The First Dimensional Rift (3)
“Wow... that’s truly incredible.”
Alberte spoke with unmistakable admiration.
Four-Attribute Fusion.
He had already succeeded once while creating Mana Amplification, but this time, the situation was clearly different.
“Back then, we had the perfect experimental environment at Vilheim Magic Tower, didn’t we? Seven layers of protective barriers, the support of high-ranking mages, top-grade materials... But now...”
Alberte glanced around.
This was the office of an old magic tower. In a space with no protective measures at all, the tower master had succeeded in a four-attribute fusion all on his own.
“And to think you pulled it off in one go when time was so short. As expected of the tower master.”
“Save the praise for later. I need to make the magic circle now.”
I lifted the completed Mana Block bead. The gray orb pulsed softly in my palm.
“You really intend to build a magic circle? That’s... In most cases, making one takes at least several days. Especially if it’s a magic circle meant to contain a 4th Circle fusion spell—just designing the mana circuits, syncing it with the bead, stabilizing it...”
I had never built a magic circle before, and I had no idea how difficult it was.
“But what choice do we have left? No, to be exact, what choice do I have left? You understand, don’t you?”
And then it happened.
Carlos rushed into the office.
“Huff— huff— Tower Master! We’ve got a problem. The crystal golem has picked up speed!”
“What?”
I sprinted to the window.
When I checked through telescopic magic, the crystal golem was advancing toward our tower at a far greater speed than before.
“...No, why?”
Had it dealt with Blue Rose Magic Tower and absorbed some of its magic power?
The golem was unmistakably faster than it had been before.
Thunk— thunk— thunk—
Unlike its earlier sluggish pace, it was now almost running.
No, not quite running—just walking a little faster than before.
“...How much time do we have? Can you estimate it?”
Carlos hurriedly began calculating.
“At this speed... forty minutes. Maybe fifty at most!”
“Damn it!”
I had thought we still had around an hour and a half. Now we had only forty minutes left.
“Alberte, what was the shortest time you said it would take to make the magic circle?”
“I said it would take days...”
“It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to work. If we make it bare-bones, how long?”
Alberte thought for a moment, then answered cautiously.
“...If I assist you, and if we abandon quality entirely, then an hour? No, even that would be cutting it close.”
“We have to make it in forty minutes.”
“That’s impossible!”
“Then we still have to do it. If you’re going to back out, do it now. I’ll do it alone if I have to.”
“...Tower Master.”
“Honestly, we’ve barely even known each other that long, right? So you don’t need to die because of me.”
At my words, Alberte fell silent for a moment.
“Tower Master, I...”
He spoke slowly.
“I wandered for twenty years. My mana circuits were damaged, and I lived as a castoff whom no one would take in. You did not simply cast Mana Amplification on me.”
Alberte’s voice trembled.
“You gave me a chance to live as a mage again. You gave me a dream. And not only that—you even gave me the position of chief mage. We have not known each other for long, but you are my benefactor.”
He straightened his back and looked me directly in the eye.
“So do not try to leave me behind. Dying while fighting at your side is my choice.”
“Alberte...”
“And also—”
Alberte smiled faintly.
“I believe that if it’s you, Tower Master, you can make the impossible possible. You’ve already done it many times, haven’t you?”
Then Lia stepped forward as well.
“I’ll stay too, Tower Master. I haven’t forgotten the kindness I received from both the former tower master and you.”
Carlos nodded with a resolute expression.
“I, too, can’t forget the feeling I had when you trusted me. I’ll be with you.”
One by one, the disciples began to gather.
Sophia, Mira, Thomas...
All of them wore determined eyes, even in the face of fear.
“...Thank you, everyone.”
I drew in a deep breath.
“Then let’s begin. We’ll complete the magic circle in forty minutes!”
“Yes!”
They answered in unison.
“Alberte, guide me on the basic structure of the magic circle. I’ll focus on fusing it with the bead.”
“Understood. Carlos, Sophia! Bring the mana stones. Mira, Thomas! Prepare the materials for the circle!”
At Alberte’s orders, the disciples sprang into motion.
We moved down to the central hall of the tower. That was where the flow of mana was most stable.
“Begin with a basic circular structure. Radius: fifty meters!”
Alberte raised his wand and began drawing blue lines across the floor.
I channeled my own mana from the opposite side, extending the lines toward him.
Fzzzt—
But a problem arose almost immediately. The two mana flows drifted slightly out of alignment, and the line wavered.
“The synchronization isn’t holding!”
“Match your flow to mine!”
I poured every bit of the mana-control ability I had gained upon reaching the 4th Circle into the work.
I sensed Alberte’s mana flow and adjusted mine to match it precisely.
“...Such precise control!”
Alberte cried out in amazement. As our mana synchronized perfectly, the magic circle’s basic outer ring began to take shape smoothly.
“Good, keep going!”
Ten minutes passed, and the basic circular framework was complete.
“Now we carve the inner pattern. Because this is Mana Block, it requires a closed circulation structure!”
Alberte began drawing an intricate geometric design.
A pattern in which the four attributes—fire, water, light, and darkness—circulated endlessly.
“Sophia! Place the mana stones at each elemental node!”
“Yes!”
