“……That sounds like an impossible method, though?”
The commander of the Imperial Mage Corps.
He was also a 6th-Class Mage, one of the few Archmages on the continent.
To rise to that position, one had to reach the 6th Class or, at the very least, become a 5th-Class Mage qualified to succeed the current commander.
But what about Aiman?
All the mana within his body amounted to a single mana circle belonging to a 1st-Class Mage.
His unique ability allowed him to use magic beyond his rank, but even then, the 3rd Class was his absolute limit.
At that level, there was no conceivable way for him to become the commander of the Imperial Mage Corps.
‘This is like telling someone who needs money that he should marry a billionaire’s daughter to become rich, isn’t it?’
That was how absurd it sounded.
Keiras was well aware of that fact.
“I said there was a possibility that someone else could possess it. I never said there was a possibility that you could obtain it.”
“No, but what does that…….”
“It may not be possible immediately, but there is still a way.”
“There is?”
“I can become the commander.”
“Oh?”
Keiras was publicly known as a 4th-Class Mage, but in truth, he had already reached the 5th Class, which qualified him to become the vice commander of the Imperial Mage Corps.
Unless one of the other candidates reached the 6th Class, he was also in a position to become the next commander.
Just when the path Aiman had devised seemed hopelessly out of reach, it felt as though a single ray of light had appeared.
However, Keiras promptly took that light away.
“But that will not work either.”
“Why not?”
“I like my life as it is.”
“What?”
What was that supposed to mean?
It was like a manager being given the opportunity to become a senior manager, only to declare that remaining a manager was more comfortable and that he intended to stay one forever.
From Aiman’s perspective, it was utterly ridiculous.
Why had Keiras even mentioned the possibility when he had no intention of pursuing it?
Seeing the incomprehension on Aiman’s face, Keiras gave a faint smile.
“At my current rank, I only have to carry out the occasional order from the Imperial Court. The rest of the time, I can rest here in my own home. If I become the commander or vice commander, I will have to remain in the Capital and review all manner of documents. It looks rather bothersome. Besides, being responsible for other people is exhausting.”
Only then did Aiman understand what he meant.
‘Working at a company was the same…….’
As a subordinate, all one had to do was properly complete whatever the superior ordered.
Someone competent enough could finish all of the assigned work and create plenty of free time.
Of course, it was better not to report the completion too quickly. One could finish in advance, enjoy some paid leisure time, and only submit the work afterward.
On the other hand, once someone became a superior, he had to take care of his subordinates and shoulder responsibility for them.
From below, managers might appear to simply push all their work onto their subordinates and live comfortably, but they had also once been ordinary employees before rising to managerial positions after many years at the company.
A managerial position was far from easy.
The amount of direct labor might decrease, but it was replaced by an equal burden of responsibility.
When someone else was responsible for you, you could apologize after making a mistake and allow that person to correct it.
But once you became the person in charge, you had to accept responsibility not only for your own mistakes, but also for those made by your subordinates.
‘He said that responsibility was actually more frightening…….’
This was something Yeongman had once heard from his department head.
After going out together on a sales call, the two of them had shared drinks, and the department head had said those words with a bitter smile that was far more vulnerable than anything he normally showed at the company.
Remembering that conversation, Aiman could understand that a position of responsibility truly carried considerable weight.
Keiras simply found that responsibility bothersome.
An ordinary office worker might have desperately sought promotions to improve his standard of living, but Keiras already enjoyed a life of abundance that most people could only dream of.
There was no reason for him to become the vice commander or commander of the Imperial Mage Corps.
Aiman, however, was desperate.
He wanted access to greater quantities of mana so that he could fold even more powerful spells.
Therefore, he spoke to Keiras.
“But if you become the commander of the Imperial Mage Corps, obtain the ring you mentioned, and lend it to me, I could reach even greater heights.”
“Hmm, that is true…… Let us think about it a little longer.”
As he had just explained, Keiras was satisfied with his current life. From his perspective, pursuing such a position solely for the sake of his disciple was something that required serious consideration.
Nor was it something Aiman could force him to do.
Was there truly no other method?
‘It would have been nice if I could simply continue making Mana Cutters.’
Continuously creating Mana Cutters.
