Chapter 9 — The Path of a Mage
Ren trained for two full hours before deciding to call it a day.
Before leaving, he stopped at the front desk and paid for the recovery potions he had used.
Yes, those potions weren't free.
The training center's membership was already expensive, and the recovery potions added another recurring expense.
But Ren didn't mind.
They were useful.
Still, being able to use recovery potions didn't mean he could train endlessly.
Recovery potions could help his body recover from the physical damage caused by training and restore his stamina, but they couldn't instantly turn training into strength.
His body still needed time to adapt.
Training wasn't simply about damaging muscle tissue and repairing it afterward.
His brain and nervous system also needed time to adapt to the new demands being placed on his body.
Every movement required his nervous system to coordinate countless muscle fibers, controlling their contractions and relaxations with precise timing.
As his muscles became stronger, his brain also had to learn how to recruit and control them more efficiently.
That process couldn't be completed instantly with a recovery potion.
His muscles needed time.
His tendons and connective tissues needed time.
His nervous system needed time.
And his entire body needed time to turn the stimulus from training into actual physical improvement.
Training wasn't an instant process where one could simply destroy the muscles, drink a potion, and immediately become stronger.
Rest was an essential part of the process.
Besides, Ren was only five years old.
His body was still developing.
There was no reason to push himself recklessly and risk interfering with his own growth.
So he trained seriously, but he didn't overdo it.
After paying for the potions, Ren left the training center and hailed another taxi.
Once he returned home, he spent some time studying.
He browsed the magic net and read about magical beasts, their habits, wilderness survival, different environments, magic theories, and countless other subjects.
There was too much about this world that he didn't know.
If he wanted to eventually venture into the wilderness, he needed to understand what he was getting himself into.
While studying, Ren also looked through some of the footage he had recorded at the training center.
He edited the clips together and uploaded another video to his channel.
Soon, comments began appearing.
"Ren, you're so cute!"
"Ren, don't give up! We're with you!"
"You'll definitely succeed!"
"Keep going, Ren!"
"Your training is getting better!"
Some viewers even sent him small donations.
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Ren glanced through the comments.
'Not bad.'
A few hours later, Ren ordered a meal.
When the delivery arrived, a female delivery driver stood outside holding the package.
"Little brother, did you order this meal?"
"Yes."
Ren showed her the verification code.
After confirming it, she handed him the food.
Ren took the package to the dining area and opened it.
He had ordered nothing but meat dishes.
He quietly ate everything.
Once he finished, he threw the empty packaging into the trash bin.
Afterward, he simply continued with his day.
When his parents returned home, they had dinner together in silence.
There wasn't much to say between them.
And so, time passed.
Days became weeks.
Weeks became months.
Ren continued training.
At the training center, his routine gradually became more demanding.
After spending enough time with basic bodyweight exercises, he began incorporating weighted training.
Weighted calisthenics.
Weighted climbing.
Gym-machine exercises.
And other forms of resistance training.
His body steadily became stronger.
The exercises that had once been difficult gradually became easier.
The amount of weight he could handle continued increasing.
He could feel the changes in his body with each passing day.
'Well, the costs are pretty high, but my online income can support it for now.'
His training videos were still earning money.
However, the attention from his original incident had gradually faded.
His daily views weren't particularly high anymore.
The online platforms used by mages and ordinary humans were separate, and ordinary humans—the overwhelming majority of the population—weren't particularly interested in physical training or mage-related content.
And honestly, Ren couldn't blame them.
Even he found his own content repetitive.
Training.
Recording.
Editing.
Uploading.
Then doing it all over again.
Aside from showing his progress, there wasn't much else to see.
Ren wasn't particularly good at making entertaining content, nor did he have much interest in becoming an entertainer.
Besides, most ordinary humans had already given up on becoming mages.
They had little reason to spend their free time watching someone prepare for a path they themselves couldn't afford to pursue.
It wasn't like his previous life.
Back then, magic didn't exist.
If magic suddenly appeared in that world, people would naturally be fascinated by it.
But here, magic was already part of everyday life.
It wasn't some mysterious new discovery.
It was simply the reality of their civilization.
Science had existed in his previous world as well.
But how many ordinary people spent their free time watching scientific lectures?
Not many.
The same principle applied here.
Magic wasn't new.
It was normal.
So Ren's channel gradually settled into a much smaller audience.
