Including Blink, he had learned a total of six spells from the 5th Circle so far.
Consequently, only four magic books remained out of those Furnel had initially recommended.
[Ice Cannon]
[Barrier]
[Anti-Magic Field]
[Gust of Wind]
In truth, there were other elemental spells like ‘Fire Wall’ or ‘Frozen Fog,’ but he had filtered them out, judging that the effects gained were not significant compared to the effort of carving additional Circle Inscriptions.
Besides those, he also had to learn the [Book of Dragon Summoning], an Ancient Spellbook received directly from the Goddess, and find a new Holy Magician’s House to research different types of divinity.
This meant he had a lot to do.
Thus, immediately after the conquest ended, he had left word that he would be going and returned straight to the Wizard’s Tower.
Placing his hand on the portal, he scanned the list divided by each floor of the Wizard’s Tower.
「List」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 1 – Lobby of Beginnings」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 2 – Apprentice Mage Living Area」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 3 – Apprentice Mage Living Area (2)」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 89 – Golem Researcher Relendis Arpe’s Room」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 90 – Spirit Authority Maserin Misen’s Room」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 150 – Lord of the Magic Tower Abellar Pavlenko’s Room」
The Wizard’s Tower was still full of mysteries, with more places he couldn’t go than those he could.
Scanning the list, Hio’s gaze stopped and fixed on the name of the final floor.
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 150 – Lord of the Magic Tower Abellar Pavlenko’s Room」
Interest.
A thousand years ago, he was the Lord of the Magic Tower of that era, who had lost his magic and, in exchange, blocked the Abyssal Depths.
He was the greatest Magician of his time.
‘Did he run away from the destruction of Basterion, or did he stay and fight?’
‘He helped with the war, but why did he not help with the migration?’
‘Why did the Space of Suffering show him the memories of Abellar Pavlenko as a trial?’
There were only things he didn’t know, but now even the only god he could ask had fallen into a slumber.
Even if he looked for people from a thousand years ago or earlier, there was only the Dragon Knight Regarda and perhaps Kreutzvalt, who would be somewhere in the Abyssal Depths.
So, in the end, he had no choice but to find out for himself.
When he infused 5th Circle Magic Power into the portal, the long list that had appeared vanished, and a new window emerged.
「Confirmed Magic Power is 5th Circle.」
「There are a total of 25 accessible regions.」
「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 Magic Training Room (Temporary)」
「Berden Southern Independent Outpost (3) – Magician’s House」
「Berden Southern Region Necromancer Branch (2) – Magician’s House」
「Imenia Magic University (1) – Magician’s House」
「Hibernia Capital (5) – Holy Magician’s House」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 110 – Necromancy Familiar Summoning Room」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 111 – Elemental Magician (Fire) Familiar Summoning Room」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 112 – Elemental Magician (Earth) Familiar Summoning Room」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 113 – Elemental Magician (Wind) Familiar Summoning Room」
「Wizard’s Tower Floor 126 – Chronomancy Familiar Summoning Room」
As Hio was about to move his hand, a hazy Specter flew toward him.
It was Furnel.
‘You’re going to learn magic right away?’
Furnel flew frantically around Hio, his eyeballs expanding and contracting as they moved restlessly from side to side.
There is a limit to the human mind. You need to rest.
‘Didn’t you receive infinite Magic Power from the Death God and use magic continuously for hours?’
Hio raised his hand and lightly pushed Furnel away.
“I’m busy.”
Uh-huh. You might look fine now, but eventually, you’ll hit your limit. Your body is fine, but isn’t your mind exhausted? Don’t you want to rest?
“Not at all.”
……
‘..Is it just great to be young?’
Since it was obvious he would just say something else strange, Hio ignored him and selected a floor.
It was a floor containing magic from a special school.
「Moving to Wizard’s Tower Floor 126 – Chronomancy Familiar Summoning Room.」
Chronomancy.
It was the room of magicians who researched time.
Don’t do that, think about it again. Huh? This is all blood and sweat-soaked advice for your own good…….
The reason Hio visited this place despite having four basic spells left was because his Patience had almost reached the target value.
