WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 267

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I sought a path that benefited everyone. That was how I could overcome the brutality that pervaded this university.

From that perspective, the Chairman, who had decided to cooperate with me, had gained quite a lot. I slowly shook my head as I recalled the strange world I had experienced in the Chairman’s workshop.

Though only a week had passed since I became the Chairman’s test subject, the Chairman had already built a world of their own. One that could draw several people inside.

That much was clear proof of how lofty the Chairman’s realm was. Just how far had the Chairman advanced? Having lived for tens of thousands of years, perhaps the Chairman could look down on ordinary professors with ease.

I rubbed my chin. Perhaps the Chairman was even on the verge of becoming an archmage. The world the Chairman wished to create was strange enough to make me think so.

I looked quietly around me. Countless colors of magical power filled the area.

When I held out my hand, I could feel that magical power gathering around me. It instinctively sought somewhere it could seep into.

Everything in this world was founded on magical power. Therefore, everything was bound to that magical power, to this world.

And a mage’s personal world could not escape that structure either.

No, the worlds created by mages were perhaps the most easily bound to this dimension.

After all, a mage’s world was made of magical power they had tamed over a long period of time.

Naturally, their world would be subordinate to this dimension. It could not help being drawn in by the world’s gravity, which pulled everything toward itself.

However, the world the Chairman wished to create rejected magical power. Instead, the Chairman wished to use magical power curses to create a world without magical power.

A mage’s world could be called a manifestation of their soul. Like a tree, it was a space where the desires held within their soul took shape.

From that perspective, the world created by the Chairman, a domain utterly devoid of magical power, could be called a rejection of this world itself.

I turned slightly to look at the sky outside the window.

There was a rumor among mages. They said that if one stepped through every realm, raised a tree, and reached the realm of an archmage, they could freely travel to another world.

With that in mind, it was easy to understand what the Chairman wanted.

A world without magical power would not be held by this world. The moment the Chairman completed their world, this mountain would surely become a new star and rise into the heavens.

Just as this world had created magical power curses to strengthen magical power even further, the Chairman was trying to use magical power curses to escape this world.

Through that, the Chairman wished to return to the place from which they had fallen. Even after falling all the way to the bottom, the Chairman had not given up on returning to their original world.

To break through everything in one’s way and somehow climb back up. Perhaps the other reincarnators I had seen were also cooperating with the Chairman for that purpose.

Then what about me? Did I want to return to the world I had come from before I fell?

I shook my head at the thought.

The souls I had seen in the Chairman’s world shone with a dazzling light. A light clear enough to catch the eye no matter how far away it was.

Perhaps they shone so brightly because their souls were strong enough to endure even the process of falling.

But I was somewhat different from them. My soul was neither as sturdy nor as complete as theirs.

My soul was a colony formed from countless small fragments. It was likely the result of several souls falling together. My reincarnation could be called little more than an accident.

Because of that, my soul could not shine as brightly as the other reincarnators’. It could only somehow imitate the shape of a soul from this world.

Perhaps that was why I felt less rejection toward this world. Unlike the others, I could even partly imitate having children by mixing souls together. The soul Saplings were the result of that.

Still, they could not be called perfect children. All I had done was mix together incomplete soul fragments.

Mixing the incomplete soul contained within a tree branch with my soul fragments to make one whole. Rather than having children, perhaps it was more accurate to call it assimilation.

I was stealing the souls that existed in this world and reshaping them into forms that suited me. That was why I liked this world. It was a place that suited me perfectly.

Therefore, it could be said that the Chairman and I had formed a perfect relationship of mutual benefit in these negotiations. The Chairman’s goal matched mine.

The Chairman would construct a way to escape this world, while I would study a method to steal this world. What a beautiful arrangement.

I placed a hand lightly over my chest. I could feel the flow of my soul, tightly bound by the magical power curse as it continued to collapse and regenerate.

The reason I had come to the council in the first place was to find a way to perfectly control the patchwork tree, that collection of souls made by weaving together countless tree branches.

I had only learned that the Chairman was a reincarnator while trying to find that method. My original goal had been to bleach the patchwork tree through magical power curses.

That was why I became the Chairman’s test subject. And this curse, just as I had hoped, had given me much inspiration.

