The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 5



Only Krnovel

The clear shadows of the dim dawn came through the castle’s large windows.

The sound of two footsteps echoing regularly through the corridors of the vast, empty castle.

Next to Enoch, who was walking there.

There was a young sorceress who was releasing him from prison and accompanying him to the front of the room.

‘You sure it was called Theano?’

Enoch glanced at her walking half a step ahead.

‘It’s a face I’ve never seen in the original.’

She was the one who arrested Enoch at the scene of the first theft.

To be exact, she had intentionally made a noise while on patrol and been caught, but from Enoch’s perspective, there was another reason why he was attracted to her.

‘That uniform is… the ‘Nemesis Knights’.’

The appearance of wearing a pitch-black uniform and a hat pulled down low was quite familiar.

The body lines are very well revealed, and the design allows the legs to be seen comfortably beneath the skirt.

In the first place, it was strange that I couldn’t recognize that uniform right away.

‘Your rank is Vice Captain? You still look young.’

Enoch, who recognized her rank by the insignia on her uniform, was secretly a little surprised.

The original “Nemesis Knights” are a small, elite unit directly under the Elseid family, which is the pride of the family.

Even within this family, which is the center of the empire’s greatest battle magicians, this order of knights is proudly referred to as the ‘elite of the elite.’

That’s exactly why I was a little nervous.

‘It’s a bit strange.’

If she, who must be over twenty years old, has risen to the position of vice-captain of Nemesis, she must be a very capable person.

But surprisingly, Enoch wasn’t particularly familiar with the person.

‘I feel like there’s something there. Why didn’t it appear in the original?’

Enoch hesitated for a moment and then shook his head.

After all, this is no longer a game, but reality. Even without Theano, there are plenty of characters who didn’t appear in the original, expansive worldview.

‘… If not, what happens five years after the original story starts?’

Well, if you think about the events of the original story, it’s not that strange.

Theano, who was ahead, glanced at Enoch and gave him a word, not knowing whether he knew what he was thinking or not.

“Please be more careful in your future actions, Enoch Elseid.”

She looked back and tilted her head briefly.

“…But what are you holding in your hand?”

A long, coiled blanket of unknown identity.

Enoch answered as if it was nothing.

“Oh, it was a bit cold last night.”

Theano nodded without any doubt.

After all, what else could there be in a cold, closed and abandoned underground prison?

Since he was raised preciously in a corner of the room, he must have needed something to keep out the cold all night.

When she arrived at Enoch’s room, she bowed her head slightly, made a brief courtesy, and then turned around.

“Then that’s it.”

Enoch’s eyes briefly followed her back as she walked down the hallway.

***

thud.

As he closed the heavy door and entered the room, the darkness of the silent room greeted him.

It hadn’t even been a day since I suddenly flew here, but it was still the place I felt the most secure about.

But just when he was about to relax.

Suddenly a cool voice quietly echoed through the room.

“Are you back, Young Master?”

The moment he heard the voice, Enoch was reminded of a maid who had been attached to him since he had been possessed.

I was so busy right after the ice rink that I forgot about it for a while.

I slowly turned my head and saw a girl dressed as a maid quietly watching me with cold eyes.

It was Lien.

The room was so dark that I couldn’t even tell who was there.

“I’ve been waiting.”

Her silver hair flowed over her maid outfit as she lowered her head slightly.

For a moment, Enoch looked at her as if in a trance, forgetting what he was doing.

A transparent, ice-like atmosphere.

She was a beautiful girl who would steal anyone’s gaze. However, her emotionless eyes looking at me were somehow cold.

“If you don’t mind, may I ask where you were all night?”

She approached him and asked. Enoch quickly came to his senses and answered Lien’s question.

“I had some business to attend to regarding the expulsion.”

“…Is that so?”

wickedness.

At Enoch’s answer, Lien’s neat eyes hidden behind her silver hair narrowed for a moment.

But soon she bowed her head again politely.

“It’s early, but I can prepare breakfast if you need it.”

Enoch nodded, realizing that he was starting to feel hungry.

“okay.”

“I will step aside now.”

Lien quietly closed the door and left.

“… … .”

Only then did Enoch exhale and briefly relax.

The fact that Maid Lien came into his room so naturally means that she was that close to the original Enoch.

‘… … The maid who stayed up all night and waited for Enoch until dawn.’

I’ve never seen a real maid or butler before, but I can definitely guess that they’re not ordinary.

Besides, it was strange that there were no questions, even though there must have been something that was unclear.

What on earth was her original relationship with Enoch?

‘Even if I think about it now, it doesn’t seem meaningful.’

There was no way to find out right away anyway.

First of all, it was time to focus on the task at hand.

Swish.

Enoch slowly unwrapped the blanket, revealing the object inside.

