Damn Reincarnation
chapter-31-3

“I’ll be starting now,” Eugene declared.

“Alright,” Hera acknowledged.

Hera couldn’t hide the anxious look in her eyes. She quietly summoned her staff and gripped it with both hands. This was so that she could respond immediately in case of an emergency.

Eugene was relaxed.

‘It really is similar to the White Flame Formula.’

He was thinking about the Circles. As a system of magic created by Sienna, Eugene was indeed interested in it.

Although the two were different systems, they shared the same essence.

The White Flame Formula guided mana into the stars around his heart.

The Circles guided mana into a circular flow.

In the White Flame Formula, whenever there was enough growth, another star split off.

With the Circles, whenever there was enough growth, another Circle was formed.

‘I just have to try and apply them together.’

It all made sense to him. Eugene had a good understanding of both methods, and he was personally familiar with the White Flame Formula. As for the mana control that was needed? He’d been continuously refining that ever since his previous life. Although he wasn’t sure if it would work, Eugene felt that it was worth a try.

‘The Circles can be replaced with the stars. The resonance between the stars can amplify the mana. Depending on the situation, I’ll have to make instantaneous adjustments to the mana. It’ll be a pain if I mispredict it and make a mistake.’

This was no ordinary magic system. Within moments, he could end up drained of all his mana.

However, Eugene didn’t hesitate. The mana within his body gathered to his heart. The three stars began to shine and then resonate as they linked up with each other.

“...No way,” Hera, who was holding on tightly to her staff, let out a noise of disbelief.

Not only could she feel how pure the mana that Eugene had drawn out from his core was, but she could also tell how powerful it was.

So this was the descendant of the Great Vermouth, the man known as the God of War and the Master-of-All. The whole world had heard of how impressive the Lionheart Clan’s mana training scripture was. However, wasn’t this going a bit too far? How could a seventeen-year-old youth like Eugene possibly draw out such pure and vast quantities of mana?

‘Slowly,’ Eugene reminded himself.

Fwooosh!

A pure white flame engulfed his entire body. Eugene focussed his concentration as he adjusted the flow of mana. He needed to be conscious of his current limits in controlling his mana, as he couldn’t afford to overdo it. Eugene believed that this was possible because he felt something like this was no different from producing sword-light or sword-force.

But now, how should he manifest this mana into a spell? From the depths of Eugene’s memory, he recalled a specific method of processing the spell’s form. Incantations didn’t necessarily need to be spoken out loud. The important thing was to have a clear will to trigger the effect of a spell.

His mana surged up, but Eugene suppressed it. He continued to adjust the unruly strands of mana. The experience from his previous life gave Eugene as much mana control as he needed.

‘He has such perfect mana control…. It keeps looking like it’s about to unravel, but it all stays together. Doesn’t that mean he’s controlling even the smallest particles of mana? Is that even possible at his age?’ Hera asked herself.

The more mana you attempt to control, the weaker your grip on it. That was just common sense.

Mana control required not just talent but a lot of experience as well. It was only four years ago that Eugene Lionheart, as a collateral descendant, had first initiated his mana. But he was able to accumulate so much mana in just these four years and attain perfect control over his mana as well? That was just absurd.

Right now, Eugene’s mana was so pure and strong that Eward, who had initiated his mana when he was only five years old, couldn’t even compare to him.

‘...I did hear he was a monster,’ Hera recalled what Lovellian had told her about Eugene.

However, Lovellian wasn’t her only source of rumors regarding Eugene. The Bloodline Continuation Ceremony was a famous tradition of the Lionheart clan. During the three hundred years of the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony’s continued existence, there was only one occasion where a collateral descendant had defeated those from the direct line. Eugene was the only one who had ever qualified to be adopted into the main family through this method.

As this incident became widely known, the world had begun to call the still-thirteen-year-old Eugene a monster.

Fwooosh!

A sphere of flames had appeared in front of Eugene. While staring into it, Eugene slowly began separating the sphere into strands in order to reform it into another spell. He could not allow the mana to completely dissipate and thus disappear, so all his focus was directed toward his mana.

The scattered strands of flame began to coalesce once more. Sweat dripped from his forehead and ran down to the end of his chin before falling to the ground. The shape of the coalescing flames had completely changed from the previous sphere.

