WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: WeTried
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Made a Tier List the Transcendents Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 17: What Talent Means
──────
How can pure achievement in a field be distinguished from the sum of one’s abilities?
It was not a question anyone could answer easily.
Those called geniuses often kept others from seeing their true nature through the aura surrounding them.
Even their strange behavior could be passed off as an expression of genius, making their true nature difficult to discern.
The opposite was true as well.
If a blind person painted a picture equal to that of an ordinary painter, would they simply be treated as an ordinary painter?
Those who overcome every kind of disability and compete with others in their achievements are not judged solely by the results of that journey.
And so...
[ No, but putting that in S-Tier is a bit much lolllll ]
[ Upvote if you think the Salmurim lot are completely fucked lolllll ]
[ I don’t know what criteria Oz will use, but ]
[ No, I’m telling you, Oz is just a crazy obvious-pick addict. We should assume the ones getting slapped with S are already decided. ]
[ A special prosecutor is a sword too. Investigate Oz!!!!!! ]
[ The posting rate has gone up almost tenfold, wow lolllll ]
[ Ah, fuck, what’s with the mass-produced Hero bastards rigging the upvotes? ]
Having touched upon this dangerous, age-old question, the Gallery was more active than ever.
Like a wildfire spreading across a dry field, it was reducing everything to ash.
...Then what was the culprit who had lit this fire doing now?
“Hmm. You pass.”
“...Pardon? Really? Me?”
“Don’t you want to?”
“No, no, no! But... how could I possibly?”
“Because you look cute.”
“Yes...?”
At an upper-floor office of the Winter Tree Mage Tower, a highly suspicious conversation was taking place.
* * *
It was common for the mages of a mage tower to have one or more assistants.
Officially, they were described as collaborators who participated in research or the production of magic circuits.
In reality, they were just lackeys. Little different from slaves.
[ If someone asks you to become their assistant, run away no matter what... ]
[ Third year as an assistant. My hair has started falling out. ]
All kinds of horror stories about them circulated through Lower Realm communities.
Of course, those without backing usually chose that path despite knowing what kind of life awaited them.
The world was that cold.
“So, another person got in?”
“I heard he came from outside. They say he transferred to the Inner Tower as soon as he registered.”
“I think I saw him. He looked really young... Though you can’t tell someone’s age from their appearance.”
“He really is young, apparently. Twenty-four or so. My uncle is an administrator at the main tower, so...”
Thus, countless applicants gathered for the assistant position of the regular mage who had newly joined the Winter Tree Mage Tower.
According to the rumors, he was a genius who had reached 3-Star at twenty-four, with a highly promising future ahead of him.
“Think you’ll get picked?”
“Give it up early.”
Naturally, the odds of any of those applications succeeding were low.
Mages who transferred in from outside generally recruited their assistants from outside as well.
A genius who had reached 3-Star at twenty-four, if the rumors were true.
And in this world, geniuses were more often made than born.
There was a good chance he had some sort of background.
In cases like that, applicants were even more likely to fail.
Most people therefore approached it with the attitude of taking a stab at an unreachable prize.
There was no disadvantage to applying, after all.
“Why did people who can’t even create a Star apply?”
“Leave them alone. They just don’t know their place.”
Many System Mages had gathered among the applicants this time as well.
Because he was young, 1-Star and 2-Star mages had actually been reluctant to apply.
Since he was a complete outsider with no faction whatsoever, there was no need to watch anyone’s mood.
But they knew it too.
Their chances of being chosen were approaching zero.
“...Pardon?”
That was why Wendy could not immediately accept even the news she had heard directly from him.
She stared at the faintly smiling young man across from her, unable to shake the suspicion that he had made some kind of joke.
But she had heard correctly.
Twenty years old this year.
Wendy, a seventh-rank System Mage, had become Jin’s assistant.
“How could I possibly?”
Even after committing the unprecedented blunder of asking the interviewer why she had passed, the answer was gentle.
“Because you look cute.”
“Yes...?”
Of course, that answer was not entirely normal either.
Having inadvertently displayed the utmost cuteness, Wendy, age twenty and seventh-rank, ended up with a nameplate around her neck.
Starting the very next day, her status had risen abruptly.
“...Wow. They’re even giving me a private room.”
The lives of System Mages affiliated with the tower were harsh.
They were better off than non-Ability Users, of course... but that only meant their shackles were lighter and cleaner.
