[Na-me has a morning routine that she always does as soon as she wakes up, right?]
[Yeah. I stretch and do yoga as soon as I open my eyes. It helps loosen the stiff muscles and joints from the night and promotes blood circulation.]
[Right, Na-me is really famous for being incredibly flexible. When you see her in competitions, her body is like a cobra!]
[Can you show us how you do it?]
[Oh, it’s not hard.]
[Just a second, let me lay out a mat here… Oh! Wow! Waaaah!]
Wow, crazy! 😂
Can a back bend that much?!
Matrix was nothing compared to this.
She just goes into a one-handed handstand like it’s nothing, LOL!
I still can’t even bend like that much!
We watched “Room Fortress Warrior,” which aired last Saturday, at the Container Hideout.
I covered myself with the blanket up to my head and hugged my knees tight.
It felt cozy and warm, like a baby bird in a nest.
[Na-me, just tell Saetbyeol something nice instead of teasing her all the time!]
[Um… Saetbyeol, I really—]
Ugh. This isn’t it…
Whenever a cringe-worthy scene appeared that I just couldn’t watch, I covered my eyes with the blanket.
At times like this, Saetbyeol really feels like the older sister, LOL!
Ah, my heart is about to drop.
She’s just too cute! T_T
Room Leader, don’t just hide, do it with us!
She’s surprisingly shy, LOL!
If it weren’t for that incident, I bet Na-me would’ve been really cute and bubbly…
Someone hurry up and take a time machine and save her!
While you’re at it, let’s get her a debut as a kid’s VTuber too, yeah!
Knock, knock—
Is it already time?
“Hey, NoName! Earlier, I joked about you being stupid and ran away!”
“Whoa, whoa! Be careful! That’s expensive!”
I barely held back Seo Yu-na, who was trying to barge in.
She halted and slowly surveyed the walls and ceiling.
There were numerous buttons, switches, communication panels, control boards, battery modules, and displays shimmering in the darkness.
The interior resembled that of a spaceship.
“What’s over there?”
She pointed at the curtain dividing the container.
“That’s the makeshift production room. You need to wear a hazmat suit to go in there.”
“Wow, that’s cool. If something breaks, is it a big deal?”
“It wouldn’t be a disaster, but since it’s expensive, we have to be careful.”
“How much?”
I pointed to the Engraving Equipment gear stick.
“Interested? This one costs 100 million won.”
Ugh, my stomach suddenly… I want to leave here, Na-me…
Seo Yu-na staggered backward.
“Sit in the capsule. I’ll open the door for you.”
Seo Yu-na sat inside the capsule, and I activated the engraving equipment.
In the meantime, we chatted about the academy.
“Oh, did you learn about scrolls in class?”
“Yeah, just the basics. But we had to share one scroll among five people, you know? And Hong Jun ended up casting it twice by himself, so I couldn’t use it at all.”
That must’ve been disappointing. I guess they didn’t have any extras.
“I had a couple of extras, but I let the others use them since it seemed like so many groups made mistakes like us.”
You did well. What kind of magic was the scroll?
“Well, there were two types: one for making soap bubbles, and the other was like little firecrackers.”
Wow, the academy must have a lot of money. Are scrolls still being produced somewhere?
Magic has a poetic charm to it when it comes to scrolls.
It seems like they use Chinese ones since there aren’t any in Korea. LOL
Scrolls sound fun! 😂
Scrolls were popular back when magic power plants didn’t exist.
Crafted meticulously by artisans from fibers harvested from plants in the barren mana field regions, it has always been an embodiment of magical nostalgia.
Currently, due to labor costs and numerous environmental regulations, it has become hard to find in many countries.
They don’t hold much practical use, but it seems they were introduced as part of a historical experience.
Nonetheless, scrolls have always been a dream of wizards since ancient times.
Themes about legendary scrolls have always appeared in numerous literary works and movies.
Even if mana power plants hadn’t emerged during World War II, the world would have still been filled with adventurers.
“There’s nothing like a scroll, but there’s something similar. Want to take a look?”
“Ooh, I wanna see!”
“There’s a way to control it without entering the workshop.”
As I pressed the button, a robotic arm descended from the cleanroom ceiling, like those typically seen in factories.
It ripped the packaging off an object casually leaned against the wall and pulled out a white strip 5 cm wide.