From the 1st Circle’s basic spell, the Fireball, it had been converted into another 1st Circle spell, the Magic Missile. Eugene stared at the completed magic missile floating in front of him.

Honestly speaking, it was easier and stronger to just send out a ray of sword-light than it was to go through such trouble for a single magic missile. Or else, he could just summon a spirit of the wind. Either way, it would have been stronger than this clumsy first attempt and much more convenient and familiar to the current Eugene.

However, Eugene smiled in satisfaction. Wasn't this a good result for his first attempt? Although the spell wasn’t powerful enough to justify the effort put into it, being able to use magic like this was enough to make Eugene happy.

‘Because I never got to learn magic in my previous life.’

The truth was that Sienna had actually suggested that he learn magic from her several times.

—If you really want to, I could teach you some magic.

—Don’t need it.

—But Vermouth is great at magic. Don’t you want to use magic like Vermouth does?

—I can’t surpass Vermouth in the things that I already know how to do, so won’t the difference between us just increase if I act like a know-it-all and start trying to learn magic as well? And also, do you have the confidence to teach me magic that will allow me to beat Vermouth ragged?

—...Ummm….

—And seriously, Sienna, it’s not like you’re better at magic than Vermouth, right?

—Do you want to die? Don’t compare me to something like him! Does it really make sense to compare Vermouth, who’s as good at fighting as he is at using magic, to me, who only knows how to use magic?

—I can’t use magic, and I’m good at fighting, but I’m still not a better fighter than Vermouth.

—That’s because you’re an idiot…! I am… I am better at using magic than Vermouth. It’s just… well… we have different specialties. That’s it.

It would have been helpful if he had just obediently taken the lessons at that time.

‘Well fuck, it’s not like I knew that I would be reincarnated.’

If he had known that he would be reincarnated, he would definitely have worked hard to learn magic from Sienna. Eugene grinned and tried to move the magic missile around. Although it was slightly clumsy, it gave him a different feeling from when he used the pure mana generated by the White Flame Formula.

‘It’s also different from sword-light….’

As he considered this, Eugene began to restore his mana through the breathing method.

Hera, who had been watching all this with dazed eyes, said, “You… you really are amazing.”

Even though she had seen it all with her own eyes, she still couldn’t quite believe it. Hera alternated between staring at the sweat-drenched Eugene and the Magic Missile held in front of him.

‘For a month, he only read the introductory texts on magic… and this is his first time actually casting a spell. Even if he had learned mana control before this, the mana used in martial arts should be different from the mana used in spells…,’ Hera trailed off, still in disbelief.

What was even more surprising was that Eugene hadn’t verbally let out an incantation. An incantation was the trigger to activate a spell. Although high-ranking wizards could cast magic without incantations, you would need to verbalize it to trigger your magic if you hadn't reached that level.

‘He was able to silently cast his first attempt at magic. Then, without dispelling it, he changed the mana into a different form.’

“Sir Eugene,” Hera said with a gulp, “Is this really your first time using magic?”

“Why are you asking something like that all of a sudden?” Eugene asked in surprise.

“You’ve arranged all this to surprise me, right? Have you been secretly practicing magic in your room?”

“Today is my first time trying it.”

“That’s impossible….”

“Why would I come up with that sort of lie?”

As he said this, Eugene began moving the magic missile back and forth. It might not be as strong as sword-light, but he liked that it was able to move without any physical actions on his part.

“Please summon a monster for me,” Eugene requested.

“Huh?” Hera mumbled in incomprehension.

“I’d like to check the power of my spell,” Eugene offered in explanation.

Hera hesitated before accepting, “Ah… um… okay. What type of monster do you need?”

“A tough guy, please.”

“Then are you fine with a golem? There’s a golem that I’ve just created, so I can summon it immediately without going to get a catalyst.”

“Yes, please.”

While chanting her summons, Hera raised her staff. A magic circle was created a little ways away, and mana began to flow into the circle. Before too long had passed, a large golem was summoned from the circle.

Hera introduced it, “The golem is made from carbrium. Even without it using any defensive techniques, any attacks against it will have their force scattered on impact.”

“Sounds great,” Eugene said with a grin.

After walking the golem over to stand in front of Eugene, Hera drew back.

“Please attack it,” she called out.

“Alright,” as soon as he finished his reply, Eugene threw the magic missile.

Bang bang bang!

The golem collapsed backward.