He who Bends Time Chapter 2 - Second time

Standing in front of his own room, Auran glanced slightly at the naplate where the word "Apprentice Magician" was written before opening the door and stepping inside.

His room was ssy, and wherever he looked, there was at least one book about magic theories developed by others. On the walls were the theories he had developed himself, all of which had proven to be failures.

After eating the honey buns, Auran felt a craving for so fresh water, and with a bottle of water in his hand, he made his way to his study table, which already had a book opened to a marked page.

Sitting down, Auran first reread the work he had done so far. In the book, he had written down all the experiences he had gathered up to now; it included the failed attempts he had made, what he had learned from them, and ideas on how to improve afterward.

After looking through all the pages, Auran ca to the current page where the book was left blank, without anything written on it.

After countless efforts, Auran now had a slight idea of how to move forward, and after seeing how Henry, who was much younger than him, was progressing, he decided to carve out the thoughts in his mind into words.

So he started his work—thinking, writing, and reading other precise works to confirm his thoughts. It took hours until he finally put down his pen.

Looking at the roughly drawn magical theory on the page, Auran felt a bit scared. This was all he could think of for now, and he knew that, for a while, this would be the result of all of his hard work.

After taking a deep breath, he decided to try it out—the theory he had newly developed to step into the path of ti magic. He decided to test it as soon as he could to see the results.

His theory was that to access the mystery known as ti, there had to be a dium or so sort of special portal that connected him to the mysterious substance.

Auran suspected that the thing called ti must be sothing that existed but was invisible to the naked eye.

He also expected that it must be sohow involved with space, for there had been incidents in history where so high-level space magicians accidentally triggered ti-related spells while working in their own field.

But that was all he knew. He didn’t know what ti actually was and did not know where to find it.

But what he did know was that it was connected to space.

So, using space-related magic and the few bits of ti-related knowledge he had gathered, Auran developed a magic circle which he expected would connect him with the source of ti.

Standing up, Auran extended his hand forward. At the tip of his finger, he channeled space magic and very carefully drew the magic circle he had sketched in his notebook.

The space magic he used was a very basic spell that everyone learned in the early days of their academy life.

Basic spells like this were taught to all magicians to help them figure out which field they would like to pursue and which field they felt most comfortable with.

Also, learning about other types of magic sotis helped with their own fields of specialization.

The drawing of the magic circle was completed, and a blue-colored circle floated in the air in front of Auran.

Auran waited for sothing to happen. He had done what he had planned—this was sothing he had developed himself, the fruit of his efforts.

Even if it was just a little glimpse of sothing extraordinary related to ti, it would be enough for Auran.

From then on, he would have a basic step to rightfully enter the path of ti magic.

Crik!

Suddenly, the air emitted a strange noise as a crack appeared on its surface.

Auran panicked as an incredible sense of danger overwheld him.

Without a second thought, he lunged at his door, stepped outside, and closed it.

Right at the mont he closed the door, he heard a sudden explosion from inside.

Thankfully, every room in the academy was soundproof, so when Auran closed his door, the sound of the explosion was prevented from escaping outside.

Outside was dimly lit, just like it had been before he entered his room, and it was absolutely quiet, thanks to the soundproof magic engraved in each room.

After a few monts, Auran opened the door to his room and saw the aftermath of the explosion.

Although there was no fire, the furniture and other things in his room had been badly damaged.

"Oh no..."

Auran saw that his work table had broken into pieces, and everything that had been above it had ended up in the sa fate.

He ran and picked up the pieces of his notebook, which now had only a few remaining pages. It was all gone—the efforts of his past failures had all vanished.

Although he rembered so of it, from those few fragnts he wouldn’t be able to recreate anything valuable.

A pain erupted from the depth of Auran’s heart.

Wobbling on his legs, he sohow managed to move toward his bed, which thankfully had not been destroyed because it was in a separated section of the room, and he fell head-first onto it.

