Who Threatens Graduation with a Sword?
Elder Monas of the Sage's Cauldron Mage Tower sipped the expensive tea a disciple had gifted him while gazing down at the tower below.
It had taken immense hardship and trials to climb to this position, but Monas had clawed his way up regardless. Having risen to elder not through magical achievements or talent, but through political maneuvering, he reveled in every privilege his rank afforded. The power to treat the tower's countless students like slaves, the donations that poured in from nobles sending their children, and the prestige of being a mage tower elder—these were more intoxicating than any drug.
Tsk.
Just as he basked in satisfaction, Elder Monas clicked his tongue at the stack of unchecked papers his assistant hadn't cleared away.
Bio-Metal Transmutation for Artifact Creation Using the Spirit and Flesh of Organic Lifeforms as Materials
Theory on Super-Mana Conductors for Synthesizing Ultra-High-Mana Conductors to Produce Giant Artifacts
Methodology for Artificially Creating Spiritual Entities to Control Artifacts
All of them were pie-in-the-sky nonsense, deviations from established methods. And worse, penned by some insolent fool who showed no respect or manners toward him. On top of that, submitting a paper without offering anything to the reviewing professor? Recalling the culprit's lack of decorum, Monas spat another tsk and tossed the papers into the trash.
He set down his teacup, intending to tally his gifts, when a massive earthquake rocked the mage tower.
"My Rudapinel Mountain premium teacup!"
The rare teacup—a gift from a central noble's son—had fallen and shattered into pieces.
"Professor, outside right now—!"
As the quake sent the cup from his desk crashing down and a student burst in without knocking, Monas unleashed his pent-up rage on the intruder.
"What is the meaning of this? Barging into my room without knocking?!"
"S-sorry, but this is urgent—"
"Urgent or not, manners first! Manners!"
His lecture kicked off with 'You kids these days,' flowed into 'Back in my day,' and wrapped with 'It's all for your own good.' Only after the endless nagging did Monas finally ask what was wrong.
"A giant monster has appeared outside."
"You should have led with that! Don't you know priorities?!"
It was utterly unreasonable scolding, but Elder Monas didn't care—he launched into yet another tirade.
The mage tower was extraordinarily tall. The higher it rose, the easier it was to draw mana from the ley lines below, and its height was also a point of pride, so towers were built as high as their capabilities allowed. To most commoners, the mage tower was the tallest structure imaginable, an ingrained truth. So when something dwarfing the tower appeared beside it, panic spread like wildfire.
Even if it were a stationary building taller than the tower, that would be shocking enough—but it was moving. To the ignorant masses, it was mind-blowing; to the wizards of the Sage's Cauldron who recognized it as an artifact, it was soul-shattering (a few overworked graduate students actually fainted on the spot, only to be resuscitated by peers).
"Elder Monas, your undergrad Suhyun has returned!"
Suhyun's mana-amplified bellow echoed for all around the Sage's Cauldron Mage Tower to hear.
"Using the thesis you deemed absolutely impossible, I've completed my graduation project! Come judge it now!"
"Why hasn't the one we sent to drag back Elder Monas reported in yet?!"
One elder barked at his graduate student, who broke into a cold sweat and ordered a junior to find the undergrad sent after Monas.
"Do you know anything about that guy?"
At another elder's question, the undergrad's eyes darted wildly.
How do I even explain him?
A genius who whipped up new theories on the fly and built artifacts to prove them? Or the madman who'd rejected Elder Monas's bribe demands to his face? Or the craftsman who finished months-long projects in five days—yet still couldn't graduate due to bad luck?
Wracking his brain for a way to describe Suhyun without offending the tower's real powerbroker, Monas, the grad student finally spilled everything under the elders' prodding. Fortunately, he'd skimmed Suhyun's thesis for his own paper once, so he could at least superficially explain the tech in that massive artifact.
The more he spoke, the more grotesquely the elders' faces twisted.
Did we overuse it till it broke?
It was about time, yeah.
Time for new grad students?
"It sounds insane, but it's all true."
"Forget if he's a genius— you didn't let him graduate?!"
"Does that even make sense?"
Why are you yelling at me? Yell at Elder Monas!
Even if the elders' specialty was dumping problems on grad students, this was too much. The student wanted to quit right then, but without his degree, he swallowed his tears—again.
Then Elder Monas came sprinting in.
"What in the world is this?!"
Flustered by the other elders' gazes—filled with blame and scorn unlike usual—Monas couldn't help gawking at the colossal structure.
"You really had no idea?"
"Your own grad student built that, and you claim ignorance? Incompetence or laziness?"
"Rejecting the paper for that artifact? Your presentation this time should be good."
Elders like Monas—who'd risen through politics and schemes rather than magic—seized the chance to tear into him.
"Th-that's not—"
"Elder Monas, as you said, I used my thesis to make this artifact. If you can review it, be my guest!"
Professors and grad students had an ironclad hierarchy—nearly impossible to overturn. Theses needed professor approval first, and no matter how brilliant the student, a prof could nitpick endlessly. With motivation, they could stall a paper for years; grads were utterly at their mercy.
Monas had exploited this, submitting disciples' theses under his name and milking rich ones for donations. But this? Unthinkable. What lunatic would personally fund proof of a rejected thesis—at national-budget scale, no less?
"Low-level paper, right? Should take three days to review."
"You insolent—!"
"Didn't you say scholars speak through papers? I'll wait three days."
Monas flew into a rage at Suhyun's parting shot, but inside the massive Nautilus, Suhyun heard nothing.
