Chapter 285
Chapter 285
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 285
Chapter Title: Demon Sword Forging -1
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Academy student Gordius: How Did He Become the Golden Magic Tower Master's Direct Disciple?
To answer that question, first we need to talk about who the Golden Magic Tower Master is. She's a towering woman standing 240 cm tall, with long hair and a wide-brimmed hat.
Ten years ago, during the Magic Tower Masters' Assembly incident in Sandjebi Village, the mad wizard caught a glimpse of her and thought to himself, "Isn't that a ghost from the old tales?"
The Golden Magic Tower Master herself prefers skirts that end above the knee, but given the height difference, that would lead to unavoidable sights. So she wears a long dress that sways around her ankles.
And above all, she harbors the ambition to scrape together chunks of the continent's land and forge a new planet.
"The mortal world is tainted and filthy, so I'll launch a new moon into the sky and live there. Shall I name it the 'Moon Kingdom'? Hehe."
To fulfill that vow, she's buying up land across the entire continent without limits, snapping up cheap plots from both the Empire and the kingdoms alike.
That's why she's also known as the "Queen of Real Estate," constantly wheeling and dealing to grow her fortune and holdings.
Progress on land needed for the "Moon Kingdom" plan: 67%.
The moment she hits 100%, she'll unleash a grand earth magic spell to gather an enormous pile of soil. Another moon will appear in the continental skies. And naturally, the planet will suffer for it.
According to Imperial Defense Bureau documents, if her plan succeeds, the continent will shrink by about 5%. The ensuing side effects are too horrifying to even calculate.
Thus.
"...Buy it all back. I can tolerate her antics outside the Empire, but I won't let her mess with our internal lands."
"Understood, Lord Irid."
Her relationship with the imperial family is one of bickering over capital.
Even so, she provides benefits like techniques to turn barren land fertile, mineral prospecting, and mine development, so the Empire hasn't officially blacklisted her.
It's a dream utterly detached from the ordinary, one so grand it might consume a lifetime without guarantee of success. But the Golden Magic Tower Master doesn't care. To her, dreams aren't about success rates.
You run toward them first, then think later.
That's why.
"What's your dream?"
"I want to build a giant golem at least 50 meters tall."
"Wow, that's... a brilliant idea! A 50-meter golem would be perfect for massive planet-shaping civil engineering projects! But it'd be even better if it were a bit bigger...?"
To the planet-forging-obsessed Golden Magic Tower Master—who heard that as a plan for a super-giant excavator—Gordius was a shoo-in for direct disciple.
The two shared dreams as vast as their wills to achieve them. They scrimped by eating crusts of bread, pinched pennies on the tower budget.
"Wizard Jip. Your research budget for this period has been cut by 30%. Per Golden Tower regulations, your quarterly progress fell below standards."
"Wizard Jip, heard you got your budget slashed? I'll put in a good word with the Golden Tower Master, but I'd appreciate a little 'gesture of sincerity'...?"
And so the Golden Tower's mad miser-priest duo was born.
That said, she wasn't purely harsh. Money doesn't grow if you hoard it—you have to invest boldly, risks and all.
More cash for high performers. Less for the incompetent.
This policy made the Golden Tower's atmosphere feel more like a brokerage firm.
Anyway.
Both planet-forging and giant robots require massive funds, no doubt. Just as the Golden Tower Master multiplies her wealth through real estate speculation, Gordius needed ways to make money too.
He tried hoarding art and jewels for profit, but without noble birth, he lacked the eye for it—and taste. Every investment tanked.
He invented gadgets to ease daily life, but mass production needed investors. Sadly, none yet.
So how did Gordius make his cash?
"Gordius! The young lady's pocket watch is broken! This is a national disaster!"
"Fixed. Pay extra, and I can add a poison dart launcher...?"
"Gordius, my chain sickle broke. Lost to a rock."
"Fixed. Pay extra for an auto-retrieve function...?"
Precision crafting and enchanting across a wide range of gear.
