It was well past noon by the time he managed to open his eyes. His head throbbed like it was splitting open, and his stomach felt like it had been wrung dry.

“Ugh. This is hell. Healing. Cure.”

He cast a 1st Circle healing spell, followed by a 2nd Circle cure spell. The splitting headache eased somewhat. His stomach was still in knots, but it was better than before.

“This is awful. Cure Poison.”

Just in case, he cast the 4th Circle spell Cure Poison. Since it was a detoxification spell, he thought it might help, and to his surprise, it worked.

His aching stomach settled, and he felt normal again. Even his slightly hazy head cleared up completely.

“So the alcohol was poison? Why do people drink this stuff?”

It was tasteless and only made him feel disoriented. Drinking it had been a waste of time.

He hadn’t even put the ring on. Before drinking, he had set it on the nightstand, and after sobering up, it was still sitting there.

“A mage is supposed to stay calm and composed, and I thought drinking would help? Pathetic.”

He grabbed the ring from the nightstand. Then, closing his eyes tightly, he simply slipped it on.

“Guh!”

Magic poured out from the ring in a rush, surging into his body.

It flowed from his finger to his arm, from his arm to his body, and finally to his head, before swirling back into the ring.

“Ah!”

Rodin immediately understood what had just happened. He hadn’t known beforehand, but the knowledge simply appeared in his mind.

The magic had just scanned his body, reading his unique mana pattern. From now on, only someone with the same mana pattern—Rodin—could use the ring.

“It’s like a master’s imprint.”

At least until his death, no one else would be able to use the ring. Even if someone else managed to obtain it, to them it would be nothing more than an ordinary ring.

“My guess was right.”

Rodin’s suspicion that the ring stored something had been correct. The ring contained educational materials.

That didn’t mean it could produce physical books. Only the contents of the materials were stored in the ring.

“It’s like a knowledge repository.”

Moreover, the ring was linked to the pocket watch. As the lessons progressed, the contents stored in the ring would appear before the wearer’s eyes.

“Now I don’t have to worry about other people seeing anything. The cumbersome procedures are gone, too.”

Up until now, the illusions produced by the pocket watch had been visible to everyone. This meant Rodin had always had to lock the door and cast a Silence spell to keep the sound from escaping before starting a lesson.

But the moment he put on the ring, the process changed.

Now the illusions appeared in the wearer’s eyes alone, and the sounds were heard only by the wearer.

“I should have worn it sooner.”

The past few days of agonizing indecision now seemed like a waste of time. If he had known this, he wouldn’t have bothered with that disgusting alcohol.

“Now that I’ve got the study materials, the lessons should be a bit easier.”

The problem of not understanding the teacher’s lessons remained, but at least now he had something to reference. That would make things a little easier.

“It’s time to really focus on studying.”

Now that he had the ring on, he could study properly. He decided to stay at the inn a bit longer and focus on his studies for the time being.

“Once I get through the basics, I’ll be able to understand a lot more.”

From that day forward, Rodin poured all his energy into studying. He even took notes, something he didn’t normally do, to speed up his progress as much as possible.

* * *

Two months passed. Despite spending most of each day studying, he still hadn’t fully mastered the basics.

However, his pace was picking up. Rodin was beginning to understand the language bit by bit.

“Just a few more months of studying, and I should be done with the basics.”

He stepped outside and ordered a late lunch. Since the inn was busy, it took a while before his meal arrived.

‘It’s pretty crowded.’

Though the sun hadn’t yet set, half of the first-floor dining area was already filled with customers. Even the empty tables still showed signs of recent use.

“Do you think the war will spread all the way here? I thought this place was safe.”

“Flandre’s fallen, so Bontis won’t last long either.”

As he ate, Rodin listened to the conversations around him. Though much of it was useless chatter, there were times, like today, when he overheard important information.

‘Flandre has fallen? Already?’

The fortress city of Flandre wasn’t far from Bontis, the trade city he was staying in now. It would take only two days on horseback to reach it, and even moving a large army, it would only take eight to nine days.

‘This could be dangerous.’

He found it pathetic that he had to run again, unable to fight back, but there was no helping it.

The Ingram Empire was too powerful for an individual to face alone. If he were an Archmage, perhaps an entire country wouldn’t seem so daunting, but until then, it was best to keep a low profile.

‘I’ll leave the city tomorrow morning.’

He had stayed here long enough. It had already been more than seventy days since he parted ways with Bron and his group. In all that time, he had barely left the inn.

‘It’s been far too long since I exercised, too.’

Hyung_Otaku2

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