Talent Recruitment (4)
“Then let’s start with Sophia.”
Alberte called the young girl forward. Sophia approached with a nervous expression.
“Sophia, your mana circuits haven’t formed yet. That can actually work to your advantage. It means you can build them correctly from the very beginning.”
There was twenty years of knowledge and experience in Alberte’s voice. Even though his growth had been halted, he had never neglected his theoretical research during all that time.
“First, sit down and take a meditation posture.”
When Sophia sat on the floor, Alberte placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Mana is like breathing. It should be as natural as drawing in and letting out air. If you try to force it, it pushes back.”
He sent a minute thread of his own mana into her.
As if proving just how high her affinity was, his control over mana was astonishingly delicate.
“Do you feel it? This is the flow of mana.”
“Ah…! It’s warm! Is this mana?!”
Sophia opened her eyes in surprise.
What extraordinary talent. To achieve mana resonance in a single attempt…
For an instant, Alberte saw his younger self in Sophia.
He was twenty-four then, the rising star of the Vilheim Magic Tower.
I was like that once too. When I first felt mana, the whole world looked different.
His memories sank even deeper into the past.
The great hall of the Vilheim Magic Tower, the 4th Circle promotion exam held before hundreds of mages.
At the time, the title of youngest challenger for the 4th Circle had made him almost drunk with excitement.
“Alberte, you’re a genius. But be careful. 4th Circle fusion is on an entirely different level from the 3rd Circle.”
He remembered the advice the former chief of the Vilheim Magic Tower had given him then.
But young and arrogant as he was, he hadn’t listened to a word of it.
I’m special. I’m a genius. I don’t need safety measures.
That day, Alberte had intended to demonstrate an original fusion formula no one had ever attempted before.
Without a support magic circle or stabilizing catalyst, he had challenged a four-attribute fusion using nothing but his own ability.
And the price had been catastrophic.
Crack—!
The instant his mana went berserk, his mana circuits shattered to pieces.
The chief of the Vilheim Magic Tower had barely saved him after he collapsed, coughing blood.
But by then, it was already too late.
The genius once called the future of Vilheim became crippled in a single day.
“Alberte, you can’t remain in Vilheim anymore. A mage whose mana circuits are damaged doesn’t meet the standards of our tower.”
The humiliation of that cold dismissal, on the day he left Vilheim.
The pitying looks from his colleagues, and the sneering whispers that followed.
So geniuses don’t last long after all.
He just paid the price for his arrogance.
Twenty years passed after that. He wandered the world as a roving mage, searching desperately for a cure.
Eastern acupuncturists, northern herbalists, even sham healers.
But all of it had been useless.
When his money ran out, he survived by taking whatever odd jobs he could find.
The genius of Vilheim had ended up on the market square, lighting fires with magic for passersby in exchange for a few coins.
Wouldn’t it be better to just die?
Countless nights, he had been tormented by that thought.
But every time, the worn old spellbook in his hands stopped him from giving in.
He never let go of the thin thread of hope that someday, somehow, he might rise again.
Then he heard the unbelievable news that a third-rate mage had completed Mana Amplification.
It sounded impossible.
Clinging to his last hope, he came to the Fusion Magic Tower.
And the young tower master there was nothing like the interviewers from other towers.
He listened seriously to Alberte’s story.
“A failure? No. You were just unlucky.”
That one sentence melted the heart that had been frozen for twenty years.
Failure, cripple, worthless thing…
In an instant, he had denied the shackles that had bound him for two decades.
What was even more astonishing came next.
Rather than simply taking him on as a disciple, Grace had entrusted him with the important position of chief researcher.
“You’re a 4th Circle mage, and you have experience in Vilheim. More than anything, you possess outstanding talent.”
When he heard those words, Alberte had found it difficult to hold back his tears.
For the first time in twenty years, someone had recognized him.
They had seen the possibilities still left in him, not just his damaged circuits.
That was not all.
When the young tower master cast the spell Mana Amplification on him, something incredible happened.
It did not simply increase his mana.
It created a new path for his mana, and with it, the hope that he could grow again.
Master Grace… I will never forget this kindness for the rest of my life.
In that moment, Alberte made a vow.
He would devote everything he had to this tower, and to this young tower master.
The knowledge and experience he had built over twenty years, and the chance he had newly gained, would all be poured into the Fusion Magic Tower.
“Chief? Are you all right?”
At Sophia’s worried voice, Alberte came back to himself. The little girl was looking up at him with wide eyes.
“Ah, forgive me. I was lost in old memories for a moment.”
He smiled warmly and patted Sophia on the head.
This child, too, had received Master Grace’s grace just as he had.
Then the path before him was clear.
“Now, let’s truly awaken the tremendous potential sleeping within you.”
The mages the Northern Kingdom had urgently dispatched to the Fusion Magic Tower returned.
“How did they fail?”
The kingdom’s intelligence chief asked in a cold voice.
“The tower master of the Fusion Magic Tower did something during the interviews. We don’t know exactly what, but it looked as though he filtered out all of our operatives in just a few minutes of conversation.”
“Impossible. Every agent we sent had a perfect cover identity and background. How could he—”
The one who had once been a third-rate mage had completed Mana Amplification in a single day, and now he was even demonstrating the ability to expose spies flawlessly.
