Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 32

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 32 - Growth (7)

I hadn’t learned even the tiniest bit about magic these past two weeks.

After the first three days had passed, Dercia had nodded, as if she was actually quite impressed.

"You didn’t wake up at all in your sleep today.”

"My body didn’t want to die after all..."

Unconsciously channeling mana into the artifact.

At first, I seriously wondered if that was even possible. But when you’re made to suffocate every five minutes of sleep, you just end up doing it if you want to survive.

As a result, the dark circles under my eyes were about as bad as Dercia’s.

As I collapsed on the floor, I spotted Dercia writing something down, seeming intrigued before snapping her fingers.

“Try to maintain it during the next stage as well. Intense physical exertion.”

"Intense physical exertion? No, wait, shouldn’t I rest a bit before that?”

I seriously felt as if I was about to die.

If I fainted now, I’d just die. That was why I had to be near Dercia at all times so that she could keep channeling mana into the artifact for me. Which meant that I had to sleep in this damn library using books as my mattress and pillow, which were the worst possible sleeping conditions in my book.

At least no one came here. If there was one thing I learned as Dercia’s disciple, it was that other wizards mostly feared or avoided her.

I wasn’t that surprised by that fact, actually. Her bizarre appearance as an elven wizard, her overwhelming skills, and her miserable communication skills.

This might sound a bit disrespectful to say something like that about my master, but there was no chance in hell that any noble would get close to her when she had the power and ability to even kill them paired with the fact that they couldn’t even hold a proper conversation with her.

While I was busy contemplating such irreverent things, Dercia tilted her head at me, as if to ask what nonsense I was talking about.

"That’s why we’re doing it now.”

"?”

"We’re not doing this assuming simple exercise conditions. I mean, when you’re exhausted, your muscles are demanding to rest, and when you feel like you’re about to rest. Anything else would be pointless.”

"...Ah, makes sense."

Hearing her lay out the facts like that made it sound reasonable.

I pulled myself up, wearing a sullen expression, as she gave me instructions far simpler than I expected.

"Run one lap around the library.”

"Just one lap?”

"Yes. It’s going to be difficult.”

What was she talking about?

Even if I was seriously tired, I could run dozens of laps around the library. It was just one building, no matter how big it might be.

Suspicion evident on my face, I stepped forward.

And after just a few steps—

“Grgh– kgh-kugh...!"

My breathing cut off as agonizing pain ripped through me. My legs burned like they’d been shoved into a furnace. I quickly channeled my mana into the artifact.

When I barely managed to regain consciousness, I demanded an explanation from Dercia. She slowly twirled her index finger as she gave me an answer.

"To create a proper extreme environment, I simultaneously cast Form: Rupture and Form: Acceleration on your entire body, Jern.”

"Could you please explain it in a way that a normal human could understand?”

"Every step you take will feel like the equivalent of walking a thousand. Taking your stride length into consideration, you should take about 1,230 steps to make one lap around the library, so you can think of it as walking 1,230,000 steps.”

"Umm, by that math, I’d die before I ever finish.”

"Correct. You most definitely would. If you hadn’t learned Body Strengthening and if I weren’t here, that is.”

Dercia muttered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I’ve already made preparations. You won’t die so easily in this space.”

I could see something simmering in those hazy eyes of hers.

"Even if you wanted to."

I couldn’t quite tell what it was.

But since all of this clearly wasn’t for my sake, it made it more believable for some reason. If my master didn’t want me to die—

...Then I probably wouldn’t.

"Don’t worry. This training will take a long time. If you faint, rest and start over again. Think of it as something for your long-term growth.”

"Haah..."

Letting out a small sigh, I took another step forward.

"...Kugh..."

No matter how much I was prepared for it, it still hurt like hell.

* * *

I still had a long way to go.

"Jern. Your willpower… It’s something truly inexplicable that can’t just be dismissed as well.”

"..."

"I was prepared for this training to take the full estimated time. I thought it would be a full month of tearfully whipping you to the verge of death.”

"....."

"And yet—look at this. You managed to finish the training brilliantly. In fact, you went even further. 1,231 steps. I was honestly quite anxious since these conditions shouldn’t be withstandable by any normal human theoretically.”

"......."

"When I explained the training to my housekeeper, Ciel, she gnashed her teeth and swore she’d kill me if I didn’t stop this child abuse immediately. How ridiculous. What even constitutes abuse? You’ve proven it. A person’s limits are only what one decides for themselves…”

I couldn’t respond to Dercia’s rambling.

I didn’t even have the energy to open my mouth.

A week.

That was how long it took me to walk those 1,230,000 steps.

It wasn’t just my legs that were aching. Halfway through that trek, she decided that this exercise was too easy, so she quintupled the load on my body by casting Form: Rupture on my upper body as well. Thanks to that, my whole body was pulsating with pain.

It took me two more days until I regained my ability to speak.

