat’s heart, he wasn’t experiencing mana depletion, but physically and mentally, he was starting to wear out.

“Are you okay?”

“…It’s a bit tough.”

Normally, he might hide his true feelings and play it cool, but he didn’t even have the luxury for that.

If Tiamat hadn’t continuously spoken to him or provided emotional support through their spiritual connection, he might have collapsed long ago.

However, for now, he was holding on.

He hadn’t even filled a third of the visible skeletons. Considering the ones buried in the joint space, he still had a long way to go.

Thankfully, Yujin was an Awakened One. He was no ordinary person who would die from not drinking water for three days.

Moreover, occasionally Tiamat would forcibly separate his consciousness so he could use other spells while inscribing the magic circle.

By drinking the magically created water through him, he managed to endure.

Thus, he dedicated a considerable amount of time to writing the magic circle.

…….

It felt like even more time had passed.

Before he knew it, the skeletons in the massive joint space were densely packed with magic circles.

“Haa… Haa…”

Yujin was on the brink of collapsing.

How long had it been? Having lost his sense of time, Yujin didn’t know, but Tiamat said several weeks had flown by.

It had been weeks since he last ate. Thankfully, the energy needed to survive was supplemented by Tiamat’s mana, and hydration was continuously provided through a water-conjuring spell.

The waste accumulating in his body was broken down by his mana, and Tiamat forcibly woke his fading mind. He had no choice. If he fell asleep while inscribing the magic circle, everything he had done would go to waste. If the mana he had poured into it went out of control, it would result in catastrophe.

Weeks had passed without sleep. Yujin stared blankly into space as he continued to write the magic circle.

His exhausted mind begged for rest. Please, let’s stop. It pleaded to rest.

There was no reason to struggle so hard in the first place. It whispered that if he simply closed his eyes, he could find peace in eternal slumber.

While Yujin was in a trance, inscribing the magic circle without consciousness or will, he almost succumbed to that voice.

But.

“Yujin!”

A voice that awakened his awareness.

Hearing the voice of the familiar being he had conversed with for weeks brought his consciousness back.

“…Haha, thank you, Tiamat.”

“…Is it tough?”

“…Yes, it is.”

He answered Tiamat while reminiscing alone.

The memories of losing his parents resurfaced.

At that time, he had thought he was the most unfortunate person in the world. How could he not?

For a mere 12-year-old child, parents were everything. The day his parents died was the day his world crumbled.

But as he wandered through life alone, he came to realize something.

He was not special.

Everyone has their own pain. Some lose their parents, some lose their children, and some lose their love.

He was not special.

People carry their own suffering and dilemmas.

Yes, they live.

That is life—a blessing and a responsibility that those who live can experience.

To live as if one could abandon that responsibility is arrogance and escapism.

Then…

“I’ve already contracted, so what can I do?”

He must bear it.

Yujin muttered with a broken voice and a smirk.

He had already made a pact with Tiamat, binding their souls together.

If he died, Tiamat would die too. His life was no longer solely his own.

Also, what would happen if he broke the contract? Whatever it was, it might be worse than the hardships he was enduring now.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know it would be hard. He had guessed as much.

Then, things that should be taken responsibility for must be borne.

Yujin continued to inscribe the magic circle. The red circuits were etched into the skeletons buried in the ground.

“Not much left. Just hold on a bit longer.”

“Haha, of course.”

Yujin regained his composure and said that. The completion of the magic circle was drawing near.

Whoooom…!

Then, mana engraved itself onto all the skeletons like red circuits. Tiamat spoke.

“Now, it’s the final stage. Inscribe the magic circle onto your body.”

“Huu…”

As instructed, Yujin inscribed the circuit-shaped magic circle on his body with Tiamat’s mana. Dark red mana branched out across his body.

Eventually, what looked like a network of nerves, or perhaps a circuit, was inscribed on his body.

“Next, activate the magic according to the knowledge I will inject into you.”

“Yes.”

Countless magic circles made of dark red mana overlapped around Yujin, forming a hemispherical 3D magic circle.

The magic circles gracefully shaped like the Milky Way were composed of letters and circuits. They expanded in size, enveloping the surroundings.

Fwooosh!

The great magic that Yujin could never have used before. But now, the inspiration gained from inscribing the magic circle, Tiamat’s awakened spirit, and the mana contained within Tiamat’s heart made it all possible.

Magic circles piled up beneath Yujin’s feet and surrounding him, taking shape. And then…

“Done!”

Bang! Bang!

The magic activated.

Whoooom!

The massive magic circle inscribed on the skeletons erupted with light. Soon, they began to disintegrate into dark red mana.

A furnace made of mana formed around Yujin, encasing him.

The preparations were complete.

Now, it was up to him.

The disintegrated skeletons started to flow into the furnace. A tremendous flame began to engulf Yujin’s body.

