The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 52

Inside the back seat of a luxury sedan speeding along the Seoul outer ring road, Shin In-hyuk was in conversation with Kim Seok-hyun.

“Are you sure it was alright to send only Ha-yul, sir?” Kim Seok-hyun asked, a worried expression on his face. Was it really okay to let Shin Ha-yul go to the monster byproduct street alone?

“The monster byproduct street is, as the name suggests, a demonic realm. The card usage history is also unusual, and I’m worried that he might be getting scammed.”

Shin In-hyuk had given Shin Ha-yul a card to use when purchasing materials. Currently, Shin Ha-yul was using that card to gather materials.

Shin In-hyuk, with his chin propped up, spoke nonchalantly. “I didn’t raise him to be so foolish that he can’t distinguish between genuine and fake.”

There was a reason why Shin In-hyuk had sent Shin Ha-yul to that demonic realm alone. It was because Shin Ha-yul could handle it without any problems.

“I am well aware of Ha-yul’s brilliance, but monster byproducts are not something that can be distinguished with ordinary knowledge…”

“You underestimate Ha-yul’s intellect too much,” Shin In-hyuk cut off Kim Seok-hyun’s words. “Ha-yul is someone who has memorized all 40,000 or so magic formulas listed in the open-source library. Information about byproducts is all in his head.”

“…Ah.”

The probability of Shin Ha-yul being scammed was close to 0%. That’s why Shin In-hyuk had sent Shin Ha-yul to the monster byproduct street alone. It would also be a good experience for him.

“More importantly, what about the Octo-Horned Beast’s horn?” One of the three high-grade materials that Shin Ha-yul had requested separately. The Octo-Horned Beast’s horn. Unlike the other two materials, negotiations for this one were not yet complete.

“The preliminary contract is almost finalized. We are currently negotiating the price.”

“Roughly how long do you think the negotiation will take?”

“It seems it will take at most two days. They also must be feeling the pressure of constantly playing hardball.”

The other side was intentionally dragging out the time. Their intention was to raise the price as much as possible by dragging out the time.

“Hmm. Then, including the time to bring it into the country…”

“It will likely take at least a week.”

“A week, huh. Not bad.”

The remaining time until all the materials requested by Shin Ha-yul were gathered was about a week. Considering that there was a month left until the Olympiad, it was an appropriate period.

“What about the internal audit?” Shin In-hyuk’s demeanor changed completely. The somewhat light atmosphere became heavy and serious. Kim Seok-hyun was the same. As if influenced by Shin In-hyuk’s expression, his face became extremely serious.

“It seems certain that there is someone colluding with the Black Magic Tower. We have confirmed that several reports related to the Black Magic Tower have been manipulated.”

Shin In-hyuk’s expression became even more fierce. “Have you not identified who it is?”

“I apologize. We have not yet identified who it is.” They had confirmed that reports related to the Black Magic Tower had been modified and manipulated, but they had not yet identified who had done it. They had not found any evidence.

“For now, we are narrowing down the search to individuals who are in a position to manipulate the innermost reports of the family and are investigating them…”

“No suspicious circumstances have been found?”

“Yes. They are all clean.”

“…No suspicious circumstances, and clean. That itself is evidence.” Shin In-hyuk’s face was filled with murderous intent. The thought of the trash colluding with the Black Magic Tower made his murderous intent surge.

“I will continue to investigate, but…”

“If you are so sure they are clean, it will be difficult to find evidence even if you investigate further.”

“…Yes.”

The fact that they had not found any traces so far meant that the colluder had already erased all evidence. There was nothing to be gained by investigating further.

“It seems that the only way to catch them is to wait for the colluder to contact the Black Magic Tower again.”

“…That seems to be the best option.”

Shin In-hyuk nodded. “Then, I will prepare to gather evidence in anticipation of the colluder’s next move.”

* * *

6 PM. After a grueling 7 hours of labor, I succeeded in purchasing all the materials I had aimed for. “…I’m completely drained.” The monster byproduct street was beyond imagination. It wasn’t for nothing that people called it a demonic realm. How could they all lie so blatantly without even batting an eye?

“But you bought everything well, right?” Mimir, having finished checking the materials I had bought, looked at me with an admiring face. “You worked hard. Now, if we get just three more, we can make the elixir.”

Elixir. The Blessing of Mana. When consumed, it increases the rate of synchronization with mana, allowing the body to absorb much more mana than usual. Consuming this would allow me to somewhat cover the enormous amount of mana needed to weave the Ring of Expansion.

“How long do you think it will take to get the remaining materials?”

“I contacted my father on the way, and he said it would take about a week.”

“A week is just right.” Even after making the elixir, it couldn’t be consumed immediately. There were many things to prepare to maximize the elixir’s effect. The time it would take to complete those preparations was about a week. It was expected to be roughly the same time as when the elixir would be completed. That’s why Mimir said it was just right.

“Then, we don’t have to worry about the elixir anymore. The only thing left is the place to consume the elixir, do you have a place in mind?” As I said, the elixir we were making this time, the Blessing of Mana, was an elixir that greatly increased mana absorption. Naturally, the higher the mana concentration in the air, the greater the effect. To maximize the elixir’s effect, it was necessary to consume the elixir in a place with a high mana concentration and then perform mana circulation.

“I have a place in mind… but I’m going to look around a bit more.”

“Hoping there might be a better place?”

“Yeah.” There was still some time left. I was planning to take my time and investigate until the elixir was completed.

“It would have been great if something like the Witch’s Pond was still around.”

“Witch’s Pond?”

“Yeah. It was a pretty famous lake in my time. They said that if you soaked in it and circulated mana, you would just go up a circle [a level of magical advancement]. The mana concentration was that high.”

