Chapter 58
Two voices overlapped and rang out in my head at the exact same time.
Therefore, strictly speaking, it wasn't an echo.
Two separate selves were coexisting simultaneously.
‘Legendary…’
‘Legendary…’
What an unfamiliar sensation.
It was a feeling I had never experienced before.
I gulped.
This time, I decided to have those two selves each think different thoughts.
‘Blue.’
‘Red.’
…!
‘Land.’
‘Sea.’
I hadn't thought of them with a time delay.
I could think of two different things at the same time.
Then, was something like this possible too?
‘Star.’
‘Umbrella.’
I raised my right index finger and drew a star.
At the same time, I drew an umbrella with my left index finger.
“This is incredible…”
They were completely independent.
I wanted to test more things, but there was a problem I needed to solve immediately.
“Ugh…!”
I felt a wave of nausea rising.
The dizziness was reaching its limit.
Stabilizing my circles was urgent.
I quickly closed my eyes and focused my consciousness on my dantian.
The moment I looked inside the circles.
‘What is this…’
I could tell that something had gone wrong.
They were rotating however they pleased.
They were maintaining their balance by force as they rotated along strange arrangements and orbits.
It seemed to be a side effect of using magic while they were unstable.
This seemed even more difficult to stabilize than when they had been hopelessly tangled at first.
‘It really is…’
Perhaps they had become fixed in place, because they wouldn't move properly.
There was only one solution.
‘I have to overturn everything.’
I drew out as much magic power as I could and poured it straight into the four circles that had settled into place so clumsily.
Wooooong-! KWA-BOOOOM!
I spun the circles violently and forcibly shattered their balance.
Severe pain struck immediately afterward.
“Aaaaaaagh!!!”
My dantian twisted, returning to the spaghetti-like state it had been in when I had first forced the four circles inside.
“Hngh…!”
Swallowing the pain, I began reconstructing the reset circles one by one.
I arranged them in order of size.
I placed the largest Fourth Circle on the outside, then layered the Third, Second, and First Circles inside it in order.
Then I infused them with magic power and began rotating them regularly one by one.
I synchronized them so that every circle rotated in the same direction and at the same interval, rather than making them cross-rotate.
Ssssss-
After several dozen minutes.
At last, the nausea subsided and the circles settled into order.
“Phew… I feel like I can live again.”
My head felt clear.
The stabilization had succeeded.
Now it was time to test the core of Mental Fork.
The purpose of this technique, obviously, wasn't to draw a star and an umbrella simultaneously with my left and right hands.
‘She said it would let me double-cast.’
Now that I was in this state, how to do it was incredibly intuitive.
Swish-
I raised both hands at the same time.
Then I assigned each hand to one of my two minds.
With my right hand, I drew the magic circle for ‘Dark Magic Missile.’
Swish, swish-
With the other consciousness, I drew the magic circle for the Second-Circle spell ‘Shadow Spear.’
Swish, swish -
The moment the two magic circles were complete.
I thought of the activation words simultaneously.
‘Shadow Spear.’
‘Dark Magic Missile.’
Then.
Wooooong-! Fwoooosh-!
A shadow spear condensed in the empty air before the magic circle in front of my left hand, while a pitch-black sphere condensed before the magic circle in front of my right hand.
BOOM!!!
Wooooong!!!
I fired them at the wall.
“This is double casting!”
It had worked.
I lowered my hands, marveling at the result.
Then I remembered the last thing I needed to check.
“I should check whether both artifacts are equipped.”
I operated the hologram and turned on the camera.
Click!
Then I checked the photo and wrote a post on the gallery.
______
Title: Obtained the Fourth Circle and succeeded with Mental Fork!
Author: ㅇㅇ(100F)
{A photo of a beautiful silver-haired, blue-eyed girl with one corner of the tattered wall in the background.}
[Status]
…
Equipped Items: [Ring of Arcane Strength], [Adventurer’s Ring], [Magitech Blue-Green Earring (+2 / Charge: 97%)], [Twin-Tail Black Ribbon], [Wrath of the Sun God], [Oblivion of the Time God]
The two artifacts are equipped now.
Obtaining the circle alone took 10 hours, while learning Mental Fork took about 20 minutes. Stabilization took another 10 minutes.
There was something a little frustrating during the learning process, though…
……
……
……
I solved it by stopping the circles like this.
If anyone learns it later, use this as a reference. I wrote it down in case it helps.
______
I hit refresh.
The first comments were reactions expressing surprise that I had successfully cast magic without stabilizing the circles.
ㅇㅇ(430F): Wait, so you were able to use magic without stabilizing it? ;;;;;;;;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(550F): That’s fucking insane, seriously.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(216F): How the hell do you even do that…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(522F): Newbie did what the number-one-ranked person did ㄷㄷ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(164F): Blood Demon Dao Venerable did it at the Eleventh Circle, so it’s not the same level.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(187F): Seriously, the overhyping is getting a little extreme, isn’t it?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(463F): Ah, who the fuck doesn’t know that already?!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(548F): Get rid of the people who can’t read the room.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F): The fact that Newbie is already being compared to the Blood Demon Dao Venerable is fucking insane in itself…
After that, comments congratulating me on mastering Mental Fork and obtaining the Fourth Circle continued to appear.
ㅇㅇ(312F): Congrats!!!!
ㅇㅇ(650F): Congratulations. But Newbie, you probably don’t need a tip on how to use magic without stabilizing it…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(349F): Seriously, who the hell would do that? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㅇㅇ(431F): Wow, two legendary artifacts is fucking amazing…
ㅇㅇ(312F): Thirty-minute clear, including stabilization ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㅇㅇ(249F): Congrats on entering the Fourth Circle! Now you have the same number of circles as the mages in the 100-floor range! Congrats!
