The Mage Tower Lord's Apology
"H-Grandfather...?"
Asrion's pupils shook wildly in shock. His grandfather was supposed to praise and comfort him. He was supposed to pat his back and vow to punish that vile, insulting commoner scammer. But instead, veins bulging on his neck, the old man was unleashing murderous fury at him.
"Grandfather! Why are you angry at me!"
Asrion raised his voice in injustice.
"I didn't say anything wrong! I'm the heir to the Mage Tower and the greatest talent in imperial history! Does it make any sense that I would lose to some no-name commoner scammer who crawled out of who-knows-where!"
It was a desperate defense to protect his flimsy pride. But Decaron's gray eyes grew colder with every word.
"Shut your mouth, you frog in a well!"
Decaron bellowed.
"While you were strutting around as a genius for hitting 3-circle at just 13, that boy just completed a 5-circle pentract with 10 cores right in front of my eyes!"
"...What?"
Decaron unleashed a brutal barrage of cold, hard facts.
"The power you dismissed as a black magic artifact trick? It was all real! That boy summoned a massive dragon spirit with 4-circle mana and used it as a temporary heat sink for his 5-circle ascension. That overwhelming mana and geometric computational structure was a profound abyss even I dare not approach!"
Vivid testimony from the Mage Tower Lord. An affirmation not from just anyone, but from a 9-circle grand mage—his own grandfather.
But Asrion's brain still rejected this harsh reality.
Impossible. No way.
The gaze of his grandfather, who had always looked at him with pride his whole life. That warm light was now filled with disappointment and coldness. To Asrion, that fact hit harder than death itself—a humiliation beyond endurance.
"It's a lie!"
Asrion screamed like a cornered animal, eyes bloodshot.
"Even you fell for that scammer's cunning illusion, Grandfather! I'm the real genius! That guy's just a fraud pulling dirty tricks!"
Facing this pathetic outburst, Decaron finally let out a deep sigh and clutched the back of his neck. He never imagined his own blood could be this foolish and petty.
"What is a mage?"
Decaron's voice sank with immense weight.
"We mages are scholars who pursue truth before we even handle mana. In the face of overwhelming truth that transcends us, we must revere it and willingly kneel to learn even one more lesson!"
Decaron grabbed Asrion by the collar and yanked him close.
"Yet you saw that great knowledge and miracle with your own eyes, blinded by petty jealousy, scheming from the shadows! Don't you even know what true shame is for a mage!"
The logical, bone-chilling rebuke from the Mage Tower Lord he had revered his whole life. Before that overwhelming presence and deep disappointment, Asrion could no longer speak. His gray eyes twisted in confusion and despair, gaze dropping to the floor.
No.
But Asrion's bowed head hid thoughts far from Decaron's expectations. No remorse or enlightenment.
Pretend to obey Grandfather for now and stick close to that guy. If I monitor his every move up close, I'll eventually find irrefutable proof of his fraud with my own hands.
A shallow compromise born of sniveling inferiority.
Asrion bit his lip hard, swallowing his humiliation.
"Follow me. You must resolve your own mess."
Decaron didn't fully pierce Asrion's inner thoughts. Releasing the collar, he gripped the boy's nape like luggage and stormed out of the dean's office.
* * *
Professor Ash's private lab in the academy's main building.
"Hmm."
Rian lounged deep in a plush single-seater sofa, eyes sparkling. Dozens of translucent mana hologram windows floated before him, spinning busily. He was running full 10-core parallel processing, madly tweaking and coding the illusion magic's visual data to fit the virtual reality server.
"Ah, Professor. If I twist the rune characters into a 3D array for the coordinate values here, I can shave off another 0.01 seconds of frame lag, right?"
"Heavens! You can think of that? Rian, what's your brain structure even like!"
Professor Ash stood glued to Rian's side, screaming in ecstatic glee at the hologram windows. Less master and disciple, more deranged co-developers.
Crunch.
Munch.
On the long sofa behind them sat Vesperia and Ardelia side by side. They leisurely munched on the top-shelf tea snacks Professor Ash had provided. Blackie snoozed curled up on Vesperia's lap. At Ardelia's feet, Brightie swished its tail.