From basic repairs to full mods, his artisan-level speed and skill devoured 50% of the academy blacksmiths' sales.
That's how he caught the mad wizard's eye.
"...Professor? Welcome to Gordius's forge. This week's limited item: breathable launch gauntlets."
"Student, let's forge a demon sword."
"Pardon?"
"I need a sword with an incredibly stable structure. Planning to seal a truly powerful, evil spirit inside. Gotta hammer in a 'sword' identity real tight. Get the vibe?"
The weirder the request, the tougher the job.
"Make it modern yet classic." "Hot but cool." That "identity" bit skyrocketed the difficulty.
"I'm backed up on orders right now, so..."
Gordius tried politely declining.
Thud!
A heavy money pouch hit the table, leaving a dent. The mad wizard, who devoured most of the Violet Magic Tower's funding, wielded hypnotic-level wealth.
"Advance payment."
"I'll drop everything for this."
The Golden Tower Master's disciple joined the demon sword forging party.
The 'that thing' extraction op was done.
With ex-traitor Aisha's control mastery, the 'Promise' in my head providing computation support, and Yuna's scalpel-sharp 'Subtraction' skills.
After about 32 hours of major surgery, we extracted 1%—a portion of 'it'. That day, we were too wiped for a party; everyone crashed.
The 'Promise' especially was a huge help.
Past sessions required me in deep sleep, but not this time. I joined the extraction wide awake.
So with conditions perfect, what was the hard part?
"Pull this crazy bastard out! Yank it!"
Grab its hair and tug? It bolts.
"The crazy bastard's trying to come out! Shove it back!"
Then it switches, body-slamming like it's pushing 2%, 3% out.
"O-Oppa, it's suddenly so hot in here..."
"Selbia, don't take your clothes off! Damn, hypnosis? Who's spacing out?!"
"Uh, no one! Yuri's in the mental world too, ah—Aisha's in, and me too, ugh, damn it, stop running... Can I just smash a bit of your mental world?!"
"Don't get mad, deep breaths! Selbia, hey! Don't unzip my pants...!"
Moment of lapse, and somehow it blasts hypnosis at outside Selbia. Her groping distracts me under control.
-It's me, Aisha. Op's done, heading out. Open the door?
"...Password! Red!"
-Huh? What's up, Mima? We never had a password.
"For this op, you're calling me Daddy, you bastard! Tower Master, that's fake—don't drop the mental barrier!"
Even voice-phishing escape attempts through cracks.
Never thought peeling off 1% would be this brutal. Yuna solo-extracted 7%, right?
My guess: Back then, 'it' gambled. Let go 7% willingly, betting she'd die if she couldn't suppress it.
Aisha's turnaround feels miraculous now.
The fake-Mima incident too—if she hadn't reformed, 'it' would've broken free several times. Lucky our girl's good at heart.
After all that, was extracting 1% to the outside the end? Nope. The material-world 1% was radioactive-level hazardous.
Bubble bubble.
Something black writhes in the mana-concentrate tank. Lizard to snake and back, morphing every second, pounding the glass.
Let that loose? Chaos. Needed secondary processing: safe isolation and handling.
Priority one: shapeshifting.
Like Aisha's free-form changes, this 1% could mimic anything. Blend into crowds as a person, burrow as mole or worm—no finding it.
Priority two: mental magic.
"......"
Selbia—neatly ripened fruit of a woman, hands up, sign around neck: 'I sexually harassed the defenseless mad wizard'—endured the mental waves firsthand.
She fidgets with her left hand, the one that groped me plenty. Embarrassing even for me.
Leave that active? Who knows the accidents. Seal those two powers: turn it into a demon sword.
More precisely.
Aisha once got swept in my gosu rori adult human love malware dump. Lingering effect: she can shift forms at will, but sticks to female base.
Same approach. Jam 'sword' data into the 1%, fix its identity, force most resources into 'hardness' and 'sharpness'.
Yuri asked as I explained the theory.
"Wouldn't something less harmful than a blade work? Like underwear."
"There's reasons."
Bennett returned to the academy just in time.
