Chapter 50

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[Simulation]

Conditions: Baek Jun-woo, magical power, Arsenal #7’s auxiliary Ego and the weapon storage it manages.

Total condition burden: About 500 Jun-woos.

Current simulation capacity: About 5,100 simuls.

Calculating… I can run the simulation for 10 minutes.

Simulation Note

: I just created this unit called “simul.”

When I was a 1-star Ki-blood mage, I could maintain a burden of 4 Jun-woos for over 2 hours. Multiplying the condition burden by the duration (120 minutes) equals 480. That’s exactly 480 simuls.

If I set only myself as a condition with a burden of 1 Jun-woo, I could run a simulation for 480 minutes, or 8 hours. If I input a massive condition weighing 480 Jun-woos, I could run a simulation for 1 minute.

Now that I’ve achieved 2nd Circle, my capacity has increased more than tenfold, allowing me to simulate a burden of 500 Jun-woos for 10 minutes.

Not including the entire relic site in the conditions and only the auxiliary Ego and weapon storage was a trick to reduce the condition burden.

The estimated condition burden for the entire relic site exceeds 10,000 Jun-woos.

Running a simulation that far exceeds my capacity would certainly kill me from exhaustion.

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Inside the simulation,

A dark world.

Only I, my magical power, the auxiliary Ego, and the weapon storage exist.

Oh, and mana too.

Mana appears automatically without being set as a condition. If there’s a most fundamental element in the world, it would be mana, not magical power.

“Phew…”

I sighed and recited my two Primordial Incantations in sequence.

<Saíl>

<Transportation>

Though both were Primordial Incantations, they were distinctly different.

When I recite ‘Saíl,’ all the magical power in my blood channels boils, compresses, and stands sharp like a needle. Classified as Ki-blood magic, it demonstrates power worthy of its meaning, ‘to shoot the sun.’

On the other hand, when I recite ‘Transportation,’ external magical power rushes in, expanding my Circle.

It strengthens Circle magic beyond normal capacity, but unlike its meaning of ‘carrying or moving people or objects,’ it seemed to do something else.

Why doesn’t ‘Transportation’ have abilities matching its name?

‘Because I haven’t been using the Primordial Incantation correctly.’

I focused on the Circle settled in my chest. Around the round, smooth ring, a spiral-shaped ring is wrapped. What the Mage’s Covenant describes as the mouth and lips—the 2nd Circle.

‘Right. A mage’s mouth is the Circle, not the one on the face.’

Today, I’m conducting a grand experiment.

Wooong!

I slowly moved my magical power to control the Circle. Wooong—the Circle makes a sound as it opens.

“Phuuu…”

I exhaled,

Concentrated my mind,

And moved the Circle. Made it pronounce the very word I’d practiced for twenty days.

The Circle contracts.

[Trah-]

A sound like air escaping,

[Spoh-]

The Circle vibrates and creates a resonant sound.

I clicked my tongue.

“Not ‘trahspoh,’ but,”

Again I moved my magical power. More meticulously, more delicately!

“Transportation!”

[T-rans-por-tay-shun!]

Perhaps because I only have two Circles? Perfect pronunciation was impossible. The accent was far more awkward than a foreigner speaking Korean, and it was clumsy to the point of being wrong.

But… with context, it was somewhat understandable.

Ching-

Dunk

Cling-

Dunk

From the Circle, mana crystals with snowflake-like patterns poured out. Was it because the pronunciation wasn’t precise? When partially-formed pieces emerged, a dull ‘dunk, dunk’ sound occurred, while well-formed crystal shapes produced clear sounds.

It was a mysterious sight, but…

“Ugh…”

It hurt a lot. It felt like my body was being torn to shreds.

Each time my Circle spat out a mana crystal, my own mana pattern, shaped like ginseng, distorted from the recoil.

According to my hypothesis, a unique mana pattern is like DNA containing my information. If it gets distorted, my physical body collapses too.

‘I can endure it this time!’

I gritted my teeth and bore it. The magical power strengthened by <Saíl> supported my distorting mana, and the Circle strengthened by <Transportation> counteracted the shock of ejecting mana.

My body, enhanced to level 3, tenaciously held onto the mana that was trying to tear apart.

Zzzrring-

Finally, the Circle expelled all the mana crystals. About sixty mana crystals illuminating the surroundings. These fist-sized mana crystals floated with snowflake-like patterns. Half of them, thirty crystals, dissolved into the air and disappeared somewhere.

My body hadn’t collapsed getting this far. At last…

‘Success!’

Finally, I can proceed to the next step!

<Arsenal #7 weapon storage. 3rd-level administrator credentials verified. Checking accessible list… Outputting up to 9th-class weapons.>

The familiar voice of the auxiliary Ego reached my ears as I was celebrating.

My heart pounded.

‘My prediction was right!’

Indeed, the Transportation magic allows one to move desired materials from authorized storage.

If I could use this freely, I could take out sleeping items from Arsenal #7 at will!

<Requesting withdrawal approval…>

…If I get approval for withdrawal, that is.

‘Ugh! Do I need approval again?’

Will I fail after coming this far?

I was extremely tense, but…

<Error. Approver absent. Arbitrary approval.>

Fortunately, approval came through. It seems that directly opening the armory at the arsenal is beyond my authority, but withdrawal through Transportation magic is allowed. I can’t understand the criteria, but I’ve seen so many error messages that I’ve gotten used to it.

Anyway, the important thing is that I succeeded!

When the auxiliary Ego approved, a new field of vision opened like a third eye. A space filled with all kinds of equipment.

Inside were neatly arranged items I’d seen during training: beam hilts, beam shields, cuffs, and more.

