Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 22 (Part 2)

It took a full twenty days to memorize the rune language, which he thought would take just a day. The complexity and ambiguous pronunciation of the runes were problematic.

The continental common language allows you to grasp its meaning at a glance, but with runes, this was difficult. The characters themselves were so complex that it took time to understand their meaning.

Of course, with repeated exposure, one would become familiar with them. If not within a few days, after a few months or years of continuous exposure, they would eventually be as familiar as the continental common language.

But it was uncertain when that day would come.

Additionally, the pronunciation of runes posed many issues. The pronunciations written in the continental common language were all wrong. They were merely approximations of the actual sounds.

Rodin realized after trying to mimic these unique pronunciations a few times that humans could never pronounce them perfectly.

People with a talent for sounds can mimic dog barks or bird calls. Rodin could even imitate Lant’s blunt voice quite closely.

But mimicking the sound of wind or water perfectly was impossible. It wasn’t just difficult or challenging—it was inherently impossible.

“Zuss-ha, Krup-hoss, Ko-har, Mar-rh.”

These were the runes Instructor Serion used when chanting the Light spell. Among the first-circle spells, it was one of the simplest.

Rodin focused and pronounced the runes as accurately as he could.

Rodin had an exceptionally sensitive perception, especially regarding magic power and mana, to the point where he could detect the movement of even dust-sized particles.

His senses detected the movement of mana. The surrounding mana gathered and formed a shape resembling a ball. It even glowed faintly.

“So this is the extent of it.”

Even though he tried to pronounce it accurately, it was a mess. The light was weak, and it was too deformed to be considered a proper sphere.

“This is frustrating. Frustrating.”

Rodin had gathered mana from the surroundings to manifest the spell instead of using his own magic power. Even though it was deformed and faint, he had completed a spell using power that wasn’t his own.

If the magical scholars of the Magic Tower saw this, they would be astounded.

To properly complete a spell, one must gather magic power in the training room, form a circle, and guide the circle with runes. It was common knowledge that circles not formed by one’s own magic power wouldn’t respond to runes.

“The rune pronunciation isn’t accurate. This applies to both me and Instructor Serion.”

Despite the poor pronunciation, Instructor Serion accurately cast the Light spell. The glowing ball he created in the classroom was an undoubtedly perfect sphere and bright.

This was thanks to the unique nature of magic power.

Magic power resides within the mage. During the process of casting, it is influenced by the mage’s magic imagery in their mind. Though the command isn’t precise, the magic power understands the imagery and follows it.

‘Achim-a-da I-go Ssi-e Ji-pa-hae.’

When an instructor gives such a poorly pronounced command, the students wouldn’t understand it. Newcomers to the training center would think, ‘What is he saying?’

But the trainees who had been gathering every morning and running would understand it as meaning, ‘Assemble every morning at seven.’ The daily experience had enabled them to ‘predict’ the instructor’s command.

The rune pronunciation of mages, including Instructor Serion, was exactly like this.

Due to the poor pronunciation, magic power couldn’t understand it perfectly. But by seeing the image in the mage’s mind, it understood, ‘Oh, this is what you mean,’ and followed the command.

“Because it’s not accurate, there’s a lot of waste. The power weakens too.”

If the command given to magic power was precise, the spell’s power would increase. The consumption of magic power would also be reduced slightly.

But humans couldn’t pronounce the runes accurately. Therefore, the loss due to pronunciation had to be accepted.

“It’s frustrating to reach this conclusion, but, whew, it can’t be helped.”

He couldn’t postpone gathering magic power forever. Even with poor pronunciation, he had to compromise to this extent.

“At least it’s become somewhat similar.”

He got up from his seat. His destination was the training room.

Today was supposed to be a day for math class in the morning. Math in the morning, training room in the afternoon. That was the usual schedule.

But with the math class gone, it had turned into free time. Considering the training room use in the afternoon, it was practically a whole day of free time.

