Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: The Emperor's Magic Marathon
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To Jaeyeon, the Q&A session—and to Ardenia's mages, a time of legends and myths—passed in the blink of an eye, a full week slipping by.
In that span—long if it felt long, short if it felt short—the emperor of the Human Empire, Han Jaeyeon, fielded an endless barrage of questions from countless mages without missing a beat.
"Magic Missile doesn't incorporate additional mana in its compression. To be precise, the required mana skyrockets exponentially, making it impossible to handle."
"There are two—no, four ways around that. The first is..."
Tap tap tap! Click!
As Jaeyeon tapped away on his pad, formulas and diagrams appeared on the massive display behind the stage.
And then.
Scribble scribble. Scribble scribble.
Ten thousand mages copied them down in unison.
Their thirst for magical knowledge burned so fiercely that they jotted down even spells from schools unrelated to their own.
The old mage among them teared up as he scribbled the formulas.
"I... I was born too soon..."
"So that's it... Such a theory was possible..."
"To think it worked like this...!"
To the mages—especially those familiar with the old magical world—this lecture was a priceless, heavenly gift.
They had spent decades serving masters for a single spell line, watching parents and siblings die over a single formula.
To them, the emperor was like a fountain of gold.
They couldn't even lift their heads until every speck on the floor was gathered.
"Ice Spear Circling..."
"Fast Casting..."
"I'm trying to break into 3rd class, but..."
Questions poured in from every direction, but Jaeyeon never hesitated or faltered once.
He was just reading answers someone else had written, so of course it came easily—but the mages didn't see it that way.
To them, the scene looked like sheer overwhelming performance, not just a lecture.
Scribble scribble. Scribble scribble.
Every mage filled thick stacks of paper with Jaeyeon's responses.
And that wasn't all.
"Camera two. Pan across the mages for me."
"Yes, Harmony."
As the Human Empire's top star, Harmony knew the 10,000-seat concert hall's layout and features better than anyone. She directed the ten rare broadcast cameras installed there, keeping the stream going.
[Right. Let's talk about that. What is necromancy? To explain it, we need a clear definition of death.]
Unlike the seven Gigas Lands, Festival Land—the city of festivals and arts—had walls made not of stone or steel, but displays.
This was a weakness for defense, of course, but it allowed the walls to play any footage imaginable.
And right now, Jaeyeon's lecture played across those walls.
Not just the mages in the concert hall, but every citizen in the capital watched and listened.
"Ooh, incredible. Not a wink of sleep in a whole week..."
"Knowledge that touches the heavens..."
"Teaching all those mages single-handedly... And each one's supposed to be a renowned scholar."
Ordinary folk couldn't follow the lecture properly. Without magical knowledge, it was inevitable.
But that didn't matter.
People enjoy mystery comics even without grasping locked-room tricks. They cheer for their skater at the world championships without knowing the rules or scoring. They roar for their pitcher even if they don't get why the same four pitches sometimes send the batter to first and sometimes strike him out.
No expert knowledge was needed to watch Jaeyeon's lecture and feel awe.
His unflinching delivery pouring out arcane facts.
The diagrams and formulas lighting up the stage—impressive even if their meaning was lost.
The sea of mages nodding and gasping at his every word.
The sight filled the hearts of the emperor's admirers with swelling pride. A fullness no drug could match.
If even the magic-illiterate felt that way, what about the mages?
Knowledge towering to the dizzying heights.
Crystallized wisdom that, in old Ardenia, would have taken centuries—maybe millennia—to uncover.
No need to describe how Jaeyeon looked to them as he unleashed it.
Superstar.
Idol.
Jaeyeon—the Human Empire's emperor—was beyond even that.
"Next question."
"Yes! I'm 4th-class mage Smile, from the Wheelbarrow School. One of our spells..."
Jaeyeon munched on the sandwiches his maids brought while listening. An incongruous sight, but no one complained. Wasn't this the emperor who skipped sleep and even meals to give them every scrap of knowledge?
A lecture stretching over a week called for superhuman endurance—and it showed. He seemed to possess heavenly wisdom matched by tireless stamina.
"I'll... have a sandwich too."
"Hot dog for me..."
With the emperor himself eating freely mid-lecture, the mages followed suit, munching on food brought by attendants as they scribbled notes.
The 10,000-seat venue had fold-out tables and ample restrooms, so listening was comfortable.
But they weren't superhumans like the emperor. Limits existed.
