I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game-Chapter 47

At some point, I had a conversation with Alter.

He told me that if I wanted to develop a spell, it would be better to read a dictionary rather than magical books.

“What does that mean...?”

It didn’t make sense.

I didn’t have the time or stamina to study the essence of spells while reading books, and suddenly, a dictionary?

Moreover, the standard common language dictionary is huge and ridiculously heavy. If someone like me, a weakling, carried such a weapon around, it wouldn’t be surprising if my wrist got strained or if something broke.

“The way humans think isn’t the same for everyone. Even twin brothers born and raised in the same environment will have differences in their way of thinking, speaking, and even in the smallest habits.”

“Yeah, well... isn’t that obvious?”

I nodded as if asking for further explanation, although I was skeptical about such an obvious statement.

“Apple.”

Alter’s sudden comment made me furrow my brow and stare at him blankly.

...What was he trying to say?

“What kind of apple are you thinking of right now?”

“Excuse me?”

“Please, tell me.”

“Well, a red and sweet apple, I suppose.”

“That’s unfortunate, because the image of ‘apple’ that I wanted to convey is a green, unripe apple full of sourness.”

“......”

I felt slightly annoyed, wondering if the old man was teasing me. But just as I started to feel that way, he stood up and gently tapped his temples with his wrinkled fingers before continuing.

“The point is this. There is no word in this world that can perfectly encapsulate a human’s thought.”

“...Hmm.”

“Magic is the power of thought. And spells are like lubricants that help guide that thought.”

Alter repeated the phrase, “Magic is the power of thought,” which he had emphasized many times while teaching me.

He said it so often that it sometimes lingered in my ears even while I slept.

I couldn’t help but worry that, as Alter grew older and neared his death, he might request this very phrase to be written on his gravestone.

...Thinking about it this way was a bit frightening.

“A mage should know as many words as possible. ‘Unripe apple’ gives a young and fresh feeling, while ‘poison apple’ brings a darker, more secretive emotion. If you use ‘apple of knowledge,’ it could add a sacred sense, and the term ‘red fruit’ is vague and faint, but can be used in a more encompassing way.”

Alter, who had been explaining, gave a worried expression, carefully placing his hand on my shoulder as he continued.

“The words you speak when casting a spell directly affect your brain. The sensations or emotions these words convey to your brain have a huge impact on the calculation process. So, when deciding on the words that will make up your spell, you must choose carefully. Incorrect words can negatively affect the calculation and even ruin the magic.”

“If that’s the case, it seems much safer to cast magic without saying the incantation. If I mess up a spell in a life-or-death situation, I’d be risking my life...”

I gently removed Alter’s hand from my shoulder and responded.

“Spells come with great rewards as well as risks. A well-crafted incantation can at least double the effectiveness of the magic. A perfectly crafted one can improve the magic's performance by ten times.”

“...If it’s perfected, that is.”

“You will most likely fail a couple of times. Don’t get discouraged. Even a genius won’t «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» find developing spells easy. It’s through failure that you adjust and improve, and that’s the essence of perfecting a spell.”

Despite my worried muttering, Alter smiled and replied reassuringly.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

The footsteps of the giant with the spider’s face grew louder. The sound of gold cracking spread through the room, and my arms and legs began to tremble with faint fear.

“Phew... shit...”

The first few times are guaranteed to fail. Spells are perfected through continuous adjustment after failure.

As I tried to recite the incantation, that warning from Alter rattled around in my head.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t scared.

I hadn’t tested whether the spell I had created would work properly.

There was a possibility that, as soon as I began the incantation, the magic would overload, and I’d lose consciousness immediately.

If I lose consciousness here, no one will be able to protect me. I’d end up in the giant’s mouth and meet a horrific death.

My lips wouldn’t move. The fear of failure was gnawing at my courage.

‘...Rex wouldn’t hesitate like this.’

I steeled myself, recalling Rex’s melted back.

Since entering this dungeon, I had only been a burden to my party.

Trian had fully taken over the role of the guide, and Rex had been injured while protecting me. Most of the combat had been handled by Lir, and all I had done was manipulate artifacts a few times.

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In the rush to move, I had been a burden to my team, and after the fights, I lost consciousness due to hyperventilation, wasting hours in a single room.

...Pathetic.

Yeah, up until now, I had been nothing but a burden to the team.

I couldn’t even look my team members in the face, who trusted me as a genius mage and put their lives in my hands.

So, now was not the time to be scared over a few words.

