Reversed Fortune

“Enemies have appeared. The auxiliary Ego thinks they’re higher-ranked entities than ogres. What that means is, we need to get stronger as quickly as possible.”

With our current strength, we might be able to handle a single ogre, but entities higher-ranked than ogres… I couldn’t be confident of victory. Not to mention, we didn’t even know how many enemies there were.

We couldn’t escape either. The auxiliary Ego had warned us about the enemies’ extensive detection abilities. Even if we attempted to flee in the opposite direction, there was no guarantee of success.

A dead end.

Immeasurable enemy forces.

Aaaargh—the hallucinated screams and the piercing smell of blood crept up from my nightmares.

It was the scent of death I’d managed to forget for a while.

“…So we have no choice but to fight and win?”

Yuria asked, and I nodded.

“We need to adjust our hundred-day goal. Each of us needs to fulfill our covenants within twenty days. If we don’t get stronger… we won’t survive.”

I gritted my teeth.

“We can’t come all this way just to die at the hands of calamities, right?”

At that time, we naturally assumed our enemies would be calamities…

+ – + – +

Since coming here, I’ve made two covenants in total.

First, speak to the unknown entity that appears in basic training level 5.

Second, graduate from all possible training in Barracks #1 and achieve 2-Star Ki-blood magic.

Among those, I thought I’d achieve 2-Star Ki-blood magic first. Due to my recent slow magical power growth, I expected to complete it only after fulfilling my first covenant… but this was completely unexpected.

‘Magical powers really love ancient things…’

They were indifferent even when I completed the hellish level 3 physical enhancement, but after I successfully performed actual ‘Transportation’ in reality, an absurd amount of magical power clung to me.

Come to think of it, I also absorbed massive magical power when I discovered Arsenal #7 and found the primordial incantation.

Perhaps… rather than working hard to keep covenants, exploring ruins and finding primordial incantations might be more effective. That thought crossed my mind.

Of course, doing both would be most efficient.

‘Did you see? Did you see?’

‘Feels nostalgic, doesn’t it?’

‘…Something similar, perhaps?’

The magical powers that swarmed in were mostly blue. They gathered in such quantities that my previously well-balanced magical power began taking on a bluish hue.

Like a flock of chicks running to their mother, I embraced the magical powers rushing toward me and became genuinely curious.

“What exactly are you? What are you searching for? What you miss is ancient memories, right? Why do you miss them?”

But as always, the magical powers ignored my questions.

“Hey, hey, look at me. Can’t you see me? I know you can hear me!”

I got annoyed for nothing—it was useless. Sometimes they seemed to be constantly watching me, but at times like this, they felt like beings from an entirely different world.

Seeing this behavior repeatedly… I’ve recently begun to doubt whether ‘magical power is alive.’

Shaking my head, I pulled out a book with more blank pages than filled ones.

My recently compiled personal magic book.

————————

<Baek Jun-woo’s Magic Book>

-Proper Usage of Primordial Incantations

Primordial incantations are effective even when spoken aloud. Internal and external magical powers react, causing temporary magical power amplification, enhancement, or occasionally granting special abilities like Gifts.

However, true primordial incantations manifest when recited through Circles, not physical mouths.

-Regarding Magical Power Properties

1. Magical powers tend to reenact events from the distant ancient past (for instance, Saíl and Transportation were actual words spoken by someone in ancient times).
2. Magical powers respond positively when I repeat exactly what ancient figures said. Addendum They respond even more enthusiastically when ancient words are pronounced through Circles.

Hypothesis

Magical powers are constantly evaluating us… but what are their criteria? Keeping one’s word? Accomplishing difficult and great things? Everyone thinks so, but… is that really it?

Perhaps magical powers simply favor what they’ve seen in the past.

Keeping covenants, achieving great things—they don’t inherently like these actions… they like them because someone in ancient times demonstrated similar behavior.

Just as they respond positively when I imitate ancient words, they respond positively when I imitate ancient behaviors.

If this hypothesis is true, the magical power accumulation theory needs significant revision. Rather than blindly undertaking difficult tasks… it becomes more important to emulate and imitate ancient beings as closely as possible.

————————

Tap.

After adding two items to my magic book, I closed it.

I added an ‘Addendum’ to property #2 and entered a new ‘Hypothesis’ below it…

As I finished organizing my thoughts, the relentless flow of incoming magical power began to wane. I asked the magical powers one final question:

“Are you ghosts?”

Again, the magical powers didn’t respond.

‘I miss it…’

They simply left their impressions as they merged with me, indifferent to my words. To magical powers, what matters most is their own incomprehensible criteria.

They constantly watch and evaluate me, but perhaps they’ve never truly faced me at all. Maybe what they see isn’t me, but ancient memories projected onto me.

Their gaze is fixed on the distant past, never reaching the present or future.

If that’s true, aren’t they ghosts? Lonely spirits living in the past rather than the present.

“Sigh…”

As I pondered these things, the absorption of magical power concluded.

‘I’ll set these thoughts aside for now.’

Though I’d need to continue contemplating the essence of magical power, there were more urgent matters at hand. Since I’d so easily gathered magical power, I should achieve 2-Star in one go.

I channeled the magical power filling my body toward my left arm. I sent abundant magical power to break through the blocked meridian points in my left arm.

