I Became a Magical Genius After Regression

Chapter 6

Every magician has an imaginary world.

And it is in that imaginary world that magic grows.

Imaginary world.

The words are difficult, but the meaning is simple.

Literally, it means the place where a magician’s thoughts are projected.

Just as each person has different thoughts, each magician’s imaginary world is also different.

For some, it is a vast field, for others, a gloomy graveyard.

For some, it is a cloudy sky, for others, their hometown.

In Randel’s case, it was the sea.

The black sea [暗海].

Randel did not know why he had such an image.

It was not just Randel.

No one knew why their imaginary world had taken on such a landscape.

And Randel was in that black sea.

* * *

“…….”

Randell looked up.

A deep, dark sea so profound that even the surface was invisible.

Not a single ray of sunlight penetrated, so much so that even his own hand raised before his eyes was unseen.

There was only one source of light here.

Bloop, bloop……

Green bubbles rising from the unknown depths of the abyss.

It was mana.

‘I’ve gathered quite a bit.’

Randell thought as he watched the dozens of bubbles rising before his eyes.

It hadn’t been like this from the beginning.

Originally, there were just a few air bubbles drifting in this vast ocean.

But as Randell gathered mana, their numbers gradually increased to this point.

As a result, the mana bubbles now had a presence in this pitch-black sea.

“The time has come.”

Randell muttered as he gazed at the bubbles for a moment.

Then he raised his right hand above his head.

Thoom―

Simultaneously, a circular wave spread out from Randell.

The wave was very small and weak, like the ultrasound emitted by a whale at the bottom of the deep sea.

Yet, it continued smoothly without a moment’s interruption.

The wave soon swept across the entire ocean, from one end of the dark sea to the other, leaving no place untouched.

And as a result.

[……!]

The rising bubbles suddenly stopped.

Rumble―

Then, they all began to converge towards one place, towards Randell’s outstretched hand.

A procession of bubbles flowing in from all over the sea.

Soon, dozens of streams of bubbles were sucked into Randell’s hand and formed a round mass.

The sphere flickered for a moment, and then.

**Hwaak.**

Soon, it transformed into a massive, green mass of light.

It was a pure collection of mana.

‘The preparations are complete.’

Randel gazed at the sphere of light with heated eyes.

Suddenly, memories of the past came to mind.

When was it that he had ascended to the 1st Circle?

It was more than 20 years ago.

But Randel still hadn’t forgotten the emotion and heat of that moment.

Creating a circle in one’s mind, in other words, in one’s imagination, was an extraordinary feat for a human.

It wasn’t just the simple joy of becoming a mage.

It was like a bug shedding its skin and metamorphosing.

A feeling that one’s existence was no longer just one of the countless humans.

A feeling of transforming into something connected to the world.

Perhaps that’s why mages tend to have eccentric personalities.

“Rise.”

Randel spoke in a heated voice.

Then, as if understanding his words, the incandescent sphere of mana in his hand began to tremble violently.

**Chwaaak.**

And then it shot upwards at a terrifying speed.

The green mass of mana that eventually reached the surface.

**Paaah―**

It became the sun that illuminated Randel’s black sea.

That was Randel’s first ‘Circle.’

* * *

Right after creating the Circle.

**”Hoo―”**

Randel let out a long sigh and released his concentration, exiting the world of his imagination.

Creating the 1st Circle and entering the world of magic was an extraordinary experience, but there was still an equally significant task remaining.

The mountain that Randel had dedicated his life to climbing.

But no matter how much he climbed, he couldn’t even get past the entrance, let alone the middle of the mountain.

The name of that mountain was.

“Shortening the Casting.”

Randel muttered with a gleam in his eyes.

* * *

The casting of magic is usually divided into two sections.

‘First, the part where you handle mana.’

Of course, you need mana to use magic.

You have to extract that mana from the circle of the imaginary world, give it the desired attribute, and shape it according to the formula.

‘This is not a problem.’

Usually, magicians find this part the most difficult.

Mana is a power that can only be handled after becoming a magician, a power unimaginable before that.

