Read Novel Full Chapter 377
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Chapter 377: Utopia (1)
First of all, after finishing the conversation with the thought-form, they decided not to close the fourth rift for the time being.
With that, the life he had wished to spend in peace was naturally extended as well.
“As for the subspace training room… I’m still not sure yet. Let me think about it a little more before giving you an answer.”
“Understood.”
Although he failed to get a definite answer regarding the subspace training room, Oscar left the rift feeling satisfied.
The thought-form claimed he couldn’t even compare to the original body’s toes, but Oscar didn’t see it that way at all.
‘Even if he’s restricted to only acting inside the spatial rifts, he’s still an 8th-level mage.’
More importantly, befitting the thought-form of his master, he knew various wind spells in addition to spatial magic.
That alone was incredibly valuable material, worth researching in many different directions.
‘It’s similar to Ouroboros.’
With magic, it wasn’t enough to focus only on performance and effects—the background of the era was important too.
Even if something wasn’t suitable for use back then, things could be different now.
Of course, the reason he welcomed the thought-form’s continued existence wasn’t merely for such worldly reasons.
‘The biggest reason is that we spent over two months together and got attached.’
Oscar quietly walked through the corridor as he pondered.
‘If he agrees to oversee the subspace training room….’
Seeds overflowing with talent but not yet fully matured—like Fran, Killian, and Veronica—would be able to bloom completely.
If that became possible, the White Tower might be able to produce high-ranking mages every single year.
‘Though that’s under the condition that talents on those brats’ level can be secured consistently.’
How could he sway his heart?
While thinking about that, Oscar visited the Tower Master’s office.
Sasha was staring at documents while nervously chewing on her fingernails.
She was so focused that she didn’t even notice him entering.
“Ahem, hm.”
Knock, knock.
When he tapped the wall together with a fake cough, Sasha belatedly raised her head.
“…Huh? Master!”
The moment she saw his face, her complexion brightened instantly.
Like someone who had just found emergency funds they had completely forgotten about.
“You looked gloomy. Did something happen?”
“I’ll explain that part slowly later. More importantly, when did you get here?”
“Just now.”
“Are you done with everything related to the spatial rift?”
“Yeah, for now.”
After sitting down and quickly explaining everything that had happened during that time, Sasha nodded her head.
“Ah, so that’s why you said ‘for now.’”
“It’s not bad, right?”
“Not just not bad—it’s amazing. If it’s the thought-form of none other than the first White Tower Master, then he’ll definitely be a huge help in many ways.”
Sasha was already writing down questions she wanted to ask the thought-form in a notebook when she asked,
“If he helps with the subspace training room too, would it be possible?”
“That’s right. So even on the way here, I was thinking about how to tempt him… Ah, right.”
As if something had just occurred to him, Oscar boldly made a request.
“Could you hand over the 44th floor?”
“Uh… pardon?”
Sasha’s eyes trembled slightly in confusion.
This was the first time her master had ever directly asked for something like this.
“There’s no reason it can’t be done… but all of a sudden?”
“The spatial rift on the 44th floor disappeared, so that place can be used now.”
“That’s true?”
“Originally, it was a floor that couldn’t be used… so while keeping that hidden externally, I’m thinking of remodeling the entire floor into a spatial rift.”
“Are you perhaps trying to expand the area where the thought-form can operate?”
“That’s right. But that’s only the beginning.”
He would periodically send talented mages there.
If the thought-form met them and casually offered them guidance, wouldn’t some sort of desire begin to form?
‘Come to think of it, it was like that inside the rift too.’
He had been curious about how his master felt when taking disciples in his later years.
He knew most of the emotions the original body had felt, but that particular part would have remained beyond his understanding.
Upon hearing the idea, Sasha beamed.
“Sounds good to me. If you go that far, I think even the thought-form would be moved.”
“I hope so.”
Once the issue regarding the thought-form’s future residence was settled, she opened her mouth.
“You actually came at the perfect time. I was waiting for you.”
“Waiting? For me?”
“Yes. First, could you take a look at this?”
What she pulled out from the drawer was a newspaper that mainly covered topics related to magic.
The publication date was 52 days ago, around the time he had been intensely training with the thought-form.
As expected of a major press company, there were quite a few articles on the front page that caught the eye immediately.
[Black Tower Successfully Conducts Field Test of Artificial Intelligence Golems. Predicting a Paradigm Shift in Future Warfare.]
[White Tower Airship to Be Unveiled Next Month. Innovation or Exaggeration?]
