Chương 72: Chapter 71 A Half-Finished Mage

Karath soon discovered that his fear of having created an astonishing magical genius had been unnecessary. Kairin truly possessed exceptional talent for manipulating mana. Otherwise, she could never have become a shaman under such primitive teaching conditions. However, after observing her for several days and comparing their progress, Karath discovered that his own mana absorption efficiency was now higher. Kairin was only superior to Karath when he had first begun learning magic. That was understandable.

She had already spent roughly seven years manipulating mana as the village shaman. Compared with Karath after he survived using the mana stone, however, Kairin absorbed a smaller amount with each breath. Even so, her progress remained impressive. After only one week, her mana reserves had grown enough for her to cast First Circle magic freely. The real problem lay elsewhere.

"Listen carefully. A Second Circle spell combines the First Circle spells Fire and Wind. Begin by imagining Fire, then use the same amount of mana required for that pattern. Halfway through, twist the structure like this, divert approximately half the mana used for Fire, and create the Wind pattern..."

"What does any of that mean?" The longer Karath explained Second Circle magic, the stranger Kairin's expression became. There it was. Her ability to manipulate mana rivalled Karath's, but she possessed a fundamental weakness. She did not understand the principles of magic. Damn it. First Circle magic had been easy enough because it only required the creation of a single pattern.

Her natural mana control was better than Karath's had been at the beginning, so she could reproduce those simple structures without much difficulty. The problems emerged when they advanced to the Second Circle. Combining multiple patterns and calculating how much mana needed to be distributed during each stage of the process demanded a level of thought far beyond someone raised in a primitive society. So much for a genius sorceress. Karath wanted to curse his own imagination from the first day he taught her.

This was not a society where gifted children grew up surrounded by books, mathematics, and formal education. This was the Grimwood Mountains.

"Haa. Fine. Watch Karath cast Fire Arrow and remember how the pattern changes." Karath changed his teaching method. First, he drew a rough diagram of the mana structures on the ground. Then he demonstrated the spell himself. After watching the process dozens of times, Kairin finally managed to reproduce his Fire Arrow exactly. She was only half a mage. She could memorise a formula and reproduce it without understanding or adapting it. The result reminded Karath of half-trained programmers from his former world.

Some attended vocational academies for six months or a year, learned languages such as Java or engines such as Unity, created a few games, applications, or websites for a portfolio, and entered a company. Karath did not look down upon vocational schools or the people who studied there. Even if they began that way, those who continued learning independently could eventually become more capable than university graduates. The opposite was also true.

Someone could graduate from a four-year computer science programme and remain hopelessly incompetent if they never studied properly. Karath remembered those half-trained programmers because they eventually encountered a limit if they failed to develop their skills. Someone who could only copy existing code and use what they had been explicitly taught struggled to modify or apply it whenever circumstances changed. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road.

Please report it. Professional programmers rarely created every line from beginning to end alone. Sometimes they inherited someone else's work and maintained it. Sometimes their unfinished work passed to another person. Often, several people collaborated on the same system. If a programmer could not adapt the code to suit the required programme, countless problems followed. Terrible bugs appeared. Endless nights of overtime began. Exactly that kind of disaster would not occur here, but similar limitations would.

Fire Arrow was a simple example. Karath could adjust its mana consumption and alter the balance of its patterns according to the weather, the distance to the target, and the target's characteristics. He could continuously optimise the spell. Kairin would only be able to cast the exact Fire Arrow Karath taught her. Its power would vary wildly depending upon the situation and environment. She would also be incapable of combining patterns to develop original spells, as Karath had done.

He refused to watch a disciple he personally taught become such an incapable mage.

"Imagine that creating water with a First Circle spell requires ten units of mana to fill this clay pot. How much mana would be required to fill five pots?" Karath therefore began teaching subjects beyond magic. He had supposedly set out to teach programming and somehow found himself delivering elementary mathematics and science lessons. Karath no longer cared. Anyone who spent fifteen years reincarnated in a damned primitive society would eventually become accustomed to beginning from nothing.

From absolutely nothing. At least Kairin was not untalented. Her mana control and instinctive sensitivity remained extraordinary. In those two areas, she might even surpass Karath. If he could improve her logical thinking and teach her basic mathematics and scientific concepts, she might still develop into an exceptional mage. Was he being excessively optimistic? Anyone reincarnated into a primitive society would understand. Without a positive mindset, nothing could be accomplished. Everything here began from zero.