By using a Mana Cutter to cut the mana that composed the world, Aiman could manifest magic that required more than one circle’s worth of mana. That had led him and Keiras to consider a method of reaching even greater heights.
They had attempted to use the mana obtained with a Mana Cutter created from one circle’s worth of mana to construct an even larger Mana Cutter, then use that larger cutter to cut still more mana.
If it had worked, fully manifesting the desired magic might have taken some time, but even as an incomplete Mage with only a single mana circle, Aiman might have been able to wield far more powerful magic.
But it had failed.
Using a Mana Cutter to cut the mana that filled the world was only possible once.
A Mana Cutter made from one circle’s worth of mana could cut enough mana to create a larger Mana Cutter, but for some strange reason, the newly created cutter could not cut mana again.
That was why Aiman and Keiras had been researching ways to increase the number of his mana circles.
However, every method they considered proved impossible.
At that moment, a new possibility suddenly occurred to Aiman.
“Ah!”
“What is it?”
“If I cannot increase my mana, what about using someone else’s mana to cast powerful magic?”
“Hmm?”
Keiras did not immediately understand what he meant.
A Mage was naturally supposed to create his own magic with his own mana.
Yet Aiman was suggesting that he use someone else’s mana to cast a powerful spell.
At first, Keiras wondered what sort of nonsense the boy was talking about.
Then a particular memory surfaced.
It was from the day he had first met Aiman.
‘He interfered with my spell formula.’
Keiras had found Aiman’s claim that he could see mana absurd.
To test whether the boy truly possessed that ability, Keiras had cast Mana Bird, a 1st-Class summoning-type spell.
However, he had altered the calculation to test whether Aiman could genuinely see the mana.
When showing magic to children, there was no need to construct a spell through the standard calculation, so Keiras normally used a simplified calculation.
But when demonstrating Mana Bird to Aiman, he had deliberately used the standard calculation instead.
Aiman had unraveled it and transformed it into the simplified formula Keiras ordinarily used.
The boy could interfere with another person’s mana and magic.
Conversely, that meant he might also be able to create a Mana Cutter using someone else’s mana.
Keiras wanted to know whether it was possible.
Mages were a breed compelled to continue researching.
Keiras was no exception.
He immediately spoke as though they should begin the experiment at once.
“Good. Let us try it.”
“Then could you draw out about three circles’ worth of mana?”
“Three circles, not five?”
Keiras was a 5th-Class Mage.
In other words, he could draw out as much as five circles’ worth of mana, so he found it strange that Aiman had only requested three.
In his desire to see a powerful result immediately, Keiras had overlooked an important point.
Aiman brought it to his attention.
“What we are trying to test is whether I can use someone else’s mana to cast magic in the same manner, correct?”
“Correct.”
“But if you, a 5th-Class Mage, draw out all five circles’ worth of mana, I would have to cast a spell beyond that level…….”
After hearing that much, Keiras realized what he had overlooked.
“Unless you cast a 6th- or 7th-Class spell, the experiment will be meaningless.”
“That is right.”
It would have been different if Keiras could show Aiman the formula of a 6th- or 7th-Class spell.
However, that was impossible for a 5th-Class Mage.
The purpose of their experiment was to determine whether Aiman could use another person’s mana to cast a spell that required more mana than the circles available to him.
Therefore, the important question was whether he could manifest a 5th-Class spell using only three circles’ worth of mana.
“Then I will show you the formula for a 5th-Class spell and provide you with only three circles’ worth of mana.”
“That should work.”
“Good. First, I will show you a 5th-Class spell.”
Keiras brought his hands together.
A considerably serious expression appeared on his face.
Aiman naturally focused his gaze upon him.
Then he saw it.
Mana emerged from Keiras’s body.
Aside from the mana covering the world itself, it was the greatest concentration of mana Aiman had ever seen.
The mana began to fold.
After observing the fundamental pattern into which it was folding, Aiman murmured.
“……Fireball?”
Hearing him, Keiras smiled faintly.
“It may look similar, but this spell is far more powerful.”
It resembled Fireball, but it was stronger.
As Aiman continued watching, he began to understand what Keiras meant.
