Chapter 326 : Dog (3)

The kingdom of the elves, Fildagreen.

Once completely annihilated by sin, it had now regained its old appearance thanks to the help of the mages.

Rine, who was gazing at the scenery that would have been restored even faster had the western part of the royal castle not been completely destroyed a few months ago,

...

She turned her gaze to the sky and thought about a question that had recently arisen.

The first thing she thought of was the Machine God.

In the past, she couldn’t even sense it, but now, after studying the Eternal Library, she had reached the point where she could manifest it in this world, even if not perfectly operate it — a “created god.”

In Rine Groff’s opinion, the Machine God could display overwhelming power just by manifesting.

Enough to easily crush the sins she had once encountered in Fildagreen.

Along with this, she had recently started to feel puzzled.

There was a fact she learned additionally from the Eternal Library, which she had not yet fully explored.

"The black things were created around the same time as the Machine God."

That plain, yet undoubtedly accurate fact left Rine feeling perplexed.

Until now, Rine had thought the Machine God was an artifact from a past so distant it couldn’t even be recorded — an OOPArt.

But it wasn’t.

There was a mention that the Machine God was created at around the same time as the black things.

In other words, the Machine God also existed during the era when the black things rampaged to destroy the world.

A Machine God that could instantly deal with sin just by manifesting.

Something felt off.

The world had suffered near destruction from the moment the black things were created.

Even if that world had eventually ended at the hands of another entity, the starting point had still been the black things.

Despite the presence of the Machine God, who could have overwhelmingly suppressed them.

Of course, Rine still didn’t fully understand the sins.

Her hundreds of years had been devoted solely to manifesting the Machine God.

At this point, when she hadn’t yet fully studied all the knowledge, Rine had many possible guesses.

Among them, there were two hypotheses she considered most reliable.

"There might be something about the sins that I haven’t yet uncovered, or—"

Tap—

"It was to stop some other existence, not the sins."

Rine suddenly recalled that time.

When Red Moon—

No, when Yutia  Bludia had come to visit that night.

At that time, Rine had given her all.

She had brought out the Machine God to show that she stood on equal ground with Yutia .

However, in that moment.

Everything had returned to nothing.

The Machine God, which had emerged tearing apart the Milky Way, had vanished as if it had never been there.

The manifested god had disappeared without a trace.

And in that place, there was only the shining sky.

Then, Red Moon, smiling but seemingly holding back her anger, had given her a flick on the forehead.

"The Great Moon isn’t yours, you know?"

Without realizing, Rine rubbed her head, recalling Yutia ’s words.

Yutia had spoken to her as if admonishing a child.

Of course, that flick had been so strong it felt like her head would split, far too harsh for a child.

Recalling that time, Rine’s face puffed up sulkily.

She had always known there was a gap between them, but realizing it anew made her feel very frustrated.

Rine rubbed the spot where she had been hit for no reason.

"Force isn’t everything."

She consoled herself easily and revisited the new question she had been pondering.

About Red Moon, Yutia Bludia.

The Machine God was clearly stronger than the sins.

And yet Yutia had effortlessly canceled out all of Rine’s power.

In a moment Rine couldn’t even perceive.

Just by raising a finger.

"What was that exactly?"

After that, she spent a long time searching the library for information about Yutia’s power.

She even tried looking up the existence called "Yua."

However, she couldn’t find it.

With that much searching, there should have been at least a single clue.

But not a single character of information on Yutia appeared.

As if someone had erased it.

Of course, given the sheer amount of knowledge stored in the Eternal Library, there were countless "books" she hadn’t yet read.

Her thoughts continued for a while.

***

The light created before Alon’s eyes seemed so weak it looked as if it would vanish at any moment.

It appeared to be a clear failure in magic implementation to anyone watching.

However, not a single mage present in the demonstration hall.

Not even the second-rank mages, who had only now earned the title of mage.

Nor the professors who had been researching magic for decades—

Nor Sharan, who was currently watching Alon’s magic.

