"Then We're Good."
Contrary to Jealousy's wishes, Kain—having received a full report from Pride—decided to wrap the matter up right there. Since the other side had hastily cut off their own tail and bowed their heads before he even needed to lift a finger, there was no point in stepping forward and escalating things further.
"……."
After ending the call, Kain flopped back onto the sofa as usual and tapped at his smartphone screen. The newly replaced device still felt a bit awkward in his hands. The screen was just a fraction larger than before, which had slightly altered the grip. It seemed faster, too, and—maybe it was his imagination—the display looked cleaner as well. Still, his previous phone hadn't been inconvenient to use at all, so he didn't feel any dramatic difference.
Realizing once again that all modern smartphones were pretty much the same, Kain frowned as if something had just occurred to him while fiddling with the device.
'Come to think of it, I need to reapply the imprint.'
It was annoying. But in a way, it was also absolutely necessary. To prevent hacking attempts like the one from that black mage last time. Blocking any leakage of personal information would stop annoying things like voice phishing or spam from reaching him. Most of all, if the fact that he was the Death King ever got out, it could cause all sorts of troublesome situations.
'Inner World transformation of the digital domain, huh…'
Now that he thought about it, that black mage had done something rather ingenious last time. Perfect timing. Kain decided he might as well try setting up security in a new way. As he gripped the smartphone, dark-dimensional mana gathered in his palm.
A single world is a composite structure formed by the gathering of many worlds. Philosophers often say that the human body is a microcosm. A small universe created by the aggregation of cells—each one a star. But that concept wasn't limited to humans alone. Animals, plants, objects, all organic and inorganic matter—everything that existed in this world was formed from the cohesion of cells into a single shape. Each one created its own rules and laws under names like personality, preference, constitution, and values, and lived according to them.
The only difference was whether those rules and laws were simple or complex.
In that sense, this smartphone was more than enough to be considered a world of its own.
'Of course, it's an incredibly small world compared to the human body.'
The development of scholarship in the modern era had made tremendous contributions to expanding the inner world of humanity. This was the most prosperous golden age in human history. Compared to the mysteries of the human body, the world inside a smartphone was endlessly small and shabby. It almost seemed foolish that the black mage had confined his potential to such a tiny world.
'Looking at it that way, I can understand why the church folks keep shouting about a god whose existence they can't even confirm.'
Instead of a fake god with an ego like the Pluto, they sought salvation from the true god who had created this world—the absolute law of death. Kain felt he could somewhat understand why they yearned for an entity whose very existence hadn't been clearly identified.
The smartphone in Kain's hand was undoubtedly one of humanity's greatest inventions. Yet even that became utterly insignificant when compared to life itself. Just who had created the world known as "human," and in what manner?
There was, of course, a power called spirit magic that could breathe life into phenomena, but the ones who wielded it were still humans. Even the Empress could not make a spirit wield spirit magic.
Infinite potential capable of standing at the pinnacle of all creation. No matter how many clone humans or whatever else they created, it would clearly take humanity a considerable amount of time to reach that realm.
'A greater world embraces and devours a smaller one.'
Just as the life known as "human" was contained within the vast world of the universe. Just as the world known as "human" ruled and governed the small egos known as spirits. Just as humans who had cultivated the world through scholarship had become the de facto rulers of the planet called Earth.
A small world had no choice but to be helplessly devoured before a greater one. It was the same principle as the collision of Inner Worlds—the compatibility rule among dark mages where a weaker, more unstable Inner World is consumed by a stronger one.
Applying that very law of the world, the vast world known as Kain began to move in order to completely devour the small world known as the smartphone.
Crackle.
Interference and collision. The resulting repulsion. The small world's final desperate struggle to prevent its domain from being invaded. Ignoring all of it, the dark-dimensional mana ruthlessly penetrated the smartphone's interior.
It twisted the formulas. It expanded the domain. And it reversed the concepts.
This was completely different from the total homogenization of the digital domain and Inner World that Intel had performed. This was invasion. It thoroughly violated the world called "smartphone" and dragged that world into its own.
"……."
And then it divided it.
The added principle was necromancy. In a way, both spirit magic and necromancy could be seen as disciplines that detached a part of the world that constituted oneself and bestowed it upon a phenomenon or object. After all, an ego was essentially a world.
Applying that, he forcibly separated and tore away the world called "smartphone" that he had drawn into his own. The result was the separation of an Inner World. It was commonly the principle of a vassal state. While it was impossible to encompass an entire digital domain like Intel had done, it at least made it possible to freely manipulate this single smartphone.
"It works."
It was a little different, but in a way, this was the same as handling two Inner Worlds. It was an act that twisted the common sense of the world that all dark mages possessed only one Inner World. A feat possible only for the one absolute being in this world—the Death King.
"……."
However, despite its bizarre difficulty, the function itself wasn't particularly special. It didn't allow hacking into other smartphones like Intel could. At best, it added a hacking prevention function and allowed him to manipulate the smartphone with thought alone, without needing to move his hands.
Kain nodded in satisfaction at the smartphone screen that was now whizzing around without him even needing to lift a finger.
'This is definitely better.'
