The pure white light wrapped around his body went out.
And when he slowly opened his eyes, what he saw was—
- Good to see you!
A ghost, its eyeballs rolling every which way. Pureunel.
- How long has it been since we faced each other like this!
Seeing him flit about in a frenzy, saying how glad he was, made him look just like a gnat, so Hio waved his hand back and forth.
“Yeah. It’s been a while.”
He had heard the voice so much he was sick of it, but now that they were face-to-face, it was actually rather nice.
- Welcome to my Magic Tower! Now, let us hurry and go break through to the realm of the 3rd circle!
“…Since when did this become your private Magic Tower?”
- Heh heh heh. I live here alone, so it is my Magic Tower. Hurry up and raise your circle. It seems you’ll need to undo some of the locks as you move through the portal. I want to take a look at some new rooms now.
“So that was your reason.”
Whatever the reason, as long as their goal was the same, wasn’t that enough?
Hio turned back and looked at the portal again.
- Have you made your decision? Your path as a mage, I mean.
The path of a mage, something one supposedly had to choose upon reaching the stage of a full-fledged mage.
A choice that had to be made for smooth growth.
- Even so, you are blessed. Most people don’t have anything to choose at all. They simply follow what they are given. It is usually decided by who taught them magic and what kind of magic they began with. In other words, you need to meet the right teacher.
He placed his hand on the portal and poured mana into it.
“I’ve got something in mind… but let’s make one more circle first. We’ll talk after I reach the 3rd circle.”
「Confirmed mana is 2nd circle.」
「There are a total of four accessible areas.」
「Mage’s Tower, 102nd Floor - Apprentice Mage Training Hall (Temporary) has been selected.」
「The portal is activating.」
For now, he first had to reach the 3rd circle, then discuss with Pureunel whether his plan was actually feasible.
* * *
“We usually classify skills by grade. Lower, middle, upper, and finally, highest grade.”
Sireubereuteu’s lecture hall was still crowded with students today.
“But those categories are far too broad, making it difficult to express exactly where one’s skill stands. That is why we need to know the more detailed classifications.”
This was why Sireubereuteu’s lectures were popular.
Unlike the other practical-faction professors who began by shouting at people, his explanations were easy to understand and detailed.
“You can think of it as each skill grade having its own more finely divided grades within it.”
Upper - 1, Upper - 2, Upper - 3. This was why even within the same upper grade, there were differences in level.
“These differences grow even wider as a skill moves from lower to middle, and from middle to upper. In other words, you must know exactly where your skill stands, how much power it holds, and what it is capable of.”
Which meant—
“Next week will be practical training.”
There was no better way than real combat to understand one’s own position.
At that, the lecture hall began to buzz.
Some were delighted, some were already nervous, and amid voices of worry and voices showing confidence, Sireubereuteu left the increasingly noisy lecture hall behind and stepped into the corridor.
Even if he called it practical training, it would only be mock combat held within the academy grounds, but…
Even that much was enough for those overflowing with talent to improve their abilities in an instant.
‘For example, Claire… Roland isn’t bad either.’
There were many talented people.
No, every single student enrolled here was brimming with talent.
However, just as upper-grade skills were further divided into levels, differences existed even among these talented students.
And Sireubereuteu considered Claire the foremost among them.
As he was walking down the corridor—
“Professor.”
Assistant Professor Hopen called out to Sireubereuteu.
As it happened, Sireubereuteu had also been looking for the assistant professor, so he welcomed him.
“Ah, Hopen. Perfect timing.”
The two began speaking while standing facing each other in the corridor.
“About the mock combat next week. I’ve spoken to Professor Alkmion of the knight department, so you can talk it over with the assistant professor on their side.”
“Ah… I see.”
At Hopen’s dazed reply, wrinkles formed on Sireubereuteu’s forehead.
He used to be rather quick and sharp, but at some point, hadn’t he grown a little slack?
It seemed he would have to set aside a day for him soon.
“Then. I’ll assume that’s settled… good work.”
Sireubereuteu roughly wrapped up the conversation and turned to leave.
“Professor Sireubereuteu?”
Hopen’s voice came from behind him again.
“What is it? Do you still have something to say?”
When Sireubereuteu turned back, he saw Hopen smiling.
“Ah, well… hmm.”
After calling him, he hesitated, then shook his head.
“No, sir? Professor.”
Irritation rising, Sireubereuteu openly frowned.
“Hoo… Get your head together. You seem out of it these days.”
“Yes. I apologize.”
“I’m really going now, so come find me if you remember what you wanted to say.”
“Yes. Please go in.”
Receiving Hopen’s farewell, Sireubereuteu headed toward his room.
