Astonishment (2)
Whoosh, roar, whooooosh—
White-hot lava surged and rolled around Azkai.
“Hoooo…”
Azkai opened his eyes and let out a long breath.
“Congratulations, Azkai.”
“Azkai! Congratulations!”
“I congratulate you on your breakthrough, Azkai.”
Azkai! Congratulations!
Under the shower of praise from me and the guardians, Azkai’s mouth curved into a crooked little smile.
“Thank you.”
Looking thoroughly refreshed, he stretched hard, arms flung wide.
“Uwaaah! I’m overflowing with power. That Hercules beetle punk—I feel like I could crush him flat right now.”
He still clearly had unfinished business over not getting a proper rematch with Titanos.
“You’ll run into him again later. When you do, you’d better win for sure. Got it?”
“Yes, Master. Next time for certain! I’ll thrash that beetle bastard.”
Azkai’s eyes flashed as he answered. That was how confident he felt.
“So what exactly does ‘mastering a secret art’ mean?”
“Ah. That would be the technique I grasped once my lava became White Lotus Lava.”
Azkai explained the secret art he had obtained.
“It’s called Blazing Explosion Formation. What it does is…”
The secret art he had just learned unleashed explosive lava energy by using claws and kicks at the same time. Its defining trait was concentrating every ounce of power into a single point to produce overwhelming destructive force.
Now I understood why Azkai was so eager to face Titanos again. If he landed this secret art cleanly, he could shatter that ironclad carapace into pieces.
“May I settle my energy a little first?”
“Sure. Take your time finishing up.”
Azkai settled into a lotus position and locked his posture. The surging white flames gradually came under control and began to sink into his body. With the power of lava advancing so abruptly, he clearly needed time to master that vast energy.
In that case…
While waiting for Azkai, I opened Superhuman Net. A few notifications had chimed during the recent battles, but I still hadn’t checked them.
What had happened?
Huh?
The moment I logged in, I noticed my name being mentioned far more often than usual.
Something really did go down.
After skimming a few posts, I roughly understood the situation.
Hong Seolhwa bought the mass-production gear I made, and with it she cleared the 83rd floor of the Tower of Trials.
The Tower of Trials. I had never set foot there myself, but I had heard plenty of rumors. I had always thought that once I returned to Earth I should try climbing it someday…
If I started climbing the Tower of Trials right now, how far could I go?
My level was 251. And not just any 251—I was a superhuman gathering ★ and racing toward Transcendence. I didn’t know how many floors the tower had, but one thing I could say for certain:
The moment I began clearing the Tower of Trials, the entire world would witness something unprecedented—dozens of floors falling in a single day, a spectacle no one had imagined or could even imagine.
Anyway, good for her.
I had wondered who would even buy the gear, and Hong Seolhwa had scooped it up. Seeing her use it to achieve a result that stunned the world filled me with a strange sense of pride.
I left a comment on the post Hong Seolhwa had recently made. Most of the comments were congratulations on being the first to clear the 83rd floor, yet mine stood out among them—not just in feeling, but literally shining.
Ever since my nickname had begun glowing gold whenever I posted in the Gold Lounge, it was now glowing gold on Superhuman Net as well.
A single comment from me set the whole thread buzzing. Watching it made me feel oddly embarrassed.
This was supposed to be a celebration for Hong Seolhwa, and suddenly all the attention is on me.
If she saw this, she probably wouldn’t be thrilled.
Hong Seolhwa’s reply came almost instantly.
Fortunately, Hong Seolhwa didn’t seem bothered that the spotlight had shifted to me. If anything, she was the one most enthusiastically heaping praise on me. Her bright, sincere reaction made me grateful, yet at the same time a little more embarrassed now that even she was joining in.
“Hm?”
Someone had left an interesting comment. Mana decryption? That was a thing. Curiosity piqued, I clicked the link.
Bernt. A level-79 mage-scholar.
While exploring the Abyss Tower, he had discovered a hidden laboratory of an ancient mage among the ruins.
“Whoa…”
The moment he began surveying the lab, he couldn’t help but gasp. Why? Because it was glaringly obvious what specific being this place had been built to study.
“Dragons…”
Yes—this was a place stacked with countless materials on dragons.
“What’s this?”
Most of it consisted of ancient tomes related to dragons and parchment records of investigations into them. But there was exactly one other relic: a small metal box.
