Chapter 61
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: 7th Hierarchy?
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Merin had been muttering to herself for a while, insisting that she wasn't the weird one after all. Once she finally calmed down a bit, we shifted back to more productive conversation.
"How many attributes have you classified so far?"
"That's my blood, sweat, and tears secret. Can't tell you."
That data was something I'd scraped together throughout my time at the Graduate Academy, plus bits and pieces I'd gathered while wandering the Empire.
I changed the subject and floated a small ice crystal above my palm. It was mana condensed with my unique cold attribute.
"Give it a touch."
This time, she floated her mana and sent it toward my ice crystal.
And unlike me, who couldn't pierce it, her mana slipped right through into my spell.
A bone-chilling cold spread out instantly.
"You're picking it up fast."
"......How the hell did you even think of this method? Did you dig up some ancient texts or something? No, even if you looked, you wouldn't find them."
In the old days, there were pioneering ancient mages for each attribute. Their records must be out there somewhere.
Back then, hierarchies weren't as firmly established as they are now, and attributes weren't as highly valued. They even researched ways to use them for more diverse spells.
But whether that research survived intact to today is anyone's guess. Even if it did, the amount left would be minuscule.
Finding records on the 'amplification' attribute specifically? That'd be like hunting for a legendary artifact.
'The orthodox Magic Towers might have some.'
"I've never really thought of myself as talented. I turned my eyes elsewhere early on, so I just experimented with a bunch of approaches."
Merin raised an eyebrow, looking utterly baffled.
"You discovered this because you lacked talent? People would call you out if you said that after reaching 6th hierarchy before thirty."
"......Is that how you saw it? When I first demonstrated the spell, you said real talent would see right through it."
"......"
Merin seemed to realize she'd let something slip unintentionally, quickly changing tack with a belated 'oh crap' expression.
"That was Transcendent standards, obviously. What I just said covers the average mages scattered across the Empire."
I'd thought she was just stroking her ego, but it made rational sense on second thought.
As I nodded in understanding, she looked relieved and continued.
"......But even that's changing now. I'll admit it. This is special enough to be an exception, even among Transcendents."
"Isn't it a bit early to admit that?"
"I can tell if this direction is right or wrong."
She hesitated mid-sentence, lost in thought for a moment. Then she muttered softly to herself, almost whispering.
"I get what you were trying to say. Talent isn't something you can pin down lightly. Becoming a Transcendent doesn't mean you know everything about magic. A new path just opened up that even I hadn't noticed. ......Broad horizons."
Her soliloquy deepened.
"We need to maintain broad horizons. It might sound like a cliché when talking about a mage's duty, but I'd forgotten. Broad horizons are the start of revolution and the foundation of creativity."
Her mutterings reached my ears nearby, and I realized they carried the tone of someone breaking free from mannerisms.
I didn't interrupt her and moved to another spot to resume my own training.
Time flew by like an arrow. It felt even faster than when I'd come to Eldis territory from the capital and thrown myself into training.
Maybe because I wasn't alone. Merin was still hanging around my training grounds, and before I knew it, we were spending time together like joint trainees.
We exchanged a lot of stories, mostly about magic.
She asked more questions now, like we were trading opinions rather than her teaching me.
It wasn't just me giving answers.
She was a bona fide Transcendent mage. If anything, I had far more to learn from her.
Merin barely slept. Did becoming a Transcendent push your stamina beyond human limits?
I was a little jealous.
Plus, being a water-affinity mage, she stayed impeccably clean even after days awake.
I got her help a few times too.
It was one such day of training together.
My other attributes had reached 6th hierarchy level, and I was steadily honing 6th hierarchy cold spells, pushing toward 7th.
Suddenly, I felt a massive pull.
Not on my body, but wrapping around my mind.
Like a revelation descending from outside, an irresistible precursor to enlightenment.
It resembled that forced intervention from the past.
Something told me I couldn't have Merin here for this.
...To be honest, maybe it was better to just come clean rather than make excuses to send her away.
Enlightenment moments came to everyone, and plenty of mages hated interruptions during them.
I approached Merin, who was training off to the side.
"Any progress?"
"Yeah. Training here's actually fun lately. What'd you hide in here?"
As if I'd hidden anything.
She was just breaking out of her rut and diving into training on her own.
"I think I'm about to enter enlightenment, Senior."
"...Already?"
Merin widened her eyes, not hiding her genuine surprise.
Truth be told, I was surprised too. I hadn't expected it this soon.
"Wouldn't it be better if I watched over you?"
