Genius Mage in a Cultivation World

"What the fuck was that?!" Al shouted, instantly jumping towards Layn. "How did you do it?!" While agitated, Al wasn't mad, horrified, or hostile. Instead, the apparent awe in his eyes triggered a particular part of Layn's soul to no end. 

"Old magic," Layn replied, finally allowing himself to spare this man any thought. 

'Ever since we entered that forest, everything was rushed to no end,' Layn thought, taking a moment to look at the man ahead. 'I didn't really have the time to think about his presence yet,' he added in his thoughts, closing his eyes to focus. 

'If this really is that legendary guy,' Layn thought, strangely scared to even think about this possibility. 

For someone like him, standing at the top was the norm. Layn wasn't like that because of some sort of ill-sourced arrogance. He was simply a person who would assume the amount of responsibility for those around him respectable to his perceived might. 

Layn's struggle to be as independent as he could, resulted in his humble self shrinking down. 

And while in terms of raw strenght, he was on a different level than Al, this man had the power to make Layn feel small. 

'In front of him, I'm just a powerful mage. He is the damned father of civilization,' Layn noted gravely in his thoughts. 

With this kind of moral advantage to his back, Al turned into a domineering figure in Layn's eyes. 

Even if he was just slightly stronger than some of the monsters that Layn was killing en-masse today. 

"Are you alright?" Irea asked, forcing Layn out of his broken state of thoughts. 

"Yeah, I'm just tired," Layn replied, resting the back of his head against Irea's chest. The soft pillow of her flesh instantly calmed him down. "If I were to break down to simple terms," Layn brought his eyes up before turning them down on Al's face, "this was the pinnacle of how far the power of spirits can take you."

If Layn was stupefied earlier, then Al instantly froze in a shock. 

'I didn't talk with him about spirits yet,' Al thought grimly, barely managing to hold his smile up. "What could you mean?" he asked, taking a step forward.

"This is a rather long story, so let me ask you one insanely important question first," Layn smiled as he countered. On the other end, Al clicked his tongue. "Have you ever heard about the Slavian tribe?" 

This question created the second instance when Al went silent. For a moment, he remained completely motionless before suddenly raising his eyes at Layn. 

"Huh? Yeah, without them, we would never have any chance about those damned celestials," Al said as he shrugged his shoulders. For him, this clearly appeared to be a stupid question. 

"Oh boy," Layn whispered, shaken by the sudden reveal. While he expected it quite a bit by now, it still came as a surprise. 

"Layn? What does that mean?" Irea asked while tightening her arms around Layn's torso. Her lips created a pouting expression, signaling how unhappy she was being excluded from the discussion. 

Crack.

"Boss, the monsters are now in retreat," Antion suddenly appeared from the nearby woods. He was fully covered in blood, yet he didn't limp like someone injured. 

"Great, good job keeping us safe," Layn said as he nodded his head in acknowledgment of his disciple's actions. "But I guess I won't escape the question," Layn added after a moment, turning his head back to the girl. 

"The group you saw me with before, they are from Slavian tribe, or rather, a Slavian nation," Layn continued his explanation, raising his eyes to the sky. "While they exist in a few legends and myths, they are not that popular," he said, fully in a thoughtful state, "but in those few myths they do appear in, their power and ability are hard to overestimate." 

This time, it was Irea's turn to freeze in shock. "Huh? Those people? They didn't appear strong at all!" she protested, raising her confused eyes at Layn's face. 

"Don't underestimate them," Layn sighed and then shook his head a little. "I confirmed they use a kind of magic I never heard about. That alone makes them formidable, as I can't predict their moves and intentions," Layn spoke out without holding anything back. 

"Either way, why are they here?" Irea suddenly changed the topic as a worrisome idea flashed in her deep pupils.

"I think you can call them scouts?" Layn suggested, unsure about the answer himself. "Well, they came here to see whether this place can be turned into a refugee for their people," Layn shook his shoulders.

'I know this might be a bit much to stomach right off the bat...' he thought, lowering his eyelids as he focused on the warmth of the girl on his back. 'Well, now that I think of it, didn't I just drift along with the events?' Layn suddenly asked himself, as if suddenly freeing himself from invisible bounds. 

