The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 207

The lives of mages were, for the most part, marked by endless pursuit.

A fierce craving for new knowledge, new worlds, something new.

Beings filled with the will to leap over walls, smash through limits, and press onward even when they crashed headlong into them!

“Ugh…”

For such mages, despair was both their most familiar companion—and an enemy they had to keep at bay.

And yet now, every single star-rank mage in the Sky Tower was drowning in despair.

“I can’t believe I was this insignificant.”

“Ahh, dust of the cosmos….”

“All this time… what have I even been doing?”

“Why do research at all? Let’s just quit.”

Even the lowest-ranking mage in the magic tower was a special being—capable of conjuring fire, stirring wind, overturning earth, and creating water through mana alone.

Among them, only a small fraction ever became truly competent mages.

And becoming a “true mage,” chosen by the stars, was an even rarer fate.

So what could possibly drive star-rank mages—those true mages—into collective despair?

“I seriously thought I was a genius.”

“Me too.”

“So did I.”

The pure, high-quality power of the stars came with nothing but advantages—aside from the side effect of corruption.

Greater strength. Denser mana. Status granted by the stars. Naturally extended lifespans.

And on top of that, the glorious goal of becoming an archmage, so long as one could overcome corruption.

Naturally, the pride of star-rank mages soared sky-high.

Geniuses among geniuses, and among them even greater geniuses—eccentric but brilliant minds gathered in one place. The Sky Tower was where arguments like, “I’m right. Why? Because I’m smarter than you,” happened almost daily.

It was only a matter of time—everyone believed—that they would become an archmage.

And yet, there was someone who drove all of these star-rank mages into despair simultaneously.

“Wow, this is fun. It’s easy. Is there anything else you can teach me?”

“……”

“……”

After her treatment ended, Arellin stayed in the archmage’s domain for only half a day before moving to the Sky Tower.

And in just that half day, Arellin utterly devastated the Sky Tower—then vanished.

Every star-rank mage who had been present at the time was both a victim and a witness to the incident.

The sequence of events was as follows.

Arellin said it was time to go home and asked to be taught teleportation magic.

“Ho ho, teleportation magic?”

Teleportation was far too advanced for a novice who hadn’t even been studying magic for twenty years.

Hegge stroked his long beard and chuckled dryly.

“Teleportation isn’t something you can learn that easily. Wouldn’t you rather take an artifact instead?”

“No. Please teach me the magic.”

“Ho ho ho.”

Hegge laughed.

“Even with the full blessing of the stars, that’s sheer arrogance.”

Magic was a discipline of understanding.

“Very well, then. Try copying it.”

Unlike crude supernatural abilities that could be used indiscriminately, this was something that required a full comprehension of profound, noble, and intricate principles in order to manifest properly—

“…….”

Hegge couldn’t even blink at what unfolded before his eyes.

“Is it like this?”

After tilting her head once, Arellin immediately manipulated her mana and successfully reproduced a similar magic circle.

“……?”

The other mages watching were just as shocked.

“That’s impossible—how did she do that?!”

“Is that even possible? You didn’t even teach her the types of magic-circle languages!”

“That’s a multi-language composite magic circle. At least five, right?”

“For teleportation, if you include time, spatial coordinates, travel distance, mana density, and layered protective spells for safety, that sounds about right?”

Mages were creatures who could not live without curiosity. Curiosity killed cats—and it killed mages too.

“Want to try this one too?”

“You can do this?”

“What about this?!”

Not all star-rank mages could use the same magic.

Their schools differed, and each school pursued a different ultimate truth of magic. Naturally, their forms and mana compositions differed as well.

It was like discovering that a biological prodigy was also a genius painter.

But for something like that to—

“Wait, you can’t do this?”

—actually happen.

Arellin tilted her head.

“It’s so easy. Why can’t you do it?”

“…….”

No one could say a word.

They didn’t know.

