I Became a Magical Genius After Regression

Chapter 38

After a long silence, Randel spoke.

“It can’t be, right? Tell me it’s not true.”

“No.”

“Phew.”

“It is true.”

“Alright, thanks… Is there no other exit?”

“18. Over there.”

The manager pointed to the back.

It was the place Randel had seen earlier, covered in lava.

“Ha… life.”

Randel held his throbbing head.

When he obtained the mithril ingots, he felt like he had the whole world.

But in less than an hour, he was in this state.

What good is mithril?

Whether he had to dig through volcanic rock to the surface or break through a 30-centimeter stone door.

He had to break through one of them.

“No, but if you can open the stone door, why can’t you handle the golem?”

“Yeah. The stone door is mine. The guardian is the dwarf’s.”

“Damn… Let’s sort things out one by one. So, what exactly can you do right now?”

“City environment purification, system management.”

“More specifically.”

“Turning lights on and off.”

“What else?”

“Opening and closing vents. Purifying groundwater. Inducing geothermal heat. Detecting life signs within the city.”

“Ugh, you can only manage the city literally. Is there anything else? Something not related to the city.”

“Mana interference.”

“…Mana interference? You can interfere with mana?”

Randel showed interest in those words.

As far as Randel knew, there were only two ways to interfere with mana.

[Disrupt the mana array with dispel magic]

[Or destroy the mana’s bonding structure with aura]

In other words, it meant that magic could only be forcibly eliminated.

But the administrator probably didn’t mean it that way.

Because it wouldn’t be helpful in the current situation.

“Alright, putting that aside. If you can interfere with mana, what exactly can you do?”

“The cute thing you made earlier.”

“What did I make?”

“The light ball.”

“Oh, this?”

Randel cast a light spell.

Then a small ball of light appeared at his fingertip.

“……”

Randel suddenly moved his finger to the right.

The administrator’s gaze followed to the right.

“……”

“……”

They stared at each other in silence for a moment.

Then, the usually expressionless administrator was the first to turn away. A faint blush appeared on their face.

‘So they can feel embarrassed too.’

As Randel smiled contentedly, the administrator quickly opened their mouth as if to change the subject.

“Mana interference. You can make that light grow.”

“More?”

“Brighter. More. Faster.”

From those words, Randel roughly understood how mana interference worked.

“If you increase the brightness, how much can you increase it?”

“10.9N. About seven times in multiples.”

“I see.”

Randel nodded.

Whether it was a joker or a discard, he had gained a card of his own.

Then, I have to somehow combine the random card with the weapon I have now to destroy that golem.

First of all, Randel’s weapon is, of course, magic.

‘Can I strike the golem with my magic?’

Randel has quite a few spells he can use.

Mainly spells with low attack power but high utility.

Greece, Sleep, Healing, Shield, and so on.

These are the spells that have been quite useful against enemies so far, but unfortunately, not this time.

Because of the golem’s anti-magic power, 1st and 2nd circle spells are nullified just by being near it.

‘Then I have to find something among the 3rd circle spells…’

Currently, Randel’s powerful attack spells are all three.

Lightning, Shock Wave, Fireball.

First, Lightning is excluded because it has almost no physical power.

Shock Wave has strong physical power and shows a stronger appearance against hard enemies.

A perfect spell to deal with the golem.

But it also has a fatal flaw.

‘To use it, I have to get close to the opponent.’

If I use Shock Wave near the golem?

It would be perfect for becoming dried fish season 3.

‘The only possible option is… Fireball.’

Fireball is a spell that causes a powerful explosion.

Among the 3rd circle and even higher circles, there are few spells as easy to use and with such excellent physical power.

But even though it’s possible, Fireball is also useless.

‘If I throw a Fireball filled with mana… will it at least break my palm?’

It would regenerate quickly anyway.

In the end, there’s only one answer to catching the golem with Fireball.

Keep hitting it before it regenerates.

But how?

‘Will the golem stay still while I cast it?’

With a height of 5 meters, its strides are just as large. Even if Randel runs and it walks, it’s hard to shake it off.

