“Now, let’s begin with elemental magic.”

Following the Grand Duke, I moved to a new location and, for the first time in a while, pulled out my staff from my dimensional space.

“I’m ready.”

She might look like nothing more than a delicate beauty on the outside, but the Grand Duke’s true identity is that of a dragon.

There’s no chance my magic will reach her, so there’s no harm in going all out.

I slowly pointed my staff at the Grand Duke.

“Are you not going to bring out that toy you showed me last time?”

“It doesn’t seem helpful for this training, so I’ve decided not to use it.”

“You’ve made a wise decision.”

After replying to the Grand Duke, I focused my mind and began to draw a massive magic circle.

One magic circle. Then another. And yet another.

In about three seconds, the circles multiplied from ten to one hundred.

It took around five seconds for the hundred magic circles to merge back into one, connected to the original.

I repeated this process five times, and now five highly condensed magic circles lined up in front of me in the shape of spears.

Once again, I drew another magic circle in front of the five that were lined up.

This one took longer to draw than all the previous circles combined.

“Winter, I call upon you. Reveal your mercilessness here.”

As the short incantation ended, the final magic circle began to glow white, transforming into a raging snowstorm.

The snowstorm passed through the pre-drawn magic circles.

As the snowstorm passed through the first magic circle, each individual snowflake froze solid.

When it passed through the second, those frozen snowflakes transformed into icy spears.

By the time it reached the third circle, the cold intensified, spreading with such force that it threatened to freeze everything in its path.

The fourth circle further strengthened and accelerated each of the ice spears.

Finally, when the spears passed through the last magic circle, they were imbued with homing magic and rushed toward the target I had set—the Grand Duke.

“Seems you haven’t rusted too much after all.”

The Grand Duke, standing calmly before the spears that filled the sky, gave a short, pleased remark.

-Snap.

With just a flick of her fingers.

That small gesture alone was enough to shatter all the ice spears I had painstakingly created.

As the thunderous sound of the air being ruptured filled my ears and the ice spears exploded into fragments, I began preparing my next spell.

“The wrath of the heavens is nothing more than a spear in my hand.”

This time, I summoned lightning.

Hundreds of bolts, each strong enough to incinerate a seasoned knight, struck toward the Grand Duke—but again, none reached her.

Elemental magic had always been my specialty, yet she effortlessly wiped it away. The Grand Duke smiled, clearly satisfied, and spoke.

“Good. Now, show me another spell.”

I continued to demonstrate various types of magic before the Grand Duke, including enhancement, spatial manipulation, and barriers.

It felt less like I was learning something new and more like reviewing skills I had already mastered.

“Well done. I had been worried since you seemed to have abandoned magic for quite some time, but it’s clear you still have talent.”

“Did I ever tell you I gave up magic…?”

“Ahem, ahem! That’s not the point!”

Wait, could it be… Has this dragon been keeping an eye on the Imperial Palace?

She’s not the type to bribe servants, so it must be some sort of magic.

I’ll have to give Kraol a piece of my mind when I return.

“Anyway! What pleases me the most is that you’ve been faithfully following my teachings!”

“Teachings… are you referring to incantations?”

At my level, as a mage, it’s usually possible to omit most incantations.

Yet, the Grand Duke had always insisted that I use incantations, even for support magic. So, I had made a habit of reciting at least a short incantation for every spell I cast.

It seemed she was quite pleased with that.

“Yes, yes!”

For some reason, this dragon placed an unusual amount of importance on incantations.

From the very beginning of my magic training, I had artifacts that allowed me to skip incantations. And it didn’t take long after becoming a mage for me to omit them altogether, even without tools. Yet, the Grand Duke constantly reminded me never to neglect them. I still hadn’t heard the reason why.

“Tell me, what do you think magic truly is?”

Her sudden shift in tone made me pause. After a moment of thought, I answered.

“Isn’t it the act of bending the world, using mana as a medium?”

“Bending, hmm. Not an incorrect expression. After all, magic is the act of causing things that wouldn’t naturally happen.”

If a master’s aura manifests their inner will into reality, magic exists as the counterbalance to that force.

Rather than establishing an internal world, magic is the power to understand the laws of this world and twist them to your will.

“Lightning strikes where it shouldn’t, the earth moves when it shouldn’t, and fire ignites in places where nothing should burn. But tell me, have you ever thought about that ‘natural order’ you’re disrupting?”

