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

Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei

Even though they were in a hurry, he couldn’t skip his meal. After recovering from sickness, it was necessary to pay close attention to his body and nutrition.

Snow and Lukas filled their stomachs with a meal of soup and bread before setting off.

The forest was about two days away from the academy. Or at least, that was the case if one was riding a carriage, but Snow didn’t get a carriage. She didn’t use the Warp Stone either. (There weren’t any Warp Stones near the forest in the first place.)

Nevertheless, Snow and Lukas were able to arrive at the Amalgam Forest in just one day.

“Urg…”

Lukas forcibly suppressed the urge to vomit. Even with the fresh air of the forest, the nausea didn’t go away easily.

Snow snickered as she saw this. This sight pleased her a great deal.

“You’re tougher than I expected.”

“…wasn’t there… another… way?”

“There wasn’t. But thanks to that, we were able to arrive much faster than if we took a carriage.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t good to only look at efficiency when doing a task. Oftentimes, it could cause disasters to occur.

Lukas gagged a few more times before finally straightening his back with a sigh.

“…the people we passed stared at us like they had seen some kind of ghost.”

“Ahaha. This Queen saw that too. They all had funny expressions on their faces.”

“…”

Well, anyone would stare if they saw a white haired woman carrying a white haired man and running at a speed that surpassed the Fly spell.

He thought that it would have been better since Snow was wearing a mask, but instead, it only seemed to make the scene even more bizarre.

…In any case, it was a memory that he would not easily forget.

“This is Amalgam Forest.”

He looked around at Snow’s words.

They were in a clearing in the forest, but it didn’t seem to be completely natural. The grass in the clearing was cut very short, there were tents at one end, and in the centre, were traces of bonfires.

Although the traces were a bit old, it was clear that a group of people had stayed there at some point.

“This is the place we take talented people who want to enter the alliance. To be precise, this place is a test site.”

“…a test site.”

“Right. The goal of the test is survival. You just have to survive in this forest for a month. Simple, right?”

“…”

It wasn’t that difficult.

The forest was neither hot nor cold, there were tents, and it seemed easy to obtain drinking water. It wouldn’t be difficult to find food either since he saw the shadows of beasts moving within the forest from time to time, and there were many fruit trees.

Snow walked forward with light steps before bending over and picking something up.

“This isn’t too bad.”

It was a branch.

However, it was very thin. It wasn’t even 1cm in diameter. It was a thin twig that even a newborn baby could snap into two pieces.

But.

“…”

Snow swung the branch once.

From top to bottom.

As if she was drawing a line in the air.

Whoosh-

And a strong wind billowed around her. He could even see bugs who were sent flying by the sudden gust.

Snow looked down at the branch appreciatively before turning back to Lukas.

“Draw your sword.”

It seemed she intended to start right away.

Well, she had said that they didn’t have any time to waste.

Doing as she said, Lukas drew the sword he’d bought from the city.

“Get into your stance.”

He did as she said again.

Lukas’ swordsmanship was heavily influenced by Lucid’s Dreadment, but he had added his own interpretation due to the constraints of his left arm and right leg.

He held the sword in his hand at an angle, and lowered his head slightly. He placed his left foot a half step in front of his right, and his right shoulder was also drawn back slightly.

All in all, it was a strange stance that caused the right side of his torso to stick out.

“…”

Snow glanced at Lukas for a moment before tilting her head to the side.

“You, are you from Luanoble?”

“…well…”

“Right. You did say that you lost your memories. Hmm… Anyway, this is better than I was expecting.”

She nodded to herself before continuing.

“First, we’ll work on fixing your stance.”

Swoosh-

Snow narrowed the distance in an instant. It was shorter than the time one took to blink. She circled around Lukas a few times before nodding.

“Imagine that this foot can’t move.”

Then, she pressed the tip of her branch to the top of Lukas’ foot.

“It can be used as a fixed point. Your legs and movement are limited, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have any power.”

“…that’s true.”

He understood what it meant to use it as a fixed point. But he felt that limiting his movements in battle could prove fatal.

Folding her arms, Snow continued her explanation.