Faced with Suhyun's ultimatum, grad students pulled all-nighters transcribing his thesis. The Tower Master, poring over the tear- and nosebleed-stained copy, understood why Monas had called it trash.
Monas probably couldn't even read the first line.
Grasping the intro alone required referencing countless papers—latest from other towers, esoteric theories, convoluted methods. For the first time, the elders frantically studied like their lives depended on it.
Those who grasped even a sliver were awestruck.
"How much did you understand?"
At the Tower Master's question, the elders could only bury their faces in the table, speechless.
The paper was clear and straightforward—no tangles—but its knowledge was a dimension beyond theirs. They could only vaguely opine: theoretically possible; high likelihood.
"Elder Monas, you reviewed this first. What did you say?"
"Grandiose drivel from an empty-headed fool who doesn't know real theory."
"I see. And the result?"
The conference room high in the tower usually bathed in sunlight, but now the giant artifact blocked it. Not fully exposed, yet overwhelmingly surpassing the tower in height and scale, it loomed. Monas answered as if vomiting his soul.
"We don't know if it's truly based on this paper."
"Oh? So Elder Monas knows another way to build a mobile artifact that size? Enlighten this inadequate Tower Master."
Monas's mouth clamped shut like it was sewn.
There were endless nits to pick: juvenile phrasing, outdated trends, insufficient backing. Monas excelled at that—but with real results before them and the Tower Master watching, he couldn't.
"Hah. Fine, we'll graduate him."
"Tower Master!"
"Then what? If he rolls in with that, can we stop him? And if word spreads—a mage built that, but a professor's abuse blocked his graduation—who takes the blame?!"
Mana-laced fury from the Tower Master made most elders groan under the pressure.
"Hah. For magic research, I neglected tower management too long. Grit."
Eyes blazing at the weak elders buckling under his mana, the Tower Master ground his teeth. Was Monas the only one like this? Were there no other talented mages unjustly denied graduation like that one outside?
Resolved to dig deep, he stamped the pre-fetched diploma with the Tower Master's seal.
The thud on parchment sounded like a guillotine to the elders; most shut their eyes.
"Summon Mage Suhyun."
The lowest elder opened the door. Suhyun entered, feigning nonchalance but radiating glee.
"You called?"
"Mage Suhyun, I read your paper. Haven't grasped it all, but what I did? Impressive. And with proof existing... no need for further review."
Glancing at the colossal Nautilus through the window, the Tower Master handed over the stamped document and offered a handshake.
"Congratulations on graduating. Care to professor here?"
Elders gaped at the Tower Master, but Suhyun smirked.
"Maybe, but I'd need a place that suits me."
The barbed words made the Tower Master smile through bulging forehead veins.
"Aigoo, Suhyun! Take that, and what about my thesis?!"
As Suhyun moved to claim his microspectroscopic mana analyzer, a seven-year grad student leaped to block him—but a research hermit couldn't stop a field-hardened mage who'd hunted monsters solo for materials.
"No one helped with my thesis. Now you want help? Conscience?"
"Please, one week—no, four days—two!!"
"Nope. Bye."
As the device powered down, Suhyun dismantled and packed it. The seven-year vet collapsed in despair.
And this played out across the tower.
Mana fine-tuning circuit aligner for perfecting artifact circuits. 4D mana structure synthesizer for stable multi-attribute mana layering. Large-scale autonomous reagent mixer for mass-producing consistent potions.
As Suhyun reclaimed his devices, the regular mages panicked.
"Nooo, not that one!"
Once gained, such conveniences were hard to lose. Mages, facing a downgrade from smartphone to landline, begged desperately—but Suhyun coldly brushed them off and retrieved his gear.
"Elder! Big trouble! Suhyun's taking all his devices!"
Prepping for his disciplinary hearing, Monas glared irritably at his breathless grad student.
"Hmph, let him. He's a penniless commoner beggar—what does he even have worth caring about?!"
Already chewed out by the Tower Master and facing discipline, Monas snapped at the reporter—but the student, sweating bullets, didn't budge.
"Personal items include the microspectroscopic mana analyzer, mana fine-tuning circuit aligner, 4D mana structure synthesizer..."
Monas bolted from his seat with a yelp.
"What?! Why are those his?!"
Hesitant but truthful: "Because Suhyun made them. Tower rules say they're his."
These were recent developments—vital, heavily used tower equipment. The analyzer broke down mana types and ratios in samples for artifact blueprints. The aligner precisely tuned tricky circuits. The synthesizer enabled novel mana-weapon hybrids.
Core to Sage's Cauldron's artifact production, they'd boosted success rates from under 30% to near 100% (barring user error), fueling massive growth. Rare materials meant failure cost fortunes, so nobles trusted the rates and commissioned eagerly—material and reputational gains.
"He got tower support, so we own a share, right?"
"The tower gave zero funding."
The student had delivered Suhyun's funding request to Monas—and the rejection. Denied, Suhyun built them solo, half-dead from exhaustion. Others had snuck uses when he was away, evolving into "tower commons"—the student had seen it all.
Normally, no report on a grad taking personal items—but this student needed them for his thesis. Half his experiments vanished without them; meaningful results impossible. Hyperbole: Suhyun's exit would delay all grads by 1-2 years.
"Damn it! Damage if he takes them all?"
"Rough calc: One-third of ongoing tests canceled. Canceled artifact commissions? Liquidated damages eat a quarter of this year's budget. Excluding lost future revenue."
"Arrrgh! Lee Suhyun!!!!"
Exiting the tower, Suhyun heard Monas's wail and smiled faintly.