A Reckless Dive
"So you just jumped in without thinking? Are you really that desperate to die?"
Contrary to his usual gloomy appearance, Professor Karlsen—who had never once raised his voice or gotten angry at his students—shouted with rare intensity. Kneeling before him was Jeon Raydel, the one who had just leaped toward the black sphere and been narrowly rescued by the professor.
"They say ignorance breeds courage. You fit the bill perfectly."
At Karlsen's rapid-fire words, Jeon lowered his head even further. Yet that wasn't enough for the professor, whose pale face flushed red with agitation. How utterly shocked he had been. Just as he was beginning to grasp the rules and characteristics of this space and prepare to act, he had spotted Jeon plummeting from the outer edge inward. For three full seconds, Karlsen had simply stared in disbelief, rubbing his eyes at the surreal sight.
"If you had dived in there, you wouldn't have merely risked mana poisoning from the sub-dimension. The intense pressure would have crushed you outright."
This place was a miniature universe created by the culprit. The sphere of compressed mana was a primordial planet born within that cosmic space—a world filled only with formless mana, where not even land had yet formed. Diving into it would have meant being swept up by the crushing force pulling everything toward the center, tearing the body apart. In this computational world overlaid with an Inner World, death meant the complete destruction of the mind. Even if the physical body in the real world remained unharmed, the person would have entered a vegetative state, never to awaken again—even after the culprit, the dark mage, had been fully captured.
"To think you could even consider jumping in there. In a way, it's quite impressive."
Ordinary students would have been overwhelmed by the sight and never dared to leap. They had already been reduced to fragments composing this Inner World through the Mana Up app. That primordial planet of black mana was the center of this world. According to the Divine Rule of this Inner World, they could not even conceive of doing anything that might harm the sphere. It was a law akin to powerful brainwashing. Even Professor Karlsen himself had needed considerable time to resolve to destroy it.
Yet Jeon had charged toward it without the slightest hesitation. It spoke volumes about the depth of his hostility toward the dark mage.
'Well, that explains why he woke up even farther out than I did.'
An Inner World was the manifestation of a dark mage's consciousness. The polygons serving as satellites here indicated how closely connected one was to that dark mage. In that sense, Jeon—who had regained his senses farther out than Professor Karlsen, who had infiltrated specifically to destroy this world—was an abnormally unusual case.
"Haa."
Knowing this, Karlsen could say no more. When he had sensed that Jeon had activated the Mana Up app without reporting to him, he had thought little of it. But seeing this, he realized he had made a grave mistake.
'I must never ask Jeon anything like that again.'
He hadn't known the boy hated the dark mage this much. More precisely, he had expected hatred, but not to the extent that it could defy the brainwashing of an Inner World. Vowing never again to involve Jeon in anything related to dark mages, Karlsen tore his gaze away and turned toward the black sphere.
"It really is magnificent."
It was hard to believe a mere 5-star dark mage had created something on such a massive scale. The unique conditions of the computational domain and the fact that it was a shared space woven from the minds of numerous students had produced this result. Ignoring the level of the spellwork or the danger of the Inner World itself and considering only its area, it rivaled what a 6- or 7-star dark mage might achieve.
"……"
Perhaps his anger had subsided somewhat. Jeon tried to rise slowly while gauging the professor's mood. But Karlsen's glare, sharper than the numbness in his legs, forced him to kneel again, eyes brimming with tears.
"Stay right there and watch quietly."
Being made to kneel until they left this place was already a lenient punishment. If it had been the strict Professor Magnus or Professor Vivaldi, he would have faced additional discipline or corporal punishment even after returning to reality.
Srrrr.
Black mana flowed around Professor Karlsen. It was the wasted mana filtered through his star—mana ordinary mages could not handle. By returning it to the world, he forcibly infused his will into this space. In this world overlaid by another's Inner World, such an act was a form of hacking. In magical terms, it belonged to the realm of Dispel. Tracing the opponent's spellwork step by step, Professor Karlsen began to impose his will upon this vast world.
"If you act recklessly again and put yourself in danger, I won't be able to end it with just this level of punishment."
Interference began. The orbits of the polygons, which had moved only along predetermined trajectories centered on the black sphere, shifted dramatically. The polygons slowly approached the sphere of condensed black mana.
"Well, it would be boring to just sit still, so consider this a special outdoor lesson. Watch how I fight today, and think carefully about what you should do if you ever have to face a dark mage in the future."
Jeon was still too inexperienced to fight that dark mage. For now, this would simply remain an experience for when he grew stronger later.
"First, once you enter a dark mage's Inner World, understanding and interpreting that world is fundamental."
An Inner World was a power so variable it rivaled even Ebon. No—unlike Ebon, it was even more vicious because it defied the very laws and foundations of the world. Therefore, unless one possessed the power to physically destroy the space, any ability user needed to interpret and dismantle the Inner World.
"In my case, I could simply destroy it with force, but since the students' minds are intertwined here, I'm approaching the center to avoid any potential problems."
