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The training ground Lan picked was a flat clearing at the edge of the village, wide enough that nobody would get hit by accident and far enough from the houses that the noise wouldn't bother anyone.
We started at dawn.
I had Fiona run through her magic basics first — just to see where she actually was, not where she thought she was. She could summon all seven elements without much effort, which was honestly impressive for a level one. The control was shaky but the raw output was there. Her mana reserves were deep. Much deeper than you'd expect.
Lan and Mart worked on their own stuff nearby. Lan was drilling sword forms, slow and deliberate, one movement into the next without pause. Mart was doing what Mart always did — finding the heaviest thing available and lifting it. A fallen log in this case. He seemed satisfied with that.
I worked on movement. Footwork, angles, reaction speed. The Kaioken still didn't feel natural in this body the way it had in my old one — twelve years of muscle memory doesn't transfer perfectly when the muscles are different. I had to rebuild it piece by piece, technique by technique, the way you learn a language by speaking it badly until suddenly you're not.
By midday we took a break. By afternoon we were back at it. By evening everyone was tired and nobody was complaining about it, which meant the training had gone well.
Kael "Alright. That's enough for tonight. Call it a day."
Mart dropped the log with a heavy thud and sat down next to it like it was a chair.
Mart "Finally."
Lan was already walking toward the water barrel, calm as usual.
Fiona stayed behind after the others drifted off. She had her copy of the light magic book open across her knees, flipping between pages with a small frown on her face.
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I noticed something while we were training — the Cordo
doesn't actually have a leveling system on the front face.
No number, no bar, nothing like that. What it shows is your
skills and a simple status indicator. Positive means you're
in good shape. Negative means the opposite. That's it.
Clean. Practical. I liked that.
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Meanwhile Fiona was sitting by herself, still staring at the book, muttering under her breath.
Fiona "So all I need is to learn the skill, then use it to push mana into a material and reshape it... but how do I actually trigger the skill in the first place? The book says — hold the material, picture what you want to make, focus mana into it... that's it?"
She tried it. Held a small stone. Focused. Nothing happened.
Fiona "That's literally just basic mana manipulation. Anyone can do those steps. Why is this supposed to be specific to light magic users? There has to be something the book isn't saying."
She tried again. Still nothing.
Fiona "Either this skill doesn't actually exist anymore... or I'm missing something. Maybe Kael will have an idea."
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That night I was sitting at the desk in my room working through a stack of papers when I heard it.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Kael "Come in."
The door opened. Fiona stood in the frame, still holding the book, looking a little embarrassed about the timing.
Fiona "Sorry for coming this late. I know it's not a great hour but... I've been trying to use the Magnum Opus skill all evening and nothing is happening. Not even close."
Kael "Let me see the book."
She handed it over. I flipped through the relevant pages and read them properly this time, not skimming.
Hmm.
That's weird. This is barely a description. It's basically
just saying — transfer mana from yourself into an object.
That's only half the picture. Maybe less than half.
Kael "Yeah, something's missing here. The book's only describing the mana transfer part. It's leaving out the other half entirely."
Saga.
Saga : "Yes, Master?"
What's the missing piece?
Saga : "People who use light magic are also capable of manipulating all five natural elements — earth, fire, water, ice and wind. In order to activate Magnum Opus, the user must channel mana through all five elemental veins simultaneously, in equal amounts. The balance between them is what triggers the skill. Too much of one element and it collapses."
That explains why anyone who just tried the basic steps
got nothing. You'd need to be a light magic user who
already had access to all five naturals, and you'd need
to know about the five-vein balance. Without that piece
of information, the skill is basically unseeable.
I closed the book and put it on the desk.
Kael "Light magic users are a special case. Apart from the healing and purification abilities — they can also touch all five natural elements. Earth, fire, water, ice, wind. The Magnum Opus skill works by channeling mana through all five elemental veins at the same time, in equal amounts. That's the trigger the book doesn't mention."
Fiona "Equal amounts through all five at once..."
Kael "Try it. Pick up something small."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a short piece of wood, the kind you'd use to prop a window open. She held it in both hands, closed her eyes, and went quiet.
I watched.
For a moment nothing happened. Then the air around her hands shifted — a faint shimmer, like heat above summer stone. Light gathered between her fingers in small scattered sparks, not dramatic, just present.
Then the wood changed.
Not slowly. All at once, the shape and weight and surface of it just — became something else. When she opened her eyes she was holding a knife. Clean edges, solid grip, the same size as the wood had been but dense and sharp and completely different in every other way.
