Thud.
The elevator stopped.
The floor of the control room—the place where the lift had come to a halt—was the central plaza of the city.
As the lift settled down, all that remained in the plaza was an ice pillar soaring all the way up to the ceiling.
It was by relying on that ice pillar that the floor of the control room had descended all the way here.
I looked around, but I could hardly see anything.
It was like a dark city at night, without a single light.
In the dark sky—the ceiling—there were lights that glittered like starlight.
They were ice light sources embedded in the ceiling.
But such tiny lights could not illuminate the city. I could barely make out the outlines of the buildings.
Even so, I was able to examine the city in detail.
Only as far as my senses could reach, but I could grasp the city’s structure itself with greater precision than sight.
“The city looks less unfamiliar than I expected.”
This city was a circular planned city spreading out around the plaza where I stood.
Stone buildings of three or four stories lined the city as far as my senses extended.
Seeing countless stone buildings fitted with glass-like windows, I felt as though I had come to an old Eastern European city.
-There weren’t many materials on this planet for constructing buildings. Fortunately, we were able to find minerals that could transmit light and various sturdy stones, so we could build it like this.
At my words, the spirit explained with an excited expression.
Unlike the dark city, the spirit’s face was extremely bright.
She held a soft glow within her, shining alone in the dark city.
After chattering away eagerly, she tilted her head again.
-But can you see, even though there’s almost no light?
“Yes.”
-That’s a relief. I was worried you wouldn’t be able to see.
She walked toward a large structure and beckoned to me.
-We raised the temperature with geothermal heat and worked hard to build the city with golems and magic, but we couldn’t create a light that would illuminate the entire city.
As she said, the city was not terribly cold.
It was not yet a comfortable temperature to live in, but it was still about as warm as early spring, warmer than above.
For me, with energy in my body, this temperature was more than enough.
Soon, the spirit stopped and raised her hand to point at the structure.
What she pointed at was a huge avant-garde art installation that would have suited a modern city.
A gigantic metal sphere set into a sunken floor.
Beautiful patterns were engraved across the metal sphere, but without light, the patterns could hardly be seen.
Judging by its silhouette alone, it looked rather gloomy, and just as I tilted my head, the spirit’s voice reached me.
-This device is an experimental artificial sun made to terraform this planet. After terraforming was abandoned, it was left neglected in a corner of the facility.
Contrary to my expectations, the metal sphere was not a sculpture.
I had mistaken it because the city resembled a city on Earth.
This was a city of a magical world.
There was no way such a city would have erected a meaningless sculpture.
-I thought it would be better for it to become the city’s sun than to keep being neglected, so I brought it here. However, I can’t use the magic needed to operate this device, so I had no choice but to leave it like this.
The spirit stared straight at me.
I immediately understood what she wanted.
The spirit wanted me to activate this device.
However, the patterns engraved on the metal sphere were patterns I did not know.
Patterns I had never seen before.
That was why I had not thought of it as a magic circle when I first saw it.
As I was feeling troubled, Sopeu’s voice rang out.
[She is not asking you.]
Right.
I thought so too.
Grumbling inwardly, I glanced at the staff with a glare.
He said she was not asking me, but Sopeu had never used a magic circle like this either.
[Stop grumbling pointlessly and point my staff at the artificial sun device.]
I raised the spear and pointed it at the huge sphere.
When the spear faced the large metal ball, about four meters in diameter, I felt energy being sucked in.
This time, I did not block it.
The spear began to shine.
Fwoosh!
A hologram, a magic circle, spread around the spear.
I widened my eyes as I looked at the magic circle floating in the air.
The patterns drawn on the magic circle resembled the patterns engraved on the metal sphere.
They were clearly magic of the same system.
[Move. Tremble. Burn. Fire.]
Along with Sopeu’s incantation, the patterns on the huge sphere also gave off a brilliant light.
I felt dark energy surging in from every direction.
This was the energy possessed by this planet.
Through the glowing patterns, the energy was sucked into the metal sphere.
Whoosh!
The metal sphere heated until it glowed red.
Along with the light, I felt a scorching heat.
Without realizing it, I stepped back.
[It is heat magic. Among battle-specialized mages, some call it flame magic, but heat magic is the proper name.]
Listening to Sopeu’s words, I backed away even farther.
The spirit who had been beside me had already retreated a long way.
“You could use this kind of magic too?”
[It is only because you saw the past this time that I recalled the magic I taught Eswi.]
If it was Eswi, he meant the young mage who created the spirit. However, the spirit could only use ice magic.
“Wasn’t it ice magic that you taught him?”
[What I taught him was molecular motion magic. Since the boy had a talent for telekinesis to begin with, he learned it easily.]
“Molecular motion magic?”
What kind of magic was that now…
Every time I talked with Sopeu, my fantasy common sense shattered all over again.
[Simply put, it is temperature-control magic. Does the science of your world not explain it well? The common knowledge that when molecules move actively, the temperature rises, and when molecules stop moving, it becomes cold.]