Compared with that absolute emptiness, Kairin's talent was practically a divine blessing. Karath continued living according to the same daily pattern while teaching her magic. He woke in the morning and gathered mana. After stretching and eating breakfast, he entered the warehouse. There, he alternated between cutting drake bones and exercising. His mana reserves steadily increased.

As his skill with the improvised saw improved, he also processed the bones more quickly and usually completed the day's work by the afternoon. Then he visited Kairin's house and taught her magic. After dinner, he returned home and studied the theories of Fourth Circle and higher magic within Renstein's books. That simple routine continued for approximately one month.

"F-finally!" Kaden stared at Karath with an expression that suggested he might cry tears of joy. His weapon had finally been completed. As Karath promised himself at the beginning, Kaden's weapon was the last among all those made for the village warriors. Ironically, because it was created last, it also possessed the highest quality. Karath was gifting the best weapon to the warrior who had mocked him for becoming skinny. What greater proof could there be that Karath was a generous man? Whoosh! Whoosh!

Kaden swung the new weapon happily through the air. It was an enormous battle axe suited to a warrior whose size had earned him the nickname half-ogre. No other warrior in the settlement could have wielded it properly.

"Oh! That weapon fits Kaden perfectly!"

"Krahahaha! Listen to the wind roar!" The warriors and women watching Kaden swing the axe released cries of admiration.

"Krahahaha! With this weapon, even an ogre is no match for Kaden!" Apparently delighted by the absurd weapon, Kaden immediately began speaking nonsense.

"Kaden would be no match for the ogre. It seems we will need to dispose of another corpse soon." As always, Krog immediately corrected him. However, envy filled Krog's eyes while he stared at the axe. He clearly wanted it. Karath silently warned him not to try. With Krog's strength, he would not swing that weapon. The weapon would swing him.

"Krog, yours is already useful. Do not worry. Karath also plans to improve it soon." Speaking honestly might damage the pride of an orc warrior, so Karath offered a more tactful answer. It was not even a lie. He truly intended to upgrade Krog's weapon.

"You will strengthen mine?" Krog's eyes brightened after being distracted by Kaden's battle axe.

"What about Kaden's?" Kaden, who had only just received his gift, immediately became greedy again.

"Kaden must wait. Everything will be done in order." Unfortunately for him, his weapon would be last once again. At that same moment, while Karath presented Kaden with his weapon and the village warriors laughed around them, Jark and Grild were speaking inside the chief's house.

"Chief, summer is almost over. Should we not select the warriors who will travel there this year?" Jark now looked almost like a human elder as he addressed Grild with a question that was not truly a question.

"Hmm. You are right. Three years have already passed since we last sent anyone."

"Yes. This time, what do you think about sending him as well?"

"By him, do you mean Karath?"

"Yes. Karath does not appear interested in any of the young women within the tribe."

"Unfortunately, that does seem to be the case." Grild clicked his tongue in disappointment. They were discussing the bride search. It was an event performed every three or four years between orc tribes. Several warriors travelled to nearby settlements. The custom existed for two main reasons. The first was to mix the blood of different tribes. The orcs of this primitive society knew nothing about DNA or the genetic dangers of close-relative marriage.

Through generations of experience, however, they had learned that repeatedly marrying only within the same tribe caused problems. The second reason was to maintain knowledge of the locations of neighbouring tribes. Surviving within the Grimwood Mountains required settlements to remain relatively small. The larger a village became, the easier it was for monsters to discover it and the lower its chances of survival. A larger population also required more food. The amount of prey orcs could hunt remained limited.

If the population grew without restraint, supply could no longer meet demand. For those reasons, each tribe generally survived on its own. Even a small tribe occasionally faced a monster it could not defeat. When that happened, the warriors remained behind to delay the creature while the women and children escaped toward a nearby tribe. Neighbouring settlements therefore confirmed one another's locations through bride searches every three or four years.

If a tribe moved because of a monster attack, it also sent someone to inform its neighbours of the new location. Of course, even the nearest tribes were at least half a day's journey away, meaning approximately six hours of travel.

"That sounds wise," Grild said.

"Karath is supposed to become chief next year. It would be better for him to marry before then."

"Heh heh. Grild and Jark are thinking the same thing." Thus, without Karath's opinion being considered in the slightest, his journey to another tribe was decided.