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Chapter 62

Guests of the Magic Tower were divided into five levels. Level 1 guests, who were the lowest level, consisted of general visitors. They couldn’t go much of anywhere else other than the first-floor lobby. Even at levels 2 and 3, every step was monitored. These restrictions only became looser at level 4, which consisted of people who were invited.

But I’m registered as a level 5 guest. A special guest.

Only the Towermaster and the Chief Elder were allowed to grant this privilege, and this was a position that could only be occupied by two people at a time. That was why the mages couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable around him. If they accidentally offended Leonard and got on Jack Russell’s bad side, they would immediately be ostracized by the magic community.

In addition, because Leonard walked around with the Chief Elder’s direct apprentice stuck to his side, it seemed that rumors were starting to form.

“Well, nothing will change even if I concern myself with such things,” he remarked out loud.

As usual, Leonard was in the Magic Tower’s mana chamber. He finished his Breath Circulation and pushed aside distracting thoughts. It had already been a week since he’d taken up residence in this peculiar place.

The story of him becoming a special guest had reached Frances. She had expressed immense surprise, but she had to have been drowning in work, as she hadn’t had the chance to see him despite this. However, she was set to just barely finish her work today, and they planned to catch up over dinner once she was done.

Vrrr.

The door sensed Leonard’s mana and opened automatically. Esther and Russell were waiting inside. They turned to look at him.

“What is this? Why are you so late?” Russell demanded.

“I believe I’m right on time.”

“Arriving five or ten minutes early to your appointment is basic etiquette!” he exclaimed. It was strange to hear that coming from a mage who hated wasting even one second of his time.

Leonard looked at Esther, who was standing by Russell’s side, with pleading eyes. However, she pretended not to see and looked away. She was silently expressing her agreement.

They hadn’t always been this way, hurrying him and claiming that each minute and each second was precious.

Right, it started three days ago.

All his problems had started when he had cast a spell that was optimized by the Five Elements True Dragon Ring. It wasn’t that he’d failed or made a mistake; the problem was that the True Dragon Ring was too

capable.

“Today, we will focus on optimizing the Stagnate spell. Even if you modify the Fireball spell to cast multiple Fireballs at once, all it will do is kill more people, no? If you want to reach the absolute truth, researching the advanced space-time principles behind spells such as Stagnate will be several times more cost-effective,” Russell said with a rare look of impatience on his face.

He held up a piece of parchment he’d brought. He’d cast Stagnate on it, a suspension spell. Even though it employed the principles of time, which were notorious for being incredibly difficult to learn, it was only classified as Class 4. It invoked a concept that was on an entirely different level from the ones that were used in Hold and Bind, which physically stopped the movements of their targets.

Time suspension.

It made time slow down for the target. It didn’t just affect their movements; it even affected their thinking speed. Once a person was caught by Stagnate, they could do nothing but wriggle lethargically like a caterpillar until they were taken care of.

But the spell won’t succeed if the target has even the tiniest amount of magic resistance. On top of that, it consumes too much mana and takes too long to cast.

It was a spell that had one advantage but more than ten disadvantages.

Before Leonard could even respond, Esther cut in. “Stop being so old-fashioned, old man! It was studied over a century ago. Don’t you know how many people died back then without even coming up with results?!”

“What?!” Russell froze in place, wounded by his apprentice’s scathing words.

“Leonard, why don’t we start with improving Lightning Bolt instead of a spell like Stagnate, which no one uses? I looked into it, and apparently you can create up to three Circles before they start to interfere with your mana cultivation. Don’t you think it would be nice to spend your time working on a spell that you’ll actually be able to use later on?” Esther asked.

It was a clever invitation on her part. She was suggesting that finding ways to modify Stagnate would only fulfill part of Russell’s thirst for knowledge but that working on Lightning Bolt would be useful for Leonard. It was very tempting.

Even Russell had a rare look of shock on his face, not having known that Esther was this good with words.

“In that case, I will work on Lightning Bolt today,” Leonard decided.