"Row H, seat 117. Out."
"Sip... Hot! No! I wasn't dozing!"
A knight growled at the startled mage raising his voice.
"Quiet! You trying to disrupt His Majesty's lecture? Don't be stubborn—go sleep it off. You don't have to copy notes here, right?"
"That's... sniff. Yes."
Mages nodding off overpowered by sleep were dragged out one by one.
And their seats were quickly filled.
"Finally! We're in."
"Worth the wait..."
By mages waiting outside—those booted out early, rested up, and back.
Meanwhile, a mage just arriving after waking despaired at the line snaking from the entrance.
"Ugh... so many..."
Standing room, meant to maximize mage attendance, was gone. Jaeyeon had capped it at exactly 10,000 seated after realizing endless standing made corridors and lounges messy—and Harmony's broadcast was a hit.
"But... why's everyone lining up like that?"
"Yeah. Can't they just copy from the walls?"
Citizens whispered at the mages queuing to hear the lecture.
Fair point.
With the walls broadcasting, why cram into the hall? Same content either way.
But the mages gritted their teeth.
['What nonsense...']
People flock to hear singers live. They pay for cramped musical or theater seats.
It's inefficient. Home viewing offers better sight and sound—for free.
Yet fans shell out thousands, even tens of thousands, to be there in person.
That was the mages' mindset.
The honor of hearing the emperor's words firsthand.
The thrill of being part of history—maybe legend.
And above all, the right to ask questions directly.
"3,000 gold... no, 5,000 for your seat. Care to yield?"
"No dice. Try somewhere else."
"I have a must-ask question!"
"Me too."
"Looking for a seat! Front row ten, anyone yielding for 6,000 gold!"
"7,000 from me!"
Onlookers gawked at the haggling mages.
"Wow. Paying for a spot in line..."
"I'm jealous. If I could cast spells, I'd sneak in too..."
Ardenia's mages, queuing avidly for the lecture.
And on Earth.
The exact opposite unfolded.
⤷Quick Scholar: If I had to explain natural mana fluctuations, it's addition, not multiplication. So performing external mana absorption and circling acceleration simultaneously yields +40% effect, plus 2.33% of existing mana dragged along. Fuse natural and altered mana, and calculate (natural mana x altered mana x 1.233) / (max mana x 30%) to minimize error from real tests. Due to Ephrem's Law...
⤷Quick Scholar: Thus, accelerating mana circulation by 1.7x modifies the circling—no need to destroy and rebuild!
⤷Power Mage: Circling complete! Formula attached! Core principles: purification and separation. Max mana dips a bit, but double-casting becomes a breeze!
Improved version: Twin Mirror...
A devilishly tough question got answers—not one, but two, flying in fast.
Jaeyeon didn't care, reading both, but the posters started bickering.
⤷Quick Scholar: Hey, Power Mage? What're you doing?
⤷Power Mage: ? What's up?
⤷Quick Scholar: Why're you answering? I was first.
⤷Power Mage: ? Can't I answer if you did?
⤷Quick Scholar: Rude. And rewriting in a totally different direction?
⤷Power Mage: Mine's way better.
⤷Quick Scholar: ...Excuse me?
⤷Power Mage: What? Don't you know accelerating mana circulation to mod circling is dangerous? Trying to cripple poor Marin?
⤷Quick Scholar: Ah, scaredy-cat, huh? That's why your circling dumps all mana? And double-cast needs practice, not hogging circling resources ㅉㅉ...
⤷Power Mage: What? Scaredy-cat? Student much? Amateur circling...
⤷Quick Scholar: Amateur? PhD here. Old nick. Sun God rank on Knowledge iN?
⤷Power Mage: You hang on Knowledge iN? Total amateur confirmed.
Jaeyeon winced at the answerers fighting.
"Sheesh, why's it blowing up... Grateful for PhD-level help, but..."
Then.
⤷Arirang: Compression's the key! Keep your current circling and train with this Rainbow Mirror method. As mana compresses...
⤷Quick Scholar: Who're you?
⤷Power Mage: Arirang? From ArirangChigi? Sneaking in?
⤷Black Flame Mage: Why so crowded? I reborn that trash circling into a beast—Prism Mirror Circling!
⤷Quick Scholar: What the...
⤷Black Flame Mage: All scram! Mine's the best!
⤷Arirang: I'll... I'll answer...!
Countless mages...
Lined up to teach him.