Chapter 233: The Tower of Mages

Hio did not press Vitalianus about his lie.

He simply stared at him instead.

Even for an Ideation user, it was a difference so subtle it wouldn’t be noticed without focus. But, coincidentally, both Regarda and Hio were focused on Vitalianus.

‘Could Vitalianus not know that?’

He couldn’t be unaware that the lie he’d tried so hard to conceal had been exposed.

Yet, he only kept smiling and didn’t continue speaking—a clear expression of his will to not retract his words in the end.

Then, that judgment should be respected.

This was none other than that Vitalianus, after all.

‘Wasn’t he the hero who, even back in the game days, would charge forward without a care for his own life if it was for the Empire?’

So, there must be a reason.

It might be something he couldn’t say in front of everyone, or perhaps he needed a little more time to think.

‘I’ll have to give him some time and talk to him separately later.’

There was no way to force his mouth open right then, nor did he want to.

Then, it was just a matter of moving on to the next step.

Naturally.

“Anyway, what we need to do has become clear.”

The puzzle pieces of memory didn’t fit together perfectly, but since they had obtained the general flow and valuable information, what needed to be done had also become clear.

Thus, a long story wasn’t necessary.

Because everyone knew too well what they had to do.

“I’ll do my part to help stabilize the Empire.”

Vitalianus was the first to leave.

He would return to the Empire and lend his military strength to Sylvia’s policies for stabilizing the continent.

The number of priests, which had seemed to falter upon learning of Ripu’s disappearance, was slowly but surely increasing. By quickly conquering the 71st floor this time, they had broken the chain of failure, buying time to completely eliminate the Abyss Monsters and purify the continent.

For that, Vitalianus was the first to depart.

“Then I’ll… return as well.”

Antipus chose to log out.

‘Wasn’t the outside world just as chaotic and tumultuous as this place, or perhaps even more so?’

There would still be many regions wrestling with monsters, and cities and people to be saved would be just as numerous.

With the emergence of the massive religious group known as the Heavenly Demon Cult and their beginning to use Holy Power, the structure of world power and the direction of force had been overturned.

In such a situation, Antipus, who one would have thought would firmly hold the center of power, had left his post to participate in the raid.

Frankly, it was unexpected.

“Yeah. Thanks for coming.”

So, he offered the customary greeting…

“Thanks… I just did what needed to be done.”

This guy, his reaction is definitely strange.

If this were the Antipus Hio knew, he would have arrogantly nodded and left immediately—that would be Antipus.

But the current Antipus was a somewhat dampened Antipus.

“Uh… yeah, take care.”

***

After sending off the dampened Antipus, four people remained.

Now was the truly important part.

“So, what we need to do is… find the Temple of Ariel.”

Hio nodded at Regarda’s words.

“Find it and investigate the surrounding area. Freya, keep an eye out for places with strange magical reactions.”

“Yes!”

There had been a dragon at the top of the Magic Tower, in the Lord of the Magic Tower’s room, and the probability was high that there was a passageway to the World’s End there.

However, that was the highest floor of the Magic Tower.

Excluding Hio, Airlights, and Freya, there was no one who could even enter the Magic Tower itself, so they had to look for another passageway.

One of those was to investigate Ariel’s dwelling, which had been the Dragon’s Temple in the past.

“I wonder if the temple will still be intact after so many years have passed.”

“Don’t worry about that. It will be exactly the same, in no different form than it was at the beginning.”

“…Is that so. Anyway, try to find it as best you can, and if you can’t find anything special, you can come back. It’s not like there’s no alternative.”

“We’ll do that.”

There was an alternative.

It just hadn’t been tested yet.

“Then see you at the next raid. Mage.”

Even the dragon and the Dragon Knight left like that.

Thus, the only people left were Hio and Airlights, just the two of them.

Hio looked at Airlights, and Airlights also looked at Hio.

Her crimson, beautiful eyes seemed to sparkle even more than before.

“The place we’re going… is just one, right?”

“I’m fine with anything. Wherever Hio wants to go.”

An arm naturally slipping through his, familiar.

A skill activating naturally.

[The May Skill – ‘Dimensional Transfer’ is activated.]

“The Magic Tower… no, the Mage’s House in the Berden Southern Region.”

It was time to return to the Magic Tower.

Honestly, he was a little afraid.

‘Would everything still be the same?’

Even though he knew it was impossible, he wondered if Kreutzvalt had pulled some other trick.

‘Was Purnel… okay?’

“To the front of the Last Mage’s Tomb.”

Along with such thoughts, a giant purple line appeared, and Hio and Airlights’ bodies were sucked in as if disappearing.

The Mage’s House, returned to after several years.

The Last Mage, Hio’s first teacher and the only one among the generation who lost magic to create magic.

The front of that tomb was as quiet as ever.

Even as Hio and Airlights appeared, cleaving space with the purple line, it only stirred for a moment.

As if nothing had happened, it soon sank back into silence.

The clumsily piled burial mound was now covered in all sorts of grass, having become a plausible tomb, and the small gravestone erected beside it added to the serene atmosphere.

For a while, Hio looked down at the tomb without a word, and Airlights also stayed with Hio like that without saying anything.

***

After some time passed like that.

“Let’s go now.”

Turning his body, he entered the Mage’s House to see.

Everything was the same.

The first-floor living space was covered in a thick layer of dust, but at least its form remained.

It was the same going underground.

Passing the second floor and arriving at the third, the traces of Berga’s research, done day and night claiming he would create a skill, remained exactly as they were.

Those traces he had deliberately not cleared away.

He almost sank into memories again, but.

Kugugung-

As he used the Pavlenko Family Necklace to open the hidden fourth-floor underground door and began to descend, tension slowly began to rise.