Lying on the cot Dercia had made me, I came to realize something that should have been obvious.

"This… isn’t a normal training regime, right?”

"Indeed, it isn’t. Did you want a normal one?”

"Not exactly, but I just felt like this was no different from telling me to straight up die.”

"I have once seen Knights training with sandbags bound to their limbs. Watching them, I found myself thinking, ‘How foolish. Doing that would only stimulate certain muscles, which ultimately won’t make much of a difference,’ but when it comes to physical conditioning, their method was more accurate than anything I, a mage, would be able to come up with. I merely modified their training to make it more efficient.”

Seeing how she said those things so cheerfully made it clear to me that Dercia seriously wasn’t in her right mind.

However, I couldn’t deny that her training had been helpful.

When I swung my arm and started to walk around, I could tell that something had clearly changed.

"I can feel the currents pushing me around less.”

"It’s simply a difference in muscle strength.”

I clenched my fist. I wouldn’t call myself muscular, by any means, but compared to my previously scrawny arms, I couldn’t help but feel satisfied.

"Right now it only interferes with you while walking, but soon your burden will start interfering with all your movements. This training doubled as both breathing practice and preparation for that day, and, I must say, the results have been rather good.”

"What’s next?”

"I haven’t decided yet. I didn’t expect you to be done so quickly.”

Hmm.

There was still quite some time until that combat exam or whatever.

I absolutely didn’t want to waste that time.

Dercia seemed to have read my thoughts, because she brought up the quite welcome topic.

"While it might be a little early, I can tell you about the lessons you’ll be taking in the future.”

"Ah, yes. Will I be learning intermediate magic?”

"No. Tell me, what do you think your advantages are compared to other Abyss Realm wizards?”

"Umm..."

After thinking about it for a moment, I gave her an answer.

"The fact that I have caught your eye, Master.”

"Correct. And the second?”

So it really was a trap. How scary.

"The fact that I am able to use regular magic as well.”

"Indeed. It’s quite strange. I’ve been researching how such a thing could ever be possible, but no matter how I tried to look at this matter, I always came to the same conclusion—that this is supposed to be impossible. It makes no sense at all…”

Dercia furrowed her brows as she stared at me.

...Well, it wasn’t like I didn’t have my own guesses.

The one who fell into the Abyss was this body.

And the one using regular magic might be me, who came from Earth.

I wasn’t completely sure about it, and saying it wouldn’t change anything, so I just shrugged.

“I also have no idea.”

"In any case, this is your sharpest blade, Jern. Have you thought about how you’ll use it?”

"I have some vague ideas. If I keep training hard, I might be able to survive in the Abyssal Sea somehow using it.”

"Jerm, I said it before—but let me say it again.”

Dercia locked her eyes with mine.

"You have no talent for magic.”

"...Really? The nobles said I was quite talented, though.”

"I don’t know what standards humans might have, but by my standards, you’ll never be able to exceed the wall. You won’t be able to awaken more than three stars.”

By my standards, that would be quite the achievement, though.

"Your magic must be developed solely as a safety device for handling magic of the Abyssal Sea.”

"Hmm..."

I hummed.

"I think I get it. You’re telling me not to chase dreams of greatness with my limited talent in normal magic and instead focus on resisting my burdens and mastering the magic of the Abyssal Sea.”

"Exactly."

"But do I really need to even use Abyss magic? I mean, what if I just used regular magic to withstand the burdens and never even touch the Abyss? Wouldn’t I—?”

"You’d be able to live a bit longer then. About two years.”

"..."

Dercia spoke gently to me, as if coaxing a child.”

"Ultimately, you have to face your own world. Learning magic is merely meant to buy you time. A stopgap measure. If you want more than that, you’ll have to risk danger and venture forward.”

"So I need to become familiar with the Abyssal Sea, huh…?”

"I can guarantee that you have talent for that. You’re adapting to it incredibly quickly.”

"But there’s still something I don’t understand.”

I scratched my head.

"Even if I fully adapt to it, what will I actually be able to do?”

"Originally, I wouldn’t have been able to answer you.”

Dercia held something out to me.

It was a blood-soaked letter, a plea for help.

There wasn’t much written on it.

[History has begun to repeat itself.

I can only pray that those standing at the end of all this won’t be them.

Beware of the lump—]

"What’s ‘the lump’?”

"I don’t know. If the Knight who left this letter had been one to possess enough intelligence to jot down which enemy he was facing and what their weaknesses were instead of such pretentious words, things would have been easier.”

Dercia’s assessment of the author was quite harsh.

"Recently, various ghost towns have been found. Places that held thousands of people just a week ago, left completely empty, only bloodstains remaining. These kinds of reports keep reaching me these days.”

"...The perpetrators?”

"Yes. They are most definitely Scarlet Abyss."

Dercia folded the note and continued.

"That’s the enemy you should be targeting.”

"Aren’t you going after them, Master?”