“Lightning mage, huh? Melting gold. Pretty decent firepower, but that won’t pierce my skin...”

“Bloom.”

I cleared my mind of distractions and began channeling the electricity that enveloped my body into the Bloom spell.

Small bolts of lightning burst from my fingertips and wrapped around my body, quickly stimulating the massive amount of magic power stored within me.

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“Steam.”

The air around me rippled. It seemed as though the air was tightly surrounding itself in preparation for a large shock.

“Cumulonimbus and monsoon.”

Boom!

The thunderclap of enormous size reverberated throughout the room. The ringing in my ears was overwhelming, but my focus remained intact.

“...”

The thunder passed, and an oppressive silence filled the room, like the night before a storm.

The spider giant seemed to freeze for a moment, stunned by the massive shock that burst from my body.

...Now it was time to repay my team members, who had cared for me, protected me, and trusted me.

So.

“Bloom.”

Just five minutes.

I decided to live like a true genius.

Lir, Rex, and Trian stood behind the golden door, their faces tense as they steadied their breathing.

The massive thunderclap would soon ring out, and monsters with spider-like appearances would assault them from all sides.

Rex, holding his axe, tried to steady his breathing, while Trian, with the last few arrows left, focused his senses on making the most careful shots.

Lir also focused on the flow of magic within her body, concentrating her mental energy. There was no need to limit the magic’s power, as she didn’t have to worry about the thunder breaking out. It was the perfect time to unleash her full power.

Fsss...!

Lir, who had concentrated her magic at the tip of her staff, felt a strange surge of lightning behind her.

It was a pressure she had never felt before. Fear surged within her, and thoughts of death flashed through her mind.

Quickly, she turned her head to where she felt the strange lightning.

There, the golden door stood.

“...No way.”

With a bad premonition, Lir muttered to herself in a low voice.

“Is something wrong?”

Trian, focused on his fingertips, asked as he turned to see Lir’s panicked expression.

“...Get down.”

“What?”

“Cover your ears and get down!”

Lir shouted to them in an urgent, loud voice.

“...!”

Trian and Rex immediately dropped to the floor and covered their ears as Lir had said.

They hadn’t felt the strange lightning flow like Lir had.

But after many years of experience, the veteran warriors had learned a valuable lesson: “Never ignore a mage’s warning.”

Lir, in a hurry, swung her staff to cover the three of them with a barrier, then quickly lay flat on the ground, just like the others.

Moments later, even with the barrier up, an enormous thunderclap echoed.

...Was this the strange lightning flow she had felt?

No, it was something far more brutal and sharp.

Clearly, something was happening beyond that golden door...

Whooosh!

Light.

Bright white light pierced through her eyelids, turning the blackness in Lir’s vision into pure white. A massive shockwave broke through her barrier and shook her body. Even though she had firmly covered her ears with both hands, the ringing in her head made her skull rattle.

The bodies of the three were swept up by the immense gust of wind and rolled several meters. Lir groaned, clutching her temples with both hands as a sharp headache assaulted her, while Rex held his breath, clenching his teeth as pain racked his back.

“...Crazy!”

The relatively sturdier Trian, who hadn’t suffered significant injuries, was the first to recover his sight. He looked around for the source of the explosion and saw the white-haired boy standing there, his black robe crackling with lightning.

The walls of the treasure keeper’s room, once covered in gold, had collapsed in all directions, and gold coins were dripping from the ceiling.

Opposite the boy stood the giant with the spider’s face. Even Trian, who had lived for thousands of years, was horrified by the sight. The 20-meter tall giant, whose half body had turned black ash and flew away, looked even more grotesque.

“...!”

The spider giant opened its mouth. It seemed to be saying something, but with the ringing still echoing in his ears, Trian couldn’t guess what it was saying.

“What are you doing, you said you wanted some fun?”

The boy showed no sign of remorse as he destroyed the golden walls that had been blocking him, seemingly unfazed by the dungeon’s natives.

“...You filthy, filthy! How dare you desecrate our temple...!”

With a flash, the spider-faced giant began roaring, holding onto its left upper body that had vanished in a moment.

A thick dust cloud filled the room. The golden mist, now vaporized, mixed into the yellowish dust, and the boy grinned as he looked at it.

“I don’t know if you’ll believe this, but I didn’t expect it to be this big either.”

As the boy pointed at the spider giant, another massive flash of lightning began to form at his slender fingertip.

“So don’t get too angry. It’s unsightly.”