It seemed far more effective to dominate it this way using the dark magic he was familiar with rather than plastering it with relatively unfamiliar magic like before. He even felt regret for not doing it this way from the start. Perhaps no matter how much one grew, there was no end to learning.
She had only been a 5-star mage, and moreover, someone he had never seen in person—only heard about through explanations. Yet he had learned something quite useful from her.
'The only downside is that the leaking mana is a bit annoying.'
Although he had forcibly torn out the Inner World, the smartphone and Kain were ultimately connected as one. Naturally, there was bound to be waste in the mana flowing between the two worlds, causing a tiny amount of dark-dimensional mana to continuously leak out around the smartphone.
The quantity was so minuscule that an average person wouldn't notice, but someone as mana-sensitive as Arina would definitely pick up on it.
'Should I cover this part with a curse?'
Well, there were plenty of ways to solve a drawback of this level. Since it wasn't a big problem, Kain simply brushed it off.
"Dinner's ready! Uncle! Come eat!"
It seemed that while he had been fiddling with this and that, dinner preparations had been completed. Arina—who had spent the entire day beaming after building rapport with Layla Ruby—called out loudly to Kain, who was still lying on the sofa.
"……."
He turned his head just enough to glance at the tray and saw quite a lavish feast, perfectly reflecting her buoyant mood. There was pork cutlet, soup, and even a cabbage salad to go with it.
'I'm still full, though.'
It was a proper Western-style meal rarely seen on their dinner table, but Kain's face remained indifferent. Maybe because he'd eaten a lot for lunch today. Even though several hours had passed and the sun had nearly set, his stomach still hadn't fully settled.
"……."
But he didn't show it. Kain slowly got up from his seat and strolled over to the table. He picked up a piece of the steaming pork cutlet with his chopsticks and brought it to his mouth. The crispy texture of the breading and the moist texture of the meat blended exquisitely inside his mouth. The fact that it still tasted good even though he was full spoke volumes about Arina's cooking skill.
Ding.
In the middle of their usual peaceful dinner that had begun with Kain's first bite, his smartphone rang.
It was a message from Pride. There were more than one or two places to nitpick. How did he know he was eating, and why was he so eager to commit seppuku, among other things. It would be nice if he would just say what he needed to say and be done with it.
'Should I just ignore it?'
He thought that for a moment, but it seemed Pride had anticipated his thought, because the next message immediately got to the point.
At those following words, Kain's eyes, which had been chewing the pork cutlet, flashed with a violet light.
A queen-size bed placed in the middle of the room and massive wardrobes lined up along the wall. Inside them were clothes and bags, every single one a luxury item. The floor was covered entirely with a soft, pleasant-feeling carpet.
Even with such large furniture dominating the space, there was still plenty of room left. Marily, who had been lying on the bed large enough to host a party for several people and reading a book, tilted her head and sat up.
"This solution seems a bit off."
The title written on the book cover was Principles and Solutions of the Ringel Hypothesis. It was a book containing explanations of the Ringel Hypothesis, once called one of the impossible problems in the field of magical academia. Naturally, it contained content far too difficult for a twelve-year-old girl who wasn't a professional magic researcher to read.
"Ah, so that's why this answer was used?"
There was no way scholars would have missed such a simple error. Focusing on that, Marily examined the formula and soon realized where she had gone wrong, letting out an involuntary exclamation.
Then she flopped back down onto the bed and turned the page.
"……This really isn't the time to be reading books like this."
She let out a deep sigh as if she had finally come back to reality. Closing the book with a clap, Marily turned her head to look at the desk. On it sat the assignment Professor Scape had given her, waiting for her all by itself.
There hadn't been any exact word yet on when the test would be, but she could feel in her bones that the assignment submission deadline was approaching. That's why she needed to keep practicing even now.
"I just don't understand why all the distractions during assignment season are so much fun."
How nice it would be if every assignment in the world was like Professor Magnus's. Since she wasn't the diligent type like Arina, her hand wasn't exactly reaching for the magic tool.
Marily Raymond lacked talent as a mage. Her mana affinity was below average. Her willpower to overcome that was so weak it was practically scraping the floor. On top of that, she had a fickle personality that made her completely lose interest the moment something stopped being fun.
'A magic scholar, perhaps…'
The area where her talent could truly shine was becoming a scholar. With her exceptional mind, she could undoubtedly become the greatest authority in that field.
But for some reason, she didn't want to do that.
'That's something I can do anytime, anyway.'
One could call her arrogant, and she wouldn't have a comeback. But it was also the truth. That's why, rather than taking the path that would always be available, she wanted to experience other paths that could only be walked while she was young.
'Thanks to that, I made a really good friend.'
What was Arina doing right now? Unlike her own unfaithful self, she was probably passionately clinging to that magic tool. Just thinking about Arina like that made her feel like she should practice a bit more.
'They say friends resemble each other, don't they?'
They see each other's strengths, learn from them, and grow together.
'If Arina were here beside me right now, seeing her would probably make me practice with even more passion.'
Even though they were far apart, it had this much effect. How much more motivation would she have given if she were right next to her? Letting out a sigh of regret at that fact, Marily stood up as if she had no choice and picked up the magic tool sitting on the desk.