Chapter 2 — Learning Magic
Ren walked down the long corridor toward the throne room.
Rows of royal guards stood on either side, their armor polished and their spears held upright. At the end of the hall sat a large, heavyset man upon an ornate throne.
The king.
Ren followed the grand mages until they stopped before the throne.
"We greet His Majesty, King Valen."
The mages bowed.
Ren did the same, though only slightly.
'Interesting.'
He glanced at the mages.
'They didn't kneel.'
Apparently, being a mage came with a certain degree of privilege in this kingdom.
The head mage stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, this is Hero Ren. After immense effort, we successfully completed the summoning ritual and brought him to our world."
"I see."
King Valen nodded.
His gaze briefly moved toward the grand mages.
Ren noticed the exchange.
'They're asking for their reward.'
The mages didn't need to say it aloud. Their mission had been successful, and now they expected the king to fulfill whatever promises had been made to them.
King Valen rose from his throne.
"Hero Ren."
The king looked directly at him.
"I implore you to train diligently, grow stronger, and defeat the forces of the Demon King. The fate of our kingdom depends upon you."
Ren maintained a respectful expression.
"I understand, Your Majesty. I will do my best."
'First, you drag me here against my will.'
'Then you tell me to fight your war.'
His expression remained calm.
'Just wait. Once I understand this world and gain enough strength, I'll deal with you.'
The audience ended soon afterward.
King Valen assigned several maids to attend to Ren's needs. They were all reasonably attractive, but Ren barely paid attention to their appearance.
He followed them to the room prepared for him.
It was spacious and luxurious, far more comfortable than anything he had been accustomed to in his previous life.
Ren looked around.
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'Not bad.'
The maids waited quietly behind him.
Ren didn't bother talking to them.
'They're probably spies.'
It would have been strange if the king had summoned someone from another world and then allowed him to wander around the palace without supervision.
The maids were likely reporting everything he did.
That was fine.
Ren had nothing to hide.
At least, not yet.
After familiarizing himself with the room, Ren turned toward the head maid.
"Hey."
"Yes, Sir Ren?"
"How do I train?"
The head maid looked slightly confused.
"Train?"
"Magic."
Ren pointed toward himself.
"I want to learn magic."
The head maid immediately bowed.
"Of course. Please follow me."
She led Ren through several corridors before arriving at the royal library.
The library was enormous.
Tall bookshelves covered the walls, packed with books that appeared to have accumulated over decades, if not centuries.
Several elderly grand mages were quietly reading inside.
One of them looked up.
"Oh, it's the Hero."
Another closed the book in his hands.
"How may we assist you, Sir Hero Ren?"
"Teach me how to use magic."
"Of course."
One of the grand mages smiled and stood.
"Let us begin with the fundamentals."
He picked up a thick book and opened it.
"Magic is the flow of power that exists throughout the world. It is one of the fundamental truths of existence. Humanity is blessed with the ability to perceive and manipulate this power, allowing us to create miracles beyond the limits of ordinary—"
Ren stared at him.
'What's this nonsense?'
The old mage continued.
'He's literally reading the textbook to me.'
Ren listened for another moment before interrupting.
"All right, that's enough."
The mage stopped.
Ren reached for one of the books lying nearby.
"Let me look through these myself."
"Of course, Hero."
Ren opened the book and began reading.
Or rather, skimming.
He quickly moved through the pages, ignoring the flowery explanations and philosophical nonsense.
After going through several books, he finally understood the basic principles behind magic.
'So that's how it works.'
Magic was fundamentally based on imagination.
A mage imagined an effect, and magic attempted to turn that imagined effect into a spell.
However, imagination alone wasn't enough.
Talent was crucial.
A person's talent determined whether they could successfully create or use a particular spell. Someone with insufficient talent could attempt to create a spell and simply fail.
Mana was the other major limitation.
Even if a mage possessed enough talent to create a spell, they still needed sufficient mana to actually cast it.
There was also another way to learn magic.
Rather than creating spells themselves, mages could study spells recorded in books by previous generations and learn to reproduce them.
Naturally, magic wasn't limitless.
The stronger a spell was, or the stranger its desired effect, the more difficult it became to create or learn.
Ren closed one book and picked up another.
'No wonder nobody bothered explaining all this to me.'
The system was surprisingly straightforward.
A talented mage could gradually become stronger by learning more spells and increasing their mana capacity.
And Ren's talent was something this world had rarely seen.
According to the historical records, SSS-grade magic affinity had appeared only once in the last thousand years.
Ren was the only recorded person in that period to possess it.
The sealed Demon King possessed an S-grade talent.
The strongest human mages possessed A-grade talent.
And Ren?
SSS grade.
Ren leaned back in his chair.
'That's pretty neat.'
He focused inward.
He could sense the faint mana inside his body.
There wasn't much.
But it was slowly growing.
'With my SSS-grade magic affinity, I should be able to create spells that ordinary mages could never hope to use.'
'The real problem is mana.'
Ren focused more carefully on the mana within him.
The growth was painfully slow.
'Too slow.'
He frowned.
'I need something that can accelerate my mana growth.'
Ren continued reading.
He soon came across the ranking system used by mages in this world.
There were four major ranks.
Rank 1 — Apprentice Mage.
Rank 2 — Adept Mage.
Rank 3 — Grand Mage.
Rank 4 — Archmage.
The strongest humans currently alive were Grand Mages.
The Demon King's generals were also at the Grand Mage level.
As for the Demon King himself...
He was an Archmage.
Ren stared at the information for several seconds.
'No wonder they summoned me.'
If the Demon King was an Archmage and their strongest human mages were only Grand Mages, the situation was obvious.
Without some extraordinary variable entering the equation, defeating the Demon King would be extremely difficult.
And apparently, that variable was him.
Ren closed the book.
"Thank you, gentlemen. I'll be taking my leave."
"Of course, Hero."
Ren stood and left the library.
The head maid quietly followed behind him.
When they returned to his room, Ren ignored her and walked straight toward the bed.
He lay down and closed his eyes.
'Time to start.'
Ren focused his mind.
He sensed the mana within his body.
Then he began drawing in the mana surrounding him.
Slowly, he pulled it into himself.
The process was subtle.
There was no dramatic transformation.
No sudden surge of power.
Just a tiny increase in the amount of mana he could contain.
Ren continued.
'Even if the growth is slow, I'll keep doing it.'
'As long as I can find a way to increase the rate later, there won't be a problem.'
A while later, the maids returned carrying a set of mage robes.
"Sir Ren, these have been prepared for you."
Ren opened his eyes and took the robes.
He changed into them.
"Thank you."
From then on, he had the maids deliver his meals directly to his room.
There was no reason to waste time walking around the palace when he could use that time to study or train.
He also developed a simple cleaning spell.
It cleaned his body, his clothes, and even the waste produced by his body.
Ren looked down at himself after casting it.
Everything was clean.
'Convenient.'
With a little imagination and enough talent, even mundane problems could be solved with magic.
Ren became increasingly comfortable with his new routine.
He stayed inside his room.
He studied magic.
He experimented with spells.
And most importantly, he continuously absorbed mana to increase his capacity.
The maids naturally noticed.
And, just as Ren had expected, they reported everything to the king.
King Valen soon learned that the Hero rarely left his room and spent almost all his time studying magic and cultivating his mana.
Ren didn't particularly care.
As long as they believed he was simply working hard to become stronger, they had no reason to interfere.
For now, he was exactly where he wanted to be.
In a comfortable room.
With unlimited access to magical knowledge.
And, most importantly, enough time to grow stronger.