RMA 47

chapter 47

Those drenched in sweat gathered in front of the Iron Magic Tower.

Rachel, having enthusiastically run about, hurried to the kitchen to prepare a meal. She had become indispensable in the kitchen, so her training intensity was slightly lower than the others. Another piece of news was that the food supplies had finally arrived.

“But what do we do? Some of you have to join the subjugation mission.”
“Can’t we just take a few and roast them ourselves?”
“Oh, that’s an idea! How about it, Tower Master?”
“Right. We’ll keep casting magic to keep things fresh as we go. From now on, the people I call will pack their things and head out. Understood?”

“Yes!”

A loud, hearty shout echoed. Even Lawrence found himself shouting along with them. Adaptation really was frightening. Lawrence thought about who he would go with.

“First, one of the elders will probably come…”

Surprisingly, there were two elders in this tower. They weren’t exactly factions, but it was like a small division: one focused on the upper body and long-range combat, the other on the lower body and close combat.

The Tower Master always emphasized balance between the upper and lower body, but these elders leaned slightly one way or the other.

“Hmm, one elder has to come with me. Who will it be?”
“I will go. The knights are coming too, right? I need to show them the greatness of a Battle Mage!”
“Alright. Got it. Lindman, you don’t mind?”
“No. It’s a bit disappointing, but it’s already agreed with Duncan beforehand.”

Duncan Richmond.

The head of the Richmond family and a fallen noble. He had sought to revive his family through iron magic. Now, he was the only surviving member of a fallen noble house.

He was the head of the lower-body, close-combat faction—a man who believed that the lower body was the foundation of battle. And he was right. Lawrence fully understood the importance of the lower body.

“Then it’s simple. All who trained under Duncan will participate. If you want to switch, trade with those under Lindman.”
“Yes!”
“We can’t hand this over to the upper-body guys.”
“What did you say? You short-armed, duck-butted punks…”

Watching fully grown adults squabble childishly, Lawrence couldn’t help but sigh. But it wasn’t uninteresting; he watched like someone observing a fire across a river.

Suddenly, the two squabbling factions turned their fire toward Lawrence.

“Rookie! Do you think the upper body or lower body is more important?”
“Obviously the lower body! A strong lower body stabilizes the center of your body!”
“You fools! Ignore the upper body’s functionality and see what happens! The body is perfected with the upper body!”

Lawrence, watching their argument silently, sighed deeply. He had no intention of joining either faction.

“I think both are important. No upper body without the lower body, and no lower body without the upper body. So stop fighting.”

“Heh, well said. How dare you argue in front of me?”
“Ah, no, that’s not—!”

The Tower Master was furious!

In the end, everyone except Lawrence received additional training before departure.

#2

Their destination was Oberon, a city of entertainment said to be built by fairies.

The Tower Master, carrying luggage along with the marching mages, moved toward Oberon with a map. Iron Mages always trained and sparred immediately after moving. Skipping even a single day was not allowed, the Tower Master believed.

“It’s about time we teach the rookie some martial arts, isn’t it?”
“Hmm, yes. From watching the sparring last time, it looks like he has the basics down.”
“He’s like a monster… is it because he’s from a noble family?”
“Don’t judge him by his noble blood. He had a rough time before coming here.”

The mages vaguely understood. Lawrence’s use of mana was very unique, almost alien. Even a 7th Circle Grand Mage couldn’t reduce casting time below a second. In fact, the higher the circle, the longer the casting time became.

Visualizing and materializing vast nature was never easy. Yet Lawrence was seriously different—too different to simply be labeled noble.

“Sorry. So the rumors were true… the rookie lord doesn’t even have a Mana Rod…”
“Perhaps that’s why he chose the Iron Magic Tower.”
“I’ll do my best to teach him.”

Duncan said this firmly. He was curious to see how much Lawrence would grow. Teaching someone had become one of his greatest sources of satisfaction.

The Tower Master patted Duncan on the shoulder.

“He’s had a lot of unnoticed hardships. So, take good care of him.”
“…Understood.”

Over fifty years old, Duncan had lived a life secluded in the mountains, hammering iron and sparring. He had gained wisdom and could understand others’ pain.

Duncan glanced at Lawrence training with the mages, then strode forward.

“Rookie! Come here! I’ll teach you footwork!”
“Yes, sir!”