In this world, interpretation wasn't particularly difficult. Just as Jeon had sensed, the black sphere was clearly the center and core of this realm.
"Naturally, the core that forms the foundation of an Inner World is protected accordingly. In this world's case, it's the brainwashing that prevents approach and the intense pressure that compresses the mana."
Therefore, one must never charge in recklessly like Jeon when heading toward the center. One must always remember that this world was different from the one they knew and approach with caution.
"And one more thing. In an Inner World, the center usually represents the dark mage's main body. The closer you get to it, the greater the world's distortion and alteration become."
That was why the most prominent characteristic of this Inner World was likely to be found there. Without a doubt, the greatest feature here was the sharing of mana and mental entities.
"Listen carefully for a moment."
At Professor Karlsen's words, Jeon tilted his head. Following the instruction, he strained his ears and realized he could hear a strange sound. It was someone's voice accompanied by static noise, like a broken radio. The voice didn't stop at sound—it soon projected like an illusion into his mind, transmitting images directly into Jeon's head.
"Sharing minds means it's possible to share all the information within the brain."
That included memories as well, and this was a clear violation of privacy. It was another reason mages had not developed shared mana. Among all ability users, none were as sensitive about intellectual property as mages.
"Since you kept rejecting the dark mage, you've only just reached the distance where you can read others' memories. The other students have probably been sharing each other's memories for quite some time already."
Unless one had erected mental barriers upon entry like Professor Karlsen, there was no way to prevent it.
"That said, not much time has passed, so at most you'll only read a small portion of surface memories within twenty-four hours."
"That's a relief."
Having one's memories read—private embarrassments or secrets that must never be discovered—might be forcibly exposed. If it was only a day, it wouldn't escalate into a major incident.
"You shouldn't feel relieved, Jeon."
But that relief was born of Jeon's naive judgment. Professor Karlsen turned to him with a playful smile.
"I took a quick look earlier, and that memory was there too. The scene where you met me."
"……!"
W-w-w-w-w-what?!
At Professor Karlsen's words, Jeon shot to his feet in shock, forgetting the numbness in his legs. His mind was consumed by sheer panic. As Jeon stood frozen with his mouth agape, Karlsen lightly patted his shoulder.
"Yes, just as you feared. Every student here now knows how much you like Arina and how much you've suffered from the misunderstanding that you hated her."
"……"
"Congratulations on your public confession. I'll be cheering for your love from afar."
I'm done for. Jeon slumped to the ground in despair.
"That damned dark mage bastard."
His despair soon transformed into greater fury, directed at the dark mage who had caused this incident.
I will kill him. That son of a bitch.
"I'm also a dark mage, so calling me 'damned' is a bit…"
"You dog of a dark mage!"
"……You're not talking about me, right?"
For some reason, it felt like he was included in that insult. Karlsen scratched his cheek with an uncomfortable expression, then shrugged as if it didn't matter and continued his explanation.
"This should be close enough. Now, for the final lesson. How exactly can an Inner World be destroyed?"
The simplest method was to kill the dark mage themselves. The second was to reverse-engineer and dismantle the spellwork used to construct the Inner World. Lastly, if the difference in power was overwhelming, one could simply destroy the space itself.
"None of the three are simple. Whichever you choose is up to you, Jeon."
"……"
"But there's one additional method that only dark mages can use to neutralize an Inner World."
This was a method possible only for dark mages—something practitioners of other disciplines could never imitate.
"It's to collide two Inner Worlds simultaneously."
An Inner World was a technique that forcibly contaminated the world with one's own will. So the question was: what happens when two Inner Worlds manifest at the same time? The answer was simple. When two forces of will collided, only the stronger will that persisted to the end would overlay the world.
"That is precisely why a clear hierarchy exists among dark mages, unlike practitioners of other disciplines."
A 5-star martial artist might barely defeat a 6-star one. In other fields, clever tactics could allow victory against a stronger opponent. But for dark mages, that was far more difficult. It was also the reason no dark mage in the world could stand against the Death King.
"Well, that concludes our outdoor lesson. Now step back and worship the great Death King. I'll finish this quickly."
Inner World deployment. A shadow stretched long beneath Professor Karlsen's feet, rapidly encroaching upon the computational world the dark mage had covered. The opponent resisted fiercely, yet Karlsen's expression remained relaxed throughout.
"You didn't even notice us coming this far, yet you still have the nerve to resist?"
The opponent was certainly formidable. Constructing an Inner World far beyond one's own level was no easy feat. Even if a 6-star dark mage had been here, it would have taken considerable time. But their luck had been terrible. Standing here was Karlsen of Benedict Academy—a powerhouse whose skill alone placed him among the top professors, nearly on par with the tenured faculty. He was a 7-star dark mage acknowledged by Headmaster Hounds Mendelsohn himself.
Crack!
It was being devoured. The Divine Rule the opponent had established was being chewed apart and replaced by new laws. With a faint smile, Professor Karlsen manifested his Inner World and clenched his fist toward the front.
Boom!
At the same time, the sphere of black mana shattered, and the computational domain began to collapse, unable to maintain its form.