Chapter 149
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: 14th Floor - Lv. 2200 Dark Spirit King (6)
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Times have changed, and the position of mages isn't what it used to be.
Magitech is certainly something that touches on magic, but it's a completely different branch.
If mages were the symbol of an era where individuals wielded power, then engineers are the symbol of an era where machines wield it.
In terms of efficiency, the former can never beat the latter.
Of course, even in this era, there are still those who study pure magic rather than magitech.
In fact, it's more systematized and refined than in the past, so there's been some progress.
But with the already sparse population scraping the bottom of the barrel, there's not much that can be done about it.
Still, the Federation holds that very first village—the origin of everything before the space age arrived—in especially high regard.
They've mythologized the circumstances of that time and deified the people who were there.
Like apostles of the goddess.
I'm the goddess's proxy, after all.
But the first Federation was just a tiny community that could have collapsed at any moment.
Finding those talented goblin twin sisters and teaching them necromancy was a seed I planted just to give the Empire and the God of War a bit more headache.
Now, let's admire the results of that seed sprouting and growing strong.
The fireworks are about to start.
Mages powerful enough to rival armies were rare back then, and even rarer now.
Meanwhile, armies have grown stronger, and mages have dwindled.
It's hard for new ones to emerge, so all the mages with army-level power are from the past.
Our party might be legends to those living in this universe's modern age, but stepping forward now is the very first necromancer—one of the Federation's foundational myths.
Along with the undead dragon she commands.
My disciple knew exactly how to use the creation I'd made for her.
With the remnants of the fleet providing covering fire, she pierced through the other dark spirits rising to protect the Spirit King.
In the end, the goblins' support was perfectly timed.
Breaking through alone would have taken too long.
The barrage of cannon fire drew the attention of the higher dark spirits and great spirits.
Compared to the massive Spirit King, the flying bone dragon looked pathetically small.
Beasts that moved on instinct alone, without any learning, still hadn't realized how destructive the yeouiju the dragon carried would be.
Thanks to that, the real dragon closed in on the Spirit King—which was still twisting its body with all defenses stripped away—without issue.
Now that it had formed a physical body, there had to be something like a core inside.
The dragon's jaws opened wide.
It disassembled the dragon heart, spewing out its mana in full.
The Spirit King finally snapped to its senses, but right before its eyes, it received back an immense power—the very force it had unleashed, amplified several times over.
The real dragon, with its vastly superior stats, could handle it without dumping everything into a single burst like I would.
It even tore apart the surrounding darkness, converting it into raw destructive power.
A physical body, not a magical aggregate of elements, wasn't all that sturdy.
That unimaginably massive form split open far too easily.
It tried to regenerate its shroud of darkness to block the assault, but I could feel the lich holding it at bay.
The Spirit King resisted fiercely for a long time but ultimately shattered into cosmic dust.
The space, which had been practically a spirit realm, began to collapse.
Even so, it didn't look any different to the naked eye.
Only those who viewed the world through magical sight would see what was happening now.
Countless spaces fragmented.
A derivative dimension that might have become a truly independent world with just a bit more time vanished just like that.
The little one watched intently as the area reverted to normal real-space universe.
I felt a twinge of curiosity at her unusually sparkling eyes and asked,
"What's up? You like that?"
It could be.
What kid doesn't love fireworks?
Of course, you can't judge a vampire's age by looks, but the mind is still tethered to the body.
Maybe it's prejudice, but long-lived races tend to hold onto their innocence longer. Yeah, like fairies or whatever.
And the same goes for undead.
In fact, my tiny daughter—older than the Girl—looked up at me with shining eyes and said,
"Daddy, I want to learn that magic."
I fell silent for a moment.
What was this? Hadn't she been learning up till now?
Surprisingly, it was true.
I was genuinely shocked.
The little one had never actually learned magic!
Well, that's how she saw it, anyway.
She'd had no will to learn, no real effort.
Everything magical she'd done so far was just because I'd told her to, and she could pull it off.
Finally, it clicked what the future version of the little one I'd met on the 8th floor had meant.
About how she hadn't properly tried to learn magic.
I'd had my doubts, since the current little one picked up everything I showed her so effortlessly.
She even seemed interested.
It was a misunderstanding born from her sheer talent.
I'd chalked it up to slight variations across timelines—o errors, if you will—and thought it was a good thing.
Our daughter, being a random NPC, shows up differently each run aside from being part of the Barbaroi Clan.
Sometimes a boy, sometimes a psychopath, sometimes a magic prodigy with no brains for anything else.
Naturally, her potential stats vary a bit from run to run too.
A bit, that is.
This time, it wasn't just a bit.
It was insane.
I'd gotten too used to the changes the Girl brought and underestimated her.
"You can see it?"
"Yes."
That was her answer when I deliberately cycled mana in a very complex pattern and asked if she could see the shape and path.
Seeing mana with your eyes is basic for anyone who handles magic.
But that's the result of training; hardly any humans can do it from the start.
Much less the state I entered when creating the dragon heart—artificially inducing a trance to heighten focus.
A state where every strand of mana becomes visible and you feel it like it's part of your own body.
Reaching that is incredibly hard.
Most who claim to see mana do so at varying resolutions.
And the max resolution a person can achieve scales with their talent.
You can temporarily boost it with mental doping, like what I did.
That's why magic classes get into all sorts of weird stuff. Even on Earth, shamans trip on something when they get possessed, right?
Mental elevation is key to wielding magical power.
Of course, channeling it properly requires cool-headed reason over raw high.
Balancing the two is why magic is so tough.
And honestly, the resolution needed to craft a dragon heart is impossible stone-cold sober.
Not even lifelong magic-obsessed lunatics can match it easily.