Of course, I had not reached the level where I could fully interpret and control this curse as the Chairman had. I was only a test subject.

I did not even properly understand what structure a curse had, nor did I know how to break this enormous mass binding my soul.

But there were things I could learn precisely because I was a test subject.

I flicked my fingertips. The flow of magical power around me began following my guidance toward a black pillar standing at the edge of the magic circle.

As magical power of many colors gathered near the pillar, it naturally began absorbing it.

The magical power tried to scatter as though resisting the pull, but it could not escape the pillar’s attraction within the magic circle. Its rainbow hues slowly melted beneath a murky color.

After absorbing magical power for a while, the pillar trembled and began releasing magical power that had become somewhat transparent. I touched it lightly, then nodded in satisfaction.

I could no longer feel the same resistance from this magical power. The colors held by each type of magical power had diminished accordingly. In other words, bleaching was close at hand.

This was the result of directly transferring the properties of the magical power curse within my soul.

The magical power curse corrupted magical power, expelled it, and even devoured it. Amid those varied effects, magical power, once an absolute force, could only drift about meaninglessly.

By experiencing the curse firsthand, I came to understand that process clearly. I could imitate part of it by tearing apart my own tree.

I leaned against the black pillar, a structure made from my tree that had been tainted by the curse. Then I could feel some of the color it had just torn from the magical power being transmitted to me.

I smacked my lips, feeling oddly full. It was surely not just my imagination. The color contained in that magical power could also be called soul fragments.

I focused again as I guided more magical power into the pillar.

Defining this magic circle as an otherworld, setting the pillar and patchwork tree as opposing symbols, then circulating magical power until only pure magical power remained. That was my goal.

It was a kind of filtering process. A process of separating the countless colors held by the patchwork tree, the flow of its souls, through magical power curses.

The pure magical power of this mountain had likely been produced through endlessly refining such curses.

I clicked my tongue as I imagined the Magical Power Council members who must have been ground down endlessly to create this structure.

Like Merov, who had brought me here, every council member sought purity in magical power. They wanted a world filled with nothing but magical power. That was why they studied magical power curses.

But the Chairman, the mage who had lived for tens of thousands of years and stood at their head, intended to use their results in the exact opposite way.

The world the Chairman had created was the complete opposite of what they desired.

The council members were diligently honing curses for the Chairman without even realizing they were being used.

I lightly shook my head. The Chairman’s slyness in hiding their goal for tens of thousands of years and making everyone else into tools was impressive even among all the mages I had seen.

Well, it was not as though I intended to tell them the truth. They were gaining at least some benefit through their cooperation with the Magical Power Council.

Therefore, no one could be said to be losing out in this enormous plan. Of course, the Chairman and I would gain far more than they did.

Still, when I thought about it, neither I nor the Chairman had gained the greatest benefit from this undertaking. There was someone whose entire life had changed.

I stopped thinking for a moment and waved my hand. At my will, all the magical power began gathering in the center of the magic circle.

At its center, the Imperial Prince, who had the patchwork tree planted within him, sat cross-legged. Feeling the magical power gather, the Imperial Prince took a deep breath and began inhaling it.

After some time passed, every bit of magical power in the magic circle had seeped into the Imperial Prince. I approached and examined his body.

As expected, there was nothing wrong.

I smiled faintly and nodded.

“Today’s purification is complete. You may rise now.”

As I spoke, I signaled to Isabella outside the magic circle. Since the curse had bound my magical power, I needed Isabella’s help to clear away the magic circle.

Isabella cleared it away, and the puppets approached and began breaking down the black pillar as though felling a tree.

Since magical power could not affect it, it had to be collected directly like that. The pillar at the edge of the magic circle shattered into pieces and was placed in a box.

I narrowed my eyes as I watched. A tree tainted by magical power curses was an extremely interesting material.

As I had just seen, the tree rejected all magical power. Therefore, before making that pillar, I had first tried to make a puppet.

A puppet with anti-magic resistance. Naturally, any puppeteer would covet such a thing.

But the tree containing the magical power curse rejected even my magical power. I could only make it into a pillar and use it to filter magical power.

Still, I had not given up on every possibility.

If I could not make it into a puppet because it rejected even my magical power, what if I forged it into something like a sword instead?

