A New Power
He had unintentionally damaged the ruins.
Startled, Woojin examined the hole pierced through the monument. The attack had been far more powerful than he had expected. Internally shocked by the result, he thought—
"…Ugh, my head."
A dull ache throbbed in his skull.
The more powerful the attack, the more brutally the snake bracelet had devoured his mana.
"Claire. Do you have any spare mana potions?"
"Just a moment."
Claire quickly rummaged through her bag and soon pulled out a bottle filled with blue liquid.
A mana recovery potion. The moment he took a sip, the headache quickly subsided—like drinking a hangover cure the morning after heavy drinking.
"How is it? Are you feeling a bit better?"
"No need to worry. My body was just startled because my mana was suddenly drained all at once."
He wasn't bluffing—he truly had plenty to spare.
Recently, whenever he had free time, he had been taking magic lessons from Claire for fun. Thanks to his diligent training, his mana capacity had grown far larger than before.
As if to prove it, Woojin slowly infused mana into the snake bracelet again.
Shrrrk, shrrrk—
The two silver snakes made a strange crying sound. Flicking their tongues through the air, they looked around their surroundings.
Duran spoke cautiously.
"You're not going to fire another beam like earlier, are you?"
"It's fine. I think I simply failed to control my strength earlier."
Now that he had used it once, he had a sense for it.
Earlier, Woojin had made a mistake. When the bracelet activated, he had gotten excited and pushed in too much mana too quickly. In response, the snakes had unleashed a violent attack.
"…This bracelet has a different true purpose."
The beam attack from earlier felt like nothing more than a secondary function. For some reason, he was certain of it.
Kiiiing—
He slowly drew out his mana, gentle and relaxed like water flowing along a stream. The silver snakes seemed to savor it as they drank in Woojin's mana.
His mind expanded. An indescribable sensation connected Woojin and the snakes.
Tick, tick!
The gaps between the snake scales split open. From within those gaps, a crimson light began to rise.
Particles of red light flowed out from between the scales—like grains spilling from a shattered hourglass. The particles gathered together in the air.
And what they formed was…
A red, semi-transparent mass of light. Woojin cautiously reached out and touched it.
"…This is strange."
Its texture was oddly sticky—like kneading clay dough.
Duran, standing beside him, asked,
"You can actually feel its texture?"
"Yes. It feels like dough made of flour."
"In that case, it doesn't seem to be an ordinary lump of mana… Can you control it?"
"I think so."
Woojin and the snake bracelet were mentally connected. Perhaps because of that, he instinctively understood how to manipulate the strange dough.
Focusing his mind, he moved his hands.
Responding to his motions, the red mass twisted, compressed, and gradually took on a new shape.
It felt like crafting pottery. Soon, Woojin molded something.
A square shield.
This should do.
The moment he finished thinking that, the dough instantly hardened. The shield floated in the air, circling beside Woojin as if protecting him.
Seeing this, Theodore's competitive spirit flared.
"May I try striking it once?"
"Of course."
He was curious about its durability anyway.
Theodore approached the shield. Like someone tapping a watermelon to check it, the paladin lightly knocked on the shield with his finger. Then he clenched his fist.
THUD!
The paladin punched the shield. It slid slightly backward, but it didn't seem to suffer significant damage.
Theodore exclaimed in admiration.
"Wow, this thing is quite sturdy! May I try hitting it harder?"
"Go ahead."
With Woojin's permission, Theodore gripped his triangular shield.
Shhhhh—
Holy power condensed upon the shield like dew. Uniquely, the divine power of Asella, the Goddess of Devotion, took the shape of water. Compared to other orders, it gave off a gentler impression.
Of course, its power was by no means lacking.
CLANG!!
Theodore swung his shield with all his strength. The pointed protrusion of the triangular shield slammed directly into the center of the flat square shield.
As a result—
Crack—!
A sound like pottery shattering rang out as fragments of crimson light scattered and faded from the square shield.
It hadn't broken. The square shield still maintained its original form.
"But… it's gotten smaller."