Truly, these days, both his work and his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
Had he gotten himself a girlfriend somewhere…?
As he walked, however, a thought suddenly occurred to him.
‘But… has Hopen ever said “please go in” before?’
He stopped walking for a moment and thought about it, but it was vague.
It felt like he had, and also like he hadn’t.
‘…Does that even matter? I already have enough to do.’
He simply stopped paying attention to it and started walking again.
He had too much to think about and too much to do.
And Hopen watched Sireubereuteu like that, then turned around.
“Kik…”
The corners of his mouth and eyes were curved in a deep smile.
“I almost asked where the Supreme Heavenly Demon had gone, didn’t I?”
At some point, his eyes had been dyed pink.
“No, was it Hio Pavlenko?”
As Hopen muttered, the corners of his mouth instantly dropped.
The sharply curved corners of his eyes returned to their original place, the eyes dyed pink changed back to their original brown, and—
“……”
With a bewildered expression, he looked left and right, then went back to work.
* * *
The mana that had been clumsily scattered inside his body gathered into one.
The mana of the third circle, greater than the two circles combined.
The power of the sigil that firmly grasped and rotated that vast amount.
- You have completed the third ring.
It was the 3rd circle.
- A clumsy mage who used to just slam sigils into his heart has now become a proper full-fledged mage. How does it feel?
At Pureunel’s words, Hio exhaled and slowly opened his eyes.
“What do you think? I feel like I want to hurry up and go learn magic.”
- Heh heh heh. An answer straight out of a proper mage’s textbook.
The third circle rotated slowly.
It was certainly weighty.
Just the existence of the third ring made him feel much more stable.
- The sense of stability is different, isn’t it? They don’t call it a full-fledged mage for nothing.
“It definitely is.”
Pureunel’s laughter rang out as though he, too, was enjoying himself.
It was not merely that the sound could be heard; he was actually right in front of him, grinning with the corners of his mouth raised all the way to the top of his head.
“I told you to stop laughing so weirdly.”
- Heh heh heh heh. It is a good day, so what does it matter? In any case, now you must tell me. Your future direction as a mage, the path you wish to take.
There was no need to explain the importance of this choice.
Depending on which path he chose, his future would change.
He had no choice but to be cautious.
And so, he was even more certain of this decision.
“First of all.”
He passed by Pureunel, who was staring at him with eyes full of curiosity, and headed toward the portal.
“Necromancy.”
His first choice was necromancer.
- Ooooooh!
Pureunel’s voice, more excited than ever before, rang inside his head.
- As expected, you have an eye for things! There is, in truth, no magic as excellent as necromancy! Heh heh heh heh!
“Well, that’s part of it…”
There were many reasons.
First, the biggest reason.
“Kkingkking.”
At his call, darkness filled the interior.
A reaper appeared faintly, like death itself.
Also known as Kkingkking.
“Kkingkking, you’re scary.”
At those words, its size shrank in an instant.
Looking at the now adorable little reaper, Hio smiled.
“Oh, what a good boy.”
Kkingkking!
Because the synergy between this Kkingkking and necromancy was so absurdly good it was almost fraudulent.
Kkingkking continuously replenished death energy and mana. Its ability grew stronger the more enemies there were.
And a necromancer possessed the traits of growing stronger through death energy, mana, and greater numbers of enemies.
If he could use these two together, then at the very least, there would be no situation where he was pushed into disadvantage by numbers.
Because he remembered the disaster of the Abyss monsters that had endlessly surged in during the game, this was a power he absolutely needed.
“Come here, Kkingkking.”
When he placed Kkingkking on his hand and stroked its head with his finger, it whined happily.
After stroking Kkingkking like that for a while, he turned his head and looked at Pureunel.
Pureunel was staring this way with eyes sparkling full of expectation.
…He really hated to admit it in front of that guy, but the second reason was that ghost.
- Heh heh heh heh! I knew it would be so!
“Sigh…”
Even if he was like that, his one remaining teacher was, at least, a necromancer.
He would be able to learn things that could not be learned from books, and the speed at which he mastered them would also be clearly different.
As for other high-circle magic, Pureunel might be able to offer advice, but he could not teach it.
“Well, that’s why I chose necromancy.”
- I understand. Then what will you do about the rest? I am an open-minded true teacher, so I will not stop you from learning the magic of other schools.
“Isn’t it that you can’t stop me because you’re a ghost?”
- ……
Pureunel, seemingly at a loss for words, stared blankly before continuing.
- …In any case, including necromancy, you can handle three. If you push yourself, perhaps even four. There have been archmages who left their names behind by digging obsessively into only one, but the vast majority who left their names behind were geniuses who handled two or more kinds of magic. You have more than enough qualifications for that.