They had no idea what kind of monster Arellin had become after fifteen years of directly learning magic from the archmage in the archmage’s domain.

“Anyway, I should get going now! Thank you!”

And just like that, a week had already passed since Arellin disappeared.

They were still unable to recover from the shock of that day.

“I’m trash. Burnable trash.”

“Want me to burn you?”

And then, Arellin appeared at the Sky Tower once more.

“Huh?”

Seeing a Sky Tower completely different from when she’d left, Arellin tilted her head.

What… is this atmosphere?

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

I realized that I had suddenly become a wall to star-rank mages who had devoted their entire lives to walking a single path of magic, and I felt bad about it.

‘Maybe I should’ve pretended it was harder.’

But wouldn’t that have been even more deceptive?

“Poor people.”

Feeling guilty, I pressed a piece of chocolate into each of their hands and crossed over to the archmage’s domain where my master stayed.

As I did, memories of when I first learned magic from my master came to mind.

When he first taught me magic, my master wasn’t serious at all.

“The main purpose is to expend a certain amount of strength through magic so it doesn’t burden your body.”

That was why large-scale spells or excessively powerful magic were strictly forbidden.

Using magic too frequently was also forbidden.

The goal was to use light, simple magic at regular intervals—purely for treatment.

But then.

[The brightest-shining star adds a radiant energy]

The light was so blinding it felt like my eyes were burning, and my master sighed and extinguished it.

And it wasn’t a one-time occurrence.

I was clearly using only a small amount of mana, yet…

[The lucky 777 star adds the energy of fortune!]

“……”

Things like this happened all the time.

Eventually, my master even started pressing his fingers to his forehead.

“The stars seem very interested in you.”

“I guess so.”

“This is a first.”

Realizing that the stars’ excessive attention had completely ruined the plan of teaching only light magic, my master made a decision.

He would teach me properly.

“It wasn’t a hard time… of course not.”

Learning magic was easier than learning the violin.

The hardest part of magic was that its foundation lay in Selon, and that the languages used differed entirely depending on the school as one progressed to higher magic—but languages weren’t a problem for me.

On top of that, magic had many similarities to music.

The fact that it couldn’t be seen or touched but could be felt; that it was manifested through sound or magic; and that, like a performer’s interpretation, a mage’s will was crucial during spellcasting—all of that rang true.

There was a lot to memorize and the rules were complicated, but it was more fun than I’d expected because it wasn’t as difficult as I’d feared.

“Master! I’m back!”

Even though I knew the entire Sky Tower was essentially within my master’s palm, I deliberately announced my return aloud.

At my voice, my master—who had been hiding—revealed himself.

“Why are you back so soon…?”

“Why am I back already? I have a favor to ask. Oh, and this is a bribe.”

“…….”

I shoved a piece of bread straight into my master’s mouth.

“I tried a lot of food while I was down there, and this was the best one. Oh! I also bought you clothes. You’re a one-outfit gentleman who only ever wears a robe, you know. No matter how good elven looks are, that’s a bit much, don’t you think? I figured that as your disciple, I should at least buy you one outfit, so I did.”

“There’s more than one.”

“Of course there is. I bought different types. I’m amazing, right? There’s no one like me, right? You’re glad you kept me alive, right? Glad you took me as your disciple, right?”

“…….”

Whether it was good or bad, my master’s expression shifted oddly. He looked a bit overwhelmed.

“These are board game series for you to play with when you’re bored. I used to play them with other kids when I was little—they’re fun.”

“…….”

“You’re always cooped up in here and never go outside, Master. Even when you do go out, you just stare at the stars while talking about pursuing truth. You’ll get depressed at this rate, you know? Got it?”

My master, chewing on the bread I’d given him, grabbed it with his other hand and spoke.

“So, what is it that you came here to ask?”

Looking at my master, who wore an utterly fed-up expression, I smiled with curved eyes and said,

“Please help me find my dad.”