Then how should one learn magic?
Naturally, the only options were to be taught by someone or to study on one’s own.
According to his past memories, when he was young, because he was a direct descendant, an elder of the family had been assigned to him as a master. But…
“You really have no talent.”
That master had disappeared after giving Nerha a failing grade a few years later, and from then on, other mages from the family or mages invited from outside taught Nerha.
However, they too realized Nerha’s terrifying(?) lack of talent and either taught him half-heartedly or gave up and washed their hands of him.
As time went on, the quality of the instructors only declined, and recently, their visits had stopped altogether.
‘Just looking at the fact that he was training alone, you can already tell.’
Calling in an instructor again and building up the foundations of magic from the very basics was one possible method. Since his evaluation was already at rock bottom, even if he did that, those around him would probably just think, “Well, of course.” But…
‘No matter how low your evaluation is, there’s always a basement beneath rock bottom. There’s no need to draw unnecessary attention by calling in another instructor.’
If an instructor were still assigned to him, he could have shamelessly lowered his head and asked about the basics from the start, but unfortunately, the ‘Nerha’ whose self-esteem had sunk to the very bottom chose to train alone.
That part was a bit regrettable.
‘More than anything, now that I know there are bastards who tried to starve me to death, moving rashly is poison.’
Even to the dropout Nerha, those vicious people were throwing their checks and pressure.
He did not yet know who they were, but the very existence of such people was a heavy burden for Nerha, who still had no foundation to stand on.
So then, there was only one method. Nerha stopped his hurried steps, looked at the destination before him, and let out a low chuckle.
‘The archive. And if it’s a magic archive located in a place like this, no one will bother paying attention to it.’
The investigation was already finished.
Samir, the apprentice butler assigned to Nerha, was surprisingly quite capable. Though only a two-year apprentice, he was sharp enough to find the conditions Nerha requested in less than a day.
‘There are dozens of archives managed by the family, but most have strictly limited access, and even if you can enter, the entry records are far too clearly left behind.’
But the place Nerha had arrived at now was one of the rare exceptions.
This place allowed for the kind of ‘basic magic training’ Nerha wanted, and because it lacked any ‘high-grade magic tomes,’ the family mages rarely set foot here.
In other words, it was an archive so low-level that no one ever came.
“What brings you here?”
“...”
But the moment he stepped into such an archive, Nerha felt that something was wrong.
As expected, it was fine that not a single visitor was around and only flies were buzzing, but the problem right now wasn’t about visitors at all.
“It’s my first time seeing a mute visitor. Please state your purpose for coming.”
“...”
Nerha slowly looked at the woman.
She looked to be in her mid-twenties. Her green hair and eyes, rare even in this world, left a strong impression.
‘It doesn’t look like she’s using any youth-preserving spell.’
In other words, her apparent age and actual age were likely similar.
Nerha swallowed slightly and marveled.
‘The Radeus family seems even more impressive than I thought.’
“...?”
The woman’s expression twisted slightly as she met Nerha’s strange gaze.
“If you didn’t come to read books, then please leave. This place does not receive visitors who come for purposes other than the proper ones.”
‘She’s pricklier than I expected?’
There was no hidden treasure here, nor was it a place where family secrets were concealed.
He had checked several times before coming here. Nerha cleared his throat lightly and opened his mouth.
“Is there any reason to come to an archive other than to read books?”
“...”
At that, a hint of flustered emotion surfaced on the woman’s face.
‘What is it? She seems more flustered than I expected?’
But the expression that appeared on her face did not last long.
“That’s true. There couldn’t possibly be any ‘other purpose’ for coming to an archive.”
“Right.”
“Is there a particular book you’re looking for?”
“I need a basic text on magic. Preferably for beginners.”
“A basic text?”
The first emotion that appeared was confusion. The next one was bewilderment. Since it had come to this, Nerha put on a thick face and made his request boldly.
“I’d like to rely on the librarian’s eye rather than looking for it myself.”
“Why would you come all the way to a place like this to look for a basic text?”
“Because it’s a place like this.”
When Nerha looked at her with a tone that suggested it was obvious, the woman finally seemed to grasp what he meant and let out a slightly embarrassed sound.
“Ah, um...!”
Covering her slightly reddened face, the woman turned her body around sharply.
“Wait here.”
The woman disappeared to pick out books, and with some time to spare, Nerha sat down on a chair and slowly looked around.
Unlike the worn-out exterior, the inside was quite well organized.
Seeing that there were no other staff members in sight, it seemed she was managing this entire building alone, but the cleaning was neat, and the interior decorations showed careful attention.
She seemed to put quite a bit of care into this place, but...
‘No matter how I look at it, she’s not someone who should be stuck in a place like this.’
Nerha recalled the mages he had seen over the past few days.
He had not encountered many, but compared to the family mages who had stormed into the mansion under the pretense of guarding him, that woman’s skill was clearly outstanding.
‘I haven’t met the highest-ranked experts of this family yet, so I can’t jump to conclusions, but by my standards, she’s at quite a high level.’
Thud!
While Nerha was lost in thought, the woman suddenly returned with five books in her arms and set them down in front of him.
“Here you go.”
Principles of Runic Script.
