How a Catastrophe-Level Magician Lives

I was once an ordinary person living in 21st-century civilization. After being reincarnated into this world, my status became that of a war magician born of humble origins.

Crossing the river of oblivion, most of my memories were lost. Born to a mother whose status was lower than a commoner, a slave, I was forcibly made to learn magic due to the greed of a nobleman who had forcibly taken my mother, as I happened to have a talent for magic.

However, the magic I learned was only from low-level spellbooks, not enough to even dream of escape, let alone rebellion.

Moreover, as a final safeguard against unforeseen circumstances, a magic of subjugation was placed on my neck, forcing me to unconditionally accept and follow any orders given.

If I didn’t obey, the black tattoo on my neck would gradually tighten, and as the number of disobediences increased, it would eventually cut off my head. That was the subjugation magic.

In this world, it was common sense that to learn magic, one had to study and master spellbooks.

The spellbooks given to me were all low-level ones used only for warfare, so I was nothing more than a slave and a puppet who could only follow orders.

But if there was one joy for someone like me, it was that I unexpectedly enjoyed learning magic.

The mystery of magic.
An inexplicable power that causes phenomena that couldn’t exist in reality. Or a miracle.

It was so appealing that despite my relatively unremarkable talent, I managed to perfectly master all the spells from the given spellbooks.

I wonder if this could be called talent too.

I could proudly say that my desire to explore and endlessly study magic was second to none.

However, what ultimately fell into my hands and was given to me were always low-level spellbooks that could be commonly found anywhere.

I had no choice but to participate in numerous battlefields as a war soldier and magician, according to their purpose and intention.

Every day was like hell.
The reason I was able to survive until the end was mostly due to the feeling that I couldn’t die like this and the will to learn more magic.

As I stubbornly survived each time, before I knew it, my nickname on the battlefield became the rather grand title of “The Immortal Magician.”

Immortal, it’s ridiculous even now to think about it.

Because the being called the Immortal Magician was meeting such a pathetic and futile death like this.

“Cough…!”

Dark blood spurted from my mouth.

I can’t feel my lower half.
It’s probably because my lower body, my legs, were completely blown away by an enemy mage.

Looking closely, serious injuries were all over my body.

I can’t survive.
That fact and truth were the only things that came to mind at that moment.

“…Kuk kuk kuk…!”

I knew this would happen someday.

The Immortal Magician, what a vain title.

The sky is red.

The thick scent of blood lingered at the tip of my nose.

“……”

Damn it.
Damn it.

I was frustrated.
Because my life was arbitrarily controlled by others and ended in such a miserable death.

I never lived my life properly even once.

Bound and tied by forceful subjugation, I lived day by day like a puppet working only for others.

Even the merits of winning those wars were not entirely mine.

I hated the nobility.
I resented all those who made me like this.

“…Cough.”
The only family I could think of in my memories was my mother who gave birth to me in this world.

How ironic that the last person to come to mind was my mother, whose face I could barely remember from seeing her only once when I was young.

It made me laugh.

“Kuk kuk, kuk kuk kuk……”

While I felt a terrible resentment towards someone, it wasn’t completely dominant.

Rather, what felt like a thousand-year grudge in my heart was.

Magic.

The numerous and diverse magics still prevalent in this world that I hadn’t seen or learned.

Spellbooks containing miracles and mysteries.

Once again.
If only I could be born again as the same human in my next life….

At least then,
I hoped my wishes and desires would come true….

For the first time in my life, I earnestly prayed to the god I usually resented.

I, who had thought there was no god until now.

And.

──That wish came true along with my death.

Literally like a miracle.
Into a special family where I could see and learn from various spellbooks.

It was a noble family,
which I had greatly disliked.

I was now the fourth son, called Free.

My name,
meant freedom.

It was also the moment when I, who had gained wings called freedom as if by a miracle from God, got the opportunity to soar once again.

Free von Betelgeuse.

The fourth child, the fourth son, of the prestigious magic family, House Phoenix.

He was a handsome boy with striking navy blue hair and red eyes, characteristic of House Phoenix, which was also a count’s family.

Usually, it was common to use the family name as is for the surname.