[Tony Havertz Gives Statement After Being Appointed New Yellow Tower Master.]
“Hmm?”
Among them, what caught Oscar’s attention the most was naturally the news related to the Yellow Tower.
“Tony Havertz became the Yellow Tower Master?”
“Ah, that’s not the article I wanted you to see… but yes. Apparently that’s what happened.”
Sasha shrugged as she continued.
“People are keeping quiet about it, but there are rumors that a huge storm swept through the inside of the Yellow Tower.”
“How exactly?”
“Tony Havertz moved as soon as Pentarion Ereus’s state funeral ended. They say he imprisoned the elders who had been his master’s hands and feet, and quickly filled their positions with his own people.”
“The Yellow Tower elders are all at least 7th-level mages. He did all that with just his own support faction?”
“From here on, it’s just rumors… but supposedly, if they refused house arrest, he planned to treat them as accomplices of his master—the traitor—and charge them with treason.”
“What a lunatic.”
Pentarion Ereus was a traitor.
A turncoat who abandoned being human and attempted to become a demon.
Though the attempt failed, the Emperor knew the truth, and everyone present there knew it as well.
‘Even knowing that, Uncle Emperor still held a state funeral for his death.’
In truth, the Yellow Tower Master had defected and tried to surrender to the demons.
The reason his death was still treated with honors was nothing more than a political show to prevent chaos if the truth became public.
‘And despite knowing that, he still tried to tie them together as accomplices?’
That essentially left only two choices.
Either drag the Yellow Tower’s image through the toilet and fight over the Tower Master seat anyway.
Or quietly keep their elder positions in the still-prosperous Yellow Tower.
And the elders who had followed Pentarion must have chosen the latter.
‘Well, it was probably a fight Tony Havertz was bound to win from the start.’
The moment they chose the former, the destruction of the Yellow Tower’s image would become inevitable.
Moreover, the so-called Pentarion-line mages would have their identities exposed and be battered by public opinion.
In that situation, rising to the position of Yellow Tower Master would be nearly impossible.
No mage of the Yellow Tower who learned the truth would trust or follow them anymore.
“The Yellow Tower side will stay quiet for a while.”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
“Yes, I think so too. They’ll probably move only after firmly cleaning up internal affairs first.”
The Tony Havertz Oscar had met was young, intelligent, and flexible.
He didn’t waste strength on things that couldn’t be done, and instead bit tenaciously into things that certainly could succeed until they were accomplished.
Now that such a man had become Tower Master, what he would do next was obvious.
“He’ll strip the elders of as much power as possible.”
He would leave them with only the title of “elder” in the literal sense, while taking away all actual authority and influence.
Only after that work was completed would Tony Havertz’s Yellow Tower truly begin to move.
Oscar stroked his chin.
“…How did we respond?”
“First, we sent a flower wreath and an elixir as a congratulatory gift for his inauguration. A good one.”
“Well done.”
As long as he didn’t act hostile toward them, there was no reason for them to be hostile either.
Besides, there was plenty of synergy the White Tower and Yellow Tower could produce together.
After all, they themselves possessed a powerful card called 『Ouroboros』.
“Once the Yellow Tower finishes reorganizing, try sounding them out. We take the skies, they take the ground. We don’t have the spare attention to care about trains or whatever anyway.”
“Yes, I was already preparing for that.”
As expected, she handled things perfectly now even without him saying much.
“But the article I wanted to show you wasn’t that one. It’s a little further down.”
“Further down?”
When Oscar lowered his gaze, he saw a headline he hadn’t noticed earlier.
[New Dungeon Discovered Near Sirin, Believed to Contain the Legacy of Oscar Sage.]
“Hmm?”
The moment he read the article, he frowned.
A dungeon containing his legacy?
“…What is this now? Another scheme by those Black Finger bastards?”
“No.”
Sasha shook her head.
“After confirmation, it turns out the dungeon rewards really do include a staff you used to use.”
“A staff I used? There was something like th—.”
Oscar trailed off, then his eyes suddenly widened.
“Wait, don’t tell me it’s the Windless Zone?”
“That’s right.”
Windless Zone.
A staff designated as a national treasure-class artifact of the Calderan Empire.
Its effect was to designate a 500-meter radius around the user as a ‘mana prohibition zone.’
Within that space, no mana and no phenomena using mana could occur.
‘Honestly, just hearing the description makes it sound ridiculously overpowered….’
But in actual use, it was somewhat awkward.
