Now it's time to begin the training. The first thing I want to train is this magic ability. I'm curious how magic will appear in my hand and attack my enemy.
For that, I summoned a stationary punching dummy. The dummy's power level was equivalent to that of an ordinary human. I made it take human form with 100 percent similarity in texture and organs. Not without reason. Because my instincts as someone who lived in the modern era were different from those of people who lived in the medieval era, where they were probably already used to seeing corpses, but not me. Therefore, I had to get used to killing, at least to survive.
I also summoned weapons for myself. This was one of the Training Field's features—to summon training tools. I summoned many kinds of weapons, from odachi swords to gladius. Spears, from naginata to trident. Axes, from battle-axe to Viking axe. I summoned every type of weapon.
I would take advantage of and exploit the Time Dilation feature in this world. Everyone in the chat group would be affected by Time Dilation if the function was activated, so no missions would appear as long as I stayed here. This place became a perfect escape. However, the downside was that time would be limited and couldn't be extended indefinitely. That didn't mean the limit couldn't be increased. The maximum was 10 years.
So I activated it and used the maximum time possible.
[You will spend 10 years in solitude. You can also activate the feature to lock yourself in a time prison if you wish.]
A time prison… no thanks, I'll use the normal one. I'm not ready for that.
[You will return to real-time system flow after 10 years in "Time Dilation+" or if you decide to exit.]
I began taking the learning content and started reading it at that moment.
A magician can manifest magic through imagination and visualization of that magic. You can create fire if you imagine fire. However, you cannot imagine and create magic stronger than the magic you use because it will result in fatal injuries and, at worst, turn you into a Demon. As a demon, you would be corrupted by your animal instincts and become a mindless monster… but in exchange, your magical power would increase exponentially.
That was a fairly clear introduction.
I continued reading until I reached the cultivation or development method.
There was no complicated method. What mattered most was that you could feel the magical energy moving within your body and control it. "Source of Blank" gave me the ability to feel and control it as if I were breathing. I could control it passively and actively. From now on, I would call this energy Canvas.
What was unique about Canvas was that it not only felt like breathing but also resembled the human body, where the more it was trained, the better its coordination. Just like a baby learning to walk, I still struggled to control the Canvas.
Like a baby struggling to stand steadily, it felt heavy to move the Canvas, like dense mud.
"Of course, there's always a drawback to every method." I sighed. Now, I understood why Magic seemed so perfect. Because unlike Magic Circuit and Mana Circle that created "organs" to help manipulate the Canvas, Magic had no such "organ," meaning everything depended on the user's experience and habits. Since I had never possessed this kind of energy, I had to control it from scratch, which made Magic ineffective in battles requiring sharp reflexes.
But I didn't regret it—I would just keep studying it. This was a long-term investment, so it wasn't disappointing. I was wrong to have such high expectations at first.
However, compared to the others, this was better because I didn't need to learn specific spells to use magic.
And before I realized it, several days had passed since the first time I tried learning Canvas manipulation. This time, there was progress, it began to move according to my will.
"Finally, some progress."
I didn't feel tired, hungry, or thirsty, so I could keep pushing my body endlessly for the next 10 years.
***
Two weeks in, and I managed to make the Canvas light and flow like water following my will.
However, I had no intention of using magic yet because I wanted to get used to handling magical energy samples used as Magic's fuel and store them into the Source of Blank. Even though the model was different, I could control magical energy just like Canvas.
While studying magical energy, I also began learning how to use weapons. Magic energy strengthened my body beyond that of a normal human. Perhaps at the level of an athlete now, but I was sure the power increase would grow as I continued training Magic.
I began to feel psychological hunger, but not biological hunger—and that was very disturbing to my mind.
***
Three-quarters of a month since entering the Training Field, and the physical enhancement granted by Magic began to show clearly. Previously, I couldn't cut through human bone, but now I could split a human body in half horizontally at the waist.
The better my improvement, the faster I advanced. The difficult and time-consuming part was only the initial step. Once you took the second, then third, and fourth steps, I felt like I could eventually reach the peak. I had completed the Magic lessons provided by the starter pack; all that remained was application and experience.
I no longer felt hunger. But psychological fatigue began to torment me. I couldn't stop inflicting pain on myself just to divert from this suffering.
I couldn't die, so I would use this to make my body resistant to pain.
***
Two months since the first day. That was how long I felt stagnant in physical strength before my body began showing visible physical changes. Not purely from the physical enhancement effects given by Magic, but also from the exercise and physical development I had done so far.
My progress with the longsword—the first weapon I studied—showed quite a lot of improvement. In thrusts, vertical slashes, horizontal slashes, all were decent. But since I didn't have martial arts knowledge, I stopped once I could execute each movement in a perfectly straight line without mistakes.
After that, I switched to the spear—an ordinary spear. Although I was interested in a cavalry spear, the theory shouldn't differ much from a normal one, and the regular spear was more flexible, so I decided to learn thrusting and slashing. I didn't learn much beyond basic thrusts and slashes since most advanced techniques required higher mastery than simple moves.
It felt like I was going to die.
***
Six months since the first day.
I had gotten used to the hunger caused by psychological effects.
The next weapon I studied after completing the spear and sword series was the axe. Not only that, but my progress in magic had reached a point I could be proud of.
I could use magic now.
Using the theory I understood about fire, I was able to create flames that burned anything they touched into ashes. I could create hot water. Wind shields. And most astonishingly, I could create—or more specifically, extract—iron from a lump of soil, though that was my current limit.
Because the most important thing in Magic was not theory but control and experience.
During these six months, I started feeling my mind dull and my body lazy. I hadn't slept since day one—perhaps that was the cause of this effect.
However, to endure six months without resting my mind, it seemed I was tougher than I thought. So I decided to change the field to nighttime and sleep on a soft bed.
For now, I will sleep.
Although, I didn't know if it would even help at this point.
***
Two years and six months since the first day.
I'm going insane.
There's only magic in my head.
I created a spell to keep my brain at its peak performance, even though I had already created day and night cycles here. Additionally, it also had the effect of awakening my old memories, so I began recalling the heritage of my past life.
The theory wasn't that difficult, and surprisingly, the practice was very easy.
Thanks to that, my progress in magic increased dramatically.
I could create a sun. And I managed to master every classical element effectively.
I succeeded in creating teleportation spells and even materializing simple materials from air and earth, such as diamonds and gold.
The damage I could produce was capable of destroying a city with a nuclear fission explosion and leveling a mountain with nuclear fusion.
With this, I felt it was enough for now.
[Do you wish to exit?]
Yes.
That's enough.
I want to rest.