“Yay!” Esther energetically pumped her two fists in the air when he chose her instead.

Conversely, Russell shriveled. He grumbled, “I should halve your pay for this month...”

“Oh, come on! Don’t be so stingy!”

Leonard interrupted them in an attempt to stop their bickering. “It is simply because I will not have time to start on a Class 4 spell. I believe I mentioned yesterday that I have a dinner appointment.”

Though the Five Elements True Dragon Ring could automatically optimize magic spells, it wasn’t without limitations. It could perfect Class 1 spells such as Magic Missile in a matter of seconds, but Class 2 spells took an hour. Optimizing Class 3 spells took over four hours, and Class 4 spells typically required more than twelve hours. If he wanted to optimize a Class 4 spell like Stagnate, which also employed complicated principles, it could take an entire day.

“Ah, that’s right. I apologize. I’d forgotten,” Russell said.

“You’re meeting with Fran, right?” Esther asked.

Leonard gave her a single nod. “Yes. I believe she has finally finished her administrative work.”

“That’s right... Bermuda is thorough about those things. They care a lot about preventing smuggling and not letting in stowaways,” she said.

Russell cleared his throat and added, “Though Atlantis is currently very peaceful, just twenty years ago, it was very common for pirates to disguise themselves as explorers. It was the port inspection office’s job to catch and execute them all.”

“Pirates? There were even pirates?” Leonard wondered.

“There will always be thieves wherever there is money. But they were crushed by Atlantis’s power, and no trace of them remains,” Russell concluded.

Now that Leonard thought about it, it was obvious. Regardless of Atlantis’s power, pirates made a living by pillaging small to medium-sized merchant ships. Even Rank C expedition teams had members who were in the External Force Tier and mages who were Class 3 and above. If pirates chose the wrong target even a single time, they would be annihilated in the counterattack. Conversely, if someone put out a bounty, the expedition teams would find and attack the pirates first.

It’s similar to how the Lulin Thieves had to be careful with their movements when they were near Shiwan Mountain, where the Heavenly Demon Cult was located.

Though most expedition teams prioritized profit over everything else, they were powerful enough to instantly slaughter pirates who meddled with their moneymaking.

Even expedition teams in the Second Sea District could protect themselves from pirates, and starting with the Third Sea District, the rest of the regions were home to full-fledged explorers. They weren’t opponents pirates could rob.

Once he understood this, Leonard shifted his attention to optimizing the Lightning Bolt spell. He closed his eyes.

Vrrr.

The Five Elements True Dragon Ring was tired of doing the same tedious task over and over again, but it listened to the boy and began to pick at the spell. Lightning Bolt was tens of times more complicated than Class 1 spells, and as it unraveled, the spell revealed all the different principles that made up each function.

There was a principle that conjured lightning in the air.

There was a principle that shaped the lightning into a single bolt.

There was a principle that made it aim at its target.

Dozens of complicated concepts were tangled together like a ball of string.

I see.

The True Dragon Ring removed the unnecessary principles and the ones that took unnecessarily long to invoke. Then, it restructured the spell by giving it a new shape and adding its own preferences.

There was a reason the Class 7 Archmage had been acting mad. Leonard’s version of the spells invoked properties and laws that he didn’t know about. If he could gain a full understanding of them, it could take him to the next step—no, even further than that. It could give him insights that helped him become a Class 8 mage.

It should take at least two more hours, Leonard thought as he observed the five-colored orb’s working speed. He fell deeper into his consciousness and began to use the breathing techniques of the One Origin Five Elements Cultivation Method.

From the outside, he looked as if he were engrossed in modifying the spell, but in reality, he had left the work to the True Dragon Ring and was now working on his own training. And every time, Russell and Esther would express admiration for his concentration.

“Really, he seems more suited to be a mage than a swordsman,” Russell muttered.

“And shouldn’t a Chief Elder have at least two apprentices?” Esther added.