I could obtain a sword optimized for killing mages. Or perhaps I could attach it to arrowheads and fire them. It would surely pierce even protective magic with ease.

I shook my head at that thought. Thinking only of fighting others, it seemed I was still bound by the brutality that pervaded this university.

That material was far too precious to use for such simple consumables.

I felt around my chest. The image of my gaunt tree came to mind.

My tree was a manifestation of my soul. No matter how much I cut from it, it quickly returned to its original form. That was why I had torn pieces from it without hesitation.

But the part tainted by the curse still could not regenerate itself.

That was likely because all the soul fragments were flowing toward my soul. My soul was still collapsing and filling itself over and over, so the half-sealed portion had naturally lost its strength.

Therefore, I could no longer tear apart my tree as freely as before.

Even the amount I had torn away to make that pillar had been barely obtained without putting strain on my realm.

Judging by how quickly it recovered, I would be unable to tear more away while maintaining the curse. I would need to be extremely careful in how I used this precious material.

I carefully put the box into my robes and looked toward the Imperial Prince. The Imperial Prince, having settled all his magical power, slowly rose.

The Imperial Prince met my eyes and repeatedly clenched and opened both hands. A snake sprang from his mouth and coiled around his shoulder.

It was the Snake of Curses containing the Imperial Prince’s soul.

Yet even after the soul had left, the Imperial Prince’s original body still met my gaze. Imperial Prince Beral looked over his body and smiled with satisfaction.

-“As expected of you, Mr. Evron. Each day, it becomes easier to move this body. Your skill truly is remarkable.”

The snake and the Imperial Prince spoke at the same time. Using two bodies at once. Perhaps the discord between the patchwork tree and the curse was no longer as severe as before, allowing Beral that leisure.

“I have done nothing. Is it not the result of Your Highness’s own efforts?”

I bowed my head slightly and glanced at the snake. Perhaps because we had weakened the curse for a week, it was considerably smaller than before.

If we endured another week, we would likely be able to break the curse convincingly. Then Beral could return to his original body.

Well, that too was nothing but deception.

In truth, the Imperial Prince’s magical power curse could have been broken long ago. Naturally. The mass of curse planted in the Imperial Prince had been created by the Chairman.

Therefore, the Chairman could easily remove the curse with a simple touch. The reason we were putting on this performance was to deceive the Imperial Prince.

The Imperial Prince did not know about the pact between the Chairman and me. He did not know that we were reincarnators, nor that the curse planted within him had been created according to the Chairman’s plan.

If the Chairman removed the curse at once under those circumstances, the Imperial Prince would naturally grow suspicious.

That was why I needed to stage a performance where I appeared to plant and break his curse myself.

I had no reason to refuse. For this performance, the Chairman had told me everything, from how those curses could be woven together to which curse served which function.

I had no intention of passing up the chance to gain knowledge too valuable to put a price on. Following the Chairman’s plan and mine, the process of breaking the Imperial Prince’s curse was proceeding successfully.

“At this rate, we will be able to completely bleach the tree by the next lecture. I will finish breaking the curse around then as well.”

I rubbed my chin as I examined the Imperial Prince. The snake looked down at its body and flicked its tail.

-“Hmm. That will be a little regrettable. I have grown rather accustomed to this body as well.”

“If you wish, I can turn that body into a puppet and give it to Your Highness.”

-“Oh? If that is possible, I would not refuse.”

The snake’s eyes gleamed with interest. I nodded.

The snake’s body had not been planted with a magical power curse. It was the result of the Snake of Curses, a spell made to imitate one.

Therefore, it was not completely untouchable like the pillar carved from my tree.

Of course, it still rejected magical power, so I would need to use somewhat expensive materials. But considering the relationship I would build with the Imperial Prince, it was worth that investment.

Besides, I needed to watch the Imperial Prince closely. If it was a puppet containing a soul Sapling, it could remain by his side even outside the university.

I had certainly gained much through this plan. The Chairman had also gained enormous potential, enough to create part of a world.

No matter how hard we tried, it would be nearly impossible to gain anything greater than that.

Yet even we were somewhat lacking compared to Imperial Prince Beral before us. What Beral had gained was life itself.