I knew it the other way around, but with my meager scientific knowledge, I could not nitpick at a mage.
[Ice magic and heat magic are both subordinate forms of temperature-control magic. A spirit is created from a mage’s mental image, so it could not help but specialize in one side.]
Even after hearing Sopeu’s explanation, it was not easy to understand, but I could still grasp what I needed.
I subtly opened the hand that was not holding the spear.
A small flame appeared above my palm.
Because Sopeu had used heat magic, I had become able to use it as well.
[Unbelievable. You do such things and then criticize me?]
Through Sopeu’s grumbling, the spirit’s voice rang out.
-I thought someone who taught magic to my creator would definitely be able to do it!
The spirit spoke in a bright voice and raised both hands.
Wooooong.
As she lifted her hands, the metal ball began to float upward.
The metal ball rose, emitting dazzling light.
It was like a small sun rising.
The sun made by magic continued to ascend and stopped just beneath the ceiling.
The sun grew even brighter as it absorbed energy.
The entire city became brightly illuminated.
No, the entire underground space became bright.
Only now could I tell just how large this underground space was.
Its height was five hundred meters, and its diameter was about six kilometers.
By Earth’s standards, it was about the size of a single neighborhood, but considering that it had been made underground, it was an enormous scale.
And the city filled about half of the plaza.
-Now that we have a sun too, we’ll be able to plant trees and grass in the empty areas and make a forest.
The spirit intended to create not just a city underground, but an entire ecosystem.
“Do you have seeds or seedlings?”
-You can bring them, can’t you?
There was much that was lacking.
Seeds were not the only thing needed.
Fertilizer was needed, and proper soil had to be prepared as well.
And even people who could tend to it.
However, I could not take care of all that right now.
It was not the time for it, but the spirit who had made this city was also a problem.
“May I bring my team members here?”
-Not yet. This city will be opened after it is fully completed. Until then, only we administrators should enter.
I had already realized it when I heard that only administrators could enter the control room and the underground.
There must have been an order as well, but she cherished this city too much.
Since she had been making it for such a long time, it was not unreasonable for her to think that way.
In the end, completing this city had to be left to the spirit.
[You have ended up playing porter again.]
The role of bringing the things necessary for the spirit to complete the city.
As Sopeu said, I had to play porter again this time.
But this time, I actually felt good about it.
The administrator was the spirit, but I was also this city’s vice administrator.
As the person in overall charge of the city among humans, I was the owner of this city.
As the “city lord” of this city, when I later brought people into the city, I intended to be selective.
“No sales. I should collect rent. Water and sewage fees too, and since they’ll be getting temperature and light through magic, heating fees and electricity fees too…”
I heard Sopeu clicking his tongue, but I continued muttering to myself.
Whether it was actually possible was not important. Just imagining it was enjoyable.
Besides, this time, it might really happen!
After spending such a happy time sightseeing through the city, we went back up again.
The team members were sitting in the corridor near the stairs, waiting for me.
When they saw me, they approached with relieved expressions, but the moment they saw the spirit, they stiffened.
When I tilted my head at the obvious tension on the team members’ faces, Magreta asked,
“It’s all right, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’m perfectly fine. But everyone’s expressions look strange.”
At my words, Magreta pointed to the ice golem standing off to one side.
“Because we found out that golem is far more impressive than we thought.”
The team members had watched from the side as the ice golems froze and captured the scouts.
Since they had seen the spirit commanding those golems, they could not help but be tense.
The atmosphere was different from what I had expected, but as I had originally planned, I introduced the spirit to the group.
“This is the ice spirit Samilla. She is the administrator of this facility. We were able to survive thanks to her.”
I explained everything that had happened as thoroughly as possible.
Of course, I had to leave out the story about Sopeu, but even without that, there was plenty to say.
After hearing my story, everyone widened their eyes.
“You’re saying she caught not one, but ten scouts?”
Sergeant Woo was greatly shocked by the spirit’s accomplishments,
“Then that means this spirit personally saw and experienced the time when mages existed!”
Tom was excited that she knew about the past.
“There’s a city underground here?”
Magreta’s eyes sparkled at the fact that there was a new facility underground, but,
“You’re saying she lived alone for tens of thousands of years?”
Hanna bit her lip at the thought that the spirit had spent such a long time alone.
The tense atmosphere quickly eased.
Rather, I became exhausted translating the team members’ questions.
In the middle of it, Magreta said she wanted to see the underground city, but the spirit flatly refused.
Instead, Hanna became very close with the spirit.
To the point that if Hanna had asked instead of Magreta, the spirit might have granted the request.
Once the tension eased like that, everyone was able to rest comfortably.
After that peaceful time passed, we exchanged farewells with the spirit and used spatial movement.
Our destination was the sealed underground ruins.
I planned to pass through that place and go to the terraforming facility.
In those underground ruins, the technicians who had been waiting only for Hanna’s return should have remained.
However, when we arrived, other people were there.
Foreigners from Earth.
Among them was someone who appeared to be a mage.
Modern Mage (1)