The Son-In-Law of the Magician Is a Transcendent Sword Master - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 29

Training with Valen was brutal.

It was so intense that I couldn’t tell whether this was training as a mage or as a mercenary.

First, Valen made me run endlessly around the training ground in front of the Magic Tower.

“Hey, Reagan. Aren’t your feet stopped! Standing still while chanting magic is no different from begging ‘please cut my throat’!”

“Yes. I know that better than anyone.”

How could I not know?

If there’s anyone who has cut the throats of the most mages who stopped moving, it would be me.

“Mages are all noble folk who hole up in the Magic Tower doing nothing but research. But we are battle mages. We unfold maps more often than books, and we get covered in blood more often than ink!”

Valen’s shout echoed through the training ground.

“Stamina is mana, and it’s survival! If you can’t continue chanting even when you’re gasping for breath, you’re definitely a dead man!”

The Benheim family branches were also running alongside me in the training ground. It seemed Valen was both the deputy commander of the Rune Surveillance Unit and the training instructor for the Benheim family branches.

“…Re, Reagan… I heard you became a son-in-law… huff, why are you here?”

That was Brock Benheim, who was practically dying right in front of me.

“Well… it’s probably like a live-in son-in-law qualification exam.”

In reality, Stern’s decision to assign me to the Rune Surveillance Unit was likely intended to test whether I had the skills befitting Renia’s husband and Benheim’s live-in son-in-law.

In that case, I had no choice but to give it my all.

“One more lap to go!”

The fortunate thing was that I had already lived as a bottom-tier mercenary since childhood, so my body was somewhat built up.

And I had the mental strength and experience to handle brutal training with ease.

This level of training was nothing compared to the battlefields of my previous life.

Though it wasn’t entirely easy since my body wasn’t fully developed yet.

“Brief rest!”

The moment Valen’s command fell, Brock and the other branch members screamed and collapsed on the ground. I too had endured hardship with a body not yet fully trained, so I sat on a nearby stump, gasping for breath.

After catching my breath for a while, Valen approached and threw me a water bottle.

“Unexpected. I thought you’d collapse like a scholar.”

“Did I look like a scholar to you?”

“I thought you won over Miss Renia with just your pretty face. But looking at your movements, you have quite a bit of real combat muscle. Not bad.”

In reality, my body in my previous life wasn’t particularly large. It was natural since I had insufficient nutrition during my growth period.

But now that I’m at Benheim, it’s different. Since I’m eating elixirs and delicacies to my heart’s content, I’ll be able to have a much superior body than before my regression.

“Anyway, I’m seeing you in a new light. The family head brought quite a useful item.”

Valen had a quite satisfied expression.

It was like looking at a son he’d been separated from for life, or the eyes of an officer who had discovered an excellent soldier.

That gaze was quite uncomfortable, so I quietly turned my eyes away. It reminded me of my mercenary days, when receiving such looks always meant being worked even harder.

“That aside.”

I caught my breath while drinking water.

“I heard the operation is in a month.”

“That’s right. On the night when the lunar eclipse occurs.”

“You said you’d make me into a useful mage, Deputy Commander. What’s the standard for usefulness?”

“You’re only asking now?”

“Didn’t you start training me before I could ask? I believe in doing what I’m told first.”

Valen wore a smile of complete satisfaction at my attitude.

Soon he held up four fingers in front of my face.

“It’s simple. You need to become 4th Circle.”

“4th Circle…”

Indeed.

It had already been about three months since I reached 3rd Circle. My growth wasn’t stagnant, but the wall to 4th Circle was higher than I thought. When I reached 3rd Circle, I could do it as if it were natural, but I couldn’t see any clear method for 4th Circle.

That was natural, since even those who had practiced magic their entire lives often stopped at knocking on the threshold of 4th Circle. So real talent as a mage is determined starting from 4th Circle.

In other words, it’s a stage that requires enlightenment.

“It doesn’t seem like a level you can reach just by accumulating mana. How can one reach 4th Circle?”

“The way to break through the 4th Circle wall is different for each person. So you have to realize it yourself. However, as a Benheim mage, I can throw some appropriate advice for my junior.”

“Please, Deputy Commander.”

“Only calling me deputy commander at times like this, tsk.”

Valen clicked his tongue but didn’t look particularly displeased.

“Watch carefully. You branch members too.”

Valen began drawing something on the ground with a tree branch. The branch mages including Brock also gathered around.

“Reagan, what do you think rune magic is?”

“Magic that uses rune characters… isn’t it?”

“Right. Correct.”

Valen drew the rune character Kenaz (ᚲ) on the ground.

“Benheim restored the language of the Divine Realm and elevated it as a magic system. Using these 24 rune characters is the core of our unique magic formula. But Reagan, how have you been using rune magic so far?”

“I drew characters by infusing mana.”

“Right. That’s exactly the method up to 3rd Circle.”

When Valen flicked his finger, the Kenaz drawn on the ground burned red and produced a small flame.

It wasn’t much different from the Kenaz I usually used.

“Like this, you grant mana to a single character to distort reality. Kenaz means flame, Isaz means ice, Hagalaz means destruction, and so on. Manifesting the meaning each character possesses as is. That’s the magic you’re all using now.”

“You’re saying that’s not everything.”

“Of course. If you thought you could see the end of the magical path by just shouting a single word, you’re mistaken.”

Valen tapped the ground with the tree branch.

“From 4th Circle onward, it’s different. From 4th Circle, the level is divided not by the amount of mana accumulated, but by how well you ‘combine’ the 24 rune characters.”

