Chapter 316 : Something Feels Off (3)

The next day.

Before going to see Heinkel as he had the day before, Alon was talking with Penia.

“Marquis.”

“Evan, where have you been?”

“Just to the information guild for a moment.”

“There’s an information guild here too?”

“No, not exactly, but someone from there has been showing up frequently and delivering information. More importantly, I have something to report.”

“What is it?”

“There are reportedly a lot of strange phenomena occurring in Ashtalon recently.”

“In Ashtalon?”

“Yes.”

Evan delivered one particular piece of information.

“What kind of phenomena?”

“There are several, but the most notable is something called ‘Berserk Transformation.’”

“Berserk Transformation?”

“Yes, it seems monsters are killing each other.”

Alon tilted his head.

“Isn’t that something that could happen anyway?”

Monsters are generally low in intelligence and lack reason, so they often see anything not of their species as enemies.

In other words, unless it’s a large enough monster like a goblin or ogre, it’s not uncommon for them to hunt and eat each other.

But Evan shook his head.

“The point is, their targets aren’t other species. In other words—”

“Infighting?”

Evan didn’t deny Penia’s remark, which cut into the conversation.

Penia wore a curious expression.

“That’s the first I’ve heard of something like this. Are the rumors really true?”

“It’s from the information guild, so it should be reliable.”

“That’s strange. Monsters usually don’t attack their own kind.”

As Penia tilted her head in confusion, Evan continued.

“Anyway, because of this, the forest near Shtalian is said to be stained red all the time now.”

“A metaphor?”

“No. Apparently, it’s literally red. That’s why they’re calling it a phenomenon.”

As the report concluded with “It seems they’re killing every living thing in sight,” Alon pondered deeply.

‘Have I ever heard of anything like this before?’

No.

Among all the phenomena he had witnessed in Psychedelia, there was nothing similar to this.

At least, not that he knew of.

‘It’s not divine possession or an anomaly event…’

He was retracing what had been happening in Ashtalon in a daze when—

“Marquis, perhaps it’s best to think about this later. You have an appointment.”

“You’re right.”

Nodding at Evan’s words, Alon stopped his tangled thoughts for now and stood up to go meet Heinkel.

[I’m not going.]

The voice of Basiliora, who had stayed completely silent as if dead inside the ring yesterday, burrowed under the blankets on the bed.

Ignoring him, Alon headed to the library.

[You’re here.]

“Did everything go well?”

[More or less.]

Heinkel nodded while looking at Alon.

However, her gaze was slightly off from directly meeting his eyes.

Almost as if she were looking slightly upward.

[Anyway, I was thinking of continuing our conversation from yesterday.]

“You mean the part about degraded magic containing information?”

Alon answered, pulling his thoughts together.

[That’s right. So—how much do you know about it?]

“As I mentioned yesterday, just that Ice Spear is a degraded form of Ice Spear.”

[And nothing beyond that?]

“Yes.”

At this, Heinkel fell silent for a moment, then spoke.

[First, let me ask—you're familiar with Tiered Magic, right?]

Tiered Magic.

Alon hadn’t paid much attention to it, since he used incantations and familiars to cast spells.

However, in the world of Psychedelia, aside from the Origin spells available at the 8th Tier and above, each magic tier had its own distinct spells.

This system was called Tiered Magic.

“Yes, I’m aware of it.”

As Alon nodded, she said—

[Well, every Tiered Magic spell you know is a degraded version.]

—plainly.

There was a brief silence as he tried to process the meaning of her words.

“All of Tiered Magic… is degraded?”

[Well, that’s an oversimplification. To be precise, rather than being degraded… Tiered Magic itself is more like a method of information transmission.]

“...Information transmission?”

[Exactly.]

Alon quickly asked,

“How did you find that out?”

[Hmm~]

She seemed to consider how to answer before slowly opening her mouth.

[I always suspected Tiered Magic wasn’t just ordinary magic. I just failed to grasp its intention.]

“...Intention?”

[Hmm—how should I explain it?]

When Alon didn’t seem to follow, Heinkel let out a small “ah” and then—

Fwoosh—

She summoned an Ice Spear in front of her.

[You know how to make an Ice Spear, right?]

“Yes.”

[Then this will be easy to explain.]

Heinkel cleared her throat and began the real explanation.

[As you know, a magic spell is built from the quantity of mana, its structure, and its arrangement. If you just alter that arrangement a bit—]

With a crackling sound, the shape of the Ice Spear twisted into a spiral.

[It would look like this.]

“This is…”

[Looks similar to the Ice Spear used by the Blue Tower, doesn’t it? Now, if instead of the mana arrangement, you change the mana structure—]

The Ice Spear before him distorted grotesquely and quickly turned into a spiky, sharp orb.

[—It would look like this. Can you tell what it resembles?]

“It looks similar to the kind of magic used by the Red Tower’s mages.”

