Prologue

─Looking back, I don't think I was ever meant for greatness.

Academy Rank 102.

102nd out of nearly 20,000 students.

On its own, that's quite a pedigree. Something to be proud of back home.

But it wasn't enough. There was still a ceiling above me.

The Top 100 of the Academy.

That place was a literal den of monsters.

Cutting through space itself, borrowing from future fate, turning drawings into familiars... it was at a level where you just had to laugh. There were even those with blatant "Invincibility."

Even their innate abilities were absurdities that twisted the laws of physics. Or rather, they were new laws of physics brought to life.

And as for whether I had the foundation to fight them? I had nothing.

Innate Ability: "Embers."

An ability that returns 1/100th of the magic consumed by a spell.

It didn't increase my output, and the recovery rate was so poor that it was only "slightly beneficial in a long war of attrition." To put it bluntly, it was barely better than nothing.

Clinging to something like this meant nothing against the monsters I mentioned. It was like facing a dragon with a toothpick.

So, I refined myself relentlessly so I could hold my own even without an innate ability. I optimized my incantations and concentrated my output. As a result, my magic consumption decreased, but that only made my compatibility with my innate ability even worse.

Before I knew it, I had been given a nickname.

"The Bronze Mage"

Polish it and it shines. But it can never be gold. It's nowhere near silver. Thus, bronze. It sounded like a compliment, but in reality, it was a label saying, "This is all you are."

And the truth was, I had reached my limit.

Rank 102. This was my wall. Beyond this lay a world that effort alone could not reach.

...Or so I thought.

I had an idea.

If I just wanted to raise my rank, I just had to win a Rank Match. I knew that much.

So I changed my perspective. I didn't need to be able to beat those monsters all the time. In short, I only needed to win "during the Rank Match."

First, I created a "Core" that could store a semi-infinite amount of magic. Every day, I would steadily pour magic into it, even if just a little. I named it the "Bronze Furnace" as a bit of self-irony, and I deposited magic into it like coins into a piggy bank.

I spent my time that way. I've always been suited for diligent, repetitive work. Rain or shine, even when I felt sick, I poured in whatever magic I could.

I kept that up for a year, until graduation was looming and I had no more time left. By now, the magic stored in the "Bronze Furnace" felt like more than I—no, more than all the magic I had ever used in my life combined.

With this much, I could beat the students in the top 100, even those monsters. I had enough to be certain.

With high spirits, I went to apply for a Rank Match for the first time in a year. However, this was the culmination of a year's worth of magic. I should have chosen my opponent carefully, but I didn't have that kind of caution left in me. I just wrote down the name of a student I'd been hearing about lately, Guest, and for some reason, it was approved.

Now, witness the first and last glorious performance of the woman they called the Bronze Mage!

...But at that moment, another thought crossed my mind.

Now, the density of the magic in the "Bronze Furnace" is so high that I couldn't produce it even if I squeezed out every drop of my life force. It's like having so much money it won't fit in a wallet. When humans have something like that in front of them, there are only a few things they think about.

I want to use it without limit.

I am someone who has spent my life struggling to produce the same effect while shaving down magic consumption.

And now, before my eyes, is magic so vast I don't even need to hesitate to spend it.

Throw away words like efficiency or exhaustion.

I just want to indulge in a thorough "extravagance," even if people think I'm a total fool. Surely, there's no harm in that.