The Genius Programmer Turned Wizard - GPW Chapter 3: Crow (Part 2)

‘But then again… this is exactly like him.’

Arrogant. Overbearing.
The only thing he ever saw was his research.
He didn’t care about people at all—a total eccentric.
Which was why most user ratings of him were filled with curses.

“He’s got a decent face, but his attitude’s absolute trash.”
“We were talking about the origin of magic and then he was like, ‘Tch, what would you know? Go fetch some water.’ Wouldn’t killing him be justified?”
“Try it if you can, LOL. He’s ridiculously strong, though. Seriously, that bastard…”

…Still, I guess I have that to thank.

‘At the very least, it means he approached me with a clear purpose.’

Understanding him wasn’t difficult.

‘Right now, I’m just a regular prisoner. And he’s showing interest in a crude Magic Shotgun used by said prisoner…’

It didn’t take long for me to reach a conclusion.

‘Did he catch the scent of coding?’

It wouldn’t make sense for other mages, but for him, it’s entirely possible.

‘If I play my cards right…’

There might be a chance I can become his apprentice.

Learning magic directly from Crow would be an absolutely busted starting build.

But…

“Is there a problem?”

Crow asked as I hesitated in thought.

I hadn’t made up my mind yet.

…Just a little more stalling.

“Isn’t this kind of dangerous indoors?”

“Don’t worry about that. Just cast the magic on me.”

He answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I felt a brief buzz in my head, but it wasn’t hard to accept.

‘Yeah, that’s just how he is.’

The kind of freak who’d rather get hit than just watch.

As twisted as he is, it worked to my advantage this time.

Bzzzzzzzt—

Crow began casting magic naturally.

A translucent barrier appeared in front of him.

Magic Shield.

And, as expected, a familiar window popped up in front of me.

—

[System Message]
Magic Magic Shield circle detected.
Convert to ML format?
<yes> / <no>

—

‘Wait—can I see other people’s magic circles too?’

Startled, but with no reason to hesitate, I immediately pressed <yes>.

—

<magic_shield.magic>
use mana type default.
shape shield
…

—

Shhhrrrk—

Crow’s magic circle started converting into ML code.

‘You can learn magic this way? This is broken!’

As I scanned Crow’s code, I couldn’t help but admire it.

‘Holy crap.’

Now I understood why he was called a genius.

This wasn’t anything like the sloppy Magic Missile I’d been using earlier.

His code was clean, efficient, and dotted with signs of optimization.

‘As expected of Crow.’

But enough admiring.

There was something far more important here.

‘So I can view code from other people’s spells.’

That was a critical discovery.

And at the same time—

‘Thank you for this.’

Gaining even one more magic code was a major win.

It wasn’t some rare ancient spell, but it was versatile and useful in many situations. Plus, ML’s syntax wasn’t even fully established yet.

Comparing the codes for Magic Shield and Magic Missile alone would reveal a ton of grammar rules.

‘So that’s how it works.’

I began comparing the two to identify ML’s syntax—focusing only on what I needed now.

And based on that understanding…

‘Time to optimize.’

I completed the optimization I missed last time. Even if the power dropped slightly, the mana consumption was now way more efficient.

—

Magic Shotgun_v.1.0.1]

Minor patch complete.

Finally starting to feel a bit more comfortable.

But this wasn’t the version I intended to use.

—

Magic Shotgun_v.1.0.1f]

A tiny extra feature added to version 1.0.1.

That’s the one I was about to cast.

> “Here I go.”

Crackle—

The Trigger Word activated, and the code instantly shifted into the form of a magic circle.

Dozens of mana bullets materialized in the air.

At the same time, I felt a huge chunk of mana drain.

But I didn’t collapse this time.

‘The optimization worked.’

Now it was time to fire—

…If it were version 1.0.1.

Pop! The bullets instantly burst into mana particles and scattered.

Failure. Or rather—intentional failure.

The f in 1.0.1f stood for fail.

‘Works as intended.’

There was a simple reason for deliberately failing.

I didn’t want to become his apprentice.

‘Sure, it’d be a good starting point…’

But you should only chase after power if you know who you’re dealing with.

‘This guy’s a no-go.’

Those eyes, like he was dissecting every move I made.

And the level of the magic I saw in his Magic Shield…

‘There’s no way I’d get away with it.’

The ability to view magic circles as code—combined with my original coding skills.

Those were the only weapons I had after being thrown into this world with nothing.

‘There’s no benefit in letting that get out.’

Plus, I just confirmed I could view other people’s spells.

‘No reason to learn magic from him.’

It might be slower and more awkward, but I could just keep learning by watching other mages.

‘Let’s grow on my own, as much as I can.’

So, no more regrets.

Right now, the best thing to do was put some distance between us.

“Weird… I swear I did it the same way…”

Of course, thinking he’d actually be fooled was overly optimistic.

This was Crow, after all.

“The same, huh?”

He smirked as he said it.

As expected.

A chill ran down my spine for a second…

‘So what are you gonna do about it?’

But I had no reason to back down.

Let him make me cast it a dozen times. As long as I don’t show the working one, it’s fine.

‘It’s not like he’ll kill me over it… right?’

…Or so I thought.

But then a cold sweat ran down my forehead without me realizing.

“No need to keep watching a failed spell.”

Crow muttered, as if this whole thing was a bother.

“Since you clearly don’t want to show me, I’ll just have to try another method.”

…Another method?

Even as confusion clouded my expression, Crow just turned away in silence.

—

And so I was dragged back into the arena.

>“Thank you for waiting! Today’s special match is finally ready!”

Goddammit.

> “The challenger is the despicable spell-slinging prisoner who showed off in Round 1! And his opponent—personally provided by none other than the Mage of Origin, Crow!”

Standing alone in the center of it all, I thought one thing:

‘You absolute bastard.’