Borrow a sliver of his 'Call''s immutability. Hence sword. If 'Call' were a shield, it'd be a magic shield.
Magical, metaphorical prep done. Now physical.
Cheap knockoff like fake demon swords? Disaster. If it shatters—boom—who knows.
Best case: sword explodes, 1% vanishes.
Worst: shards each host fragments, drifting like cherry petals, mobile. 'It' always exceeds imagination.
So outsourced to that Gordius guy. Make a sturdy sword embodying 'sword' perfectly, unbreakable by normal impacts.
Week later, delivery.
"...Professor, made it sword-pure as ordered. But so many people? Saintess and Bennett too...?"
"Perfect. Satisfied. Student, wanna watch the demon sword forging since you're here?"
Simple design, no frills. Quintessential longsword—textbook normal. Thick enough not to bend or break easily.
I mounted the longsword over the tank and signaled.
"Final phase, let's go. Aisha?"
"Containment barrier good, second/third lines nominal. No timer discrepancy. Magic circle primed... Throw on signal."
"Bennett, infuse 'Call' properties here."
"...Got it."
Vrrr—.
Magic circle spins, weaving mana threads. Flow bears meaning, meaning shapes form. Image: binding. I finished chant, hit switch.
Clunk. Splash!
Port opens, longsword drops into restrained tank. I pour mana, binding it immobile.
Grk. Kiiiii—!!
Tank's concentrate boils, evaporates fiercely.
Black form thrashes. Inky gales whirl inside, scarring glass savagely. But it's getting sucked in bit by bit.
Aisha frowned, shouted.
"...Hey, Daddy—no, Mima. Resistance fiercer than expected! Barrier's fine, but it's dragging time!"
"Still in safe zone?"
"Mana stone waste!"
True. This venomous 1% fights dirty to the end. Fine, knuckle sandwich time.
"Tower Master, hit it with anything but 'Subtraction'!"
"Uh, okay... 'Mind Burst'."
Klang!
Shrrrrk!
Clear mental strike rings once. Black shape wobbles, oozes, fully sucked into longsword. We waited 10 minutes, max alert...
"...Done?"
"Seems so."
"No movement."
Success.
We perfectly extracted 1% with love and friendship's power!
But verify. I opened the barrier, gripped the demon sword.
Yuna looked up anxiously.
"...H-How is it? Feel off? Want a mind cleanse?"
"If love's power needed to break hypnosis, shall I kiss you? I can muster courage anytime."
"Nah, fine. Super stable."
Tugs at mind faintly, but suppressible. No party member gets charmed. 'Sword' jammed in—no shifting or moving.
I set down the demon sword, clapped self-praise. Success!
With sealing done, what next? Extract 'its' data safely, run sims.
Properties? Weaknesses? Learn all... then erase the whole thing.
"Work's done—drinks? Bennett, come. I'll cook tasty stuff. Bring your wives and sister."
"...Not bad. But mad wizard."
"Yeah?"
"Sword's twitching. That normal?"
No way.
Click.
I whipped around—the hilt clicked open, boosters popping from sides. I blinked, stunned.
My theory flawless. Magic embedded carefully, cross-verified with Yuna and Aisha. No form change possible.
Unless the sword had boosters to begin with...
Eh.
"Hold up, Golden Tower wizard. You add those?"
"Paid well, so service...?"
"I said sword, nothing more or less, dude!!"
"But Professor, swords need propulsion by 'common sense,' right?"
"......"
That guy's eyes dead steady. Not lame excuse—believes it. No normals at this academy.
Fwoosh—!!
As I flailed, sword jetted flames from rear, floating up.
"Sh-Shoot it down?!"
"Nah, windows sealed tight. Can't escape however it flies—wait till it tires, detach thrusters...?"
But against my words.
Pop!
The demon sword pierced a barrier gap, soaring into the vast sky.
"......"
"......"
"C-Catch it! Grab that thing quick!"
"Chase! Chase it!"
We bolted from the lab en masse after the escaped demon sword.