Deep wrinkles formed between the intelligence chief’s brows.
“Compile everything we know about the tower master of the Fusion Magic Tower once more. There must be something we’ve missed.”
“Yes, sir. But we’ve already investigated him several times, and there’s nothing particularly unusual—”
The intelligence chief stopped his subordinate with a gesture and murmured while staring out the window.
But without knowing about Mana Affinity Measurement, there was no way for them to understand how Grace had been able to screen them out.
“…We’ll have to change tactics. Keep watching by disguising our people as merchants or local residents.”
“Yes, sir.”
Meanwhile, a similar report came in from the Eastern Alliance.
“You’re saying they failed?”
The Eastern Alliance’s grand mage asked back in disbelief.
“Yes. All of the 3rd Circle mages we sent were rejected. On the other hand, it seems a 15-year-old girl who hasn’t even learned magic yet and a 4th Circle mage with damaged mana circuits were both accepted.”
“A mage with damaged mana circuits… taken in as a disciple?”
“Yes. His name is Alberte. He was expelled after an accident at the Vilheim Magic Tower twenty years ago…”
The grand mage raised a hand to stop him.
“Alberte… I’ve heard that name before. He was once Vilheim’s genius. But now he’s probably little better than a cripple. And Grace took someone like that in as a disciple?”
“Yes. It’s baffling.”
The grand mage fell into deep thought.
“Could it be that the tower master of the Fusion Magic Tower knows a way to treat damaged mana circuits?”
“Impossible. If such a method existed, it would have been known across the entire continent long ago.”
“Yes, that’s true. But…”
The grand mage rose and stared at the continental map hanging on the wall of his study.
A small point on the frontier of the Kassim Empire had been newly marked.
The Fusion Magic Tower.
“It seems conventional methods of approach won’t work. In that case…”
Turning back, he gave his orders.
“Contact the merchant guild and have them attempt trade with the Fusion Magic Tower. Make sure they never discover we’re behind it.”
“Understood. But what exactly are we trading for?”
“Tell them we intend to purchase Mana Amplification. We’re willing to pay up to 2,000 gold coins.”
“2,000 coins? That’s far too—”
The grand mage shot his subordinate a sharp look.
“If that one spell can alter the entire strength of our alliance, then 2,000 is cheap. And besides…”
He paused, then smiled meaningfully.
“Whether the deal goes through or not, we’ll be able to gather information on them in the process. How they operate, and what they consider important.”
“Tower Master! We’ve received word that Sophia has already reached the 2nd Circle.”
“What?”
I couldn’t help but gape at Lia’s report.
It had only been a few days since Alberte started teaching the disciples.
And Sophia, who hadn’t even awakened her magic yet, had already surpassed the 1st Circle and reached the 2nd?
No, wait. Isn’t this a problem? I’m still only at the 2nd Circle myself.
Setting Alberte aside, I’d have no face left to show the other disciples if this kept up.
No, hold on. This is getting serious.
I quickly stood up.
“Lia, where’s Alberte right now?”
“He’s in the underground training room with Sophia. The other disciples are all there too.”
I hurried down the stairs to the underground training room. The sound of my disciples’ cheers drifted to me from far away.
“Amazing, Sophia!”
“2nd Circle in just three days!”
“A genius…”
When I opened the door to the training room, the disciples were gathered around Sophia, congratulating her.
Sophia’s face was flushed, and a stable wave of mana could be felt around her.
“Ah, Tower Master!”
Alberte spotted me and came over. Pride was written all over his face.
“Sophia’s growth rate is astonishing. I applied a new method of constructing mana circuits based on the theory I studied for twenty years, and the results came far faster than I expected.”
Listening to his explanation, I was left with complicated feelings.
It made me proud that such geniuses were in my tower, but on the other hand…
It was hard on me as the tower master to be outmatched by my own disciples.
“Good. Well done. And you too, Sophia.”
Outwardly, I kept my voice calm, but inside I was growing anxious.
This won’t do. I need to grow faster too…
Then it happened.
A blue-hued messenger pigeon flew in through the window and dropped a letter before me.
I quickly tore off the seal, marked clearly with the emblem of the Vilheim Magic Tower, and checked the contents.
Urgent Transmission - Roimdel
Thirty minutes ago, a second Prism Spectrum was observed on the eastern frontier of the Empire.
Mana readings surged past 7,000 units before dropping sharply.
The first Dimensional Rift is expected to occur within one month.
An emergency meeting of the five great magic towers will be held in one week. Come to the capital immediately.
The tower master of the Fusion Magic Tower must attend as well.
My hand trembled slightly.
That meant the first Dimensional Rift would open in only one month.
“Tower Master? What is it?”
Seeing my expression, Alberte came up to me.
I handed him the letter the messenger pigeon had brought.
“…It seems the Dimensional Rift will open within a month.”
The training room fell silent in an instant.
The cheerful mood from just moments ago, when they had been celebrating Sophia’s promotion, froze over in a breath.
“A month?”
Carlos asked, his face pale.
“Will we… have enough time to prepare?”
“Even if we don’t, we have to.”
Until the first Dimensional Rift, there was only a month left…
I still had a great deal to do, but this was the time to choose our priorities and focus everything there.