Moreover, he can’t move while casting.

Right now, Randel can use one-third of a Fireball, so after firing one shot, he’s completely drained.

Even if he reduces the casting time to one second, it’s still impossible.

‘Moving casting is out of the question…….’

His mana reflux hadn’t fully healed yet.

If he used moving casting now, he’d just become a blood-soaked jerky.

‘So… how much time do I have left?’

Randel pondered deeply.

He had wasted quite a bit of time practicing detection magic and searching the canyon.

If he managed his time tightly, he had one month.

If it took any longer, he wouldn’t make it to the academy’s entrance ceremony.

‘Well, if I’m really late, I’ll just go next year.’

Given the situation, Randel decided to take it easy.

There was an age limit for entering the academy, but he still had about one or two years left.

He could enter next year, or if his life plans got messed up, he’d find another path.

If things went south, he could reveal he was a third-circle mage and live pretending to be a genius.

Randel shook his head and asked the manager.

“I’ve grasped the situation. Is there a place where I can stay for a long time? Preferably somewhere resistant to shocks.”

“Nearby. There is.”

“Then let’s go there.”

“Okay.”

* * *

“This is a peculiar place.”

Randel said as he examined the building he had just entered.

There was nothing ordinary in the ancient underground city, but this place was particularly unique.

Its height was similar to other buildings, but it spread widely to the sides.

Moreover, the walls were entirely covered with an unidentified gray metal, which was fascinating.

“What is this place? Judging by its size… is it a training ground?”

“Wizards. Official magic training room.”

“Oh, perfect. What’s this gray metal on the walls?”

“Naterium. A transition element of Case 19. Density 9.501, boiling point 8,387 degrees. Mana resistance 9.75―”

“Ah, got it. Anyway, seeing something about mana resistance, it must be strong against magic, right?”

“Yeah. Dwarf mage. It can withstand even a 4th-grade rune combination.”

“Dwarf mage? Do dwarves use magic?”

As far as Randel knew, dwarves couldn’t learn magic.

Even if they did, their circles were usually low because they had a hard time sensing mana naturally.

That’s why most dwarves were warriors.

Even if warriors couldn’t sense mana, they could accumulate some aura by just using their bodies.

Moreover, their short stature gave them a low center of gravity, and they were strong, so they could handle large weapons like axes quite well.

‘Cavalry is out of the question, though.’

It was hilarious to imagine them riding horses with their short stature.

“They can. Use. Rune letters.”

“Runes? How do you use magic with that? They’re just letters.”

“I don’t. Know. The god made it possible.”

“What god out of nowhere.”

Randel grumbled, thinking of those who claimed to be priests.

Even so, he thought he should study rune letters later as he stood in front of the gray metal wall.

Then followed the fireball casting.

Slowly, after about three minutes, he chanted the incantation.

“Fireball!”

Whoosh.

A fireball, the size of a head, formed in Randel’s hand and shot forward.

It was slower than arrow-type magic but still fast enough to be hard to dodge.

The target was the wall.

As soon as the fireball touched the wall, it exploded.

Boom!

With a fairly loud noise, flames spread in all directions.

Randel covered his face with his sleeve, feeling the heat, and stepped back a bit more.

He had put mana to the limit, so the explosion was stronger than expected.

“Not a single dent. Isn’t this tougher than a golem?”

As the administrator said, the wall was really tough.

“`

There was no damage, only a slight scorch mark remained.

So, how can we make use of this?

But with such a hard metal, it didn’t seem like Randel could tear it off himself.

Even if he did, he had no idea how to use it.

‘Isn’t it too intact, no matter what?’

Randel, who had delivered a confident blow, spoke a bit awkwardly.

“Did you see that just now? Do you think this could stand up to a golem?”

“Not enough.”

“Then how many more of these would we need?”

“Eleven shots. If you hit the mana core directly. The location of the mana core is―”

“The thigh?”

At Randel’s words, the manager looked up.

The manager, who had been staring for a while, made a short sound.

“Oh.”

“Ahem, I’m sensitive to mana. I just saw it.”

“Impressive.”