With careful movements, I peeled off about five layers.
Using two robotic arms, I held up the ends of the Y-shaped strip, dangling it.
“What is this?”
“This is called Pallium. It’s the material that goes into the capsules we use. Thanks to Pallium, we can smoothly use magic in virtual reality.”
“Wow. But how do you use it?”
“There’s no straightforward way to use it, but hold on, if I start this program… We can engrave the circuit formations above and use it like a scroll.”
Wow, that’s awesome! Can we make bubbles? Firecrackers too?
“Hey, if we’re doing this, let’s make it something cooler. Does anyone have good ideas? We can go up to 4th circle.”
Who uses Pallium like a scroll? LOL
Where the heck did you get that?! 😂
What exactly is Pallium?
Pallium is Pallium!
Anyway, it’s hard to explain…
If I had to compare, it’s like a semiconductor wafer…?
Can a 10-year-old have an Aura Heart that can use 4th circle magic?
“Yuna, you’ve never used 4th circle magic, have you? Why don’t you give it a try now?”
“I want to, but… Eek! It seems a bit scary…”
It’s okay, you won’t die!
“I don’t trust a single word you say when it comes to safety.”
(¬д¬。)
NoName has that all-men vibe, LOL
Absolutely do not trust them!
Hey, if you run low on mana, that’s it!
Oh, but 4th circle should be fine, right?
For real, it’s not easy to get to mana exhaustion with just 4th circle!
Taking the views of the viewers into account, we explored the 4th circle magic.
Wasn’t there something fun and innovative we could try?
[‘Bleming’ donated 30,000 won!]
How about a magic that plays a song or music with every step?
“Is there such magic?”
[‘Bleming’ donated 10,000 won!]
Who knows?
You’re crazy for that idea! LOL
If you brought it to school, you’d become a superstar!
What circle would that be?
Is this really a 4th circle? LOL, did they fail to optimize it?
It just feels like a random mishmash of similar spells.
I immediately searched through the dictionary.
“Oh, there is one!”
[4th Circle – Sancta Nox]
It means “Holy Night” in Latin.
[Registration Year: 1915]
It existed decades before the emergence of the magic power plant.
It’s such an old magic that the naming seems purely random.
“Shall we give this a shot?”
“Waaah, I’m excited!”
Whooooooooosh—!
Without delay, I began the production.
Maintaining a magic circle is much harder than casting it.
A scroll serves the role of substituting for this process, like a wind-up toy.
While charging mana into the Pallium, I showed Yuna the basic knowledge using the blueprint.
“4th circle magic is a middle-tier circle, so it has a lot of instabilities. The first thing you need to pay attention to during your first cast is the shape of the members and secondly, their relative positions. I’ll give you a simple problem. If Nellymelo moves diagonally this much from here, where should the mana field be?”
“Um… If it goes outside the circle, do I go back in from the opposite side?”
“Yep, that’s right. You can do this, see? I’ve embedded the song as ‘Holy Night’ just like that.”
Once the engraving was done, I rolled the Pallium into a round shape like a ball.
We left the container and moved to the sports field.
“Just hold this and toss it over your head when it’s time to cast.”
“Huh, just do it?”
“Yeah, anytime.”
Seo Yu-na threw the Pallium with all her might.
Whoosh—!
Three arms spread out and formed a magic circle.
“Huff!”
Yuna put strength into her ten fingers enveloped in mana.
From the center, the circuit formations spread out like spiderwebs.
The runes floated around the magic circle like bubbles, infusing it with magical power.
Go for it, Yuna, you can do it!
You can make it!!!
No matter how much it’s engraved casting, the talent is horrifying!
Will it succeed on the first try?
Just a little more!
[4th Circle Engraved Casting: Sancta Nox]
Four members appeared in the air.
The moment Yuna took a step forward.
Boom—!
“Huh?”
A grand opera sound echoed across the sports field.
The students preparing to head home and the children playing soccer all turned their heads.
“Wow, you did it! You really did it!”
Bam-bam-bam—!
She jumped around the sports field to the rhythm of the song.
Curious kids started to gather around her.
As Seo Yu-na quickened her pace, the song sped up too.
Christmas carols resonated throughout the academy.
It seemed a bit early by two months, but who cares?
laughter
Children’s laughter knows no set time.
