How a Catastrophe-Level Magician Lives

Alkas was confused.

‘What on earth just happened…! Magic? Did I fall victim to that brat’s magic? To the magic of a mere ten-year-old?’

The floor was slippery.
Only the ground where Alkas had fallen had lost its friction.

“Act according to your status. You’ve crossed the line.”

Free still disliked nobles.
At least, certain nobles like Alkas.

Feeling the cold gaze looking down on him, Alkas raised his head in shame and said,

“Eek! Do you think you’ll get away with this?”

Free snorted at Alkas’s words.

“What a joke. Are you planning to spread this news yourself then?”
“What?”
“I guess the so-called second son of a count’s family can’t even discern things on his own. Your family and your mother would be so pleased to know about this, Alkas.”
“……!!”

Alkas was startled by these words.
Free was cunning.
And clever.

From the moment he first made a move against Alkas.

He had already thought of and prepared a means to completely block Alkas from making any moves.

“Y-You…?”
“If you’ve understood by now, quietly go back and take care of those dirty clothes. Ah, you might have to handle it yourself, as having the servants do it might spread rumors. You’ll have a hard time, won’t you? The so-called second son of a count’s family.”
“…Urgh…! You…!!”
Alkas was in the palm of Free’s hand.

Then, at the end of his shifted gaze, were the servants moving laundry.

Noticing this as well, Alkas hurriedly got up and quickly straightened his disheveled clothes.

By then, Free’s magic had already been dispelled.

“…Insolent brat! Just you wait. I won’t let this slide!”

Free merely sneered at Alkas’s words.

“Huh, you’re spouting lines like a third-rate villain, Alkas. Just hurry up and go.”
“…Damn it!”

As Alkas left, grumbling, Free just watched his retreating figure with an indifferent gaze for a while.

“F-Free…!”

Free turned his head at the voice calling him.

His mother, Lady Lena, had one hand over her mouth, unable to hide the flustered emotion on her face. In her other arm, his younger sister Reina was cuddled up, trembling as if frightened.

“I’m sorry, Mother. His attitude was so rude that I couldn’t help but step in.”

Seeing Free bow his head, Lady Lena was rather surprised and quickly shook her head.

“…No. I’m fine. If anything, I benefited from your actions?”
“Is that so? I’m truly glad you say that.”
“…More importantly, what did you do just now? Have you already learned magic?”
“Yes. I was fortunate to learn magic earlier than others.”
“……”

Lady Lena was speechless for a while at Free’s words.

Then, realizing her composure, she cleared her throat once and spoke to him with quite a serious face.

“I knew you were in the library every day, but I didn’t know you had already mastered magic on your own like this. Does anyone else know about this?”
Free shook his head in response.

“No. This is the first time I’ve used magic in front of someone.”
“I see. Even I didn’t know my son had talent in magic?”

Seeing Lady Lena’s expression, which revealed a hint of inner joy upon hearing that no one else knew, Free unknowingly smiled faintly.

“…I’m a bit happy to see you seem pleased.”
“Oh my? Hoho, I didn’t know our son, who seemed like an old man in a child’s body, could say such things?”
“…I’m not entirely pleased with being called an old man in a child’s body, to be honest…”
“Hehehe, come here.”
Lady Lena called her son into her arms at Free’s joking words.

“……”

Free hesitated for a moment but soon abandoned his hesitation and obediently followed as told.

Hug,
Free’s eyes widened for a moment as he was embraced in Lady Lena’s arms.

Soon, in the warm atmosphere, his eyes slowly closed.

Lady Lena, holding both her son and daughter in her arms, spoke with a loving smile and closed eyes.

“I love you. Free, Reina.”
“……”
“Big brother, is that scary person gone?”

Reina, who had seemingly calmed down, lifted her face from Lady Lena’s embrace and spoke to him.

“…Yes. Your big brother chased him away for Mother and Reina.”
“Wow! Big brother is so cool!”
“Hehehe.”

Lady Lena laughed once again at the conversation and sight of her two children.

A few days after that incident.

“I should start creating a grimoire soon.”

I thought as I closed the magic book I had been reading in the library of House Phoenix.

