Magic.
The absolute boundary between inferior and superior.
Magic is not about scholarship or swordsmanship.
They don’t need effort.
The magician’s magic is solely innate talent.
Magic is the power bestowed from birth.
While there are cases of developing magical abilities at a late age, ultimately it’s just a difference between blooming talent early or late.
Those without magical talent, no matter how hard they try or what means they use, can never use magic.
Magicians live in a world where talent is everything. It’s a distinct difference from knights, who use auras.
Respect for magicians cannot be cultivated because they are talented individuals, and also because they are well aware that the perception of magicians being arrogant, presumptuous, and the like, spreads widely among them all, knowing themselves as chosen humans.
Magic is also taught at the Academy. Trainees are also accepted at the Magic Tower.
However, it’s not about teaching. It’s simply about developing talent. It’s a process of refining innate abilities further, and magic is not a concept that someone can teach and learn.
In past lives, abilities of superhumans with extraordinary powers were quite similar to those of magic, especially in terms of innate power and mystical abilities.
Magicians each have different magic; there are branches like natural manipulation, which includes shaping ice or manipulating water or spewing fire; mental manipulation, which involves showing illusions or manipulating minds; and bizarre magic that uses inexplicable powers. Well, in a way, even heterochromia can be considered magic.
The Magic Tower categorized magicians into seven groups based on the nature of their magic.
The Blue Tower, which mainly consists of magicians capable of physical destruction, aims to steal artifacts of gain. I remember hearing about it in class before. One of the main reasons why even the Kingdom of Sternil and the Kynakhan Empire can’t mess with the Magic Tower lightly is because of the restraining power of the Blue Tower.
Magicians of the Blue Tower use magic suitable for telekinesis, physical destruction, dismemberment, and crushing, and they specialize in magic that manipulates metals or annihilates wide areas.
It’s good to know about the other six towers as well.
The seven towers were named according to their colors, which is why the Tower Lords are collectively called the Seven Lords of Colors. Following the destructive Blue Tower, there’s the defensive Red Tower, the Green tower, which mainly uses plant manipulation, and the Yellow tower which deals with stones and rocks.
“Ha, what was it again.”
I’m confused because it’s something I learned before. Let’s see, Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. The remaining three towers… Right. Crimson, dealing with fire. Cyan, dealing with water. And the Black tower. It’s the black tower, dealing with mysterious powers like mental manipulation, bizarre, transformation, creation, etc.
“We need to be cautious of…”
Magic is said to be an innate talent. Especially among magicians, there is an absolute hierarchy, and the concept that shows the gap is called the ‘Circle.’ It’s a very eugenics-like concept, where the grades are assigned to magicians, like grading cattle.
The higher the mana, the higher the Circle. The Circle is like a stone for magicians, and strange stones with bands appear on the surface when magic is used. Depending on how powerful the magic is, the number of bands carved into the stone varies. If you can have four bands, you’re called a ‘Wizard’ with respect, enjoying authority greater than a knight commander. It seems like from five, you’re called a Grand Wizard. With six or more, their name itself becomes history and myth.
It’s unrelated, but I’ve decided to think of Sister Melissa as being in the 9th Circle. Each tail can use different magic, and depending on how many tails you use, the power of the magic varies. If you use all nine, it’ll be like the 9th Circle. Well, I don’t know if that’s a real existence, but she claims to be the at the top in the Demon realm, so I have to believe her.
And also…
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to the Tower. We need to know what kind of bastards they are.”
“Don’t waste your time and come back quickly. The spatial regression point is set.”
Since deciding to go to the Tower, I’ve been studying about magicians by going to books. But there wasn’t enough time to study. Even if I studied, it wouldn’t make much of a difference, but I felt like I should at least know something about the enemy. Melissa said the ‘Door to Anywhere’ is set. It took more than a day, so it seemed like even Melissa couldn’t easily go up to the top of the Tower.
I followed Melissa to the garden and asked casually.
“What should I do?”
Although I suggested going recklessly, I was extremely anxious.
“I’ve set the spatial regression point straight to the Chamber of Deep Contemplation. You just need to come and go.”
“I know you’re not someone who would use the term ‘slight adversity’ lightly.”
“I considered one possibility.”
“That possibility, just one in a million? Really?”
Melissa’s tail twitched. I realized something. Why Melissa didn’t want to show her tail to me. With nine tails, she couldn’t lie because her emotions were too honest. I looked at her with suspicion, but she didn’t care.
“The worst-case scenario is fighting against ‘all’ magicians belonging to the Blue Tower.”
