Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

For two weeks, I didn’t learn a single thing about magic.

After the first three days passed, Dersia nodded her head as if it were quite impressive.

“You didn’t wake up in your sleep today.”

“I didn’t want to die…”

Unconsciously, I channeled mana.

At first, I wondered if this was even possible. But even after just five minutes of sleep, I’d wake up gasping for air, so I had to do it to stay alive.

Thanks to that, although not as bad as Dersia, the dark circles under my eyes deepened.

Lying flat on the floor, Dersia jotted something down with interest and flicked her fingers.

“Next, we’ll move on to maintaining it during intense physical activity.”

“Intense activity? No, I think I should rest a bit first.”

Seriously, I felt like I might die.

If I passed out, I’d simply die, so I always had to stay near Dersia, who could continuously channel mana into the magitech device. That also meant sleeping with my head on a book in the library, a horrifying sleep environment.

At least no one ever came by, which was fortunate. As her student, I came to realize that most wizards either feared or avoided Dersia.

Honestly, I had kind of expected that. Her unusual appearance as an Elf wizard, overwhelming skill, and hopeless communication ability.

It feels a bit wrong to say this about my master, but even if I were a noble, I would never want to go near someone who could easily kill me and with whom I couldn’t even hold a conversation.

As I was harboring such blasphemous thoughts, Dersia tilted her head as if wondering what nonsense I was thinking.

“That’s why we’re doing it now.”

“?

“I’m not talking about simple physical activity. We need to test if you can maintain it when you’re exhausted and in pain, your muscles begging for rest, when you feel like you’re about to pass out. Otherwise, it’s meaningless.”

“…Ah, I see.”

Strictly speaking, she wasn’t wrong.

With a sulky expression, I got up, and she explained the lesson content, which wasn’t as bad as I feared.

“Go walk one lap around this library.”

“Just one lap?”

“Yes. It will be difficult.”

What the hell is she talking about?

I was tired, sure, but I could walk dozens of laps around the library. It was big, but still just one building.

I took a step forward with a doubtful look.

After a few steps.

“Kkeu- keugh…!”

A searing pain tore through my muscles, and I couldn’t breathe. At the same time, my legs heated up like they’d been pulled from a molten furnace.

I hurriedly circulated my mana. Barely regaining my senses, I demanded an explanation, and Dersia twirled her index finger as she explained.

“For a properly extreme environment, Jern, I applied both Form: Rupture and Form: Acceleration to your entire body.”

“I’d appreciate it if you explained in a way I can understand.”

“Each step you take will be equivalent to taking a thousand steps. If we calculate the distance of one lap around the library, it should be about 1,230 steps, so you’ll be walking around 1.23 million steps.”

“Umm, based on that calculation, I’ll die walking.”

“Yes. You would die. If you hadn’t learned Body Reinforcement Art, and if I weren’t here.”

Dersia muttered this as if it were the most natural thing.

“I’ve made preparations. In this space, you can’t die so easily.”

From those blurry eyes, I could glimpse an emotion boiling murkily.

“Even if you wish to die.”

I didn’t know what that emotion was.

But because it wasn’t for my sake, it was all the more convincing. If my master didn’t want me to die.

…Then I probably really wouldn’t.

“Don’t worry. This process is going to take a long time. If you faint, you rest and then start again from that spot. Think long-term.”

“Haa…”

I let out a small sigh and took one step forward.

“…Kkeuak…”

Regardless of how prepared I was, it hurt like fuck.

*

The road ahead was long.

“Jern. Your willpower… there’s something inexplicable about it, something that goes beyond simply calling it will.”

“…”

“I was prepared to go the full term. I expected it to take a month, imagining I’d have to whip you with tears in my eyes.”

“…”

“But, look at this. You’ve completed it splendidly. Even 1,231 steps. You went further. Honestly, the conditions were theoretically unbearable for a human, so I had a lot of concerns.”

“……”

“When I told my maid, Ciel, about your training process, she ground her teeth and said she’d kill me if I didn’t stop this child abuse immediately. Foolish talk. What is abuse? You have proven it. That a human’s limit is defined by oneself…”

I couldn’t answer Dersia’s chatter.

I didn’t even have the strength to open my mouth.

One week.

That was how long it took me to walk 1.23 million steps.

It wasn’t just my legs that hurt. Partway through, since it seemed too easy, she increased the Form: Rupture applied to my upper body fivefold. Thanks to that, my whole body got thoroughly wrecked.

It wasn’t until two days later that I was in a condition where I could even speak again.

Lying on the makeshift bed that Dersia had prepared, I came to a painfully obvious realization once more.

“This… isn’t a normal training process, is it.”

