Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Tower's Trial
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“Please grant me permission to undertake the 'Tower's Trial' in Necropolis.”
The tower of Necropolis. What that tower signified was a fact that needed no explanation.
The Black Magic Tower.
And the 'Tower's Trial' Dale spoke of was a testing ground where a mage proved how far they could ascend by facing the tower's Floor Guardians…
Furthermore, it was a kind of ranking game that established the hierarchy among the mages of the Magic Tower.
Novices attempting the trial for the first time would fall before clearing even a few floors, while those who defeated the guardians of the upper floors and grew stronger would finally earn the right to become 'Elders of the Tower'.
—Finally, only one person, the one who stood at the tower's pinnacle, was granted the title of 'Tower Master'.
Just like the man standing before Dale... Lord Black.
Moreover, among the five colored towers, the trial of the Black Magic Tower, which was intertwined with 'death', was renowned for being the most perilous, alongside that of the Red Tower.
“The Tower's Trial, you say.”
At his words, Dale silently nodded.
“It is an exceedingly dangerous place where you could easily lose your life.”
Speaking not just as Dale's father but as the one who reigned at the pinnacle of the Black Magic Tower, Lord Black continued.
“It is too soon for you, who have not yet even completed the 3rd Circle.”
At ten years old, Dale's level was that of a 2nd Circle Master, encompassing both Water and Darkness.
And the minimum qualification for a mage to challenge the Tower's Trial was reaching the 3rd Circle. In other words, to undertake the trial, one needed to have formally graduated from the academy or possess an equivalent level of skill.
“I will be able to reach it soon.”
Dale replied confidently.
The average age for an ordinary talent to enter the Magic Tower's affiliated academy and reach the 3rd Circle—the equivalent of graduation—was their mid-twenties. However, Dale, who had reached the 2nd Circle at nine, was already confident of the 'next stage' despite only a year having passed.
The 3rd Circle. The level at which one could graduate from the academy and call themselves a proper, official mage.
“As I said, this is a decision for you, Father, and for House Sachsen.”
“In what way do you see it as such?”
“If, after I reach the 3rd Circle, I prove myself through the 'Tower's Trial'...”
Dale continued calmly.
“Through an heir like me, your position as the Tower Master will be further solidified.”
His position as Tower Master.
Becoming the Tower Master was by no means a matter of blood inheritance, which was why the 'succession of an heir' was never a light matter.
That was why Dale's desire to stand in the spotlight as the prodigy of the ducal house was not born from some petty desire for self-display.
“I, too, will gain a reputation in a reliable form, not just the baseless gossip of busybodies.”
To make a formal debut in the world of magic and prove the name 'prodigy of the ducal house'.
“My proof will become your proof.”
He nodded and continued.
“And your proof will become the 'proof of our House Sachsen'.”
The proof of House Sachsen.
“Is that why you have requested the Tower's Trial?”
To his father's question, Dale silently nodded.
“Yes.”
At that, Duke Sachsen let out a low laugh.
Through the events of recent days, Dale had come to a clear realization.
The power wielded by House Sachsen, the greatest Archduke of the Empire, far surpassed Dale's imagination.
Therefore, quietly biding his time was not a good decision. Regardless of Dale's silence, the Empire's ambitions toward the ducal house would not cease.
Rather, before the Empire could make its move, he needed to use the full power of House Sachsen to prove himself.
To obtain a reputation so great that not even the Imperial Family could threaten it lightly.
This was only the beginning.
* * *
That night.
Dale sat cross-legged in his bedroom, examining his condition.
Two circles, a 2nd Circle Master. To this, he had to generate and build another mana ring.
Simply put, the expansion of one's circles was an act of surpassing one's own limits.
‘But from the 3rd Circle, it's a little different.’
Unlike before, breaking the wall beyond the 3rd Circle was not a matter of talent or technique.
It was enlightenment.
A realm one could only reach by deeply contemplating and understanding the principles of magic.
This was precisely why the 3rd Circle was typically distinguished as the qualification for academy graduation and the mark of a proper mage.
‘That said, I don't have the luxury of leisurely meditating.’
The world's paths were not limited to the righteous one.
What Dale chose was a heretical path, hundreds of times more dangerous, yet one that guaranteed a more certain result.
The method he had taken in his past life.
If reaching the 3rd Circle through enlightenment was akin to climbing over a wall, the method Dale intended to use was like smashing himself against the wall with all his might to bring it down entirely.
An act of transcending his limits as a mage through a mana rampage, with his life as collateral.
*Fwoosh!*
A vortex of magical power raged within the room, scattering like frost.
The tempest of mana began a precarious tug-of-war between control and rampage.
‘Let's try again.’
Within his fading consciousness, Dale once again steadied his mind.
He released the mana he had accumulated to the point of bursting his heart, exploding it like dynamite.
But the two interlocking circles, like clockwork, exhibited exponential performance and halted the mana's rampage.
‘...Not all 2nd Circles are the same.’
The completeness of the circles, built upon the foundation of his past experience and current learning, far surpassed the level of his previous life.
Even now, at this very moment, the perfection of his circles was endlessly refining. Their precision and rotational force were dozens of times greater than what an ordinary 2nd Circle could handle.