Then an anonymous user left a comment.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(134F): We have the same number of circles now…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F): Ah, so that’s why the 100-floor guys have gotten so bitter ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(345F): Don’t worry, lots of people will overtake them in circle count from here on out ㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(248F): But if Newbie’s like this, can’t they just immediately increase it to the Sixth Circle?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F): If they don’t search for all of them and just pick one, maybe they really can.
‘They can immediately increase it to the Sixth Circle…’
That seemed to imply that some difficulty or limitation existed starting at the Seventh Circle.
As I was mulling over that point, a comment from Seol Harin appeared.
ㄴ Seol Harin: Congratulations… You’re really incredible…
ㄴ Seol Harin: I’m amazed you deliberately stopped the circles to secure the time needed to oscillate your focus…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F): Why does she sound so dumbfounded?
When someone asked that, Seol Harin answered.
ㄴ Seol Harin: I’m sorry... I feel like I might have been able to tell you that beforehand. But I’ve never tried using magic without stabilizing my circles, so I couldn’t help it ㅠㅠ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F): You made them do something you’ve never even tried? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(550F): Blood Demon Dao Venerable did it, though ㅋㅋ
I left a reply.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(100F)(Author): I’m really fine. I’m grateful you taught me anything at all.
ㄴ Seol Harin: Even so… it was a tip I could have thought of even if I hadn’t tried it. I fell short.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F): That’s a shame.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F): Should we get a new teacher?
Ignoring the teasing comments, she asked me a question.
ㄴ Seol Harin: What did using Mental Fork feel like?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(100F)(Author): It’s incredibly fascinating. It feels like another person has entered my head.
ㄴ Seol Harin: Right? ㅎㅎ There are only a few experiences in magic more amazing than this. Have you tried double casting?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(100F)(Author): Yeah. I drew two magic circles at the same time, and it worked!
After I answered that, a brief silence followed.
ㄴ Seol Harin: …Huh? Not the incantation?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(100F)(Author): No. I did it with the magic circles.
For some reason, she seemed confused.
ㄴ Seol Harin: Am I… remembering this wrong? Mental Fork… shouldn’t be able to perform multiple actions…?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(432F): Huh?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(383F): ?
It seemed the problem was that I had said I had double-cast by drawing two magic circles.
The comment section began to stir.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(543F): Doesn’t Mental Fork only allow multiple thoughts?
ㄴ Seol Harin: …I must be remembering it wrong. I’ll look into it again. For now, congratulations on learning it!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(324F): No, no, Newbie probably said it wrong?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F): Why is she doubting herself when she’s the one teaching them? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(246F): They’re a newbie, so it’s understandable ;;
The atmosphere grew chaotic.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(246F): Newbie, didn’t you confuse the incantation with the magic circle? Mental Fork shouldn’t allow multiple actions.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(100F)(Author): What’s a multiple action?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(246F): Exactly what it sounds like. Doing two things at the same time.
A gallery user who didn't seem to be a mage asked this question on my behalf.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(311F): Then incantations aren’t multiple actions?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(487F): Yeah. Incantations can be done through subvocalization, so they’re a matter of multiple thoughts. Magic circles involve moving your hands, so they’re multiple actions.
Someone asked me again.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(324F): Newbie, you did it with the incantation and just said it wrong, right?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(100F)(Author): No, I told you I double-cast by drawing two magic circles.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(324F): ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(487F): That shouldn’t be possible with Mental Fork…
I tilted my head in confusion.
ㅇㅇ(100F)(Author): What are you talking about? Even now, I’m looking at the gallery with my right eye and the floor with my left while writing out and memorizing the magic circle Harin taught me.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(383F): The efficiency freak is fucking insane.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(354F): Huh? What?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(246F): Then multiple actions are possible after all…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(311F): Could it be that this isn’t the magic called Mental Fork?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(487F): No, at or below the Fourth Circle, there’s no mind-splitting magic besides Mental Fork…;;
Seol Harin spoke.
ㄴ Seol Harin: Really…? But isn’t it difficult? Mental Fork isn’t meant for training. It’s better to turn it on only during battle. If you keep it active, you could suffer mana exhaustion, so turn it off for now.
“Huh?”
I couldn’t understand.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(100F)(Author): How do I turn it off?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F): ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F): ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Seol Harin: …What do you mean?
Seol Harin asked urgently, in a tone that sounded strangely accusatory.
ㄴ Seol Harin: Why don’t you know how to turn it off? Maintaining it should be harder! You just have to stop oscillating your focus and it turns off…!
‘I’m not doing anything, though…’
I was confused.
I had only oscillated my focus when my consciousness first split into two, and ever since then, this state had remained active, so there was nothing for me to do.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(100F)(Author): It just… stays active even if I do nothing.
ㄴ Seol Harin: ……Wait a moment.
After that comment, Seol Harin left for a while.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(461F): ????
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F): Newbie says it’s permanently active instead of having an on/off switch?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F): They’re using Mental Fork as a permanent passive? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(508F): A permanently active Mental Fork that allows multiple actions ㄷㄷ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(354F): What the hell did Newbie do this time? Mages, explain.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(548F): The mage who’s supposed to explain is currently away from their keyboard~
A little while later, Seol Harin came rushing back.
Her shock came through even in text.
ㄴ Seol Harin: Seoyoon! What on earth… how did you do that?! What you learned isn’t Mental Fork…!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(272F): ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F): Did they learn some weird thing on their own? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(311F): ? You said there was no mind-splitting magic at or below the Fourth Circle besides Mental Fork?