"I've handled most things alone so far, so having someone nearby would......"
"Disturb your focus, right."
Merin nodded as if she got it right away. Honesty was the way to go.
"Fine, if I can't respect that, I don't deserve to call myself a fellow mage."
"I'll come visit you sometime."
"Oh ho. Suddenly minding your manners? Starting to see me as a master now?"
I'd said it for another reason, but whatever—interpretations beat dreams.
"We did help each other, so I figured I owed you a thank-you."
"Sure, come by. You'll probably hit a wall even after 7th and come crawling back."
She seemed to vaguely sense I had ulterior motives, figuring I was scheming to get more help post-7th.
"But where should I find you?"
"Hm......"
As she trailed off, I pulled out another question I'd been holding back.
"Senior, I heard Transcendents go independent, but you're gathered now due to the forces of evil."
The human Transcendents united by duty to stop the forces of evil trying to break the Hero's Oath.
Joart had told me. Merin knew I knew.
"Well, yeah, but we don't all live together or anything—you probably guessed that."
"Meet up when needed?"
"We have set regular gathering days."
Info she wouldn't have shared easily before now slipped out casually.
She wasn't as wary of me anymore. Made sense after all our training time together.
She seemed aware of it, pausing before adding,
"If enlightenment's already here, Transcendence isn't far off. Then what......"
Her omitted words? Obviously, the assumption I'd join their side.
But that was unlikely.
I wasn't an expert on Transcendents, and yeah, I'd grown psychologically closer to this group of human ones, but...
Still, my gut said I'd clash with them plenty if I joined up.
Just using them? Nah.
They weren't pushovers either. Even in this, Merin had gained from me—and before, she'd approached for elven magic.
"We have a hideout. Originally Maron's... ah, another Transcendent who rallied us. Anyway, it was his old warehouse, now it's our base."
Warehouse. That stuck out. Was that where Joart mentioned the oracle stele was?
"But it'd take you forever to get there. Think ancient ruins expedition."
"That's fine."
Merin slowly nodded at my reply.
"Might be good for you to visit once. If the others are around then...... I'll introduce you."
Introductions weren't my goal, but oh well.
"Got it."
Merin left, leaving me alone.
I grasped at the faint precursor of enlightenment I'd felt and resumed training.
Practicing 6th hierarchy cold magic, that elusive 'almost there' sensation dragged on.
Itchy, maybe? Not the main spot, but the edges prickling.
I dropped the 6th cold spells and tinkered with other attributes.
Not enough—I messed with traits too, trying everything.
I'd expected enlightenment to crash over me like before, but this was different.
Was that pulling sensation just my imagination?
Not that I loved those enlightenments. Felt less like my own effort.
I scratched at the itchy edges, probing all over.
At some point, the attribute magics I'd handled scattered before me like mirror shards.
Cold fragments, fire fragments, wind fragments, earth fragments, and so on.
Forcing a positive spin, they still looked flimsy and precarious floating in the air.
I'd thought I'd dug deep, but this was my 'understanding' seen objectively.
Like staring at crude, unfinished inventions...... a bitter realization.
'I see.'
Before I knew it, I'd entered a contemplative phase of observing my understanding.
The shards swam in those thoughts. Entranced, I started fiddling, piecing them together.
Like experiments, in a way. Traces of tiny possibilities. Some shattered instantly, others left thin films. Even failures became material for new shapes.
Small, imperfect, shaky—but they gathered.
Each connection brought sensations: biting cold, scorching heat, wind's tickle, earth's weight.
Even lost in thought, my body felt them as if real.
The scattered shards aligned, fragments forming a single plane.
A hazy image appeared atop it.
My reflection.
The black-haired youth, Ivan Vieirn.
And in the center. Right above the navel.
What to call that spot? Not the heart where circles form—oddly random.
A crack split the plane there.
Kr-chk!
It shattered open just at that point.
Beyond, outside the mirror's fissures.
Something surged from the unknown void.
The force hit me without mercy.
Urgh......
"Guh... Aaaagh!"
I tried to hold it in, but an unbearable scream ripped out.
Bones ground and shifted throughout my body, skin sizzling like it was branded, waves of agony crashing over me.
Pain that wouldn't yield no matter how I suppressed it.
I gritted my teeth, trying to endure.
'This is ascending to 7th hierarchy?'
No way. Nothing mentioned pain like this for 7th. Never heard of it. Instinct screamed it wasn't normal.
This was no threshold to 7th.
'Then what the hell is it?!'
Teetering on unconsciousness, in that maddening agony, I waged a long, desperate struggle.