The damage was too much, and Auran didn’t want to think about what he should do next, at least for the mont.

Maybe because of the physical and ntal pressure that had built up, within a few minutes, he fell asleep.

. . . . . . . . . .

Auran woke up in the brightness of the morning.

Although the windows were tightly closed in his room, the rays of the sun still managed to find their way to him.

When lifting his head from the bed, Auran still felt sleepy. He had slept far past midnight yesterday, so it was understandable.

Looking around the ssy room, he felt a headache coming on.

Mixed with the sleepiness, he fell back onto his bed and prepared to crawl back to sleep.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes.

He got up and gazed around his room, more specifically at his working table, which had been destroyed yesterday by his failed experint.

Although the table was still broken, Auran saw sothing on top of the remaining pieces.

It was his notebook, which should have been shredded to pieces last night.

But above the remaining fragnts of his table was his notebook, completely intact without a single scratch on its surface.

Auran got out of his bed and lunged toward the table, picking up the book.

Only after grabbing it and feeling the rough outer sensation with his fingers did he believe that he was not dreaming.

But then ca the question to his mind—what had he seen yesterday?

He definitely rembered the book being destroyed by the unfortunate explosion from the night before.

And the ssy room acted as proof of that incident.

"Did I hallucinate it?"

He thought, but it was impossible.

To be a magician, one must have excellent ntal aptitude, and even an apprentice magician should always have a clear mind.

Only a magician’s spell could fool another magician.

And Auran knew he didn’t have many enemies who would go so far as to trick him like that.

But thinking about it—after the countless mockery, ridicule, and insults he had received from those who once envied and feared him—there could very well be one, if not a few, who would like to see him suffer even more.

While pondering, Aurun turned his notebook and looked through the pages to see if all of it was correct.

But after reading the first few pages, Aurun beca completely baffled.

It was not his book.

The subjects written inside were not the experiences of his past failed experints.

But that was not what truly baffled Aurun—it was the fact that what was written in the book was a completely new theory of ti, which seed to be an improved version of the idea he had tried earlier that night.

"What’s happening?... Did soone steal my theory and improve it?"

It was the only reasonable explanation he could co up with at the ti, and Aurun believed it.

He suddenly put the book back and ran outside, through the corridor, and into the academy toward the board where the newest submitted theories were shown.

His eyes searched through the board, looking for anyone who had submitted a theory related to ti recently.

But there was none.

No one had submitted a theory belonging to the magic of ti.

Aurun suspected that the one who had stolen his theory might have already submitted it to the academy, but it wasn’t there.

And there hadn’t been a single theory related to ti magic submitted even in the past years.

That showed just how incredibly rare it was for a magician to study ti and manage to build a theory of their own.

After looking at the board, Auran didn’t leave for hours.

He kept gazing at it, because he suspected that soone would eventually submit the theory.

And while he waited, Auran casually took out his notebook and looked through the contents written inside.

Although it was only partially his own work, and he was sure soone would eventually take credit for it, he still needed to see what exactly was in this new theory.

Leaning against a wall on the side, Auran carefully read his notebook and tried to understand what was written in it.

The more Auran read the book, the sharper his eyes beca, and the wider his mouth opened without him even realizing it himself.

The passersby looked at Aurun, who was gazing at his notebook like a crazy person. But Auran didn’t feel their gazes—in truth, the current Auran had even forgotten where he was standing.

The knowledge written in the first two pages of the book was more than Auran had ever imagined. It explained how to properly access the oath of ti and even included so spells that he could master.

But what made him even more dumbfounded was the na written at the end of page two—the na of the person who had written these pages.

And it was... Auran Malckoy.

Auran Malckoy... The words shined at the bottom of page two. The shine was mystical, and Auran subconsciously wiped his hand across the surface of the word. As he did, a wave of information suddenly assaulted his brain, giving him answers to many of the questions he had.

For about ten seconds, Auran stood there, staring blankly into the space in front of him. Then he suddenly blinked and acted like a living person again.

