The Genius Programmer Turned Wizard - GPW Chapter 10: The Shallow Hollow (3) (Part 1)

‘What is this Mana Power?’

The deeper she went, the thicker the mysterious Mana Power became, and Adeline pondered.

‘Is it even correct to call this mana in the first place?’

She recalled the three elements of magic:
Mana, the energy source of magic;
Magic Circle, the blueprint of the spell;
And finally, Mana Power, the force that acts upon reality to realize magic through the circle.

She knew that mana certainly had various attributes—like water, fire, or none at all.
Even magic circles could vary in form depending on the caster, even for the same spell.

‘But I’ve never heard of Mana Power being… different.’

She had certainly felt mana power fluctuate in intensity before, but this was the first time she ever felt it differently.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her heart had been pounding uncontrollably for a while now.
This might just be a tremendous discovery—
Not merely a key to advancing to the 4th Circle, but something that could help her achieve even greater things beyond that.

But suddenly, the path ended.

“A dead end?”

She furrowed her brow briefly, then refocused.

‘The trail of Mana Power still continues beyond that wall.’

In fact, she could feel a faint leak of power coming through the narrow edge of the wall.

‘This isn’t a wall.’

It’s a door.

‘Then I need to find the handle.’

She concentrated again, trying to sense the Mana Power.
Soon, she placed her hand on a corner of the wall.

‘Found it.’

Grrrrrk—!
With a loud rumble, the wall before her slid sideways.
A chamber on the other side was revealed.

‘Simple enough.’

For her, it was nothing—this kind of trick could be bypassed easily by anyone above the 2nd Circle, even if a 1st Circle mage might’ve been stumped.

She suddenly wondered how that guy, who only appeared to be a 1st Circle mage, would’ve handled this.
But there were far more important things to consider right now.

‘So… what is this place?’

Unlike the narrow tunnels so far, it was a rather spacious room.
Unfortunately, it contained no significant structures or artifacts.
Instead, the flow of Mana Power continued from the opposite wall—across from where she’d entered.

‘Just a transitional space, maybe?’

As she stepped into the center of the room—
Clunk.
The door behind her shut.

She glanced at it for a moment, but calmly turned back forward and kept walking.
That’s when it happened.
Mana suddenly began to churn around her.

Ssssss—

‘……?’

It wasn’t strange mana—just ordinary mana.
But she couldn’t ignore it.

Clatter. Clatter.
The white powder scattered across the floor began to gather, forming bones—
And then a humanoid skeletal monster.

‘Skeleton Soldiers…!’

There were a lot of them.

‘A trap?’

No, that wasn’t it.
She checked the walls again, but saw no handle this time.

‘The Skeleton Soldiers themselves are the test—and the key.’

Without hesitation, she cast a spell.

Fireball.

A basic 1st Circle fire-type offensive spell, but in her hands, it was something else entirely.

Whoosh!
One large fireball materialized—
Then it split into two.
Four. Eight.
Sixteen.

And all sixteen fireballs launched at once.

BOOM! BOOM! KA-BOOM!

Explosions rocked the room as flaming projectiles struck the skeletons and shattered them to pieces.

To her—who had essentially reached the pinnacle of the 3rd Circle—they were little more than target practice.

But plenty still remained.

‘There’s so many of them.’

And there were no tanks here to shield her, no allies to thin their numbers.

“Huff… Huff…”

Maintaining distance and taking them down methodically left her quickly out of breath.
Even so, not a flicker of panic crossed her face.

‘I can handle this alone.’

She was used to this.
Her companions who had entered the tower together—those who had reached the 2nd Circle around the same time—
All of them had been left behind.
She’d made it this far on her own.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!

She unleashed fireball after fireball.
Each time, blasts and tremors swept through the room.

A few moments later—
The noise stopped.
The ground stilled.

Creeeak—

As she had expected, the opposite wall opened.

‘Of course.’

From beyond, even denser Mana Power could be felt.
A narrow tunnel continued onward.

Without a moment to catch her breath, she stepped forward.

‘…’

As she walked through the corridor, she reached yet another dead end—
No, more accurately, another door.

Crrrrrrk—

Beyond it was yet another room.

‘This room is…’

Identical.
Not just in layout, but in the mana flowing from the far wall and the white powder scattered across the floor.

‘It’s the exact same as the last one.’

Which meant she could also predict what was about to happen.

Clatter.

Just as expected, the Skeleton Soldiers began to rise again.

Fwoosh.

She knew what she had to do. Without hesitation, she began hurling fireballs.
Flames exploded all around, dust filled the air, and the entire room trembled under the force of the spells.

She wiped them all out in an instant.

Because she had already experienced it once, she unleashed her magic before the skeletons could even fully rise.

“Huff… huff…”

This time, though, her breathing was noticeably heavier.
Even if it was just 1st Circle magic, casting it dozens of times in a row had begun to exhaust her mana.

Her mind told her to take a break and recover.
But for some reason, her feet kept moving forward.

‘It’s close now.’

Maybe it was just her imagination, but the mana beyond that passage felt overwhelming.

If she could just pass through, maybe—just maybe—she’d finally face the source of this mana.

With that thought, she stepped into the corridor, only to find… the same room once again.

Clatter, clatter—

Just like before, the same situation repeated.

The only difference was that her mana had dwindled even further.

The next room?
The same.

And the one after that?

Also the same.

Without taking a single break, she continued to face off against the [Skeleton Soldiers].

Stumble.

Translatin_Otaku

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