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Chapter 111

“Begin observation.”

Whirr!

Activated by Lea’s command, the rings of the Sphere began rotating and sending out pulses of golden waves. It was currently identifying objects that could be endowed with temporary enchantments, and it soon found every submission on the test site.

Marveling at the golden light softly blossoming from all of the submissions around them—the product of each submission absorbing the golden mana—Lea couldn’t help but be entranced.

“It actually worked...”

Although it wouldn’t be odd for Formulaic Armament, being a type of equipment, to have temporary enchantments, pure magic arrays like those that made up the Sphere were a bit different. Unlike physical equipment, the properties of magic arrays could easily be altered by any enchantment, since it was also an existence made purely of mana.

How did he even come up with increasing the number of rings and adjusting the axes to enhance the versatility of the combined magic control array... Is this really something that someone could possibly come up with in just a few days?

To simplify it, it was as if Se-Hoon had created a way to identify the right person five different times from out of hundreds of random pictures. Such a feat required far more than just talent; an unfathomably vast amount of experience with enchantment formulas was essential, which Se-Hoon shouldn’t have had—he had only just started learning a few days ago.

What exactly is this guy? Lea could barely believe that the absurd sight she was seeing was real.

“What are you doing? We should move on to the next,” Se-Hoon said, startling Lea and snapping her back to reality.

“Oh, right.”

“I understand that it’s reassuring to have me nearby, but don’t get too comfortable already. Stay alert, okay?”

“...Okay.”

He wasn’t wrong per se, but his words were irritating. Tasting the bitterness, like biting into a bitter ginseng, Lea came to her senses and moved on to the next phase.

“Astral synchronization.”

Click-

The five rings began rotating and shifting their axes. Then, moments later, the golden mana that had seeped into the submissions dug its way deeper inside.

Click!

Clicking into place one by one, each ring found the appropriate axis for controlling the submissions and locked into place. When every single one was in position, the rotation of the rings accelerated, gathering more and more golden mana within the Sphere.

Then, the second a golden mana orb formed at the center of the Sphere—

Whoom!

A resonance phenomenon swept throughout the test site.

Like they had been tamed, the submissions, each uniquely created by the participants, oozed a sense of unity like they had all been made by one single person. It was such a bizarre sight that the pandemonium created by the students crowding the exit was halted completely—everyone was in utter disbelief.

“Is that even possible?”

“How on earth did they make something like that?”

It was a device so inconceivable that the first thought of everyone wasn’t “that looked difficult to make,” but “how was such a thing even made.” It was such an otherworldly sight that the minds of everyone had been completely overwhelmed.

Like everyone else, Rebecca was overwhelmed and her eyes trembled, but for a different reason.

They actually managed to create Dane’s device...

It was astonishing that they had been able to materialize Dane Claudel’s incomplete blueprints—a mash of abstract concepts Dane had just jotted down—into that flawless device. Truthfully, Rebecca felt not only admiration and shock but also... fear.

“Sigh...”

Quickly pulling out her enchantment pallet, Lea accepted the fact that everything up until now has been just part of the preparation for the real deal. She braced herself for the real challenge that was about to begin and dipped her brush into the palette.

“What should I do first?”

At her question, Se-Hoon quickly scanned the test site’s mana level before replying, “First, form a mana-sharing network. Then apply enchantment acceleration and stabilization to increase the mana consumption rate.”

“Okay.”

Following Se-Hoon’s instructions, Lea began to draw the enchantment formulas above the Sphere’s golden orb.

A wave of golden mana shot out from the Sphere with every stroke she made, forming matching golden strokes on the surface of each submission.

Just like Se-Hoon had planned from the start, the temporary enchantments they applied initially to resonate all of the submissions were being overwritten to address the current situation.

And thanks to their efforts, many submissions that had been giving off a golden glow were stabilizing. They could now consume mana more efficiently, helping to manage the overwhelming influx of mana bit by bit.

“Next, apply enchantments for mana neutralization and dispersal only on submissions one, four, sixteen, and fifty-nine. Also, make them counteract each other’s mana.”

Click!

Spinning one of the rings, Lea changed the resonance frequency to target the specific submissions Se-Hoon had mentioned and began drawing the enchantment formulas. Like that, Lea repeated the process for several more submissions that Se-Hoon mentioned.

Feeling overwhelmed by the size and complexity of the task—which felt like completing a puzzle to obtain a single piece of a larger puzzle—Lea contorted her face.

My head’s going to burst...

Just like dominoes, the build-up was a long gradual process, but even the slightest of mistakes could topple all of the hard work in one go—such was the nature of a resonance phenomenon. It plagued Lea with the pressure to continually inscribe the right enchantments and the fear of the disaster that could occur if she made a single mistake, but she never allowed her brush to stop.

I can still pull through.

This time, even if it was hard and tormenting, she could actually do something; she was no longer her younger self who could only just watch helplessly.

This time, she would use the legacy of her father, which she had once accidentally used to injure many others, to save instead.

