The Miracle in the Game Becomes Reality 3
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The Miracle in the Game Becomes Reality 3
1. Miracle (3)
So far, while playing Chronicle Online, I had thought of the MP listed alongside HP as nothing more than mana, but I had never actually felt the presence of mana itself.
No matter how realistic it was, a game was fundamentally still a game.
[Circle creation completed.]
Because of that, the presence of the mana quietly revolving in my chest felt terribly alien to me.
- Ziiing!
When I placed a hand on my chest, the one circle signifying 1st class increased its rotational speed.
It was unfamiliar, but there was no problem at all controlling the mana.
The circle followed me perfectly, as if it had always been there from the start.
'If I've created a 1-circle, then there should be techniques suited to it too?'
I had been sitting quietly on the floor, waiting for the circle to be created, but I brushed myself off, stood up, and walked toward the bookshelf set in one corner of the 2nd floor of the Magic Tower.
[Would you like to search the materials?]
There was a lot of books, so I had wondered when I would ever get through them all, and now this convenience too?
Truly worthy of the chance encounter of Manuel Lucas, called the greatest wizard of mankind.
Feeling pleased, I instructed it to search and examined the long list of books that appeared.
After roughly scanning it, I could see that it could be broadly divided into four categories.
And among them was what I had wanted.
[Magic Books]
[Technique Books]
[Materials]
[Records]
The materials and records contained Duke Lucas's research data and magical know-how.
Most of it could be seen as basic material rather than core techniques, but even so, these were things touched by a 9th-class mage.
If even one of these were leaked outside, it could earn a considerable amount of money.
Of course, if I did something like that, I might get tracked down, so I shouldn't even dream of it.
I decided to look through the materials and records later, and first narrowed down the magic books and technique books that would be useful right away.
[1st-Class Fire-Attribute Magic Book]
[1st-Class Water-Attribute Magic Book]
....
....
[Mana Comprehension Technique Book]
[Mana Recovery Technique Book]
[Mana Accumulation Technique Book]
All the 1st-class magic and the basic skills essential for a mage.
[Would you like to acquire the Mana Comprehension Technique Book?]
And just by lightly touching them, the skills and magic were acquired on their own, like in a game.
'If magic books and technique books are handed out this easily, leveling up will be easier than I thought.'
Originally, technique books and magic books are not something you can obtain easily.
Chronicle Online is basically an item-collection game, so even skills and magic have to be obtained and used directly according to their grade.
Also, learning a technique is not the end of it; every magic and skill has proficiency, so there was a significant difference in power between a mastered technique and one that wasn't.
But in the process of acquiring magic and techniques, the difference from the game became even clearer.
"Keuk!"
Every time I acquired one, the principle of that technique was engraved into my head.
For me, it was nice because I could understand the principles of magic through a process of assimilation, but the process itself was unpleasant and unbearably painful.
That didn't mean I could skip learning them.
The headache was awful, but I stubbornly kept learning magic and techniques.
"Ugh...."
Then, in the end, I couldn't endure the headache anymore and vomited beside the bookshelf.
Anyway, this place wasn't reality but a game, so the mess would be cleaned up soon enough; I ignored it and picked up the last remaining technique book.
[Circle Concealment Technique Book]
-Hides the mana possessed together with the circle.
-Useless in front of an Aura Master-level knight, a mage of 7 circles or higher, or a top-grade detection artifact.
Consideration that felt as if it knew my situation all too well.
A cheerful laugh naturally escaped me.
I learned the final technique book just as it was.
- Jiiing.
Perhaps because its rank was higher than the previous techniques, the headache grew even worse, and I even started hearing ringing in my ears.
However, since all of this was a miracle for me, I was only pleased, apart from the discomfort.
Lying spread-eagled next to the vomit and waiting for the headache to subside, I could only get up after about two hours.
-Ziiing!
As soon as I stood up, I tried casting while recalling the theory of magic engraved in my mind.
Following that, the magic circle began to rotate fiercely, and I could feel the surrounding mana gathering together.
"Magic Missile."
After about 1.5 seconds of brief casting, the completed spell turned into a bolt of mana and shot fiercely toward the wall.
-Pit!
The walls of the Magic Tower must have been made of metal or something, because the Magic Missile fizzled out weakly, but I confirmed that I could use magic without any problem.
In Chronicle Online, you just say the command word and that's it, but right now I understood that spell perfectly.
