Chapter 18 :Circle (1)

Until recently, I hated mornings.

My body was heavy like a stone.

My eyelids were a ton.

The inside of the blanket was warm, and the outside was cold.

Wriggling.

!!!

I wanted to sink back into dreamland.

Because I’m growing.

It’s natural to be sleepy.

Than sunlight, than wind, than the start of the day-

Sleep used to come first.

But now it’s different.

After achieving Yeokcheon  and obtaining Cheonmajiche.

Morning was no longer a burden.

My eyes opened automatically.

Was it as if someone had been stroking me all night?

My head is clear, and my body is light.

It’s amazing.

My eyes are bright.

Of course, I closed them immediately because it stings if I keep them open for a long time.

‘Normally, children of this age should sleep a lot.’

This is the effect of Cheonmajiche .

I don’t need to give it strength.

I don’t need to concentrate.

When I exhale, it permeates my body.

Without stopping for a moment.

Without having to forcibly circulate energy, the energy circulated on its own.

The fine veins were opened.

Every blood vessel contained magic energy.

The muscles became firm, and the bones hardened like steel.

Under the skin, magic energy swirled.

The magic energy flowing through the acupoints was heavy.

Quietly, it was condensed in the Dantian.

‘After I put them in reverse order, the magic energy likes me too much. Is it because it has its own house?’

The energy is accumulated, refined, and becomes more concentrated.

The chairman of Yongbongjihoe, Geomryong.

His body, Cheonmujiche , wasn’t even this much.

‘My body is reacting to Ideation unconsciously. The synergy effect is great.’

Because it moves on its own,

If I had to name it, Donggong .

Should I call it Cheonmadonggong ?

My body learns on its own, trains on its own.

‘As expected, snipers are all about clicking.’

I heard that hunters are basically diligent.

You have to get up early in the morning.

Because you have to circulate your energy.

Refining the skill, the hard work of accumulating internal energy.

But I, who have Donggong-

I don’t need that.

Just.

‘The one who knows my body best is myself.’

While doing gymnastics, when Ideation opens the core.

It passed through the blood vessels, scanned the muscles, and illuminated the bones. As if looking into a mirror, I observed my body.

Is there any disruption?

Is the flow of energy smooth?

Are there any blocked blood vessels?

If an abnormality occurs?

If the flow is misaligned, I correct it, and if the energy channel is blocked, I open it.

Then.

It’s like checking if the subcontractors are doing their job well.

You just need to check once in a while.

But.

‘It’s not finished yet.’

I am still in my growth period.

My body is not fully grown,

and there is still room for my muscles and bones to become stronger.

Until I reach the complete form, I am still incomplete.

When I turn 20, when I become an adult.

Maybe that’s why.

“Geez.”

I became tired.

It’s not because of course registration.

How much I was looking forward to going to school.

I registered for everything I wanted to do.

Of course.

Avoiding S-rank professors.

Reason?

If they are there, cheating will be impossible.

The problem was separate.

“Why is only a specific part getting bigger?”

That body that was like the universe.

Cheonmujiche.

To survive.

I did it in reverse order.

The balance, shape, and flow of the body were re-woven.

This was the result.

If you go against heaven, this is what happens.

Something I didn’t have before…

Clump.

A round, soft, warm touch on my palm.

Quickly quickly.

I thought I wanted to grow up.

Why did only this part become an adult?

……?”

The softness that escapes between my fingers.

I felt a strange weight.

I was caught up in an unknown, unfamiliar feeling.

For some reason, I didn’t want to take my hand away.

I pressed it lightly.

Soft.

“Oho.”

I closed my fingers.

“Ohoho.”

This.

It’s strangely fun?

Like a child playing with a newly discovered toy.

My curiosity was ignited.

Carefully, but without stopping, I kept touching it.

·That’s why I was late.

“There are so many.”

A wide auditorium where hundreds of people gathered.

Everyone was looking at me.

There is jealousy, vigilance, and awe in those gazes.

I faced all of that alone.

‘It’s strange.’

My heart was quiet.

My fingertips didn’t tremble.

Far from being nervous, it was rather familiar.

They must all be geniuses too.

I thought all of this was just natural.

Then I realized.

I am also a genius.

An eye genius.

If their talent is outstanding, I see it.

I can understand the skills and realms they have built up in an instant, and I can see through beyond that.

This gaze, this weight-it’s all natural.

So I wasn’t nervous.

I wore sunglasses.

There was a guide dog next to me.

Anyone could see that I was disabled.

A being that doesn’t fit in with the Hunter Academy.

Maybe that’s why?

Countless attention followed.

“Uh…….?”

“It’s first place.”

“That girl is………….?”

“I heard she’s blind.”

Nevertheless, my steps were unwavering.

I went forward without a cane or a helping hand.

Thump. Thump.

Was it because the sunlight that was floating in the air gathered in one place and condensed?

The golden blonde hair was neatly tied in two strands, and it shook lightly with each step.

My gaze naturally went down.

Small shoulders, slender arms.

She still looked too fragile to stand up to the world.

But below that.

A curve that was so out of proportion that it disrupted the balance of the body.

At first, I thought I saw it wrong.

Jeong Chaemin’s eyes widened.

But.

Even if I rub my eyes and look again.

There’s no way such a characteristic person is common.

This child, is it really El? What did she eat wrong? It wasn’t like this a week ago. Girls at that age grow quickly, but……. own little El……………..?

….

A child-like face.

It’s the same. Still cute.

But.

The body proportions were by no means childlike.

Disharmonious curves.

So the contrast is even more pronounced.

The unusually swollen chest revealed its presence under the coat.