It's pure talent territory—bluntly put, you need to be born at least on my level.
Plus ninety-seven years of nonstop magic dedication on top of great mage-level base stats.
I only hit that undoped resolution recently.
Magic has been woven into every corner of my grueling life.
I wanted to clear this Labyrinth, no matter what.
But the little one had been in that state since birth—and claimed she'd never even seen the world with normal vision.
The first thing I needed to teach her wasn't magic.
"Alright, then let's start by learning how to see the world properly first."
The little one pouted a bit, looking dissatisfied.
But we can't jump straight into dragon-heart crafting, kiddo.
Experience poured in after a short delay.
I'm used to it, but some Exiles pass out from too much at once.
Like how our tongues evolved to savor calories in high-cal foods, the Labyrinth's system makes Exiles feel pleasure from gaining exp.
Once that thrill faded, I knew the Dark Spirit King was cleanly erased—never to revive.
The level-up exceeded expectations. Spirit Kings are usually around level 2-3000, so that tracks.
While I was playing with the little one, my disciple returned.
The lich bowed politely to me first.
Then, true to form, she clacked her teeth in a subtle smile.
[You've still got a long way to go, Master. Meeting versions of you from different times is truly mystical.]
I taught her well—she looks as sharp as Sharkma.
[Please take extra good care of my little sister. The Master I met in the past has probably heard this from me already, though.]
That's how past and future work.
These master-disciple dynamics across time are pretty bizarre.
Especially since I didn't plan it that way.
The lich didn't seem to have much else to say.
A disciple should visit their master if they're around, especially in a crisis—and apparently, the past me had asked her to do just that.
"Of course I will."
Before the lich left, something occurred to me. I'd never given those goblin twins names.
Just a casual thought that it was better than nothing.
Back then, they were just a small spark—impossible to know it'd ignite the massive blaze of the Federation.
"What's your name?"
The lich paused mid-turn, tilting her head.
Then she clacked her teeth in laughter.
[Arcana. My sister's Arjuna. Don't forget to give us those names. I rather like it.]
Why are a tarot deck name and an Indian god sharing space?
Just slapped them on because they sound similar? Pretty on-brand for me.
"Glad you like it. But I'm not sure if I picked those or you two did."
[Isn't it the mystery of the world?]
Outside the Labyrinth, I'd call bullshit on that "world mystery," but to NPCs living here, the Labyrinth is the world.
Blame the Exiles for that.
Arcana withdrew after that.
The current youngest was still out cold, so she hadn't grasped the situation. The Hunter filled her in while holding her.
Meanwhile, the future youngest gave me a quick bow and left.
Now that we're close to that timeline, she doesn't have much to say to me anymore.
Next floor.
Once we pass the 15th, we'll hit the era where that temple's timeline kicks in—so close is close.
Though she mentioned a three-month grace period—who knows when that starts.
Finding stairs here won't be easy, but three months seems excessive.
And it was.
The Girl, who'd done nothing noteworthy, was sulking.
"I'm gonna learn that super-duper magic! I'm gonna study hard!"
"Wanna do space battles?"
"Wouldn't it be nice to handle aerial combat without any issues?"
Eh, the Labyrinth has every environment imaginable, including weird natural ones.
What pops into mind with "firefield combat"?
We kinda did something like that on the 10th floor.
With two fired up about magic, our party's future looks bright.
The more adept you are at infusing swords with spells, the better.
Even our goddess slings support magic onto spears like it's nothing.
「How else would I handle challengers? Anyway, the God of Magic is going nuts.」
'Why's that guy like that?'
「Begging to make just one of you his follower. Last time we did this, the God of Magic didn't act up, right?」
'Oh, back then the God of Magic spot was vacant.'
「I see. Must've been a run with a short kingdom history.」
'Isn't this one too long?'
「Fair point.」
True enough. That run had the kingdom still underdeveloped, gods on the weak side.
In runs with ancient kingdoms, god candidates are everywhere—no vacancies.
Especially majors like the God of Magic.
In that sense, this run's gods are powerhouse-level, which I like.
Means the Exile pool in the kingdom is deep and wide.
This run's kingdom is hard mode, for real.
Even judging from angel reports in the kingdom or Nature God's leaks.
New server with insane difficulty rampaging amid entrenched guild cartels—tons of attention.
Once you ditch solo clears, surrounding talent pools become crucial.
I'll cherry-pick pure talent for my party, but we'll need more collaborators too. Some things take more than one party.
No wonder the guild-heavy last run got closest to clearing.
Quantity has a quality all its own.
Might've realized this timeless truth too late.
But I gained plenty solo, so if the results are good, call it a win.
After that, we took three days' rest. For the mages' recovery.
During which the little mage quietly let me know.
"Dragon?"
"Yeah..."
Figured—dragon blood. Nothing else gives that doping effect.
Got the gist. Next floor's probably a massive battle.
The one where we witness the Empire's fall?
At this rate, dragons showing up means that's it.
Time to chat with Sylphid.
And the Federation too.
Rest is for party members—not me.
Gathered up chunks of the shattered Spirit King too. Valuable stuff.
Gotta scour this ancient ship graveyard for everything.
The Dark Spirit King probably didn't hoard treasure.
But wrecked ships untouched for ages? Bound to have something.
Especially magical items—old is literally better, physically speaking.
Early space pioneering ships gotta be around here somewhere?
Of course, before moving on, under the goddess's lead, we held a memorial for the troops lost to the [Abyss]'s far side, never to return to real space.
The goblins joining the legendary High Priestess's rite looked proud yet sorrowful.
Asked about the Empire front—they said the alliance has it handled.
Crazy bastards.
Before heading to the next floor, we called a rest, and word came that Gorbachev the clerk was rushing over.
We met him the very next day.