Still, he didn't care.
For now, his earnings were enough to cover his training expenses.
'Hopefully, it'll stay that way.'
If his income eventually became insufficient, he could always find another way to make money.
Once he became strong enough, he could venture into the wilderness and hunt magical beasts.
The materials obtained from them could be sold for money.
Ren had also considered using some of his knowledge from his previous life to make money.
Games.
Novels.
Stories.
Other forms of entertainment.
Unfortunately, that idea didn't work.
Those things already existed in this world.
And they were far more developed than anything from his previous life.
There was nothing particularly valuable he could introduce.
So Ren abandoned the idea.
He would simply continue along his current path.
Train.
Learn.
Become stronger.
Wait for his awakening.
As Ren continued thinking about the mage path, he couldn't help but think about the difference between this world and his previous one.
This world wasn't some peaceful fantasy where everyone lived happily alongside magic.
Power was power.
And wherever overwhelming power existed, there would always be people who used it for their own benefit.
In his previous life, money was one of the greatest forms of power.
The rich could use their wealth to obtain things ordinary people couldn't.
Of course, there were limits.
But those limits were largely determined by the technology of the era.
If a technology capable of extending human lifespan existed, the wealthy would fight to control it.
If technology could grant someone superhuman strength, they would try to monopolize it.
If time travel ever became possible, the people with enough money and influence would undoubtedly try to control that technology as well.
They might even use it to change the past or bring back people they had lost.
If technology could eventually provide happiness, immortality, or power comparable to that of a god, money and influence would likely determine who gained access to it.
Unfortunately, the technology of his previous world hadn't reached that point.
Those things remained theories, possibilities that humanity could only imagine.
Technological progress was simply too slow.
But this world was different.
Here, there was a genuine path to power.
Magic.
A person could actually become stronger.
Stronger than ordinary humans.
Stronger than armies.
And eventually, strong enough that ordinary laws and institutions could barely restrain them.
That was the terrifying part.
There were only so many restrictions society could place on someone who possessed overwhelming power.
If a mage wanted something badly enough, ordinary people might have very little ability to stop them.
Of course, that didn't mean every mage was a criminal.
Most weren't.
But the existence of such power was enough to create an entirely different society.
If an ordinary person killed another person, they would be punished.
If a mage killed an ordinary person, the outcome could be very different.
If they weren't caught, nobody could do anything about it.
And even if they were caught, a sufficiently powerful mage could sometimes use their influence, connections, or wealth to escape serious consequences.
The law still existed.
But the stronger a person became, the less those laws could truly restrain them.
Ren wasn't naive enough to believe that this world was fair.
He had already experienced a small taste of it himself.
And that was before he had even become a mage.
There was another danger that came with the difference in power.
Even if a mage didn't deliberately harm an ordinary person, accidents could happen.
As a mage's strength increased, controlling that strength became increasingly difficult.
An ordinary person standing too close could potentially be killed by accident.
Such incidents weren't common.
But they did happen.
For this reason, many mages who came from ordinary backgrounds eventually severed their connections with their families.
It wasn't necessarily because they hated their relatives.
Sometimes, it was because they wanted to protect them.
A mage's enemies could target their family.
And even without an enemy deliberately attacking them, simply being near a powerful mage could become dangerous.
The struggles of a mage and those of an ordinary person were fundamentally different.
An ordinary person dragged into the world of mages could easily end up ruined.
So maintaining distance was often the safer choice.
Ren understood this perfectly.
As the years passed, his parents had another child.
They doted on the new child.
They showered the baby with attention and affection, while Ren became increasingly isolated from the family.
Before long, it seemed they were planning to have more children as well.
Ren didn't care.
In fact, he thought the distance was better for everyone.
There was no reason for them to become too involved with him.
He was walking toward a completely different world.
And when Ren turned seven, he finally made his decision.
He cut ties with his family.
He rented an apartment and moved out.
The process was surprisingly simple.
With the money he had earned and saved over the years, maintaining his own place wasn't particularly difficult.
And just like that, Ren began living on his own.
He was seven years old.
Yet unlike most children his age, he no longer had a family to depend on.
Ren didn't feel lonely.
He simply looked at it as another step forward.
His life was his own now.
And his goal hadn't changed.
Become a mage.
Give everything he had.
And eventually explore the vast world beyond humanity's cities.