The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 181

The Rebirth of the Mythical Archmage-182

Lunch the next day.

The three of us finished submitting our applications for the grade skipping exam.

The exam schedule is still undecided.

Since the grade skipping exam isn’t administered by the school but by the International Education Center, it will take some time for the exact schedule to be released.

‘Hoo. I’m already nervous. Only a month left.’

Soonchan placed a hand on his chest and took a deep breath.

‘Why are you making such a fuss already?’

‘Hey, it’s the grade skipping exam that only the real elites take, and I’m going to take it myself, so how can I not be nervous?’

Although the detailed exam schedule was undecided, the approximate schedule was released. Roughly a month later.

More precisely, the exam would be held 28 to 35 days later.

If the International Education Center had no other schedule, it would be held in four weeks, and if there was another schedule, it would be held in five weeks.

Either way, it meant there wasn’t much time left.

‘I’m more curious about you guys. Why are you so calm?’

Me and Adela, who were as calm as could be.

Soonchan glared at us with an expression that said he couldn’t understand us.

‘Well. It’s because there’s no way we’ll fail?’

‘Is there any reason to be nervous? It’s just an exam, we just have to do what we’ve been training for.’

‘……You guys aren’t even human. Do you have no emotions?’

Soonchan let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.

‘And Hayul, you’re really annoying. You’re my friend, but I want to punch you.’

Soonchan smiled and raised his fist. His middle finger was slightly higher. It was a gesture that he wanted to flick my forehead.

‘Why am I annoying? I just said what’s true.’

‘……The fact that I can’t deny it makes it even more annoying. You genius bastard.’

Soonchan made a ‘tss’ sound and lowered his fist.

‘Too bad. If you had swung your fist, I was thinking of increasing the training intensity a bit today.’

‘……You devilish bastard. I knew you’d do that, so I desperately held back.’

Soonchan gritted his teeth.

‘Oh. Our Soonchan. You’ve learned~’

‘Wow. I really want to flick your forehead. Can’t you just let me hit you once?’

‘A forehead flick? Of course. Go ahead. You have to hit the middle of my forehead to make it hurt more.’

‘……And then you’ll increase the training intensity if I hit you?’

‘Maybe. Maybe not.’

‘Aish.’

Soonchan’s lips trembled.

He looked like he was about to die from how annoying I was.

‘Hoo. I, the kind one, will hold back.’

‘Isn’t it because you’re scared of today’s training that you can’t mess with me?’

‘……Ha. Do you think I’d hold back for that reason? I’m just letting it slide for your sake. Be grateful.’

He said that, but his expression was honest. He slightly avoided my eyes with a trembling expression.

Anyone could see that he was worried about the training.

‘Ah. Did I really do something unnecessary? Grade skipping with my skills… How am I going to survive for a month……’

Soonchan sighed as if the ground would cave in.

‘Adela. Aren’t you worried?’

‘Worried about what?’

‘The training intensity, I mean.’

Soonchan asked Adela for her opinion. It seemed like he wanted to share his worries and anxieties with someone.

‘Is there any reason to worry about the training intensity?’

Adela tilted her head, looking like she didn’t understand what he meant.

‘He’ll push us to our limits, of course.’

‘No. That’s not what I meant……’

Soonchan was asking if she wasn’t worried, implying ‘Isn’t it going to be too hard?’

Adela seemed to have taken it as a worry of ‘What if it’s too easy?’

‘I’m looking forward to it. Lately, I’ve been feeling like the training has been incomplete. Extreme training that pushes us to our limits… I’m already excited.’

‘Ha. Heh. Hahaha.’

Soonchan scoffed as if he was dumbfounded.

‘Adela, why can’t you empathize with me? Are you a sociopath? Huh?’

Then he suddenly went on a rampage.

He pounded his chest with an expression that said everything was frustrating.

‘Sociopath…… If you’re using it to mean a lack of empathy, then isn’t Soonchan the one who’s weird? Isn’t it natural to be excited?’