I will succeed...!

This time, she was absolutely determined to prove the value of the Sphere to everyone.

“...Well done.”

Feeling Lea’s resolve wash over him, Charles, who was genuinely impressed, unhesitantly pressed a hidden switch in his sleeve.

Thwoong-

Like a drop of water that disturbed the perfect clarity of a water surface with ripples, a trickle of irregular mana dripped onto the perfectly controlled resonance between submissions.

“...!”

Noticing the anomaly faster than anyone else, Se-Hoon swiftly manipulated the Sphere.

Boom!!!

A submission placed on the outskirts exploded.

“A-an explosion!!”

“Run!!”

The dominos toppled. With that single explosion, that one mistake, the hard-earned calm exploded into chaos again, amplified further by some of the students who meddled with their mana again.

“Ugh... these idiots...”

Breaking free from Luize’s control due to the students’ interference and the recent explosion, the ambient mana fluctuated again, and soon, the submissions began to overload one by one.

Whoom!

Unlike before, the resonance phenomenon greatly amplified the surges of mana, warping Se-Hoon’s facial expression. Compared to the current tsunami-level surges, the previous mana surges seemed like child’s play.

That bastard is targeting Lea amidst this chaos.

Charles had activated a mana corrosion device that was secretly hidden among the submissions to try to corrode Lea’s mana with its resonance frequency.

I managed to redirect it, but... things are getting dangerous now.

Charles’s meddling had escalated a manageable situation beyond the point where it could end with a peaceful resolution. A resonance-induced mana surge could not be quelled unless all of the submissions in the room were controlled and calmed simultaneously.

I guess there’s no choice then.

They would have to break the exit’s blast wall and escape while accepting some collateral damage in the process. Grasping his chest, Se-Hoon was about to enact his new plan, but he paused upon hearing Lea’s desperate voice.

“Not yet...!”

Bypassing the rings, Lea’s hands directly clutched the golden orb at the center of the Sphere.

Whoom!

Directly connected to all of the submissions, all of the processing that the Sphere had been handling directly seeped into Lea’s mind.

“Ah.”

Returning to her senses, she regained her vision, which had gone stark white for a moment, and licked her damp upper lip which left a metallic taste tingling on her tongue.

“What are you doing?!”

Startled, Se-Hoon pulled the Sphere away from Lea and quickly began examining her with a shocked expression. It had only been a brief connection, but her brain had overloaded, shutting it down and causing her nose to bleed.

Touching the Sphere while it was producing a resonance phenomenon was already dangerous enough, yet she had done it amid the current mana surge. If things had gone even the slightest bit wrong, her brain would have turned to mush and left her severely impaired.

“Huff, huff...”

Unable to catch her breath, Lea looked at the Sphere.

“I can still... do this...” she barely managed to say, her voice trembling.

“You seriously think you can do it in this state? Stop talking nonsense.”

Convinced that going any further was too risky for Lea, Se-Hoon looked towards Luize.

“Luize, gather as much mana as possible and attack over there.”

Thump.

Feeling a hand grasp onto his shoulder tightly, Se-Hoon turned back and looked at Lea.

“If I could... see it for just a bit longer... I can do it. Really...”

“...”

Gazing into her green eyes which shone clearly with certainty—a stark contrast to her ghastly face—Se-Hoon hesitated.

“Just help her.”

Despite her obvious struggle to control the ambient mana, Luize spoke to him calmly.

“If she’s going that far, there must be something to it. You don’t doubt Lea, do you?”

“It’s not that, but...”

He knew best how one could grow substantially through facing hardships, but there was a limit to how challenging the hardship could be. Moreover, if they failed right now, the situation would spiral out of control and even he wouldn’t be able to do anything then.

So it’s a wiser choice to retreat right now.

It might be disappointing for Lea, but he was convinced it was the right decision. And so, he was about to inform them about his decision, but Luize spoke first.

“It’s okay.”

Luize’s voice echoed in Se-Hoon’s ears.

“I don’t know how far ahead you are seeing, but it doesn’t matter. I haven’t spent my time foolishly enough that I would just drag you down.”

“...”

“So, let’s try to go as far as we can.”

Luize’s steady gaze locked with his.

“I’ll help you this time.”

Caught off guard by her unexpected passionate declaration, Se-Hoon was left momentarily speechless. He then smirked.

“Is that so?”

He had always known it, but geniuses really did grow at an astonishing pace.

With a newfound dependable ally, his tension eased slightly and he could take a moment to breathe. “Can you obscure the area around us?”

Requesting her to cast Incantation Magic while controlling the unstable mana of the test site was no easy task, but Luize coolly responded with an incantation.

“Night Veil.”

Swoosh!

A portion of the gathered mana enveloped the two. Se-Hoon, reassured by their concealed position, looked at Lea.

“Based on what you’ve said, it seems you’ve managed to recognize some kind of pattern, but if that’s all, the success rate is fifty-fifty. And that’s especially true now, in the middle of such a destructive mana surge; there will be even larger fluctuations to the calculations due to instability.”

