The Sword Emperor Transmigrates

Impossible. That was the first word that came to mind when Leonard learned how magic functioned.

To even think that mere humans could reduce everything in existence into mere principles and use them to become all-seeing and all-powerful was arrogant in itself. Heavenly Demon Dan Mok-Jin had harshly criticized the Ten Directions as an impossible feat because its ultimate aim was to unlock these countless possibilities, but for magic, the ability to do anything was an inherent presupposition.

“But, well, that’s not something I should be concerned about as a Class 4 mage,” Esther said, as if reading his thoughts. She extinguished the flame flickering above her finger. “Natural laws and principles are obviously fundamental when using magic, but Circles are also important. The extent to which a mage can influence the world through Circling dictates what types of principles they can master and to what extent.”

“Circling?” Leonard asked.

“Oh!” Esther realized. “I forgot to explain Circles to you. Sorry. That was my fault.”

The number of Circles a mage could use decided their Class in the same way mana cultivation decided the Tier of a knight. But rather than dividing them minutely into Major Tiers and Minor Tiers, the magic hierarchy was much more simple. All it took was counting the number of Circles that formed around the heart, which ranged from one to ten.

A fresh-faced mage was Class 1. A rookie was Class 2. A Class 3 mage was the equivalent of an apprentice knight, and once they reached Class 4, people started treating them like real mages. The way Class 4 mages were treated was similar to the treatment of External Force Tier knights, and once they reached that stage, their battle prowess increased significantly. This was also the Class at which their level of skill varied greatly even when they had the same number of Circles.

“Once they unlock the fifth Circle, well, the power level begins to correspond more closely with their Class.”

Those who were unfamiliar with magic often mistook the number of Circles to be equivalent to a mage’s capabilities, but there was a major difference between the two. A mage’s power was determined by the sophistication of the principles they could understand and master, whereas Circles referred to their capacity to applythose principles.

“So a mage’s knowledge is more important than the number of Circles they have,” Leonard reasoned. “A mage with a high Class has the Circles to cast the spells they want, but just because someone has a lot of Circles doesn’t mean that they’re in a high Class.”

“You got it. You pick things up fast,” Esther said, nodding. “Anyone can create a fourth Circle as long as they have enough time and money. But after that, it becomes very difficult to create Circles if you lack an understanding of natural laws and principles. It’s practically impossible to create the sixth Circle without enough knowledge, and you can forget about the seventh.”

“So once you have five Circles, it becomes a standard measure of power.”

“Every once in a while, mercenaries who aren’t affiliated with the Magic Tower or outsiders who never receive proper teaching can use five Circles but aren’t considered Class 5 mages. They manage to stumble up to the next step with their own self-acquired knowledge, but that’s it.”

It was similar to the way vagabonds in murim could be in the same Realm as disciples from prestigious clans but differ in their level of skills and accomplishments. Martial arts wasn’t just about moving one’s body and energy around; it was a way of understanding the world using the body as a vehicle. Those who were blind to this ended up spending decades training without making progress.

Esther placed her hand on the table. “There’s a better way to teach you than to explain it with words. It’s better to experience it directly.”

“What would that be?”

“You’ll use magic yourself. Making and using just one Circle is easy.”

Leonard was at a loss. He still had a long way to go to reach the peak of martial arts; dipping his toes into an entirely new field would be difficult.

“I have no plans of becoming a magic swordsman,” he said.

“Why now? Are you afraid it will interfere with your mana cultivation?” Esther smiled. She’d expected that answer. “Don’t worry. When you only have one Circle, you can make or break it whenever you want. You’ll get just a taste of magic, and then you can pull back.”

“Is it really that easy to become a mage?”

“This is like the First Degree Body Refining Tier. It only takes a few low-grade mana sources to reach it, no? Mages also need at least a little bit of stamina, so it’s very common for us to reach the Second and Third Degrees.”

“I see.”

So rather than earnestly taking the path of a magic swordsman, he would learn magic at the most basic level just to reap the extra benefits. Leonard had learned all types of miscellaneous skills in the past, so he knew how useful it was to learn something new, even at a superficial level.

