Chapter 71: A Monster Grows "Teach me offensive magic. Something that can crack skulls regardless of whether they're friend or foe."
At Yeon-woo's words, Frey took a sip of her coffee with a composed expression before speaking.
"Why?"
"Because there are a lot of skulls that need cracking."
"… Didn't you turn your weapon into a bat for exactly that purpose?"
"Ah! That's right. I forgot about the Etiquette Infuser."
As if he had just remembered, Yeon-woo punched his palm and transformed his stick into the Etiquette Infuser.
Frey watched him swing it wildly through the air for a moment, then let out a small sigh and set down her coffee.
"Sit."
"Yes, ma'am."
When she spoke curtly, it meant her patience had reached its limit. Yeon-woo, who had been swinging the Etiquette Infuser like a thug, quickly sat down in a proper posture.
Frey stared at him in silence for a while, and Yeon-woo met her gaze, maintaining a playful, beaming smile.
Turk, who had been sitting in the corner trying to remain inconspicuous, stared at the two of them.
Even Turk felt intimidated when Frey stared at him in silence, yet Yeon-woo didn't seem bothered at all.
Was that all? If anyone else had been smiling mockingly like that while she was being serious, she would have kicked them immediately and left them in tears.
Frey was acting out of character, and Yeon-woo—it was hard to tell if he was incredibly bold or just completely oblivious.
Turk usually arrived just as training was ending, but this was his first time watching the session from the start, and he found it fascinating.
"You're the type of bastard who focuses on hindering and annoying the enemy."
"Calling me a bastard is a bit much. Please correct that to 'brilliant strategist.'"
"You realize your main focus should be on forcing the enemy to attack you, right?"
"But… that doesn't mean I should have zero means of attacking."
"I already taught you."
"Aww—not those pathetic Magic Bullets or tiny little fireballs."
When Yeon-woo whined like a child, Frey sighed and raised her hand toward him.
Boom—!
Hit by a mass of condensed mana—commonly known as a Magic Bullet—Yeon-woo was sent flying back until he slammed into the wall.
From where Yeon-woo had been sitting to the wall where he was now embedded, a deep furrow had been carved into the ground, demonstrating the devastating destructive power of the Magic Bullet.
It was far too powerful to be considered a spell that anyone capable of handling mana could use.
"That hurts. Please be gentler with your disciple."
Turk was dumbfounded to see Yeon-woo take the hit and then grumble as he crawled back to his spot as if it were nothing.
It wasn't that Turk would be in mortal danger if he were hit by Frey's Magic Bullet.
However, there was an age gap of over ten years between Turk and Yeon-woo.
Turk was a mage who was quite confident in his skills and well-known as Frey's right-hand man, so the fact that the boy's Mana Barrier was at least on par with his own gave him goosebumps.
"Do you see the difference between your Magic Bullet and mine?"
"Why can't I produce that kind of power? Did you teach me something weird on purpose?"
"What you use and what I use are identical. I simply injected more mana."
"… Why can't I do it?"
Yeon-woo tilted his head and fired a Magic Bullet, but a visibly pathetic clump of mana hit the wall and vanished with a weak fizz.
Yeon-woo's greatest weakness was his difficulty in modifying magic or adjusting its intensity. Turk nodded to himself, realizing this was what Frey had been talking about.
"In your current state, there are two ways for you to learn offensive magic. First, you could learn a high-level spell that isn't easy to master. If the magic circle itself is designed for high output and is difficult to control—specifically, a spell where just following the formula is a struggle—it would suit you."
"That sounds great! So you're going to teach me one now?"
"Listen until I'm finished. How are you going to find such a spell, and how will you learn it?"
"..."
"… Don't covet my magic. I'm not teaching it to you."
Frey frowned at Yeon-woo's expectant gaze and continued.
"Second, you learn how to utilize magic formulas properly. I intended to teach you offensive magic once you had the skill to adjust your output."
"So you're saying I don't have the skill yet?"
"We'll have to test that. Have you been practicing Mana Barrier Melting?"
"Yes. Should I show you?"