The shield had noticeably shrunk. Instead of its form collapsing, it seemed to absorb the impact by sacrificing part of its size.
Can I change its form from here?
Having confirmed its defensive performance, he wanted to try attacking with this ability.
The moment that thought crossed his mind—
The square shield warped, returning to a clay-like form. Then, reflecting Woojin's imagination, it reshaped itself into something new.
A crimson javelin.
Not bad.
How strong would it be?
With a casual gesture from Woojin, the floating javelin shot forward.
BOOOOM!!
The javelin smashed into a rocky cliff face.
Its power was tremendous—but it consumed quite a bit of mana.
That's enough experimenting for now.
He still had mana to spare, but destroying more of the underground ruins didn't seem like a good idea. Woojin decided to stop the spell.
Crack!
The javelin dissolved into particles of light and vanished.
Watching this, Duran muttered with interest,
"This is quite fascinating… From the looks of it, it seems to be a type of force-field magic."
Force-field magic.
A form of magic that manipulates energy imbued with physical force. The protective barrier spell Claire and Duran had used earlier was also a type of force-field magic.
"I've never seen force-field energy molded like this before. If I had to give it a name, I'd call it force-field shaping… It seems like a spell from the ancient empire that has been lost in modern times."
An extraordinary ability.
Though small and cute, these silver snakes might be a treasure even more valuable than the construct they had fought earlier—the Bull of Phalaris.
Just as a small, intricate wristwatch is harder to make than a large machine.
"More importantly… they're adorable."
Claire smiled as she gently stroked the head of a silver snake. Perhaps pleased by the touch, the snake closed its eyes and went limp.
Duran also showed great interest.
"Could you hand the snake constructs over to me for a moment? I'd like to examine them more closely."
"Well… I don't actually know how to take them off."
Woojin hadn't intentionally put them on.
The snakes had suddenly lunged at him and wrapped tightly around his wrist like handcuffs. Because of that, he had no idea how to remove them.
Duran looked puzzled.
"You can't remove them? That's strange. There should definitely be a way to release them… Perhaps a spell is required?"
Muttering to himself, Duran reached toward the snakes. The master of the magic tower attempted to remove the silver snakes using a detachment spell—
GRAB!
"Gwaaaagh!!"
Duran jumped back in shock. The snakes had bitten the old gnome's hand hard.
Hiss—! Hissss!
Raising their heads stiffly like cobras, the silver snakes let out threatening hisses. It was as if they were warning him not to touch them again.
Duran let out a sighing mutter.
"From the looks of it… they seem to be the kind of mystical treasure that chooses its own master. Since they've taken a dislike to me, it'll be difficult to touch them again."
When he tried to forcibly claim ownership using a spell, the enraged snakes bared their fangs.
A weapon choosing its owner.
Something often mentioned in ancient myths or fairy tales. The snake constructs, which possessed their own will, refused to be controlled by anyone other than Woojin.
"I'm sorry about that."
"There's no need for you to apologize. Those fellows are the ones who dislike me… Hmph."
Grumbling, Duran walked away. It seemed he planned to rejoin Fabian and analyze the old tome they had discovered earlier.
Claire hurried after Duran, carrying a mana potion in her hand.
"Master, please drink this."
"Isn't that the one that fellow was drinking earlier?"
"It would be a waste to throw it away."
"That's true."
Duran accepted the mana potion without hesitation and drank the remaining contents of the bottle.
Watching that, Woojin made a quiet guess.
Looks like he hasn't fully recovered yet.
Duran's physical condition wasn't very good. It wasn't a health issue—it was similar to the headache Woojin had felt earlier.
Spell overload.
Just as the name implied, it referred to a condition where excessive spellcasting overloaded the brain. Comparable to muscle soreness after exercise.
The cause was his recent clash with Woojin.
The master of the magic tower had attempted to trap Woojin using spatial magic, but Woojin had simply continued accelerating until he broke through it. A truly brute-force method of dealing with the problem.
As a result, the overload had left the tower master with significant internal strain.
