Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Beginning (1)

The Branch of Yggdrasil.

An item known as a World Tree's Sapling.

As you can sense just from the name, it's quite a precious item.

Only the royal family of elves, the so-called 'High Elves', could possibly take this out.

In my case, I happened to have the connection to obtain one, but an ordinary human would never be able to take it out.

Anyway, just going to Eldran, the capital city of the elves, is enough to receive the influence of the World Tree, so unless someone is truly insane, there's no one who would specifically aim for a branch.

If the purpose is treatment, just spending a few months sightseeing in Eldran would suffice.

"You want to borrow the yard?"

"Yes."

The next day, when I visited Ah-yeon's house, the first thing I did was point to the front yard of the mansion.

Fortunately, Shin Ah-yeon's mansion sat on a uselessly large plot, so she had a fairly wide yard.

"Suddenly?"

"I'd like to plant this."

I lightly shook the branch I was holding in my hand.

With the movement of the branch, Shin Ah-yeon's eyes moved up and down.

"It's a branch, isn't it?"

"Yes, it looks that way. But it's not an ordinary branch."

"So, is it something like a World Tree branch?"

"......"

Wait, how did she know?

When I remained silent for a moment, Ah-yeon spoke up with a face full of suspicion.

"...... Is it for real?"

"Well, yes, it is..."

"So items like those from games actually exist, huh."

Her fascinated gaze as she scanned the branch made me feel a bit odd.

It was convenient not to have to explain, but it also made my effort to explain it dramatically a little pointless.

'Anyway.'

It was strangely unsatisfying, but that wasn't the important thing right now.

First, I needed to find a spot to plant this Branch of Yggdrasil.

'The plot is just right.'

The yard in front of the mansion was quite wide and well-lit by sunlight.

The soil was quite polluted since it was in the city, but for something like this, that was no big deal.

If it were an ordinary branch, that would be one thing, but this was Yggdrasil's branch.

The moment this is planted, the toxicity and pollution of the soil would be completely purified.

'If only my house wasn't an apartment, I'd have planted one too.'

Since it had come to this, maybe I should save up and buy a mansion like this as well.

I'm sure my parents would like it too.

Tap, tap.

Putting Shin Ah-yeon's suspicious gaze behind me, I buried the branch in the ground.

Then, I gently sprinkled water from a small bottle I took from my coat over it.

"What's that? Doesn't look like ordinary water."

Shin Ah-yeon, who had been suspicious of the branch, seemed quite interested in the water in the bottle.

Unlike the branch, which didn't yet display any power, this water already contained a high degree of 'divine power'.

'But there shouldn't be divine power in this world. Did she sense that?'

It made me realize again just how exceptional Shin Ah-yeon's senses were.

After sprinkling the very last drop from the bottle over the branch, I looked at Shin Ah-yeon.

"This is holy water."

"...... Holy water? I thought so from the World Tree branch, but there are a lot of things that sound like game items."

Her words, which always ended up relating things to games, began to make me worry a little about what she did during the past three years.

Surely, she didn't do nothing but play games at home, did she?

Uuuung!!

At that moment, vitality returned to the withered branch and it started to emit a gentle light.

But what was contained in that light was not the trace of a god found in holy water.

It was nature—the purest, densest primordial magic power formed naturally within nature.

Magic power with absolutely no impurities, the kind that only the World Tree, yggdrasil, could produce.

"Wow."

There was no way that Shin Ah-yeon couldn't sense it.

Though she couldn't use magic power, it didn't mean she couldn't feel it.

Given her talent, she probably sensed it more delicately than I did.

Still faint but flowing from the Branch of Yggdrasil, the pure magic power made Ah-yeon exclaim excitedly.

"Is this going to heal my body!?"

"No."

Ah-yeon's smiling face suddenly froze.

"...... Oh, it isn't?"

"This alone isn't enough. It's only one of the elements."

She looked at me blankly, and I pulled a small rod out of subspace.

It wasn't a simple rod—it was a magic tool used to draw magic circles. It wasn't anything special, but it was one of my long-used favorites.

"The current problem for you, Ah-yeon, is that the means to hold magic power inside your body is broken. What's called a 'mana hole' in this world. As you know, once that's broken, there's no way to restore it."

At my calm words, Shin Ah-yeon nodded slowly.

She did her best to hide it, but given how pure she was, I could read the emotions deep in her eyes.

Resignation.

When someone who had been praised as one of the greatest mages had fallen into ruin...

How deeply was she hurt?

If Shin Ah-yeon had been even a little mentally weaker, she might have chosen suicide.

But though she may have become a bit gloomier, she still remained the same person I had known.

And I knew how incredible that was.

"It's been one hundred years since magic appeared in this world. It seems long, but it's only 'a mere' one hundred years. During those hundred years, this world has developed magic through the easiest path."

I pointed to Shin Ah-yeon's lower abdomen with my finger.

"Generating a mana hole inside the body—solidifying magic power in the body for those who are 'awakened' and can sense magic power. That's one method, but it doesn't suit every awakened individual."

The magic of this world, unfortunately, is extremely undeveloped.

Just as 'science' from the other world is strikingly primitive compared to this one.

Magic in this world is equally 'primitive'.

It's a form that only preserves the most primordial shape.

"There's something called the Circle Magic System."

As I drew a circular magic array in front of the Branch of Yggdrasil, I continued.

"From the 1st-circle to the 9th. They systematically divided levels of magic. And the magic power needed isn't stored in the mana hole, but elsewhere."

"You can store magic power somewhere other than the mana hole? Countless scientists have tried and failed to do that..."

"Scientists are not mages. Magic power shouldn't be analyzed scientifically; it should be analyzed magically."

