Dark Fantasy: Magical Eye Knight – Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Beginning and End of Magic

In his previous life, this was something he could only dream of. Sitting together and casually sharing jokes with such a beautiful woman. In his past life, he had lived alone until he died from a viral infection.

Both of his parents had passed away when he was young, and he had no known relatives. He had never married, so naturally, he had no children.

It was because of his new body’s good looks and his personality, which he found amusing, that Russell was able to talk to a beautiful woman so casually.

After finishing the remaining food, he continued to feed the fire by throwing in firewood. His stomach was full, and the sight of the burning flames and smoke reminded him of cigarettes.

In his previous life, he had never smoked, but all of his friends were smokers. Naturally, he had to sit at the table during meals, before and after, while they smoked.

“After-meal craving?”

“W, What? What’s that?”

“Do you have any cigarettes?”

“. . .Do I look like I would?”

“I don’t discriminate based on appearance.”

“Tch.”

Evelyn soon took out a cigarette case, opened it, and gasped. Then, with a conflicted expression, she handed Russell a cigarette with trembling hands. Judging by the way she was holding the case, it seemed like there was only one left.

“Isn’t that your last one?”

“It’s the price for saving my life.”

“I told you I wouldn’t touch your dignity.”

“. . .Dignity? The pillar you put on your belly? What does that have to do with me?”

“There is such a thing.”

Russell laughed out loud and took the cigarette. Evelyn, with a puzzled expression, explained about the cigarette. Her eyes were filled with regret as she looked at the last remaining cigarette.

“It’s not just tobacco. It’s rolled with Euphren herb. It’s almost harmless to the body.”

“Is it addictive?”

“. . . . . a little bit. I’ve been saving it. . . .”

After lighting the match that Evelyn handed him, Russell took a drag. As expected, a refreshing scent filled his palate, his nostrils, and deep into his lungs. His stuffy nose opened up, and his senses became clearer.

It wasn’t just an empty boast. His body hair stood on end, and he felt like he could feel the cold air outside better. The flow of mana inside and outside his body became clearer, and his five senses were awakened. If those guys knew about this, they would offer any price to smoke it.

“It’s not bad.”

“Right?”

“I feel like I’ve become a delinquent.”

“. . . . . .”

Evelyn seemed to have decided not to respond to Russell’s incomprehensible words. In fact, in this world, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to already have children at the age of twenty.

There were even guys who got married at the age of sixteen. Russell had often made fun of his father for saying that he wanted to see his grandchildren. He used to say, “If I had a daughter around your age,”

Even if the sister he was talking about wasn’t a blood-related sister, Russell had no intention of having children, especially at such an early age.

He was skeptical about marriage and children. Since he had no experience with them in his previous life, he had even less desire to do anything about them.

In these times, monsters would often invade, or young men would be conscripted into the army. The time he could spend as an innocent child was short.

“Whew. . . .”

Anyway, whether Evelyn said anything or not, Russell smoked the cigarette. As he exhaled, he saw a faint blue shimmer in his breath, and he realized that it was indeed a wizard’s cigarette. If there was something like this on Earth, he would have smoked it once and died.

“Want a hit?”

When Russell asked, Evelyn initially looked confused, but her face soon turned red. ‘Oh, is there a concept of indirect kissing here too?’

“N, No, it’s fine!”

“Don’t be shy.”

Puff, puff. As Russell smoked deliciously, Evelyn unconsciously made a regretful expression and shook her head. Russell, who smiled at her cute appearance, said,

“I asked you earlier if you were interested in magic.”

“W, Wha, what?”

“Then you’re interested. How many people in the world want to use magic? If possible, I’d like to use it too. It’s amazing. It’s cool. It’s thrilling.”

“Really?”

Evelyn, her slender waist resting on her hands, exclaimed. Seeing her become so excited, he wanted to tease her more, but he held back.

As he picked up the firewood and threw it into the campfire, it made a crackling sound, and sparks flew. A feast of sparkles adorned the sky. The refreshing scent of tobacco. In his previous life, he had never been able to enjoy such luxury. For an asthmatic patient, smoking was like asking to die.

“Can you make that fireball from earlier?”