Fiona "It worked!"
Kael "Y-yeah. Nice work. But... why a knife?"
Fiona "Because it had to be something strong and sharp. The material was wood but now it has the same properties as metal. The shape came from what I was imagining."
She turned it over in her hands, studying it.
Fiona "It really works. It actually — wait, what are all those papers on your desk?"
I glanced at the stack.
Kael "Designs."
Fiona "Designs for what?"
Kael "A rebuild of the village."
Fiona "A REBUILD? Of the whole village?! Kael, my mana isn't going to cover something that size, that's — I'd run dry before finishing a single house—"
Kael "It'll work out."
Fiona "...You already have a plan, don't you."
Kael "Yeah. Oh — before you go, can you tell them not to set a plate for me at breakfast tomorrow? I'll be back by dinner."
Fiona "Where are you going?"
Kael "Out."
She looked at the designs again, then back at me.
Fiona "The designs look really complicated. You think I can actually picture all of that clearly enough to build it?"
Kael "Magnum Opus works from anyone's image, not just your own. You're not limited to what you personally can imagine — you can work from a reference. From a drawing. From someone else's vision that you understand well enough to hold in your head."
Fiona "...I didn't know that."
Kael "Don't put a ceiling on yourself before you've even started. The skill reaches as far as you're willing to push it."
She looked at the papers one more time, then tucked the knife carefully into her belt and walked to the door.
Fiona "Alright. I'll try."
Kael "That's all I'm asking."
She left. I turned back to the desk.
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The village was quiet by now. Just the sound of wind through the trees and the occasional creak of the old wood walls.
I spread the designs flat across the desk and looked at them properly.
Saga. When am I going to be able to use magic?
Saga : "The time hasn't come yet, Master."
Of course. Alright. What's the next step for me then?
Saga : "Learn two new techniques — Antimagic, and Ricochet."
I wrote that down.
And the mana problem — Fiona's reserves are deep but
a full village rebuild is a lot even for her. Is there
something we can use to supplement that?
Saga : "Yes. Deep in the plateau behind this village, there exists something called the Great Prismatic Auracite. It is a source of concentrated natural mana that, if accessed properly, could amplify a user's output significantly. To reach it, you would need to find a specific pendant inside the labyrinth that guards it — the pendant acts as a key to channel the Auracite's energy safely."
Wait. There's a labyrinth behind the village?
Saga : "One hundred floors. Access to each floor requires a mana toll at the door. If your mana runs out, it pulls from your blood and HP instead."
That sounds like a terrible design but okay.
How long would it take to clear a hundred floors?
Saga : "At your current pace — months."
Volgar gave us a week.
...
Saga.
Saga : "Yes, Master?"
Please tell me there's a shortcut.
Saga : "There is. Reach level 20 and a hidden passage unlocks — use the same blood-sigil method as the Grand Tree gate to open it. The passage skips directly to the final boss floor. Defeat the boss, and the gate to the Auracite chamber opens."
I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling.
Level 20. I'm currently at level 10. I jumped five levels
when I unlocked Spiritual Awareness — apparently that
counts as a technical skill, meaning a skill gained through
your class or unique skill gives you level bonuses. I didn't
even notice at the time.
So I need ten more levels. In less than a week. And I need
to clear a final boss that's been sitting at the bottom of
a hundred-floor dungeon.
...
But if I learn Antimagic and Ricochet first — if I can
reflect a boss's own attack back at them at full force —
then I don't need to overpower it. I just need to redirect
it. Use its own strength against it.
A slow grin spread under my mask.
I'm a genius.
Saga : "We're geniuses, Master."
Kael "Yeah yeah."
I turned back to the designs and kept drawing. The village layout, the gate positions, the elevated platforms for the outer ring. At the center — the plateau. And at the center of the plateau, built around the labyrinth entrance, the outline of something much bigger.
A castle.
Not just for show. A proper structure, built to contain the labyrinth inside it and control access to the Auracite chamber. Unauthorized entry would be impossible. Authorized entry would be earned.
Saga. Can the castle be built to contain the labyrinth
and still block access to anyone who hasn't been cleared?
Saga : "Yes. If constructed correctly around the labyrinth entrance, the castle structure itself can act as a second lock."
Then that's the plan.
I kept working until the candle burned low. Outside, Hoka village was completely still, the kind of quiet that only happens when everyone is actually asleep and the world takes a slow breath.
One week.
I'd worked with less time and worse odds.
I turned the page and kept drawing.
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End of Chapter Four