“Yes. Did you want something like that?”

“Not exactly, but I did feel like this was no different from being told to go die.”

“I’ve seen knights train with sandbags strapped to their bodies. Watching that, I thought, hmm, isn’t that too foolish? That would only stimulate certain areas, and the effect wouldn’t be that significant… or so I thought. Still, in terms of the method of training the body, they’re more correct than I am as a wizard. I merely refined it to be slightly more efficient.”

Dersia spoke as if she were enjoying herself, she clearly wasn’t sane.

Still, I couldn’t deny it had helped.

I swung my arms and started walking again. Something had clearly changed.

“I feel the current less now.”

“That’s simply a difference in muscular strength.”

I clenched my fist. I wasn’t muscular by any means, but compared to my previously feeble arms, I quite liked the change.

“Right now, it’s only difficult to walk, but soon, your movements will start to suffer. It was a combined training for respiratory maintenance and preparation for that moment, and it produced good results.”

“What’s next?”

“I haven’t decided. I didn’t think you’d get through this so quickly.”

Hmm.

There was still time before the combat examination or whatever it was.

I didn’t want to waste it.

Maybe sensing that, Dersia said something welcome as I listened.

“It’s a bit early, but I’ll tell you what kind of teachings you’ll be receiving from now on.”

“Ah, yes. Will I be learning intermediate magic?”

“No. Compared to other abyss wizards, what would you say is your advantage?”

“Umm…”

After thinking for a moment, I answered.

“Of course, it’s that I caught your attention, Master.”

“Correct. Then the second?”

A trap, as expected. Scary.

“I’d say it’s that I’m able to use ordinary magic.”

“Exactly. It’s a strange thing. I’ve also tried researching how that could be possible after the fact, but all results point to impossibility. It’s something I can’t understand…”

Dersia furrowed her brow as she looked at me.

…Well, it’s not like I had no clue.

It was this body that fell into the Abyss.

And maybe it was the me from Earth who was using the magic.

I wasn’t certain. And saying it wouldn’t change anything, so I just shrugged and replied.

“I’m not really sure either.”

“Regardless, this is your most powerful dagger, Jern. Have you thought about how you’ll use it?”

“I vaguely think that if I train hard, I might be able to use it to survive in the Deep Sea, in one way or another.”

“Jern, I told you this before, but let me say it again.”

Dersia met my eyes and answered.

“You have no talent for magic.”

“…Really? The nobles said I was pretty decent.”

“I’m not familiar with human standards. But by mine, it’s clear that your talent will never cross the wall. You will never awaken more than three stars.”

By my standards, that alone was already incredible.

“Your magic must be developed as a safety mechanism to handle the magic of the Deep Sea.”

“Umm…”

I let out a quiet hum.

“I get what you’re saying. You’re telling me not to dream of becoming great with magic that has a limit, but instead to focus all my efforts on resisting Burden and to specialize in Deep Sea magic, right?”

“That is correct.”

“But… do I really have to deal with Deep Sea magic? I mean, what if I just use magic to withstand Burden and never touch the abyss stuff at all? That way.”

“You might live a bit longer. About two years.”

“…”

Dersia gently offered advice, like coaxing a child.

“In the end, you must confront your world. Learning magic is merely buying time. It’s a stopgap at best, and if you want more than that, you must take risks and move forward.”

“You mean I have to become familiar with the Deep Sea…”

“In that area, I can assure you, you have talent. You’ve adapted to it at a very fast pace.”

“But I still don’t really understand.”

I scratched my head and asked.

“Even if I become familiar with it, what can I actually do?” 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

“I originally had no answer to that question.”

Dersia handed me something.

It was, a blood-soaked letter containing a cry for help.

There wasn’t much written on it.

[History has begun to repeat itself.

I only hope that those who stand at the end are not them.

Beware the lump-]

“What’s the lump?”

“Unknown. If the knight who left this letter had enough intelligence to describe the opponent and their weakness instead of formalities, things would have been much easier.”

Dersia’s evaluation was brutally harsh.

“Recently, Ghost Cities have been appearing. Cases have surfaced where a city that had tens of thousands of people just a week ago is now a silent place, not a single person remaining, only bloodstains left behind, it’s happened several times, enough for the news to reach me.”

“…The enemy is?”

“Yes. It is certainly the Crimson Circle.”

Dersia folded the letter and answered.

“They’re the enemy you must target.”

“Aren’t you going to go after them, Master?”

“I’m not particularly interested in vermin who simply fell. Besides, my world is not specialized in combat. I’ll leave it to the dumb ones who like fighting, and step in only if things escalate further.”

“…”

Well, either way.

If it’s a place where abyss wizards gather.

