Chapter 159

‘New Magic System Forum Based on Mythological Perspectives.’

Shortened to the New Magic Forum, this regular academic gathering has been held consistently.

All elders and above attend, along with other talented individuals overflowing with skill and experience gathering in one place—truly Pathfinder’s premier research assembly.

Refreshing beverages were prepared, and sweet, fresh foods that stimulated ideas were piled high. We ate and drank merrily while debating. In this setting, we achieved many accomplishments.

For instance, we bridged the gap between two approaches, the ‘archaeological method’ that utilizes the ancient memories of magical powers, and the ‘mathematical method’ that makes magical power operation more efficient through precise formulas and theorems, reaching consensus on the ‘archaeo-mathematical methodology.’

With each such decision, the history of magic was rewritten, and Pathfinder’s junior mages could fearlessly leap into the world of new magic.

Today’s forum topic is ‘The Unknown Realm: 7th Circle.’

There’s no need to worry about how the meeting will proceed.

After all, the mages gathered here are Pathfinder’s finest talents. When someone presents an opinion, they naturally organize, refute, reinforce, beat drums, play gongs, and even blow flutes.

“As the one who has been stagnant at 6th Circle the longest, I suppose I should speak first.”

Pan-Dalus began.

“The path up to 6th Circle is described in detail through magic texts regardless of school, but from 7th Circle onward it’s different. There’s no clear definition, no recommended training methods. It’s simply a realm reached by those who accumulate practice with endless devotion and suddenly ‘transcend’ at some point. I’ve heard that process is some special ‘experience’ that can’t even be documented.”

Everyone listened while nodding to this calm explanation.

But an impolite voice interrupted.

“So essentially Pan-Dalus still can’t grasp what 7th Circle is either.”

It was Wizard of Debt Shilo de Medissa. Neatly trimmed beard, a brooch boasting heavy luster. A wealthy 47-year-old wizard oozing affluence. He spoke casually. And calling him by his real name instead of his wizard title? Such rudeness is unheard of.

“Hey. That’s Master Pan-Dalus. Watch your mouth.”

When Yuria beside him gave him a solid whack to the ribs, only then did Shilo de Medissa lower his gaze with a “Yeess.”

Anyway, that damn bastard seizes every opportunity to advertise that he belongs directly to Yuria, not to Pathfinder.

‘I’ll have to step on him sometime…’

It’s not just me glaring at him. Refinement and Ak-hu are glaring at him too.

He’ll get crushed soon even without me.

No matter how much he’s called the strongest 6th Circle, a genius mage who made a name for himself, that’s all in the past. Pathfinder, having begun learning the new magic system, was overwhelmingly stronger than other mages of the same Circle. Even though the mage’s natural enemy Monggu helped him from the side, and the supposedly genius Lytol assisted by risking his life, the fact that Yuria—who was only 3rd Circle 3-star at the time—defeated Shilo de Medissa was sufficient proof, wasn’t it?

But the clueless Shilo de Medissa instead wore a faint sneer.

“Anyway, since even the Wizard of Domestication can’t grasp 7th Circle, let me offer a word. As you know, my direct superior was also a 7th Circle wizard, the Wizard of Rebirth. He once evaluated me as ‘quite close to 7th Circle.’ Unknown to others, I believe I know the most about 7th Circle among those present.”

Shilo de Medissa met eyes with each of the elders one by one while wearing a challenging smile. When our eyes met, he even showed blazing competitive spirit.

This bastard. Let’s see you spout some worthless nonsense…

“The Wizard of Return said this. Up to 6th Circle, there’s only one goal—’Word Magic.’ When Word Magic reaches its peak, magic dwells in every word you casually speak. For this, all mages watch their words carefully and repeat difficult challenges. But 7th Circle is a realm that transcends Word Magic. You don’t need to speak words aloud. It’s a realm where thoughts become magic directly. That’s exactly what 7th Circle is.”

Fortunately, I should say? Shilo de Medissa offered something quite useful. The problem was he didn’t know what he was talking about.

The glares directed at Shilo de Medissa settled down calmly. Each was organizing their thoughts about the topic Shilo de Medissa had thrown out. They analyzed it anew based on the ‘new magic system founded on mythological perspectives’ rather than existing magic.

Shilo de Medissa took this atmosphere as admiration for his words. He excitedly chattered on.

“What is magic? What is Word Magic? It’s the act of imposing our will upon this world. The process of magical training could perhaps be called the process of taming the world to accept our tantrums. And I think like this, becoming 7th Circle means graduating from those tantrums.”

Wow…

Shilo began giving us a magic theory lecture.

And it was the old, outdated magic theory at that.

“Tantrums are throwing fits without considering the other party, just pushing your own stubbornness. To graduate from that requires ‘intuition.’ Properly seeing what this world is. This may seem trivial, but just seeing changes many things. When I look straight at someone, I might make an opponent who was about to hit me flinch in surprise. When I look straight at someone, a person who was trying to turn away might feel guilty and help me instead. Seeing means intervening. The secret of 7th Circle lies here.”

He speaks as if it makes sense. But actually there’s no concrete content.

However, Shilo de Medissa failed to notice our unsettled atmosphere until the very end.

Intoxicated by his own words, he looked at Yuria with a victor’s smile. He apparently wanted to appeal what an amazing person he was.

And he didn’t forget to flatter his master.

“In that sense, our master who possesses [Magic Eye-<Interference>] is probably the person closest to 7th Circle among those present.”

Shilo de Medissa spoke proudly. Of course, the master he referred to was Yuria.

Yuria blushed with embarrassment. She poked his side sharply.

“Hey! Stop showing off.”

“Ah, why? Did I say something wrong, Master?”

Yeah. You said something wrong. I can use [Magic Eye-<Interference>] too.

