A Talentless Mage Devours a Disaster-Class Future - Chapter 54

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 54

In the early morning, before darkness had fully lifted.

Aion was already moving about with purpose.

Tap! Tap!

The reason he was reinforcing the Mountain Lodge with wooden planks, hammer in hand, was simple and singular.

Ding!

A blue System Window had roused him from sleep.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[!] You have received a new task.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
『Task: Eve of the Storm』
― 『Overview: A colossal magical storm is approaching, poised to sweep across all of Excion. This weathered Mountain Lodge must endure the tempest with only its own strength. Thorough preparation is essential.』
― 『Objective: Before the storm arrives, reinforce the outer walls of the Mountain Lodge, repair the roof, complete weatherproofing on all windows, and secure emergency supplies.』
― 『Assigned reward: Vitality +3』
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The moment Aion had woken, he’d fixed his gaze on the window floating in midair. News of the magical storm that Ruana had delivered the night before.

For the dormitory students, it might be nothing more than a few days’ worth of memory. But for Aion and Layla, holed up in the Mountain Lodge, it was a disaster with their survival hanging in the balance.

Yggdrasil had crystallized that calamity into the form of a task, making it impossible to ignore.

【Hwayeom: Tsk, a magical storm week? Is there anything more tedious for a mage?】
【Daeji: Stop whining. If anything, this is fortunate. We should use this chance to overhaul that shoddy roof and framework from the ground up. Otherwise this ramshackle lodge will take flight in a storm—or even just a heavy rain.】
【Suryu: At least it’s manageable because we’re in Excion. If we weren’t, we’d have to get an intimate taste of a magical vacuum as a bonus.】

Whoosh—

Aion set down his hammer mid-swing, peeled off his outer coat, and rolled up his sleeves.

“I’m not sure we can finish before the storm hits.”

He wiped the sweat from his brow and turned his head; Layla was already out in the front yard.

She too seemed aware of what was coming—beneath her usual apathetic expression hung a subtle, steely resolve.

The only problem was what happened each time she swung the hammer.

Crash-crack-crack—

“…….”

Aion exhaled and turned to speak to Layla.

“Yes. Let’s do this together. First, we’ll block up all the window gaps with planks as a temporary measure, then we’ll need some thick logs to brace the outer walls. Fortunately, I’ve spotted some timber near the forest. And we’ll need to reinforce the roof as well.”

As he rattled off the tasks ahead, Layla tilted her head in confusion.

“……?”

Aion condensed his lengthy explanation into something brief.

“We need to hurry.”
“Right. What about Ruana?”

Typical of Layla to ask that first.
It wasn’t that she missed Ruana’s company—she was regretting the loss of valuable labor.

“She seemed to have something pressing to attend to. Left early this morning.”
“Ah.”

With that, Layla nodded and headed without hesitation toward the forest behind the Mountain Lodge.

And moments later.

Thump-thump-thump-!

The ground trembled heavily as Layla reappeared.

“…We should make it if we’re quick.”

She was dragging a log so massive that three grown men couldn’t embrace it with outstretched arms—dragging it effortlessly with her slender hands.

“…I don’t understand how something like this is even possible.”

Layla’s strength far exceeded that of any ordinary person.

No—compared even to those born as natural strongmen, it was overwhelming.

…No, that description alone couldn’t properly convey just how strange her power truly was.

She felt almost like a monster.
A brute strength capable of crushing anything she touched if she weren’t careful.

‘Yet somehow… that monstrous power never manifests when dealing with other people.’

Was she choosing not to use it, or was she simply unable to use it against humans?

The latter seemed more likely.
She struggled even with the restraint necessary to drive a single nail into a wooden plank.

Seeing her interact so naturally with Ruana without any reservation suggested there must be some sort of constraint or mechanism at work.

‘But… it’s none of my concern.’

As a condition of living together at the Mountain Lodge settlement, they’d both agreed not to pry into each other’s affairs.

