Reincarnated as a Genius Prodigy of a Prestigious Family - Chapter 263

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Reincarnated as a Legendary Talent Genius of a Noble Family Episode 263

169. Sorcerer of the Jungle (4)

‘If only that research were completed, I could grasp enormous wealth.’

‘Wasn’t magic a discipline that pursues truth?’

‘Truth is the path to pursuing money and honor.’

Mother, Sorcerer.

The old woman who had been called by such names, but was once called ‘Annabel’, suddenly recalled a conversation with her master.

Her master’s death had been truly instantaneous.

Support from Antalion Magic Tower was cut off for conducting research that wasn’t profitable, and expulsion was decided based on results.

‘I can earn that kind of money easily enough.’

Afterward, her master walked into a gambling hall saying he would obtain money, but never came back out.

The master who researched for money died because of money.

After that, Annabel also fell along with him.

In the world of mages, you can rise continuously if you just meet a good master, but the opposite is equally possible.

Annabel was exactly the latter case.

A story of ending up in this sorry state by choosing the wrong master.

Perhaps that’s why.

Paradoxically, Annabel had no choice but to obsess over her master’s research because of that.

All that remained was the path to prove it.

For decades like that.

When her entire body gradually aged without any particular results or progress and she began wandering—

‘With this… I’ll be able to achieve my dream.’

Here, in the jungle, she encountered a power beyond imagination.

It was decisive when she heard rumors quietly circulating among southern people about the legend of the jungle and sought it out.

But that power wasn’t fully permitted to her.

At best, she could only capture and use the power that naturally flowed out.

Even that was tremendous, but Annabel eventually decided to find a ‘suitable person’.

Children who would help her complete this research and finally become her puppets.

‘From now on, call me Mother.’

What followed was a series of horrifying stories spanning 10 years.

Each year children were offered, and those children were brainwashed into being Annabel’s offspring, forming a society here.

Then—

A boy came.

The ‘suitable person’ she had searched for so desperately.

But…

He was beyond her imagination.

Surpassing being merely ‘suitable’, he neutralized her completely and…

Now.

“This can’t be happening…”

He had completely absorbed what she had gazed at her entire life.

Without a trace.

Whooooom!

Green light flowing from the boy, Dane’s body.

“Ahh…”

How much had she wanted that.

How much had she hoped to complete her research with that power.

But that power hadn’t granted her permission for the past 10 years.

As if showing favor to an unrequited love, it only let her pick up the crumbs scattered around.

Whoooosh…

And now even that power was disappearing.

The power she thought was hers had finally accepted the ‘suitable person’ she had been seeking.

Crash!

And the ancient tree she knew, her true ‘Tree Castle’, was no more.

Everything installed inside had collapsed or broken, and the power that was the reason for installation had been taken by the boy.

What will happen to me now.

“My… my body…”

Then Annabel felt as if she was sinking into the ground.

Her worn-out body that had been sustained by the power of that sphere.

It seemed to finally be saying farewell.

“This can’t be happening…”

Annabel raised her body with all her remaining strength.

It was close to a death struggle.

As a fellow mage, Altur watched with a pitiful expression at the sight of her mana scattering.

“It’s mana collapse.”

Mana collapse.

When mana is used excessively, completely exhausted, or circles collapse for other reasons.

That meant death.

Annabel had maintained her aged body that could crumble at any moment with the power of an ancient magic concentrate.

“Even if we leave her alone, she’ll just die, Dane.”

“I know.”

Her end was miserable.

Among mages, there’s a saying like this.

It’s better to stab yourself in the throat and die instead.

Not only the physical pain felt as circles collapse, but also the mental anguish of losing all the mana that could be called one’s everything.

“Urgh…”

Annabel eventually collapsed again.

Even if Priscilla came, there would be nothing she could do.

Circle collapse according to providence can never be stopped.

Even if God came.

“My, my research… my research…”

Annabel squeezed out her remaining strength and cried out.

Research.

If nothing else… she wanted to complete that.

That was her long-held dream, no, her long-held obsession.

An obsession that would prevent her from closing her eyes even in death.

Annabel used all her strength to cry out to Dane who was approaching her.

“The ancient tree… inside… in my subspace made with a ring… research materials are…! The code is…”

That was as far as she got.

Annabel’s head dropped after finishing the code.

Her breath had run out.

“A fitting end.”

Dane muttered that as he approached Annabel’s corpse.

Somehow, the wrinkles on her hands and face seemed to be carved even deeper.

On the other hand…

He also thought it was a waste that seven destroyed circles were gone.

Seven circles.

Annabel must have had considerable talent too.

Of course, I don’t feel any sympathy.

They did all these things for the sole reason of finding a suitable candidate.

“Well, even if they had found a suitable candidate… she wouldn’t have possessed that power herself.”

Even so, Annabel would have ultimately lived by parasitizing off the power absorbed by the suitable candidate.

For some unknown research.

“You mentioned research earlier, Dane. Should we look for it?”

“Let’s do that.”

At Altur’s words, Dane nodded and waved his hand, using telekinesis.