“Looks like it unlocks only after you decrypt the mana circuit.”
A box forged from a metal even superior to mithril. The seam that would open it had been designed so that only decrypting the mana circuit would release it. Sensing that this was no ordinary object, he poured endless hours into trying to decrypt the circuit. Yet even the most renowned mages all came away empty-handed. No one could decrypt the mana circuit.
What about Arthur Bennett? Surely he could decrypt it?
The person he pinned his greatest hopes on was Arthur Bennett. But Arthur Bennett was, at the time, ranked among the very top of the Twelve Heavens—indisputably the strongest superhuman in the world. He was not someone you could simply go and meet.
Is there truly no way?
Then he realized there was a method worth trying on Superhuman Net: register the box on the Superhuman Net <Commission> board and solicit a superhuman who could decrypt the magic circuit. Using the Superhuman Net system, one could attempt the magic circuit directly through the network without ever meeting in person.
I’ll put up a bounty.
Simply posting “please solve this” drew almost no challengers. So he set a reward of 100,000 coins—a billion won in real currency. He charged a participation fee of 1 coin. Because the decryption was linked to a physical object, too many people flooding in would make the wait time endless.
One more setting.
Anyone who had participated once could always try again, and everyone could watch the decryption process of others. Even if no one succeeded right away, he hoped that by sharing and observing the process they might gain inspiration and find a clue.
Publish the registrant’s name?
The final step. He registered anonymously. If word got out after the box was opened about whatever emerged from it, other superhumans might come looking for him.
Commission: Mana Circuit Decryption
Entry Fee: 1 Coin
Success Reward: 100,000 Coin
Registrant: Anonymous
It was a paid commission, yet rumor bred rumor until people flocked to it in droves.
Although superhumans with mage-type traits had an advantage at decrypting mana circuits, anyone who could handle mana could attempt it. So superhumans of every trait, burning with competitive spirit, threw themselves into the decryption one after another.
Time passed.
“N-no way… the entry fees alone have already exceeded 100,000 coins?”
He had never expected the entry fees to surpass the bounty itself. Nor had he imagined that even with so many people gathered, most would still fail to clear even the early stages.
“Arthur Bennett is our last hope.”
Perhaps sincerity moves heaven. At last the long-awaited Arthur Bennett joined as well.
“……Insane!”
Even he got stuck in the early section. If the world’s greatest archmage was blocked, who on earth could possibly decrypt this?
In that situation, people turned to Madoje. Maybe—just maybe—if it was Madoje. That thought drove them. And so, at this very moment, Madoje clicked the and came face to face with the mana circuit no one had been able to solve.
Madoje has joined the commission.
The attention was so intense that petty squabbles even broke out among the spectators. More than a hundred thousand attempts had already been made, and the number of people who had joined the commission far exceeded tens of thousands. Of course not all of them were gathered here now, but at least ten thousand people were watching in real time as Madoje challenged the commission.
Among them was even Arthur Bennett himself.
Would Madoje truly show a level of skill different from everyone else?
Under countless gazes, Madoje moved.
“What is this?”
Madoje—having followed some random link and joined the commission—could not hide his surprise.
The watchers assumed Madoje was flustered because he thought he couldn’t solve the magic circuit. But that was not the case at all.
Why is a dragon-related relic here?
To Seojun’s eyes—eyes that had formed a Dragon Heart and could wield Dragon Words—exactly what this mana-circuit formula was became crystal clear. This was a mana-circuit formula that could never be solved by anyone who could not handle Dragon Words.
Well, I still don’t know why it’s here, but…
Seojun moved. His hands flowed with natural ease. In response, the mana circuit began splitting into countless branches. Along with them stretched an infinite number of possibilities—possibilities beyond the range of human cognition—until he reached the very point where everyone else had been blocked.
Everyone expected Madoje to stop there as well.
Swish, sweep, swish—
As Madoje lightly moved his hands this way and that, the mana circuit began to show a completely different aspect from before.
Fwaaaaaaaaaah!!!!
Brilliant light began to shine along the mana circuit engraved on the box.
Everyone held their breath as they watched the process. A short while later, they beheld the messages floating before their eyes.
Decryption conditions: Lv.100 or higher, Oathbearer of ??? — satisfied.
<Primordial Promise> has been perfectly decrypted.
Congratulations. Madoje has completed the commission.
Commission reward: 100,000 Coin has been paid to Madoje.