The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR)

He wandered around in search of another ‘Lukas’.

Pale had called him lucky when she’d discovered the corpse of the ‘Bandit Lukas’. She was right about that. It wasn’t easy to find the corpses of ‘other Lukases’.

He walked around aimlessly.

On the occasions when he felt hungry, he would casually eat one of the bodies around him. (TL: Dang, that’s someone else’s possibility Lukas.)

But even at those times, he focused on efficiency. He aimed for the corpses that had the most in common with him.

The passage of time could not be felt in the dump site.

The surroundings were constantly dark, and the surrounding scenery was consistent enough to make him laugh bitterly. This was natural since regardless of where he looked, he would see nothing but corpses.

It was a different feeling from when he was in the Abyss. If what he felt in that place was an emptiness that killed courage and trampled upon hope, the dump site seemed to be filled with an atmosphere that drove a healthy mind to madness.

—He discovered the ‘second Lukas’ body’ completely by accident.

A corpse creaked as he stepped onto it. This had happened many times since he was here so it was nothing new, but something different happened this time. That was because it felt like an electric current shot up his foot.

It was very similar to the feeling he had when he touched the corpse of the ‘Bandit Lukas’.

He looked down at the corpse.

…He didn’t realise what it was at first. This was because the appearance of this corpse was completely out of Lukas’ expectations or imagination.

Nevertheless, the feeling of familiarity remained. The more he looked at the corpse, the more he realised that it wasn’t just a feeling of familiarity.

‘She’ had long hair. She had a decent figure, and there was a slight glow to her face. She didn’t have a right arm. It appeared to have been cut off by a sharp blade.

Lukas…

Realised that this woman was another of his ‘selves’.

Tuk.

He touched her body. And he once again saw a segment of the past.

This woman’s name was Lucia Larson. Larson was his mother’s last name.

It seemed that she’d lived a life that had nothing to do with the Trowman Orphanage.

Why was that? Because she had a different gender?

Grecia Larson didn’t appear to be a commoner. There was fatigue on her face, but her clothes were clearly made from high quality materials, and she carried herself with grace that could not be hidden. She’d also appeared deeply saddened to leave Lukas at the orphanage.

In other words, she hadn’t abandoned the child because she wanted to, but because of some other uncontrollable circumstance.

What was the reason?

Why did she abandon the boy-child and raise the girl-child?

He had no idea.

This was because Lucia’s ‘phantom’ didn’t appear. He didn’t know why.

However, he was able to understand one fact. The fact that even if he were to eat the entire body without undergoing that kind of complicated process, he would still obtain her full potential.

In that case, there was no reason for him to hesitate.

Crack, crunch…

The predation began.

The second time was easier than the first. He still felt like he was descending, but at least this time he didn’t feel he was falling into an abyss. He didn’t know why. Perhaps it was because he was already at the bottom.

Lukas finished his meal with an indifferent expression and immediately felt full once more.

But this time, he also had a strange feeling.

“…”

The mana, which filled his mana room, had disappeared.

It felt like the purely natural energy had become turbid.

Was it simply a feeling? Or…

Lukas murmured to himself as he made a judgement.

“Flame Ball.”

The spell appeared without any issue. Or so he thought at first.

Fwo-, oosh…

Like his mana, the spell gave the impression that it was somewhat precarious. But apart from that, there were no other abnormalities. It was no less powerful, and while it was a bit unstable, it wouldn’t disappear unless Lukas willed it to.

After looking at the Flame Ball for a while, he finally turned his head away. He decided not to care. The changes that occurred didn’t matter as long as they didn’t reduce the power. If there were any problems, he would deal with them at that time.

This way of thinking was very different from Lukas in the past.

It kind of reminded him of Lucia. He’d found her completely by accident. If he hadn’t stepped on her, he would have walked past her without realising anything. He was only able to tell that she was him after coming into contact with her corpse.

This fact caused him to realise something.

There were probably ‘Lukases’ in this dump site whose appearances were completely unimaginable to him. It was possible that he might have even seen other ‘Lukases’ without noticing.

