Chapter 51 : Mana Meditation (1)
Chapter 51: Mana Meditation (1)
The moment I connected to the Matrix, a completely different scene unfolded from Kang Da-hee’s shabby house.
Under a pure white sky, I saw an outdoor research facility filled with countless bookshelves and various instruments.
Beside it was a fairly large garden with a pond, and in the distance, a glass greenhouse was faintly visible.
“Looks a bit different from last time.”
“Yes. I tried decorating it a little. What do you think?”
Kang Da-hee looked at Diesel with a hint of anticipation.
“I don’t see if there’s any point to it.”
“Ah…… well, the garden has fantasy animals, the pond has marine creatures, and in that greenhouse over there I placed plants used in alchemy, so it’s not completely useless…….”
“Wouldn’t it be fine to just pull them out of the assets whenever you need them?”
At those words, Ar, who had been drifting around nearby, lightly descended onto the grass and spoke.
〈This is what you call romance, something the Master lacks.〉
Diesel shot the spirit a glare once, then shrugged.
“Well, it does look nice.”
“R-right? I actually put some effort into it.”
“Enough chatter. Let’s start right away.”
“Yes, let’s. You said you wanted to learn about proper magical training methods today, so this way…….”
Kang Da-hee guided me toward the garden.
“You’ve been taking the mana supplements I told you about, right?”
“I have.”
“They strengthen the ‘mana core,’ which is the heart of a mana organ. Consistent nutritional intake is essential for a mage.”
As we chatted and moved, a wide open field covered in green grass soon came into view.
“First, I’ll explain the training we’ll be doing today.”
Kang Da-hee sat down on the grass, and I sat down directly in front of her.
“The foundation of all magical training is a technique called ‘mana meditation.’ It’s a training method where you accumulate mana flowing through the atmosphere inside a mage’s body.”
Mana meditation.
It was exactly the information I wanted.
“To be honest, mana meditation isn’t used much these days. In modern times, with the development of magic implants, most mages replace their mana cores with an implant called a ‘Spell Drive.’ And mana meditation doesn’t work very well with Spell Drives.”
As magic implants advanced with technological progress, the average skill level of mages rose dramatically.
It was a world where you could download a grimoire just by paying money, like buying a weapon from a street arms dealer.
As long as you had talent for magic, you could implant a Spell Drive and easily obtain tremendous mana.
“Mr. Meyer, you said you have no intention of implanting a magic implant, right?”
“I don’t.”
But I didn’t even glance at artificial mana organs.
There was a reason for that decision.
Once you implanted one, no matter what you did, you couldn’t exceed the output performance of that model.
I was certain that no machine in the world surpassed the mana core I currently possessed.
Replacing my mana core with a Spell Drive would be nothing short of castrating enormous magical potential.
“In that case, mana meditation will be quite useful for you, Mr. Meyer. However, modern magic universities don’t teach meditation techniques in detail. As I said, many mages have Spell Drives instead of mana cores.”
“I see.”
“Yes. So those who train with mana meditation fall into one of two groups. Either they can’t afford to install a Spell Drive, or…….”
Kang Da-hee glanced lightly at me sitting in front of her.
“They possess talent far superior to any implant.”
“…….”
She cleared her throat awkwardly and continued.
“You know there are many types of mana meditation techniques, right?”
“I do.”
The most basic mana meditation method was extremely simple.
You inhaled mana in the atmosphere through breathing, then accumulated it in the mana core near the heart.
Up until now, I had also been training in my own way using this method.
“Among them, the meditation techniques of the ‘mage towers’ are especially famous. Their mages obsessively pursue bodily purity, so they don’t implant magic implants.”
“Then since you’re from a magic university, you don’t know much about mana meditation?”
“No. Actually, I’m an expert on it.”
Kang Da-hee spoke with a confident expression.
“My doctoral dissertation was research on magical training.”
“……Really?”
“And the paper I wrote was designated as a confidential document by Yeonhui Magic University.”
A confidential document.
Did that mean it was an extraordinary paper?
Or was it because problems would arise if it were made public?
For a moment, I wondered if she might have done something unethical to write it.
‘Like secretly stealing information from a mage tower.’
I considered asking why it was classified, but Kang Da-hee’s next words made it unnecessary.
“What I’ll teach you is the White Mage Tower’s mana meditation, White Jade Visualization.”
“…….”
“As a technique taught by the White Mage Tower, which pursues diverse magic, it’s a meditation useful for those compatible with Multiple Mana. But…….”
Kang Da-hee whispered the rest as if revealing a secret.
“It’s a technique passed down in great secrecy, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about it elsewhere.”
She then gave me a slight smile.
Like a child just about to do something naughty.
“You’ve been a bit disappointing lately. I even wondered if you’d completely forgotten me.”
“That’s why I came like this. To eat dumplings too.”
An unnamed dumpling shop in Sector 13-5.
I was talking with Boss Kim over dumplings and beer taken from his refrigerator, which I hadn’t visited in a while.
“I heard you did a job with River at the Great Port recently?”
“You already knew?”
“How else do you think I survived in this business? I have to know at least that much.”
“True enough. I heard you even know about the back-alley cockroaches’ weddings and funerals.”
Boss Kim laughed heartily.
“Where’d you hear that? It’s not quite that bad. If it were rat bastards’ ceremonies, maybe.”
Seeing Boss Kim put on a serious face, I briefly thought he might actually know.
“Anyway, you’re a real big shot now. To the point where it’d be awkward for an old man like me to propose a job.”