—

He went to the magic training room behind the central building. Several assistants were on duty at the entrance.

He showed his blue ID badge and entered. Out of the five training rooms, two were occupied.

‘One of them is Cory.’

He entered an empty training room and flipped the sign above the door. The white sign turned black. This was a signal to others outside that the room was occupied.

“Hmm.”

Although he had entered, he still hesitated.

Poor rune pronunciation was bound to affect the efficiency of gathering magic power. The density of magic power might drop, or the quantity might decrease, or possibly both.

“Is there no solution?”

On a hunch, he took out the notebook he used during classes. Skipping the math notes, he carefully read through what he had written during the rune language classes.

Rodin almost perfectly memorized everything he saw once. Therefore, he didn’t really need to take notes.

But he couldn’t just sit idly in front of the instructor, so he had written a few things.

This was his first time looking at them again.

“Runes, runes… they give me a headache.”

Having a good memory and keen senses didn’t help at all with rune pronunciation. It was impossible due to the human anatomical structure, so there was no solution.

“If there’s no solution, there should at least be some sort of supplement.”

He looked at the runes he had written in his notes.

Instructor Serion wrote the runes necessary for chanting first-circle spells on the board while conducting the class.

Eventually, he would use the runes for second-circle and third-circle spells, but for now, while teaching a novice like himself, first-circle spell runes were sufficient.

“Writing runes? Writing runes?”

He moved his fingers here and there. Thinking of it, he tried writing the runes for the first-circle Magic Arrow spell one by one.

There was no problem.

He was ambidextrous. There was no need to insist on writing runes with just one hand.

He tried writing runes with the other hand as well. His fingers moved smoothly.

‘Right. It’s called the finger method. Finger technique.’

In historical texts, there’s mention of a grand mage named Calypse who assisted in founding the Ingram Empire.

The seven-circle grand mage Calypse.

In scenes of his exploits, it was written, ‘He closed his eyes and focused. He meticulously moved his hands to enhance the power of his magic.’

Although it was a brief mention, Rodin remembered it clearly.

‘Should I try it?’

He closed his eyes and simultaneously wrote runes with both hands. The movement of his magic power became much more precise. It was much better than just reciting the runes.

‘Is it possible that the highest level of magic power gathering techniques in the Four Great Magic Towers also involves using fingers?’

He quickly dismissed this brief doubt. The probability was low.

Moving fingers was difficult to conceal. It wasn’t something you could hide for a day or two. The Four Great Magic Towers had held their positions for hundreds of years.

If they had been using the finger technique all that time, it was unlikely that other towers wouldn’t know about it.

‘Anyway, it works.’

He could feel the difference clearly when using both hands compared to using just one.

‘What if I add rune chanting to this?’

He hesitated before trying it.

Chanting runes would initiate the gathering technique. Once the technique started, he had to complete the entire cycle.

It was different from the talent measurement gathering technique that wasn’t even considered a proper technique. This was an intermediate-level magic power gathering technique enhanced with the finger method. Stopping midway could be dangerous.

‘Although it won’t cause mana overflow.’

If you forcefully stop the cycle, the magic power cannot return to its original place and starts wandering. During this process, the magic power surges, causing the circle to break or the heart to rupture.

Of course, Rodin didn’t have a proper circle yet. With no circle to break, there wouldn’t be any major issues.

But it would still be bad for his body, so it was better to avoid it if possible.

‘Should I just try it?’

He couldn’t postpone gathering magic power indefinitely. It was about time he properly gathered magic power to form a circle.

‘Let’s do it.’

He sat down and closed his eyes. With both hands relaxed, he began the gathering technique.

He pronounced the runes as clearly as possible. Although it was anatomically impossible to pronounce them perfectly, he tried to come as close as he could.

Simultaneously, he drew the runes according to the gathering technique with both hands. He focused on ensuring the timing of his index fingers didn’t misalign.