Became a Medieval Fantasy Wizard

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: none

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Ian listened attentively to other wizards' magical theories, farming experience points.

[You have gained sufficient understanding of water's movement.]

[LV UP!]

[Skill: Water Magic - Lv 4]

[You are quite a skilled water wizard]

Though you could gain experience by directly communicating with mysteries, you could also level up through learning from other wizards' knowledge.

The more mainstream the magic, the more experience points you could farm since more wizards presented on those topics.

[You have gained sufficient understanding of fire's movement.]

[LV UP!]

[Skill: Fire Magic - Lv 5]

[You are a skilled fire wizard]

[You have gained sufficient understanding of earth's movement.]

[LV UP!]

[Skill: Earth Magic - Lv 4]

[You are quite a skilled earth wizard]

Through consistent lecture attendance, Ian secured decent experience points in water magic, fire magic, and earth magic.

Obviously, the higher the skill level, the better.

"How was my presentation?"

"Still crystal clear as always, Master."

Eredith burst into girlish laughter at Ian's praise.

"You were watching so intently!"

Of course Ian paid close attention to the lectures - he needed those experience points.

"Now it's your turn, Ian!"

'Well then...'

Inglan had specially squeezed Ian's presentation into the seminar.

The reason was simple - to prove he wasn't just some fake wizard who got in through connections.

Ian stepped onto the platform and addressed the audience:

"Hello. I am Ian, a dark wizard."

"Dark wizard?"

"Hmm... dark magic..."

The wizards quickly exchanged glances.

And then...

Bang!

As if on cue, they all started getting up from their seats!

"?"

Ian stared at the wizards in slight confusion.

Like, even for wizards famous for being eccentric...

Could they really just get up and leave when a young wizard was about to present?!

"Wait. Where are you going?"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Ian asked the wizards.

An unfamiliar wizard casually replied:

"Going to get food."

Food? Now?

Ian quickly checked Eredith's expression.

Eredith didn't look surprised at all. Like she'd expected this.

So this wasn't some sudden move by the wizards to mess with Ian...

"I'm going to present about dark magic. Are you really just leaving?"

When Ian asked, the wizards laughed happily and answered:

"Ah~ I wouldn't understand even if I stayed!"

"???"

"I spent twenty fucking years trying to learn that damned dark magic and couldn't get past the basics. Bloody hell."

"You can probably hear the voice of darkness well? To me it just sounds like mosquitoes buzzing~"

"That mysterious damned darkness!"

That was it.

The wizards heading out for food were people who couldn't understand dark magic at all.

As wizards, they certainly had curiosity about dark magic.

About 10 years ago, that is.

But after trying everything and still being unable to hear darkness's voice, they'd completely given up on dark magic.

'No way...'

Ian was at a loss for words looking at the nearly empty lecture hall.

It hadn't been this bad when teaching dark magic to students!

But it made sense.

Students hadn't yet climbed the [Peak of Ignorance].

Since they knew nothing about magic yet, they'd think 'Ah! I'll learn fire magic and dark magic, I'll try learning everything!' and challenge various types of magic. 𝐑ÅＮȏꞖƐṢ

People are naturally brave when they don't know anything.

Dark magic? How hard could it be! It's just magic that makes things dark!

But unlike students, these were 'wizards' - intellectuals who had mastered their fields to some degree.

They knew well what they were good and bad at.

Though they could struggle through major magic like air and earth magic, and minor magic like water and fire magic with enough time invested...

They'd realized unique magic like photon magic, dark magic, and space-time magic couldn't be learned just by grinding away at it.

"...Master, aren't you going to eat?"

"Haha. How could I leave when my only disciple is presenting!"

Though Eredith was an excellent fire wizard, she knew nothing about dark magic.

But she stayed seated anyway.

As his only master, she wanted to support her disciple!

Ian looked at Eredith with slight emotion.

"Master..."

Even Professor Inglan was still sitting next to Eredith.

That guy specialized in photon magic. In terms of magical rarity, it was an ultra-minor magic like Ian's.

Ian had been sure Inglan would go get food...

To think he'd stay out of loyalty!

"Inglan, thank you for stay-"

"Ah! I already ate earlier, so I won't leave!"

"..."

Ian was dumbfounded.

Earlier meant during Eredith's presentation!

He'd gone to eat while Eredith was presenting her fire magic research!!!

Instead of staying out of loyalty, Inglan was just too full and lazy to move...

"Just hurry up and do your presentation."

Ian quietly promised himself.

He'd definitely give that bastard a good flick on the forehead someday.

"Then, I'll begin my presentation."

Ian calmly presented his dark magic theory.

The presentation wasn't anything grand - he just briefly summarized how he communicated with the mystery of darkness.

When Ian explained things like 'The mystery of darkness likes shadow play~'

That became dark magic theory, appearing in dark magic textbooks as [How to befriend darkness - First, play with shadows].

And Ian's presentation didn't have much academic value.

"Um... I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"You mentioned first meeting the mystery of darkness in a deep cave. How did you distinguish between earth's voice and darkness's voice?"

"...?"

Ian tilted his head.

How to distinguish earth's voice from darkness's voice?

"Don't they sound different?"

"What?"

"Ah. Earth's voice is clearer, while darkness's voice is fainter."

Ian explained with a satisfied smile.

That should be enough explanation-

But the questioner's expression was quite strange.

