The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 77

Time flew by quickly.

The day before the Olympiad opening ceremony.

The day I decided to challenge the fourth trial page had arrived.

“Alright, I’ll be back.”

“Okay, be safe. Good luck.”

I said goodbye to Mimir and stepped out of Mimir’s study.

I carefully folded my teacher’s robe and placed it on one side of the desk.

I took out the Book of Idhred from the safe and opened it.

[If you believe you have fully mastered the use of the Expansion Ring, proceed to the fourth trial page.]

[If you pass the trial, the Book of Idhred will be updated.]

So far, there was nothing particularly unusual about the text.

The problem was what came after.

[However, you can only access the fourth trial page once a month.]

[Think carefully before attempting the challenge.]

This was why I couldn’t easily challenge the fourth trial page.

Only one attempt per month.

If I attempted it half-heartedly, I would waste a whole month.

And wasting a month meant wasting the entire Olympiad period.

That’s why I had been putting off challenging the fourth trial page as much as possible.

I planned to skip the relatively easy early schedule and focus on the fourth trial page during the more intense mid-schedule to replenish my strength.

It was a plan designed under such rational judgment.

But now the situation had changed. With the interference of the Black Magic Tower confirmed, it was better to raise my level, even if it was a bit reckless, for my own safety.

‘Well, it’s not like I’m unprepared.’

If there was no chance of passing the fourth trial page, I wouldn’t have tried it.

But I have a good chance of passing now. In the current situation, it’s right to challenge it immediately.

I steeled my resolve once more and turned the page.

The newly updated magic circle on page 250. Just like the previous magic circles, I placed my hand on the mysterious structure of the magic circle, which I couldn’t even grasp, and rotated the Infinity Circle.

‘Let’s go.’

Three small rings rotating in accordance with the huge frame of the Expansion Ring.

Three rings, each with its own distinct personality, that I thought could never get along, were now rotating together as if they were best friends.

Woo-woo-woo-woong-!

The Expansion Ring rotated fiercely, and mana swirled around me.

It rotated solely in a shape reminiscent of a Möbius strip.

‘Fusion.’

The level of a 4-circle master.

Fusion.

A state where all the rings become unified as if they were one.

I poured mana into the magic circle according to the principle of that state.

Thump, thump!

My heart was pounding.

No, it was the mana that was pounding.

And the next moment.

‘I wish the successor infinite achievement.’

A voice was heard.

It was my teacher’s voice, which I hadn’t heard in a while.

It had been a while since the second page.

“Welcome, Successor.”

Immediately after my teacher’s voice, a woman’s voice was heard.

This was also a familiar voice.

It was the woman’s voice I had heard on the first and second trial pages.

“I am Gamma, the guide in charge of the fourth trial page. It’s an honor to meet you, Successor.”

“So it’s Gamma.”

The first and second trial pages were Alpha and Beta, respectively.

I had expected the next one to be Gamma, and my guess was correct.

It seemed that, except for the exceptional pages like the third trial page, which also had a learning purpose, there would be a guide like this in the future.

“Nice to meet you.”

Gamma smiled brightly in response.

She felt more emotional than Alpha and Beta.

Should I say she was a bit more human?

“The fourth trial page tests how complete your Expansion Ring is. It tests whether the four rings are perfectly fused and unified.”

There was a strange vitality in her voice. The previous two were just like machines.

Even though their appearance and voices were the same, did each individual have different characteristics?

An artificial personality created by magic. Curiosity about the magical personality began to surface.

“You will learn the details of the trial when it begins, and if you fail the trial, you will not be able to re-challenge for the next 30 days, so please be careful.”

Ah.

This wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.

I erased my surging curiosity and focused on Gamma’s words.

“That’s all for the explanation. Would you like to start the trial?”

Gamma’s eyes glowed with a mysterious color.

I nodded, staring straight at her eyes, which resembled the light of mana.

“Yes. Please.”

“Yes. Then, let’s begin the trial.”

Gamma smiled and closed her eyes. At the same time, just like with Alpha and Beta before, Gamma’s divine body turned into mana and scattered.

The mana that had been composing Gamma began to take on a new form,

and soon formed the shape of a piano.

‘I will now begin the fourth trial.’

My teacher’s voice was directly embedded in my head.

‘That piano is one that I made myself for the successor’s trial. It is designed so that it cannot be played unless the four rings are perfectly fused.’

I slowly approached the piano and pressed a key at random.

I thought that if it was designed to be unplayable, I wouldn’t be able to press the keys, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

My fingers pressed the keys without any resistance.

However, no sound came from the piano.

It seemed that the inability to play the piano didn’t mean that I couldn’t physically press the keys, but that I couldn’t produce any sound.