In that regard, it might not have been a good thing that the first Lukas he encountered was ‘Bandit Lukas’.

His appearance had been almost identical to his own, which created the prejudice in Lukas’ mind that the others would have similar appearances in the broad sense.

Tap tap-

Lukas began to retrace his footsteps. He walked past the surrounding bodies without even looking at them.

—After an indiscernible amount of time.

He returned to the entrance of the dump site where they’d found the corpse of ‘Bandit Lukas’.

‘From the beginning.’

From here, he would check each corpse one by one. Without overlooking a single one.

He knew.

How many corpses were in just ‘this area’. Going through each of them one by one was a task that would seem impossible to any sane mind.

The corpse of one Lukas had already been found in this area. From a probability standpoint, the chances of him finding another Lukas here were absurdly low.

“…”

But while they might be absurdly low, the chances were not zero.

That fact was more important to Lukas than anything else.

“Then, let’s begin.”

With a listless mutter.

Lukas dug up the nearest corpse.

* * *

Tap.

…He passed through corpses.

Tap.

…He ate a lot.

Tap.

…He ate a lot of Lukas.

There were countless ‘failed Lukases’. It wasn’t just bandits.

Swordsmen, Knights, Guards, Martial Artists, Farmers, Fishermen, Doctors, Peddlers, Herbalists, Mercenaries, Priests, Nobles…

Lukas was directly able to experience the infinite possibilities of one being.

He stopped.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that a lot of time might have passed.

He slowly looked around.

He was still surrounded by thousands of corpses piled onto each other, but now, he was familiar with all of them.

This meant that he’d rummaged through all of these corpses at least once.

He passed them.

The corpses around him changed, and the colour of the ground and walls changed. This was proof that he’d entered another area.

Lukas had learned a lot about the dump site’s environment.

Firstly, it wasn’t just himself and the corpses in this place. (TL: And Pale.)

Three Day Bugs. In addition to those insects which inflicted terrible pain, there were other living beings.

Surprisingly, there were many different kinds, and there were even some among them that were threats to him.

Throb-

He had a headache.

It was a pain that had been following him consistently from some point, but now, he could barely feel it.

It first appeared after he’d eaten three corpses.

The pain had come unexpectedly.

It felt like his entire body was being torn apart. It was so painful that he couldn’t even scream. It was as if ‘Three Day Bugs’ had dug into his skin, and were gnawing on his internal organs, muscles, and blood vessels.

That pain had stayed with him for days afterward.

It didn’t stop, and he didn’t get used to it. Instead, it felt like it was getting worse.

So Lukas had no choice but to continue forward.

It felt like the pain would never end even if he waited forever, so he had no choice but to continue doing what he was doing.

He ate another corpse.

When he ate the fourth and fifth corpses, the pain doubled. At that time, it was hard for him to stay sane.

But he ignored it.

Stumbling, he looked for the next corpse.

He struggled to keep a hold on his blurring vision and raised his concentration as high as he possibly could. Among the pain ripping through his body, the most severe by far was the headache. The thought that it would be better to just smash his skull appeared in his mind tens of thousands of times a day.

But he couldn’t. Death was no more than an escape. Lukas had no intention of dying.

He ate a corpse.

He even ate a corpse that wasn’t a ‘Lukas’ by accident. As mentioned before, his vision was blurred and his sanity waning.

Then, at some point, the pain began to fade. It wasn’t that he was growing used to it, it was really fading. He didn’t know why, and he didn’t know when.

That wasn’t the only thing that changed.

He no longer felt full even after eating a complete corpse. To be precise, it felt like he could no longer absorb it efficiently. It was like pouring water into a cup that was already full—

…It was at that moment that Lukas’ corpse feast came to an end.

Then, he sat down and inspected himself.

He realised that he’d become stronger.

Was it maximum magic power? Absolute quantity of mana? Or, a state beyond 10 stars?

No, it wasn’t.

The power he’d gained from abandoning his humanity was nothing like that. At least he didn’t think so. A simple increase in the strength of his magic power, which he now had, was not enough to defeat the Twelve Void Lords. It couldn’t surpass Yang In-hyun’s sword.