“...”

“So... what you need now is experience that could allow you to calculate even those fluctuations.”

Letting his words sink in, Se-Hoon summoned the White Light Dagger and deeply cut his palm across the surface.

But despite the deep cut, not a single drop of blood flowed. Clenching his fist, Se-Hoon whispered quietly, “Blood is the fuel and lubricant that drives the human body, and since the emergence of mana, it can also be used as an individual power source. To me, it also serves as an instrument for recording things.”

His words, solemn and serious, and the red aura flickering and leaking from Se-Hoon’s grip increased the weight of everything he said. It was like he was revealing a secret and reciting a spell.

“I can extract the memories from the soul contained in a person’s body, a pure material unbound by the physical body, and encapsulate them in blood.”

Using Soul Honing, he gathered the blood in his palm and hammered away at it with a hammer he visualized in his synesthetic mindscape.

Clang!

When the final swing of the hammer fell, he felt a faint sensation in his grasp. He spread his hand open and saw a finger-sized red crystal had formed.

“Is that...”

“If you understood what I just said, you should be able to accept it to some extent. So, did you understand what I was saying?”

At his question, Lea peered into the crystal made of blood. Soon, it dawned on her and she responded, “So, this crystal is basically you.”

Accepting what this crystal meant was that, for a brief moment, she would become Se-Hoon and naturally receive his memories.

Se-Hoon grinned.

“You passed.”

Hesitating no longer, he pushed the crystal into her mouth in one swift motion.

Sizzle-

The crystal dissolved instantly in her mouth, and along with a metallic taste, a vast amount of information flooded her mind.

Thanks to the experience she gained, the imbalance between her brilliant talent and overwhelmingly lacking experience was finally corrected, resulting in a newfound understanding of the pattern of mana she noticed. And on top of the structural pattern, she found various other variables too.

“I found it!!!”

Whoosh!

She clutched the core of the Sphere without hesitation, sending a massive amount of calculations rushing into her mind. But this time, they were processed following a defined method, and soon an enchantment formed in her mind.

Grabbing her brush, she began densely inscribing a new formula over the golden orb, assisted by the rings of the Sphere which rotated to not hinder her brush movements.

“Restart!”

The golden orb shuddered.

Bang-

And everything was swept away by a golden wave—the black veil surrounding them, the mana Lea had been gathering, the rampant mana throughout the test site, and the magic barrier blocking the exit.

Rumble-

With the magic barrier gone, the blast wall rose to reveal the corridor again.

“The door’s open!”

“Is everyone okay?!”

The Ivory Tower staff members rushed in from outside.

Besides the relief that filled them to see everything resolved, the students were completely confused by how it had happened.

“How exactly did they do that...?”

“Was it the Ivory Tower who took care of the situation...?”

However, the timing seemed too perfectly aligned for it to have been done by the Ivory Tower. Thus, everyone’s gazes turned to the trio, who seemed to have resolved the crisis with questioning expressions.

“There’s no way...” Lan Fei’s jaws dropped.

“Did you guys take control of the Ivory Tower’s system and reboot it by using that device to resonate with it?”

Hearing Lan Fei’s theory, the surrounding people’s expressions gradually hardened as they each managed to process those words. The fact that the management system of the Ivory Tower—something developed by some of the most renowned heroes in the field of magic—had been overtaken by some students was so inconceivable, even considering that it was malfunctioning.

“Uh... yes? Ah, besides that, I got a bit excited and tweaked one more thing...”

“One more thing?”

What else could they have done apart from such an unbelievable feat? Deeply curious, Lan Fei looked at Lea, who was grinning sheepishly in an apprehensive manner.

“Professor Charles...!”

At that moment, an Ivory Tower staff member hurriedly ran toward them with a clearly troubled expression. Seeing that the staff member was actually the person who worked under him in Dawn, Charles felt a strange sense of anxiety.

No way.... It couldn’t be.

No matter how talented the three of them were, there was no way they could have achieved the very thing that he was worried about.

Trying to maintain composure, Charles asked, “What\'s the matter? Calm down for a bit and speak.”

“That, that’s...”

Looking around nervously, the staff member swallowed dryly and whispered, “The system of the Ivory Tower is currently destroying every piece of equipment and every device with a specific pattern of mana.”

“A specific pattern?”

“Yes, it’s...”

The staff member hesitated before continuing, “It’s the pattern contained in every single one of the manufactured goods we recently acquired.”

“...”

Charles’s mouth dropped open.

The manufactured goods mentioned were the various devices that Dawn had been slowly bringing into Babel under the guise of ordinary equipment. They had all been acquired to lure in new talents and materials to their side.

“I was actually annoyed by the strange magic formula that triggered the emergency generators to go berserk, so I blew up everything related to it. Hehe!” said Lea with a grin.

Like dominos, all of the effort and long years Dawn had spent accumulating that equipment toppled in an instant.