‘To produce sound from that piano, you need the mana of a Bytenner-style orthodox successor.’

I immediately poured my mana into the piano.

The piano absorbed my mana and glowed brightly.

I pressed the glowing keys again.

Ding!

A strangely unpleasant sound rang out, not quite noise, but not a pleasant sound either.

‘If you try to pour in ordinary mana, you’ll only get noise. What’s needed is the mana emitted by the four perfectly unified Infinity Circles. The mana emitted by a perfectly fused successor.’

Indeed.

So that’s the kind of trial it is.

I immediately unified the rings according to the principle of fusion.

The mana emitted by the four unified rings permeated the piano.

I pressed the keys again.

Diing!

A clear sound, completely different from before, rang out.

However, there was still something unsettling about it.

‘If you feel any discomfort or unpleasantness in the sound of the piano, it’s proof that the successor’s fusion is not perfect.’

I struck the keys again.

As expected, a strangely unsettling and unpleasant sound was heard.

As my teacher said, it was proof that my fusion was not yet perfect.

‘The content of the trial is simple. Show me that you can perfectly handle that piano. Give me a performance that you yourself can be satisfied with.’

‘If you produce a result that satisfies you, you will naturally pass the trial.’

I pressed the piano keys again. It seemed a little better than before, but there was still an unpleasant sound mixed in.

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

How wonderful would the sound be if the unpleasant noise disappeared?

I became greedy.

Not just for fusion, but for the desire to perfectly handle this piano.

‘The time limit is 12 hours. Then, I wish the successor infinite achievement.’

With those words, my teacher’s voice completely disappeared.

I immediately sat down in front of the piano.

“This is going to be fun…”

Fortunately, I had learned to play the piano when I was young for the sake of culture.

‘It’s been a while, but…’

I moved my fingers.

Beethoven.

Piano Sonata No. 14.

Moonlight.

The sound of the piano echoed endlessly.

* * *

The World Academy Olympiad, held once a year.

Today was the opening ceremony.

When you think of an opening ceremony, you usually think of gathering everyone together and making an oath, but the Olympiad’s opening ceremony is different from such a cliché opening ceremony.

“Hoo. I wonder what kind of performances they’ve prepared this year?”

“It’ll be even more amazing this year, right?”

The World Academia Olympiad opening ceremony features ‘performances’ from each country, called a cheering squad.

“But I suddenly have a question. Why are each team so enthusiastic about the performances? It’s not like it affects the score. It’s just a show for show’s sake.”

It’s called a cheering squad, but it’s actually a show where each country’s representative comes out and uses their magic.

“First of all, to gain the upper hand.”

“Ah. I guess it would be a way to gain the upper hand.”

A flashy performance means that the representative of that team has superior magical skills.

In other words, just by putting on a good performance, you can intimidate the opposing team from the start.

“And each country’s honor is also at stake.”

“Honor?”

“Yeah. Whether there are points or not, as representatives of each country, they have a duty to show a performance worthy of that. That’s how it is.”

“Ah, I see.”

As representatives of each country, they can’t show a disappointing image from the start.

In short, it has a strong meaning of national prestige.

“Even if it’s not that, it’s a festival. It’s also a way to express gratitude to the audience who came to see the show through a spectacular show.”

“Oh, that’s kind of professional.”

“Well, the players who participate here are all elites. They have to be professional.”

“Ah. I’m really looking forward to it.”

The man excitedly unfolded the opening ceremony schedule.

“What we should pay attention to here is the UK, the US…”

The man scanned the performance order list, which had been decided this morning, from the top and listed the countries he was looking forward to.

“And finally, Korea, I guess.”

Having checked the last order, Korea, the man folded the schedule again.

“Korea is the finale. I’m a little worried. What if it’s a letdown at the end?”

The woman chuckled at the man’s muttering.

“Hey. Don’t you know who the Korean representative is this year? I’m as excited as I was for Dahlia Salentia.”

“Who is it?”

“You really don’t care about this stuff, do you? It’s Shin Ha-yul. Korea’s genius and the world’s youngest 5-circle user.”

“Wow. The youngest? How did I not know that?”

“That’s just you. Sigh.”

The woman looked at the stadium with expectant eyes.

Her heart was pounding at the thought of the eye-opening show that would unfold in 30 minutes.

“This year, the Blue Magic Tower is the engineer. What kind of artifact will they show? They’re one of the strongest artifact makers… Did they make another Imperial Ring or something?”

“Whoa. The Blue Magic Tower is involved? That’s amazing.”

“…What do you even know?”

Since the opening ceremony performance does not affect the score, the use of personal artifacts is permitted.

