The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 394

The Rebirth of a Mythical Archmage-395

In a quiet corner of Danteora’s library, Mimir was deeply engrossed in her research.

‘Persona lacks the unique impact of mythical magic,’ she mused.

She considered Ignis, the magic that burns everything in the world; Dissolutio, which destroys everything except the user; Umbra, which can manipulate the world like a shadow; and Factio, which allows contracts with various entities, including divine beasts.

Among these dazzling mythical magics, Persona seemed to possess a rather modest power.

‘The known uses of Persona are mainly two: appearance alteration and soul aggregation,’ she thought.

The power to change the appearance of a target, and the power to gather a target’s soul and bind it somewhere. These were the representative capabilities of Persona.

‘Of the two, appearance alteration can actually be done with Metamorphosis, so it can’t be called a unique power of Persona,’ she realized.

Indeed, the first usage, ‘appearance alteration,’ could be replicated in many ways, even without Persona. Dark magic like Metamorphosis could achieve similar results, changing not only height but also the structure of mana, though that was about its limit.

Compared to the originality of other mythical magics, it was quite insignificant.

‘At least the second power has originality, but…’ she pondered.

The second usage of Persona: soul aggregation. This power, like other mythical magics, possessed considerable originality. Like other mythical magics, there was no magic that could replace it.

‘But the second usage is too lacking in versatility,’ she concluded.

This second usage was excessively lacking in terms of versatility. Other mythical magics had both ‘originality’ and ‘versatility,’ but Persona had barely managed to grasp only one.

‘Of course, the first power, appearance alteration, and the second power, soul aggregation, each grasp one of those rabbits…’ she thought, referring to the idiom of trying to catch two rabbits at once.

Appearance alteration was excellent in terms of versatility but lacked originality. Soul aggregation had definite originality but lacked versatility. Persona’s two powers each grasped different aspects.

‘No matter how I look at it, Persona’s structure is abnormal,’ she concluded.

That’s why Mimir thought: wasn’t the mythical magic called Persona still incomplete? Perhaps even her father hadn’t finished 100% of the analysis, and that’s why he hadn’t found the complete usage.

…Or so she thought.

‘There must be a hint in this abnormal structure,’ she decided.

With that hypothesis, she began her research, determined to find the complete usage of Persona, to transform the half-finished Persona into a complete one, and achieve her goal. She devoted all her energy to analysis and research.

‘There’s definitely a hint in this book,’ she thought, pushing her concentration to the limit, reading and rereading the book she currently possessed.

‘If Father truly wished for my happiness and knew my heart… he must have left the answer here,’ she believed.

A compendium of mythical magics, an information book that even detailed the advanced stages of some mythical magics. There had to be a hint in this book. With that conviction, she focused on the task of 100% understanding the book’s contents.

[Mythical magic, Ignis, is also called Inis, and there is also a tradition that it controlled lightning.]

[Under certain conditions, Ignis takes on the form of a Heavenly Punishment God, who brings down divine punishment on this world as a god of lightning.]

[The conditions under which this change occurs have not yet been discovered. Finding these conditions is what will elevate Ignis to an even higher plane…]

To better understand mythical magic, she studied everything from the first page, one by one, to understand Persona in more detail. She analyzed the peculiarities of other mythical magics, acquired them, learned the differences, and collected the commonalities.

[The tradition of the mythical magic Persona. The god of masks is a very free-spirited god.]

How many pages had she turned? She reached the section containing information about Persona.

[Because he is free-spirited, unlike other gods, he did not show any particular will when forging it into mythical magic.]

[The god of masks, with the words ‘do as you please,’ unconditionally transferred his tradition to me.]

That learning was giving Mimir a new realization.

[Perhaps that’s why. Persona felt like something was missing.]

Missing. This word strongly resonated in Mimir’s mind.

[This question was deeply rooted in my mind, but there was no way to solve it.]

[At the time, the war with Veil Stoll was in full swing, so there was no room to spare for magic that would not help in battle.]

Mimir flipped through the pages as if possessed.

[But it’s different now. The war is over. Although it’s not an end to the war, but a long, long truce, it can be said that the war of my era is over. Now I have enough time.]

Behind the page, there was a wealth of research records on Persona. Mimir continued to read the book.

[I discovered another usage of Persona.]

She indirectly experienced the trial and error that Ray Bell Bytenner had gone through. She shared the achievements he had gained.

[Using these research results, I will be able to leave my vassals in the future.]