As Penia answered this time, Heinkel nodded and continued morphing the Ice Spear into various shapes.

Sometimes it elongated beyond a typical Ice Spear.

Other times, it took the shape of a massive sword rather than a spear.

After showing these forms, Heinkel asked,

[So, what did you learn from what I showed you?]

“...Each tower has its own characteristics?”

[Exactly. The five towers that are divided by color each add a slight variation to tiered magic to create their own unique traits.]

Muttering to herself that this was one of the reasons why the towers were divided by color in the first place, Heinkel then raised her voice.

[But what I really want to emphasize here is the concept of 'freedom of control.']

“Freedom?”

[Yes. As you probably know, most magic created by mages—excluding tiered magic—has fixed mana quantity, structure, and arrangement. That applies to Origin spells as well.]

“Increasing the mana input doesn’t necessarily make a spell stronger.”

[And if you mess with the arrangement like in tiered magic, it often fails to activate or explodes. But that’s not the case for tiered magic.]

As Heinkel spoke, she twisted and transformed the Ice Spear freely.

[Even if you change the arrangement drastically, it doesn’t fail.

You can even adjust the structure or mana amount however you want.]

“Isn’t that just well-designed magic?”

[I don’t think so.]

“Why not?”

Instead of replying, Heinkel scattered mana in front of her eyes.

In a flash, the mana visibly gathered into an Ice Spear, startling both Alon and Penia.

But it wasn’t because the Ice Spear itself had any unique characteristics.

The reason they were shocked—

[Do you get it?]

“You mean... you could create it that easily?”

[Exactly.]

It was the sheer simplicity of the process that surprised them.

To create an Ice Spear—or to cast any tiered magic, really—you had to go through three distinct phases no matter how you arranged it.

But the Ice Spear Heinkel had just formed was created instantly, skipping those steps altogether.

Any mage would have been shocked to see it.

[Just so you know, this isn’t something I can do because I’m a genius. This is still tiered magic.]

“This is?”

[Hard to believe, right? But it’s true. I just eliminated everything unnecessary in the casting process.]

Heinkel continued explaining.

[In other words, the creator of tiered magic had to have known that the spell could be cast without such complex procedures.]

“You’re saying they deliberately included information to be passed on to future generations?”

[Exactly.]

Heinkel admitted she had only recently come to recognize the casting steps as “information” thanks to Penia.

[Anyway, it’s good news for you. We can’t use the magic you use, but by studying tiered magic—]

“...I can acquire new spells.”

[That’s exactly it.]

She agreed as if she’d been waiting for him to say it.

[Would you like to try experimenting with it?]

“Experimenting?”

[Yes. Actually, we’ve already analyzed and broken down 1st Tier spells like Light. What do you say?]

“If you teach me, I’ll give it a try.”

A new experiment had begun.

***

The outskirts of the desert city, Colony.

Under a vast expanse of nothing but sand, inside a cave—

“Huff... huff...”

Seolrang exhaled heavily and collapsed onto the dark floor.

In front of her was a gauntlet.

Staring at it with a weary expression, Seolrang looked slightly dejected.

“Why won’t this work...?”

Muttering in frustration and irritation, she had been struggling for months now to pass the next test granted by the Essence.

But so far, she had failed each time.

Impatience began to show in her eyes.

And as if replaying in her mind, she recalled a past scene:

A massive forest engulfed in flames, and the image of Sin walking calmly through it all.

And herself—falling with a single blow, completely unable to resist.

“...No.”

The memory struck her, and Seolrang shook her head violently.

She couldn’t protect her master like this.

Her face now twisted with even greater urgency, she stared intensely at the Essence of the Goldenmane Tribe.

[Do you need power?]

She heard a voice.

A very soft whisper, barely audible by the ear.

“...!”

Yet it was crystal clear.

Without thinking, Seolrang turned her gaze toward the source.

There, inside the cave—

[If you want power, I shall grant it.]

A black dragon stared at her from the abyssal depths.

[So? Do you want it?]

The black presence spoke as if luring her.

Seolrang’s eyes trembled for a moment.

Sensing opportunity, the black entity—the darkness itself—spoke again.

[Accept me, and I shall give you power. Power that won’t rely on tests like those—!]

Just as it spoke of exactly what Seolrang longed for—

“...Huh?”

Still staring at the black figure with shifting eyes, Seolrang suddenly let out a soft sigh as if remembering something—

and smiled.

[?]

The black dragon looked confused for a moment.

“Then lend me some power.”

[Good, you made the right choice! Accept me and I’ll give you unlimited—]

But Seolrang spoke casually.

“No, not that. Just lend me some power for a bit.”

[......?]

“I’ll give it right back after using it.”

[......??]

The dragon fell silent, wearing a dumbfounded expression.

Meanwhile, Seolrang licked her lips as she looked at the Essence of the Goldenmane Tribe.