Bang—!
The peaceful lab door flew open without warning. All four people and two spirits snapped their gazes to it.
Ah, another interrupter? What now?
Rian frowned, holograms still up. Breaking dev flow was the worst sin for a workaholic fanboy.
In walked none other than Mage Tower Lord Decaron, dragging Asrion by the hand.
Ardelia and Vesperia, recognizing him, shot up from their seats.
"M-Mage Tower Lord?"
"Sit, young ladies. I'm not here as a guest today."
Decaron had tossed aside all dignity as an imperial heavyweight. He strode forward and stopped before Rian's sofa. Then he slammed his massive palm down on Asrion's head.
"Kugh!"
Crack.
Under his grandfather's iron grip, Asrion's back bent forcibly to 90 degrees.
"Student Rian. And Your Highnesses, princess and Edelgart."
Decaron spoke in a heavy voice.
"This worthless, foolish grandson of mine dared to spew nonsense out of jealousy for your talent. As Mage Tower Lord and his grandfather, I sincerely bow my head in apology. Please forgive this pathetic boy."
Silence hung in the lab.
The pinnacle of imperial magic. A 9-circle grand mage even the emperor couldn't treat lightly was bowing politely to a mere 13-year-old commoner boy. Ardelia and Vesperia gaped speechlessly. Professor Ash covered her mouth, staring in shock.
"......"
Asrion, head forced down, trembled in humiliation. His downward face burned red with shame, teeth grinding to the breaking point.
Why do I have to bow to this lowly scum!
Injustice and humiliation gnawed blackly at his core.
But Rian's gaze on the scene was calm—almost satisfied.
Ho.
Perfect cost-benefit analysis whirred in Rian's mind.
I needed real data for the VR map I coded anyway.
Perfecting illusion magic for a full virtual world required mountains of data. Especially to test effects when possessing an NPC in VR, he needed a tough, resilient guinea pig with high vitality.
Couldn't risk Vesperia or Ardelia on something so dangerous.
But here walked in a fresh, mana-rich test subject on its own legs.
Jackpot.
Rian nodded and tapped the floating hologram.
"Sure, whatever. I forgive you."
Decaron's stiff face bloomed with relief.
"Oh! Rian! My deepest thanks for your magnanimity...!"
"But one condition."
Rian cut in, eyeing the bent-over Asrion with satisfaction.
Decaron nodded eagerly. He'd grant anything.
"Name it. If you need Mage Tower support, it's yours."
"No need for anything fancy."
Rian smirked faintly.
"Just have Mosquito—er, Asrion volunteer as my beta tester for VR system stability every Professor Ash's illusion class and my personal research sessions."
The words dropped.
"......!"
Asrion flinched. Illusion class VR system. Beta tester for stability.
He didn't know the terms, but grasped the implication.
The morning lecture's endless freefall terror. Senses toyed with, mana blocked, screaming and wetting himself in hellish agony.
Every class. And Rian's private sessions too. Endlessly.
"W-Wait!"
Asrion paled to corpse-white and jerked his head up in panic. He had to run. That guy's experiments would out-evil any black mage!
Smack—!
"Quiet."
But Decaron's magic clamped Asrion's mouth like an invisible hand, crushing his rebellion instantly.
Decaron's eyes gleamed with delight. From the Mage Tower Lord's view, no better terms. His grandson experiencing and learning from this freak-genius grand mage's experiments firsthand! The pain and despair would be perfect fertilizer for growth. He believed it utterly.
"Hahaha!"
Decaron laughed heartily, slapping Asrion's shoulder.
"Assistant to a great grand mage's research? An honor beyond this boy's station! Take him—use him as you will!"
"Mmph! Mmmph!"
Under his grandfather's ironclad approval, Asrion wailed in suffocating despair. But the gag turned it to beastly groans.
Secured: permanent free beta tester.
Nothing could accelerate VR dev more.
First, test injecting a 13-year-old boy's mind into a granny character. See what happens.
The original's sub-male lead teetered on the brink of grandma gender-bender hell.