So Aion too kept his distance from her mysteries.

“Here.”

Whoosh-!

Layla released her grip, and the heavy log crashed to the ground with a dull thud that shook the earth. She brushed the dust from her hands and asked.

“Should I bring more?”
“…No. This should be enough for now.”

Aion swallowed a brief, hollow laugh and picked up the axe.
He had to transform this dilapidated Mountain Lodge into a fortress capable of withstanding the storm—and fast.

Thwack! Bang-bang!

The sharp, rhythmic ring of axe and hammer shattered the quiet forest dawn, resuming their relentless work.

***

With the day’s repairs to the Mountain Lodge complete, Aion and Layla set out toward the Great Marketplace District of Excion, hauling an enormous empty cart behind them.

The goal was to stock up generously on food and firewood for a week.

But the moment they entered the marketplace, a dark premonition seized him.

“Flour? All gone since yesterday! Don’t even ask—just leave!”
“Firewood? The nobles’ servants came by this morning with their carriages and scraped the warehouses clean!”

Chaos had struck without warning.

The marketplace stalls—which should have been piled high with goods from across the continent—stood stripped bare, as if a plague of locusts had swept through.

“Hah…”

A hollow laugh escaped Aion’s lips.

The forecast of the Magical Storm had driven every resident of Excion into a panic buying frenzy.

Ordinary students, academy employees and faculty, merchants scraping by in this vast academic city—all of them.

Aion pushed through the crowds, checking butcher shops, groceries, and general stores in desperate succession. But every answer was the same crushing refrain.

“Nothing left! Sold out ages ago!”

Deep furrows carved themselves into Aion’s brow as he gripped the empty cart’s handle.

‘This is bad. Really bad.’

Layla, who had been taking turns pulling the cart, seemed to sense the gravity of their situation—her usually vacant eyes flickered with rare, unmistakable concern.

Aion stopped walking and turned back to face her.

“Layla. How many days’ worth of food do we have left at the lodge, roughly speaking?”

Layla stared into empty space for a moment, her expression serious as she calculated. Then she raised one small hand and began uncurling her fingers slowly.

One by one—

Her index finger extended.

One day.

And…

Aion waited silently for her next finger to unfold.

“…….”

But Layla’s hand remained frozen with only her index finger extended.

“……That’s all?”
“Yes.”
“One day’s worth?”

A nod.

…He was in genuinely dire straits.
Come tomorrow morning, he might have to sit idle with his thumb in his mouth and endure until the storm passed.

Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Aion spun around and hurried toward a considerable trading company branch located deeper in the Marketplace District.

He had to procure supplies somehow, even if it meant paying a premium.

Ting… ting-a-ling…

As the small bell at the trading company chimed, a neat-looking man who appeared to be a manager approached Aion.

“An Excion student, I see. What brings you in?”

Aion explained the situation. After hearing the whole story, the man rested his chin on his hand and expressed sympathy.

“Oh dear….”
“Truly, there’s no way? Even if I offer extra payment?”

Money wasn’t a significant issue for Aion.
What mattered was securing supplies to survive the storm season.

At Aion’s earnest plea, the trading company official made a helpless gesture, rubbing his face with a dry hand, and heaved a long sigh.

“Ah… friend, it’s not a matter of money. Right now, because of the storm forecast, all outbound logistics from Excion are completely restricted. Our warehouse is empty too.”

Apology was written plainly across his face, but he seemed to have no good solution.

“I see….”

Just as Aion clicked his tongue softly and turned to leave—

“Sssss….”

The official scratched the back of his head and spoke in a hushed, cautious tone.

“Well, if you really must have supplies… I suppose there’s truly no help for it. There is one method left, just one.”
“What would that be?”
“You’ll have to request an emergency distribution from a Large Trading Consortium.”

Emergency distribution. At hearing the term for the first time, Aion’s brow twitched.