Sophia carefully began setting the mana stones at each intersection of the pattern.
Thanks to her prodigious sensitivity to mana, she could find the exact positions without hesitation.
Twenty-five minutes elapsed.
“Basic structure complete!”
But from here, the real problem began. Now we had to fuse the Mana Block bead with the magic circle.
“Tower Master, are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
I placed the Mana Block bead at the center of the magic circle.
“Everyone, channel your mana! I’ll connect the bead to the circle, so stabilize the circle for me!”
“Yes!”
The disciples stood around the magic circle and began pouring their mana into it at once.
I took a deep breath and started linking the mana flowing from the bead to the mana within the circle.
Crackling—!
A violent backlash erupted. The complex mana structure of the four-attribute fusion spell collided with the geometric structure of the magic circle.
“Kgh...!”
“Tower Master!”
“I’m fine! Keep going!”
I gritted my teeth and forced the mana under control.
Remembering the principle of circulation I had realized upon reaching the 4th Circle, I guided the bead’s mana and the circle’s mana so that they naturally formed a single flow.
Thirty-five minutes elapsed.
Sweat soaked my entire body. The disciples around me were also going pale from the strain of continuously supplying mana.
“Just a little more...!”
Then it happened.
Thunk—!
The sound of the crystal golem’s footsteps came from far away, but it was much closer than before.
“Tower Master! The golem is five kilometers out!”
Carlos shouted anxiously.
“...How many minutes do we have left?”
“About ten minutes!”
“......”
That was the moment my concentration began to slip.
No, not like this...!
The mana of the bead and the circle kept clashing, and the fusion still wasn’t taking hold properly.
Time kept running out, and the golem’s footsteps kept drawing nearer.
Crack—!
Suddenly, cracks began spreading through the magic circle.
“Tower Master! The circle is collapsing!”
Alberte cried out in panic.
“It’s mana backlash! If this continues, it’ll explode!”
Terror twisted the disciples’ faces. If a 4th Circle fusion spell exploded, it could blow the tower itself apart.
Why isn’t it working? I clearly finished the bead, and the magic circle is correct...
That was when I realized something was wrong.
No... right. This isn’t the fusion of two spells. It’s the fusion of the magic circle and the bead.
Lightning flashed through my mind, and I understood.
The bead was a “vessel” that held a completed spell, while the magic circle was a “channel” that amplified mana.
The problem was that I had simply tried to connect the two.
What was inside the vessel didn’t need to flow through the channel. The vessel itself had to become part of the channel.
I need to break down the bead and reconstruct it into the magic circle!
But that was absurd.
Break apart a completed fusion spell and rebuild it? A 4-attribute fusion spell, no less?
“Tower Master! We don’t have time! There are only five minutes left...!”
Carlos’s desperate cry reached me.
I have no choice.
I took the Mana Block bead back into my hand.
Then I carefully began melting the bead’s outer shell with mana.
“Tower Master! If you do that, the fusion spell will go berserk!”
Alberte was horrified.
“I know. But this is the only way.”
As the bead’s outer shell melted, the four-attribute mana inside began to churn violently.
Crackle—!
The mana of fire, water, light, and darkness struggled to separate from one another.
Especially light and darkness—they repelled each other with such fury that they were on the verge of detonating.
“Aaah!”
Sophia screamed and collapsed. The rebound from the rampaging mana was too much for the young girl to endure.
“Sophia!”
Lia rushed over and caught her.
“Tower Master! The disciples can’t hold out much longer!”
Blood began to drip from my nose. I, too, was reaching my limit while suppressing the mana run wild.
Thunk—! Thunk—!
The crystal golem was now right on top of us. The pounding of its steps seemed to echo even louder.
Please...!
Then, all at once, I remembered when I had created Mana Amplification.
The moment I forcibly created a fusion point when combining light and darkness.
But this time it wasn’t fusion. It was decomposition and reconstruction.
Wait. The opposite of fusion isn’t decomposition. Both fusion and decomposition are ultimately a form of mana “transformation.”
I thought of the essence of fire—change.
All magic is a process of transformation.
Fusion transforms many into one, and decomposition transforms one into many.
And reconstruction...
It’s circulation!
The principle of circulation I had realized at the 4th Circle.
Taking the mana that circulated within the bead and expanding it into the larger circulation of the magic circle.
In other words, including a small cycle within a greater one.
Instead of forcibly holding the rampaging four-attribute mana together, I guided it so that it flowed naturally along the pattern of the magic circle.
Fire to the eastern node, water to the western one, light to the south, darkness to the north.
And then each of them would turn through the entire circle before meeting again at the center.
“This is it...!”
That was the moment.
Magic circle fusion success rate +30%
Circulation structure optimized
Once the perk activated, the rampaging mana began to flow naturally along the circle’s pattern, just like water finding a lower path.
Whoooosh—
A gray light spread across the entire magic circle. The closed circulation of Mana Block was perfectly reconstructed within the larger framework of the circle.
Kwaaaang—!
The instant the magic circle completed, a vast dome of gray light enveloped the entire tower.
Magic Circle: Large-Scale Mana Block complete.
Effect radius: 100 m
Mana signal suppression rate: 95%
Duration: 3 hours
It worked...