Magic from special schools—that is, Chronomancy which deals with time, or Blood Magic which is evaluated as a type of dark magic, or the magic of spatial practitioners that would be below this—is very tricky and complex to learn.
Despite that, it wasn’t as if their power was superior to other traditional magic.
Only after reaching the 5th Circle did some usable spells catch his eye, but they were far from enough to be used as a primary force.
However, Hio possessed a broken trait that could turn a handful of sparks into a Blue Sun.
So far, he had four top-tier skills evolved through accumulated Patience.
Thunder Emperor.
Blue Flame.
Celestial.
Death God.
The balance was not bad.
Thunder Emperor allowed him to exert explosive, lightning-like power and move at that same speed by becoming lightning itself.
Blue Flame was an extremely destructive fire that moved by reading Hio’s will.
Celestial was a holy barrier that could block all physical attacks and even annihilate the energy of the Abyss.
Death God was an indispensable existence that provided infinite power when facing multiple enemies.
If he utilized these four top-tier skills well, he wouldn’t likely face trouble in most situations.
But would the path ahead be just “most situations”?
Since he didn’t know what kind of circumstances or strong enemies might be lying in wait, it would be better to possess as many diverse abilities as possible.
‘Is it a special school’s magic again of all things?’ When your mind is this exhausted, let’s go learn familiar elemental magic instead! Rest for a bit and then come back to learn it later……..
“If I do that, I might not be able to make the timing for the next conquest.”
Then you can just learn it by the conquest after that?
“What if a variable occurs in the meantime?”
Hio’s rather hollow eyes turned toward Furnel.
“There are so many things that don’t go according to plan.”
He was a human, not a god.
He didn’t know how to look into the future and move perfectly without a single mistake.
That was why he made mistakes.
He failed.
He couldn’t purify Aerial as Regarda wished, and he didn’t foresee the failure of the 51st Floor conquest.
When he walked through the damaged areas and witnessed the resulting tragedies, he didn’t show it outwardly, but how much had he blamed himself in private?
“I won’t make mistakes or fail anymore.”
‘Hadn’t he vowed to inherit the conviction of a pathetic king?’
A man who was the most pathetic king in the world, yet suited being a king more than anyone else.
‘Hadn’t he said in front of that shabby corpse that he would carry on his conviction?’
A conviction forged because he loved those around him more than himself, and because he truly lamented their deaths.
A firm heart that wanted to protect them even if he had to die.
The reason King Leorant failed was simple.
Because he didn’t have strength.
The strength to oppose any variable.
The strength to defeat everything even in the final battle of destruction.
Because he lacked that, his conviction could not be carried through in the end, and he was swallowed by the Abyssal Depths.
Don’t push yourself so hard. Didn’t you say it yourself? That you’re human. As long as you’re human, mistakes and failures are natural.
No.
That was why strength was needed.
The dream of the last magician.
The hope of the Goddess of Hope.
The conviction of the pathetic king.
All those heavy things were with him.
Pulling from the front and pushing from behind, they urged him along his path.
“Then I’ll just have to become a god.”
He could no longer tolerate mistakes or failures.
He had to whip himself more thoroughly and harshly to move forward.
If this world he loved could be at peace because of it… he didn’t mind breaking several times over.
Just like the pathetic king who begged for the lives of others in an utterly submissive manner.
“So, Furnel.”
But right now, he was lacking.
There was a clear limit to what he could do alone.
“Help me.”
It had only been a year since he started learning magic.
In that time, he had achieved the feat of reaching the 5th Circle, but he was still lacking and unstable.
There were many gaps in his knowledge.
Hooh.
At Hio’s serious words, Furnel puffed up his phantom body and…
……It can’t be helped. My disciple is asking.
Swaying like a deflated balloon, he eventually settled on Hio’s shoulder.
‘If not me, who would understand you?’
‘If not Furnel, who would understand Hio?’
He had watched the world through Hio’s eyes, shared his thoughts, and felt his emotions with him.
That was why he knew.
“Then stop talking nonsense and let’s go. There’s a lot to do.”
‘……Did you perhaps set the mood just to shut me up……?’