The 'limit of himself' that he had to overcome was far higher than he had anticipated.
But he could not stop.
‘Again!’
At the end of a vicious cycle of forcibly pumping mana from his heart to unleash an amount that exceeded the capacity of his 2nd Circle.
To accommodate the endlessly supplied mana, the two circles repeated extreme acceleration and rotation.
‘Still not enough.’
He had to accelerate and rotate the circles faster, pushing them to the absolute limit. It was like flooring the accelerator of a car until the engine's RPM could no longer handle it.
“......!”
Just then.
The rampaging mana finally broke completely free of the circles' control and engulfed Dale's entire body.
*Crack, crackle!*
His breath stopped.
The mana in the area screamed as it began to absorb the surrounding thermal energy.
A faint layer of frost formed along the windowpanes, the room froze over, and a bone-chilling cold swept through.
And—.
*Thrust!*
“......?!”
Suddenly, a searing pain assaulted him from behind.
The feel of cold steel. The tip of a blade, having pierced through his chest, gleamed with a menacing blue light.
‘The blade of the Holy Sword Durandal...?’
When he came to his senses, Dale found himself standing in the middle of a stark white land.
Not in a cozy room of the ducal castle.
A white and dark winter night. The boundary between reality and illusion blurred.
Realizing this, Dale gave a cold sneer.
As Sephia had said... magic is a mirror of the heart.
And right now, Dale was inside the mirror that reflected his own heart.
Not waiting for enlightenment to come, but stepping into the 'world of enlightenment' with his own two feet.
The abyss of thought.
A white and dark winter night.
The bottom of the night was pure white, yet the sky was incredibly black and dark.
Every mage possesses their own 《World》, and the training of a mage is the process of completing that world.
The ideal of a mage is to superimpose that world onto reality.
This is why calling a clash between high-level mages a 'collision of worlds' is no exaggeration.
And this was Dale's true world.
Pale, ashen sleet scattered across the endlessly stretching, blank horizon.
There was truly nothing here.
Not his father, not his mother, not his sister Lije, not Sephia or Charlotte.
‘From the beginning, I had nothing.’
Upon realizing that fact, his heart became unbelievably calm. A chilling cold seeped into his chest.
*Clang!*
The illusion shattered, and the cold vanished. He lowered his head.
There was no grand enlightenment.
“...”
And yet, 'three circles' were now interlocked like clockwork around his heart, functioning.
The price he paid was simply facing his own true world.
When he went from the 1st Circle to the 2nd, he could feel that he had become dozens of times stronger.
And now, at this very moment of obtaining the 3rd Circle.
It went without saying that this was no 'ordinary 3rd Circle'.
There were countless weapon projections, spell modifications, and additional formulas he wanted to test immediately.
But alone in his castle room, Dale did not dare to even think of testing his magic.
* * *
The next morning, in Duke Sachsen's office.
“I've reached the 3rd Circle.”
Dale reported calmly, and his father, Duke Sachsen, gasped in surprise.
“...Is that truly so?”
Dale nodded silently. As a test, he rotated the three circles fixed around his heart like clockwork.
The three circles interlocked organically, processing the mana that erupted forth into the form of magical power.
Along with the memory of the white and dark winter night.
The magical power of black and blue, of darkness and cold, swirled at Dale's fingertips.
The dual attributes of refined darkness and chilling cold.
Only then did Dale finally realize that his choice of the Water and Darkness schools of magic was no coincidence.
When Sephia first became his master, he could have rejected her teachings. But he hadn't. At first, he thought it was his own will.
—It wasn't.
'Dale's world' had chosen it.
“It's hard to believe even seeing it.”
His father, Duke Sachsen, replied with a wry smile.
“...Now, all that's left is to prove my abilities in the tower.”
At those words, his father, Duke Sachsen, smiled quietly. It was an incredibly complex smile.
Lord Black surely knew as well. The talent Dale possessed had already far transcended the realm of genius.
Despite knowing this, Dale did not hesitate. For a child is beloved, even if they are a monster.
Besides, the time for staying silent and waiting, simply because he was a child, had passed. Regardless of Dale's silence, the Empire, the Imperial Family, and this world would move on without end.
To take the Tower's Trial and prove himself with all his might.
“Please believe in me, Father.”
Therefore, no matter how he might appear to others, now was the time to simply move forward.
* * *
Some time later. The city of death, Necropolis.
And toward the jet-black spire rising in the city's center—the Black Magic Tower—a procession of a nobleman's carriage and knights was making its way.
The 'Black Cavalry', armed in black armor and clad in ash-gray surcoats embroidered with night ravens.
Their appearance signified only one thing: Duke Sachsen's personal guard, the Night Raven Knights.
And the man riding in that carriage was the one who reigned at the pinnacle of this city of death, its tower, and indeed, the entire northern region.
Along with his young son, who possessed the most brilliant talent in the entire Empire.
The 'Tower's Trial' was a test and a ritual given equally to all in the Magic Tower, and not even the Tower Master was an exception. The burden of endlessly proving one's existence was not Dale's alone.
Thus, the father and son, who practiced the art of dark magic, crossed the main road of Necropolis.
Each heading toward the trial that awaited them.