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Chapter 112

Slap!

“What do you mean you’re fine?! You pulled that crazy act! Just stop talking and come with me!”

“Ouch! This hurts even more!! Se-Hoon, save...”

Smacking Lea on the back, Rebecca grabbed Lea’s ear and quickly dragged her to the infirmary.

Meanwhile, Se-Hoon and Luize headed to the main building of Ur for investigation. The Ivory Tower was a separately managed foundation, but because it was a facility heavily used by the students of Babel, the academy immediately began investigating; many of their students could have been potentially injured.

“Just for clarification, I’m not interrogating you two out of suspicion,” Lan Fei said, taking a seat in front of the two.

Lan Fei, who had been tasked with escorting them to the main building, had now been tasked with handling the investigation as well.

“The point of this ‘investigation’ is to hear about any doubts or issues you guys might have found while handling the situation. We intend to look into them further for our own investigation. Understood?”

Wanting to avoid any misunderstandings, Lan Fei had spoken with a softened expression.

Having noticed, Se-Hoon glanced around and thought, It certainly doesn’t seem like he has any hidden intent.

If they were actually under suspicion, there would have been at least some basic interrogation equipment prepared. However, the room only had basic protective devices and was even a reception room for guests.

Convinced that Lan Fei’s words were genuine, Se-Hoon nodded on behalf of both.

“Understood.”

“Good. Then let’s start from the beginning. Right when the mana surge started, you rushed to Lea Claudel, but why...”

Starting from the beginning, Lan Fei asked about some of the actions that took place in the Ivory Tower, and the two explained exactly what had happened.

They had intervened because they had known prior that Lea’s submission, the Sphere, was dangerous. And then Luize and Lea had just acted on Se-Hoon’s instructions, believing that he knew how to resolve the issue.

The explanation made them seem reckless since they were students who took such actions, but since they had resolved the situation effectively, there was nothing to criticize.

Indeed, if the three... especially Lee Se-Hoon, hadn’t acted immediately, the outcome would have been far worse.

As Lan Fei typed their statements into his laptop, he suddenly thought of something and looked up at them curiously.

“But how were you so sure you could handle the situation? It’s embarrassing to say, but even though I’m a professor of the Department of Martial Magic myself, I thought the situation seemed far too out of hand.”

Initially, Se-Hoon had tried to create a device that could control the overflowing mana level out of the submissions that were overloaded due to the mana surge. And until the abrupt explosion, it had been proceeding perfectly without any mistakes.

Even if he’s someone from the Department of Blacksmithing, it’s difficult to have such a deep understanding of the Formulaic Armaments... especially since he’s so young.

On top of that, since the submissions on the test site were more in line with the types of items handled by the Department of Martial Magic than those handled by the Department of Blacksmithing, it was hard to believe that Se-Hoon had come up with an exact way to handle the situation at that time.

Faced with such a question, Se-Hoon pondered for a moment before calmly responding, “It just somehow came to my mind after a single look.”

“That’s... all?”

“Well... yes?”

To be precise, his knowledge was thanks to a rude remark by the Blast Dog about his inability to forge Formulaic Armaments before the regression. That remark had hurt his pride and drove him to furiously research them extensively. However, it wasn’t like he could tell Lan Fei that.

Thus, Se-Hoon opted for a very simple answer.

“I guess I’m just a versatile genius.”

As an honor student of Borsippa and a promising figure in the hero industry, he could make that statement confidently.

“I really want to smack him right now...” Luize muttered, sincerely annoyed, from the side.

“...I see. Understood.”

After pondering for a moment, Lan Fei decided to accept Se-Hoon’s story at face value.

If it had been any other student, he might have dismissed it as nonsense, but Se-Hoon had enough achievements and feats to back up his claims.

I heard some rumors that even the chairman is taking note of him.

Se-Hoon was an incredible genius—with this thought, Lan Fei moved on to his last question.

“Then what about the explosion that happened in the middle of manipulating the Sphere?”

“That explosion only happened because I had to block a strange ripple of mana. It must have been the same kind of mana that malfunctioned the emergency engine that Lea mentioned, which caused the mana surge.”

“That does make sense, seeing as how the explosion occurred immediately after that.”

Though Lan Fei hadn’t seen it clearly, considering that Se-Hoon was right in the middle of it all, he believed that Se-Hoon had caught a glimpse of the truth. After a few more detailed questions, Lan Fei finished typing down all of the answers and stood up.