Once again, faced with a question I didn’t fully understand, I felt a light dizziness. I repeated her question in my mind.

In The Chronicles of Xien, magic was simply a skill you acquired by investing stat points and skill points.

Sure, there were detailed world-building elements, but I wasn’t the type to care much about those things.

Of course, the magic I learned in this world was a bit different, but even with all that knowledge, answering her question wasn’t easy.

“The ‘natural order,’ you mentioned… isn’t it simply the laws of the world?”

“Yes, the natural order. Or, in other words, the laws of the world. But tell me, when do you think these laws came into being?”

When did the laws of the world begin?

How was I supposed to know that?

I’m not an archaeologist or a historian.

If this were Earth, I might’ve quoted a line from Genesis, but that wasn’t an option here.

“Kiriya… perhaps?”

So, the only answer that came to mind was Kiriya, the god of light.

I hadn’t studied theology, and I didn’t really know the teachings of the Holy Kingdom, but surely there was a reason Kiriya was considered the main deity of the continent.

“Well, you’re half right. She certainly had a significant impact on the natural order.”

“...”

“Hmm… where should I begin?”

After a brief pause, she continued with a serious expression.

“Common sense, laws, the natural order. These things go by many names, but in truth, few truly understand them. Most just vaguely accept their existence. Even mages, who claim to understand and bend those laws, don’t fully grasp them.”

“But think about it. Is there anything in this world that exists without a cause? Even the laws created by humans…”

“There must be a time and reason for their creation, right? To say that the laws governing the world just exist without origin or cause—it doesn’t make sense.”

The Grand Duke paused briefly to catch her breath, then looked at me again, posing another question.

“How much do you know about the gods?”

A god, huh?

The Chronicles of Xien is fundamentally a fantasy world, of course. There are several gods, but aside from Kiriya, the god of light, most are only briefly mentioned and never directly appear.

Forgotten temples often appear as dungeons, where one or two lines might mention these gods, but that’s about it.

“To be honest, I don’t know much about them.”

For generations, relations between the Empire and the Holy Kingdom have been strained. While there’s no outright persecution of religion, it’s not particularly respected either.

Because of this, I’ve never been close to any priests, nor have I learned their teachings, so my knowledge of the gods is quite limited. I remember the names mentioned in the game, but that’s hardly enough to claim I know anything.

“Well, that’s to be expected. They’ve been absent from this land for a very long time.”

“...”

“Humans—or rather, all intelligent beings on this earth—tend to follow the light and shun the darkness. They fear death and praise life, admire honor in duels, and click their tongues at the cruelty of massacres.”

“That’s...”

It’s such an obvious statement that it hardly needed an explanation.

But if I were to ask why it’s obvious... why is that, exactly?

“The reason is quite simple. Long ago, life triumphed over death, duels overpowered massacres, and light drove out the darkness.”

“The World Tree, Sarion, Kiriya…”

“Oh, the World Tree and Kiriya are well-known, but it’s rare to hear someone remember the name Sarion.”

Sarion is mentioned in the description of one of the endgame swords in The Chronicles of Xien—the Sword of Sarion, named after an ancient god.

“In any case, the laws of this world all originate from the gods. Not just life and death, light and darkness, duels and massacres.”

The Grand Duke raised one hand, conjuring fire, water, and wind in succession, then continued speaking.

“Fire, water, wind, earth, lightning—all of these come from the gods as well.”

“But honestly, when and why they disappeared isn’t what matters. The reason I’m telling you this is that it relates to your next step in becoming stronger.”

“The next step… Do you mean becoming an Archmage?”

The Grand Duke nodded in response to my question.

“Indeed. Have you ever wondered why, unlike knights, who are all called masters whether they’re at their peak or just beginning to form their will, mages are clearly distinguished by their titles?”

In history, the strongest knights, as well as those just starting to establish their ‘intent,’ are both referred to as masters. But only mages have such clearly defined ranks.

Until now, I’d assumed it was due to the difference in nature between physical knights and mages, who are more like scholars. But judging by the Grand Duke’s question, there seemed to be another reason.

“Here, touch this.”

The Grand Duke held out a small flame in her hand and gestured for me to reach out.

I gave her a suspicious look, but she grew irritated and urged me on.

“What, do you think I would harm you? Go on!”

Well, she had a point. Plus, even if I did get burned, I had plenty of elixirs that could heal something like that in no time. So, I cautiously reached my hand toward the flame.