“Are you in the Body Refining Tier?” he asked.

“Third Degree. I spend all my time locked up in my room doing research, so it’s not easy to take care of my body. Even nobles reach the First or Second Degree, you know,” she said, trying to justify herself. This practice was similar to how some people in the Central Plains used certain martial arts techniques only for cosmetic purposes.

“All right. Let’s try out the first Circle,” he said, putting up his hands in surrender. She’d finally convinced him.

“Excellent idea!”

***

There was a mana chamber in Esther’s apartment that was artificially integrated with mana to make it easier to cast spells. There, a mountain of targets used for testing combat magic and mysterious tools covered the floor. She pushed them into a corner and sat Leonard down in the middle of the room.

She handed him a rock smaller than a finger. It had a tiny, minute magic array carved on it.

“This is called a circle stone,” she said, noticing his confusion. “Traditionally, when a mage creates their first Circle, their teacher will shape the mana in their student themselves to create the first ring. But since you’re in the External Force Tier, if a Class 4 mage like me tries to meddle with the energy in your body, it could cause a disaster.”

“So if you make a mistake…”

“Both of us could die or be seriously injured. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just don’t trust myself. That’s why you should use the circle stone instead,” she explained.

Leonard looked down at the pebble in his palm. “So if I ingest this, I’ll create the first Circle?”

“That’s right. If you don’t have enough mana in you, I suppose we’ll need some mana stones as well, but even at the Fifth Degree Body Refining Tier, you should have enough to make a Circle.”

Creating one Circle probably required the same amount of energy it took to increase a single Degree in the Body Refining Tier. So, Leonard swallowed the stone without worrying too much about it. He closed his eyes and assumed the lotus position.

“Hm? I haven’t seen that method of meditation before,” Esther remarked.

“I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Oh, sorry.” She stopped talking.

Esther’s presence faded out of his perception as he fell into Visualization and pictured the inside of his body. The circle stone went down his throat and quickly broke down, twisting into a ring-shaped mass of mana. Rather than going down his esophagus to his stomach, it entered his blood vessels, and he saw it flow through the fastest route to his heart.

Once this ring-shaped mass of mana safely reaches the heart, I suppose it fixes itself into a Circle. It’s simple yet well-designed.

It reminded him of the Electromagnetic Demonic Arts he’d seen in his past life. Practitioners of the art ingested finely crushed pieces of magnetic stones to create a magnetic field within their bodies. With their ability to manipulate electricity and metal, they were very powerful even as Peak Realm experts, but considering that tiny pieces of metal flowed through their veins, there was no possibility that they could live very long.

Compared to that imperfect art, using the circle stone was much simpler yet several times safer. Even with the ninety years’ worth of cultivation inside him, the mana from the circle stone didn’t disturb or clash with the energy, and it was smoothly absorbed.

As I thought, my heart is going to be the problem.

Nothing like this had ever happened in the hundreds of years of the Cardenas family’s history. No one had ever been forced into the External Force Tier after taking a fatal blow and had their heart and mana cores become one. This was the secret behind his blood and the One Origin Five Elements Cultivation Method, the chance accident that had come out of a massive amount of spirit herbs.

The Five Elements True Dragon Ring.

It was hard to say that it was still a heart. The five-colored marble sensed the Circle carefully inching toward it. The True Dragon Ring had been comfortably circulating its owner’s energy, but now sensing a mysterious intruder, it approached the Circle with curiosity.

Crack.

Once the Circle attached to the True Dragon Ring, it shattered completely, leaving no trace behind. It was as if the marble was scoffing at the difference in power.

Maybe it doesn’t work after all.

It wasn’t a matter of the number or the quality of the circle stone he’d ingested. The Five Elements True Dragon Ring’s counter-magic ability was so powerful that it could casually flick aside a Fourth Degree protective spell. Not even a Seventh Circle mage would be able to create the first ring if they directly tried to create it within him.

Once he realized and accepted this, Leonard was about to open his eyes.

Vreeeee!

The five-colored marble began to spin, interrupting him. It surpassed its ability to cultivate Leonard’s mana and was attempting to create energy itself. It was as if it was trying to learn the way the Circle worked after the two had made contact.