"I’m not particularly interested in worms that merely fell. My inner world isn’t particularly specialized for combat either. I’ll leave this to those fools who can’t get enough of fighting and only intervene if things get worse.”

"..."

Well, anyway.

If they were a gathering of Abyss Realm mages, and they were somehow surviving, they had to know how to endure.

"Maybe they even have a solution on how to survive the Abyssal Sea.”

"I honestly doubt that they have what you’re looking for. Someone who has fallen into the Abyssal Sea would have been crushed to death in a matter of seconds. How would they have been able to gather any information?”

"Ah, right…”

"However, they have probably been working tirelessly for thousands of years, constantly gathering information on how to withstand various extreme environments with a human body.”

"So should I fight them to learn?”

"That is one option, but I’d recommend joining them first.”

"?"

"I think it would be much more efficient to grow to an appropriate point, join their ranks, demonstrate your ability, and then discuss ways to survive before escaping than fighting them for mere scraps of information."

"Wait, but what if they try to dissect me or something?”

"I doubt they’d decide to handle a mage of the Abyssal Sea like that so easily.”

"I still don’t want to join those bastards who’d kidnap and torture children…”

"If they order you to torture someone, you could just run away at that point, right? Well, that is still a long way off. For now it’s enough for you to keep it in mind.”

Dercia’s expression was completely serious.

Practicality over morality.

...Well, I guess I wasn’t all too different from her since it sounded reasonable enough to me.

I guess it was adequate enough as a short-term goal. I just shrugged and changed the subject.

"Let’s just leave it at that for now. But what kind of magic do I even use to withstand my burdens?”

"You already experienced it. Growth, Form, and Purge. They are what made you suffer during your last training segment. They are now considered ancient magics that are no longer in use. You and I probably are the only ones still dabbling in Unitary magic in this era.”

"Hmm, I can’t really get an impression from just hearing of them.”

"It’s magic that only performs three roles. To grow, regulate, and remove. For now let’s focus on Purge. It’s a way to give your own body orders. To manifest it, you add ‘Purge’ before a word. First… let’s start with what you can already do.”

Dercia brought a large container filled with water from close by. It was large enough to fit a person inside.

There was a lot of ice in there as well.

"We’ll begin training the magic that lets you remove the cold from your body. Even with your rather lacking talent, you should be able to pick it up quite quickly, since it’s considered to be primal magic.”

I sighed, not really believing a single word.

...By now, I was starting to understand how Dercia’s lessons usually went.

***

"A-aren’t you cold? Wait, won’t you die from this sort of thing??”

"It’s fine, like I said, I’m okay…”

I kept reassuring Elisia as I covered my body with a towel.

Purge actually wasn’t all that difficult.

I just had to remember a moment when I was just about to freeze.

According to Dercia, this was a process of inserting that memory into my world. After being on the brink of freezing to death countless times, you couldn’t help but remember the feeling perfectly.

Then if one activates Purge in the exact same situation, the cold just vanishes.

It was truly incredible. It wasn’t like my body was getting hotter, but rather that the cold simply stopped being there. “Purging the cold” would probably be the most accurate way to put it.

When I asked why this absolutely broken magic had been abandoned, the answer she gave me was:.

"Because its methods are far too ignorant."

One must first experience a situation with their own body to purge it.

So for example, if one wanted to endure being in fire, one had to literally go into the fire oneself.

Not just once, but multiple times until your body perfectly remembers the sensation. Only then could one attempt to trigger Purge when finding oneself in that situation. That was one disadvantage. Another downside was that it drains enormous amounts of mana.

To me, none of that mattered. My mana was practically infinite if I just had to breathe in some of the seawater around me.

The only real burden was having to endure.

Well, it would happen sooner or later anyway.

"Ugh… This is just torture!”

Elisia managed to muster up some courage to protest against Derica, which was really rare.

But when she met Dercia’s manic gaze, she quickly lowered her head again.

She wasn't actually angry; Dercia just always teetered on the edge of madness.

She just looked at me and asked,

"Did you call her?”

"Yes, I thought it was about time that I get back to the job I’ve been given.”

"...You did need some rest. However, you absolutely have to master Purge magic before entering the combat exam.”

"Wasn’t I just participating in that to get beaten up anyway? The goal was being able to maintain my breathing, right?”

"I have no desire to watch my disciple just standing there and getting beat up. I’d rather you hold out for about five minutes, then knock them out and win the competition.”

"...Ah, yes."

How absurd. She said that as if it would be easy or something.

I decided to let it slide as I saw Dercia shift her gaze to Elisia.

"And you."

"Eek..."

"Hmm."

She looked over Elisia from a few angles, then smirked and offered some sort of advice.

"There’s no need for you to change. Worlds like yours do exist as well.”

"...Huh?"

"But even so, fearing tools is nothing short of foolishness.”

"Wh-what does that mean…?”

"That’s all.”