"I don't quite understand... For instance, there are days when earth's voice sounds quieter, right? Wouldn't it be hard to distinguish between earth's mystery and darkness's mystery then?"

"??? Earth's voice sounds quieter?"

"Ah. Yes."

"Why?"

"...?"

Ian and the questioner stared at each other, both with ??? floating above their heads.

Earth's voice gets quieter?!

Earth's voice doesn't get quieter?!

"If-if you can communicate skillfully with earth's mystery, that means you're an earth wizard, right?"

"Yes, that's right?"

"Then are you saying learning earth magic is essential for learning dark magic?"

"??? What do you mean? You just need to hear darkness's voice?"

"No..."

After further conversation with Ian, the questioner finally realized what Ian meant.

"Wait a minute."

The questioner exclaimed in disbelief:

"So you're saying you could just naturally communicate with both the mystery of darkness and the mystery of earth from the start?"

Ian replied somewhat sheepishly:

"Um. That was the case for me."

"..."

"It just worked?"

"..."

Only then did the questioner understand why he couldn't grasp Ian's theory.

This dark wizard Ian was... simply born with magical aptitude, a natural wizard!

'Is this for real...?'

He stared at Ian with stunned eyes.

It was just a difference in innate magical talent.

All they could do was go home and cry to their moms 'Why didn't you give birth to me as Ian!'

What could you do about innate talent gaps?

"This concludes my presentation."

Though it wasn't clear what he'd actually presented.

Ian had filled his time slot and returned to his seat.

And his theory was completely useless to most of the audience...

"Damn... so dark magic really is about talent!"

"Told you we should just go eat instead of wasting time. dark magic is only for those born with it."

Most aspiring dark wizards got nothing from Ian's presentation.

What they wanted was information on 'how to effectively hear darkness's voice.'

Darkness had attributes of concealment and secrecy, making it an extremely difficult mystery to communicate with.

But Ian had completely skipped the most important step of 'hearing darkness's voice'!

'Ah~ Everyone can do this much right? Moving on~'

'What???'

This was the decisive reason other wizards unanimously said 'dark magic is all about talent.'

The wizards who'd left early for food had been wise.

After finishing his presentation, Ian immediately felt hungry.

"Um. Master. When should we go eat..."

"Hello. I am Mackilo, an ice wizard, presenting on ice magic."

As soon as Eredith heard 'ice magic', she said:

"Let's go now."

"...Agreed."

Almost all the wizards who'd stayed for the dark magic presentation got up.

Meanwhile Inglan stayed firmly in his seat.

...He was sleeping.

"Everyone? The STRONGEST MAGIC ice magic presentation is about to begin!"

"Wow~ Ice magic is so strong~ Ice magic is the best~"

Ian halfheartedly cheered for the ice wizard while escaping the lecture hall with Eredith.

#

"How was the seminar?"

Ian chatted with Eredith while eating at a restaurant.

Just the two of them talking like this made him feel like he was back to being a kid.

"It was informative."

"Any parts you didn't understand?"

Ian answered with a smile:

"None."

Eredith smiled too.

The child Ian had grown into a fine young man.

"As you know, the Maronius language is incomplete."

Ian nodded.

The Maronius language - an artificial language used by all wizards in the Empire.

Maronius, who in terms of Ian's past life would have been an Einstein-level super genius, had single-handedly created a magical language capable of communicating with mysteries.

But perhaps due to the limitations of being created by one person.

The Maronius language was incomplete.

"Among researchers, there's a puzzle about the Maronius language."

"A puzzle?"

"A conspiracy theory? Or maybe we should call it a legend?"

Eredith said:

"Maronius... intentionally left the Maronius language incomplete."

Ian tilted his head slightly.

Intentionally left it incomplete?

"More precisely, he abandoned it."

"You mean he threw it away?"

"Yes. The Maronius language is known as a magical language. Because through it, we can communicate with mysteries."

Eredith explained calmly.

The Maronius language was a language that enabled communication with mysteries.

Yet strangely, the Maronius language had no [particles].

For reference, particles are grammatical elements like 'to, from, by' that attach to words to show their relationships or add meaning.

Why were there no particles? Because the Maronius language used pictograms?

But Chinese characters, which are also pictograms, had characters that functioned as particles.

Similarly isolating languages like English used word position to serve the function of particles.

This was the decisive evidence that made wizards evaluate the Maronius language as incomplete.

"Wizards substitute for particles with their will."

This was why you couldn't use magic just by memorizing the Maronius language.

Say there was a wizard who only learned the words for 'water' and 'move'.

Just saying 'Water! Move!' to the mystery of water wouldn't properly convey meaning since there were no particles.

The wizard had to complete the sentence through will, and the mystery would move according to the wizard's will after understanding that sentence.

That was how magic worked for wizards in the Holy Empire today.

"Doesn't it seem too inconvenient?"

"It does."

If Maronius had properly created particles, magic would have been much easier to learn.

Why hadn't Maronius created particles?

"He stopped creating the language midway."

Eredith said.

Maronius had abandoned the language creation partway through.

"...Why?"

"There are no records of that. That's why it's a puzzle."

Eredith spoke in a lower voice:

"However... if we assume Maronius had [perfectly] completed the language, he might have created a language capable of moving the laws of the world themselves."

"The laws of the world..."

Eredith nodded.

"It's what people call the [Omnipotent Language] legend."

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