“An… emergency distribution, you mean…?”
“Ah, you’ve never heard of it? The formal name is Class-1 Emergency Distribution… among us merchants, it’s called the Owl Delivery system.”

The official glanced around cautiously and lowered his voice.

“The Large Trading Consortiums that supply goods to Excion ordinarily handle only substantial transactions, don’t they? But since Excion is such a sprawling city, small emergency deliveries that are too bothersome for the large consortiums to manage inevitably arise—like this sudden surge you’re seeing now because of the storm.”

That made sense.
This was the continent’s foremost and only orthodox magical academy.

Most of the students who studied here came from extraordinary backgrounds, and the academy even counted descendants of the imperial bloodline among its ranks.

When such people made demands, their subordinates had no choice but to comply.

In any case.

“So a few mid-sized trading companies banded together and signed a special contract with Excion. Whenever Excion places an order, they’re obligated to deliver goods as the top priority, regardless of the weather outside.”

The official shrugged, exhaustion written across his face.

“It’s essentially slave labor in contract form, but what can you do? Excion spends lavishly, and they pay whatever’s asked without complaint—so from the trading company’s perspective, there’s no refusing.”

***

Two days later.

The Class-1 Emergency Distribution Center on Excion’s outskirts.

“Check your own inventory! We’re critically understaffed right now—I can’t verify everything individually!”

Inside the vast distribution center, the chaos from the Magical Storm week had converged into utter pandemonium.
The warehouse manager was snapping orders irritably, darting between stacks of cargo.

Aion was loading supplies onto a cart when a question occurred to him, and he asked the manager.

“Wait—if you’re leaving the inventory checks to the recipients, what happens to the ledgers?”
“Ledgers? Ha! The books won’t balance properly in this mess. We’re just eyeballing it and letting things go. The Magical Storm has people pulled in every direction—nobody’s thinking straight!”

The manager grumbled and rushed off to wrangle with other trading company representatives.

……

Aion clicked his tongue and surveyed his surroundings. His gaze came to rest on a mountain of items stacked in one corner of the warehouse.

Large sacks and crates were jumbled together, and many items were so tightly sealed that their contents were impossible to guess.

Goods left to gather dust, untouched by a single passerby.

“What are those?”
“Huh? What?”

When Aion asked the manager who was passing nearby, the man wiped his sweat and glanced back dismissively.

“Oh, those? Long-term unclaimed goods. Paid for upfront with generous deposits, but never actually collected. Well, these are kids from such prominent families—they probably don’t even consider this waste.”

Aion’s brow furrowed.

“Never collected?”
“Unless the stuff starts rotting, we don’t touch it. We’ve already pocketed the full prepayment including storage fees, so it doesn’t cost us anything—just takes up space.”

Something about this felt wrong.
An indescribable sense of unease.

“With record-keeping this sloppy, how can you even track those unclaimed items properly?”

The manager let out a scoffing laugh as if the question was absurd.

“Of course we can’t. Why are you even asking? Money was paid, so it sits here. How would we know whether there’s gold inside or rocks?”

The manager hurried away again.

……

Aion stood motionless, staring at the dust-covered crates.

In that moment, the scattered pieces of a puzzle that had eluded him suddenly clicked into place.

I understand.

He murmured softly.

【Hwayeom: Huh?】

Hwayeom’s Extreme Point voiced its confusion in his mind.

Aion kept his gaze fixed on the crates as he spoke, his voice carrying absolute conviction.

It was here.

【Daeji: What does that mean?】
【Suryu: Ah… I see.】

His eyes grew cold as he stared into the darkness of the warehouse corner.

The Flame Rune used in the dormitory fire—it came through this way, I’m certain of it.

The Talentless Mage Swallows Calamitous Futures 54

Author
Wang Mozhi
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yeon
Cover Design
Dali

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260706063.0054

ⓒ2026. Wang Mozhi

※ This e-book is protected under the copyright laws of the Republic of Korea.
No part of this work may be reproduced or adapted in any form without the permission of the author and publisher.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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