The blade glows bluish in the light of the dawn just beginning.

A sharp blade and a straight guard running underneath. A single-handed double-edged sword that is just over 1m long and finished with elaborate craftsmanship.

The condition is also surprisingly good.

‘I don’t know what era the swordsman is from, but given the circumstances, it must be a pretty old sword… … .’

Judging from its appearance, it is not a sword for formal use, but rather a sword that was used directly by Geomseong in the past.

However, it was in surprisingly good condition, and I wondered what material it was made of. If I just dusted it off, it would be ready to be used in battle right away.

Enoch finished his thought as he sheathed it in his scabbard.

‘First of all, we need to hide the fact that we use a sword.’

Even in the original work, Enoch’s swordsmanship was not recognized by the magic family. Judging from that fact, if a rumor spread that a child of a magic family as powerful as Jugamun was carrying a blade…

‘It’s obvious that unwanted attention will be focused on this in various ways.’

In a situation where you can’t even talk properly to those around you for fear of your identity being revealed, there’s no benefit to gathering unnecessary attention in such a situation.

Swish

Enoch found a magic tool bag lying around in the room, put the sword in it, and tied a knot.

The clear shape of the one-handed sword was obscured by a long black cloth bag.

‘Originally, Enoch was going to put his staff and other equipment here…’

Now that I know the special trait of the sword called , I naturally had to change its purpose.

Fortunately, the size of the bag was just right for the sword.

To this extent, it seemed pretty perfect. If I carry a sword like this in the future, no one will be suspected.

Because bags for storing magical tools are common in the Empire.

dump.

Enoch leaned the sword he had put in his cloth bag against the wall and sat down on the bed.

‘Let’s organize our thoughts first.’

The ruins of an underground prison.

The world that was entered through the sword of the Black Sword.

Even if we face endless death, we first need to understand the space where we do not die.

Of course, since I had been there myself, I had some idea of ​​what it was like.

‘Perhaps, it was Enoch’s inner world.’

I could tell instinctively.

The moment you pick up the sword, you feel yourself falling deep into the world of your endless self.

Even without anyone teaching him, it was clear that this heterogeneous space existed within Enoch.

‘And the trait that emerged from that inner world, .’

The original Enoch was stated to be a ‘genius of the sword’.

Perhaps that inner world is also a type of talent he possesses.

But questions still remained.

‘I think the message said that the succession could not continue due to [lack of understanding of mana].’

In that case, we had to resolve that first.

Enoch, who had been lost in thought for a moment, suddenly looked back at himself and chuckled.

‘It’s no different from the random thoughts I have while lying in bed, like looking up game settings.’

But the difference between then and now was clear.

The game can be restarted at any time, but in this world, there will probably be no second chances.

Outside the window, the sun was finally rising after a long night.

‘First of all, it’s something that can be tried one by one.’

Enoch stood up, holding the sword he had put in his bag.

Now it was time to move again.

Because nothing gets solved by just sitting still.

***

A huge sign engraved with [Public Training Center].

And proportionally, a huge door.

In addition to the textbook guide in the room, it was fortunate that I had some knowledge of the Elseid Citadel through the game.

Thanks to this, I was able to find the major facilities of the family fortress without much difficulty.

‘It’s so dirty.’

The overwhelming size and grandeur of the interior was incomparable to that of the game.

Enoch immediately entered the training ground.

There was no other reason for coming here. A message from my previous inner world flashed through my head.

─Lack of understanding of mana

The message from the inner world clearly said so. To increase your understanding of mana.

‘Then, in order to continue on to the next stage of growth, you need to understand mana.’

That was exactly why I came to the training ground.

In order to understand mana, it would be better to have something to see and refer to directly. The moment Enoch took a step forward with that conviction─

Kwaaaaang!

─A fireball flew from somewhere and exploded on the floor right next to him.

I glanced back and saw a red flame flickering at Enoch’s feet before quickly dying down.

“Master Kaon is sparring! It’s dangerous, so stay away!”

Someone shouted urgently from the other side. Enoch thought about the name, searching through his original memories.

‘If it’s Kaon, then what about Elseid?’

A character who is well-known enough to appear several times in the original work.

Since its combat power was also quite useful, I roughly remembered its settings.

‘Come to think of it, he’s also a direct descendant of Elseid, so he’s Enoch’s brother. Am I the older brother? Or is he the older brother?’

Enoch suppressed the useless questions that were about to pop up inside him for a moment.

Anyway, the urgent thing right now is not his age or his sibling relationship, but understanding Mana’s sense.

Enoch turned his attention.

As I widened my field of vision, I saw the figures of two magicians dancing in the distance.

A man surrounded by dozens of rapidly rotating fireballs near his body, and a woman hiding behind a translucent protective wall to block them, somehow waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on the center of the training grounds to watch the two perform a martial arts show.