Understanding and Application of Basic Mana.
Methods of Constructing and Holding Spell Formations.
Understanding Elemental Magic and Lineage Magic.
Beginner Mana Circulation Methods.
‘Oh?’
Just from the titles alone, they were exactly the things Nerha needed right now.
Seeing Nerha’s eyes light up, the woman raised her chin proudly.
“The contents of basic texts are mostly similar, but the authors of these books are all people who were counted among the best on the continent. They’ll be more than enough to help you go over the basics.”
Nerha picked up the books without hesitation.
“Thanks. I appreciate the help.”
“Please bring them back within ten days. Lending isn’t allowed by the original rules, but since no one comes here anyway...”
Her tone was like she was trying to shoo away an annoying fly.
At that moment, Nerha cut her off.
“Ah, I won’t be borrowing them.”
“...What?”
“I’ll be here for a while. Think of it as commuting to work.”
“...”
She had been busily moving her hands and feet to quickly chase away a sudden fly, only for that fly to turn into a mosquito and try to latch on.
“If there’s something I don’t know, I’ll need someone to ask, right? So I’ll be in your care.”
“...”
Seeing Nerha smile brightly and wave his hand, the woman’s expression crumpled miserably.
* * *
Settling into a corner of the archive, Nerha immediately began to devour the introductory texts.
‘Thankfully, I have no trouble reading.’
Despite the different language system from the Central Plains, the language flowed into his mind as naturally as breathing, as if he were dealing with a common tongue.
After immersing himself in the books for nearly three hours, Nerha finally grabbed at his tired eyes and let out a sigh.
‘Magic is complicated.’
Among the books Chloeia the librarian had recommended, it took less than thirty minutes to finish ‘Understanding and Application of Basic Mana.’
In his previous life, Nerha had reached a realm in internal energy cultivation that would not be amiss to call him a true master beyond even adepts and experts, so this was only natural.
‘Storing mana in the heart instead of the dantian is a bit unusual, but it’s not illogical.’
For martial artists who actively move their lower bodies while using lightness skills and such, storing internal energy in the dantian is the orthodox method to quickly circulate energy down to the legs. But according to this ‘Understanding and Application of Basic Mana,’ mages were, by nature, bound to be a sedentary profession.
‘Since they mainly use both hands and the upper dantian, the importance of the lower body drops. That’s not very good, is it?’
Nerha planned not to be a pure mage, but to combine martial arts and magic.
But if he accumulated internal energy in the mage’s way like this, he might suffer losses in lightness skills and kicking techniques.
‘It feels like I could tweak the internal energy cultivation method a bit to make it work, but I should read the rest of the books first before thinking about that.’
With that, Nerha lightly turned over the first book and opened ‘Principles of Runic Script,’ which could be called the language of mages.
And from there, hell began.
“Grrrgh!”
Unlike the first book, Nerha wrestled with ‘Principles of Runic Script’ for nearly six hours, clutching at his hair.
Even so, he couldn’t understand even 10% of it.
‘Why does the word become Fernigat instead of Ferhakot when the words Ferha and Kot are attached?!’
There were 144 runes that a mage must memorize.
Memorizing those 144 runes themselves wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was that depending on how these runes were combined, they took on completely different meanings. Not only the meanings but even the pronunciations changed, so in most cases, you just had to memorize them as whole units...
‘This body’s memory isn’t very good.’
The truly big problem was Nerha’s memory and aptitude not being particularly outstanding.
‘This definitely needs to be improved.’
Nerha’s body was quite decent in terms of being suited to accumulating mana, enough to be called a direct descendant of Radeus.
In that regard, he was evaluated as not falling behind even when compared to other direct descendants. But Nerha’s biggest problem was none other than his brain, his upper dantian.
If he couldn’t solve this problem, it would become a huge obstacle in learning magic going forward.
“...”
While Nerha was struggling with the books.
‘What on earth is he thinking?’
Here, in the Level 0 Archive, the librarian Chloeia Bluevelvet looked at Nerha with a complicated expression as he buried his face in magic books.
In truth, Chloeia could more or less guess the reason for Nerha’s behavior.
‘It seems like he gained something from that life-or-death training in the underground cave, and now he’s trying to sort it out by going back to the basics?’
The incident where Nerha Radeus locked himself away was famous enough that anyone within the fence of Radeus had heard of it. But regardless of that, Chloeia did not particularly like Nerha’s presence.
So she decided to actively move to get him to leave quickly.
“If there’s something you don’t know, you can ask me.”
“...You?”
“I can be called a mage in my own right, you know. You don’t have to hold back.”
To Nerha, who had been racking his brain, this was nothing short of a lifeline.
“Everything.”
“...What?”
In truth, Chloeia had spoken under the assumption that Nerha possessed at least some degree of magical literacy. But that was nothing more than her grand misunderstanding.
“You wouldn’t go back on your word, someone of your stature, right?”
Grab!
Chloeia’s expression crumpled rapidly.
‘E-everything? You’re a direct descendant, what nonsense are you spouting right now?!’
No, even if he weren’t a direct descendant, anyone who had learned magic since childhood should never have shown a reaction like that.
‘Could it be that he knows about my situation and came here just to mess with me out of boredom?