‘No, am I being treated like the weird one here?’

Soonchan, who was extremely anxious about the training that would push him to his limits.

And Adela, who was very, very excited about such training.

There was no common ground between the two.

And probably never will be.

‘I’m on Adela’s side. Soonchan, you seem like the sociopath?’

‘2:1. The answer is clear.’

‘Wow. So this is what they mean when they say that if one normal person is among abnormal people, the normal person becomes abnormal. It’s absurd.’

Soonchan kept letting out hollow laughs with an expression that said he was wronged.

‘Ah. You guys aren’t even human. Just keep training for the rest of your lives and become archmages……’

Soonchan cursed, but it wasn’t really a curse.

‘Thanks for the blessing. I hope you’ll follow us for the rest of your life, work hard in training, and become the third-ranked archmage in the world.’

‘……Wow, you satanic bastard. Just keep pouring out curses.’

Soonchan shuddered with an expression that said he hated it.

‘Ugh. I hate it, I hate it. Having to do the same training as you guys for the rest of my life.’

Well, he said that, but his expression wasn’t really one of genuine hatred.

* * *

That night.

After all the classes were over.

We decided to have our own preparation time before starting training.

The preparation time was about 40 minutes.

It was quite a long time.

It wasn’t Adela or Soonchan who asked for preparation time.

It was me who asked for it.

There was something I really wanted to ask Mimir before training.

‘Mimir. I’m here.’

‘Hmm? You’re early? You said you had training today. Was it canceled?’

‘I postponed it a bit. There’s something I want to ask you.’

Mimir closed the comic book she was reading and sat up straight.

‘What is it?’

‘It’s about elixirs.’

‘Why elixirs?’

‘Well. I got a call from Mr. Seokhyun earlier about the availability and acquisition of materials.’

‘Yeah.’

‘He said that other things can be obtained if we try, but Laplace’s Tears is still the problem.’

The materials I had never heard of before were just renamed.

When I searched for them with the changed names, I could find most of them quickly.

There were still about two materials whose sources were unknown. But he said that we could find them if we kept looking.

The problem was still Laplace’s Tears.

He said there was no way to find it.

All information was cut off after the last bidding record 42 years ago.

It was practically impossible to obtain.

……That was Mr. Seokhyun’s opinion.

‘It seems like it’ll be difficult to make Tears of Heaven. I was wondering if we should make a different elixir.’

‘A different elixir…… It’s not that there aren’t any……’

Mimir trailed off with a strange expression.

‘The rare materials that go into other elixirs are much harder to obtain than Laplace’s Tears, you know?’

‘……Harder?’

‘Yeah. Laplace’s Tears is still a ‘herb’ that can be obtained through gathering, right? But the others are hunting materials that can be obtained through the corpses of monsters, you know?’

‘Hunting…… That means combat is essential.’

Gathering and hunting.

It depends on the case, but usually, hunting is much more difficult.

It was obvious.

Hunting materials can only be obtained by directly subjugating monsters, while gathering materials can be obtained just by finding them somehow.

‘How strong are the monsters?’

‘In this era’s classification, they would be ranked as Disaster-Class beyond the ranks……’

Disaster-Class beyond the ranks is a unique term that collectively expresses monsters that surpass S-rank.

In other words, all monsters that exist above S-rank are called Disaster-Class beyond the ranks.

‘In reality, they’re two stages stronger than the Disaster-Class beyond the ranks of this era.’

‘……Two stages?’

Gigantos and Fenrir, who appeared in the third magic stone warehouse in the past.

Two stages stronger than those incredible guys.

‘Compared to Drake?’

‘About one stage above.’

‘……Oh my god.’

Even one stage above Drake. I couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Ah. Right. You said you saw Horus and Darkness? Think of them as being about that level, or stronger.’

‘……Are they Mythical Species?’

‘Yeah, yeah. That’s right. Mythical Species.’

Drake is barely on the line of monsters.

That’s why she said it was one stage below.