[Based on real time, you have been logged into the game for 10 hours without a break.]
[Please exit the game and take a rest.]
Has it already been that long?
I was planning to log out anyway because I was curious whether a real circle had formed in reality as well, so I obediently followed the warning.
[Exiting Chronicle Online.]
Along with a slight sensation of floating, I felt my body being pushed backward, and then a world stained black greeted me.
-Ssuk.
When I took off the headgear covering my entire head, the familiar ceiling that had been tormenting me until just now came into view.
Before I knew it, day had broken, and light was seeping through the blackout curtains hung over the terrace window.
And when I swallowed dryly and placed my hand near my solar plexus—
"Good."
Just like in the game, I could clearly feel the mana circle.
Now there was no longer any room to doubt the existence of this fortuitous encounter.
I savored the swelling emotion and clenched my fist tightly.
I'd thought I was going to end both my previous life and this one without achieving a single thing, but it looks like this life will be different.
'Strictly speaking, I've only just taken a single step.'
But this one step was an incredibly meaningful leap for me.
What I want from Manuel Lucas's fortuitous encounter is nothing grand.
'I only wish for the safety of my mother and myself.'
It's just that the exclusion of those who would interfere with that wish is included in it, so you could say it's a bit removed from peace.
* * *
The current population of Rondel is about 7 billion.
However, if you add up all the non-human races, it would be greater than, not less than, Earth's population.
The number of countries spread across the four great continents is only 20, not even a tenth of Earth's, so you can't shake the feeling that it's unbalanced—too few countries for its size.
Or, thinking about it differently, even the nation classified as the smallest in Rondel has a population of 50 million and a territory comparable to Mongolia, so you could say that in terms of balance between countries, this side rather than Earth is better.
Even a so-called small country becomes no laughing matter to a great power if three or more of them join together, so the deterrence against war is quite substantial.
Of course, that doesn't mean war never breaks out, but in the last 500 years there hasn't been a major war big enough to push a country to the brink of destruction.
At this level, not only the technology but also the international situation between countries is more stable than on Earth.
In this kind of world, the Kingdom of Reinharts to which I belong…
Is a powerful nation that, excluding the four great empires (Bringham Empire, Croysen Empire, Elysia Union, Prius Republic), possesses military and economic might that almost no one can match.
Although it faces the border of Croysen, one of the four great empires, with which it is hostile, the kingdom itself is managed without major crises thanks to alliances with neighboring kingdoms.
Its population is 180 million.
Its territory is comparable to India.
Thanks to that, even our Lawrence family, which only holds the rank of viscount, runs a domain with a population of 1 million and maintains 6,000 private soldiers and 300 knights.
There are over 20 knights and 300 soldiers assigned just to my detached estate, so you can't think of us as ordinary feudal nobles from the Middle Ages.
Lawrence family estate training grounds.
"Pardon? Swordsmanship training?"
My sudden visit and out-of-the-blue request made my escort knight, Weiss, look at me in surprise and ask again.
Because of that, the gazes of the surrounding knights naturally converged on us.
Among them were surely some of Anna's and Cedric's henchmen.
I waved my hand to say there was no misunderstanding.
"I've been feeling sluggish lately. I was thinking of doing it as exercise—would that be a problem?"
"Of course not. I'd welcome it anytime. I've been worried about your health since you play games every day."
In truth, I was planning to train in reality as well, hoping it would help with my activities in the game.
Because my physical body and my in-game character were synchronized, I had a really hard time in combat.
Even if my class is Mage, a Mage can't just stand still doing nothing.
Moreover, the battles in the game could very well become an extension of reality.
"Then shall we start with some stamina training?"
Weiss was showing quite a bit of enthusiasm.
The other knights around us looked at him as if they couldn't understand, probably thinking something like, "What's the point of getting on the good side of someone so powerless?"
"This is unexpected. Your stamina is better than I thought."
"Is that so?"
It seems the stats I improved in the game are affecting reality as well.
Even so, compared to a knight my body is still weak, but for a shut-in who plays games all day, they probably consider it decent.
However, rather than the physical aspect, I focused on and felt relieved by the fact that no one had noticed I was a Mage.
The problem had been how to hide my circle from knights who are sensitive to mana, but thanks to Duke Lucas's consideration, it was solved far too easily.
Because of that, it looks like there will be no issues with secretly building up my strength.