WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈

Chapter 50: Mage Tower

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“Hmm, is that the guy old Castlelight has been looking for? He looks like a fool...”

Men and women in antique robes, immense magic power rising from them.

To my surprise, the people who had barged in during my meeting with Castlelight were masters from other schools.

Lerum, master of the Arcana School, which handled Arcane magic.

Agares, master of the Heide School, which handled fire magic, among others.

Every one of them was a renowned high-ranking mage.

The central figures running the Magic Tower examined me as though I were a monkey in a zoo.

“So you're the one who put our youngest through such a hard time. Nice to meet you, little mage.”

Most of the masters were middle-aged or elderly.

Yet the woman in the pointed hat who spoke to me looked young enough to be in her thirties.

I knew who she was.

The master of the Luminous School, which studied alchemy.

Marianne, the Golden Hand.

Hmm, all I'd done was ask for lemonade refills. Was that really so terrible?

I didn't understand.

“Me?”

“Master... Sob...”

Perhaps his pent-up sorrow had finally burst out. Widen threw himself into Marianne's arms, crying.

The seductive beauty in revealing clothes held Widen against her ample chest and patted him as she protested to Castlelight.

“Castlelight, isn't this too much? Using our boy as a servant wasn't enough, and now you're trying to keep such a wonderful slave... no, child, all to yourself?”

Her eyes, however, gleamed as she watched me rather than her disciple.

“Keep him all to myself, my ass! He handles Lightning, water and Frost, and Arcane magic anyway!”

“Really?”

“Hmm, I see.”

A few masters left as though they had lost interest.

Unlike everyone else's reactions so far, they did so even after learning I was a Triple Master.

Was that only natural?

‘They're archmages who have reached the pinnacle of their respective spells.’

‘If they'd made a fuss, I would've been disappointed.’

“A Triple Master... Old man Castlelight wouldn't make such a commotion unless there was a good reason...”

The ones who remained looked even more interested.

It wasn't trust in me, a wandering mage they had met for the first time today. It was trust in Castlelight himself.

“Will you all get out already!? I've got my eye on this one!”

Master Castlelight snapped.

Crackle!

A powerful Lightning spell surged from his hand. Even its faint arcs of electricity were enough to shatter the furniture nearby.

Still, everyone here was a high-ranking mage on a level similar to Castlelight's.

Not a single one blinked.

“Hohoho! Have you forgotten the rules of the Magic Tower? If a newcomer hasn't entered a school yet, you have to give them other choices.”

“Ghk...”

An enormous amount of attention focused on me.

An ordinary person might have felt pressured or burdened, but I only smiled.

Heh. Heheheheh.

‘At last, I've found intellectuals in this world full of uncivilized barbarians who recognize my talent!’

South Sunshine Village.

When I lived in that little settlement, people called me an idiot or a fool every day.

“You unlucky bastard. Your hair's the color of snow. Fucking bad luck. Ptooey.”

“What good are you when you're this weak? Damn it, go empty the shit pit.”

But look at this place now.

Renowned powerhouses had gathered around me, all clamoring for my attention.

Yes, this was the treatment a genius mage deserved.

The humiliation I'd suffered back then was finally fading away.

“Fine! Let's let him choose for himself!”

The burning eyes of the archmages fixed on me.

‘It feels like professors looking for an efficient slave.’

For some reason, sweat ran down the back of my neck.

* * *

I decided to have one-on-one interviews with the heads of each school.

There were four schools that showed interest in me.

The Astrafe School of Lightning.

The Arcana School of Arcane magic.

The Glacier School of Frost.

What was unusual was that the master of the Luminous School, which focused on alchemy, also wanted me in their school.

“You seem curious why I want you to join us.”

Big-breasted mama.

Master Marianne, dressed less in robes than in a modified gown that showed off her cleavage, spoke with a smile.

“You don't necessarily need to be chosen by a Grimoire to practice alchemy. All you need is an exceptional mind and a passion for study.”

Well, she was right.

Mages belonging to the Magic Tower needed to know some alchemy to conduct experiments with various ingredients and catalysts.

Making high-grade potions, golems, and familiars required being chosen by the Grimoire of Creation, though.

‘I don't have any spells for transforming properties or materials, either, so it's difficult to use in the field.’

‘In the end, it's still a difficult discipline for ordinary people to learn.’

“I heard from Widen. That picky old man... no, Castlelight, was amazed by one of your experiments?”

“Yes. I'm a genius, after all.”

“...”

Marianne fell silent for a moment, then smiled and clapped her hands.

“You're so confident. I like men like that.”

I wanted to say, You're being ridiculous, old lady.

I knew her age, after all.

But I couldn't say that to a future source of funding.

As I was thinking that, Marianne suddenly smiled and held out her hand.