“What’s this, NoName? Every time Seo Yu-na walks, music is playing.”
“Oh, Ha-ru! Long time no see. Do you want to try it out?”
“Me? Nah, but yeah, I wanna try.”
Seo Yu-na rolled up a piece of Pallium.
She cast the magic with much more ease than Yuna.
Bam-bam-bampa-bam—!
The carols ringing out here and there created a cacophony.
After a while, it nearly gave me a headache.
“Waaaahhhh!”
“Hey, you gotta keep the beat! You can’t just jump around!”
“Like this? Oh, I’m running now!”
Just watching is uplifting, LOL
Thinking back, why did I like running so much as a kid?
So cute! 😂
Wow, elementary school kids have great control of magic!
I handed out three more pieces to the seniors, turning the way home from the academy into chaos.
Every time they couldn’t keep the beat, their friends’ teasing flew in like bonus comments.
Seo Yu-na, having thoroughly enjoyed the magic, returned to me sweating in October.
“Phew! That was fun. But Na-me, how do you deactivate this?”
“Don’t you know how to deactivate a scroll?”
“No, I don’t.”
Unlike the magic power plant system, which exchanges information with the caster in real-time, a scroll works until it runs out of mana once used.
It’s not hard to deactivate, but not knowing how to…
“Are you not going to tell me?”
“Heyyy!”
“When you get home, it will deactivate by itself.”
“Don’t run away, hurry and come tell me!”
I didn’t hesitate and sprinted past her.
Seo Yu-na frantically kicked her feet.
Lately, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time for cardio, so this works out perfectly.
I continued to run circles around the sports field while teasing Seo Yu-na.
How am I supposed to catch her? LOL
NoName ← Even if an adult wizard came, he wouldn’t catch her!
If Na-me can’t catch me, I can’t go home, LOL!
LOL, how many times have we done “Run, Na-me” today?
Is there a secret to running quickly with short legs?
“You’re banned!”
While maintaining a careful distance from Yuna, I even had the leisure to ban a viewer who crossed the line.
At one point, her elongated shadow disappeared from my field of view.
I turned around.
She stood there, making a crying face, trying to suppress a smile.
On the verge of bursting into tears at any moment, no, a tear was glimmering.
“Okay, okay, I’ll deactivate it for you.”
“…”
I held her wrist and examined her arms.
I removed the small cross mark engraved on her forearm with mana.
As the carols stopped, Yuna wiped her tears away with her arm.
“Is it done now?”
“…”
She bit her lip, looking cute as she held back her embarrassment.
“Hey, NoName, Seo Yu-na. How do you undo this?”
This time, Lee Ha-ru waddled over.
In an instant, we made eye contact with Seo Yu-na.
We were having the same thought.
“Let’s bolt.”
“Heyyy! You two, stand right there!”
Bam-bam-bam—! Bam-bam-bam—!
“Hehe, hers sounds weird too!”
With Ha-ru’s desperate cries and Yuna’s innocent giggles, the carol formed perfect harmony this time.
Whoever it was, they conjured a pretty neat spell after all.
*
On December 15, 1915, near Ypres, Belgium, the Western Front, the bitter cold seeped into the soldiers’ bones.
The trenches around Christmas were filled with frozen mud and water.
Human waste, decaying bodies, rat droppings, and viscous residue like tar.
In a corner of the trench, two soldiers huddled together.
“Jon, do you know? This is the place. Last year, we sang Christmas carols and played soccer with the Germans.”
“Is that really so?”
“Yeah. We pushed the front and got pushed back again, but in the end, this is where we ended up.”
Within the horror of war, there was a human connection made during the Christmas truce.
This incident turned the nations on both sides upside down.
“But this year… it’s not going to be easy. The higher-ups forbade a truce.”
“Well, we just need to make sure it doesn’t sound from our side. Do you think they’d fire into our lines?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Believe it or not, I graduated from a prestigious academy. See that? The residue extends hundreds of yards from here.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ve prepared something for situations like this. If this scroll’s magic works, the carol will echo over the residue and ring out from the other trench. So, can you tap dance a little?”
Swallow—
The soldier gulped hard.
From the weight of fear and pain that pressed down upon him, a small spark ignited.
“What’s the name of that magic?”
A faint smile appeared on the soldier’s face.
“Sancta Nox.”
