2000 Years Of Magic History In My Head

Episode 85: The Secret of the Red Flame (3)

The magic of prominence, a tradition handed down from generation to generation, exerts exceptional power, as the fire spirit Salamander discovered 1000 years ago. Due to the dimensional explosion of the same era, the link with the spirit world was severed completely, and prominence magic was left: half of a whole.

Elisha was known to be a genius who could handle fire freely, even in a world without spirits. However, she knew she only wielded half of the power. Her innate firepower was so strong that she could realize the magic of prominence to some extent. Still, it was not comparable to the legends passed down from generation to generation.

According to rumors, Poseidon was recreating the magic of ‘the days of the spirits.’ He was one of the world’s leading archmages. With his magic, there were times where many wondered how he displayed such powerful water dominance; nobody considered a contract with the spirit. Was that because the link with the spirit world was cut off due to the explosion of 1000 years ago? It wasn’t certain…it seemed that the link was affected by the explosion, but broken links weren’t a sufficient issue to eradicate connection with the spirit realm.

Spirit wizards – those who mastered the red flame and the wall wave – pursued the spirit magic joined forces with each other due to an accident in the spirit world. They did not deliberate their means and methods. Elisha figured out why the link was broken, and as a result, she learned the truth.

“The reason the link was cut off is that the spirit world fell to a faraway place that could not be reached from this world. Therefore, no matter how much we talked to them, the spirits couldn’t respond. I’d bet the spirit doesn’t exist in the world anymore. If so, my ancestors would somehow find a way to connect with them.”

She continued to explain: 1000 years ago, spirit magic didn’t require a complicated process. Even without the difficult skill of separating attributes, a specific circle could be formed through a contract with the spirit. However, when the link was severed, the spirit wizards had to find a new way. What was born was a method centered around attribute separation. After a lot of trial and error, they discovered the magic that produced a power similar to the elemental magic by separating the attributes. They maintained their single-person tradition. Thus, the process of the spirit contract disappeared.

It was hard to believe. Poseidon found a new method of attribute control, but it didn’t rely on the spirits.

“Now, do you understand how vain you sounded? Stop talking and leave. I want to set you alight, but I think about how impressed I was by you on the battlefield, and I’m holding on with superhuman patience.”

Hwareuk.

Hwarruk.

In response to her passion, fire billowed around her. However, Kang Min-hyuk remained calm. Her description only helped his understanding and strengthened his confidence in the knowledge he’d gained.

“Are you finished?”

“Did you not hear me? Go away!”

“I will when I’ve finished. In exchange for the magic of prominence, I offered to show you how to contact spirits. That’s a promise. Since this is my proposal, I’ll give you your side first. That way, you have nothing to lose. If you find out I’m lying and decide to set me on fire, I won’t resent it.”

“…What?”

Elisha was taken aback.

Kang Min-hyuk had offered conditions that worked in her favor. If Elisha’s concern revolved around the spirit contract’s authenticity, it would be resolved if she checked first.

“By the way, what if…”

Thruk.

Kang Min-hyuk drew his sword. The breeze that it created tickled the hairs on the nape of Elisha’s neck.

“If you violate your promise after accepting my proposal, and confirming the truth, then you will lose all honor. You will be shown the price of breaking a promise – it must be so to ensure that others take similar deals seriously in the future.”

His eyes showed how serious he was.

Elisha gulped at the idea of a loss of limbs.

“So what will you do?”

Accept or reject? If she chose the latter, Kang Min-hyuk would walk away without hesitation…but that doesn’t happen. If the magic of one-man tradition had a long history, the spirit source’s desire would be as strong as it was old.

“…Okay. I accept your deal.”

Eventually, Elisha gave in.

* * *

“As you said, the spirit world and this world are far apart. So, we need to establish firm control over certain aspects. The senior who formed the circle of fire shouldn’t have a problem. I’m talking about a magic circle that connects to the spirit world, with set coordinates.”

The method was simple.

However, finding the coordinates of the spirit world was the most significant challenge. Elisha followed Kang Min-hyuk’s direction, and after installing the magic circle, he started the contract by generating flame mana.

The fire rose, and the magic circle emitted a red light. Elisha’s spirit disappeared. The spirit contract is not a physical transaction but an inner one. Elisha’s body existed in a magic circle that was swaying with mana, but her mind had gone to the spirit world far beyond her flesh. A moment passed, and her face became pale and sweaty. Instantly she recovered the mana and opened her eyes.

Hwaak-!

“The mandible! The mandible!”

