Chapter 1: A Different Beginning (2)
‘Changing the body to the necessary nature.’
If he could freely exercise magic and the authority of time?
Perhaps he could uproot those damn trollers, traitors, and disgusting forces.
He extracted only the most necessary elements from the martial arts.
He re-established the extracted elements into a single magic. The theory was somewhat decent.
In theory, that is.
‘Now it’s time to test it with my body.’
Prediction and experimentation were a mage’s specialty.
And he was accustomed to pain and failure.
His life had been a series of pain and failure.
Jin-woo devoted himself to training.
He even slept and ate in the training ground.
During the day, he moved his body to the point of nearly destroying it, and at night, he gathered mana.
The magic circles that martial arts practitioners engraved on their bodies through decades of training, Jin-woo was extracting only their characteristics and drawing them into himself.
Jin-woo decided to call it ‘Magic Body Engraving’.
It could only be fully engraved during the process of the body being destroyed and restored, so the greater the pain, the better the results.
However, it didn’t mean he could use martial arts like practitioners. Techniques were not something that could be easily learned through books alone.
For now, he only understood the movements through his past combat experiences.
As such a routine continued, the servants in the mansion thought Jin-woo had gone crazy. He was already an abnormal guy from the start, but now that he was exercising like a madman, they couldn’t help but talk about it.
He was consuming mana water, each bottle worth the price of a house in Seoul, and only exercising.
From an outsider’s perspective, he was definitely a lunatic.
Lee Jin-woo had that image from the beginning.
That image of Jin-woo was rather favorable.
Because he could act recklessly without worrying about others. If he did something, they would only look at him with eyes that wondered what crazy antics he was up to, but they wouldn’t demand an explanation.
“Phew…”
Jin-woo got up.
He rotated his mana and gradually drew the magic body engravings.
His mana core had incomparably better durability than his previous mana core. And its size was unfathomably deep and wide.
‘The mana properties have become similar too.’
The mana generated from the mana core was infused with the authority of time. Thanks to that, his recovery speed was much faster, and he became sturdier. As a result, he could push himself even harder, and even if he failed to engrave the patterns several times, he wouldn’t die.
The magic body engravings he was currently engraving were ‘Iron Body’, ‘Super Recovery’, and ‘Mana Synchronization’. They were also the specialties of famous masters. He decided to call the combination of these three characteristics ‘Magic Body Constitution’.
A body optimized for exercising magic and martial arts.
A body that could endure the authority of time to some extent. And it could quickly adapt to any martial arts characteristics.
‘Good.’
As the magic body engravings were completed, his mana capacity also increased.
The synergy was much better than he had anticipated.
Thanks to the High Elf’s mana water, the speed became incredibly fast, and his body became cleaner. As a result, his skin was becoming as good as a High Elf’s.
He had already met the requirements for a 9th-grade mage.
Two weeks.
It was an achievement made in just two weeks.
He had reduced 50 years to two weeks.
It was truly a remarkable progress.
No one would believe it. If he had told his past self, he might have slapped him and told him to get lost.
“I’m coming in.”
Jin-woo turned around.
A woman with a slightly sharp impression slightly bowed her head in greeting to him.
A half-elf.
When he first opened his eyes here, he had briefly seen her, but upon closer look, she seemed quite familiar.
‘Where have I seen her before?’
A slightly tall height.
Black hair and blue eyes.
The simple way to distinguish between pure-blooded elves was to look at their hair and eye color. Pure-blooded elves all had blonde hair and green eyes. Among them, only the High Elves possessed shining golden hair and beautiful golden eyes.
She entered the training ground and turned off the speaker.
A unique hip-hop song was playing from the speaker. It was a song in the orc hip-hop genre that was popular in the past, or rather, trendy at this point in time.
The orcs’ characteristically loud voice and husky yet extremely low tone. The strange sense of rhythm had a peculiar charm.
Her expression was slightly furrowed.
“Ah!”
It came to him.
Harmu Delcrai, the Vengeful Ghost.
The ghost who had single-handedly annihilated an entire gang.
She was always drenched in blood, and those who died by her hands all had their eyes terribly gouged out.
The person who dealt with her, who was crazed with blood, was none other than him.
He couldn’t understand why Harmu was here.
Jin-woo looked into her eyes.
They were still cold, but the madness and bloodlust from before were gone.
She had clear and deep eyes like sapphires.
Jin-woo only learned that she had blue eyes when he killed her.
“I guess you don’t like the song?”
“…Why are you suddenly speaking politely? Don’t act friendly with me.”
Her tone was sharp.
“I don’t want to listen to some orc song.”
“That’s a discriminatory remark against species.”
“…I’ll rephrase that. It’s not my taste.”
Harmu looked at Jin-woo strangely.
He didn’t seem like the ignorant and greedy Lee Jin-woo. He always spoke in a whiny tone and said illogical things.
That was also the reason she was hired.
“Didn’t you have a reason for hiring me, young master?”
“What was the reason?”
Jin-woo asked without beating around the bush.
Anyway, she would just think that Lee Jin-woo had gone crazy. Having the worst image was convenient like this.
“You said you wanted to become a man worthy of Princess El Luna Grandia IX.”
“That elf princess?”