***

Once Leonard successfully optimized Lightning Bolt and instructed the other two on its modifications, he left the Magic Tower. Though it had taken longer than he’d expected, the meeting place was close enough that he wouldn’t be late if he hurried. He jogged at a light pace, turning his back to Atlantis City’s cityscape.

It only took him a few minutes to reach the restaurant, A Whale’s Dream. He opened the door.

“Welcome. How many people?” the host asked politely.

“I have a reservation.”

“What is the name?”

“It should be under Frances.”

The host escorted him inside. “Your table is on the third floor. The others have already arrived.”

As instructed, Leonard made his way to the third floor and arrived at a dining room that had a view of the horizon. Frances and Marianne were already there, and they waved him over with tired faces.

“It’s already been a week. Have you been well?” Frances asked.

“Yes, thanks to you introducing me to Esther, Fran,” he said sincerely.

If he hadn’t met the mage, he wouldn’t have been able to learn much about magic or form a connection with the magic magnate Jack Russell. Moreover, Frances was the one who had introduced him to her.

Relationships were mysterious things. What had started as a one-day request had led to Leonard becoming a guest of honor at the Magic Tower.

When she had first heard the story, Frances had been positively baffled, but she couldn’t leave Marianne behind to hear the full story from him, so she’d had to wait until their dinner appointment.

“Now! Shall we get into it?” she exclaimed. As always, her eyes sparkled like the surface of the sea during midday, filled with half excitement and half curiosity.

Leonard was amused by her unchanging demeanor. He started to tell the story that the two women had so longed to hear.

“This is what happened after we parted ways...”

He found out that he had a talent for improving spells. He taught Esther one of his techniques and helped her become a Class 5 mage. He even had the opportunity to speak with her master, the Archmage Jack Russell. And when he was given a choice between becoming Jack Russell’s direct apprentice or receiving repayment equal in value to what he had done, he chose the latter. After that, he came to be treated as an honored guest of the Magic Tower and devoted himself to improving spells with the two mages.

“...”

“...”

Sure enough, Frances and Marianne had the same face as Esther when she’d first seen his modified version of Magic Missile. Leonard had to force down a wry smile.

“So you helped Esther become Class 5, but... Jack Russell? Isn’t he the Chief Elder of the Magic Tower? He’s the most powerful person among the neutral figures, and in just a week, you...” Frances trailed off.

“A-A direct apprentice! Your relationship didn’t sour even though you rejected the offer, and you two are still on good terms? Just how much does he favor you?!” Marianne exclaimed.

Naturally, the two exploded. After all, the Magic Tower governed the Alliance alongside the Council and Bermuda. There were only two people who were eligible for the position of Chief Elder, which Russell currently occupied. On top of that, he was well-known for being about as powerful as the Towermaster. In other words, if the current Towermaster ever returned to the mainland, Russell would immediately fill the position.

Leonard had formed a close relationship with one of the leaders of the three factions, yet he was talking about it as if it weren’t a big deal. It was as if he were using a spoon made of orichalcum to eat cheap soup at an inn.

“Still, it’s good to hear that Esther is a Class 5 mage now. She’s always caught up in her guilt, so it’s hard to initiate conversations with her,” Frances said.

This was something Leonard didn’t know. When he tilted his head in puzzlement, Marianne interjected as if to prevent Frances from speaking.

“My lady...”

“It’s fine. I’ve decided that we can trust Leonard. I’m considering telling him about why we, the expedition team Aquamarine, fell from grace and how we’re planning to rise again,” she said.

Frances’s eyes were pure and clear, but when there was no light reflecting off them, they looked immensely dark. She looked at him with those eyes.

Aquamarine, led by its captain Njord Ler von Okeanos, had once been honored as Atlantis’s finest, most powerful expedition team. But despite its decorated past, it had deteriorated to its current state, leaving Frances and Marianne to frantically struggle.

It was time for him to learn about the deepest, darkest secret in this ocean.

“Will you listen to my story, Leonard?” Frances asked.

“If you please,” he answered calmly.