Randel shrugged at the manager’s words.

He had never mentioned his high mana affinity due to his miraculous casting speed, but he felt a bit proud.

‘It’s sad that my life has been so unrecognized that I feel proud of something like this…’

Randel shook his head and spoke as if relieved.

“At least the core isn’t in a tricky spot.”

The mana core is the golem’s weak point. If the core is destroyed, the golem loses its regenerative power and turns back into a mere stone.

So, how should the mana core be protected?

If only that part is made of special material, it would be like shouting ‘Here’s the core.’

So golem makers hid the mana core in places that were hard to find.

‘There’s even a record of a golem with its core in its foot…’

Who would have imagined that?

Because of that, three intermediate knights died during the subjugation.

“Anyway, eleven shots, that’s tough.”

“Difficulty. A bit.”

“`

“It doesn’t seem like a little… By the way, you said you could increase the power of the magic earlier, right? How much can you enhance the magic we just saw?”

“Three times.”

“Can it be done consecutively?”

“No. Twice, at most.”

“That’s ambiguous.”

As Randel said, it was really ambiguous.

Three times. Normally, that would have been amazing, but facing the golem now, it was actually meaningless.

Even if the casting time was reduced to one second, it would still take at least seven shots, seven seconds.

No, considering the time it takes for the magic to fly, it would take ten seconds.

‘Moreover…’

Randel began to tap the calculator in his head.

Considering the range of the fireball, the golem’s stride, its wound healing ability, the administrator’s mana interference, and his own casting time.

“It won’t work.”

Randel quickly gave up.

No matter how he thought about it, the success rate of casting magic head-on was 0%.

At the same time, he felt a headache coming on.

This doesn’t work, that doesn’t work.

So what on earth does work?

‘First… let’s master the fireball.’

In the end, Randel shook his head.

The remaining time was one month.

Fortunately, there was plenty of drinking water and jerky in the subspace.

He had to find a way within that time.

* * *

Mana interference.

With this ambiguous effect, Randel conducted various experiments.

As a result, he realized that although the limits were clear, it could be applied to various parts.

He could reduce the mana consumption needed to use magic by drawing in the surrounding mana.

He could amplify the inherent properties of the magic, such as increasing the temperature of the flames.

He could even imbue multiple properties into a single spell simultaneously.

When the fireball explodes, lightning bolts spread out around it in a thrilling manner.

And finally.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM―

Randell found a way.

* * *

CRASH CRASH CRASH.

Randell watched the collapsing wall.

Not only the gray metal that wrapped around the wall but also the reinforcements behind it all collapsed at once.

Despite the long years, it had withstood countless spells from Randell until now.

It seemed that the recent spell was too much for it.

The administrator saw this and said.

“This. Works.”

“I didn’t want to live here with you until we die, so I used my brain a bit.”

“Me too. Don’t want that.”

After spending two weeks together, Randell and the administrator had become quite close.

He always had a blank expression and spoke in short, abrupt sentences, so Randell thought he had little emotion, but that wasn’t the case.

He was just clumsy at expressing himself, but the administrator felt all kinds of emotions like sadness, anger, inspiration, and joy.

Of course, ordinary people might find it hard to get close to him, but Randell was different.

As a mercenary, he had met all sorts of crazy people.

He had even become friends with them and gone out drinking, so a lack of emotional expression was nothing.

Randell shook off his thoughts and asked.

“How about this? Will it work?”

“Numerically. Quite possible.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Human concentration. Impressive.”

“It’s not humans that are impressive, it’s me.”

“You’re great.”

“Thanks for the compliment. How long have I been in here? In this training room.”

“321 hours 19 minutes 25 seconds.”

“So roughly two weeks? The territory must be in chaos by now. It’s about time to get out.”

It took three days to normalize the reversed mana.

Then it took another seven days to reduce the casting time of Fireball to one second.

During that time, it took another three days to master the methods found through various experiments.

It wasn’t a short time, but Randel smiled with satisfaction.

“Now, the time has come.”

Randel said as he dusted off his butt and stood up.

Only the final hurdle remained.