The Genius Programmer Turned Wizard - GPW Chapter 2: Tutorial (Part 2)

I barely managed to stumble back in time to dodge, but…

‘Huh?’

There was no strength left in my legs.
Thud.
Before I knew it, I was sitting on the ground, feeling the hard earth beneath me.
But as if it wouldn’t wait, the thing raised its club high.

‘Damn it…!’

There was only one thing I could do.

“Magic Missile!”

A geometric symbol—a magic circle—appeared at the tip of my staff.
Bang!
The Magic Missile struck the Hobgoblin’s right shoulder.
Thanks to that, the trajectory of its club shifted.
Kwaaaang!
The club slammed into the ground right next to me with a thunderous crash.
I was alive—for now—but the situation hadn’t improved at all.
The creature didn’t seem the least bit hurt by the Magic Missile.

> “If Magic Missile could defeat a Hobgoblin, then every wizard in the world would only use Magic Missile, don’t you think? What a shame… Pfft!”

The commentator mocked me.
Honestly, anyone who saw that battle would’ve thought the same.
And I agreed with them.
You can’t defeat a Hobgoblin with Magic Missile.
That common sense had just been proven true once more.

That should’ve been the end of it.
But then—

‘What… is this?’

It wasn’t like the attack had zero effect.
A strange new window appeared before my eyes.

—

[System Message]
The magic circle of the spell ‘Magic Missile’ has been recognized.
Would you like to convert it into ML?
<yes>/<no>

—

‘What the hell is this…?’

I understood that it recognized the Magic Missile’s magic circle.
But what was “ML”…? Wait. ML?

> It’s simply the language of magic. It doesn’t really have an official name. But if we had to call it something, ML—Magic Language—would be fitting, don’t you think?

If this world—if its magic—was really constructed like a programming language…
And if I had truly entered such a world…

> Would you like to try editing the magic yourself?

Just like the developers said… maybe I could edit the code.

I clicked <yes>.
Immediately, the window expanded, and lines of code began to fill it.

—

<magic_missile.magic>

“`
use mana type default
shape default
…
“`

—

My guess was right, and I understood now.
Why I’d been thrown into this world.
What I could do here.

> Then we’ve confirmed your aptitude—

That aptitude being… my programming skill.

> We’ll now proceed to fulfill the contract.

The contract being that I would enter this world and directly edit its magic.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

I’d been completely tricked.
And yet, my heart was pounding faster than ever before.

‘Still… if I can program magic…’

Everything had changed.
I started plugging the new variables into the equation and searching for a different result.

> “Why are you just sitting there? Frozen in fear? Don’t tell me… you gave up?”

Shut up. I’m just trying to figure out how to use this system window.

‘Alright. I get the general usage… but I still don’t know ML’s syntax or commands.’

I definitely needed more code—more magic—to reference.
Especially if I ever wanted to develop something entirely from scratch.
But… was that even necessary?
If there was already something usable, then modifying and repurposing it would be faster and easier.

For example…

‘Magic Missile.’

The code for Magic Missile was still in front of me.
And the moment I saw it, countless ideas exploded in my head.
Various programming techniques and algorithms.
I wanted to apply all of them to magic.

‘If only I had a little more time…’

Regretfully, I pushed those thoughts aside.
The Hobgoblin was charging straight at me.
What I needed now was something fast and simple.

Something like—

‘Copy.’

With just that intent, the system selected the part of the code I wanted.
Then I gave the next command.

‘And Paste.’

The exact same code was duplicated beneath the original.
Paste. Paste. Paste.
I just kept copy-pasting the lines, increasing the number of projectiles.

But then… how do I cast this thing?

As if answering my question, another window popped up.

—

[System Message]
Would you like to assign and save a Trigger Word?

<yes>/<no>

—

Of course. <yes>.

—

<Please enter your trigger word: >

—

Without thinking too hard, I typed in the first thing that came to mind:

[Magic Shotgun]

—

And then, another message appeared:

—

<Trigger word has been set to ‘Magic Shotgun’. You may now cast this spell using the trigger word.>

—

A system so kind that you could just program your spells in advance and call them up whenever, wherever…

‘Was this in the original game?’

No matter how much I thought about it—I didn’t remember anything like this.

‘Why only me…?’

…Well, thinking about it, I was the only one thrown into this game.
This had to be the doing of whoever dragged me in here.
Or maybe… it was a gift.

‘Anyway, with just this, I can already use magic freely.’

Thanks to that, even someone like me, who knew nothing about magic circles or incantations, could still use magic.
No—use is putting it lightly.
There’s infinite potential in combining it with programming.

This crude spell—this weak, clumsy first step—would be the beginning of something greater.

“Magic Shotgun!”

The moment I shouted the trigger word—
BOOM!
A thunderous blast exploded outward.
And then—silence.
Where the red mist of blood settled, the Hobgoblin was nowhere to be seen.

‘Did I get it…?’

Relieved, I started to rise—

But then, my head suddenly spun.

‘Huh…?’

Mana depletion.
Just from killing one Hobgoblin?

“Damn it… optimization…”

Translatin_Otaku

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