“I think this is sufficient for now. Since you saved the lives of many students, there will be a modest reward for you once the report is filed. I’ll contact you about that once everything is settled.”

“Understood.”

“You guys may leave now.”

Done with the interrogation, Se-Hoon and Luize were escorted to the lobby of the main building. But just as they were about to leave, Lan Fei remembered one final thing before he went back as well.

“Ah, I almost forgot. Thank you. It was thanks to you guys that I was able to come out safely too.”

As a professor at Babel, he was completely capable of protecting himself, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t received any help from them.

Luize curiously watched Lan Fei’s retreating figure with curiosity.

“He seems like a decent person.”

“Indeed.”

Thinking that Lan Fei might have been famous before the regression, judging by how he didn’t seem too incompetent, Se-Hoon decided to find out more about who he really was.

“So, what are we going to do now?” Se-Hoon asked, turning to Luize.

“That’s my line. Are we really going to end it here this time? From the look on Charles’s face, it seems we’ve hit him where it hurts.”

When the staff member from the Ivory Tower came looking for him, Charles had left abruptly. It wouldn’t have seemed too odd to others, but to the two who knew who he really was, it was a different story. They had dealt a severe blow to Dawn that was hard enough to disrupt Charles’s composure momentarily. If they took the chance to push him a bit further, they could definitely send Charles packing.

“I think it’s better to end it here this time.”

But Se-Hoon shook his head firmly.

“It was fine until now since Dawn has given us a bit of leeway, but pushing further wouldn’t be a reaction expected of a normal student.”

“Tsk... it’s a shame we have to let them loose when there’s such a nice opportunity.”

Seeing Luize’s visible frustration from how they couldn’t take advantage of Dawn’s vulnerability, Se-Hoon chuckled.

“Don’t worry too much. Babel isn’t foolish enough to let this incident slide just like that.”

Whether Babel knew if the main body of Dawn was actually Watchers or not, if someone threatening Babel showed their tail, Babel would make sure to grab onto it and stamp it, and anything connected to it, out.

After this incident, the influence of Dawn within both the Ivory Tower and Babel would likely be severely reduced.

“Then, I guess I should head back and rest. I overexerted myself earlier, and now my body feels really stiff,” Luize said with a grimace as she rotated her neck and arms.

Considering she had taken control over all of the ambient mana in that vast test site alone, it was impressive that she came out of it only a bit tired.

“You did a great job. I owe you one today,” said Se-Hoon.

It wasn’t an empty compliment; without Luize’s help, they wouldn’t have been able to resolve the situation so smoothly.

Hearing his sincere gratitude, Luize’s eyes flickered slightly before she averted her gaze.

“You should treat me well then. Don’t just call me when you need something.”

“Ahem.”

Thanks to Luize’s prickly response, Se-Hoon awkwardly realized that he had recently only called her to help him forge equipment or prepare for competitions. He was essentially exploiting her.

I feel kind of guilty now.

Thinking he should make some time to treat her properly, Se-Hoon mused over how he should make it up to her.

“Though...” Luize glanced at him. “Today wasn’t too bad.”

“...Really? I thought you’d find it annoying.”

“It was annoying. Thoughts like ‘Why do I have to do this?’ and ‘I’m suffering again because of some bastard’ did cross my mind.”

Had it been the old her, she would have reluctantly participated and just accepted that she would be irritated by the unwanted involvement.

“Thank you so much.”

“We were able to survive because of you.”

“Thank you.”

However, when those she saved expressed their sincere gratitude to her, the annoyance she felt inside somehow softened.

It made her ponder why she had changed to be like this. And she didn’t need to ponder the answer for long.

“Surprisingly though, I feel good.”

Luize smiled faintly and looked at the root cause of why she had changed.

“Being the one to help other people out, just like how a certain someone does.”

[You have successfully guided the subject ‘Luize Valente’.]

[A Fatestone has been formed for the subject ‘Luize Valente’.]

As Se-Hoon stared blankly at the notification that popped up before him, Luize’s face turned a deep shade of red.

“I’m going then! And if you call me just for work next time, you’re dead meat!”

Thump!

Slapping him hard on the shoulder, Luize sprinted away into the distance. As Se-Hoon watched her retreating figure, a smirk crept onto his face.

“This is something you’d only see if you’ve lived for a long... no, only if you lived twice.”

The thought of someone like the Blast Dog talking about how helping people was not so bad was quite unusual. If the Blast Dog had in his memories had seen it, she would have screamed and tried to obliterate all witnesses.