“Other magic, huh…”
This was where the problem began.
What would he fill the remaining slots with?
There were far too many attractive kinds of magic.
A representative example was illusion magic.
If Kkingkking hadn’t existed, he might have chosen illusion magic regardless of necromancy or Pureunel or whatever else.
Illusion magic itself was magic meant to deceive an enemy’s eyes and throw them into confusion.
In short, it meant flashy magic.
And if he imagined adding the traits “Can’t Live Without Swag” and “Everything Is Double” on top of that…
In a way, it was the magic that matched Hio’s traits best.
But if he were to focus only on illusion magic, that would also leave him with regrets.
What about the four elemental attribute magics?
Metal magic or summoning magic.
The high-difficulty chronomancy said to deal with time.
Shadow magic, psychromancy, transmutation magic, protection magic, nature magic, and more.
Why did he have to choose only two from among so many appealing magics?
And so, Hio’s plan was this.
“I’ll learn them all.”
Of course, from a magical perspective, learning every kind of magic was atrociously inefficient.
Each time one learned something, one had to learn and engrave new sigils, and the probability of those sigils overlapping when using other magic was extremely low.
But considering the hidden trait he possessed, broadly learning every kind of magic was, in fact, the most efficient choice.
If he dug into one or two types of magic, then since they would ultimately be of a similar lineage, the evolved skills would likely end up having similar effects as well.
Therefore, Hio thought it would be better to learn broadly and secure many kinds of highest-grade skills.
- …I understand well enough what you mean, but.
Pureunel narrowed his brow.
Despite being a ghost without a brow to narrow.
- Learning absolutely everything is impossible. Sigils cannot be engraved infinitely. There is a limit. What do you think will happen if you engrave sigils at random, saying you will learn everything?
It was obvious.
Once he reached high circles, he would no longer be able to engrave sigils.
In other words, he would become unable to learn high-level magic.
“Of course I thought of that too. So…”
The compromise he had come up with.
“I’ll look around and learn only one thing from each that seems truly necessary. I’ll cut out everything ambiguous.”
He would appropriately adjust the number of sigils and pick out only the magic that seemed necessary, one by one. Only the things that seemed truly useful.
While taking the total number of sigils into account as well.
This was Hio’s own compromise, and a method only he could attempt.
A method possible because he could freely enter and leave the Magic Tower, and because he did not need to mind the eyes of other mages.
A method possible because, in an era that had lost magic, he alone could learn magic. Because he had been granted the genius trait for mana sensitivity.
It could be said to be a method possible only for Hio Pavlenko in this entire world.
- Such…
At Hio’s bold ambition, Pureunel was left speechless.
After pondering for a moment—
- For some reason, it feels unpleasant, but it does not seem impossible.
He, too, admitted it.
- Hah hah hah hah…
Then Pureunel let out a hollow laugh.
- It is a method I have never even considered. A true hodgepodge mage, is it not?
A hodgepodge stew made by picking out only the tasty bits from here and there.
At those words, Hio grinned and went in front of the portal.
“Well, so what?”
What did it matter if it was hodgepodge, or jjamppong, or pig slop?
“As long as it tastes good, that’s all that matters.”
Because he was confident he could eat it more deliciously than anyone else.
He placed his hand on the portal and poured in mana.
「Confirmed mana is 3rd circle.」
「There are a total of twenty-one accessible areas.」
「Mage’s Tower, 101st Floor - Novice Mage Training Hall (Temporary)」
「Mage’s Tower, 102nd Floor - Apprentice Mage Training Hall (Temporary)」
「Mage’s Tower, 103rd Floor - Full-Fledged Mage Training Hall (Temporary)」
「Berden Southern Region Independent Base (3) - Mage’s House」
「Berden Southern Region Necromancer Branch (2) - Mage’s House」
「Imenia Magic University (1) - Mage’s House」
「Mage’s Tower, 110th Floor - Necromancy Educational Practice Room」
「Mage’s Tower, 111th Floor - Elemental Mage (Flame) Educational Practice Room」
「Mage’s Tower, 112th Floor - Elemental Mage (Earth) Educational Practice Room」
「Mage’s Tower, 113th Floor - Elemental Mage (Wind) Educational Practice Room」
…
「Mage’s Tower, 126th Floor - Chronomancy Educational Practice Room」
Compared to when he was 2nd circle, even the number of places he could go had changed.
“Shall we start by taking a look around one by one to see if there’s anything tasty?”
It meant he had grown that much as a mage and had become stronger.
A fairly pleasant sense of achievement rose within him.
「Mage’s Tower, 110th Floor - ‘Necromancy Educational Practice Room’ has been selected.」
「The portal is activating.」