Looking at the book in his hand once more, he quickly tucked it back into the vault of his coat and walked back to his room.

Once inside his room, he closed his door tightly and sat down on his bed. Putting the notebook in front of him, he fell into deep thought while gazing at it.

The wave of information he received was too much, and he needed ti to process it carefully.

From what he learned, the book was not sothing that soone had developed after stealing his notebook. Instead, from the beginning, the book had belonged to him—but not the current him, rather the future him.

It was an unbelievable fact that anyone would refuse to believe. But from the knowledge Auran received, he was convinced that it was indeed his future self who had sent him this book.

This book contained all the knowledge he would gather in the path of ti in the future. Despite suffering constant setbacks, the future him had been able to succeed remarkably in mastering the path of ti.

However, Auran did not know what had made his future self pass this knowledge to his younger self in such a way.

Looking at the two pages of the book, Auran knew that the knowledge he had gained did not end with just those two pages. There was more, but he needed to understand ti magic better before he could access the content on the other pages.

Maybe in those pages was the answer for what caused his future self to pass on this knowledge.

After sorting out his thoughts, Auran once again flipped through the pages with shaking hands. This was his own knowledge—the knowledge and theories he would painstakingly develop in the future.

But once he touched the first page, the book suddenly floated up from his hand and launched itself at him.

This sudden action caught Aurun off guard, and he tried to grab the book again, but as he reached out and held it, he felt it lting from his fingertips.

[Transplant complete, sorting out mory of the user]

[Grading successful... GENERATING knowledge suitable for current aptitude and mana tier of the user]

[GENERATION successful... Beginning guiding steps...]

Auran felt sothing in his head, like the book had been absorbed into him, and all the information written in it could be seen just by thinking about it.

Aurun had heard about magic fields that had symbiotic relationships with so magic utensils, and he had even learned about that field to a tiny extent.

From that knowledge, he knew that even though this felt similar to that field, it was different.

Suddenly, a wave of knowledge entered his brain. Because he had read the book before, he knew that the information he received was from the first page of the book.

On the first page, there was the magic circle Auran had drawn the earlier night, but the magic circle drawn in the book was more perfected and changed in so ways.

Auran knew that his future self had been able to properly connect the magic circle to the source of ti he had searched for.

After understanding the content, Aurun extended his hand forward, then took a deep breath before channeling space magic into his fingertip. Then he drew a beautiful and mysterious magic circle in the air.

The space around him gradually began to vibrate as he drew the circle, and an effect similar to a wave in the ice spread through the space. At the end, after finishing the circuit, Auran slowly pulled back his hand.

The glowing circle floated in the air, giving off an ethereal feeling and emitting a few vibrating sensations through the space. But after a few monts passed, the circle emitted a flowing, transparent, liquid-like substance.

Auran quickly acted and reached his hand to feel the flowing substance from the circle.

When his hand reached it, Auran felt like he was holding an imnsely heavy tal in his hand. But enduring the heaviness and the pain that ca along with it, Auran drew another sign upon the surface of the circle using the transparent substance.

Then he took a few steps back and picked up a piece of a remaining table from the floor and threw it toward the circle.

Auran threw it with a bit of force, and it rapidly launched itself toward the circle floating in the air. But as the piece of wood got near the circle, its speed rapidly declined and began to approach the circle with an incredibly slow speed.

It was a speed that, if thrown randomly in the air, would have caused it to fall to the ground instantly. But the piece of wood did not fall; instead, it continued to move toward the circle, although it felt like the wood had slowed down dramatically, yet with the sa montum.

Looking at this event, Auran’s mouth curled upward. It was a success.

The circle itself had definitely connected to the source of ti, which was why it did not explode like before, and the slowly approaching wood piece proved that the ti-related spell he had cast using ti magic had worked.

Delay... it was the ti spell he had cast using the mana of ti — the transparent substance that had co out from his magic circle.