Curves that swelled like a heavy burden.

Even though the coat was tailored to fit her body, only that part was tightly stretched as if enduring it.

Nevertheless, Ernian was calm.

As if, she didn’t care about the gaze at all.

Small shoes tapped on the floor.

The platform was high.

I hesitated a little, then stepped onto the prepared step.

Plop-

Her head popped out slightly.

But………………

Does she know?

Just by popping her head out like this,

she is playing with the hearts of the viewers.

A small mouth opened.

On the podium, the microphone trembled.

Clear and fine.

A transparent voice like the morning dew.

A clear resonance, like a lark whispering, spread through the auditorium.

“I am Ernian Ludwig, the freshman representative.”

It was the moment the new semester began.

I don’t even know how time passed.

It’s already Friday.

I went to the daily dungeon without fail.

In the morning, I spent time stretching.

‘Is it too intense? I should have made one day off.’

I was a visually impaired person for my entire life.

First time registering for courses.

How would I know?

I applied for everything I wanted to learn,

and I put in everything that looked interesting.

As if piling up various things on a plate at a buffet.

Greedy, without a plan.

Still, well.

It’s not unbearable.

We gathered in the training grounds.

People were bustling.

In the midst of that.

I saw a familiar face.

It was Jeong Chaemin.

She opened her eyes wide as soon as she saw me.

And then she approached and whispered.

“El, are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“You registered for all the classes, right? Magic, martial arts, everything.”

“So what?”

I tilted my head casually.

What’s the problem?

“It’s usually hard to learn both martial arts and magic. Each system is completely different, and even within that, the sub-majors are very subdivided. The deeper you go, the more the required knowledge and skills diverge, so if you want to have expertise, you have to focus on one in the end.”

She continued her explanation.

“For example, even in martial arts, ‘Qi  martial arts’ based on internal energy and ‘Body martial arts’ based on external energy are completely different. It’s the same with magic. Even with basic elemental magic, fire, water, wind, earth—each has its own sub-major. When you go to the advanced course, it’s divided into advanced fields such as elemental fusion or high-level arithmetic magic, and it’s not a level that you can just finish by listening to basic studies.”

She stared at me and added.

“Have you ever heard of anyone who has mastered both martial arts and magic to the highest level?”

“No.”

Jeong Chaemin slapped her forehead.

“…You’re really crazy.”

“Why?”

“If you take multiple majors like this, you’ll become a wreck, not a person, before the midterm exams in the first semester. How do you plan to graduate?”

“I’ll just do it all.”

Jeong Chaemin was speechless.

She just blinked and looked at me.

Her lips moved slightly.

Very small, like a soliloquy.

It wouldn’t reach me under normal circumstances, small sounds.

But now, I have Cheonmajiche.

My senses have broadened.

I just swallowed the laughter.

Praise or grumbling.

Maybe it was both.

‘But. I want to use magic too.’

In a world where martial arts and magic have developed, firearms are inferior to cold weapons.

A path that no one has walked.

There is no precedent.

I have to make it myself.

So-

I had to learn as much as I could.

I don’t know when and how I’ll use it.

And.

It’s not difficult to learn.

While we were talking.

The professor came out.

The surroundings became quiet in an instant.

If dignity could become a person, would it look like this?

A silhouette with neatly tied jet-black hair.

Neat clothes without any disarray.

Calm eyes, accurate pronunciation,

Rather than a mere scholar.

An atmosphere that only a person who has mastered both theory and practice can have.

A-rank hunter, Kim Chunbok.

‘He’s a really cool person. But his name is um.’

An uncle with a dignified atmosphere that would have appeared as the lead in a blockbuster movie is named Chunbok.

It would have been perfect if it were a little less rustic.

But those thoughts were momentary.

Today is the day we’ve been waiting for, the day of practical training.

The time to just listen to theory is over.

Now, it’s time to try handling magic directly.

“There is probably no one who doesn’t know this, but both magic and martial arts are derived from skills. Countless scholars analyzed the mechanism of [skills] given by the [system], and as a result, the current framework was created. If martial arts are unfolded based on internal energy, magic is based on circles.”

The air shook.

Ideation gathered at his fingertips.

Like invisible threads gathering,

the void rippled and formed something.

Suddenly-

A blue light was formed.

Sphere .

A perfect sphere floated in the air.

Without disruption, without deviation.

Smooth and refined energy held the center.

It was a single circle.

If it is released as it is, it is just an intense projectile.

But.

What if you add a design here?

The circle resonates with the mana of the atmosphere through perfect calculation.

And it will become ‘magic’.

“The circle is the basic unit of mana manipulation. Simply put, how many circles you can handle determines the capabilities of a wizard.”

Admiration flowed from among the students.

“Wow!”

“Seven circles!”

“Is this an A-rank hunter?”

Regular trajectory.

Around the central circle,

the rest of the circles spread out like branches.

From a distance-

It looked like a constellation.

“However.”

The professor paused for a beat.

“Being able to handle many circles does not necessarily mean that you can implement strong magic. The difficulty of control increases exponentially as the number increases, and excessive operation causes overload in the body and mind. In severe cases, it can even lead to death. You need to know exactly how many circles your body can handle.”

Some students swallowed.

His eyes shone sharply.

“So, don’t be conceited. You will clearly know your limits in today’s practice.”

Silence flowed.

And-

The practice began.

The problem was that the professor came only to me.

Blankly.

He’s just looking at me.

Professor Kim Chunbok bowed his waist.

With his eyes met, a meaningful smile spread across his lips.

“El, shall we do a secret practice with the professor?”