However, House Phoenix was an exception to other families, with the family name and surname being separate and distinct.

This was because when the family name was first created, the founding head named it after seeing the eighth brightest star in the night sky, which shone with a red color, saying it was like a blazing phoenix. While adopting Betelgeuse as the surname.
The family name was named Phoenix after seeing that red star.

It was said that this had already been agreed upon with the imperial family of the empire long ago.

That’s why only House Phoenix, despite being a count’s family, had a different family name and surname in this way.

Perhaps the founding head was a wise person.

Because by doing so, people remembered the differentiated family name and naming method consistently even after countless years had passed.

Thanks to this, House Phoenix also made a name for itself in business and was counted among the wealthy families.

A prestigious magic family and a wealthy noble family at the same time.

There’s no better advantage than this.

For me to learn magic here.

“Free! Are you going to the family library again today?”
“Brother Albert.”

The one who spoke to me while I was walking in the mansion corridor was Albert, the third son of House Phoenix, twelve years old.

I was the fourth son, and the handsome blonde young master with green eyes in front of me was the third son, two years older.

By the way, the reason why our hair and eye colors are so different is that we are half-brothers born from different mothers.

Albert put his hand on his waist and laughed heartily, speaking to me in a friendly manner.

“Haha! You really love reading books, don’t you? It’s because there are various spellbooks of our family there, right?”
“I heard that you too, Brother Albert, were always cooped up in the family library when you were about my age.”
“This kid really seems like an old man sometimes? You’ve just turned ten.”
“……”

As Albert said, I had just turned ten this year, two years after turning eight.

During those past two years, I had become somewhat accustomed to this life.

Albert winked at me and suggested:

“When you go to the library, check out the bookshelf in the left corner at the end. On the second shelf from the top, there should be a special spellbook that you really need right now.”
“…A special spellbook?”
“Yes.”
“……”

What could be his intention?
Is it because I’m the fourth son, far removed from the line of succession for the family? Among the half-siblings, only Albert took care of me and paid attention to me in various ways.

“…Well, thank you for letting me know. I’ll make sure to check it out.”
“Good, good. If anything happens, always talk to your big brother!”

As he said this, he put his arm around my shoulders and patted them. I didn’t entirely dislike the feeling.

Nobles were beings I had absolutely despised before.

Now, thanks to Albert in front of me, my only younger sister, and my birth mother in this life, that perception and treatment had significantly softened.

However, that doesn’t mean the emotions and memories of resenting the previous nobles have completely disappeared.

‘Well, at least he’s better than the first and second sons.’

The half-brothers, the first and second sons of House Phoenix, had very different personalities and tendencies compared to Albert, the third son.

One had a fiery and dirty temper, and had already been caught attempting to lay hands on women. That was Alkas, the second son with the mean look.

The other was Eols, the legitimate son and eldest son of the family, with a cold impression.

I know he just turned twenty this year, having come of age.

I had heard by chance that he had already graduated from an academy in the empire and started to be directly involved in the family’s affairs.

However, Eols’s personality was so cold and cruel that it was hard to believe he came from the same womb as Alkas, the second son.

In fact, he rarely even opened his mouth to speak to me. He was an impressive man with blue hair slicked back.

There was a full ten-year age gap between us, as I had just turned ten.

He was quite indifferent to me. So much so that he wouldn’t even acknowledge me when we passed each other in the corridor.

‘In contrast, Albert is incomparably kind and a good person. He’s usually kind to people around him too.’

I was now standing in front of the bookshelf in the corner at the end of the family library, as Albert had suggested.

Then I checked the second shelf from the top.

There, I found a spellbook with a distinctive blue cover embroidered with gold thread, unlike the other books. A small diamond-shaped red gem was embedded in the center of the book cover.

‘This is…?’

The spellbook, located in a rather secluded and high place that would be difficult to find without using a footstool or standing on tiptoes, was…

It was the ‘high-level spellbook’, not a low-level one, that I had been looking for and yearning for even in my previous life.

The first high-level spellbook I discovered in the library, when I thought there were only low and intermediate levels.

When I opened the first page, the title of the book was…

[Essential Reading on Multi-Magic I]