“Shall we shake hands?”

“Yes.”

The moment I clasped her hand, I felt a faint thread of magic slither over my entire body like a snake.

It passed over the fingertips and fingerprints that cast spells, through the inner cosmos where my Grimoires breathed, then returned to the brain inside my skull.

It was so subtle that I would've missed it if I hadn't known her temperament beforehand and stayed on guard.

Thump!

Maybe they disliked the unfamiliar energy that had suddenly intruded.

My Grimoires grew angry.

Crackle!

A sharp spark ran through me, and Marianne pulled her hand away.

“...”

She was still smiling, but I could see it.

For an instant, her playful expression had stiffened.

‘She was testing me.’

Archmages had all sorts of methods to gauge someone's level.

‘Judging by her reaction, I think I passed...’

“Sorry for playing a little trick on you, Ian. Now, shall we get back to the point?”

Marianne clapped her hands and spoke excitedly.

“Other schools normally provide three gold coins a month as research funds. But if you join our school, you'll receive five gold coins every month. In Ian's case, you'll receive eight gold coins as a special exception! If you submit a paper that shocks the academic world or take part in field training, you'll receive even more support.”

[Except for the fire-focused Heide School and the earth-focused Trowel School, the Luminous School is the wealthiest within the tower.]

[Master Marianne can turn literal trash into gold.]

The mages of the Luminous School were also responsible for transforming Mana Stones from the city into food and other materials.

‘As expected of the Luminous School. That's a generous amount.’

I would receive an enormous sum simply by belonging to them, even without doing anything.

Eight gold coins was what a laborer earned in a year of working all day at hard labor in a quarry or on the city walls.

‘In a frontier territory, it would be enough to buy a house, meet a good woman, and even get married.’

This was the power of mages.

The power held by their group.

The power I would gain once I joined them.

‘Though it would disappear after one or two experiments.’

“Hmm, may I think it over?”

“Yes, of course.”

Marianne crossed her arms with a smile.

Her heavy chest swayed.

Hmm, so this was how she swept up newcomers.

She really was a frightening woman.

‘They said she drains the vitality out of virgin mages who are weak around women!’

The next school was the Arcana School, which handled Arcane magic.

In a mysterious space filled with countless mirrors and clusters of light shaped into geometric figures, a balding middle-aged man with glasses greeted me.

He looked less like a mage and more like a quiet scholar whose thoughts were elsewhere.

It was Lerum, master of the Arcana School.

“Unlike other elemental magic, Arcane magic values precision, calculations, and formulas above all else. It's also a discipline in which one can hardly achieve greatness without an excellent teacher.”

Lerum called Arcane spells a discipline rather than magic, then suddenly said something strange.

“I sense the energy of an unfamiliar otherworld from you. Have you recently opened a dimensional gate or visited an outer dimension? No... both, perhaps? Hmm.”

‘He can detect traces of magic even after several days?’

I was surprised by Lerum's skill.

Did that mean he had figured out that I'd summoned a Drake too?

“If you have been there, that makes things easier. Among the countless branches of Arcane magic, the field that interests me most is dimensional gates and portals.”

His eyes gleamed behind his glasses.

“Even now, many people in the Labyrinth are banished because they can't pay their yearly taxes, or they turn to crime. Other territories and villages beyond the snowfields have it even worse. They send people to their deaths to reduce the number of mouths to feed. It's a great loss for humanity. Things may be manageable for now, but eventually, this could lead to humanity's extinction.”

I could sense his grand purpose, his lofty conviction that it was for humanity's sake.

“I believe the answer lies in Arcane magic, and in portals connected to it.”

“Oh?”

“What if I could freely take out the material I want from a dimensional gate? Imagine having unlimited meat and firewood. Humanity could flourish again as it did before winter came.”

Then Lerum suddenly began gripping and releasing his staff.

Twitch. Twitch.

His hand twitched like Gimlius's, an alcoholic.

The high-ranking mage, who had been speaking so elegantly, suddenly revealed his true feelings.

“Ah. I want to open one again. I just want to fire up another dimensional gate so fucking badly.”

“...”

For reference, this was the traitor who had opened a dimensional gate ten years ago, summoned a demon, nearly destroyed half the Magic Tower, and almost turned the city into ruins.

As punishment, the Arcana School had been bound by a prohibition pact that prevented them from opening dimensional gates within the city.

In the game, people simply called this man a dopamine-crazed bastard.

He was the most dangerous of the high-ranking mages whose screws were all a little loose.

“If you're interested, join our school. It'll be fun.”

“Um... sure.”

Even though I had already summoned a dragon in a Secret Dungeon, he still made me feel uneasy.

Next, I met Gerard, master of the Glacier School.

Saaaaa.

The moment I entered the room, he tested me in his own way.