‘If you look at the fact that even the record of the Nine-Tailed Fox being a divine beast has disappeared, the probability of them existing in this era is very low. Have you ever heard of these names? Repellakiunium and Palaitaniarin.’

‘……No. It’s the first time I’ve heard of them.’

‘Right?’

In the first place, the term Mythical Species is a unique term that I learned for the first time here.

In this era, there are no beings like divine beasts or Mythical Species left.

‘That’s why I recommended making Tears of Heaven. The effect is top-notch, and the production difficulty is very low compared to others.’

I agree that it’s relatively low. The materials for other elixirs are byproducts of Mythical Species, after all.

‘……It doesn’t seem easy to find Laplace either.’

‘Well, it’s not easy. But isn’t there a possibility?’

‘That’s true……’

It’s definitely more likely than catching a Mythical Species that has a low probability of existing.

‘And the current successor has a Nine-Tailed Fox, right? If you get help from her, finding Laplace’s Tears won’t be that difficult.’

‘Miho?’

I looked at Miho, who was curled up on my thigh.

She was wagging her five tails with an expression that said she was happy.

‘What are you surprised about? Don’t you remember? I said that the mythical magic you can get by clearing the fifth test page would be a great help in exploration.’

‘No. Of course, I remember it…… But wasn’t the exploration ability limited to finding the artifacts or the medium of mythical magic that the master left behind?’

‘There’s no way it would be that limited. The Nine-Tailed Fox’s exploration ability is not that limited.’

Mimir looked down at Miho, who was rolling around on my thigh.

‘Do you even know how the Nine-Tailed Fox finds things?’

‘……No.’

Come to think of it, we haven’t talked about that yet.

‘The Nine-Tailed Fox is a divine beast that handles souls. She remembers everything in the world by classifying them as souls.’

She remembers them as souls.

I’m starting to get a sense of it.

‘Once she checks and remembers a soul, she never forgets it.’

‘Ah.’

I got it.

I know exactly what she’s trying to say.

‘So, if Miho has seen it before, she can find it no matter if it’s a living thing or an inanimate object. Is that what you’re saying?’

‘Exactly.’

Exploration using a special medium called soul.

I understood how Miho could find the master’s artifacts or the medium of mythical magic.

With that kind of ability, it makes sense that she can find something with pinpoint accuracy.

‘And the Nine-Tailed Fox has seen Laplace in the past. Of course, she’ll remember Laplace’s soul too.’

Miho is the master’s partner.

As such, she remembers anything that the master has ever owned.

The master was the first to create Tears of Heaven, so Miho must have seen Laplace.

‘Ask her. If she can find Laplace.’

I took my eyes off Mimir and looked at Miho, who was on my thigh.

Then, I gently stroked her head and asked.

‘Miho. Can you find a herb called Laplace?’

Miho’s ears perked up.

She started thinking about something.

And then, as if something came to mind, she nodded.

‘See? I told you she remembered it?’

‘……You’re right.’

I stroked Miho’s head once again.

Miho purred as if she was happy.

‘Then Miho. Can you roughly tell me where Laplace is?’

Miho immediately shook her head at my words.

‘……You can’t?’

‘You silly successor. How can she answer you if you ask her here?’

‘Ah.’

That’s right.

This is Mimir’s book.

It’s a space within the book.

There’s no way she could find it if I asked her to detect it here.

‘If you want to know the exact location, go outside and ask her.’

‘I should.’

I picked up Miho and got up from my seat.

‘Then I’ll go out quickly.’

‘Okay. While you’re out, ask if there are any artifacts or mediums nearby.’

‘Yeah. I was going to do that anyway.’

There might be other artifacts or mediums of mythical magic left in Korea.

If so, I should prioritize recovering them.

‘And, while I’m at it, I should also roughly figure out the location of the master’s staff that Aslan mentioned.’

The staff-type artifact that he said would be the most helpful to me now and that I should find first.

Laplace is important, but I need to roughly figure out its location as well.