The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 407

I was kicked out the moment I received power from Persona.

There’s nothing more to say.

Persona’s eyes seemed to say that as he chased me out.

“You’re out already? Is everything done?”

Mimir greeted me upon my return.

She looked genuinely surprised. Her expression seemed to say, ‘How did you get back so quickly?’

I could tell just by looking at her face.

“Has it been about a minute and thirty seconds since I went in?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah. Exactly 1 minute, 32 seconds, and 08 milliseconds.”

“So it’s a 1:10 ratio after all.”

It was the same as when I met Umbra.

It seems certain that time flows 10 times slower inside the relic.

Roughly a 1:10.372 ratio.

I need to gather more data, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll deviate much from this ratio.

“…So it was?”

Mimir seemed lost in thought, mulling over my words.

From the moment I abruptly asked her to check the time, to her pondering over the word ‘so,’ she was piecing together the situation.

“…Did time also flow 10 times slower when you went into Umbra’s relic?”

About 10 seconds passed.

Mimir quickly grasped the situation.

“That’s right.”

“…I see. You asked for a detailed time check to see if Umbra was unique, or if all relics are like that. I understand.”

Mimir’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“But is there really a need to check? Are you planning to train inside the relic or something?”

“No.”

It’s not like I hadn’t considered it.

Using the time that flows 10 times slower to train with 10 times the efficiency.

If that were possible, I could become stronger faster than 100% Veil [a state of enhanced power].

“It would be nice if it were possible, but unfortunately, it’s not.”

But that’s impossible.

“Why?”

“Inside the relic, all material concepts except mana are forcibly fixed.”

Training is done to grow my body.

Increasing my body’s mana adaptation, making my circle [a mage’s core] more solid, and enhancing my blood vessels to improve mana processing.

These things are accumulated to create a stepping stone to the next circle.

That’s a mage’s training.

“Material concepts are fixed… Does that mean your body doesn’t grow at all inside the relic?”

“That’s right. Inside the relic, you neither grow nor regress. Your body’s condition when you enter the relic is forcibly fixed.”

Once inside the relic, no such changes occur.

You can gain 10 times the time, but you can’t gain anything from training.

“Since mana can move, I could improve my control, but that’s not very meaningful training for me.”

“Control, well…”

It’s a bit awkward for me to say it myself, but my control is already near perfect.

There’s no need to practice any further.

“That’s a shame. If training were possible inside the relic, it would have been practically a win.”

“…I’m a bit disappointed too.”

Mimir clicked her tongue as if she were disappointed.

“But then why did you ask for a time check? If you weren’t planning to do anything inside, there’s no reason to check the time ratio in detail, is there?”

Mimir’s eyes widened as soon as she finished speaking.

“Ah.”

She had a look of realization.

“Is it because of time magic?”

“That’s right.”

Is Mimir really Mimir after all?

She reached the same conclusion as me, following the same train of thought.

No, it’s not quite the same.

I reached the conclusion through direct experience, while Mimir reached it through indirect experience.

And it’s usually harder to realize something through indirect experience.

Mimir reached the same conclusion as me, faster than me, under more disadvantageous conditions.

It seems that Mimir is a step ahead in these theoretical aspects.

“Yeah. I think it’s a good approach. There is time magic in the Vaitainer style, but it’s a bit incomplete.”

Because it’s an incomplete magic, more information is needed.

“The fact that time flowed slower even though the body moved directly means that time magic is somewhat involved in the existence of the relic itself. If we can make that information completely our own, we might be able to complete time magic.”

Mimir’s eyes shone brightly with the curiosity and passion unique to researchers.

“Successor. The data from inside Persona’s relic. You prepared it separately, right?”

“Of course.”

To understand why time flows differently, we need to find something special inside the relic.

To find that, I collected data from inside Persona’s relic separately.

For reference, I didn’t measure it with any machine.

There’s no machine that can detect the special energy inside a relic.

The data collection inside the relic was done entirely through my senses.

“Give me that data in a document. I’ll analyze it in my own way.”

“Okay. I’ll finish talking and then document it right away.”

“Ah. That’s right.”

Mimir exclaimed softly.

“Time magic isn’t the important thing right now.”

She seemed to realize that we had been talking about something different from our original purpose.

“How was it?”

It was a question with multiple meanings.

How was Persona?

What did you talk about with Persona?

And did Persona safely transfer his power to me?

“To cut to the chase…”

Among them, what Mimir is most curious about is the last one, whether Persona transferred his power to me.

“I received it.”

I then floated Persona’s mana on my palm.

It was similar to Persona’s mana from before, but subtly different.

A mysterious energy that seemed to be more advanced was rippling on my palm.

“This mana…”

Mimir’s eyes slowly widened, and her lips slowly curled upwards to match.

“…The quality of the mana is different from the previous Persona’s. It’s not just a degraded copy, it’s practically something completely different. …So that’s why the research results weren’t coming out properly.”

A reaction as if a mage who had been stagnant for a long time had succeeded in breaking through a wall due to some kind of opportunity.

Mimir’s actions, gestures, and expressions were all filled with joy.

“With this mana…”

Mimir brought her face closer to my palm.

She looked at Persona’s mana rippling on my palm as if it were something precious.

“I can complete it.”