First of all, since it prohibited magical phenomena themselves, physical abilities could still be used normally.
In other words, even if Windless Zone was activated, it couldn’t stop a knight from swinging a sword.
‘Unless it’s a place like Mage’s Night where only mages gather, it’s meaningless from the start.’
Using that thing in front of a knight was no different from begging to be killed.
But the decisive reason Oscar abandoned that staff was only one thing.
‘…Demonic energy.’
The Windless Zone’s absolute anti-magic effect did not work against the demonic energy of demons.
In other words, during wars against demons, it was a legendary garbage staff that only turned allied mages into idiots.
After realizing that fact, he stuffed it somewhere and never took it out again.
“But to think that thing is included as a reward….”
No matter what else, the fact remained that the dungeon’s owner had stolen the Windless Zone.
Letting out a hollow laugh, Oscar asked,
“This is interesting. But why?”
“The world’s gone crazy.”
“…Because of Windless Zone?”
“That too, of course, but the dungeon’s reward design is unbelievably good.”
Sasha began explaining the newly discovered dungeon.
“First of all, according to the Imperial Family’s investigation, the dungeon’s entry condition is mana users below Level 7.”
“That’s pretty lenient.”
“Yes. And it’s classified as an escape-type dungeon.”
“An escape-type dungeon, huh. Not bad.”
Conquest-type dungeons, where all enemies inside must be defeated.
Survival-type dungeons where one had to endure for a set amount of time, or competition-type dungeons where one fought against others, were all fierce.
On the other hand, escape-type dungeons—where finding the exit or fulfilling certain conditions was enough—were relatively easier to clear.
“The dungeon’s name is Utopia. Upon entering, each individual receives a personalized theme, and if they fulfill the conditions presented within that theme, they can escape. Rewards are distributed based on their records.”
“…Calling a dungeon Utopia. What a ridiculous name.”
Oscar chuckled faintly, reminded of the old days.
There had even been times when people seriously debated whether a utopia would truly arrive once the war ended.
‘More importantly, a personalized dungeon? It must be quite large-scale.’
Oscar stroked his chin.
From what he heard, this wasn’t some third-rate dungeon that merely placed a few Guardians around and twisted the pathways into a maze.
‘At the very least, illusion-type magic and psychological analysis-type magic have been applied.’
Both were types of magic that ordinary mages would have difficulty even touching.
“What’s the Violet Tower saying about it? For a dungeon on this scale, it feels like a mage from their side absolutely had a hand in it.”
“We already sent related questions, but the only response we got was that they don’t know either.”
Even the Violet Tower mages didn’t know.
Which meant either it was the work of seniors from several generations above them, or there was some kind of contract preventing them from speaking.
“Well, whatever. So? Why this dungeon?”
“The rewards are so good that everyone—mages and knights alike—is rushing into it. There are so many people that the Imperial Family has even dispatched administrators to control the situation.”
“…The rewards are really that good?”
“Yes. Naturally, some of our own mages entered too….”
Sasha let out a deep sigh, her face filled with concern.
“Several of them haven’t returned.”
“Hmm? You mean they still haven’t escaped?”
“That’s right. You remember Verdi Nackwind, yes?”
“Of course. He’s the kid I treated at Mage’s Night.”
He was a mage so talented that Oscar had been certain he would someday reach Level 7.
“Verdi led several mages into the dungeon as their senior, and he succeeded in escaping. Thanks to that, he’s already reached a level where he’s looking toward Level 7 now.”
“Faster than expected. The dungeon rewards really must be excellent.”
Nodding his head, Oscar asked,
“So then, which mages did he lead in that still haven’t managed to get out?”
“…Fran Sirius, Veronica Fricks, and Killian Lockwood.”
Ah, these troublesome brats.
Oscar pressed a hand against his throbbing forehead.
“So in the end, you want me to go bring those idiots back?”
“Yes. Among the White Tower’s 7th-level mages, you’re the most capable and… well, anyway, it has to be you, Master.”
“So basically, among the most capable 7th-level mages, I’m the only one loafing around without any proper responsibilities.”
“T-That’s not what I meant!”
Tsk.
He had no comeback.
Back when there was a lot of potion-related work, he could at least act confident, but even that had long since been automated and abandoned.
Faced with his disciple’s reproach, Oscar weakly rose to his feet.
“Fine. If the Tower Master says jump, I jump….”
“I-I told you that’s not what I meant!”
Only after teasing the adorable Sasha for quite a while afterward did he finally leave the tower.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]