First Dimensional Rift (4)
It worked...
So the Mage of Fusion trait even activated when making a magic circle.
What in the world is the Mage of Fusion trait?
It didn’t just apply when creating fusion magic. It applied all the way down to crafting magic circles.
This was something far beyond a simple fusion success rate correction.
“Tower Master... you really did it!”
Unlike the rest of us, who were working on the magic circle itself, Lia had been watching anxiously from the side. Now she cried out in a voice thick with emotion, celebrating our success.
“Huff—huff—. You really... really succeeded.”
Alberte, too, stared at the finished magic circle with an expression of utter disbelief.
His face had gone pale from mana depletion, but his eyes shone with awe.
“A four-attribute fusion magic circle in forty minutes... This is an achievement that will go down in history.”
“I can’t believe it...”
Sophia rose with Lia’s support.
Wiping away the blood that had run from her nose, she spoke in a trembling voice.
“From everything I learned, a four-attribute fusion magic circle should take at least a week to make. Usually, it takes a month. But forty minutes...”
“Forget theory!”
Carlos clenched his fist and shouted, overwhelmed with emotion.
“Tower Master, you’re the kind of person who goes beyond theory! Same-attribute fusion, two circle ranks in a single day—everything people said was impossible, you made it happen!”
“That’s right. The only thing I can say is that he’s insane. In a good way.”
One by one, the other disciples began to speak up.
“My hands were shaking the whole time I was feeding mana into it. I thought one mistake and it would explode...”
“Me too. But once I saw Tower Master perfectly controlling the mana flow... I knew we’d be okay.”
“Exactly. Especially when he took apart the beads... I honestly thought I was going to pass out. He actually dismantled a completed fusion spell and rebuilt it...”
Their voices were filled with awe, relief, and pride.
Though they had only played supporting roles, they were proud to have been part of this historic moment.
Alberte studied the finished magic circle again before speaking.
“What’s especially astonishing is... the way you took the beads apart and reconstructed them into the magic circle. I’ve studied magic for twenty years, and I’ve never once even imagined such an approach.”
His voice was trembling.
“Everyone knows that beads are a ‘vessel’ for holding completed magic, while a magic circle is a ‘channel’ that amplifies mana. But you made the two into one. The vessel became part of the channel, and the channel became an extension of the vessel...”
“It was an expansion of circulation.”
When I said that, Alberte nodded.
“Yes. Incorporating a small circulation into a larger one. Without the insight of the fourth-circle, it would have been impossible.”
“But Tower Master made it happen.”
Lia said with a proud expression.
“That’s just how you’ve always been. Turning the impossible into the possible.”
It was then.
Bang—! Bang—!
The Crystal Golem’s footsteps were now right in front of us. The entire tower shook with each impact.
I’d forgotten something crucial.
“Right now! Shut down every mana system in the tower! Barriers, lights—everything, even the magical tools!”
At my command, the disciples’ faces stiffened with renewed tension.
“Leaving only the minimum mana needed to keep the core running?”
Alberte asked to confirm.
“Right. If we cut that too, the tower will collapse.”
“Understood.”
The disciples scattered throughout the tower and began shutting off the mana systems one by one. Each time one went dark, the tower dimmed a little more, and the familiar pulse of mana faded away.
It was like a living creature slowly drifting into sleep.
“Now... all we can do is pray this magic circle works properly.”
I looked up at the completed gray dome and murmured to myself.
Bang—! Bang—!
The Crystal Golem’s footsteps were right outside now.
Through the window, I could see the giant crystal body.
“No mana use! Don’t even breathe louder than necessary!”
Everyone held their breath.
Bang—!
With a massive tremor, the Crystal Golem stopped fifty meters in front of the tower.
Please...
I prayed desperately. Please let my hypothesis be right. Please let the Crystal Golem fail to detect our mana and pass us by.
“...”
“...”
Silence stretched on.
The Crystal Golem’s huge head slowly turned toward our tower.
Its crystal eyes seemed to scan the building.
Sophia trembled in Lia’s arms. Carlos’s face turned red as he held his breath.
One minute... two minutes... three...
The time dragged on like eternity.
Then it happened.
Bang—.
The Crystal Golem moved again.
And passed our tower by.
“...”
“...”
The Crystal Golem went on past the tower, but none of us said a word yet.
Just in case it turned back.
Bang—. Bang—.
The footsteps grew farther and farther away. The Crystal Golem was completely ignoring our tower and heading in a different direction.
“It’s gone.”
Only then did Alberte finally speak.
That broke the spell, and the disciples began to relax one after another.
“Haa—. Haa—.”
Carlos let out the breath he’d been holding. His face was bright red from the strain of it.
“We’re alive, we’re really alive!”
Sophia shouted in a trembling voice. For a fifteen-year-old girl, it had been a truly overwhelming terror.
“Tower Master! That was incredible!”
Mira said, tears welling in her eyes.
While everyone else was letting out sighs of relief, Lia carefully spoke up.
“But Tower Master... how did you know? That the Crystal Golem could detect mana.”
At that, the other disciples all turned to look at me at once. Their faces were full of curiosity.
“I’d like to know as well, Tower Master.”
Alberte asked with a serious expression.
“When the Blue Rose Magic Tower Master used his final spell, I saw it too. But I only felt that the golem was powerful... I never thought it could detect mana.”
