Mage

It was nearly midnight.

Ian quickly scanned the community while working his part-time job.

‘Most of this is basically crap.’

He could tell at a glance that the community's structure was similar to a gallery, but for some reason the posts themselves felt oddly familiar too. It was less a community for wizards and more like a bunch of wizard cosplayers were just posting crap.

As to why the community looked like this, the notice explained it: it was because they had copied the layout of Korea's most famous community. And, sure enough, that place really was famous.

Rather than making some complicated new community from scratch, copying the gallery with the most users was simply the most efficient approach. No need to waste resources for no reason.

Still, it was a little disappointing.

Ian had secretly expected the wizard community to be a gathering of extremely intellectual scholars. A school-like place where people discussed the magic they possessed and offered better directions. But that illusion was smashed head-on.

[Finished the spell to make a magic nerd's chest bigger lol]

[Earbug]

(A drawing of a platypus with its arms crossed)

Come here and sit down, magic nerd.

How long do you plan on living by chasing only these provocative titles? You should go outside, catch some Mysteries, and deal with the monsters drifting in, shouldn't you?

This old man really worries about you....

[Comments]

-Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie: You're insane. There's no way such a spell exists.

ㄴEarbug: The clingy one is here? lol

ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: Shut up. Where do you live?

ㄴEarbug: (a cockroach flashing a double peace-sign meme)

ㄴStrawberry Yogurt Smoothie: You're a total fucking bastard.

“Is this a wizard or a magic nerd.”

Hm. Both, then.

Ian let out a quiet sigh and checked a few other posts as well. Fortunately, there were quite a few useful ones.

[I became a wizard a week ago. But weird things keep happening. I think I can even see ghosts.]

[Rose]

(photo of a grimoire with leaves stuck to it)

Not long ago, I accidentally picked up a grimoire and followed the instructions written in it, so I became a wizard.

But ever since then, I keep getting dragged into strange incidents. Ghosts? Monsters? I can see things like that too.

Is this normal?

[Comments]

-Yeah, that's normal. The more you deal with Mysteries, the more often you get entangled with them.

ㄴRose: Mysteries?

ㄴEarbug: The things you said were ghosts or monsters. All of those are broadly called Mysteries, or aberrations. The magic you use is a kind of Mystery too.

ㄴRose: Ah, so once you've become a wizard, you have no choice but to run into that sort of thing often?

ㄴ(thumbs-up frog meme)

ㄴRose: Thank you for telling me.

ㄴTry to survive.

Mysteries, huh....

‘I guess I'll be running into one soon enough, too.’

Ian set his phone aside and, taking advantage of the lull when no customers were around, went outside and put a cigarette between his lips.

‘If they tell me to survive, they don't sound all that friendly.’

Outside, a light rain was falling. As if the already cold winter weren't enough, the rain had laid a dense mist over the street. Perhaps because no one was walking nearby, the atmosphere felt a little eerie. It was the kind of place where it wouldn't be strange if something suddenly jumped out.

“......”

Ian lit the tip of his cigarette with a lighter and inhaled. He stared quietly at the rain and the wet street, pulling the zipper of his coat all the way up.

Fortunately, despite the eerie atmosphere, nothing appeared until he finished the cigarette.

Ian stamped out the cigarette, dipped it in water once, and tossed it into the trash can.

Ding-a-ling.

He opened the convenience store door and went back inside. Sitting on the chair by the counter, he took out the grimoire and read it where the CCTV couldn't see.

Alchemy had succeeded, but his magical knowledge was still markedly lacking compared to other wizards. So he had to make time, however he could, to keep studying.

Besides, the main spell this grimoire dealt with wasn't alchemy. The true power of this grimoire was Recreation, the word written in its title.

[If there are two objects made of completely identical components, yet their forms differ, it should still be possible to recreate the other one and make the two objects completely identical. This is called the authority of Recreation.]

[An authority that only the being possessing this grimoire can use and understand. A power that can transform a being recognized as 'material' into a different form while keeping the same substance.]

Simply put, it was a higher-level magic than alchemy.

For example, if he recreated iron, he could leave the material components that make up the iron alone and simply alter its form into whatever shape he wanted.

The only thing consumed in the process was ether. Large-scale recreation required various preparations, but for changing a small item, ether was all he needed.

And the materials that could be recreated included everything, whether living things or inanimate objects.