Of course, it's not meaningless. Scientific computation has allowed the mysteries of magic power to be solved quickly. But with the genome map of awakeners still imperfect, their adaptation method has stalled at the very first step.

"Mana holes are efficient not for mages, but for those who fight using their physical body. They're meant to condense magic power at the core of the body to keep physical balance. It's primitive, but it's the safest."

Mana holes are for warriors who use their bodies.

And even that has been surpassed by several methods in the other world.

For a mage to use a mana hole is as foolish as trying to fill a giant reservoir using a spoon.

"To use the circle magic system, you store magic power in the symbol of life—the heart."

"T-the heart? Didn't they already conclude that making a mana ring around the heart causes it to explode...?"

"It's not stored inside the heart. You form rings around the outside. One for the 1st-circle, two for the 2nd... Each time the circle increases, the number of rings increases. With each new ring, it becomes harder, but the rings become stronger and generate more magic power."

With those words, I finished the magic circle I'd been drawing in front of the Branch of Yggdrasil.

Magic arrays that did not exist in this world.

From the start, magic circles didn't exist in this world.

Because they're unscientific.

Modern magic here is a rational field built on formula and proof.

But laughably, magic also requires the humanities.

Magic power is pretty emotional stuff.

It reacts to a living being's feelings and uses them as fuel—a miraculous element.

"All right, please sit here. I'll guide the magic power."

"It's not dangerous, is it...?"

Even as Shin Ah-yeon said this, she carefully sat down and gently closed her eyes.

Despite her words, she really showed not a hint of doubt.

'Just like that day.'

Like the time she staked her life on the words of a nobody manager.

She believed me.

She had just a sliver of doubt, but for some reason, she trusted my words deeply.

'Well, then I need to repay that trust.'

Magic power began to flow slowly in response to my guidance.

Anyone who saw this would be shocked.

A human, not even an awakener, manipulating magic power.

With no mana hole, no circle formed in the heart—an ordinary person controlling magic power.

'One, two, three, four.'

Following the lessons I received from the great sage of another world, I guided the magic power.

Soon, a faint light began to overflow from my body.

Jirit!

'... No matter how many times I do this, I never get used to it.'

A slight pain followed.

That's the price I pay to use magic power.

It's the price an ordinary human must pay to grasp a miracle.

Uuuung!!

The magic power generated by Yggdrasil shot straight through the magic power circuits inside Shin Ah-yeon.

Unused for so long, the blocked and broken circuits were forcefully twisted and pried open.

"Ugh!!"

From the pain, a faint moan escaped Ah-yeon's lips.

Passing through the broken magic power circuits must have caused considerable pain.

But even so, Shin Ah-yeon quietly moved the magic power as I intended.

Passing through her arms and legs, grazing the broken mana hole in her abdomen, and continuing upward.

Reaching the area where her beating heart was.

Uuuung!!

The magic power flowing to her heart didn't go inside. Instead, it began spiraling around it.

Once, twice—

With every revolution, an afterimage remained around the heart.

'Just as I expected.'

At one point, the afterimage turned into a distinct 'ring'.

It was instantaneous.

'So absurdly fast.'

I stopped guiding magic power in tune with Ah-yeon's breathing.

But magic power continued to circulate through her body.

Not deviating in the slightest from the path I'd guided.

'If mages from the other world saw this, they'd be terrified.'

No, they might have even tried to drag her into their magic towers.

That's how astonishing Shin Ah-yeon's talent was.

She had just heard about the 'circle magic system' for the first time today.

But now, a small ring had already formed around Shin Ah-yeon's heart.

1st-circle.

It took only ten minutes for Ah-yeon to reach it.

***

Everyone said it was impossible.

That one whose mana hole was broken could never use magic power again.

"...... It wasn't true."

Ah-yeon clutched at her chest.

Before, she used to feel magic power in her abdomen, but now she could sense it in her heart.

No, at a fundamental level, something was different.

The circle magic system he'd taught her was knowledge several generations ahead of the current magic system.

"Knowledge... from another world."

She had trusted him, but she'd never imagined it was to this extent.

The only thing that puzzled her was how Park Jung-woo could use magic power.

'He definitely isn't an awakener.'

His body was that of an ordinary human incapable of assimilating magic power.

And yet, he had clearly used magic power.

'He doesn't seem to be a mage either.'

Though she was now washed up, she too had been an S-rank hunter.

She was sharp enough to notice such things.

To her eyes, Jung-woo's body was far too well-trained to be a mage.

He didn't show it outwardly, but for someone like Ah-yeon, who was at that level, it was instinct.

'The faint shimmer of light in his body when he moved the magic power.'

The reason he could use magic power was probably related to that.

"I wonder if he'll ever tell me."

Just what had he gone through in the other world during those three years?

As she pondered this for a moment, Ah-yeon suddenly caught herself and hurriedly checked the time.

The day's events had been so shocking, she'd almost forgotten about an important 'appointment'.

"... It's time."

The clock read 8:30 p.m.

With a resolute expression, Ah-yeon forced her exhausted body upright.

Then, she dragged herself back to her room and turned on her computer.

【Why are you so late today? Usually, you log in half an hour early.】

【Ah, it's okay to be a little late sometimes. But I'll catch up fast, so keep up with the tempo.】

Regaining her magic was truly a moving event.

But that was that—and the raid couldn't be missed.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Not gonna lie, my expectation was low.
But with how the system is explained and a few hints here and there, I am getting curious.
MC isn't a mage, he can use magic power but there's a cost.
Ah-yeon also mentioned that Jung-woo's body is well train, meaning he might be a warrior or something similar.
Also, I can't really hate an FMC that is a gamer.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

P. S.
Congrats Ah-yeon for becoming a 1st-circle mage.