“Why? Do you want to see it?”

“Just once.”

“It shouldn’t be difficult. I’m not supposed to show you something like this, but watch carefully.”

Evelyn spoke a spell and formed hand signs with both hands. Russell watched the process without taking his eyes off her.

However, it wasn’t easy to figure out any patterns from the spell she was muttering or the complicated gestures she was making. Instead, his eyes detected a certain flow being gathered through Evelyn’s hands.

A sense that allowed him to see something more essential than the physical eye, and the background turned black. The surrounding scenery gradually blurred and lost its color, as if a haze were rolling in. All that remained was the flow of mana in various colors.

He could see the movement of mana flickering from Evelyn’s mouth and the corresponding mana outside.

A sixth sense exists beyond the five senses—a sense of magic power. The sense that he had been able to feel as naturally as breathing since birth read the flow of Evelyn’s every gesture, as if in slow motion.

As if cogwheels were turning, they began to take shape under an arrangement of certain rules and laws.

Soon, a blazing sphere was created between her palms. It was like looking at a small sun.

“Oh. . . .”

He exclaimed, still holding the cigarette in his mouth. The sphere, which had been burning for a few seconds, soon shrank in size and disappeared. As he blinked and looked at Evelyn, she wiped away a bead of sweat and smiled awkwardly.

“I used up all my magic power just now. . . .”

“Hmm. Can you show me one more time?”

“Huh? That’s hard. . . .”

“I’m not asking you to make a fireball like just now. Even a small spark is fine.”

“Well, if that’s the case,”

This time, she didn’t need a long spell or hand signs. As she finished a short but unintelligible spell, a spark appeared on her palm. It was a small flame, about the size of a candle. Russell watched the process of the spark being created, just like before. Something was tingling at his fingertips.

“Are you done?”

“Yes.”

Russell nodded and straightened his back, which had been slightly hunched forward.

‘Could I imitate it?’ Russell exhaled smoke and recalled the arrangement of the mana itself, rather than the spell and hand signs. His mind had grasped the pronunciation, intonation, pitch, and hand signs of the spell, but that didn’t mean that a fireball would pop out if he imitated it exactly.

The magic of the world was diverse and was implemented in different ways by different users. Evelyn’s method might not suit Russell.

Still, it seemed worth a try. Since he had been born with the memories of his previous life in a fantasy world, shouldn’t he at least try some magic?

“Can’t you make a thunderbolt?”

“Summoning lightning is a very difficult spell. You have to check the weather in the sky and prepare for this and that.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. In the first place, lightning is a tricky attribute to handle. And if I make something like that now, it’ll be really noisy.”

“But you can do it?”

“Of, of course I can!”

“Okay. Anyway, I enjoyed watching it. I’m going to sleep now.”

Russell stubbed out the finished cigarette on the ground.

As he prepared to go to bed, Evelyn asked:

“H, Hey! By any chance, where are you going?”

“Isn’t the destination of this procession the city of Calisden? I’ll go there first.”

“And then?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet. Just a vague world tour.”

“A world tour?”

“It’s been my dream for a long time.”

Of course, the world he had originally wanted to go to is now gone forever.

But that was okay. No, he thought it was even better. He would be able to meet and interact with various mysteries and different races. He would be lying if he said he had no regrets, but he had gotten rid of them over time as he was reborn and spent time. He didn’t have any family or children in his previous life, so he was able to let go of his regrets quickly. To the current Russell, his current family and relationships were more important.

Evelyn seemed to have something more to ask, but when Russell yawned, she smiled awkwardly and stepped back. Russell, who was alone again, calmly looked around.

Using several carriages and wagons as walls and pillars, they had set up tents to create a makeshift roof, and under them, they had lit three or four campfires. Two or three mercenaries were sitting or standing guard around each campfire, resting or keeping an eye on the surroundings.

Since he had done his part for the day and had been exempted from night watch, Russell was able to sleep comfortably.

As he laid down his blanket in a suitable spot, the night sky came into view. It was beautiful. Russell, his head resting on his hands, traced the small dots of light with his eyes.