He continued to observe within him.

…Mana.

He could now feel the familiar energy that filled his body a bit better.

But as he ate more corpses, the nature of his mana seemed to change, and at some point, it began to feel turbid. As a result, his mana could no longer be called pure energy.

Mana was the most natural and purest energy. It was infinitely close to the source of fire, water, earth and air, which were the matter that made up all creation.

Energy that gained its value from its purity.

If that was the case, then what was the value of this turbid mana?

“…”

Mana was a type of energy that didn’t fit in with this world.

Lukas had felt this a long time ago. The way to replenish it was also inefficient, and the power of absolute had failed to have an impact on an Absolute being like Yang In-hyun.

It wasn’t just Yang In-hyun.

Lukas knew that in this world, he was not even on the same level as the truly strong beings.

Michael, Pale, and the giant monster whose throat was the entry point for the dump site he was currently in.

They were all stronger than Lukas.

He knew that.

Despite knowing that, he was not able to completely abandon mana. It was Lukas’ only weapon. In a way, he could even be called obsessed.

His mind was in tatters as if it had been stitched together countless times, but, paradoxically, it was stable in that regard.

Knowing just how much of a mess he was as a being, he was able to stay rather calm.

Lukas had thought that he’d reached the end of the path of magicology.

But was that really the case? In the first place, could a field of study even have an end?

—He thought for a long time, but his decision was quick.

Lukas…

Decided to abandon mana.

Shaa-

Lukas’ entire body felt a state of extreme weakness. He’d metaphorically opened the lid of his mana room, which was always tightly closed. And the mana poured out of every orifice in his body.

He let it go without holding anything back.

No, the mana wanted to stay.

It didn’t want to leave the mana room, where it had stayed for a long time.

So this was a one sided release on Lukas’ part.

Ohhhh-

A strange sound resonated when the huge amount of mana was gently released all at once. It sounded like a howl or a scream of resentment.

It was a strange feeling.

They were like companions, friends, family, lovers… and maybe even more than that, for a long time. And now it felt like he’d killed the other with his own hands.

But there were no large ripples in his already blackened heart.

At most, there was a small hint of regret.

What Lukas was looking at was ‘what was in front of him’.

Abandoning mana was only the beginning. There was still a lot he had to throw away.

Abandoning mana was the same as abandoning his identity as a Wizard. Naturally, the title Great Mage was also being abandoned. He also didn’t have the right to teach anyone anymore, so the title Great Teacher was undeserved.

He wasn’t throwing away his worldly shackles. This was far from such a noble sacrifice, which was usually practised by religious people.

It was more than that…

A bit more…

“___”

A thought suddenly appeared in his mind.

If he threw everything away one after the other,

What would be left at the end?

…

…

It wasn’t long before his mana ceased to exist. Surprisingly, it had taken longer than he’d expected.

Completely draining all of the mana in his entire body had been much harder and more meticulous than he’d initially thought. It wasn’t just his mana room, it was difficult to remove the residue left behind by mana in the pathways throughout his body which the mana passed through like veins.

However, he was now completely empty.

At the very least, Lukas now no longer had any mana.

Then what was he to do now?

Should he find another weapon?

Swords, spears, axes, blunt weapons, bows, dozens and hundreds of weapons appeared in his mind. It wasn’t just physical weapons. Spirit arts, black magic, and holy power also crossed his mind.

However, would those work?

He’d felt it while eating countless Lukases.

He was stronger than any Lukas in the dump site.

In other words, it could be said that Lukas, who had pursued magicology, had made the best choice when it came to strength. But he had already abandoned mana.

He had no intention of reverting that decision. Mana was not enough to help him fight the Twelve Void Lords. He was sure of this.

“…”

At that moment, Lukas suddenly had an absurd thought.

It was so ridiculous that it was hard for him to put it into words, but he also found that he was unexpectedly drawn to it.

‘I wonder if I can use magic without mana.’

(TL: So The ‘Not Great Mage’ Returns After 4000 Years?)