Yeon-woo said he'd give a demonstration and promptly laid down on the spot.
While Turk watched with interest, wondering what he was doing, Yeon-woo slowly stood up.
Without bending his joints at all from his prone position, he rose straight up as if someone were pulling him, a movement that seemed to defy the laws of physics.
"..."
"… Ta-da?"
"Is that it?"
Frey, who had been watching in anticipation of something more, asked flatly. Yeon-woo's eyes darted around awkwardly before he started doing the moonwalk.
Watching Yeon-woo walk backward in a circle around her, Frey grabbed her forehead and looked down as if she had a massive headache.
"A disciple is like a sprout that grows on praise. If you look that disappointed, it hurts my feelings."
Frey, infuriated by Yeon-woo talking while still moonwalking in circles, proceeded to beat him up.
That's the Boss I know.
Turk nodded at the familiar sight, though he admired Yeon-woo's audacity for continuing to act cheeky even after taking such a beating.
Once Frey's anger subsided and she sat back down, Yeon-woo sat across from her, looking like a mess.
"You used Melting to create viscosity in your Mana Barrier. It's a fairly interesting idea."
"Then why did I get hit? This is unfair."
"You deserved it. And after all the time I gave you, is that really all you've got?"
"Um… I worked pretty hard on it."
Yeon-woo really had worked hard.
Lacking both knowledge and experience in magic, he had spent his busy schedule cutting into his sleep to ponder and practice in various ways to complete Frey's assignment.
However, because his foundation was lacking, his progress was slow, and he had little to show for his long hours of practice.
Though the results were meager, the one thing Frey could praise was his ingenuity.
As someone who had enjoyed all sorts of games and media, Yeon-woo had infinite ideas on how to utilize supernatural powers like magic.
He was already familiar with the creative abilities dreamed up by countless creators and was attempting to apply them to magic here.
Frey had never thought of giving the melted Mana Barrier a viscous property.
Since it was a practice spell, most mages focused on creating a shape in front of the Mana Barrier; they didn't easily think of imbuing it with specific properties.
And though Yeon-woo didn't know it, imbuing a spell with a specific characteristic was a considerably difficult task.
Even so, the fact that this was all he had to show for the long period Frey had given him was a shortcoming.
"Keep practicing Mana Barrier Melting and find more diverse ways to use it."
"Understood. So… what about offensive magic?"
Still not giving up, Yeon-woo looked at her with expectant eyes.
Frey let out a small chuckle, finding his cautious yet hopeful expression as cute as a hamster's.
… Cute…?
Frey's expression hardened the moment she realized what she was thinking, but Yeon-woo and Turk had already seen her smile.
It wasn't that Turk hadn't seen her smile in all the years he'd served her, but he usually only saw sneers or smiles full of bloodlust. He went blank, while Yeon-woo was quick to tease her.
"Oh? You smiled! That's the first time I've seen you smile. You're incredibly pretty."
"You're mistaken."
"Come on~ What mistake? I saw it right in front of me. That smile, wait, why—no, it was a compliment!!"
Frey silenced Yeon-woo's mouth with her fist, then sat down and took a breath while sipping her coffee.
She tried to act calm, but her slightly flushed cheeks and huffing breath looked like nothing but an attempt to hide her embarrassment to Yeon-woo and Turk.
When Frey suddenly whipped her head around to glare at him, Turk, who had been grinning, immediately wiped the expression off his face and looked down at his phone as if he hadn't seen a thing.
After a moment, once she had stabilized, Frey continued where she left off.
"I will teach you offensive magic."
"Oh—finally. As expected of someone with such a pretty smile… No, never mind. I'll gratefully accept whatever you give me."
Yeon-woo prostrated himself before Frey's murderous gaze.
"The magic I will teach you is Magnum."
"Huh?"
"What?"
At Frey's words, Yeon-woo and Turk both looked at her with blank expressions.
Magnum was Frey's original magic, the very spell that had made her who she was today.
Turk had seen her use it many times, so he understood the principles behind it well.
However, even if Frey were to teach it to him now, it was such a high-difficulty spell that Turk didn't have the confidence to master it.