Stars that he didn’t know about were connected by lines following an unknown myth, singing of ancient times, and next to the river of countless stars was a large, bright moon. Unlike the yellow moon on Earth, the moon here was a cold, blue color.

It was a scene that he could never have dreamed of under the dull night sky of South Korea, and Russell was quite satisfied with the scenery.

The blue moon was larger than he had seen it on Earth, and so the crater marks etched on its surface were also clearer. It was said that if you connected the crater marks in a certain way, you would see the face of a howling wolf, but Russell couldn’t see it clearly.

Anyway, it was the same here: the animal associated with the moon was the wolf.

Aooooooo. . . .

“W, What is that?”

Just then, the sound of a wolf howling could be heard from somewhere in the forest. It seemed that the uruk’s corpse, which had been left in the forest, had been discovered. The startled mercenaries grabbed the weapons they had placed down or were holding, but nothing happened.

Russell only turned his head slightly to look in the direction of the forest. His excellent eyesight pierced through the darkness and caught sight of something flickering like a yellow firefly in the forest. It had the glowing eyes of a wolf.

However, the wolves seemed to be satisfied with just the unexpected gain. The sound of the uruk’s corpse being dragged away could be heard as the wolves moved away. With nine large chunks of meat, it would be enough to feed the pack.

The mercenaries, who were awkwardly laughing at the sight of the wolves retreating, and the quietly burning campfire. The starry night sky and the appetizing smell of food.

Russell, who was feeling all of this with his senses, suddenly raised one hand.

Remembering the arrangement of mana that he had seen earlier, he gathered the mana that was spread out in the atmosphere.

The beginning and end of magic are the same. The manifestation of will. Even those who do not possess any magical power can perform magic through the mana in the atmosphere if their mental strength and will are strong.

However, at the same time, it is an extremely difficult task. It is like trying to create a cup of water by condensing the moisture that is floating around in the atmosphere. And that too, without any tools. It may not be completely impossible, but it is infinitely close to it.

Magic was first passed down from dragons to dragonkin and elves, and then from humans. And over the long and winding years, humans created their own methods of training to create magic.

The first lesson in magic begins with realizing the existence of mana. This is because humans do not have magical organs like dragonkins or elves to handle magic power. If they are talented, they will feel it within a month, but if not, it may take several years to find out.

Feeling mana is the basic element of knowing the nature of the miracle hes about to perform. Russell had ‘felt’ the abundance of mana around him ever since he was born and could think.

The next step is to guide that flow into the body through meditation and mental training. The flow that is created up to a certain strength will, at some point, continue the flow of its own accord. The shape of that flow is a circle. A circle. Russell had awakened his magic power by following the operation of the training method that had been passed down in his family.

These processes are similar to a program. They identify the elements that constitute the source of information, like 0 and 1, and based on that, they announce their presence in the world through the processes of intention, imagination, and language. Spells and hand gestures are more like auxiliary tools that help with this process.

From the circle created in the body, make branches to form a formula, and when you unite your imagination and will and command the world with that thought as a trigger word,.

“Fire.”

Fwoosh!

Magic is manifested.

Russell looked at the small flame flickering just above his index finger. He understood the arrangement and structure of the magic power that made up the flame, so it was burning, using Russell’s magic power as firewood.

A small flame the size of a candle. It looked like the wick of a candle, but it wasn’t hot. It was also not as threatening as the fireball or fire arrows that Evelyn had drawn in the air.

However, all of those results would have always existed before this small flame. Just as a forest fire that overturns mountains and plants starts from a small spark that someone has left behind,.

Instead of trying to grab a star that was pouring down like rain, Russell lit a small flame.

The flame burning on his index finger was so precarious that it would have been blown out if anyone had breathed on it.

But at the same time, it was beautiful.

Russell looked at the magic that he had manifested for the first time in his life and changed the position of the flame.

He moved it from the tip of his finger to his fist, to his thumb, and then to his little finger, as if he were beckoning someone. He also flicked it like a pebble and rolled it between his fingers like a coin.

At first, the flame, which had been flickering unsteadily, gradually took on a stable shape and performed circus-like tricks. After playing with the flame for a while, Russell fell asleep at some point.

And there were a pair of blue eyes watching him.

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