It spun once in one second. It spun thrice in one second. It spun ten times in one second. With each passing second, it would become three times faster, and the centrifugal force of the Five Elements True Dragon Ring began to pull at Leonard’s surroundings.

Sensing danger, Leonard frantically suppressed it.

That was dangerous.

He felt cold sweat trickle down his back. He couldn’t help it. The power he’d momentarily lost control of would have destroyed not only the mana chamber but also Esther’s entire residence and even the Magic Tower itself. If the tower’s defense mechanisms had sensed it and raised the alarm, would he have been discovered?

This region isn’t under the Cardenas family’s protection. The Magic Tower’s highest-ranking people could possibly capture me to use as an experimental subject.

Oblivious to how shaken Leonard was, Esther saw his eyes shoot open and asked, “Have you finished making a Circle? That was a little faster than I expected.”

“Yes, I succeeded.”

Though he’d failed to create the actual Circle, he’d obtained mana mastery, which was needed to cast spells. This was an ability that could alter the world through the use of Circles.

There weren’t many cases where mages fought each other from a close distance, but whenever something similar occurred, the outcome was usually dictated by how much mana mastery the mage had, rather than their spells. The side with better mana mastery could disable their opponent’s use of magic, so the battle would often become one-sided.

Esther herself probably didn’t realize this, but Leonard’s mana mastery could suppress even her magic because the energy generated by the Five Elements True Dragon Ring was more potent.

It seems that I’ve obtained a weapon I can use against mages. But if I have to use it against someone, I must kill them. This is not something that can be shared with others.

When he became conscious of his newfound power, his eyes grew cold for a moment. They settled as he turned to Esther.

She said, “Good. Now I’ll teach you the Magic Missile spell, and you can give it a try. With the amount of mana you have, you could fail dozens of times and still not run out.”

Class 1 was the tier for people who were complete beginners at magic. Naturally, there weren’t any impressive Class 1 spells one could use with just one Circle. Most of them were unimportant ones that anybody and everybody could use.

Magic Missile was one of them. It was a projectile-type spell that required the caster to condense non-elemental mana together like a snowball, set a direction for it, then launch it at a slow speed.

“It’s technically classified as an offensive spell, but there’s no one who thinks it can be used in real battle. Regardless of the user’s Circles, it always casts at the same power and speed. It does less damage than throwing a stone. Watch.” Esther pointed her finger and muttered the incantation. “Magic Missile.”

Pop!

A magic projectile hit one of the targets. Sure, the target had been reinforced with magic, but the missile barely even grazed it, let alone damaged it. There was a reason Magic Missile was often merely a demonstrative spell for Class 1 mages.

“I’ll say the incantation for you. It’s okay if you don’t memorize it right away, so don’t be afraid to ask,” she said.

“Understood.”

Though Esther was being considerate, it was unnecessary. Leonard was used to reciting disgustingly long and complicated martial arts scriptures. He had already committed the incantation to memory when he had first heard it, so he instead focused on guiding his mana through mana mastery to cast the spell.

At least, he tried to.

What?

He was very successful in using mana mastery to dig beneath the fabric of reality and even shape the mana to cast the spell.

The problem came after that.

Just as he was about to cast Magic Missile, the Five Elements True Dragon Ring picked apart and fixed some parts as if sensing the imperfections of his cast. It optimized the spell without even asking for permission, as if to say the new version was much better.

Immediately after, Leonard cast the perfected version of Magic Missile.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

He shot out not one but five magic projectiles that were more even than Esther’s. As soon as he saw the orbs, he immediately thought that the shape was too inefficient. If they were more like the assassination weapons in murim and had thin, sharp tips like daggers, they would fly faster and be more lethal.

The spell responded to his thoughts.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Five Magic Missiles morphed into dagger-like shapes and pierced through the target at high speed like arrows, making the target burst into pieces. His spell was completely different from Esther’s.

Leonard felt dubious about his cast. “Is that how I’m supposed to do it?”

“…”

Receiving no response, he turned around. Esther looked like she’d seen a ghost.

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