Altur immediately joined in, and the interior of the ancient tree, which had been shaken and turned into a mess, quickly became clean.

“Whew. I really thought I was going to suffocate to death.”

Griffin, who had almost no mana, finally let out a sigh of relief.

Even so, his eyes sparkled, seeming excited at the thought of writing about the things he had witnessed as an article.

“She said it was inside.”

The subspace ring.

She had said the research was contained within it.

The ring wasn’t difficult to find.

“This is it.”

Thanks to the code she had given before dying, the subspace opened immediately.

Dane thought.

Indeed, why had Annabel gone to such lengths to pass on research that could be called everything to a mage?

Was it research worth completing?

Swish.

Dane took out everything inside the subspace and laid it out.

Then, while examining the documents, he made a surprised expression.

“This is…”

The apostles were trembling with anxiety.

What was that person just now?

What kind of being could control their power, and what kind of existence was he that Mother called him a ‘suitable candidate’ and even showed glimpses of fear?

“Should we… really just wait like this?”

“Shouldn’t we go rescue Mother?”

Unrest among the apostles.

In the midst of this, the female apostle that Dane had captured as a prisoner was thinking.

What if Mother… went wrong in there?

‘Then… would I gain freedom?’

She wasn’t the only one with such thoughts.

Several others felt similarly.

They wanted to escape this tiresome confined life and go out into the outside world.

They were simply unable to do so because they were subordinated to ‘Mother’s’ power.

In truth, they didn’t care about the sorcery, and they didn’t need the current power – they just wanted to leave.

To escape this place and go to the wide world.

Crack, crackle…

She stared blankly at the burning ‘Tree Castle’ before approaching the other apostles.

Their gazes focused on her momentarily, and she opened her mouth.

“If Mother… goes wrong. We need to leave this place.”

“Leave? What are you talking about?”

“I can’t live confined in a place like this any longer and die of old age. It would have been the same in our village anyway… but at least there, we could leave. If we wanted to.”

“Are you saying we should betray Mother now?”

Murmurs arose from all directions.

“It’s not betrayal. It’s finding our way to survive. How long do we have to live like this?”

“Our kingdom is waiting!”

“What exactly is this kingdom? Us living and dying together? That’s no different from the village!”

It was something everyone had been turning away from.

They had just naturally lived this way until now, and since turning their backs on ‘Mother’ was unthinkable, they had deliberately ignored it.

She was the first to face this truth directly and shout it to everyone.

“Even if a kingdom is created, it won’t be any different from how we’ve been living.”

“…”

“Think about it. We grew up here, leaving behind the place where we were born, just two or three hours away. ‘Mother’ says we were ‘chosen’ for this… but is that really true?”

Mother, Annabel, had demanded children from the village people, saying they would be offered as sacrifices.

The children who came here ultimately became ‘sacrifices.’

Should they be called sacrifices for trial and error in finding a suitable candidate?

They didn’t actually die, but she thought this was no different from a dead life.

Having already failed as ‘suitable candidates,’ they had to live confined?

And if a real ‘suitable candidate’ appeared…

What would become of them?

“A suitable candidate has already appeared. That boy from the Empire.”

“He’s a foreigner.”

“Yes, he’s a foreigner. We’re foreigners too anyway. We can’t return to the village, and they won’t accept us either. We just have… one of two choices. Either grow old and die here, or go out into the outside world.”

However, all of this was premised on ‘Mother’s’ death.

As long as ‘Mother’ was alive, they couldn’t escape this place.

In fact, this was exactly what she had wanted to ask Dane earlier.

Whatever happened, please let her leave this place.

“So, I’m going to leave.”

“Even so… Mother will stop us.”

Actually, the moment they saw those people from the Empire, they felt it.

The clothing, smell, hairstyles, and everything else different from theirs.

They became curious about the outside world.

“Even so, it doesn’t matter now.”

It was just as she finished saying that.

Rumble…

An intense vibration occurred from where the boy’s group and ‘Mother’ had headed.

A vibration so intense it seemed like an earthquake might have occurred.

Birds in the trees fluttered and flew up to the sky, and the apostles staggered.

“Wh-what’s happening?”

They soon realized.

“‘Mother’s’ power is…”

“H-her power is disappearing!”

The fact that the power ‘Mother’ had lent them, which surrounded their hearts, was disappearing.

At the same time, the magic field surrounding this area was also scattering simultaneously.

Everyone intuited it.

‘Mother’ was dead.

Nevertheless, they didn’t die like Annabel.

Annabel’s body was too aged and was sustained through that power, but these were originally mages.

Although they had become stronger with added power, they were young.

Most importantly, they weren’t directly affected.

Therefore, removing what was added wouldn’t kill them or make their existing circles disappear.

“The power has disappeared…”

The power that had finally completely vanished.

But why was it?

Was it because one apostle had just argued against it?

A strange sense of liberation was enveloping the other Apostles.

This feeling of casting off heavy sandbags.

Now a different kind of agitation and confusion arose.

Now, what should we do?

The answer to that—

Step, step.

That Boy walking from the opposite side might be able to provide it.

That Boy who emanates more powerful strength now than when they first met.

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