Finding the portal conspicuously placed in the center, the tension grew even as he approached.

“Hio… are you okay?”

To the point that Airlights uttered words mixed with worry.

He had been tense without realizing it himself.

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

The reason for being this tense was likely just one.

His second teacher and friend.

Whether Purnel Pencheff might have disappeared.

Whether he might have vanished because Hio followed Kreutzvalt to the World’s End.

That must have been the worry.

“Hoo.”

He let out a short sigh to ease the tension and brought his hand toward the portal.

The familiar white light sprayed out.

[The area connected to the portal is the Ancient City of Tetradia – ‘The Tower of Mages.’]

[Will you enter the portal?]

Bright light that filled the entire underground space, enveloping Hio and Airlights.

Blinded by it, his body and soul moved together according to the predetermined magic.

[Entering the portal.]

[Moving to ‘Ancient City of Tetradia – The Tower of Mages.’]

After an instant, when he slowly opened his eyes again.

The familiar scenery of the Magic Tower’s 101st floor came into view.

The spacious interior and the training space for novice mages.

And.

—”You! Why are you so late!”

The sight of Purnel, his body puffed up as if in anger.

“…Purnel!”

Only then did the tension melt away, and a bright smile appeared on his face.

“Purnel, who talks so much trash but doesn’t know the important things!”

‘Huh?’

It was a reunion after a year and a half since their sudden separation on the 58th floor.

—”Is the lady here that psy… no, that pretty lady?”

“That’s right.”

“And this vicious-looking specter has been parasitizing Hio’s body all this time?”

“…Parasitizing… well, anyway, that’s right too.”

Starting with Airlights and Purnel exchanging warm greetings, the piled-up stories began to flow.

‘Hadn’t too many things happened in over a year?’

“So, your originally split soul just merged back into one?”

That’s right. Right after you disappeared following Kreutzvalt, I was ejected and immediately merged with the main body. It was truly an indescribably mysterious experience, I must say…

“Calling Kreutzvalt ‘that person’… don’t even start with that.”

—Tsk! Are you still saying such nonsense? That person founded black magic and completely overturned the foundation and concept of necromancers…

It seemed there was simply too much to talk about.

Where to start, how to explain? As he pondered, Airlights skillfully blocked Purnel’s form and brought her face close to Hio’s.

“More importantly, Hio. Shouldn’t we check something first before explaining slowly?”

“That’s right.”

Turning his back on Purnel, who was flying around and beginning to preach about Kreutzvalt’s greatness, he heartlessly turned back toward the portal.

“That person achieved at just fifteen… Huh? Where are you going?”

“There’s something to check.”

“Check? What do you mean?”

“A check on whether I can ascend to the summit of the Magic Tower.”

The floors of the Magic Tower opened sequentially based on the portal user’s capability.

Then, what about now, even if they were empty shells, after creating seven rings?

Checking that came first.

—”The summit of the Magic Tower, you mean the Lord of the Magic Tower’s room? How could you possibly…”

Purnel’s voice, about to ask how he could go there, cut off abruptly.

Hio had intentionally loosened his power a little, making it observable.

The seven rings flowing majestically through Hio’s body.

The overwhelming power of magical energy that dominated his body, forming a single galaxy.

—”You… what is this… Clearly, before, you couldn’t even grasp the state of the 6th Circle?”

The emotions emanating from Purnel were varied.

Various emotions, changing moment by moment, emanated as beautiful colors.

The most impressive among them was probably disappointment.

“What? Are you upset because I grew so much while you were gone?”

—”U… upset, what nonsense! I was just a little surprised, that’s all.”

“But they’re still just empty shells. I’ve made seven rings, but maybe because there’s no ghost to show me the ropes, I haven’t even filled in the Circle Inscriptions yet.”

—”You’ve reached the 7th Circle but still don’t have Circle Inscriptions? Tsk, tch! As expected, you can’t do anything without me!”

Smiling wryly at Purnel’s triumphant appearance from a single comment, he placed his hand on the portal.

As all seven rings rotated and the generated magical power was transferred entirely to the portal.

[Confirmed magical power: 7th Circle.]

[Total accessible regions: 152.]

Having surpassed the 6th Circle and reached the 7th, the number of accessible regions alone had already multiplied several times.

First, familiar floors appeared.

[Magician’s Tower Floor 101 – Novice Magic Training Room (Temporary)]

[Magician’s Tower Floor 102 – Apprentice Magic Training Room (Temporary)]

[Magician’s Tower Floor 103 – Official Mage Training Room (Temporary)]

[Berden Southern Independent Outpost (3) – Mage’s House]

[Berden Southern Region Necromancer Branch (2) – Mage’s House]

[Imenia Magic University (1) – Mage’s House]

[Magician’s Tower Floor 110 – Necromancy Education and Training Room]

[Magician’s Tower Floor 111 – Elemental Mage (Flame) Education and Training Room]

[Magician’s Tower Floor 112 – Elemental Mage (Earth) Education and Training Room]

[Magician’s Tower Floor 113 – Elemental Mage (Wind) Education and Training Room]

[Magician’s Tower Floor 126 – Chronomancy Education and Training Room]

Passing that and scrolling down, unfamiliar words began to appear.

Unfamiliar names.

[Magician’s Tower Floor 89 – Room of Golem Researcher Relendis Arpe]

[Magician’s Tower Floor 90 – Room of Spirit Authority Maserin Misen]

Even passing those, one place seen at the very end.

[Magician’s Tower Floor 150 – Room of the Lord of the Magic Tower, Abellar Pavlenko]

Finally, he had gained the qualification to go to the highest floor of the Magic Tower.