‘This is a perfect situation for an experiment.’

Enoch retreated to a corner and quietly watched their battle.

The man extended his long staff forward. Immediately, a magic circle began to rotate and rise.

It was one of the magics that Enoch was very familiar with.

Among the 9th grade general magic, the fire series magic boasts the most overwhelming firepower. [Pyroblast].

The tip of the man’s outstretched staff. A dance of fire unfolded in front of the rotating magic circle.

Within moments, huge discs of engulfing flames formed and shot towards their opponents at terrifying speeds.

“Ugh!”

Hwaaaaak!

The female sorceress who was confronting him deployed defensive magic, but the flames that burned the space were so intense that they seemed as if they would swallow up her defensive barrier.

Enoch looked closely at the wizards and the magic circle they were constructing.

The ‘sense of mana’ learned in the inner world.

Before he knew it, his eyes were vaguely catching the flow of mana used by the magicians.

Thanks to this, I was able to discover some interesting facts that I didn’t know before.

‘The wizard uses his body as a medium to draw in mana that is naturally present in the surrounding environment and process it. With that converted mana, he builds the magic circle he wants and uses it to power his magic.’

Suddenly, scenes from my inner world where the shadow of the Black Swordsman swings his sword and cuts the lines of mana came to mind.

‘So then, the line of mana that the swordsman or whatever cut at that time was the source of magical power that the wizard drew from his surroundings.’

So to speak, if you cut all of that off, it’s like cutting off the energy supply needed to power magic.

That’s why the magic doesn’t work.

Conversely, once the magic circle is completed, the completed magic will work regardless of whether you cut the mana line or not.

‘In real combat, it seems like the key is how quickly you can cut it down before the magic circle is completed.’

Just when Enoch thought about that.

Just then, soft gasps could be heard from those watching the magicians’ dance from the side.

“How is it that Master Kaon can perform high-powered magic without getting tired…!”

“If it were me, I would have already collapsed from mana exhaustion. As expected, the talent of a direct descendant of Elseid is…”

When I turned my gaze, I saw the magician on the other side deploying his magic circle again.

But this time, the line of mana he had deployed extended outward even further than before.

‘The more powerful the magic, the further the mana lines extend. Is it because it requires more mana to activate?’

Woof-

But among them, by chance, a line of mana extending to the front of Enoch caught my eye.

As I just observed, it seems like the magic consumes a lot of mana, so mana is drawn to this place even though it is far from where the training is taking place.

It was a good opportunity.

‘Let’s give it a try.’

It was a perfect opportunity, as it was a secluded corner that was out of sight and everyone’s attention was focused on the training.

Enoch watched the flow of mana unleashed by the two wizards and slowly untied the knot of the black cloth bag he was carrying on his back.

Sreung─

As I pulled out the sword, a silver-white blade appeared along with a small metallic ringing sound.

Enoch grabbed the hilt and raised the sword straight up.

Even if you cut this one, the magic circle probably won’t scatter. There are countless lines of mana extending in other directions.

But I wanted to check in advance how much damage the magic would take when cutting a single strand, or if he could really cut it like a sword.

Enoch, who had thought that far, swung his sword and quickly struck the line of mana that only he could see.

WHEEK!

But contrary to expectations, the sword he swung passed through the mana line in vain.

I tried a few more times just in case, but there was no change in the mana line that I could see before my eyes.

Enoch nodded slightly and put his sword back in his pocket.

“… Hmm.”

Cutting mana wasn’t something that could be done simply by swinging a sword. It was something that required some additional conditions.

So what are the conditions?

Actually, I had one guess.

‘Is it only possible to interfere with the opponent’s mana by putting my mana into the sword?’

The scene from earlier flashed through my mind. The sword that the Black Knight’s silhouette had been swinging was clearly dyed in the red mana he had manifested.

But this wasn’t it.

You can’t infuse mana into your sword yet. That’s the only difference between this side and the sword master.

The reason why you can’t cut the Mana line is probably the same.

‘So that’s why the message telling me to understand Mana appeared?’

This means that since you can’t put your own mana into the sword yet, you can’t interfere with the magician’s mana. Now I can roughly understand the messages about the power being reduced.

‘The problem is how to manifest mana…’

Enoch bowed his head in thought.

He is not the Enoch who has lived here for 17 years.

Of course, it was like grasping at straws to suddenly understand, feel, and manifest the unfamiliar concept of mana.

‘At least I should be able to feel what mana is.’

If you think about it calmly, there is only one conclusion.

I had to find a way to feel the mana myself, not just see it.

But to feel your own mana.

What on earth should I do?

While Enoch was sitting there quietly lost in thought.

“Haha! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you crawl out of your room. Enoch.”

Suddenly, the voice of a strange boy pierced my ears.