novelraw Chapter 115 : New Resources (1)
Chapter 115 : New Resources (1)
Chapter 115: New Resources (1)
“Tyrant happened to want something the Emmet Family possessed more than anything, and on top of that, the Emmet Family was Flewd—the very thing Tyrant feared the most. By framing what I did as the cause of that family’s downfall, it meant killing three birds with one stone.”
It was a plan so elaborate it sent chills down my spine.
“Don’t tell me…… you’d been drawing up that plan since the moment Tyrant became my Disciple?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
I was too shocked to speak.
To think that asking to become my Disciple had already been an act that looked several hundred years into the future.
Magically, he might have been far beneath me, but when it came to schemes, he had been several moves ahead.
“Chilling…… to think you were that kind of person.”
“But fortunately, just before the Royal Guard brought down the Emmet Family, I realized the plan and tried to stop it. However, it was shortly after Lord Arkis disappeared, and surveillance on me was heavy, so I sent Alfric in my place.”
As soon as Alfric’s name came up while talking about the Emmet Family, a thought flashed through my mind.
“Wait a second. Banshi definitely said this, you know? That a white light flashed and saved her. So was that Alfric after all?”
“Yes. Alfric also said he definitely saved a little girl, but he’d forgotten her name. That must have been Banshi. But there’s something I’m curious about here.”
“What is it?”
“How did Student Banshi know Lord Arkis’s true identity? Or had she already known it for a long time?”
I explained the circumstances of when I first met Banshi.
And as a bonus, I also told him why Banshi had chosen this school.
“I see……. So it was a chance encounter. I wondered if everything had been intentional on your part.”
“No. Three hundred years ago, when I woke up after being hit by Tyrant’s orbification, three hundred years had already passed, and I was inside this student’s body. I don’t have any memories of the three hundred years during which I was gone.”
“Well…… how fateful. That said, to think Student Banshi came in aiming for me……. The day I meet that student is starting to scare me.”
“You’ll have to explain it well. Of course, it won’t be easy.”
“Yes, that’s what I intend to do. Ah, right—Lord Arkis. You know Vise, don’t you?”
“How could I ever forget that bastard?”
“Vise is also a Sculptor. Right now, he’s active in the Underworld while disguising himself as a commoner.”
“……Really? That guy’s life sure is a long one.”
It was welcome news.
Hearing that made me want to go down immediately and meet Vise.
But a reunion could be postponed until later.
I continued with my remaining questions.
“Since when was the Mob manipulated? I mean for the purpose of monitoring students.”
Now that I knew everything about the past, I asked about the things I’d found strange since becoming a Class 0 student.
“That Mob wasn’t manipulated. I made it separately myself. And yes, it was meant to monitor students.”
“Why?”
“As I said, I came searching for traces of Lord Arkis. Then at some point, this thought occurred to me.”
“What thought?”
“If Lord Arkis were truly alive, or if there were someone connected to him, wouldn’t they come to me? Even if they didn’t come directly, wouldn’t they try to search for everything related to him? That was the hypothesis I set up. So I built surveillance functions into the Mob. And when Lord Arkis was in Class 0, you fell right into that trap.”
“What trap?”
“The book written by Lord Alarize. You searched for it, didn’t you?”
“…….”
That, too, matched my expectations.
Still, one fortunate thing was that the Mob hadn’t been manipulated, but created anew from the start.
Manipulation and creation were fundamentally different.
If someone tried to manipulate a Mob imbued with my master’s mana, they would have to break my master’s mana.
That would mean someone superior to my master had been born.
But fortunately, even though the era had changed greatly, no mage had yet surpassed my master.
“I thought it was strange. I skimmed through the records, and a student who slept for five straight years suddenly being called a Double Caster just doesn’t make sense.”
“True.”
“But since we’re talking about Double Casters…… was Student Hei also raised that way by Lord Arkis?”
“No. He suddenly became a Double Caster one day. It has nothing to do with me.”
“That’s strange……. Is something like that even possible……?”
Etar held the same doubt I did.
“Oh, right. You handled the entire Student Ability Evaluation, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Before that, let me ask you something.”
“Please go ahead.”
“You remember Kiena, right? The short summoner.”
“Of course.”
“The skin color of the relics Kiena summoned—what was it like?”
“She summoned four, and all of them were black.”
“…….”
It was obvious that Etar didn’t know what black skin on relics meant.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have answered so casually.
I stiffened after hearing his reply.
“Is it…… serious?”
Only after seeing my expression did his face turn serious.
I explained to him what the black skin of relics signified.
“……You mean they’re the same as Sylarid’s monsters?”
“You were in the Royal Guard when you were my Disciple, and you’ve fought Sylarid’s monsters before, so you know, right? Their skin was all black.”
“Ah…… it’s been so long that I must have forgotten for a moment.”
It wasn’t unreasonable.
Three hundred years had already passed, and during those three hundred years, Etar had lived busy and dangerous days, so it wasn’t strange for such memories to fade.
I also told him about the 모습 Kiena and Hei had unconsciously shown in 3rd Class.
“You’re saying the two students said…… it was a place where the pieces gathered?”
“Yeah. I think that’s the top of the Main School. I have a feeling those two—Kiena and Hei—are connected to Sylarid.”
