"Hey director Sung, it's been a while!" Ning said as he walked into the director's office.
"Been a while? But we only just met yesterday," the old man said.
"Huh? Oh right," Ning said as he shook his head. "I forgot. I've been awake for 2 days since we last met, so it has been a while for me."
"You haven't slept for 2 days? How?" the man couldn't help but ask.
"No need to worry about that," Ning said. "Anyway, did Germany contact you regarding the dungeon clearance?"
"Oh yes, they did. They are very thankful to you for that," the director said. "They have transferred your payment over, which we've put in your account."
"Hm, that's good," Ning said. "Also, what about my land transfer? Is it in my name yet? My people are already clearing it up."
"It has been started, but we had to wait for you to show up for the signature and thumbprints. Once you sign them, the land is yours."
"Great," Ning said and sat down on the couch by the wall. "So, about what I wanted to talk with you about."
"Yes?" the director got curious. "What was it that made you contact us?"
"I want to teach you guys or at least some of you guys about Magic circles," he said.
"Magic circles?" the old man gave a confused look. "What's that?"
"It's a circle that can be drawn, which when activated through mana can do certain things," Ning said. "Uh… imagine it like programming, but with magic."
The old man was still a bit confused. "I don't think I understand what exactly you are talking about," he said.
"Hmm, let's… see…" he looked around the room and quickly walked up to the director's desk. He took a pen and a small blank notepad and started drawing on them.
The director was curious, so he looked at the drawing as well. Ning took half a minute to finish the drawing and tore off a small piece of a different paper and placed it on top of the circle he had drawn.
"What is this?" the old man couldn't help but ask. He was more plagued by confusion than curiosity at this point.
"You can use mana right?" Ning asked. He could sense the old man's A-rank in mana usage, so it was almost unnecessary to even ask.
"Yes, I can," the old man said. "What about it?"
"Use your mana on that drawing I just made," Ning said.
"Use… my mana?" the old man asked. He had never done that before. The only time he ever used mana was to use spells, but using mana by itself was not a concept he was familiar with.
"Just focus on it. Think of the energy in your body leaving through your hands and you're more or less there already," Ning said.
The old man was still confused, but he did as asked. He took a deep breath and thought of sending his mana out through his palm and into the piece of drawing on the paper.
Suddenly, he sensed something leaving his body. At the next moment, a gust of wind blew out of the drawing, blowing away the small piece of paper that was on it.
"What?" the old man asked with an incredible look on his face. "Where did the air come from?"
"From the circle," Ning said as he pointed at the circle on the paper. "You can point it towards yourself and see how well it sends out air. Be sure to not let the paper fold. It must be as flat as possible for maximum usability."
The old man was way too curious to not follow Ning's orders. He took the paper and placed it on his palm so as to not have it blow itself away.
Then he used his mana.
The paper suddenly blew out air, surprising him and making the clothes flap crazily. The old man felt the hand holding the paper be pushed back as well.
He used his free hand to try and block the air, and in doing so cut off the mana input into the circle, turning it off.
The air stopped blowing and everything was back to normal.
The man heaved a few deep breaths as he stared into nowhere for the entire time. "How… how does this work?" he asked.
"You can use the circles to have it do everything you can possibly think of," Ning said. "You can even use high-grade spells if you know the design of the circle. It is basically a replacement for spells not used by humans. So long as one knows the design, anyone can become any type of mage."
The old man didn't smile learning this, instead, he feared. He couldn't imagine this in the hand of the public. Especially those that might have some nefarious intents.
If anyone could use the circles, anyone could use it, and if anyone could use it, finding criminals would be a nightmare.
"You… are you planning on teaching us this?" the old man asked.
"No," Ning said. "I'm planning on teaching everyone this."
"No!" the old man said. "You cannot teach it to the public. This has to be very confidential knowledge and not everyone should know this."
Ning chuckled. "Relax, when I said everyone, I mean every country," he said. "Also, I won't teach them everything. I will just teach them about the existence of the magic circle and give them a few designs. I will not be teaching anyone everything."
"Oh, how about just teaching Korea?" the man asked. "You don't have to teach the whole world. Or even if you do, it can be taught a bit later."
Ning shook his head. "Humanity is at a peril right now and you still think about improving your own country?" he asked. "I thought I made it clear before, I don't care about any of the countries, not China, not Korea, nothing. All I'm doing here is helping the world fight back against these invaders. If not for that, you wouldn't even be seeing me right now."