At the same time, the dark red dust of the skeletons reconstructed and regenerated his body.

Pain, pain, and more pain.

He felt agony as his body was continuously burned and reborn.

Was this what it felt like to be tempered like steel?

Yujin felt his vision flickering in the blinding pain.

Yet, he smiled.

He was familiar with both hiding emotions and concealing pain.

Rather, he felt relief that the long ordeal was finally coming to an end as he closed his eyes…

***

…It was a strange sensation.

A feeling of floating endlessly. In his hazy consciousness, he saw some scenery.

He saw his father’s face.

He saw his mother’s face.

They were smiling at him while holding cutlery and eating.

Before he knew it, a smile had formed on his face as he continued to eat. As he was enjoying the meal, suddenly…

“So, son, when are you going to wake up?”

“Yeah, son. You should start waking up.”

“…What?”

Suddenly, he heard the voices of his father and mother.

No, they must have already been speaking… had he just not realized it before?

Now that he thought about it, had he ever made a sound?

“Yujin, wake up.”

At that moment, a mesmerizing voice rang out from beside him.

A beautifully melodic voice echoing sweetly. It felt oddly familiar yet strange.

As he turned to the voice that seemed to dissolve his eardrums and brain, a woman with flowing black hair and red eyes gazed at him.

Her beauty was beyond even her voice… No, it was like her appearance was more stunning than her voice.

As he was momentarily entranced, the woman spoke.

“Come on, wake up.”

“…Huh?”

With that, she pushed him.

Sitting in the chair, he toppled backward.

And fell.

Endlessly, endlessly downwards.

Into the depths of the abyss.

Just like that, his consciousness faded to black.

***

“…Ah.”

And he opened his eyes.

“Yujin! Are you awake?”

“…Tiamat?”

What lay before him was Tiamat in a spirit form, visible only to his eyes.

As he looked at her face, he realized that everything had been a dream.

“…Ugh… What the heck.”

“You lost consciousness while reconstructing your body. It’s been quite a while.”

As he raised his body, Tiamat spoke. Quite a while, huh…

“How much time has passed?”

“About a month.”

“…Hmm, that’s not as much as I thought.”

If this was long in Tiamat’s sense, he had imagined it would be around 100 years.

“It’s from your perspective, so it makes sense.”

“Haha, I didn’t expect such consideration. Well, if I really lost consciousness for a month, it is pretty surprising. Considering I’ve been out cold for a month, I feel fresh in both body and mind.”

Indeed, he felt clearer than ever. His body was filled with more vitality than usual.

He asked.

“So, what’s the status of the situation?”

“The reconstruction of your body was successful. Try moving it.”

“Hmm… Alright.”

At those words, he lifted his body.

BANG!

“……”

The problem was that it seemed like moving lightly had caused the ground to echo as if it would break. No, the joint space was indeed ringing loudly.

“…Hmm, I’ve got a lot of strength now.”

“Is it just strength? You haven’t yet acquired the heart, so your body hasn’t completely transformed into a dragon, but your current physical abilities can’t even be compared to a human, right?”

“…Hmm, controlling my strength might be a bit tricky.”

Just moving his hand cautiously made a ‘bang!’ sound that echoed with a sonic boom. Seeing that, Tiamat spoke.

“Don’t worry. If you become a dragon, you’ll adapt to the physical abilities perfectly in no time.”

“Sounds like you’re saying I’m not a dragon yet.”

“Of course. Fundamentally, you need a dragon’s core for that. The vessel of your current body needs to have a heart to become perfect. Your present physical abilities are… at most like a wyrmling? You know, like wyverns or drakes.”

“Hmm…”

Those are monsters considered cataclysmic on Earth.

Moreover, drakes and wyverns encountered in Maze Academy are also depicted as incredibly powerful monsters. Yet, that expression of “at most” used by a dragon feels… peculiar.

“The earlier process was the first reconstruction, and the second reconstruction will start when you acquire the heart. In the first reconstruction, I merely placed my bones into your body, while in the second reconstruction, the vessel’s form will be more efficient and aptly established according to the heart. That way, you’ll gain in capabilities and senses beyond comparison to what you have now. That’s the makeup of that magic circle, to begin with.”

“Oh…”

If that’s the case…

Yujin looked down at Tiamat’s heart held in his hand.

“So, what do I need to do?”

“It’s simple. Just swallow my heart whole.”

“Is that it?”

“Yep.”

That seemed a bit anticlimactic. Thinking that, he gazed at her heart.

It was a size too small to belong to the great skeletal owner. He placed the heart, roughly the size of his fist, into his mouth.

And then.

“Hmph.”

He simply put it in his mouth.

Gulp.

He swallowed it whole.

Thud!

“Cough!”

The reconstruction of his body began.

 

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