“That’s not true. Actually, I came today because of a job.”
“Did you?”
“I heard you’ve been pretty busy lately too, Boss Kim.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“You’re preparing one big job, I hear.”
“Hm……. Which job are you talking about? It’s not just one or two.”
Watching him continue to play dumb, I got straight to the point.
“I’m talking about the New City Neo-Asadal.”
“…….”
At those words, Boss Kim quietly set down the beer in his hand.
“Well now, your information network isn’t something to scoff at. To think you’ve already got your finger on that.”
Neo-Asadal, an ultra-mega new city project being constructed southwest of Pyongyang under the leadership of the megacorporation ‘Cheonrang.’
When the blueprint of a city packed with every desire of humanity was first revealed, it became famous for making architects all over the world click their tongues at its absurd scale.
Above all, Neo-Asadal was renowned for its enormous defensive facilities.
So much so that rumors circulated about whether it was designed with the ghosts’ re-invasion in mind.
As if encircling the entire area with massive walls capable of withstanding nuclear strikes weren’t enough, a dome-shaped barrier was erected as well—truly a flawless fortress without a single gap.
Humanity’s last bastion, said to be capable of surviving for thousands of years through self-sufficiency even if the outside world turned into hell with the arrival of the apocalypse.
‘Whether they really predicted the ghosts would return, or whether it was just paranoid big spenders flocking in, I don’t know.’
A city into which truly astronomical resources had been poured was nearing completion.
And places where that kind of insane money flowed were also prime feeding grounds for Ghostcatchers.
“Yeah. I won’t lie. There is definitely a job related to Neo-Asadal.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“With your level, of course there is. But you need to think carefully.”
I understood why Boss Kim was speaking so seriously.
Because new city projects were deeply influenced by all kinds of megacorporations.
The same giant corporations that hired the most Ghostcatchers—and killed the most of them.
“This will be an extremely dangerous job. To the point where everything you’ve done so far will look like child’s play. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
Even so, the reason I had come to Boss Kim was because of a certain item that would be returned as compensation.
“Right. If you’ve already heard the information, that kind of risk probably doesn’t matter to you.”
At the very center of Neo-Asadal was a mana power plant with tremendous output.
A massive facility of the Cheonrang Group, said that even a single unit could supply power to the entire city.
What made that possible was a certain core that would be placed in the reactor heart of the power plant.
I had already obtained information that the item would soon be transported.
“Looking at your eyes, I can tell you won’t listen even if I try to stop you.”
“You know me well now.”
“Stubborn, as always. Hoo…… you’re strangely similar to River, you know. Be honest with me—are you actually River’s cousin or something?”
“…….”
Boss Kim let out a small chuckle and continued.
“The detailed job information is classified until the day of the operation. No matter how much it’s you, I can’t tell you that.”
“I understand.”
“Keep this in mind.”
The dwarf’s firm gaze was directed straight at me.
“You’ll have to pour everything you have into this.”
The tavern in the Underground Great Hall, Count Zero.
Amid the chaotic crowd, a familiar face came into view.
“Diesel……!”
“Betty. You’ve been well.”
“Of course! What about you?”
“Me? Same as always.”
When I sat down at a bar table in the corner with Betty, the bartender Julianne approached and asked,
“What’ll it be, mage oppa.”
“Something not too strong.”
At my words, Betty hesitantly added her order.
“I’ll have the same…….”
“Tsk, Half-dragon girl, no alcohol for you. Planning to get drunk and wreck the place again?”
“Come on. I don’t do that anymore, unni!”
“Absolutely not. This is a special order from Madam Isabel. If I serve you, I’ll get fired.”
“Hiiing……. Madam Isabel is so mean…….”
“Mean, my ass! You see that jukebox you smashed over there? It still hasn’t been fixed! That thing was fine even after taking a direct hit from a tactical shotgun—how the hell did you break it? I’ve worked at Count Zero for over ten years, and that was the first time I’ve ever seen it break.”
“Hehe…….”
“I’ll give you a glass of soy milk, so drink that.”
Soon, Julianne deftly handed over two drinks and disappeared into the distance.
“Looks like you’ve gotten pretty close with the people here.”
“Yeah. With Julianne unni, and I’ve gotten kind of close with the Pizz Fuzz Fuse brothers in the shopping district too.”
“You know the Madam as well?”
“Of course! She gave me my very first Ghostcatcher job, you know? Listen to this. It was such a hard job, like…….”
I had only planned to chat lightly for a bit, but once I started listening, it didn’t seem like it would end anytime soon.
“……and right then! I realized I could use my tail like a weapon! So I had no choice but to pull it out! And then I swung it like this—whoosh……!”
I desperately wanted to cut off Betty, who was brimming with excitement, and get straight to the point, but for now I played along.
“So? Do you feel anything?”
“Well. I’m not really sure.”
“Come on, try focusing and listen again! They say it’s a frequency that clears up blocked financial energy just by listening! The user reviews are amazing!”
“…….”
Thinking it had finally ended, I naturally tried to change the subject.
“Betty, about that favor I wanted to ask.”
“Oh, right. Sorry. I talked too much by myself. I was just so happy to see you.”
Betty smiled brightly and lightly tapped my shoulder.
“Ah, they said hitting like this hurts. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“I did this to Fuse’s shoulder last time and suddenly…….”
When the conversation started veering off again, I hurriedly got to the point.
“Betty.”
“Hm?”
At my next words, Betty’s innocent expression changed slightly.
“Brain Dragon Magic Tower mana meditation.”