The snakes noticed that too.
Woojin and the snakes were mentally connected. Because of that, they had noticed as well.
The master of the magic tower had already been defeated by Woojin.
The picky snakes disliked the idea of falling into the hands of a loser. The greatest treasure should belong to the greatest hero.
"…I really picked up something extraordinary."
The realization sank in again.
While Woojin sat and fiddled with the snake bracelet, the three mages diligently copied the contents of the old tome into their notebooks.
It would probably be easier to bring it above ground and copy it there… but the mages seemed afraid the contents of the fragile book might disappear at any moment.
Understandable.
If that book gets damaged during transport, it'd be a disaster. They're probably recording it beforehand as insurance.
If they accidentally triggered a trap and the book got wet or burned, priceless knowledge would be lost forever.
After waiting for quite a while…
"…Sorry. You all waited a long time, didn't you? I think we can move again now."
The transcription was finished. As soon as Claire whispered the news, Woojin and Theodore—who had been sitting and dozing—immediately got up.
It was time to move again.
They walked forward with the group. There wasn't any particular sense of tension.
We've already finished what we came for.
The trial of the ruins was over, and they had already received their reward. It didn't seem likely that anything else would appear now.
Thinking that, they continued forward…
Until they reached a dead end.
It wasn't completely empty. In front of the rock wall lay a large square stone slab. It was wide and flat, almost like a carpet.
"…Are we supposed to stand on that slab?"
"Looks like it."
There wasn't anything else they could do.
Woojin's group cautiously stepped onto the stone slab. After waiting for a moment—
Rrrrumble!
With a sound like old gears grinding together, the ceiling opened. Then the slab carrying Woojin's group slowly began rising upward.
So it's like an elevator.
It seemed to be a transportation device connecting the underground ruins and the testing area.
If they had left something like a ladder instead, the climb would have been exhausting. Thanks to this, they could return comfortably.
After a short wait…
As expected, they soon reached their destination. What greeted them was a sealed room. Soon, the wall split open, connecting it to the corridor of the ruins.
Just then, people wandering through the corridor noticed them and rushed over in surprise.
"M-Master of the Magic Tower! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Stop making such a fuss."
Duran said that, but the commotion only grew louder. It was understandable—people who had gone missing during the ruins exploration had suddenly returned.
…I should slip out quietly.
Getting caught up in this kind of commotion would be troublesome. With that thought, Woojin whispered to Claire.
"I'm going to head outside."
"You're leaving?"
"Yeah. I want to check if Arwen and Coco are doing okay. Want to come with me?"
Claire seemed to hesitate for a moment… but then she shook her head as if giving up.
"Hmm… It feels wrong to leave my master behind and slip away alone. I'll stay here."
"Alright. See you later."
They didn't bother with a long farewell. After all, they would meet again soon anyway.
Woojin left the ruins.
Arwen must be waiting anxiously.
He should hurry back.
With that thought, Woojin ran through the forest—
But suddenly he remembered the stone slab he had ridden earlier. The slab that had carried their group upward. For some reason, the sensation of floating lingered in his mind.
Should I try it once?
Woojin stopped in place.
Slowly raising his mana, he activated the snake bracelet.
Using force-field shaping, he brought an object from his imagination into reality. A thin, elongated red force field formed.
And what it became was—
A snowboard.
Woojin carefully placed his feet on it. After stabilizing his stance, he reshaped the board like bindings, securing both of his feet firmly.
Preparation complete.
…I'm not sure if this will work.
It felt a little risky, but he decided to try anyway. Focusing his mind as much as possible, he controlled the snowboard.
Soon, a strange sensation of floating came over him. He glanced downward.
The board carrying him was rising high into the sky.
It works.
Certain of that, he gestured forward.
Fwoooosh—!
The board shot forward like a bullet, carrying Woojin along with it.
The speed was terrifyingly fast. The wind slashed across his entire body, and the surrounding scenery stretched out like smeared paint.
Woojin's lips curled upward.
"Hah… haha!!"
His laughter echoed across the vast sky.
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