Perhaps because I was limited to 9th-class weapons, there weren’t many unfamiliar equipment. The ‘Guardian’ I’d quietly hoped for was, of course, absent.

It was disappointing, but… still, I was satisfied.

‘Success! I used a Primordial Incantation properly! Not with my real mouth, but through the Circle!’

It was intellectual ecstasy.

Many mages might possess Primordial Incantations, but they’d only recite them with their mouths, never daring to use their Circle.

The fact that the Circle is the true ‘mouth’ that produces sound. Without knowing this, it’s absolutely impossible to achieve.

I’ve completely restored one ancient magic. After a thousand years? No, perhaps after ten thousand years, ancient magic has reappeared in the world!

I wanted to strip naked and shout “Eureka,” but there wasn’t much time left. I suppressed my racing heart and calmly examined the inside of the weapon storage.

‘Is the amount I can transport determined by… those?’

I focused on the thirty mana crystals that had suddenly appeared in the storage.

Of the sixty mana crystals my Circle expelled, thirty disappeared suddenly, and here they were.

I moved the mana crystals to select items.

The mana crystals attached one by one to the items I chose.

First, nine beam hilts and nine cuffs. Three booster boots, three hook guns, three beam shields, and one full-body suit.

Twenty-eight items in total, and the mana crystals numbered exactly thirty.

It seemed the required mana crystals varied by item volume—the full-body suit needed three crystals to be selected.

‘Good. Now let’s see how useful this Transportation thing is.’

I switched my view.

The weapon storage full of equipment disappeared, and darkness with me standing alone reappeared.

Here too, thirty mana crystals float. Each crystal corresponds to one in the weapon storage.

I moved the crystals to determine their placement and finally activated the magic.

“Go!”

The mana crystals vibrated, and twenty-eight objects tore through space to appear.

That wasn’t the end. For 5 seconds until the mana crystals completely disappeared, I could control the equipment with my will.

Wheeeing!

Bam bam bam!

Nine beam hilts arranged in a circle shot red beams like a storm, and ring-shaped cuffs tightened as if to restrain an opponent. The single full-body suit appeared and perfectly fitted my body, and booster boots that wrapped around my feet lifted me high into the air with an explosive sound. Three beam shields blocked in front of me for protection.

Multitasking to control twenty-seven objects individually. Others might find this impossibly complex, but is it because my Gift is [Simulation]? This level of calculation wasn’t difficult for me.

“Great! Transportation! Return!”

[T-rans-por-tay-shun!]

I sent the equipment that had struck like a storm back to the weapon storage. Once withdrawn, equipment couldn’t be transported elsewhere, only returned to storage. Additionally… I confirmed that items not taken from the storage could be put in and later retrieved.

“Haha…”

Falling from midair, I laughed.

Isn’t this an amazing magic?

A magical storage where I can insert and remove items at will.

Better yet, it’s filled with ancient treasures. Though I can only use up to 9th-class weapons now, my level might increase later, right?

There are combat applications too. What if I suddenly summoned thirty beam hilts for bombardment? Or summoned thirty beam shields for defense?

Though cast with 2nd Circle, it demonstrated firepower and versatility far beyond the 2nd Circle.

‘If this is… this good?’

I hadn’t originally planned to try immediately. But now I felt momentum.

‘I think I can do it.’

There are days like that. When everything goes well. When you succeed at one task you’ve been failing, and the rest follow like dominoes.

Seeing about 1 minute of simulation time remaining, I recited another Primordial Incantation.

This time too, not with my mouth, but with my Circle.

“Saíl!”

[S-aah-ee-l!]

The Circle making clumsy sounds.

Enormous magical power boiling up! Originally more effective than ‘Transportation,’ the efficiency of ‘Saíl’ when recited through the Circle exceeded imagination.

And then…

Crack!

From a recoil matching that efficiency… I died, crumpled like a piece of paper.

Ah… momentum…

+ – + – +

Even in a simulation, death was painful. I just can’t seem to get used to it. No matter how often I experience it, it’s always new—the pain of death.

“Hah… hah…”

The 1st Arsenal filled with fluid. Each deep breath circulated the light fluid through my lungs like air.

As the joy of succeeding with ‘Transportation’ and the bitterness of failing with ‘Saíl’ alternated, the auxiliary Ego delivered new information in an emotionless tone. It wasn’t good news.

<Multiple sensors around the arsenal perimeter lost>

“Phew… what do you mean… lost?”

I asked while barely catching my breath. Then an image of the main control room appeared on my retina. The lake that used to show both inside and outside the base. But now many sections displayed nothing but clear water ripples instead of surveillance images.

“…Why?”

<External intrusion suspected.>

“Intrusion? What? Ogres?”

<Judging by the equipment that neutralized the sensors, an entity higher than ogres is estimated.>

“…Can we block it?”

<Defense systems down. Defense impossible. External barriers will also be breached. Administrator’s direct response required.>

“You’re saying the enemy will enter the arsenal interior?”

<Calculating current advance speed… estimated 4 days to reach Arsenal #1. Considering the arsenal’s time acceleration, encounter in 20 days.>

It was the twenty-seventh day since I began training with a 100-day timeline.

That’s how the news of unwelcome visitors arrived.

Without even giving me time to… train at ease.

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Translator’s Note:

For readers wondering about the unusual phonetic text in brackets like [T-rans-por-tay-shun!] and [S-aah-ee-l!], these represent the Circle’s mechanical pronunciation of Primordial Incantations. In the original Korean text, the author used romanized versions of Korean words (like [S-hoo-S-hong-!] for “수송/susong” meaning Transportation) to show how differently these words sound when spoken through a Circle rather than a human mouth.