The mana seemed to be folding in a manner similar to Fireball, but its structure was being shaped into something far more intricate.
Keiras’s mana transformed into a sphere of flame.
Then Keiras chanted.
“Flare Ball.”
FWOOSH!
Its appearance resembled Fireball, but the heat and overwhelming pressure contained within its flames were on an entirely different level.
It certainly appeared far more powerful than Fireball, a 3rd-Class spell.
Having completed Flare Ball, a 5th-Class fire-attribute attack spell, Keiras asked Aiman a question.
“Would you like me to show you the formula once more?”
It possessed a more complicated formula than any spell Keiras had shown him before.
No matter how good Aiman’s memory was, Keiras assumed that he could not possibly have memorized it after seeing it only once.
But he was mistaken.
“No, I memorized it.”
“You…… memorized it?”
Keiras was dumbfounded that Aiman had memorized a 5th-Class spell formula after seeing it only once.
There was, in fact, a reason Aiman could memorize spell formulas so easily.
‘No matter how I look at them…… they are almost identical to the folds from that origami book published by Gode Publishing, Origami Like Magic.’
Before possessing Aiman’s body, Yeongman had read countless books about Origami.
One of them had been an origami book released by a company called Gode Publishing.
Unlike most other origami books, it contained an enormous variety of completed models, making it particularly fascinating.
For some reason, the folds from that book bore a remarkable resemblance to the spell calculations Keiras showed him.
However, that was not important at the moment.
The experiment he and Keiras were attempting was far more important.
After answering that he had memorized the formula, Aiman nodded toward Keiras.
“Yes. Could you dispel that and draw out about three circles’ worth of mana?”
“Very well. Dispel.”
PSSSH.
Flare Ball, which had looked capable of burning and melting anything it touched, vanished with a deflated hiss.
Once Keiras dispelled it, Aiman saw roughly half of the mana being absorbed back into Keiras’s body.
After witnessing that, Aiman asked him a question.
“Does dispelling a spell return some of the mana used to cast it?”
“That is correct. Around half of it returns. When I include the mana that naturally recovered during that time, I can quickly manipulate roughly four circles’ worth of mana again. Once you reach the Expert or Master stage, your mana recovery increases further, allowing you to immediately cast another 5th-Class spell.”
“I see.”
“That is also why Double Casting becomes possible after reaching the Master stage.”
“Double Casting?”
The unfamiliar term drew Aiman’s interest.
“It refers to calculating and manifesting two different spells simultaneously. Once someone reaches the Master stage, the mana used to calculate a spell at his own level generally recovers immediately. However, mana recovery drops considerably while using Double Casting, so reaching Triple Casting is still difficult.”
“I see.”
After briefly explaining Double Casting and mana recovery, Keiras did as Aiman had requested.
From his recovered mana, he drew out only three circles’ worth.
“Now then, I have drawn out three circles’ worth of mana, just as you requested. Shall I create the Mana Cutter myself?”
“I will try it.”
“Very well. Go ahead.”
Aiman used both hands to fold the three circles’ worth of mana floating before Keiras.
He folded it according to the formula of the Mana Cutter he had previously created.
A Mana Cutter three times larger than the one Aiman had made with his own mana took shape.
Keiras was astounded.
‘He not only interferes with other people’s spell formulas, but now he is creating magic with someone else’s mana.’
It was a truly absurd phenomenon.
Had someone merely told him about it rather than allowing him to witness it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it.
Aiman even used the Mana Cutter created from Keiras’s mana to cut the mana covering the world.
He obtained an amount of mana that appeared to be roughly four times greater than the three circles’ worth he had started with.
Then he began folding the 5th-Class spell, Flare Ball.
A 4th-Class spell could have been folded into the same basic form, but this spell had to be completed using finer and more sophisticated folding techniques.
Aiman’s hands moved without pause.
To an ordinary person, it might have looked as though he were solving an invisible puzzle cube in midair.
Then Aiman’s hands stopped.
A spell manifested between them.
FWOOSH!
It was smaller than the one Keiras had created moments earlier, but there was no mistaking it.
It was Flare Ball, a 5th-Class spell.
After completing the Flare Ball, Aiman looked at Keiras.
“What do you think?”