It was a dangerous spell that one couldn't use properly without risking self-destruction—and she was going to teach it to a kid who had talent but was still far from fully grown.
"Wait, Boss… that's…"
"It's fine. It doubles as a test."
Turk tried to stop her, but Frey had no intention of changing her mind.
This was a decision Frey had made based on her observations of Yeon-woo so far.
His application and modification were terrible, but she believed in Yeon-woo's talent—which was almost like a supernatural ability—to execute a magic formula exactly as written the moment he learned it.
While Turk tried to dissuade Frey, arguing it was too soon and that she would ruin the boy, Yeon-woo stared at her with a dazed face.
A Perk.
In the game, you received a Perk once you maxed out a character's affinity.
And Frey's Perk was her original magic, Magnum.
But we haven't even had sex yet?
He knew from experience that things didn't always follow the game's sequence, but Yeon-woo had never once imagined that Frey's affinity would be maxed out.
Whether he was acting cute, flirting, or buying her coffee, Frey's attitude had always remained consistent, so it was natural that he hadn't expected this.
But then why haven't we had sex?
In the game, sex scenes didn't only happen once affinity was maxed.
It varied by character, but usually, they started sleeping together once affinity reached a certain point, and by the time the Perk was given at max affinity, they had already done everything there was to do.
"So why aren't we having sex?!"
"… What?"
"Ah… that came out wrong. I know someone who won't have sex with me…"
Yeon-woo turned his head in embarrassment after his inner thoughts slipped out, and Frey seriously contemplated whether she should really teach her magic to a guy like this.
Despite the commotion caused by Turk's protests and Yeon-woo's mental lapse, Frey ultimately decided to teach him Magnum.
*
Long after the training session ended and Yeon-woo had left, only Turk and Frey remained.
"Haha…"
The training ground Yeon-woo had left behind was a mess, as if a war had broken out.
The reinforced walls, which wouldn't even be scratched by most magic, were riddled with countless holes, and fragments of the reinforced materials used as punching bags were scattered across the floor.
That madman had mastered Magnum right then and there before leaving.
It was so absurd that Turk couldn't describe Yeon-woo as anything other than a madman.
Talent? This wasn't talent; it was a supernatural ability.
No matter how much talent one had, Frey's magic wasn't something that could be mastered in a single sitting.
Even if you brought in Daihara Yukio, who was called the strongest mage among the 12 Zodiacs, it wouldn't be possible.
Yet Yeon-woo had mastered Frey's original magic with an oblivious face, as if it were nothing, and then left after a casual, "Good work today~"
"Boss… for the first time, I feel like I have no talent. I didn't even feel this way when I met Isabella…"
When Turk laughed hollowly, mentioning Isabella, one of the 12 Zodiacs, Frey shook her head with a calm face.
"If that is talent, then no one can claim to be talented in front of him."
"Then is it… a supernatural ability?"
"Who knows. No characteristic traits or energy unique to supernatural abilities were detected. It must be something else that doesn't even fall under that classification."
"… That's even scarier."
Turk laughed awkwardly as she spoke of such terrifying things so calmly.
However, Frey felt just as hollow.
It was a spell that had taken her three years to establish the principles and create, and another two years to refine and complete.
Since it was already finished, the time to learn it was much shorter.
But because it was a spell that used the body as a medium, it was difficult to master, and the risk of damaging the body was so high that it normally took a long time to truly make it one's own.
In fact, it wasn't that she had never taught her original magic to others before.
Among them were talented people, those who had already built up their skills, and even a member of the 12 Zodiacs.
The mage from the 12 Zodiacs had given up halfway through learning her magic.
'Did you make this spell to commit suicide? Or are you trying to assassinate me?'
The recoil on the body was so great that even the 12 Zodiac member couldn't master it and gave up due to the danger. Until now, Frey was the only one who could use her magic.
'No… now there are two.'
Frey smiled faintly as she looked around at the mess Yeon-woo had made.
In this small training ground that no one paid attention to, a monster was growing rapidly, and by the time he made his appearance, the world would be shocked.
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