“Huh?”

Shilo de Medissa’s expression suddenly turned ashen. Yuria snorted.

“Why? Your magical powers scattering?”

“How, how do you know that…”

“Obviously, you idiot! Do you think the magical powers will tolerate you spouting nonsense? Show some restraint!”

Shilo de Medissa just stammered, unable to say anything.

Well, he won’t lose significant magical power over something like this, but for him it must be quite an unpleasant experience after a long time.

Yet Shilo de Medissa still couldn’t accept it.

“But I didn’t say anything wrong… Look. Isn’t everyone unable to say anything? 7th Circle was originally something like a mystery. Like transcendence to an unknowable world. There’s probably no one else who can explain it as well as I can.”

He’s running his mouth carelessly again.

Of course, as Shilo de Medissa said, silence had settled over the gathering.

But that was just time to build momentum.

At the end of the silence, people’s opinions poured forth.

“The Wizard of Debt’s words are abstract but quite suggestive. ‘Transcending Word Magic.’ And ‘intuiting.’ These are concepts we haven’t addressed in the new magic system we’ve discussed so far.”

“The new magic system focuses on moving magical powers to recreate the command languages used by ancient gods. It could be seen as a field dealing with ‘Word Magic’ more precisely.”

“That intuition might perhaps mean the ‘true connection to the Akashic Records’ that Divine Wizard mentioned before? The ability shown by fragments of gods and the Magic Emperor. The secret of 7th Circle might lie right there.”

“Hmm… my magic usage is unique, right? Could that be related too?”

“I’m not sure. Divine Wizard said the seventh Circle is like a net connecting everything. In contrast, Lady Kaisel’s magical power is mist-form. Comparing just the revealed facts, the similarity seems lacking.”

“Still, we can’t rule out the possibility of connection. Among Ki-blood magic, cases where clearly different magical power structures create similar phenomena are common.”

Refinement, Kim Ji-woong, Sonnet, Kaisel, Hedric, Ak-hu.

Not a single person was left out. They quickly shared thoughts and analyzed Shilo de Medissa’s words.

Shilo de Medissa’s eyes grew wide.

‘God,’ ‘command language,’ ‘magical power structure,’ and so on. Words he didn’t know poured out.

His proud talk of ‘will,’ ‘transcendence,’ and such was cut down with more precise terminology.

The climax was struck by Lytol. Pan-Dalus’s star pupil. One of the Eleven Hatchlings and a genius who represented the Academy.

“7th Circle might perhaps be… ‘cognitive ability’?”

The moment I heard those words, it felt like lightning struck my head. I unconsciously stood up and looked at Lytol.

“Up until now, both Circle magic and Ki-blood magic that we’ve organized have all mimicked the physical functions of gods. We haven’t dealt with mental abilities. But we can go further than that. The Senior Elder said it—the people of Earth sought to create artificial intelligence that would surpass themselves… So… we’ve been trying to make puppets of gods and perform puppet shows, right? We need to go beyond that. Um… how should I put it…”

Ah, ah,

Each of Lytol’s words pierced my heart. The vague goal was unfolding before me.

I found myself muttering.

“We need to create gods.”

Lytol’s eyes widened.

“Ah! That’s right! It all comes together in one phrase!”

Crash! Clatter! Bang!

Sounds of chairs toppling came from here and there.

Create gods.

That single phrase heated up the forum.

The only one who couldn’t get heated was Shilo, just rolling his eyes around.

In the end, we were able to conclude the forum with great achievement.

Even after the forum ended, the mages couldn’t leave their seats. Sprawled in their chairs with tremendous satisfaction, they looked like Earthlings waiting for the end credits.

I was also sitting there grinning when Pan-Dalus asked a troubling question.

“By the way… you said a message came from Ragnarok’s Saint? What should we do about it?”

It was a question that completely drained the vitality generated by the forum.

I let out a deep sigh and organized all the messages Beatrice had sent so far.

Everyone’s reactions were similar.

“This… sounds like she’s asking to be rescued.”

So… I can only sigh.

“But if Ragnarok really has this level of power, charging in would be suicide.”

So…

What should I do? Beatrice seems quite desperate, but we lack the power. Unless wizards start pouring out from somewhere… we can’t do anything right now, can we?

* * *

At that moment,

Beatrice was rolling around on her bed, hugging a teddy bear.

“Divine Mage! Absolutely, absolutely don’t come charging in. Everyone’s digging traps right now waiting for you.”

Just in case Pathfinder might come to rescue her, she sent another message. This time she included information about troop composition since she’d already sent intelligence about Ragnarok’s power.

And she trembled with anxiety again.

“Ah, what if they think it’s worth fighting after seeing this message? There’s a lot I couldn’t find out… Aaaaaah!”

Beatrice buried her face in the teddy bear and rolled around on the bed before sneakily lifting her head and muttering.

“But… what if they really don’t come? Me alone here…? I didn’t realize before, but the Prophet… the more I know, the more chilling…”

Rolling around again.

“Hngg… But they still can’t come!”

She sent another message. A message through Kaisel’s shadow connection. Using her Gift, it would never be detected.

The only downside was…

It was one-way communication.

[I’m not worried.]

[You’re listening, right? Absolutely don’t come!]

[It’s really dangerous. I’m completely trapped and can’t even help!]

[Damn… I sent too many messages. It’s not serious, so don’t worry about it.]

[You’re listening, right? I’m not scared and I’m not being severely mistreated yet…]

[I’m being watched, so the information I sent might not be accurate!]

[Anyway, don’t come! Got it?]

[Hello? You’re not sleeping? Can you hear me?!]

Now fourteen years old.

Ultimately an adolescent who doesn’t even know her own heart.

Beatrice’s messages poured forth day and night.