That Year, Winter Was Long
That year's winter was long.
It lasted for a full three years.
Abysses ran rampant in the Arctic, and two "FakeWarriors" were dispatched to subdue them.
It was an era of peace. That winter, until its very end, the boy trained under Skaldzi Ludwig.
The training focused on magic refinement and the awakening of the Mystic Eye. But before he could awaken "Bell Curious"—
"You must first master Bell Sidious freely. Now, read quickly! Don't miss a single word!"
"Yes!"
"Are you just going to stand there and watch until your opponent's spell is fully cast? Move faster!"
Every time Skaldzi saw his grandchild, who learned not just one but a hundred things from a single lesson, he was overjoyed. The boy's genius was beyond words.
A dullard would take ten years, an average person a year, and a genius a month to master the same material—but he was learning it in a single day.
All he needed was time. Time for his eyes to develop and his magic to grow.
And the boy, too, found it enjoyable.
Had he been taught ordinary magic through standard education, he would have found it tedious. But Ludwig's family magic was a world of knowledge he had never known before.
And the rewards were undeniable.
The ability to control all supernatural powers at will—compared to his previous life, where he had nothing—was an overwhelming gift.
"Training is most effective when you put your life on the line."
"I understand."
"From now on, I will hurl fireballs at you. If you fail to dodge, you die."
Although Skaldzi spoke those words, he fully intended to extinguish the magic with his own Bell Curious if things became truly dangerous.
The boy took a deep breath and nodded. Cold sweat trickled down his body, and his white breath rose into the winter air.
"Now!"
Skaldzi was a brilliant mage.
What separated a battle mage from an ordinary magician was calculation speed. Even by modern standards, Skaldzi's computational ability was remarkably fast.
'If he had lived in my era, maybe he would've been chosen for Rista's party instead of me.'
Thankfully, that hadn't happened.
As the fireball hurtled toward him, the haze distorted his vision.
"Bell Sidious!"
The fireball drew closer. The searing heat scorched his skin.
"Hurry, Rain!"
The activation condition for Bell Curious was complex from theory alone. One had to instantly compute all five of Ludwig's family magic spells and channel magic into their eyes.
Beyond the three stages of Bell Sidious—reading, analyzing, and deciphering magic—one had to interfere with and manipulate it.
Looking back now, the fact that they made this a "family technique"… was Ryuken Ludwig a man who just hated mages?
"Rain!"
The fireball was upon him.
But the boy thought to himself—multi-layered magical computation? That's nothing to me.
He cast all five spells in an instant.
Suddenly, blood dripped from his eyes, and the burning agony in his retinas exploded beyond reason.
But wait—?
The world around him turned crimson, and everything became numbers.
010101010101
The snowflakes swirling in the air, the distant figure of Skaldzi shouting urgently, and even the roaring fireball right before his eyes…!
In that moment, Rain realized what had happened to his eyes.
Bell Curious had activated.
Incredible.
This is truly incredible.
The entire universe was being translated into mathematical equations, feeding direct information into his mind.
Once you perceive information with Bell Curious, you're already there. At that point, change the equations as if you were mentally solving a math problem.
It was similar to Bell Sidious, but fundamentally different.
The numbers…
They felt almost tangible, like ripples on water—distorting at his touch, shifting under his gaze. As if he could interfere with them all.
┏ 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 ┓
ㆍThe spell formation consists of two triangles.
ㆍThe rune symbols used follow the mathematical form of Lutichen.
ㆍSize: 17 Axel, Range: 23 Gimite.
┗ 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 ┛
Analysis complete.
Initiating correction.
What if I twist the 'Fire (發)' rune into 'Trample (跋)'? The meaningless transformation disrupts the rune's resonance with the equation, turning the solution into an imaginary number.
Which means only one thing—
The spell will return to nothingness.
As soon as he completed the interference, the raging fireball that had been scorching his face scattered into embers, and the world fell silent.
All he could hear was his own breathing.
Then, a sharp pain stabbed at his solar plexus—mana exhaustion. He staggered, and Skaldzi caught him.
"Grandfather… did I do it?"
"You did! Look at your eyes! The only thing you lack now is magic power! Hahaha! This is unbelievable… Bell Curious at fourteen!"
At that moment, Skaldzi Ludwig laughed—but he couldn't laugh forever.
'I only barely reached this state at thirty-nine…'
And yet, even he had been hailed as one of the greatest prodigies in modern magic.
So what did that make Rain?
Could he still be described simply as a "genius"? His talent was enough to upend the empire's magical history.
"Rain, no matter what path you take or what life you live, I won't interfere."
"…?"
"But when you turn sixteen, you must apply to the Magic Academy, . You are a jade yet uncut."
Magic Academy…
To be honest, he wasn't interested.
What he was interested in was the Central Magic Library attached to . Wasting time was out of the question.
"Did you know that graduating at the top of grants you the chance to see the remains of the Great Mage Lyn?"
"Yes, but…."
Can we stop worshipping corpses?
Why was seeing a frozen corpse considered a privilege?
"I'm not interested."
"I wasn't either. But aren't you curious about the note the Hero Rista left for Lyn?"
…What?
Rista… left something for me?
"No one your age has ever awakened Bell Curious before. With that power, you could decipher what the note says."
At the time, he had simply listened in shock, but looking back—this was the true beginning.
This was the story of a journey.
A journey following Rista's letter, tracing the footsteps of old comrades, traveling across the world to record its wonders.
And on that path—
The story of meeting her.
By fifteen, another summer had come.
Torrential rain poured at its beginning, giving him the perfect excuse not to return home and instead stay at Magic School.
Ever since submitting his application to , he had developed an interest in school lectures. So, from time to time, he attended classes.
Located in the Middle Capital, , was structured like other magic schools—divided into elementary, middle, and high divisions.
Ordinary mages graduated from all three levels before taking the Bandoran (1-star) ranking exam to become full-fledged magicians.
Talented individuals, however, obtained their Bandoran ranking right after middle school and then enrolled in a magic academy.
"Today's lesson is polynomial factorization. You've already learned the basics in middle school, but now we'll go deeper…"
Rain found himself paying more attention to the students rather than the lesson itself.
"Hey, how do you solve this?"
"Lemme see your notes for a sec."
"Ugh, this is too hard. Should I just give up on math?"
"You idiot, how can a magician give up on math?"
They asked each other for help, solved problems together—laughing and chatting in the process.
'In a way, it reminds me of following Rista's party.'
It was so different from Lyn's life—studying theory alone in the tower, memorizing formulas in isolation.
'This actually seems kind of fun…'
But hold on—a slight problem arose.
How was he supposed to interact with kids his age?
'Even when I was Lyn, I never figured that out. And now I'm the heir of a magic noble family?'
Rain sighed. This was a challenge he hadn't anticipated.