Naturally, it was unfamiliar and clumsy.

But it was a different story for Randel.

Extracting mana and giving it the desired attribute was as natural as breathing for him.

That was the extent of Randel’s mana affinity.

‘The second section is formula calculation.’

After processing the mana, it was all about calculations.

If you use magic, will you fix the coordinates or release them?

If you shoot it, with how much force and how far will you shoot it?

It sounds easy to hear.

In fact, up to this point, it is easy.

But that was the story of the 1st circle.

In the 2nd circle and 3rd circle magic, additional calculations are required.

‘When you shoot dozens of magic arrows simultaneously? What about magic with a wide area like a wave of flames?’

Just thinking about it makes your head explode.

That’s why people who are not smart enough or untrained cannot be magicians.

Of course, as the circles increase, magicians also become smarter.

Their memory improves, their understanding increases, and simple calculations are completed just by looking at them.

Thanks to the grace of mana.

But there were people to whom that grace did not apply.

Like Randel…

So the casting time for Randel’s 1st circle magic, especially Magic Arrow, was…

‘It was a whopping 30 seconds.’

Magic Arrow is the basic attack magic.

Simply gather mana, form it into a small arrow, and shoot it.

For most wizards, the first attempt takes about 10 seconds.

No matter how slow, it would take an additional 5 seconds at most.

‘But for me, it took a whopping 30 seconds…’

So Randel had a nickname that followed him all his life.

[Half-Wizard]

A nickname that meant someone with unprecedented mana affinity but couldn’t do anything, a half-wit.

‘Thinking back, I was already hopeless back then…’

I should have quit the academy and everything else and gone straight home to infuse mana into herbs and sell them.

If I had done that, my family wouldn’t have died.

They would have lived comfortably without worrying about money.

But honestly, I wasn’t too worried back then.

Magic is also a kind of repetitive task.

The more you use it, the faster the casting becomes.

It was natural since you were doing the same calculations every time.

In fact, the casting speed of all wizards improved.

‘Except for me…’

But no matter how hard Randel tried, his limits were clear.

Even if he reduced his sleeping time to practice casting, it only decreased by 1 or 2 seconds at most.

A skilled wizard can fire Magic Arrow roughly once every 3 seconds.

On the other hand, Randel could barely cast it once when others cast it ten times…

It was a clear indication of how pathetic Randel’s casting ability was.

‘The real problem started from then.’

In fact, there wasn’t any significant magic in the 1st circle.

Magic like Light, Water, and Dig were fine as long as you could use them even after waiting 30 seconds.

Let’s take the example of light magic.

A spell that creates a sphere of light to illuminate the darkness.

It doesn’t matter if it takes 3 seconds or 30 seconds, as long as it produces light. What big deal would it be if it was 27 seconds late?

On the other hand, 2nd and 3rd circle spells are different.

High-circle spells that defend allies and attack enemies have casting times that are crucial.

But what about Randel’s casting time?

It takes 3 minutes for a 2nd circle spell and 15 minutes for a 3rd circle spell.

If it takes 15 minutes to cast a single fireball, our side would already be dead.

As a mage, it was practically a death sentence.

‘Ha, if I were an idiot, I wouldn’t know, but I was almost perfect in theory at the academy.’

The same went for formula calculations.

If he transcribed the formula onto paper, it would be done in 5 seconds.

But when he started the actual casting with the same calculation, his mind would freeze…

It was enough to drive Randel crazy.

Moreover, it wasn’t just a day or two.

1 year, 2 years… 10 years, 20 years.

It was something that had been repeated throughout his life.

But now the artifact was saying this.

That casting time… would be reduced by a whopping 10 seconds.

‘Others might laugh and say what’s the big deal…’

They might ask why make such a fuss over a few seconds.

But for Randel, reducing the casting time by 10 seconds wasn’t just a decrease in time.

It wasn’t about doing something difficult.

It was about making the impossible possible.

‘Alright, let’s do it.’

Randel, having organized his thoughts, began casting.