She felt the joy Ray Bell Bytenner had when he first succeeded in creating the Book of Idred.

[Soul aggregation. Using this method, I might be able to give my daughter a different future.]

She felt the wish contained in Mimir’s book.

[Who should I choose as the last vassal? Elena. The last vassal after Aslan.]

[Tey. Yes. Let’s make it Tey. Tey will surely lead the successor well.]

She read the birth story in the Book of Danteora. A total of 27 pages. Everything about Persona was recorded there.

“…Ah.”

Mimir let out a soft exclamation.

“I see…”

She felt like she understood what Persona was, and why it had an abnormal structure.

“So that’s what it was.”

Just by looking at Ray Bell Bytenner’s research log, she had reached the truth. She casually stepped onto the final answer that Ray Bell Bytenner had not reached before his death.

“Persona wasn’t a complex ability-type mythical magic with various abilities.”

As a magician, Ray Bell Bytenner was far superior, but as a researcher, Mimir Bell Bytenner had far superior talent. Mimir’s outstanding talent gathered everything that Ray Bell Bytenner had missed and condensed it into a single hypothesis.

“The powers we’ve grasped so far are all just remnants of the original Persona… Persona’s real power was something else.”

Appearance alteration, soul aggregation, and the special power used to create the Book of Idred—all of them were side branches, just degraded copies derived from Persona’s original power.

“Father…”

Mimir stroked the book with trembling hands, filled with infinite gratitude for this book that had gifted her the answer she had been searching for so desperately. She wanted to convey her sincere gratitude to her father for leaving such a book. She closed her eyes and bowed her head.

‘Thank you,’ she thought.

Tears welled up in Mimir’s eyes. She didn’t know why she was crying. Were they tears of joy from finally finding what she had been searching for? Or was it because she was moved by her father’s consideration? She didn’t know, but for some reason, tears flowed.

“Thank you… truly.”

She had resented the ten thousand years, resented her fate of having to abandon everything and leave before disappearing.

“For leaving me… in Mimir’s book.”

But not anymore. The ten thousand years of solitude were just a wait for this moment. The pain of separation was just a rather harsh trial for the joy of now. Now, Mimir’s heart was filled only with the emotions of joy and gratitude.

“I… can now live with the successor.”

Mimir hugged the book to her chest and smiled brightly.

“Only as myself. Together with the successor…”

Just as Mimir was about to utter the last wish she had kept hidden deep inside her heart, a voice interrupted her.

“With me, what?”

“…!!”

Mimir jumped up like a freshly caught fish at the sudden voice, a reaction that couldn’t be more intense.

“S-S-S-S-Successor, Successor!” Mimir stammered with a look of utter bewilderment.

“…Why are you so flustered?” Shin Hayul replied with a blank expression.

“F-Flustered? Who? Me? Flustered? That can’t be!” Mimir babbled incoherently, her face flushed.

“Were you crying?” Shin Hayul asked sharply, looking at Mimir’s bloodshot eyes with a serious expression.

“…I wasn’t crying?” Mimir turned her gaze away, even pulling her hair forward as if trying to hide her bloodshot eyes.

“…Is your research not going well?”

“No~? It’s going well?” The hair she had forcibly pulled forward made her look like a vengeful ghost.

“But why…” Shin Hayul started to ask why she was crying, but stopped. There was no need to force Mimir to speak if she didn’t want to. “…Okay. It’s good that your research is going well,” she said, figuring Mimir would tell her when the time was right. With that thought, she roughly wrapped up the conversation.

“It’s good. Leave the research to me. I’ve been looking through it, and there’s the next step for Ignis… and the advanced usage of Factio… there’s a lot that will be helpful,” Mimir replied with a calmer expression, as if she was a little relieved. She realized that Shin Hayul had no intention of dwelling on it any further, and she was relieved.

‘I thought my heart was going to drop. How did the Successor come at that exact timing…’ she thought, almost having created a black history that would last a lifetime. ‘Ugh. I don’t even want to imagine it. To think I would have said those words in front of her… ugh.’ Just thinking about saying, ‘I can now live with the successor,’ in front of Shin Hayul made her face flush. Mimir shook her body and head, trying to shake off unnecessary thoughts and return the hair she had forcibly gathered to its original position.

“Huh?” As her mind was stabilizing, she realized one strange thing. “But why are you back already? Shouldn’t you be focusing on training right now?”