And they’re managing to survive.

Then they must know something.

“Maybe they even have a solution to the Deep Sea problem.”

“Honestly, I doubt they’d have that. Someone who falls into the Deep Sea gets crushed to death within seconds, how would they collect any information?”

“Ah, right…”

“However, methods for enduring Burden in extreme environments with a human body have surely been collected continuously over the thousands of years they’ve operated in secret.”

“Should I fight and find out?”

“That works, but I would recommend joining them.”

“?”

“Grow to a certain level, join them, demonstrate your ability, and then discuss how to survive and escape. That would be much faster than trying to fight your way to information.”

“What if they try to dissect me?”

“I doubt they’d treat a abyss wizard that lightly.”

“Still, I don’t really want to hang around with people who kidnap and torture children…”

“If they tell you to torture, just run away at that point. Anyway, it’s something far off, so just keep it in mind for now.”

Dersia’s expression was serious.

Pragmatism over morality?

…The fact that it sounded so persuasive probably meant I wasn’t much different.

It was suitable as a short-term goal. I shrugged and shifted the topic.

“Alright, let’s go with that for now. So, what exactly is this magic for withstanding Burden?”

“You’ve already experienced it. Growth, Form, Remove. The things that caused you pain, those are ancient spells that were abandoned long ago. I believe only you and I use single-word magic in this era.” (TL Note: “Growth”, “Form” and “Remove” in the original raw text have multiple meanings, and since the context is not entirely clear at this point, I have translated them using the interpretations that best suit the current context. These translations may change later as more context becomes available.)

“Umm, I still don’t quite get it just from that.”

“Nurture, define, and limit. These are magic spells with only three functions. For now, just think about Je. It works by issuing a command to your body, manifesting by attaching a word after Remove:. Let’s start with something simple.”

Dersia brought over a massive water tub big enough for a person to fit inside.

The tub was filled with ice.

“We’ll begin training the magic to remove cold from your body. Even considering your lack of talent, it’s a primitive magic, so it’s really simple and easy. You’ll pick it up quickly.”

I let out a sigh, not believing her one bit.

…By now, I was starting to realize how Dersia’s lessons worked.

*

“A-Aren’t you freezing?! No, more importantly, aren’t you going to die?!”

“I’m fine, I said I’m fine…”

With a towel over my shoulders, I repeatedly reassured Elysia.

In reality, Remove: wasn’t all that difficult.

I just recall the situation where my body felt like it was freezing.

In Dersia’s words, it was the process of putting it into the world. After going to the brink of freezing to death many times, I remembered the situation perfectly.

When I activate Remove: in that exact situation, the cold disappears.

It was truly fascinating. It wasn’t that my body became hot and resisted it. I simply wasn’t cold anymore. The phrase “removing the cold” was the most accurate way to describe it.

When I asked why such a ridiculously overpowered magic had been abandoned, I got this answer in return.

“Because it’s too stupid.”

You have to endure something with your body first, no matter what it is.

For example, if you want to endure fire, you have to actually step into the flames.

And not just once, you have to endure it dozens of times, fully embody that sensation, and then activate Remove: in that same scenario. It had inferior usage conditions and, being somewhat of a mental trick, also consumed an absurd amount of mana.

None of that was a downside to me. I could just drink seawater to refill my mana, it was practically infinite.

As for enduring the situations… well.

They were going to come anyway.

“Uugh… This is torture!”

Elysia, for once, mustered up the courage to protest to Dersia.

But at Dersia’s madness-filled gaze, she quickly lowered her head.

It’s not like she was angry or anything. Dersia always had madness seeping out of her.

Looking at me, she responded.

“Did you call for her?”

“Yes, I thought I should get back to my main work soon.”

“…You do need rest. However, you must fully learn everything related to Remove: before the combat exam.”

“Aren’t I just going to get beaten up there anyway? You said the goal is endurance.”

“I don’t want to see my student just getting hit and collapsing. After enduring for about five minutes, it would be nice if you took them down and won.”

“…Ah, yes.”

How absurd. Is first place someone’s dog’s name?

I let it slide, and this time Dersia looked at Elysia.

“And you.”

“Eek…”

“Hmm.”

She examined Elysia several times, then finally smirked and gave her some advice.

“There’s no need to forcibly change. Such worlds exist too.”

“…Huh?”

“However, even so, fearing tools is a foolish thing.”

“W-What do you mean by that…?”

“That’s all.”

Dersia coldly turned away.

“W-Wait, what did she just say? What did she mean?”

Elysia looked at me with a face full of confusion, so I rolled my eyes and answered.

“Umm… just ignore it.”

That’s the best thing you can do for your mental health.

*

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