“Combine…?”

“Think about it. Am I, who am speaking to you, just throwing single words at you right now?”

“No.”

“Right. Letters gather to become words, and words gather to become sentences. That is language. Benheim’s golden clan that handles the language of spirits. In other words, to become 4th Circle…”

I could understand the rest without needing to hear it.

“You have to make sentences with rune characters.”

At my words, Valen grinned.

“Correct. This guy, despite how he looks, seems to have a pretty good head on his shoulders.”

Valen stood up and dusted off the dirt.

“Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. So I’ll show you. About rune magic from 4th Circle onward.”

Valen extended his hand into the air. Kenaz was drawn from his fingertips. Up to this point, it was within my capabilities too.

But what came next was different. Valen immediately drew the rune character Isaz right after Kenaz.

The rune of flame and the rune of ice – it was common sense that when these two opposing attributes met, they would cancel each other out.

However, instead of colliding, the two rune characters coexisted.

Exquisite balance. Even I was impressed by how perfectly Kenaz and Isaz overlapped.

“Kenaz means flame, but it has other meanings too. If you dig into its etymology, it also has concepts of ‘illuminate’ or ‘shoot forth’.”

Along with Valen’s explanation, Kenaz embraced Isaz. Then the red flame disappeared, leaving only its propulsive force to pull the blue ice chunk taut like a bowstring.

“And Isaz is an attribute word for ice. What happens when you connect these two into a single sentence?”

Pwang-!

Crack!

With a sharp explosive sound, an ice bullet shot out at invisible speed. The ice bullet embedded deeply in the center of a target dozens of meters away.

“…!”

The branch members exclaimed in admiration.

Ice bullet. There’s similar magic among common spells. But it was on a completely different level from such trivial magic.

Terrifying speed and penetrating power. And even mana efficiency. The power was doubled compared to using a single character, but the mana consumed was actually less.

“Do you understand? Here, Kenaz lost its attribute of ‘flame’ and took on the concept of ‘launch’. And Isaz supported Kenaz as the attribute of ‘ice’.”

Valen turned to look at me with a smug expression.

“Activation words, attribute words, and concept words. Benheim’s magic creates tens of thousands of phenomena by combining these rune characters. 4th Circle refers to the stage where you have basic ‘sentence construction ability’.”

“…Huh.”

I felt like my mind was clearing. Until now, I had been using magic far too crudely.

“So you’re all still at a level inferior to babbling infants. Do you understand now?”

“I understand completely.”

High-tier rune mages use runic characters as sentences.

From their perspective, we must look like children who can only blurt out fragmentary words.

Brock’s words that magic is a realm of calculation, not intuition, finally made sense.

“Hmm….”

While thinking about this, one question crossed my mind.

If combining two runic characters to make short sentences is 4th tier….

“Then… if I use multiple runic characters… could I distort reality?”

“What do you mean?”

“For example… reversing time.”

Valen’s eyes widened at the sudden question.

“…Time? Haha, what grand dreams you have. You act like an old man, but you’re still just a child, aren’t you?”

“Is it impossible?”

“No, theoretically it’s possible. Benheim’s runic characters originate from the Divine Realm’s language. It’s said that mages of the Divine Realm could twist causality and accept time as their own power.”

That means reversing time is certainly possible.

After all, it was proven through Stern’s words that the runic characters contained in the pendant were time-related runes.

As I was internally accepting this, Valen pointed his finger right at my face.

“However, realistically speaking, it’s an impossible story.”

“Why is that?”

“Reversing time is grand magic even by Divine Realm standards. To recreate such ancient grand magic with mere mortal realm magic… two or three sentences wouldn’t even come close. Even using all dozens of runic characters created by Benheim would be nearly impossible. Considering the mana needed for all those runic characters and the sensitivity required to coordinate them, it’s simply not within human capability.”

Valen chuckled.

“That’s the realm of gods. You’d need to be at least 8th tier, or even higher, to even attempt it. In Benheim’s history, only our founder has reached such a level.”

“8th tier… or higher….”

Renia from my previous life was an 8th tier mage.

The cause of my regression undoubtedly originated from Renia.

Even in that desperate situation, she accomplished a miracle rivaling the Divine Realm’s grand magic to send me to the past.

I could feel the weight of that burden settling on my shoulders anew.

‘Not just decent… I ended up with an excessive wife.’

I swallowed a bitter smile and clenched my fist tightly.

So I had no intention of stopping before the mere wall of 4th tier.

“Thank you. Thanks to you showing me the path just now, I’ve roughly grasped it.”

When my gaze changed, Valen curled up the corners of his mouth with interest.

“Hooh…. Your confidence is worth seeing. Are you saying you can reach 4th tier? A greenhorn who hasn’t even been studying magic for half a year?”

“Yes, well. I’m particularly quick at learning.”

“Nonsense. Even the family head couldn’t reach 4th tier before coming of age. You might have reached 3rd tier thanks to Benheim’s mana cultivation method and elixirs, but from 4th tier onward, individual capability and enlightenment are what matter.”

Valen snorted.

I came up with a good idea.

“Then would you like to make a bet with me?”

“A bet?”

“If I reach 4th tier within a month, you’ll grant me one wish.”

Valen looked at me with narrowed eyes, then burst into laughter as if it were absurd.

“Fine. If you reach 4th tier within a month, I’ll gladly offer you my head.”

“I don’t need your head, but you must keep your promise.”

One month.

That’s excessive time.

One week would be enough.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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