Recklessly forcing them open could burst my body and kill me, so I ran [Simulation] to find the optimal pathway. After dying about 100 times in simulations, I found the most suitable method.

Thud-thud-thud! Thump!

I spread the magical power that had reached my shoulder into my capillaries. With a tingling sensation, small meridian points opened. After circulating magical power once to regulate the energy, I pushed it to my elbow, spread it, then to my wrist, spread it, and finally to my fingertips—opening the meridian points sequentially.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

The magical power spread with an electrifying sensation. An intense pleasure.

Following my right arm, I’d finally opened the meridian points in my left arm as well.

The meridian points connected both arms to my chest where my Circle resided. I circulated magical power through my right and left arms, connecting the two meridian networks.

Eventually, the magical power strengthened the meridian points and moved through them like blood, transforming its nature. This was the source of Ki-blood mages’ power—Ki force.

A Mana User with level 3 body enhancement. My already powerful physique evolved dramatically once again. Now, even without magical power, I could probably overpower thirty horses with pure strength.

“Phew…”

I exhaled and opened my eyes.

2nd Circle in Circle magic, 2-Star in Ki-blood magic.

I’d only solved half of my second covenant. I’d completed basic training level 5 and promotion evaluation level 3 (level 4 and above were locked due to power insufficiency). Now I just needed to succeed at physical enhancement levels 4 and 5 to complete my second covenant.

Less than twenty days remained before our mysterious enemies arrived.

“Congratulations on reaching 2-Star!”

“C-congrats, Ju-Jun-woo!”

Sensing my achievement, Yuria and Monggu descended before me.

They were fully equipped with the ancient gear I had <Transported>.

Each carried three beam hilts and cuffs on their sides, wore beam shields on their arms, and hook guns at their lower backs. They had booster boots on their feet.

Monggu additionally wore a full-body suit.

Perhaps due to the suit repelling magical power… his already minimal magical power was now completely invisible. In that state, he couldn’t even accumulate magical power.

That was Monggu’s choice. Instead of growing as a mage, he chose to increase his compatibility with ancient equipment. Lacking confidence in becoming a Mana User in such a short time, he forged a new path.

How effective it would be remained to be seen… but considering he still hadn’t surpassed basic training level 4… well, I wasn’t sure.

In the end, Yuria was the only one we could count on as a reliable combatant.

She had recently succeeded in overlaying a mana sword onto the beam hilt’s light blade. She had become a full-fledged Mana User.

Now she just needed to achieve 1st Circle to fulfill her covenant.

Things seemed to be progressing smoothly. Yuria predicted that if she raised her physical enhancement to level 3 and completed promotion evaluation level 2, she would acquire roughly enough magical power. She expressed determination to complete at least one level, if not both.

Though she would only be a 1st Circle mage, with ancient equipment and her Gift [Mystic Eye], she should be able to face an ogre on equal terms.

“Didn’t you have enough magical power for 3rd Circle?”

Yuria suddenly asked, seemingly disappointed. She wondered if I could have created a 3rd Circle instead of separately achieving 2-Star Ki-blood magic.

I shook my head firmly.

“Even if I dismantled my 2-Star Ki-blood magic completely, it wouldn’t be enough for 3rd Circle. The magical power required increases dramatically from 3rd Circle onward. It’s on a different scale entirely.”

“I suppose… the mayor of Trimacos City was a 3rd Circle mage, right? Rumors say 3rd Circle mages can cast spells powerful enough to burn entire plains… since there weren’t any 3rd Circle spells in Teacher Sena’s magic book, we wouldn’t know.”

“That’s part of it. But even with sufficient magical power, I couldn’t achieve 3rd Circle right now anyway. I don’t know the covenant for 3rd Circle mages.”

Unlike Ki-blood magic which could be developed through improvisation, Circle magic was too precise—impossible to achieve without training in the prescribed manner. Well, I might find a way by running [Simulation] like crazy… but it’s impossible for now.

I vaguely considered what 3rd Circle might be.

1st Circle is the mouth.

2nd Circle is the lips.

Then… wouldn’t 3rd Circle be the teeth?

The sounds a Circle can produce would become more refined… and correspondingly more powerful.

The details would only become clear when I actually saw it, of course.

+ – + – +

Time passed quickly.

One day, a report came in that the outer barrier had been breached.

Another day, we learned all sensors down to the tenth underground floor had gone dead.

The enemy approached steadily. We waited inside the barracks.

The barracks—a space filled with Fluid.

Unlike us who had grown accustomed to it, uninformed calamities would struggle to move in this environment where bodies floated. And if necessary, we could switch to training mode, making the Fluid around the calamity heavy and sticky.

Our calculation was that fighting here would give us an advantage regardless of the enemy’s strength or numbers.

But…

Shiver

When mana approached from the distance, forming hexagonal lattices that brushed past us, I felt a chill run down my spine.

‘What is this…?’

An unfamiliar mana pattern… an unfamiliar magic.

‘Can calamities use magic?’

As my mind raced with confusion, breaking the momentary silence, a voice pierced our ears.

-What’s this…? Humans? Real humans? If so, come out of that hole immediately. If you don’t, I’ll consider you calamities and bury you whole. You have one minute.

It was a sharp, unfamiliar voice, filled with fatigue.

It was human.