Grimoire.
It meant compiling all the magic one had learned so far into a single spellbook.

This spellbook wasn’t made like ordinary books.

‘A unique spellbook in the world, created by connecting one’s soul and magical power and materializing it in the physical world.’

That was the method and essence of creating a grimoire.

‘I already have enough magical power to create a grimoire.’

This was actually the first time I was creating this thing called a grimoire.

Because hundreds of years ago, there was nothing like this grimoire.

‘In my time, we used staffs. Staves and wands. After hundreds of years, technological advancement has progressed more innovatively than I imagined.’

In the old days, to properly activate magic, one had to use a medium with a magic stone attached.

But now, the era has come where magic can be cast and activated using the grimoire, which is also a part of one’s soul, as a medium without such things.

‘I rather like this method. As someone who has directly experienced various wars as a war magician, a magician can fight more efficiently with just this grimoire than holding a staff or wand in hand.’

Although a grimoire takes the form of a spellbook, I understand that it doesn’t necessarily need to be carried in hand.

Because the library had books full of information about the hundreds of years of gaps I didn’t know about.
I learned that when materializing a grimoire, the book itself can float in the air according to the caster’s will, even without specifically using magic.

Therefore, compared to the past, it meant that it couldn’t be more efficient as both hands were now free.

“…Well then, shall we begin?”

As it was quite a challenging magic I was attempting for the first time, I felt myself becoming tense without realizing it.

Creating one’s own grimoire.
In other words, it was also another proof that one had become a proper magician of this world.

“Here I go.”

I injected magical power.
Concentrating my mind. In my outstretched hand.

Connecting my soul to my magical power.

As the synchronization of magical power and soul ended, blue magical wavelengths began to gather at my fingertips.

Crack, crackle-!

“……”

Soon, the core of the gathered magical power, a blue light, slowly began to outline the shape of a spellbook in the air above my hand.

A translucent form of a spellbook floating above my hand once the outline was complete.

It’s not yet at the completion stage.

Here, I must finally give it form.

Closing my eyes and concentrating my mind while sweating, soon all the magic phrases I had mastered in my soul, magical power, and mind took on a single form.

It was finally materialized in the physical world as a grimoire.

A deep navy blue spellbook.
Grimoire.

Golden patterns are embroidered on the front cover of the book.

And there, a total of five differently colored beads are embedded in the shape of a star.

The colors of the beads are red, blue, yellow, green, and brown respectively. In the center, instead of a bead, there was a large diamond-shaped pure white gem.

“This is…?”

I speculated upon seeing it.

The beads surely represented the five attributes I had mastered.

“Then……”

In the very center,
What does the diamond-shaped pure white gem signify?

“Could it be…?”

With a thought in mind.
I tried using a magic that I knew only in theory but had never actually used.

“Light.”

Light attribute magic that I had learned only in knowledge among low-level spellbooks in my previous life.

Light, which merely generates bright light.

By the way.
Both in the past and now, light attribute magic and dark attribute magic were quite unique attributes only for the chosen ones who couldn’t manifest without innate talent.

In other words, it was named as one of the two great attributes.

Those who could use light attribute magic were so few in number that they accounted for a very small minority when considering the world’s population.

Occasionally, there were people who could manifest low-level light attribute magic, but when it came to higher levels of light attribute magic, there were also some who suddenly couldn’t use it.

And I clearly had experience in checking whether I had a natural aptitude for these two great attributes in addition to the five great attributes before.

However, what had failed then, I now realized I had talent for that attribute.

A belated awakening.
This meant that it was not innate but acquired.

Why? How come?
Questions remained, but along with creating the grimoire, I had unexpectedly acquired a posthumous awakening.

Although it was only one, it was also the moment when I directly witnessed and confirmed that I now had talent in the light attribute, one of the two great attributes that I didn’t have at all in my previous life.

Extending my index finger.

“Pierce. Ray.”

This time, the light magic I shot at the window with a short incantation.

In the blink of an eye, it left a tiny hole and flickered before disappearing.

It was the moment I saw a beam of light shooting from my finger.

“……”