None of them thought of Alon’s magic as a failure.

It was obvious.

The magic, which had only emitted a faint light moments ago,

—!!!

Had become a giant sun, melting the demonstration hall.

And to that magic, which had been created so effortlessly,

"See, I told you. That’s Light—"

"Unbelievable~"

"After seeing it with your own eyes, you’re still saying that?"

From the beginning, the mages who had shown reverence spoke to those who had doubted Alon’s magic.

It meant that it was a phenomenon so unbelievable that it would divide factions unless one saw it with their own eyes.

Thus, in the moment when the mages who had witnessed it first felt satisfaction and pride at being proven right—

“Eye of the Sun—”

Doubt swiftly spread across their eyes as well.

Because the marquis’s magic, which they had thought was “complete,” began to transform once again.

***

Even after all the magic had ended, Sharan continued to stare blankly at Alon.

More precisely, at Alon and the place where his magic had been cast.

It was true that what the marquis had cast was Light.

Whether it was some trick she had suspected or not, it was none of that.

As someone who could understand the principles of a spell just by seeing its structure, her intuition told her that what she had seen was indeed Light, and so did her eyes.

However, what unfolded before her eyes was—

Completely different from the Light she had known before.

She had clearly seen with her own eyes how Alon’s magic transformed its structure.

‘How, how on earth is that possible?’

But even though she had witnessed it directly, she could not comprehend by what principle the magic transformed in that way.

Despite being proud of her exceptional eyes.

No matter how she looked at it, she could not analyze the marquis’s magic.

His magic was bizarre.

While it maintained the structure of Light, the magic transformed within it.

‘How in the world did he weave the mana so densely like that? How did he use expansion in there? Reverse technique? Lichmann’s paradox?’

Countless hypotheses rose and collapsed in her mind.

No matter how much her mind spun and spun again.

She could not understand Marquis Palatio’s magic.

And then, a new emotion began to surge.

In her mind, any resentment toward Marquis Palatio had already vanished.

Likewise, her pride in the achievements built up over hundreds of years by the previous generations of mages also disappeared.

What Sharan felt now was—

The overwhelming talent that had made her the youngest tower master, bursting with information and curiosity—

And one single thought.

‘That’s not ordinary magic.’

Moreover, his magic wasn’t even an Origin.

‘Origin’ was about creating one’s own original magic system, not overturning the existing ones.

‘Clearly—’

Her sharp mind began piecing together the rumors she had heard long ago about Marquis Palatio.

The hidden mastermind of the Asteria Kingdom.

A mage who handled magic close to the primitive form, which barely existed anymore.

The one called the lightning receiver, Kalannon.

The apostle of the lightning receiver, Kalannon.

And countless other rumors filled her mind in the form of knowledge.

Where she focused was—

‘Primitive form of magic.’

That’s right.

Primitive magic, which was almost entirely shunned by modern mages.

Sharan instinctively reached a near-certain realization.

‘There, there’s a way to ascend to the 9th rank.’

In the primitive magic that Alon had cast, there was a method to ascend to the 9th rank, which she had never grasped even the slightest clue of before.

That’s why.

‘I want to learn it.’

Unlike before, when she had vainly chased after the unseen 9th rank after learning Origin, she now felt an unbelievably clear goal, and her eyes sparkled for a moment—

“...Ah.”

She unconsciously let out a small exclamation.

It was because she suddenly remembered what had happened yesterday.

Her pupils trembled lightly.

Even if she was obsessed with magic, she was not ignorant of basic human relationships and social norms.

In other words, Sharan fully understood just how much of an offense she had committed against Marquis Palatio.

To the point where she couldn’t complain even if he openly showed hostility toward her.

Of course, yesterday’s Sharan wouldn’t have cared about the marquis’s hostility at all, but today’s Sharan was different.

‘I should’ve listened to the Blue Tower Master…’

Regret brushed past her tightly closed eyes.