“When the Blue Rose Magic Tower Master used his final Thunderfall of the Flame Emperor, the Crystal Golem’s chest lit up.”
As I started explaining, everyone listened closely.
“I figured that wasn’t just a reflection. It was reacting to mana. And right after destroying the Blue Rose Magic Tower, it turned straight toward us. Like it knew exactly where we were.”
“Ah...”
Sophia’s face lit up with understanding.
“So it tracks mana signals to find its next target?”
“Exactly. That’s why we needed the mana-blocking magic circle. If we cut off the mana signal from our tower, I thought the golem wouldn’t be able to find us.”
Carlos nodded in admiration.
“To figure all that out in such a short moment... As expected of Tower Master.”
“But I wasn’t certain.”
I spoke honestly.
“If my hypothesis had been wrong, we would have met the same fate as the Blue Rose Magic Tower. Fortunately, I was right.”
“Still, you tried.”
Lia looked at me and said,
“You chose to challenge the possibility instead of just waiting to die. That’s exactly who Tower Master is.”
“Indeed.”
Alberte agreed.
“And because you made that choice, everyone survived.”
Just then, Carlos, who had been looking out the window, shouted urgently.
“Tower Master! The Crystal Golem is heading toward Vilheim Magic Tower!”
I hurried to the window and used telescopic magic. Sure enough, the Crystal Golem was walking in the direction of Vilheim Magic Tower.
As expected. Its next target is Vilheim.
The strongest magic tower in the empire. One of the Five Great Magic Towers, Vilheim.
But could Vilheim really stop it?
“Tower Master, what should we do?”
Alberte asked cautiously.
“You’ve invoked independent command authority, so we don’t have any obligation to help Vilheim, but...”
He was right. I had already declared independent command authority. We were outside the empire’s joint-response structure now.
But...
“First, we move toward Vilheim Magic Tower too! We need to arrive before the Crystal Golem does!”
If Vilheim Magic Tower fell, there would be no future.
“...Understood.”
***
On the outskirts of Vilheim Magic Tower,
Roimdel was tracking the Crystal Golem with telescopic magic.
He had expected it to go for the Fusion Magic Tower after destroying the Blue Rose Magic Tower, but...
“What is that...?”
Roimdel’s brow twitched.
The Crystal Golem stopped in front of the Fusion Magic Tower. It stayed there for about three minutes, and then, astonishingly, simply passed it by.
“What’s going on?”
The young mage beside him asked with a puzzled expression.
“That golem didn’t attack the Fusion Magic Tower. It just... went past it.”
Roimdel couldn’t understand it either. The golem that had destroyed the Blue Rose Magic Tower just ignored the tower next door?
“I can’t detect any mana signal from the Fusion Magic Tower...”
A senior mage used a detection spell and reported with surprise.
“No mana signal?”
Roimdel quickly used a detection spell of his own.
The other mage was right.
The pulse of mana that should have been present in the Fusion Magic Tower was nearly absent.
“No way... They blocked the mana? But how?”
At that moment, lightning flashed through Roimdel’s mind.
That golem finds its targets by detecting mana!
When the Blue Rose Magic Tower Master used his final spell, the golem’s chest had lit up.
And right after destroying the Blue Rose Magic Tower, it had immediately turned toward the next target, the Fusion Magic Tower.
Tower Master Grace... did you figure that out?
A bitter smile crossed Roimdel’s lips.
“As expected... he’s no ordinary man.”
“It seems they blocked the tower’s mana and evaded the Crystal Golem.”
“So it would seem.”
After seeing that, the senior mage spoke to Roimdel.
“But... how on earth did they block the mana? To block mana, you’d need anti-mana stone, and to block an entire tower’s mana...”
“Getting enough anti-mana stone for a tower’s scale is practically impossible.”
Roimdel shook his head.
“Even if you gathered up all the anti-mana stone in the empire, you’d barely manage to block a single small room. And anti-mana stone suppresses mana while also disabling the magic circle itself.”
“Then what in the world...”
“Probably...”
Roimdel’s gaze deepened.
“It was fusion magic. Fusion magic that blocks mana. And implemented in the form of a magic circle.”
“Blocking mana with fusion magic? Is that even possible?”
The senior mage looked baffled.
“I’d only ever considered it in theory, but I never imagined it could actually...”
Roimdel trailed off.
“It would require four-attribute fusion. Balancing opposing elements into harmony. And to implement that as a magic circle in just a few dozen minutes...”
He looked once more toward the direction of the Fusion Magic Tower.
“He really is a monstrous talent.”
His voice carried equal parts admiration and reverence.
“Chief, then should we also...”
“No.”
Roimdel firmly shook his head.
“There’s neither the time, nor the materials, nor—most importantly—the skill to replicate it right now. Unless we know exactly how Tower Master Grace made it... and if we can’t hold out...”
Bang—! Bang—!
Then the Crystal Golem’s footsteps grew even closer. It was now moving in a straight line toward Vilheim Magic Tower.
“Are the preparations done?”
Roimdel quickly collected himself and asked.
“Yes, the external defense magic circle is complete. But...”
The senior mage continued with an uneasy expression.
“Even Blue Rose Magic Tower Master’s attack didn’t work. I’m not sure our hastily assembled defense magic circle can hold...”
“It has to hold.”
Roimdel’s voice was heavy with grim resolve.
“If it doesn’t, the empire is finished.”