'Why did I just accept the Castor's idea to let his people settle here?' Layn asked himself, petrified by this sudden realization. 

But after just a short moment, his sudden moment of panic passed. 

'No, this was the rational choice,' Layn shook his head to get rid of those stupid thoughts. 'In a place like that, any amount of manpower is welcome, not to say about all the potential resources they could bring with them...' 

"Huh? So you already brought that Slavian tribe or whatnot under your control?!" Irea screamed out a shock. 

"Not at all," Layn quickly shook his head, not willing to allow this kind of misunderstanding to pester for any longer than necessary. "I only made contact with one of their officers. How would any potential cooperation look like?" Layn shook his shoulders. "How the heck would I know?" 

From the joyful, the atmosphere turned slightly tense. 

"Well, I think I would fell to my knees and praise you as a lord of the spirits if you could take over their tribe in just a few days," Al spoke up, instantly diffusing the tension.

'Huh?' Irea suddenly thought, turning her gaze towards the burly man. 'He is still new to Layn, so shouldn't he be the one with his expectations broken?' she asked herself, confused by the moment. 

"I understand that you can have your worries, but this is the best course of action," Layn suddenly spoke up, addressing the entire group at once. "As you might have noticed, that forest is under someone's influence. And as Irea and Antion already saw, this kind of being isn't easy to fight with." 

"So you want to say..." Irea suddenly whispered, covering her lips with the tips of her fingers. 'Did I pull the entire colony into a nest of a monster like that?' The realization struck the girl hard. She already doubted her abilities before, yet this time her cup couldn't hold any more water. 

If there were things that were the droplet that made the water spill, this realization was like a stone thrown into the cup.

"Irea, you couldn't know," Layn spoke up, noticing the worrying changes on the girl's face. "For all, you could guess, that massive monster I defeated controlled the entirety of this place, am I wrong?" he asked, pushing Irea's head up by probing her chin. 

"Y-yes," Irea replied. Her entire body was shaking. Her knees caved in, making the girl fall down. If not for Layn's swift turn and grab, she would crash to the ground. 

"And that brings me to the question you asked, Al," Layn turned his eyes to the burly man, still patiently waiting for his answer. "Just like the Slavian tribe showed you new ways on which to grow, the place I come from stands even higher. What you take for the spirits, my civilization mastered," Layn said as he held his eyes on Al. 

"Aren't you friends with Yelna and Markus? Didn't they claim to come from my own lineage?" Al suddenly asked, proving that he didn't have muscles for brains. 

"Yes, I am," Layn confirmed Al's words before smiling gently. "What you started, your descendants developed and worked on. All the way to the point of using it in the way you saw me use it," Layn explained, finally opening up to the man that he considered as his idol ever since the youngest years. 

"So that was a spirit magic?" Al asked, looking in the direction where Layn's flames continued to burn through the thick vegetation of the forest. 

"Yes and no. While the real thing can be even slightly more powerful, I couldn't bring out its full power. Sadly," Layn turned his eyes to Al before nodding his head in an advance apology, "the truth is, spirits magic is nowhere near enough to call yourself a mage. While it's a foundation every mage must properly develop, in reality, it's just the first step in exploring magic," Layn explained truthfully. 

The archmage pulled his hand forward before snapping his fingers. A small ball of fire started to float around his hand. 

"This fire is like a spirit's magic," Layn explained before snapping his fingers again. And in a flash, the small fire turned into a raging inferno the size of a human's head. "This is the modern magic," he explained before closing his eyes for a moment. 

For a second, nothing happened. Then, in a moment only Layn understood to be right, he snapped his fingers again. 

As if a firecracker went off, sparks split apart from Layn's snapping fingers. The air itself instantly caught fire from the sparks. The explosion seemed to build on itself whenever it spread, endlessly accelerating its growth. 

Yet, everything disappeared in a mere flash. 

"And this was the conceptual magic," Layn explained with a small smile. "Each type of magic is stronger because it uses the tricks of the others. Now, do you understand why I'm willing to agree to a lot just to learn the Slavian magic?"