“Yes.”
The huge World Tree in the center of Seoul.
The High Elf who managed Elden was none other than the Elven Queen.
Queen El Heran Highness.
Jin-woo also remembered her final moments.
Thanks to the World Tree, Seoul was considered the safest city in the world. Monster invasions from outside the city were rare, and terrible paranormal phenomena were also seldom seen.
Now, including half-elves, the elven population in Seoul had surpassed 600,000, so they were not a rare species.
Thanks to Queen El Heran Highness’s open policy, nowadays, even pure-blooded elves could be seen in regular schools.
“Recently, you’ve been staying here without studying at all. I told you that if you don’t pass the test I create, I will leave. Of course, I will receive the full payment as per the contract.”
Jin-woo nodded.
Harmu even brought the contract, fearing that Jin-woo would say something else. Jin-woo scanned the contract.
It was a six-month contract.
The conditions were to stay in this mansion, help with household chores, and tutor him for a fee of 200 million won. If he couldn’t keep up with her lessons, she would quit. While taking all the money.
Currently, there were rumors circulating about an engagement between a successor of Ilshin Group and Princess El Luna Grandia. Whoever became the successor might get engaged to the princess.
In the midst of that, Lee Jin-woo had dropped out of school and invited her.
‘She didn’t seem like the type to be obsessed with money…’
Although she was crazed with slaughter, she didn’t appear to have such a tendency.
There was a reason, but she was someone he had killed. Her last words remained unforgettable for a long time. It was the first time he had seen tears from a murderous ghost.
“I’ll take it right now. If you participate seriously in the lessons…”
“Okay, let’s do it now.”
“…Understood.”
Jin-woo took a quick shower and followed her.
A study room was set up in the mansion’s library, with various textbooks arranged by subject. Of course, they were all new and had never been opened.
Just skimming through the subject names brought back old memories.
‘It reminds me of when I was preparing for the magic civil servant exam.’
Humans with talent in magic were rare.
Even after selecting from them, the competition was fierce.
There were numerous academies in Noryangjin, but most failed the practical exam and switched to the general track. Those who couldn’t wield magic mostly became general-level 10th-grade or related technical magic civil servants.
Harmu distributed the test papers.
Jin-woo scanned the test paper.
“You have one hour for the test. Now, let’s begin…”
Swoosh swoosh swoosh!
There were a total of 20 questions.
Since it was basic magic studies, he could solve them mentally without any calculations. It was too easy, in other words.
“I’m done.”
“…Young master.”
“What?”
“That kind of insincere attitude is not good. Have you ever taken anything seriously even once?”
Jin-woo chuckled.
Harmu’s expression turned chilly at that laugh.
“Check it.”
Harmu frowned and checked the test paper. Her furrowed expression loosened, and her eyes widened. It was instantly filled with surprise.
“What is this…?”
She looked at Jin-woo.
“Do you feel my sincerity now?”
“It’s just a basic level. Anyone can do this much with a little studying.”
“Harmu Delcrai.”
Jin-woo looked at her with a deep smile.
He was curious.
That madness, and the sadness and anger.
He wanted to know why she had changed like that.
Her combat prowess and tenacity back then were impressive enough to give him a hard time.
Since she was someone he had killed, he personally wanted to know a bit more. And if possible, he wanted to extend the contract period a little longer.
‘Talent is always scarce. Bring them in and work them hard!’
‘When is the end of work, you ask? Think of it as just starting work.’
Such words seemed to echo in his ears.
“Then, shall we make a bet?”
“…A bet, you say?”
“I’ll get them all right.”
“What…?”
Harmu let out a soft sigh and shook her head, as if she couldn’t believe it. She thought he was making fun of her.
“Since it’s a bet, there should be a reward, right? Tell me. What do you want?”
“Are you serious? Fine. 1 billion won, in cash.”
“Is that enough? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Harmu silently stared at Jin-woo.
He was an ignorant, arrogant, and whiny brat who couldn’t do anything but throw tantrums.
Did he watch a movie or something?
Was it some kind of concept play?
The fool who couldn’t even multiply or divide properly was so high and mighty just because he got the basic questions from a workbook correct. Yeah, he must have cheated or something.
“It’s obvious that I will win, but that much is enough.”
“I can’t tell if you’re greedy or not.”
“What do you want, young master?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
Her eyes turned sharp. A piercing aura emanated from her, but Jin-woo just laughed it off.
“Let’s go with magic engineering for the subject.”
“Are you going to just throw away 1 billion won? Fine. Magic engineering is my specialty too.”
In the 9th-grade magic civil servant exam, magic engineering only covered very basic concepts, and it was only in the official mage license exam that the fundamentals were shown. Nevertheless, it was the most difficult subject.
She took out the Basic Magic Engineering Part A book from the library.
She selected a few advanced questions and handed them to Jin-woo. She planned to give him a generous hour for the test time.
“The time is…”
Swoosh swoosh!
Without showing the solution process, he immediately wrote down the answers, forcing her to stop speaking. Upon checking the answers, they were all correct. Jin-woo flicked the pen while looking at her.
“No need to go easy on me. Or could it be that you only know this much? It would be troublesome if I solve questions that you can’t solve yourself.”