Even though Lawrence was a noble’s child, he acted politely and diligently, so the other mages had no reason not to like him.

Duncan called Lawrence over, who had been training recklessly.

“It’s time to start learning martial arts.”
“Hmm… yes. I figured I wouldn’t just recklessly charge in.”
“Balanced in mind and body—that’s what Iron Mages are. We must excel in martial arts, especially the lower body! Using your legs for proper movement is essential!”

Duncan passionately slapped his thigh as he spoke. Lawrence’s eyes sparkled. Until now, he had been following Leyla’s techniques. Thanks to that, he had used them efficiently. He wondered what the Iron Mages’ martial arts would be like.

‘If I learn a variety, I can combine them in different ways.’

He had a remarkable tool: the artifact implanted in him that gave him absolute advantage in battle—the Dragon Eye. With it, he could quickly learn the footwork.

“I’ll practice if you show me.”
“Hmm!”

He already understood the basics. Humans naturally perform what they’ve learned unconsciously. Observing the mages’ movements carefully during battles, he noticed patterns.

The footwork focused on evasion rather than brute force. The goal was survival: to complete casting while avoiding attacks and land a deadly strike. Duncan demonstrated this with intention.

Light, quick directional changes.

‘At the same time, it secures space for casting and provides explosive acceleration after the cast.’

This explained why the Iron Mages wore heavy armor and why their footwork developed this way. The easiest way for a human to hit a target is close and straight—the footwork strictly followed this principle.

Swish!

The speed along the straight path seemed even faster than Leyla, the knight. It was practical but risky footwork.

“How’s this, Lawrence? Master this, and you’ll always hit your mark. Your magic is special.”
“Hmm… I understand the principle. It’s quite dangerous.”
“Hmm? You understood just by watching once?”

Duncan laughed heartily. Understanding the principle and the history behind it was far harder than copying the movements.

The original creator’s intention, the countless trial and errors over time…

‘It seems the footwork created by Iceller has evolved quite a bit.’

Lawrence thought so. From observing Iceller’s techniques, he roughly understood the movements. It wasn’t complicated—just brutally strong strikes combined with magic.

“I’ll give it a try.”
“Hmm, good.”

With knowledge spanning past and present, Lawrence closed his eyes and superimposed Iceller’s and Duncan’s movements. If he could improve here, the Iron Mages would gain even stronger combat capability.

“Fuu…”

Taking a deep breath, Lawrence moved. Imagining an enemy, he executed the footwork. Avoiding attacks and securing his own space was the core. He could follow Duncan’s stance perfectly.

Better yet, he adapted it into an optimized version for himself. Combining it with his Warrior’s Movement knowledge, he executed the ideal motion. The weakness of this footwork was vulnerability to counters—something he needed to address.

‘If I add some upper-body movement here…’

A movement only Lawrence could achieve. By investing slightly more in body movement rather than focusing solely on casting, he improved the footwork. Duncan muttered, dumbfounded.

“This insane….”
“Whoa! Rookie! What did you just do?”
“Footwork… I practiced it.”
“That’s practice? Master, no, Elder, can we really use it if it’s improved like that!?”

Senior mages who had been secretly observing Lawrence rushed over, astonished. His movements were flawless, with upper-body control adding precision.

“Did you learn this separately from the Tower Master?”
“No. Today is the first time. I just followed what the seniors used during sparring.”
“…”

What a freak. Everyone stared at Lawrence in shock. Talent. A person with overwhelming talent existed here.

‘A monster. What if he had a Mana Rod?’

If he had trained systematically from a younger age… if his talents had been fully nurtured… Lawrence would have bloomed into a completely incomparable existence.

“Hey, you idiots. Can you dodge attacks while casting and running?”
“…No?”
“Then why wear armor?”

They shook their heads. Of course. While focusing on casting, moving constantly, reading magical coordinates and enemy attacks, and controlling the upper body—how could it be easy?

This is why we wear armor. The mages said to Duncan, while the elder obsessed with lower-body supremacy looked on disdainfully.

“Look at him. He can do it.”
“…”
“He can dodge attacks, cast nearly instant spells, and rarely get countered at close range.”

Once again, everyone realized Lawrence’s extraordinary talent. He was, indeed, a monster. Receiving envious glances from all the mages, Lawrence was about to speak when a noise came from outside the camp.

“Everyone, freeze!”

A group of thieves had appeared out of nowhere.