Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 104

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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 104. The Sephiroth Magician – Andromallius Family (2)

The Hideout Underground was packed with various mechanical devices and magical circles.
In the depths, a Man with unkempt green hair yawned while tinkering with experimental tools.
“Ah, the boss is here? You said you were introducing a new recruit… did you bring them to introduce to me first?”
I’d never seen this Man before, but from his appearance, it seemed he rarely left this place, never washed, and didn’t sleep well.
“Ah, you seemed busy lately, so I was planning to introduce them separately in the evening. Since we’re here now, let me introduce you—this is Doctor Bagemil. He primarily researches mutant cells, and he’s an excellent medical mage and arcanist. He boasts far more extensive knowledge than I do; he’s the brain of our Andromallius Family.”
A medical mage referred to a mage who specialized in healing magic, while an arcanist was a mage who didn’t simply use magic but researched and created new spells.
I’d never seen a mage besides Andromallius and Heidi, but Doctor Bagemil’s mana output seemed considerable—he appeared to be a high-ranking mage.
Not 4th Class, but perhaps 5th Class?
I didn’t have enough samples to make an accurate assessment yet.
“My, our boss sure knows how to gild the lily.”
“This is Credit, who will become a new recruit. They haven’t officially joined yet and will train for about three more months before joining.”
“I’ve heard the story from Heidi often. You always look after them first when the boss returns, don’t you? Heidi was quite jealous about it.”
Doctor Bagemil chuckled and extended his hand. I accepted his handshake with a slight smile.
“The monopoly only lasts three more months anyway. I’m Credit, the prospective new recruit.”
“Doctor, I’m sorry, but could you step away for a moment? I need to conduct an examination that requires security clearance.”
“Hmm… just check those samples and that one for any abnormalities, and monitor these readings every five minutes. That should be fine.”
“Understood.”
At Andromallius’s response, Doctor Bagemil nodded and headed upstairs.
“Try to finish quickly. I still have many experiments to conduct.”
Once Doctor Bagemil left, Andromallius led me through various measurements and tests using different machines.
After about thirty minutes of examination, Andromallius deleted all the records of my tests and spoke.
“This is my first time seeing a case like this, so I’m not sure what to say. Credit, you’ve already exceeded the average mana capacity of a 3rd Class Master. If I had to put a number on it… 3.5th Class?”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Well, this is the first time I’ve seen it, and there are no reports of this in academic circles either. While mages do have differences in how much mana their Astral Bodies can accumulate, I’ve never seen anyone compress mana density this high without hitting a ceiling.”
So it was good then.
After all, what was the reason the Astral Body shed its skin to increase weight class?
Wasn’t it precisely to expand the mana capacity that had reached its limit?
“However, this isn’t entirely fortunate. From 4th Class magic onward, many spells require the Astral Body’s weight class to support them for use. More than half of them rely on weight class as a crucial factor.”
Magic required various elements, and some spells couldn’t be used with mana quantity alone.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that because they required so much mana, methods were developed to reduce the required mana through various elements.
For instance, Circle Magic was a magical system that succeeded in reducing required mana by utilizing centrifugal force.
Though it was abandoned because it placed strain on the heart, the concept of utilizing centrifugal force was still used in modern magic.
The size of the Astral Body was similarly used as an important concept for reducing mana requirements, much like the centrifugal force of circles.
“In your current situation, Credit, there are two paths available. One is to continue accumulating mana naturally until you reach the limit and challenge 4th Class. The other is to challenge 4th Class right now since your density is already sufficient.”
At Andromallius’s explanation, I answered without hesitation.
“The former would be better.”
“But even if you reach 4-Class mana capacity, you’ll barely be able to use 4-Class magic. Without the physical weight of an Astral Body, using current 4-Class magic would require at least 5-Class level strength, and some spells would demand 6-Class level.”
I chuckled softly at his worried words.
“How long does it typically take to master 1-Class magic?”
“Well, it varies by person, but usually around two years. For me, it took about six months.”
“And 2-Class?”
“On average, eight years, but the median would be around five years.”
I shrugged at his answer.
“I saw on the intranet that most people begin studying magic at sixteen, so mastering 2-Class would put them around twenty-two.”
The reason magic education couldn’t begin too early was because of the Astral Body.
Completing an Astral Body required the physical body to have reached a certain level of maturity.
This was because the material of the Astral Body was the ‘Hun’—the corporeal soul—and it had to develop properly before an Astral Body could be constructed.
Of course, most people laid mana circuits in their physical bodies and learned magic early.
The difference between being able to sense and manipulate mana versus not being able to was quite significant, or so I’d heard.
“I’m twenty-one years old. Well, officially twenty on the registry. Even with formal education, that’s a year ahead, and I’ve only been studying magic for three months—so isn’t rushing to 4-Class premature?”
Andromallius seemed to have received a profound shock, as if he’d never considered such a thing.
For him, advancing in rank must have been the supreme priority as a mage.
He might not understand why I would refuse to ascend when I could do so immediately, calling it premature.
But I instinctively felt that I was still far from breaking through to the next rank.
Of course, my intuition could be mistaken.
I might simply be treading water.
But trial and error wasn’t necessarily bad, and faster wasn’t always better.
“Unless there’s an immediate need to reach 4-Class, why become a premature birth, so to speak?”
“A premature birth… That’s a perspective I’d never considered. But my intuition is telling me your words might be right.”
Andromallius suddenly fell silent in thought, then sat down and closed his eyes.
His mana began to surge as he contemplated himself.
When we didn’t return, Doctor Bagemil carefully descended.
“Is something wrong…?”
I gestured at him to be quiet. Doctor Bagemil glanced around cautiously and approached, observing Andromallius.
Andromallius suddenly levitated into the air, revealing the form of his Astral Body that had been concealed within the Astral Dimension.
“What—!”
I quickly covered Doctor Bagemil’s mouth to stifle his cry.
Right now, Andromallius was in a state of deep meditation, completely absorbed.
Creating a disturbance and breaking his concentration in this state could be dangerous.
And his Astral Body was absolutely enormous.
It was so massive it could rightfully be called a giant, and I found myself overwhelmed despite myself.
This was my first time seeing someone else’s Astral Body, but at this size, he must be 7-Class.
Then Andromallius’s Astral Body began to compress, shrinking in size.
The compressed Astral Body still radiated tremendous mana, and the sense of being overwhelmed remained unchanged.
In fact, it grew stronger.
The now-smaller Astral Body was drawn back through the gateway, shrinking to the size of a newborn before disappearing.
Andromallius, who had once again concealed the entrance to the Astral Dimension, slowly opened his eyes and offered me his gratitude.
“Phew… Thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve gained a small insight.”
Doctor Bagemil struggled to comprehend the current situation, his confusion evident.
“Wait, hold on. Didn’t your realm just drop to 6-Class?”
“That’s correct. One step back for two steps forward.”
“Hey! How is dropping from 7-Class one step back?! That’s a thousand steps back! And why did you have to pull your Astral Body out in the first place?”
As Doctor Bagemil pressed the issue, Andromallius smiled faintly and replied.
“The Astral Dimension is calibrated to the Astral Body, as you know. To fix the Astral Body, I first need to fix the Astral Dimension, and to do that, I have to expose the Astral Body.”
Having explained his reasoning, he spoke as though it were nothing serious.
“There are only trustworthy people here, so what’s the problem?”
“You trusted people like that and got stabbed in the back three months ago!”
“Haha, as long as I’m alive, that’s what matters.”
At Andromallius’s words, Doctor Bagemil pressed his palm to his forehead, clearly exasperated.
“And this process was absolutely necessary. I’ve finally understood why my growth had stalled.”
Doctor Bagemil looked up in surprise at that.
“You understood why?”
“Just as Credit said, I was a premature infant. I was a baby born into the world before fully developing. That’s why I hit a ceiling in my growth, and now I’ve simply reversed that.”
Doctor Bagemil looked back and forth between Andromallius and me, his expression bewildered.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m not entirely sure myself. I’m just a lower-tier magician.”
At my response, Doctor Bagemil scratched the back of his head before checking the recording device he’d requested.
“Damn it! The recording only captured about ten minutes!”
“Ahaha, I got too absorbed in consolidating the insight. My apologies.”
“You bastard!”
Andromallius grabbed me and fled upward.
“Doctor Bagemil! Push your mana density to its absolute limit! That was the answer!”
“What nonsense! It’s already at its limit!”
Doctor Bagemil shouted in fury, but he couldn’t chase after us because he was preoccupied examining the recording.