“There was such a thing in that era.” If there was such a thing, I would like to go in once.

“Well, what can we do if it’s not there? Anyway, look around carefully. The effectiveness of the Blessing of Mana varies greatly depending on the mana concentration in the air, so you really have to choose well.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I answered like that, took off my teacher’s robe, and got up from my seat.

“Are you going to afternoon training?”

“Yeah.” The current time was 6:30 PM. It was about time to move to the training grounds.

“Have a good one.”

“Yeah. I’ll be back.” I said goodbye to Mimir and left Mimir’s Spring.

* * *

The next morning. Today was the first day of the special training for the Olympiad, and it was also the first day that all the members of the Olympiad team would gather.

“Hoo. I’m nervous for no reason,” While moving to the designated place, Soon-chan said with a very nervous expression and voice.

“Is that so?” Adela replied, as if puzzled. She didn’t understand why Soon-chan was nervous.

“Aren’t you nervous?”

“No.”

“Aren’t you scared of meeting the seniors?”

“Is there a reason to be scared?”

“There’s that, you know. That… what should I call it…?” Soon-chan groaned, his words trailing off. He had an expression that said he didn’t know how to explain the feeling he was experiencing.

“There is a strange discomfort that the title of ‘senior’ carries.” Feeling somewhat sorry for him, I vaguely represented Soon-chan’s inner thoughts.

“Right! That! It feels kind of difficult, scary, and uncomfortable, doesn’t it?” Soon-chan shouted, snapping his fingers as if that was exactly it.

“Not really…” Of course, Adela didn’t sympathize with him.

“…Why?” Adela answered calmly, as if asking something obvious.

“Because I win.”

“Win?” Soon-chan tilted his head as if it was a nonsensical statement.

“If we fight, I win, so is there any reason to be afraid?”

“…” Soon-chan was dumbfounded. He had a face that said he never expected such an answer.

“That’s not what I meant…”

“?” Adela’s head tilted even further. She didn’t seem to sympathize with Soon-chan’s feelings at all. I intervened between the two.

“…No, it’s okay.”

“?” Watching that scene, I chuckled softly from behind. I had a feeling that the two of them would never find common ground in the future.

“You’re a much more arrogant junior than I heard.” At that moment. A woman’s voice was heard from behind. We turned our bodies at the same time, looking in the direction of the voice.

“Hey, hey. Calm down.”

“Let go. They’re completely ignoring us.” There, two men and women were bickering.

“I said calm down. We’ll be together for at least two months, why are you fighting from the start?” A huge man, easily over 2 meters tall with shoulders as wide as a mountain. His huge muscles made his already large stature look even bigger. The huge man, who made those who looked at him feel intimidated, was stopping the woman.

“I said let go. Am I saying I’m going to fight? We’ll be together for two months, so I’m saying we should say what we need to say.” A woman, about 170cm tall with short bobbed hair, shook off the man’s hand and approached us. She had an expression like a beast whose pride had been hurt.

“Junior. Can you say what you said earlier again?” The woman stood in front of Adela, looking down at her and smiling fiercely.

“What I said earlier?”

“The part about how you would win if you fought us. Say it again in front of me.” It was a scary smile. Even after seeing that smile, Adela answered calmly, as if nothing was wrong.

“If you really want to hear it again… Yes. There is no one among the current third-year students who can beat me.”

“…Hey, hey!” Soon-chan shouted in horror. Whether Soon-chan was in a hurry or not, Adela was still calm. She had an expression as if there was a problem.

“…” The woman’s expression became even more ferocious. The man who had been quietly watching the situation from behind also had a slightly distorted expression. The atmosphere became heavy in an instant. Soon-chan looked at the faces of the three people, looking restless.

“Our junior. Your arrogance is sky-high.”

“I was just stating the truth based on objective facts.” Adela was right. Among the current students of the Obelisk Academy, the only one who could beat Adela was me. The two seniors in front of me were also 4th Circle users, but they were no match for Adela, who possessed two Vision Magics.

“If you’re that confident, shall we have a match?”

“I welcome a duel anytime.” The atmosphere became even heavier. It was an atmosphere where something was about to happen at any moment.

‘Hey, are you just going to watch like this?’ Soon-chan whispered urgently in my ear. He seemed to have expected me to step in to mediate, but he was getting impatient because I was just watching.

‘Don’t worry. I was going to step in soon anyway.’ Soon-chan’s expression brightened instantly at my answer. He seemed to believe that I could somehow resolve this situation. But I’m sorry to say. I had no intention of resolving this situation at all. Rather, this kind of atmosphere was what I wanted.

“If you’re going to fight, how about we divide into teams of 2nd and 3rd years and have a group match?”

“Hey!” Soon-chan’s face turned blue again. He had a face that said he had been betrayed by someone he trusted. He definitely had an expression that said, ‘Et tu, Brutus…!’ in his mind.

“A group match?” The two seniors looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“Yes. The best way to check each other’s strength is to fight directly.” I had intended to suggest a group match from the beginning. The reason was simple.

‘In order for me to seize control of the entire Olympiad team, I need to overwhelm the seniors with my overwhelming skills first.’ In order for me to take command of this team, I first need to break the seniors’ pride. Only by breaking their pride and forming a team centered around me can the gold medal come within reach.

“So, 2nd year versus 3rd year. 3:3, let’s have a match, is that it?”

“No. I mean, let’s fight divided into 2nd and 3rd years, as it is.”

“…What?”

“You…”

“Shall I explain in more detail?” And there was no better way to crush their pride than this.

“2nd year versus 3rd year. I mean, let’s fight 3:7.” The atmosphere became not just heavy, but instantly murderous.