He knew that even if he continued to recommend rest, Hio wouldn’t listen in the end.
He couldn’t just learn all the special school magic recklessly.
Since it was a task that required many Circle Inscriptions and a lot of time, he had to choose carefully.
Especially since his Patience was nearly at the target value, the effect of the magic he learned this time would soon evolve into a top-tier skill.
Naturally, he had to think deeply.
Because of that, he had four candidates.
Chronomancy, which deals with time.
Spatial Magic, which researches and utilizes space.
Shadow Magic, specialized in camouflage and assassination by synchronizing with shadows.
And even Blood Magic, which deals with everything related to blood.
They were all tempting magics, but he couldn’t learn them all.
Even putting aside the lack of time, there wasn’t enough room for the Circle Inscriptions.
“Let’s drop Blood Magic.”
Though it was quite attractive, he excluded Blood Magic first as it wasn’t strictly necessary.
That left three.
“Now here’s the problem……..”
These three were all magics with their own unique charms.
Even when predicting the effects that would follow the magical results, they were certainly things that would grant him immense power.
That made choosing even harder.
What Hio wanted was the ability to deal with various situations.
In battle, he was moving like lightning using ‘Thunder Emperor,’ but there was a clear limit.
It was because that skill wasn’t originally intended for that purpose.
In that regard, Spatial, Shadow, and Chronomancy magic would all serve as excellent auxiliary means.
So his dilemma deepened.
None of the three can be called excellent just by looking at the magic itself, but considering when they are linked with your traits, there’s no doubt they’ll all be incredible. So let’s think realistically.
“……Realistically.”
That’s right. In fact, don’t you already know? You know what’s best to learn right now.
At Furnel’s words, Hio’s gaze turned toward the portal list again.
Starting from the Chronomancy floor, which was the highest floor among those he could move to, he had gone down and checked all the special school magics.
So, just as Furnel said, Hio also knew the answer.
“Right. Realistically, this is correct.”
He boldly selected one floor.
It was the room of the spatial practitioner who freely manipulated space.
「Moving to Wizard’s Tower Floor 125 – Spatial Magic Familiar Summoning Room.」
Good thinking. It’s right to learn the rest after raising your Circle more.
It was a realistic reason.
Actually, as an auxiliary means, Chronomancy was the most attractive, but it required so many new Circle Inscriptions that it was on the level of re-carving them from scratch.
Furthermore, that field was a study from another world to the point where even Furnel couldn’t give much advice.
On the other hand, Spatial Magic shared quite a few overlapping Circle Inscriptions, and since he had already studied it to some extent while learning Blink, it was something he could learn most quickly and surely.
Having made his decision, Hio strode across the Spatial Magic room on the 125th floor of the Tower of Mages.
The floor was so wide it was hard to believe it was inside a tower.
Dozens of magic books were placed there.
It was high-grade magic that he hadn’t even dared to contemplate before reaching the 5th Circle.
Dealing with space was that kind of thing.
The kind of magic where the 5th Circle was merely the beginning.
You, promise me this one thing.
As he was approaching the magic books, Furnel blocked Hio’s path with a quite serious expression.
After Spatial Magic, the next must absolutely be Necromancy.
“Why?”
“Why, you ask? Didn’t I tell you repeatedly? That there’s a limit to the human mind. If you use magic alone like you did in this conquest, your mind won’t be able to hold out.”
“Are you saying… there’s no need for that with Necromancy?”
“It’s like that from the 5th Circle. Well, you’ll see. So, it’s absolutely Necromancy.”
“Got it.”
With that promise, he turned his gaze back to the magic books.
Among the dozens of magic books placed before him, there were those he could learn now and those he couldn’t even dream of.
[Spatial Movement – Subspace Transfer]
[Spatial Movement – Portal Creation]
[Spatial Cutting – Annihilation]
[Spatial Distortion – Separation]
[Spatial Compression]
[Spatial Expansion]
[Spatial Manipulation – Distance]
[Spatial Manipulation – Path]
[Spatial Manipulation – Size]
[Spatial Manipulation – Rotation]
[Spatial Creation]
He would have to evolve one of these into his fifth top-tier skill.