“Pfft.”

Chuckling at the ridiculous thought, Se-Hoon walked away with lighter steps than usual.

***

In a dim lab, Charles sat silently next to a window where starlight entered, gazing into the dark interior without any particular thought or purpose, simply letting time pass. Soon, dawn broke, heralding the arrival of Dawn from the distant horizon.

Whoom-

The light of Dawn streamed through the window, bathing the lab with a glow.

Then, on the empty desk of the assistants, the glow slowly coalesced and eventually revealed five figures of light, each resembling a human. However, while they all looked like mannequins overall, they each had a distinct feature.

Or more accurately, the lack of a feature. A left arm, a right arm, a set of eyes, a torso, and a pair of legs—each figure was missing one of those parts; they seemed to have been so cleanly carved out, as if they had just disappeared from existence. It was a serene yet eerie scene.

“Charles,” called out the light figure missing its left arm in his mind.

“Didn’t I tell you to be cautious in the Emperor of Ascension’s garden? Do you realize how much damage your greed has caused?” angrily interrogated Left Arm.

Yet despite its anger, Charles remained calm.

“It was a necessary act.”

“Necessary? That’s absurd.”

Making a sarcastic laugh, Left Arm then poured its anger and hostility into its voice.

“Because of your necessity, half of the supply networks at Babel that we have built over several years are now gone! And the remaining half is even under suspicion!!!”

Under Left Arm’s interrogation, Charles remained silent. Then, out of the blue, he finally he finally replied, as if he had been waiting for the right moment.

“I have identified new candidates for Regions.”

“...!”

The revelation caused a stir among the silent figures of light, and soon Left Arm spoke up again.

“Who are they?”

“Luize Valente and Lee Se-Hoon. They have shown potential to be the Voice and the Heart respectively.”

“Hmm. Voice and Heart.”

“You’re telling me that candidates we couldn’t find anywhere else just happened to appear together at Babel? That sounds a bit too much for a joke,” Right Arm—the figure missing its right arm—said in disbelief.

Charles nodded. “You will understand if you see for yourself.”

Closing his eyes, a green mana emerged from deep within Charles.

Crack-

He felt roots spread throughout his body, connecting him to somewhere. Then, after a moment, the figures of light burst into exclamations.

“No way, what he’s saying is true. They both seem to have sufficient talents.”

“The purification! What about the Heart’s purification?” excitedly shouted Vessel—the light figure without a torso.

Charles responded in a respectful manner, “I haven’t had the chance to verify the Heart yet.”

“The Voice is... the child we heard about who has gone through purification and even assimilation, no? Luize Valente, right?”

“Correct.”

Upon hearing Charles’s confirmation, the figure without legs, Step, exclaimed in admiration.

“Then that child is as good as confirmed. I now see why you went to such lengths.”

Although the figures had each embraced a part of the One and had approached ever so close to the truth of magic, they were still mere extremities of a body. Compared to the Voice and Heart, the transmitter of will and the symbol of life respectively, they felt almost embarrassed to call themselves Regions.

Thus, merely finding candidates for the Voice and Heart was a far greater gain that completely outweighed the loss of some supply chains.

“The Heart.”

The figure with empty eyes, Eyes, looked at Charles.

“Although the already confirmed Voice is important, the Heart should be even more so.”

“But isn’t this Lee Se-Hoon guy a bit dangerous? He’s affiliated not only with the Emperor of Ascension but also multiple S-rank heroes.”

“I heard that Puppeteer and Tuner have also shown interest in him. With those madmen involved, it wouldn’t be strange if they suddenly decided to fight us.”

“We should purify him! Hurry and purify him!”

Bothered by the cacophony of voices that tangled in his mind, Charles slightly furrowed his brows. He slowly opened his mouth.

“There’s one more thing I need to mention.”

“What is it?”

“Puppeteer has proposed a joint force with us.”

“Puppeteer?”

Seeing the puzzlement of the figures of light, Charles amped up his green mana again and recalled the encounter that had taken place that evening. He had been on his way back after the situation at the Ivory Tower when Howard Grant—a young man with dark blue hair, who was the third-year honor student of Borsippa—suddenly sought him out.

“You’re lucky. My original plan was to force you to help after killing you... but then I happened to remember old times and felt a bit better. So, I’ll make a special offer for you.”

Howard Grant, or rather, Puppeteer made a sinister smile and offered them a dangerous choice.

“How about we raid the garden together?”