The spell to be used was, of course, Magic Arrow.

Unconsciously, he gritted his teeth.

Buzz.

As soon as he willed to use the spell, mana responded in a rush.

Unparalleled response speed compared to ordinary wizards.

There was no need to feel, warm up, or build up like other wizards.

Just think of it, and mana follows.

As if it were one body.

‘Now the real thing begins.’

Next, it was time to calculate the spell.

Randel swallowed hard and immediately began casting.

But then.

Zing―

“……!?”

Suddenly, a round sphere appeared in front of Randel’s eyes.

A blue glowing sphere, the size of a fist.

It was the ‘Auto Material Sphere,’ one of the rewards he had just obtained.

It appeared on its own without Randel summoning it.

‘What? Why did it come out all of a sudden?’

Randel, bewildered, tried to stop casting.

Woom―

At that moment, he felt something strange in his head.

It was an unfamiliar sensation he had never felt before in his life.

A tingling feeling on one side of his head, as if connected to something.

‘What is this? I’ve heard that sometimes you gain enlightenment while using magic… Is this it?’

Randel didn’t know, but it was neural synchronization.

At this moment, Randel and the sphere were not separate entities.

They were two but one, one but two.

At the same time, letters appeared before his eyes.

∥Casting: Magic Arrow

∥Estimated Time: 20 seconds

“……”

Randel swallowed hard at the sight of the letters.

Then he quietly closed his eyes and began casting again from the beginning.

Shaping the form of the Magic Arrow with mana, imbuing it with attributes, and calculating the coordinates.

Kiiiiiiing―

At the same time, a change occurred in the sphere.

A black band had appeared on the sphere, which had been in the form of a globe.

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And that band began to spin furiously.

Simultaneously, a part of the formula that Randel was about to calculate flowed into his mind.

The formula was completed abruptly, but he didn’t feel any sense of alienation or headache.

The formulas that flowed in just filled in like water between the stone towers called magic that Randel was building.

They fused together very naturally.

And exactly 18 seconds later.

Randel opened his eyes.

“…….”

Before he knew it, a light green arrow was floating in front of Randel.

∥Complete

At those words, Randel reached out his hand and said.

“…Magic Arrow.”

A trembling voice.

At the same time as the activation word, the light green arrow stretched out long.

Then, as if a rubber band had been pulled and released, it contracted back to its original position and shot forward.

Paaang―

The Magic Arrow hit the rock right in front of it and disappeared.

The surface of the rock was slightly dented, and stone dust scattered.

It was the very Magic Arrow that Randel knew.

“Ah!”

Randel, who was staring blankly at the dented mark, let out a sigh unconsciously.

Randel’s voice had an ambiguous tone.

Was it an exclamation at the performance of the sphere that assisted him, which exceeded his imagination?

Or was it the sorrow that the curse that had bound him all his life was resolved so easily?

Either way, Randel couldn’t open his mouth for a while.

“20 seconds……!”

There was a deep tremor in the words that came out after a long time.

For Randel, casting time had been a wall.

A wall that wouldn’t budge no matter how much he knocked, a wailing wall.

But for others, it was a wall that would crumble with just a tap.

So it was even more unfair and frustrating.

[Why only me?]

[What wrong did I do?]

But at this moment, that wall crumbled.

Now, he could finally see the scenery beyond the wall.

“Haha, hahaha! Hahahaha… huh?”

Thud.

Randel, who had been laughing heartily in unbearable joy, suddenly raised his head at the sound.

New letters were floating in front of his eyes.

But this time, there were quite a few of them.

∥1 Circle Confirmed

∥Check the magical knowledge of the circle

∥New mission presented

[Magic Arrow 50/0]

∥Magic Arrow casting –10%

[Light 50/0]

∥Light casting –10%

[Dig 50/0]

∥Dig casting –10%

.

.

.

Gulp.

Randel, who had been reading the letters in a daze, swallowed dryly.

And suddenly, a word he had thought of before, a word he had been embarrassed by as a delusion, came to mind.

“The Archmage of 1-Second Casting……!”