“Hmm…… what kind of situation is this now?”
“That’s why I’m asking—when I looked yesterday, it seemed like the entire 6th Class only had the three of us. Did I see that right?”
Etar nodded.
Since this was a branch school that deliberately expelled students, it wasn’t hard to guess that they’d intentionally left the 6th Class empty.
“No, just what kind of standard is the 6th Class Student Ability Evaluation that all the students get expelled at the final threshold?”
“Defeating the Vice Headmaster in a magical duel.”
“…….”
That was precisely why the expulsion rate in the 6th Class was a perfect 100%.
How could a student possibly defeat the Vice Headmaster?
I’d never seen his full magic properly, but even at a glance, Etar was on par with the level he’d had when he was my Disciple.
If measured in circles, it was the 8th Circle.
There was no way a mere 6th Class student could cling to and defeat an Elementalist like that.
“But why are you suddenly asking that?”
“I’m planning to take Kiena and Hei to the Main School.”
“The Main School……?”
“Why? Is there a problem? Either way, I have an obligation to set this abnormally twisted Magical Society right.”
Officially, the current Archmage was Draco Tyrant.
But I never once thought that I had abandoned the position of Archmage.
Because an Archmage bore a grave duty.
Destroying the Sealing Stones my master left behind.
The position of Archmage could be called a lonely one that existed solely for that mission.
However, Tyrant instead tried to absorb and use Sylarid’s power, so I couldn’t acknowledge him as an Archmage.
“Anyway, if I’m going to settle things with Tyrant, I have to go to the Main School. And you said you deliberately didn’t send anyone there for fifty years, right? In that situation, if Kiena, Hei, and I go to the Main School, wouldn’t the surveillance loosen for a while?”
“Uh…… well, about that.”
Etar looked troubled and began explaining something else.
Namely, the current state of affairs.
From the reason the Underworld had been divided into the Mage’s District and the Swordsman’s District, to why all students from 1st Class were suddenly sent to the Underworld under the pretext of a special suspension.
He finished explaining that Tyrant was also suspecting my existence and that the Ed Branch School had turned into a battlefield.
But I couldn’t understand why he was worried about that.
“So what?”
“……Pardon? What do you mean, ‘so what’? Tyrant is currently suspecting Lord Archis Eimer. In that situation, going to the Main School would be like throwing him bait.”
“What does that matter? I told you already—if I’m going to take down Tyrant, I have to go to the Main School anyway. No, in a situation like that, it’s actually better. If I go to the Main School, you’ll be completely freed from surveillance, right? You’ll be able to move the Sculptors more actively.”
“…….”
Etar fell silent for a moment.
Judging by his expression, he seemed to be thinking hard after hearing my words.
I continued.
“Anyway, all of this mess started at the top three hundred years ago. And only by going there can everything be ended. And I’m the only one who can tie that final knot, aren’t I?”
Etar slowly nodded.
But his expression still lacked decisiveness.
“Don’t tell me—you’re worried I might lose to Tyrant?”
Etar didn’t say anything.
It really did seem like that was what he was worried about.
He finally opened his mouth.
“Tyrant has accumulated mana for three hundred years using students as materials. We don’t know how strong he’s become, so……”
“Etar. Did you forget who I am?”
“You’re Lord Archis Eimer.”
“Not that.”
“……Flewd?”
I shook my head. That wasn’t the answer I wanted.
Etar still looked completely puzzled.
“You’ve really lost your edge, Etar. When I succeeded my master and became Archmage, was there a single mage who opposed it?”
“There wasn’t.”
“Was it because I was simply his Disciple and a Flewd?”
“……Ah!”
Only then did Etar realize what I was getting at.
“……Vision.”
Vision was a higher-tier resource than mana.
It was also called Vision Power.
If magic using mere mana could build a single building, magic using Vision could create an entire world.
It was a resource qualitatively different from mana altogether.
The Upper World, where the Magical Society and the Swordsman Society existed, was proof of that.
Those two worlds were realms created by ancient mages who could use Vision Power.
“Exactly. Even if that bastard has stockpiled mana for three hundred years, in the end, it’s still mana. The limit is clear.”
Vision Power was a resource that even my master couldn’t use.
I was an Archmage who could use both the rare Elementalist Flewd and Vision Power.
That was why, when I succeeded my master as the next Archmage, no one in the Magical Society could oppose it.
“But…… I’ve heard that using Vision Power puts a tremendous burden on the body. Can you use it?”
“…….”
I didn’t answer that question.
In truth, I hadn’t used it even once since reincarnating into this body.
Unlike mana, which implemented magic purely through the brain, Vision Power, for all its might, carried a fatal drawback.
Overusing mana led to burnout.
That meant the strain was confined purely to the brain.
But Vision Power placed an enormous burden on the body rather than the brain.
Bones being crushed and muscles being destroyed were minor issues.
It was a dangerous resource that could even cause the body to be annihilated entirely.
It was a resource that required both the brain and the body to be strong.
The reason I had been a fairly sturdy mage in my previous life was precisely because I had been a mage capable of enduring Vision Power.
“Hoo…… that worries me. They said this kid had a frail constitution.”
I began to think that it might be impossible with Artel’s current body.