Frost slowly formed from my feet upward.

It was a refined constitution test to see how naturally my magic power accepted the Frost attribute.

“Ah, cold.”

When my magic power naturally let his chill flow through it, one of Gerard's eyebrows rose slightly.

“If you wish to master water and Frost spells, join us. Then you won't need to fear the bitter cold outside.”

The handsome, middle-aged man in a suit with a neatly groomed mustache spoke coldly.

Maybe it was because the people before him had been so crazy... no, distinctive.

I liked that he seemed cool.

The last person was Castlelight of the Astrafe School once again.

“The others have many people beneath them to take care of. Between the rules set by the Tower Lord, audits from City Hall, and budget allocations, even a school master can't just do whatever they please.”

Eager to take me as his disciple, he emphasized how he differed from the masters of the other Magic Tower schools.

“So you're different, Master Castlelight?”

“Of course.”

Castlelight stroked his curled beard and smiled arrogantly.

“First, I don't care about the Tower Lord or those bastards at City Hall. I don't care what those beneath me think either. That means I can favor you alone and focus solely on guiding you, provided you prove you have the ability.”

“Oh.”

He was right.

The masters of the other schools had asked me to enter as a regular student, but Castlelight had told me to become his disciple.

We would form a deeper bond.

“I heard you often enter the Labyrinth. There are many things to be wary of there, from monsters and traps to Marauders. To crush them, you need powerful strength. Very powerful strength.”

Castlelight, who had been lounging in his chair, suddenly clenched his fist.

Crackle!

In an instant, the hairs on my body stood on end as a thrilling sensation ran up my spine and through my entire body.

‘Don't tell me this old man is...!’

Powerful elemental energy spread outward, then gathered in one place.

I turned toward the laboratory window.

At the same time...

Kra-kaboom!!!

A massive bolt of Lightning suddenly struck from the sky over the peaceful city.

“Aaaaah!”

“The sky! The sky is angry!!!”

People walking down the street fled in panic or fell onto their backsides, crying out to the gods.

The Lightning had struck an empty area, but a wide, deep trench had been gouged into the ground around it as if a bomb had gone off.

“Hehehe.”

It was overwhelming destructive power and presence.

An archmage who controlled nature with a single gesture.

Castlelight looked down arrogantly at the terrified people as though they were insects and laughed.

“Did you see that?”

“...”

I swallowed.

I was shocked by the reckless way this old man had dropped Lightning right in the heart of the city, not even above a laboratory equipped with a lightning rod like mine.

At the same time, I admired his ability, the confidence that let him be so arrogant because he knew he could handle the consequences.

‘Arrogant and self-righteous, but strong.’

“It is faster than the eyes or thoughts of any living creature. The instant you recognize it, this destructive mass of light has already burned its target and torn its internal organs to shreds. What spell in this world could be stronger than Lightning?”

I recalled Castlelight's characteristics.

Among all the masters of the Magic Tower, he was the only former Deep Floors Expedition Party member who had explored the eighth floor of the Labyrinth and beyond.

‘He's weak against undead-type monsters.’

‘And he's severely restricted in enclosed terrain with blocked ceilings.’

‘But against living creatures or in combat against people, Lightning is the strongest alongside fire.’

“So consider it carefully before deciding.”

With that, Castlelight sharply crossed his arms.

He looked completely certain that I would choose him.

Perhaps because of the commotion just now, the communication crystal ball on the table was glowing, but he paid it no mind.

...

“Phew.”

I wiped away the cold sweat that had formed without my noticing and sighed.

The archmages of the Magic Tower.

I had already met them in the game, but meeting them in person proved that they were no ordinary people.

Even a genius like me had felt tense.

I thought it over.

‘This is my second advancement route.’

Should I enter the alchemy school, receive abundant support, and learn how to make familiars and potions?

Making explosive potions or Orc Power Potions would help the party too.

‘The water and Frost school has great versatility. I can't use fire spells, so it would help when I go to the snowfields or the fourth floor later.’

‘Lightning spells are the fastest and strongest of all spells...’

The Arcana School was connected not only to teleportation but also to dimensional portals, which interested me the most.

Maybe I could find a way to return home through that path instead of conquering the Labyrinth.

“Hmm.”

All right. I had made my decision.

“Have you made up your mind? Hehehe.”

Castlelight asked as I uncrossed my arms.

The truth was... my choice had been decided from the start.

If choosing one meant regretting having to give up the others...

Then I could simply...

“Why not learn them all?”

“...!”

The old mage, who had been smiling arrogantly, stared at me with wide eyes.

Fuck, why should I have to give up even one?

I could do everything!

[Ian chose alchemy... no, Lightning... no, Arcane... no, Frost as his second advancement route...]

[No, he chose them all.]

[Is he insane?]

Footnotes:

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