Mimir’s voice was full of conviction.

There was no trace of the ambiguous anxiety unique to researchers.

All that was felt was confidence.

“Within a week, no matter what.”

I know very well when researchers show such reactions.

I’ve seen it a few times while researching with Terun for two and a half years, so I can’t not know.

‘All the formulas are solved, and now all that’s left is detailed adjustments.’

The research is already complete.

Now, all that’s left is not research, but mathematical calculations and adjustments of physical laws.

The research has reached a stage where it can be completed with enough time.

“Successor. I’m sorry, but I’ll be away for another week.”

“Why are you sorry?”

I chuckled as I looked at Mimir, who seemed strangely apologetic.

“Go comfortably. I’ll be focusing on my training.”

As I’ve said many times, there’s not much Mimir can help with in the initial training phase.

The training I’m about to do is like an athlete honing their senses through training.

No matter how much advice you give from the sidelines, it’s meaningless unless you realize it yourself.

‘Of course, if there’s a good coach, progress can be faster…’

But that’s not very meaningful for me either.

My body right now is like a novice athlete who has just started training, but my mind is that of a top coach.

Mimir’s participation in my training is honestly a waste of manpower.

“Don’t rush too much, you have about ten days to spare.”

There’s no need to rush too much.

It would be better to finish the research slowly.

That’s more efficient in many ways.

“No. I’ll finish it within a week.”

Mimir replied with a determined expression.

“I’ll finish it within a week, and after that…”

The way she looked at me was strangely intense.

A very strange feeling of heat.

“Just you wait.”

It felt like she was saying, ‘I’ll make you see me in a new light.’

“I’ll make sure you can never say that you don’t need my help with training again.”

“…”

She seemed to have taken to heart what I said before about not needing her help with training.

“Then I’ll be going.”

I didn’t know what to say to Mimir’s words, so I was silent.

Mimir spoke first.

“Go ahead.”

Mimir met my gaze and smiled brightly.

“This will be the last time we’ll be eye-to-eye at the same height.”

“Huh?”

Mimir is currently eye-to-eye with me.

It’s possible because Mimir’s feet are about 30cm off the ground.

Mimir and I have always been eye-to-eye at this height.

“What do you mean?”

She said that we won’t be eye-to-eye at this height anymore.

What does she mean?

“It’s nothing.”

Mimir stuck out her tongue slightly and smiled playfully.

No, not playfully, but mischievously.

Her expression and smile seemed to say that she was very, very excited about the future.

“Anyway. I’ll go quickly and finish quickly.”

“Ah, okay. Go ahead.”

Mimir waved her hand slightly and disappeared into the depths of Danteora [a location or structure].

‘…What was that?’

I was momentarily stunned by Mimir’s incomprehensible reaction.

What on earth is Mimir thinking?

“Ah. That’s right.”

Then, I suddenly remembered something I hadn’t said.

‘I should have told her that Persona knew about Master’s secret.’

The last words I heard from Persona.

‘Why did he split his body into your predecessor and that guy who was resurrected outside?’

I should have conveyed those words to Mimir and exchanged opinions.

I missed the timing to say it because the topic kept changing, starting with time magic.

‘I wanted to hear Mimir’s opinion.’

Persona knew that Master was a fragment of the End God.

Knowing that, he declared that he would help me.

‘He killed himself, killed his friend, and even killed his family. The enemy, the End God. If I were the descendant of such an enemy, wouldn’t I have enough reason to resent him?’

The son or daughter of an enemy, in the end, looks like an enemy.

The disciple of an enemy should also look like an enemy.

Moreover, I’m not just an ordinary disciple, but a being who has fully inherited the enemy’s power, a being that is not an exaggeration to call the enemy’s reincarnation.

Would you usually lend power to such a being?

‘No, there’s no way.’

If it were me, I would never lend it.

Even if the other person was my mortal enemy, I would never help them.

‘Of course, considering Persona’s unique, faint emotions, it’s not impossible that he wouldn’t resent me, his descendant…’

Persona is unique.

He seems to think differently from ordinary people.

With that personality, it’s not impossible that he wouldn’t extend his desire for revenge to future generations.

‘No. Even so, it doesn’t make sense.’

Even if Persona broke the chain of revenge, the current situation doesn’t make sense.

‘Persona met Master in the past.’

In the literature left by Master, there was this sentence.

[The masked god Persona transferred his power to me without saying a word.]

[He transferred his power and disappeared as if he didn’t care.]

Persona directly confronted Master in the past, yet he chose to transfer his power to Master.

Why?

Why did Persona show a favorable reaction to Master?

‘…No, this isn’t just Persona’s problem.’

When I think about it, Persona isn’t the only one who showed a favorable reaction to Master.

‘Ignis. Factio. And all the other numerous gods. They all transferred their power to Master.’

According to Umbra, the End God is the enemy of all gods.

Despite having a fragment of that enemy in front of them, they calmly transferred their power.

What is the reason for that?

‘Because Master isn’t someone to resent. There’s no other reason.’

The only reason that comes to mind right now is that.

This is also a hypothesis that doesn’t make sense in many ways, but it’s the only hypothesis that can explain the current situation.

‘…Is Master not a fragment of the End God?’

Master has no connection to the End God.

If this hypothesis is correct, most of the questions are resolved.