Growth (2)
When I told them that a mutant monster had appeared, everyone’s faces tightened at once.
I can’t afford to look shaken too.
To be honest, I was afraid.
After I’d possessed this body, I had fought in a raid against a Grim Wolf once, but this was only my second time facing monsters in battle.
I was still scared.
But right now, I was their tower master.
My disciples trusted me and followed me.
“Listen up, everyone. This is the first trial we’ve been given.”
I kept my voice as steady as I could.
“Most of you have never fought a monster before. It’s only natural to be afraid.”
A small stir moved through the disciples. Sophia, especially, looked as pale as a sheet.
“But fear is what keeps us alive. What matters is whether we yield to it.”
Sophia clenched her trembling hands and nodded, and Carlos looked at me with a face full of resolve.
“Alberte, split the disciples into two teams. One with battle experience, one without.”
“Understood, Tower Master.”
***
There were seventeen of us in the Fusion Magic Tower.
We all arrived at the outer wall of the village, where the mutant monster had appeared.
On top of the wall, the mages of the neighboring Blue Rose Magic Tower were stationed, while below it the mutant monsters were battering the gate.
Blue Rose Magic Tower.
It wasn’t a particularly prestigious tower, but it was still known in the region in its own right.
Its scale was definitely larger than ours, and it had well over fifty disciples.
“Grace!”
The tower master of Blue Rose Magic Tower spotted me and called out.
“…What’s the situation?”
“Grace! What do you think you can do? We’ve got fifty people struggling already, and you brought that few?”
I’d asked a question, but the Blue Rose tower master sneered in reply.
Even after I’d completed Mana Amplification, a 4th-circle fusion spell, at Vilheim Magic Tower, there were still plenty of mages who looked down on us.
Even though we had been granted the status of a Special Cooperation Magic Tower, our actual numbers and scale were still pitiful.
Besides, the Blue Rose mages were mostly 3rd Circle on average. Their tower master was a 5th-circle mage.
By contrast, everyone in our group except Alberte was below 3rd Circle.
Without something unique of our own, we wouldn’t be of any use in this situation.
...
In the end, I couldn’t refute Blue Rose’s words.
“We’ve already requested support, so just stand back and watch. Don’t butt in and make things worse.”
The Blue Rose tower master waved a dismissive hand.
“Fine.”
Anyway, I hadn’t come here primarily to kill monsters. I’d come to understand the mutant monster’s characteristics.
I needed that knowledge to prepare for the Dimensional Rift that would come later.
I watched the mutant monster more closely.
Just as Lia had said, its entire body was wrapped in a violet haze, and the Explosive Flame Vortex and Rain of Fire and Ice fired by the Blue Rose mages shattered the moment they struck its surface.
So ordinary magic really doesn’t work on it.
Then Alberte came up beside me and whispered softly.
“Tower Master, that violet aura seems to be absorbing magic. But it’s not completely nullifying it; rather, it looks as though it blocks only a certain wavelength of mana...”
At his words, I nodded. As expected of someone with such rich experience, he had already grasped the monster’s trait.
“A certain wavelength of mana...”
While I was watching the mutant monster intently, one of the Blue Rose mages cast a single-attribute spell, Thunderbolt. Pure lightning magic shot toward the mutant monster.
Crackle—!
To my surprise, the reaction was a little different this time.
The violet haze didn’t completely stop the spell, and part of it seeped into the monster’s body.
It didn’t deal much damage, but it was clearly different from the previous composite spells.
The Blue Rose tower master shouted urgently.
“Everyone, switch to single-attribute magic! Don’t use fusion spells!”
At his command, the Blue Rose mages all changed their attack patterns at once. Basic single-attribute spells—pure fireballs, ice spears, wind blades—rained down in a barrage.
They were definitely more effective than before. But the mutant monsters’ purple barrier was still swallowing most of the force.
“That’s not enough! We need stronger magic!”
Blue Rose yelled in frustration.
What if only single-attribute magic works for the moment?
Something flashed through my mind.
Like a prism splitting white light into many colors, what if the violet aura had a property that broke apart composite magic?
Then if I compress or amplify a simple attribute even further...
I mentally ran through the list of fusion spells. Among them were a few special ones.
Fusion of the same attribute.
“Alberte, what happens if you fuse the same attribute with itself?”
At my sudden question, Alberte looked flustered.
“Pardon? There has never been a single successful case of fusing identical attributes. Since the attributes are the same, there’s no fusion point to create.”
“Is that so?”
Then why was it in the fusion spell list?
“Lia! Go back to the tower right now and bring me both the Red Flame Stone Fragment and the High-Grade Flame Stone. As quickly as possible.”
“Right now? But we’re in the middle of a battle...”
“This is important. Hurry.”
“Yes! I’ll be right back.”
Lia hurried back toward the tower.
Meanwhile, the Blue Rose mages were still struggling helplessly.
“Damn it! At this rate it’ll never end!”
The Blue Rose tower master shouted irritably.