“If your mobility is your weakness, then it’s better to leave it as it is rather than waste time doing a poor job at fixing it. You can be like a fortress.”

“You mean to focus more on defense than offense?”

“That’s right. With your legs, if you were to actively attack, the efficiency would be reduced by at least half.”

This was something he knew. In fact, it could even be considered a kind estimation. After all, if one took his left arm into account, it would probably be even more than that.

“There are attacks that I wouldn’t be able to deal with with a fixed right leg.”

“You mean magic?”

That was typically the case.

“How would I deal with attacks like that?”

“You can’t deal with those. So it’s best not to try.”

“…what?”

Lukas looked up at Snow with a frown, but the expression on her face was serious.

In fact, her eyes were even a bit cold.

“Are you telling me to just accept death then?”

“Who said anything like that? I’m just saying that if you encounter attacks that don’t suit your fighting style, you should avoid fighting as much as possible.”

“In most cases, fighting is inevitable.”

“That’s true. So you should find some way to buy time until an ally who is capable of dealing with magic attacks arrives.”

“…”

For a moment, Lukas was speechless.

It felt like he’d been hit in the back of the head with a hammer.

“Did I say something strange?”

“No.”

It wasn’t just strange.

He couldn’t be sure when it had first started, but he was used to dealing with everything on his own.

Not 4,000 years ago.

At that time, he’d had four friends who were on par with him.

If so, then was it when he was Frey Blake? Of course, there were people who he’d called companions at that time. Snow in front of him was one of them, and Ivan as well.

However… had he really treated them as equals?

‘No.’

In the end, Lukas had handled everything on his own, including the final battle with Lord.

Right. At some point, he’d gotten used to fighting on his own, and now it seemed that he had taken it for granted.

That’s why he’d been so shaken by Snow’s words.

To allow others to deal with attacks that he couldn’t handle for him.

“…”

Of course, apart from that thought, the feeling of relying on others simply made him feel uncomfortable.

“For today, we’ll only work on the general framework of your swordsmanship. Tomorrow, I’ll guide you in swordsmanship. And on the day after that, the last day, we’ll have a spar, so do your best to satisfy this Queen. Then I’ll acknowledge you.”

“What happens after you acknowledge me?”

“I will recommend you to the Alliance’s talent training centre. And I’ll tell you this Queen’s name.”

Talent training centre.

Snow’s words made Lukas feel a bit uncomfortable.

“What about Diablo’s subjugation?”

“…”

“Can’t I take part as well?”

Snow’s eyes narrowed slightly. Then she spoke in a slow tone.

“To be honest, the strength of our alliance is not much. Even though the Circle split into two parts, the sides led by Ivan and Iris are still stronger than us.”

“…”

“Nevertheless, I can assure you. The number of talents the Alliance can mobilise is more than three figures. They are all stronger than you and they have no flaws either.”

Snow didn’t say more, but her meaning was clear.

In other words,

Even if Lukas were to participate in this battle, with his current strength, he’d most likely just die.

It was only then that Lukas understood the situation and Snow’s attitude.

She wasn’t treating Lukas like an ‘equal companion’ or ‘someone to leave her back to’.

He was just one among dozens if not hundreds of people.

Although he was crippled, he still had a lot of potential.

That was all Snow’s expectations of Lukas amounted to.

0

Perhaps her act of investing her time now was also just a part of trying to recruit a good talent.

“…”

It was true. But it severely wounded Lukas’ pride.

Crunch.

The hilt of his sword creaked a bit as the strength of his grip increased.

Before coming to this forest, there had still been a number of tangled thoughts in his head. His heart had been heavy and his mood was gloomy.

This was natural, because he’d gone there without any idea of how to deal with his many problems.

But at that moment, he forgot about everything else.

Snow’s attitude was understandable.

In all honesty, it couldn’t be said that she was looking down on Lukas, in fact, it was possible to say that her attitude was excessive compared to the worth he had displayed.

‘…nevertheless…’

Lukas had no intention of being looked down upon like this.

He made a decision at that moment.

There were three days left.

During that time, he would change Snow’s attitude towards him, regardless of what it took.