“You’re asking that now? How out of it were you?” Shin Hayul chuckled.

“…” Mimir subtly turned her gaze away, not wanting to answer that question, an action that clearly showed her intention.

“Okay. Well, that’s not important,” Shin Hayul said, chuckling as she looked at Mimir. “The training is over.”

“Huh? Over? Already?”

“Yeah. I passed easily.”

Mimir’s expression twisted. “That Tey is a real nutcase… I told him not to be sloppy,” she thought, assuming that Tey had been sloppy with the training, and that’s why it was already over.

“Where is Tey right now? I’m going to go give him a piece of my mind…”

“Why are you calling me?” At that moment, Tey appeared next to Mimir. Mimir trembled in surprise.

“You, you… make some noise when you walk around!” Mimir desperately tried to hide her surprise and glared at Tey. “No, that’s not important. Tey, you. I told you so many times not to be sloppy with the training…”

“I wasn’t sloppy,” Tey cut off Mimir’s words and replied.

“If you weren’t sloppy? Then why is the training already over?”

“Because the successor was strong.”

“…Strong?”

“Yeah. I fought with all my might and lost,” Tey replied nonchalantly.

“You lost?”

“Yeah.”

“You?”

“Yeah.”

“You lost even though you weren’t sloppy?”

“Yeah. I even used Dream Bugs and Nightmare’s Gift. It was no match.”

“…” Mimir frowned. ‘If he used Dream Bugs and Nightmare’s Gift… that means he didn’t really hold back…’ Mimir turned her gaze to Shin Hayul.

“Successor. Did you really win?”

“I won.”

“…How?” In the virtual world created with the Dream Stone, Tey should have regained his full power from his prime. There was no way for the current Shin Hayul to defeat Tey in his prime, at least, it was impossible according to Mimir’s calculations.

“I used Dissolutio.”

Mimir’s eyes widened. “D-Dissolutio?! We agreed not to use that. But why…” Mimir’s eyes, which had widened in shock, grew even wider with silence. “You, you used Dissolutio normally?”

“Yeah.”

“…How?”

“I found my own way,” Shin Hayul replied with a broad smile. Even thinking about it again, it was a thrilling realization.

“Wow. It was really amazing magic. I never thought my body would collapse in one blow,” Tey conveyed his vivid experience from the side.

“…Your body from your prime?”

“Yeah. Shattered to pieces.”

Mimir opened her mouth halfway in silence. “I was instantly killed within one minute of the training starting.”

“In one minute…” Tey took his gaze off Mimir and looked at Shin Hayul, a genuinely surprised expression on his face.

“Huh?” At that moment, Mimir let out a small exclamation as if she had realized something. “If the match was decided in one minute, why are you back now? Shouldn’t you have been back 30 minutes ago?”

One minute and 30 minutes. She had noticed the gap in time between them.

“I went to watch Adela and Soonchan’s training for a bit.”

“For 30 minutes?”

“Yeah. There was something to refer to.” Shin Hayul, immediately after the sparring ended, had observed Adela and Ji Soonchan’s training in the waiting room. She had only intended to take a quick look, but both of their movements were better than she had expected, so she ended up watching for 30 minutes.

“I thought you were late. So you were watching after all,” Tey clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed, an expression that said he wanted to watch too.

“Tsk. You ended up catching that nutcase’s eye. Elena would be horrified if she knew… Huh?” Mimir was shaking her head, thinking about Tey’s obsession, when it happened. “…Wait. Just wait a minute,” a bad thought flashed through her mind. “You said the sparring ended 30 minutes ago, right?”

“Huh? Yeah. That’s right.”

“So, 30 minutes ago… Tey’s body was destroyed, and Tey’s spirit returned to the Book of Danteora 30 minutes ago, right?”

“…Right?”

“Then…” A terrible imagination filled Mimir’s head. ‘Could it be…’ Mimir looked at Tey with trembling eyes. Tey’s lips slowly curved upwards.

“Tey… don’t tell me you…”

“Princess. I’m cheering you on,” Tey said, confirming her worst fears.

“Ah…” Mimir slumped down on the spot. ‘He… was watching everything?’ Tey had returned to the Book of Danteora 30 minutes ago and had been watching her ever since. That meant, ‘Not only did he see me acting like a fool by myself, but he also heard me say that I could live with the successor…’ She had been caught with a weakness by the worst eccentric in the world.

‘I’m… doomed,’ Mimir despaired.