Therefore, the engineers attached to each team also prepare performances together for the purpose of promoting their artifacts.

If it’s the Blue Magic Tower, they must have prepared an amazing artifact.

“Ah, I wish it would start soon. Can’t 30 minutes pass faster?”

Such conversations were going on in various parts of the audience.

All the spectators waited for the start of the opening ceremony with expectant eyes and pounding hearts.

“…Still no contact?”

And here.

There were people whose hearts were pounding for a different reason than the audience.

“No. It’s still out of reach.”

In the Korean team’s waiting room.

Everyone, including the members, engineers, and instructors, was anxious. It was not anxiety or tension, but anxiety due to unease.

“Where the hell did that Shin Ha-yul disappear to…!

That’s because Shin Ha-yul had suddenly disappeared on the day of the opening ceremony. They couldn’t help but be anxious.

“Soon-chan, you checked the room, right?”

“Yes. I went, but no one was there. There was just a strange old book open…”

Ji Soon-chan recalled the time he visited Shin Ha-yul’s room this morning.

A neatly arranged old robe.

An open old book.

There was no sign of anyone in the room.

“Did you check the CCTV?”

Adela answered Jin Hee-yoon’s annoyed question.

“I checked it. No one went in or out of the room from the time he went in last night until this morning. I also checked the CCTV on the window side, thinking he might have gone out that way, but…”

Nothing was captured on the CCTV.

“Then what is it? Did he teleport or something?”

“I don’t know.”

“…I’m going crazy, really.”

Jin Hee-yoon messed up her hair in frustration.

“What if he was kidnapped?”

They were not only anxious, but also worried beyond comparison.

They knew Shin Ha-yul’s personality well. He was not the kind of person to disappear like this before the opening ceremony.

Something must have happened.

“For now, Kim Kang-in and Clan Leader Shin In-hyuk are moving, so let’s wait for news.”

Ji Soon-chan said, gesturing as if to calm everyone down.

They had to calm everyone down first.

“Hoo. Right. This is not the time for this.”

Jin Hee-yoon took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

“First, what are we going to do for the performance? Who’s going to go instead…”

That’s when it happened.

Woo-woong-!

The phone in Ji Soon-chan’s hand vibrated. Ji Soon-chan urgently checked his phone.

[Shin Ha-yul]

Ji Soon-chan’s eyes widened as he answered the phone.

“Hey! You bastard!”

-Sorry. I’m too late.

Shin Ha-yul’s calm voice was heard over the receiver.

As soon as they heard that voice, the tension was released.

“…Damn it. It seems he wasn’t kidnapped or anything.”

Ji Soon-chan said with a completely exhausted face.

-Yeah. It’s not that.

“Then what the hell…”

-I’ll tell you the details later. It doesn’t seem like the right time now.

It’s not the right time.

At those words, Ji Soon-chan came to his senses.

“Ah, right! Where are you now? Can you make it in time?”

Whatever Shin Ha-yul’s circumstances were, what was important now was whether Shin Ha-yul could make it to the stadium in time.

-I’m at the accommodation now. Well, Kim Kang-in said he’s nearby, so if I get his help, I think I can make it somehow.

“…Hoo. That’s a relief.”

Ji Soon-chan and his colleagues simultaneously let out a sigh of relief.

“Then we don’t have to worry, right?”

-Yeah. Kim Kang-in said he’d get me there in time no matter what, so I don’t think you have to worry. And it just so happens that our turn is last.

“Okay. That’s a real relief.”

Another sigh of relief came out.

-Ah, and do you have my Four Realms? Did you take it?

“Yeah. I took it just in case.”

-I thought so. Okay. Then I’ll leave as soon as Kim Kang-in arrives.

At Shin Ha-yul’s calm voice, a curse word almost reached the tip of his tongue.

They were almost in a state of mourning here, but why was he so calm?

‘Ah. I’m angry.’

But he held back the curse for now.

It wasn’t too late to curse after hearing the circumstances.

He thought that if he heard Shin Ha-yul’s circumstances and it was a trivial reason, he could curse him then.

That’s what Ji Soon-chan thought.

“…Shin Leader is dead when he comes.”

Of course, Jin Hee-yoon was planning to curse Shin Ha-yul as soon as he arrived, no matter what his circumstances were.

Thinking about the mental anguish she had suffered for three hours, she felt like she needed to curse him to feel better.

-Ah, and can I ask you for one more favor?

Shin Ha-yul said calmly, whether he knew his colleagues’ feelings or not.

“…What is it?”

-Please prepare a piano.

Ji Soon-chan’s head tilted in confusion.

“A piano? Why all of a sudden?”

-Yeah. I’m going to use it for the performance.