“Tower Master! The impact on the gate is building up. At this rate, it’ll be breached within thirty minutes!”
As the situation grew more urgent, the Blue Rose tower master’s expression hardened further.
“Damn it all! When is the support force coming?”
“They say it’ll take at least an hour!”
The gate would fall in thirty minutes, and the reinforcements wouldn’t arrive for an hour. At this rate, the village was in danger.
But there was nothing we could do right this second.
“Tower Master. Should I go help too?”
Alberte asked, but I shook my head.
“No. Save your mana as much as you can. I’ll need it in a little while.”
“…Understood.”
Just then, Lia came rushing back, panting hard.
“Tower Master! I brought them!”
I took the materials she handed me and immediately prepared the fusion. The surrounding gazes gathered on me, but I didn’t have the luxury of caring.
“Grace? What are you doing now?”
The Blue Rose tower master asked in confusion, but I didn’t answer.
I drew a deep breath and began pulling mana from the two flame stones.
In my right hand, the mana of the Red Flame Stone Fragment. In my left, the mana of the High-Grade Flame Stone.
Both were the same fire attribute.
Same-attribute materials—how was I supposed to combine these two?
It was...
Not fusion. Resonance.
Instead of making the two flame manas collide, I tuned them to the same frequency and coaxed them into resonance.
Like two tuning forks ringing in the same note.
Wiiiiing—
To my astonishment, the two flame manas didn’t repel each other. Instead, they began overlapping more and more, merging into one. No, more precisely, they were amplifying one another and transforming into a more powerful single flame.
“How is this...”
Alberte muttered in stunned disbelief, but I still wasn’t satisfied.
This will only keep resonating like this. I need to merge them properly...
They still wouldn’t fully combine.
Why? Why won’t they fuse?
Suddenly, an insight flashed through my mind.
Fire is change.
A faint understanding I had gained from my 4th-circle challenge.
The essence of fire wasn’t simply heat. It was change itself.
Then fusing two flames means...
Making two forms of change into one.
Change isn’t fixed. It moves constantly, shifts shape, and creates something new.
Using that theory, I minutely adjusted the vibration frequencies of the two flame manas.
Not so they became exactly the same, but so they complemented each other and twisted together in a spiral.
Like a DNA double helix, the two flames began to coil around one another and rotate.
「The Mage of Fusion special trait has activated.」
Once the special trait activated, the two flames achieved perfect harmony.
They weren’t merely combined. They were endlessly transforming each other, evolving into an entirely new dimension of flame.
Not red, not orange, but a pure flame close to white blazed in my hand.
「Fusion spell Flame Condensation Cannon creation complete」
「Circle: 2」
「Power: 55」
「Mana cost: 15」
「Cooldown: 5 minutes」
“Unbelievable... So a fusion of the same attribute is possible.”
Alberte murmured dazedly.
It was complete.
“The gate! It’s about to break! Tower Master! Give the order already!”
A Blue Rose mage shouted in panic.
A massive crack had formed in the gate, and a shrieking groan echoed from it. The mutant monsters’ assault was growing fiercer by the second.
“Grace! Do whatever you’re doing, do it now!”
The Blue Rose tower master shouted in an anxious voice.
I fitted the completed Flame Condensation Cannon bead onto my wand. A flame close to white pulsed at the tip.
“Alberte, tell the disciples to fall back.”
“Yes, understood.”
I drew a breath and aimed my wand at the mutant monsters clustered before the gate.
The ultimate of a single attribute. The essence of pure flame.
I cast Flame Condensation Cannon.
Whoooosh—!
The white flame shot out in a straight line.
It wasn’t a mere fireball. It was a crystalized mass of pure flame energy, compressed and amplified to the extreme.
The mutant monster’s purple barrier and the white flame collided.
And then—
Kwaaaang!
Something astonishing happened.
The purple barrier tried to disassemble the white flame.
But against flame that had already been simplified to the very edge of its existence, it was helpless.
The white flame pierced through the barrier and drove straight into the mutant monster’s body.
“Grrrrr—!”
For the first time, the mutant monster let out a scream of pain. The part struck by the white flame turned to ash in an instant and scattered away.
...
...
My tower’s disciples and the Blue Rose mages fell silent, all of them momentarily speechless at the sight.
The silence was broken by Carlos.
“It works! It actually works!”
Carlos shouted in excitement.
Even the Blue Rose tower master’s face was full of shock. His expression, which had only moments before been one of dismissal, had changed completely.
“Grace, what kind of magic is that?”
“A fusion of the same attribute. It compresses and amplifies a single attribute to its limit.”
When I gave a brief explanation, Blue Rose looked utterly incredulous.
“A fusion of the same attribute... That was possible?”
“There’s no time to explain now. I’ll keep making fusion spells.”
As soon as one mutant monster was injured, the others began attacking even more furiously.
The cooldown on Flame Condensation Cannon was five minutes.
One bead wasn’t enough to break the situation open.