* * *

Andromallius, Heidi, and I left the Official Hideout and drove toward the area Outside Inner Wall.
“Captain, you looked serious earlier. Did you resolve it?”
“Hm? Oh, it turned out the situation wasn’t as serious as I thought. Actually, it was a favorable situation.”
“Really? But why did Doctor Bagemil shout like that? It was loud enough to pierce through the soundproofing.”
“I agreed to keep records in exchange for stepping aside, but I got distracted with something else for a moment and missed it.”
At Andromallius’s response, Heidi’s expression said “I knew it.” That’s when a question occurred to me, and I asked.
“By the way, Bagemil isn’t his real name, is it? Yet everyone calls him Doctor Bagemil?”
Heidi answered my question.
“Of course it’s not his real name. You can assume all magicians don’t use their real names. He just asked us to call him Doctor Bae, Doctor Bagemil, so that’s what we do. The guy’s eccentric.”
That certainly seemed to be the case.
When we arrived at the True Hideout of the Andromallius Family, we got out of the car.
“The Family has many different kinds of members. Their origins, abilities, and personalities are all diverse. Most will be friendly to newcomers, but each has their own sensitive circumstances, so be careful with what you say.”
Andromallius added to Heidi’s warning.
“In terms of the abilities we use, pure magicians like us are actually quite rare. Heidi isn’t a pure magician either.”
Heidi had the Astral Dimension active and I could sense mana from her, so it seemed she had learned magic formally, but apparently she wasn’t a pure magician.
Looking closely, there was definitely something slightly different about her.
“I had no talent for magic, so I gave up the path of magic at Class 3. My specialty is Unique Magic. But I won’t tell you what kind it is.”
Unique Magic referred to a kind of superpower.
“Unique Magic is sensitive information, so asking about it is taboo. If necessary, Heidi will reveal it herself.”
At their words, I nodded.
I had no intention of revealing everything either.
As we entered, about thirty men and women were waiting for us.

(Continued in the next chapter)

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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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