“Darn it, why did I bother reading the story about how the Blue Tower matches the military power of the Kingdom of Sternil.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there too.”
She didn’t say that it’s more worrying.
“Is this the Chamber of Deep Contemplation?”
“No.”
Nothing was there.
Only a desolate plain where sandstorms raged fiercely.
Wherever one crossed a door, this was the destination.
Melissa’s expression remained unchanged, but her nine tails swayed vigorously.
“The elders caught on quite quickly.”
Before I could even ask a question, two tails moved.
Thick magenta smoke spewed from the tails, enveloping Melissa and me.
As the smoke dissipated, Melissa transformed into a different face. I could still see her face, but to others, she would appear as an ordinary middle-aged woman with black hair.
Perhaps my face had changed too. Disguised.
It meant that there was something to hide. In Melissa’s hands were two robes that could cover our entire bodies. She wore a robe and hood to conceal her face deeply, and I followed suit.
“The Blue Tower will soon gather.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a trap. They must be curious about who set up the ‘Archmage’ as the return point. Foolish elders.”
What’s going on?
I felt dizzy confronting the worst-case scenario imagined by Melissa too early. But soon I gathered my wits and bit my lip. In an instant, the difficulty level skyrocketed, but this was also an opportunity… a chance to die, damn it.
No. Stay calm. Melissa is here. If I panic, I’ll revert to my old cowardly self. I calmly regulated my breathing and calmed my startled heart.
“What should I do?”
The second question, with a different meaning embedded within.
As Melissa gestured, two doors shot up from the ground.
“All you can do is fight until the return point is restored. You guard this.”
“Okay. For my glorious future.”
Suddenly, the ground shook, and two pillars shot up, forming a massive door like the entrance to a temple. Gradually, dozens of wizards began to emerge onto the desolate plain through the door. Before they arrived, I had studied a bit about magic. That was not teleportation but spatial regression magic, an extremely rare form of magic.
Except for Melissa.
It was a magic only the Tower Masters could use.
I know the power of Melissa, who disposed of all the nuclear warheads and strategic weapons of the Earth in an instant with magic. But knowing and seeing were different dimensions. When dozens of wizards appeared, it was pitch black ahead. How could I possibly deal with a magical army evaluated by national military power?
But Melissa had fought before. Against the military power of a single planet, Earth.
Seven tails moved.
I marveled at the fact that even amidst this, Melissa left behind two tails.
I witnessed the incredible and awe-inspiring magic she created.
The Blue wizards were by no means weak. They unexpectedly faced Melissa’s attacks but handled them skillfully. They must be elites even in the Blue tower. Selected wizards from the tower of the abyss, investigating the anomaly that occurred in the depths.
But the levels were different.
Even if the Blue wizards tried to overwhelm or tear Melissa apart, she overturned the very ground itself. The power of the Blue wizards was destructive. But when Melissa overturned the ground, it was of no use. The inverted ground rose like a mountain, engulfing the wizards.
Crash!
Perhaps that inspiration would lead the way to the tower.
The collision of the mountains was caused by Melissa.
There was an old man shattering those huge rocks.
“Oh. I need you.”
The battle of the world’s strongest.
The playing field was different.
I thought I had become a monster by capturing a wyvern.
“That’s not even close to your full power.”
I was unsure.
Unlike Earth, this world had many strong individuals.
Perhaps there were opponents even the twins couldn’t defeat.
But now, seeing Melissa not exerting her full power against the tower, I could be certain. Another level of monsters was indeed the twins. My judgment was correct. To stand by the twins, one must be at the level of the world’s strongest.
I watched the battle between the wizards and Melissa in confusion.
It was a fierce battle where the earth flipped like the sky opening up, but I was calm guarding the door behind Melissa. Her expression was also very bright. Perhaps those wizards didn’t realize they were playing into her hands.
It was when I stood alone guarding the door. I quickly turned my head. The eyes were sharp. For a moment, I saw a path, then it disappeared. The moon was crying. Someone had escaped the intense battlefield. That someone had found me and slowly approached. The eyes were honest. It seemed to command me to find a way out.
A formidable enemy.
He sees me as an enemy.
The attire of the wizard was peculiar.
Rather than the common attire of wizards, it resembled a military uniform.
On the shoulder pads were inscriptions symbolizing the Blue Tower and five lines drawn.
A wizard wearing shoulder pads with five lines drawn. It’s easy to understand what it means.
Five lines, 5 circles.
He is an archmage.