I smiled warmly at the Imperial Prince.

“You will soon become a perfect mage. How do you feel?”

-“How do I feel? I never expected to gain such power.”

The snake flicked its tongue as it whispered. It looked strangely relaxed.

That was quite odd.

Imperial Prince Beral had lived with only a limited time to live. Because of the curse that no one could break, Beral had no choice but to live in the body of weeds until the age of twenty, and its effects had left him constantly ill.

The Chairman had looked after Beral, of course, but if things continued like that, Beral would surely have died before reaching fifty.

And yet Beral had gained a healthy body and a lifespan that could easily stretch for centuries, but remained so calm. It was almost as if Beral had known this would happen.

No, perhaps Beral really had known.

I narrowed my eyes and observed the Imperial Prince.

Until now, I had thought I was the one who had drawn Imperial Prince Beral into my plan. I had believed that if I could plant a tree within someone who was weeds, he could not help but be drawn to me.

But the more I learned about the Chairman, the stranger it seemed.

Imperial Prince Beral was not the ordinary kind of prince I had imagined. Beral was not merely descended from the Emperor. Beral was practically the Emperor’s double.

Would such a person truly fail to notice my intentions? No, would Beral fail to realize that the curse he carried had been made by the Chairman?

Previously, the Imperial Prince had called himself a test subject. That meant Beral clearly understood his own situation.

Perhaps that was why Beral had led the Chairman to me. Perhaps I had not chosen Beral. Perhaps Beral had chosen me, as a tool to break his curse.

I met Beral’s gaze and smiled.

Well, it did not matter which was the case. Everyone sought their own benefit, did they not?

In the end, the only truth was that we understood one another and had formed a relationship that benefited us both.

Therefore, rather than the past, what mattered more was what kind of relationship we could maintain in the future.

I faced the Imperial Prince and spoke.

“Then what do you plan to do afterward?”

At my question, the snake closed its eyes briefly as though deep in thought. After flicking its tongue for a moment, it whispered softly into my ear.

-“I plan to enter the university. It seems I will need to rely on you for a long time, Mr. Evron.”

I could not help laughing at those words. As expected, that was the choice Beral would make.

The Artificial Tree Project was a kind of scam.

Creating an artificial tree required many conditions. A magical power curse was necessary, as was a body of deep bloodline. My soul fragments also needed to be inserted.

Therefore, my claim that I could plant a tree in anyone was nothing but a lie. That was why I could hold lectures without hesitation.

The others attending my lectures had likely half realized that already.

What I said in my lectures had considerable value, but in the end, I was only a third-floor mage talking. Naturally, they would quickly find the flaws in my words.

Before me, many people had already run wild claiming they could create trees. It was only natural.

Even so, they did not protest against me because I had truly created a result in Imperial Prince Beral.

Therefore, no matter how nonsensical my lectures were, others could not help listening to me.

Many people both inside and outside the university would likely focus on me. They would seek to uncover the knowledge and magic I had hidden. That was exactly what I wanted.

But not everyone would do so. It would not be easy to draw me out when I was settled within the university.

Furthermore, the words of a mage who had only now raised a Young Tree would not be especially credible.

Therefore, some might take interest not in me, but in the Imperial Prince, the sole result.

They would think the plan succeeded not because I was special, but because the Imperial Prince was special.

Many people would seek Beral out, driven by curiosity.

Some might even try to dissect the Imperial Prince despite knowing Beral was royalty. Mages were that kind of people.

From that perspective, there was no safer place for Imperial Prince Beral than the university.

The Chairman had protected Beral until now, but that was ultimately because Beral had been the Chairman’s only test subject.

Now, however, the Imperial Prince’s value to the Chairman had run out. A more perfect test subject, me, had appeared.

Therefore, the Imperial Prince had no choice but to choose to remain by my side.

I met Beral’s gaze and nodded leisurely.

“If Your Highness is coming, I will need to make many preparations.”

This was a kind of deal.

I would gain the Imperial Prince, proof of my plan, while the Imperial Prince would use me as a shield. Even without speaking deeply, it felt as though we understood one another.

I could not help smiling at that feeling.

After all, good intentions always found their way to each other.

And so, another week passed, and I was able to successfully finish my final lecture as well.

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