If Ian activated Recreation using a 'human' as the material, that person would only be human in terms of the components that made them up. Their form would be completely changed. Creating a monster straight out of a movie wasn't hard for Ian at all.

‘I doubt there'd be a chance to use it on a person, though.’

Still, it was impossible to deny that it was an extremely powerful ability.

Basically, Recreation was based on the caster's imagination, but if you wanted to create something specific, you had to follow the procedure written in the grimoire.

For example, something like this.

[God's Finger]

[All writing done with this finger becomes reality.]

[Materials: a prisoner's wrist, a key containing a god, a small amount of flesh from a Great One]

[Gather all the materials together into one lump, mix them, draw a magic circle over it, then activate Recreation.]

The effect was absurdly powerful, but the materials it required were just as outrageous. A prisoner's wrist was one thing, but finding a key that contained a god and flesh from a Great One sounded extremely difficult.

The key was listed among the alchemical materials. The ingredients were quite demanding, but at least making it was possible. But as for the flesh, he couldn't even begin to picture it. He didn't even know what a Great One was in the first place.

‘It's a world where Mysteries live and breathe. If even the book written by an Outer God records it as a Great One, then in my current state there's no way I could get it.’

Or maybe it wouldn't be possible even later on.

When he thought of a Great One, the only thing that came to mind right away was Cthulhu, but wouldn't you need to ram a steam locomotive into it just to bring it down?

That was when Ian turned a page, thinking that. Ding-a-ling, the convenience store door opened with a ringing sound. Ian immediately closed the book and rose from his seat.

“Welcome.”

The moment he gave the perfunctory greeting and turned his head toward the customer, his gaze hardened.

The customer was a bit... huge. Seriously huge.

In appearance, she was a thin woman in a pure white dress.

However, she was so tall her head brushed the ceiling, and her neck was long enough to bend sideways. Her arms dragged along the floor, and her legs were twisted grotesquely, trembling.

Her thighs were pockmarked with bullet holes, as if she'd been shot.

Blood dripped from between her split lips, and the teeth, still stuck with bits of bone and flesh, were stained red.

Soon.

It turned its head toward Ian. Through the hollow eye sockets, he had the eerie feeling that their gazes had met.

Ian realized instinctively.

‘This is a Mystery.’

[Aaaah!]

The moment that thought crossed his mind, it suddenly shrieked. Then it swung its long arm like a whip.

Without hesitation or question, Ian grabbed the grimoire he'd cast aside and opened it.

Flap-flap-flap!!

The pages turned on their own, automatically revealing the spell most useful in the current situation.

[If you encounter a Mystery, don't panic. It is nothing more than excellent material for a wizard.]

[Whether the material is living or already dead, to you it is nothing more than a mere creature.]

[Recreate it into a form that is useful to you.]

The pure-white grimoire scattered light. At that moment, the Mystery's outstretched arm was repelled by the grimoire's aura and bounced back. The broken bones and flesh jutted out beyond its skin, and Ian leapt over the counter, reaching toward the retreating arm.

“Be reborn.”

Krrrk!!

At the words, the Mystery's arm converged inward.

[Aaaagh!!]

Every component making up the arm was crushed, torn apart, and reshaped. The arm being reborn around the elbow was compressed and buckled as if it were forming a sphere.

Crunch! Snap-snap!!

Along with the horrific sound, blood spread everywhere. The Mystery let out a shriek and hacked off the arm that had begun to mutate into something else.

With a thud, the arm, now a perfect sphere, fell to the floor. Ian stared at it for a moment as it turned into a dazzling crimson light, then suddenly lifted his head and reached for the Mystery's body.

[Aaaah!]

But he didn't make contact. The Mystery abruptly twisted its body and fled out of the convenience store.

The thing smashed through the door without even opening it and fled, disappearing into the rain-soaked street.

“……What the hell is this.”

The tension from the fierce battle snapped out of him in an instant. Scratching his head at the wrecked convenience store, he picked up the sphere that had fallen to the floor.

“...Anyway, did I get an alchemy material?”

He didn't know why the Mystery that looked like a towering ghost had suddenly appeared, why it ran off like that, or why there were bullet holes in its thigh... but for now, he'd at least obtained one piece of material from the Mystery.

Hm.

Ian muttered what was most appropriate in a situation like this and stuffed the sphere into his pocket.

“I'm lucky.”