To exaggerate a little, seventh-rank System Mages were as common as pebbles on the street.
The mage tower paid no attention to their treatment.
Whenever something happened, they threw these people into the grinder first.
Only if that failed to resolve the situation did they try to understand what was going on.
From such a position, Wendy had become the servant of a mage from the Inner Tower.
The saying that even a servant should serve in a great house was truly right.
Compared to her days spent copying spells all day in the Outer Tower’s main building, in the space known as the copyist room, it was simply moving.
“Mage Jin, I’m here for work!”
Just escaping the cramped room with two bunk beds, where she had suffered through snoring every night, felt refreshing.
After getting a good night’s sleep for the first time in a while, her face was glowing. In fact, she had put a little effort into her appearance too.
The reason she had personally heard for being specially hired was her looks.
She did not know whether that was the truth or a joke, but...
Vwoooom!
With her lively greeting, the closed doors slid open to either side.
A man came into view, sitting cross-legged in front of his office desk while considering something.
His eyes were pale and sharp enough to seem cold at first glance.
Yet, contrary to those features, an oddly nonchalant air softened them.
“Oh, sit wherever you’re comfortable.”
“...Yes!”
Even after casually greeting her, Jin continued to ponder something with a serious expression.
Watching him, Wendy swallowed nervously.
Gulp.
She even stifled the sound of swallowing.
They were only four years apart. Yet in that short gap of time, the mage before her had reached the realm of 3-Star.
What grueling years must he have gone through to get there?
She could not even imagine it.
Therefore, interrupting that quiet, lofty chain of thought would surely be an unforgivable sin...
“...Ah, F-Tier might not be right. But I don’t think pure swordsmanship could beat Gerger.”
It was only natural that she could not understand a single word of what she heard in the middle of it.
“Ah, whatever. That’s enough for today.”
Nnngh.
After stretching once and rising from his seat, he turned his gaze toward her.
Wendy immediately tucked back her slightly disheveled hair and folded her hands politely.
“...What? You’ve been all stiff like that? Relax a little.”
“N-No, I’m perfectly comfortable!”
There was one thing Wendy had learned from the interview until now.
Jin was much softer-hearted than he seemed.
More precisely, the way he spoke and acted around others was drastically different from the way he spoke when they were alone.
“Really? That’s strange.”
He shrugged, walked to the sofa across from her, and looked Wendy over before speaking.
“You’re twenty. You said you had learned System Magic up to the seventh rank, right?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
“...You’re going to blow out my eardrums. Speak more quietly.”
“Yeees, thaaat’s riiight.”
“...”
Jin’s expression plainly said that something might be wrong with her too.
He cleared his throat once and continued.
“On the day of the interview, I told you why I picked you, didn’t I?”
“Yes. To be honest, I still don’t really...”
“Well, saying I picked you because you’re cute was just a joke.”
“...Ah, am I not cute?”
Wendy let down the hair she had tied behind her head.
With that, the hairstyle she had worn on the first day of the interview returned.
“Is this better?”
“...That’s not it. Your appearance wasn’t the main reason.”
Jin briefly composed the corners of his trembling mouth, then returned to the subject.
“Honestly, being at the System Magic level or whatever doesn’t mean much. Reaching Star Manipulation isn’t that difficult, and you have to move beyond that eventually anyway.”
“Wow, ahhh. Ahem. Yes!”
“...You really give great reactions. Anyway, I brought you here because I saw your talent.”
“I have talent?”
Jin nodded confidently at Wendy, whose expression said this was the first she had heard of it.
“Of course.”
Otherwise, he would not have been so surprised when he first noticed it.
“You have two choices.”
Jin repeated words he had heard not long ago.
Of course, with a different speaker, the contents were entirely different.
“One is to simply work as an assistant in the mage tower. Even if you only do that, you’ll probably be treated better than other mages’ assistants.”
But one thing was the same. It was obvious which of the two choices was the right one.
“And the other is for me to support you completely. I’ll get you to the realm of the path of magic or beyond within a hundred years at most. In exchange, you’ll stay with me until the end. As my comrade.”
“...What?”
“Whichever one you choose, what happened here today stays a secret.”
After that calm command...
“Five... Stars?”
Wendy could see the five sources of light floating before her eyes.
Footnotes:
“Special prosecutor” is teukgeom in Korean, ending with geom, meaning “sword.” That is why the forum post calls a special prosecutor a sword.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