Elisha gasped.

It wasn’t long from Kang Min-hyuk’s perspective, but she seemed to have experienced a lot.

“I failed the contract with the spirit.”

Failure was unexpected. Kang Min-hyuk assumed that in affinity with Elisha, he would certainly succeed. He chose her to unearth prominence’s secret, but he also held intentions to observe Elisha’s experience before he tried the experiment himself. Spirit contracts are spiritual transactions – even Klinssman wasn’t sure of the fine details, so the risk of blind experimentation was great.

“Why did you fail?”

“As you said, this magic circle does lead to the spirit world. The problem is… … the spirit world was different from my expectations. According to the ‘memory’ passed down through my DNA, the spirit world is a place where nature blooms abundantly, and each attribute is a heaven where flowers blossom endlessly. The world that I experienced was Hell. It was in ruins, and Salamander, who found me, screamed and breathed fire.”

Elisha trembled with fear.

Her affinity with fire allowed her to tap into Salamander’s feelings, and she empathized with the horror it felt.

“What the hell has happened here? The spirits were afraid of monsters. Like us, you are also under threat. Answer me, what happened to the spirit world?”

“That’s…”

Elisha was giving Kang Min-hyuk fresh insight. In his world, the only version of a spirit was monstrous, and the spirit world was unheard of. His mind opened wide, seeking scattered puzzle pieces. The shape was incomplete, but some of the patterns were slotting together.

* * *

Looking back on the history in which the spirits appeared in the fortified civilization, a system could be found. They always showed up at the Red Gate. When the dimensional rift broke out, they randomly attacked everything around them, as if terrified. Kang Min-hyuk thought it was simply monsters’ anger, but perhaps it was more complicated than that.

A long time ago, the A-class monster, Salamander, appeared and burned the Seoul forest. People defeated it and built the Hunter Academy on the ruined land – a symbol of hope. Many such cases followed. Undine, the A-class monster that Wayne Lapierre was inspired by, also attacked indiscriminately, and hunters were dispatched to tackle it. Both spirits did not distinguish between the enemy and the neutrality of their environment.

A new possibility emerged. If monsters threatened the spirit world, as Elisha said, the spirits may have purged their rage against humans as well as monsters. In burning the Seoul Forest, people thought Salamander was flaunting his power, but it turned out that there were numerous dungeons under the Forest. What if those dungeons stimulated Salamander’s wrath? The incident that set the Seoul Forest on fire could have been revenge against the monsters who attacked the spirit world.

That was merely a hypothesis – a fragment of the jigsaw puzzle.

Following a period of silence, Kang Min-hyuk looked at Elisha and said:

“Maybe you’re right. A dimensional rift broke out 2000 years ago, and monsters appeared in this world. At the same time, the spirit world also appeared. Understandably, the spirits at that time would have been hostile to humans. From the spirit’s point of view, humans were as alien as monsters. However, the dimensional explosion that took place 1000 years ago may have caused them to suffer the same catastrophe as us. From the day when the connection with the spirit world was completely cut off, they were vulnerable.”

“Are you saying that we are not the only ones going through this disaster?”

Elisha seemed understandably shocked.

Those demon-like monsters that threatened the human world were also wreaking havoc in the spiritual realm. Kang Min-hyuk was ready to accept that fact, unlike Elisha. Monsters also besieged his world. Since he had experienced both dimensions’ direct effect, another world’s proposal existing in similarly dismal circumstances was easy enough to compute.

Spirits were defined as monsters in the reinforced civilization. Still, it was an increasing possibility that humans were never the natural enemy of spirits… a lack of understanding could have caused it. The hypothesis was far from perfect. If the spirit world was in such a precarious situation, the existence of Poseidon was doubtful.

“How could Poseidon perfectly implement the spirit magic? He knows the spirit world’s coordinates like me, and has persuaded the angry spirits to sign the contract? His existence is a mystery. If I meet him, I will be armed with 1000 questions.”

For the time being, the deal was done, and Kang Min-hyuk had the right to ask for his side of the trade because he had kept his promise.

“As promised, I taught you how to sign a contract with the spirit. Soothing the angry spirit and signing a contract is a problem that Elisha-sensei must deal with from now on. So it’s time to fulfill your promise. Please tell me the secret of prominence – the magic of one-man tradition.”

Even though she had gained nothing tangible from the deal, Elisha was glad to have entered the spirit world, which had previously only existed to her in legend.

“Okay. Let’s begin.”

The rules of the one-man tradition would break, there and then.