But just regretting wouldn’t solve this hopeless situation.

She began thinking as hard as she could.

She desperately wanted to learn that magic from him, no matter what.

However, no matter how close they were, one would usually have to become a disciple to learn such magic.

And in her current state, it looked impossible for the marquis to teach Sharan.

‘I have to get his forgiveness…!’

With eyes trembling fiercely, she looked at Marquis Palatio standing calmly below.

***

‘I must have been nervous without realizing it.’

Alon let out a sigh.

It was because, when he first demonstrated the Light magic, he had mistakenly not used the hand signs, which forced him to cancel and re-cast the spell.

‘Did it work properly?’

From the stage, he saw Heinkel quietly giving him a thumbs-up, and with an awkward expression, he looked ahead.

It was also because of the demonstration hall being destroyed again, just like last time.

‘...I wonder if it’ll be okay.’

Of course, he wasn’t required to pay compensation.

Strictly speaking, he should have, but—

‘Penia said it was fine, right…?’

Previously, Penia had said she would handle it, so it would likely be the same this time.

Still, he felt a bit embarrassed.

Feeling his body on the verge of mana depletion if he tried to draw on his power even once more, he reflected on the perfect form of “Light” he had just cast.

‘This must be the completed form.’

Unlike before, when he had only used words and phrases, he had found and used the hand signs this time.

Thus, the Light—no, “Eye of the Sun,”—was clearly completed, more perfectly than before.

Among the hand signs he knew, this was the only one that had worked properly when he combined it with Light’s interpretation and seals.

In conclusion, Alon had successfully perfected the Eye of the Sun.

However, he felt a strange sense of doubt.

‘Something is off.’

It was understandable—

‘...Somehow it feels like it’s used differently.’

As the caster, he couldn’t shake that feeling and thought.

The first Light magic he created using the hand signs looked like an offensive type to anyone.

However, the magic he had just crafted with the proper hand signs now seemed less like an offensive type and more like—

‘As if it’s a component of another magic.’

While pondering this alone, Alon felt the voices of the mages gradually growing louder, and he soon turned his body toward Penia.

“Marquis!”

“Penia.”

“It was implemented well.”

“Yes. Though I still have my doubts.”

“Oh, that? You feel like it’s different from your previous magic, right~?”

As expected, she had the same thought since they had researched magic together.

“Yes, that.”

“Hmm. Still, I think it’s correct. You compressed it to its limit and then detonated it to release it all at once. The destructive power—”

Penia glanced at the cliff.

“It’s more than enough, maybe even excessive.”

Nodding in agreement, Alon was scratching his head when—

“Marquis Palatio—!”

Suddenly, from the distant spectator stands, Celaime hurried over.

“Tower Master.”

“Yes! I watched it all! It was incredible! That really was Light, right?!”

Even though one could call it a different magic, the fundamental essence of it was indeed Light, so Alon nodded.

“What you saw is correct.”

“Ha, amazing! Truly amazing!”

Celaime slightly exaggerated his praise for Alon.

While Alon accepted it awkwardly, wondering why he was acting like this—

...Ah.

He suddenly noticed Sharan standing behind Celaime.

With her head bowed, he couldn’t guess her expression.

Alon instantly recalled what had happened yesterday.

‘She said she’d become a dog to become my disciple, didn’t she?’

Of course, he had no intention of taking her as a disciple.

Nor did he plan to appreciate her barking like a dog.

So, Alon calmly said—

“Tower Master. If it’s about yesterday, you don’t have to—”

“Woof.”

“...?”

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Woof woof woof woof!!! Grrrrrrrr~!”

The demonstration hall, which was about to become noisy again, fell silent.

In the now quiet, vast space, only the loud barking echoed.

“No, you really don’t have to—”

“Grrrrrrrr— woof woof aaaa woof!!”

As if her dignity as a tower master had never existed, Sharan barked madly.

‘W-What is this…? Has she lost her mind…?’

Alon felt a chill of fear.