The AI Archmage - Chapter 19

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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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AI Archmage Episode 19

The Blue Tower was once counted among the Four Great Magic Towers when Altair was still alive.

What did that mean?

It meant that the Blue Tower still had resources to exploit.

‘Treasures’ that weren’t visible on the surface, like Belusian’s Workshop that had been hidden before.

‘It’s about time to start exploiting them one by one.’

[You speak truly, Human.]

For now, one major problem—’the Blue Tower’s mana supply’—had been resolved.

Moreover, his position within the Blue Tower had also become solid.

Then what he needed to do next was already decided.

‘Materials.’

The number of materials needed to create magic tools was enormous.

It might be different if he only made one type.

But what Sion ultimately wanted was a Magic Craft Tower that mass-produced hundreds of different magic tools.

The ultimate workshop that even ‘Altair’ himself couldn’t dare to recreate.

But that was a matter for the distant future.

What was needed to lay the foundation at this point was raw materials.

Among them, what was most needed was…

[Cross Stone, you mean.]

‘Yeah, that’s it.’

It was called Cross Stone because it was a gemstone formed in the shape of a cross.

Until Altair’s appearance, Cross Stone was nothing more or less than a worthless gemstone.

However, Altair’s existence completely changed the value of Cross Stone.

Cross Stone could compensate for the inherent side effects of Mana Crystals when processed using a specific method.

The one who had utilized that processing method most efficiently was none other than Altair—the current Sion.

He was confident that as long as Cross Stone ore was continuously supplied, he could continuously create high-quality magic tools.

The magic tools created that way would play a useful role in developing the Blue Tower.

[Come to think of it, I heard there’s a Cross Stone Mine in the Blue Tower…]

‘That’s right.’

However, it wasn’t known to the outside world.

According to the original plan, it would have been a mine excavated under Belusian’s leadership, but…

‘My condition wasn’t good, so I remember it was just postponed.’

Belusian himself hadn’t bothered to make the Cross Stone Mine public either.

Since even Lumia didn’t seem to know about it properly, the Cross Stone Mine should be considered abandoned within the Blue Tower’s territory.

– A, a Cross Stone Mine?!

The memory was vivid of how she had been shocked and immediately said she wanted to go see the mine too, which he had to dissuade her from.

He had told Lumia and Serentia to focus on the tasks he had assigned them first.

Finishing his thoughts, Sion turned his head back toward the students.

“Everyone’s gathered.”

There wasn’t a single student who wasn’t captivated by the magic tool Sion had shown them.

‘Just wearing it on your wrist enables Magic Transformation!’

If you weren’t fascinated by this, you didn’t deserve to be called a mage.

The students’ eyes sparkled as if they were ready to offer their very souls, gazing at Sion with desperate longing.

Not only Tult, who had successfully bought low recently, but even Briella had long been enchanted by Sion’s magic tool…

‘I can’t help it. I didn’t want to bring this out, but…’

Briella thought of her body optimized for manual labor and widened her eyes.

There was something her father had said to her long ago.

– Daughter, you’re born to wield a sword. Stop talking nonsense and pick up a sword already.

‘…Just this once, I’ll accept my fate, Father.’

Briella steeled her resolve and followed Sion along with the other students.

Sion continued moving with the students in tow.

[Human, we’re getting close to the Reaction Site.]

‘Got it.’

Sion listened to Akasha’s report and stopped walking.

“Um, Professor?”

“Hmm?”

Eira slightly raised her hand and asked in a small voice.

“That, um, what exactly is this ‘manual labor’ you mentioned earlier…”

“Now, where do you think this place is?”

At Sion’s question as he pointed around them, the students tilted their heads and answered.

“…Just a forest, isn’t it?”

“Right, it’s a forest. For now.”

“What do you mean, ‘for now’…”

“Originally, this land was scheduled to be developed as a mine. It had great potential.”

Sion said with a slight chuckle.

“But after various problems piled up, the mine’s development was halted midway and abandoned.”

“S-such a thing happened?”

“That’s right.”

“But why didn’t we know about it?”

“You guys who didn’t even know about me sure have long tongues for useless things.”

“…”

The students subtly averted their gazes.

I mean, how were they supposed to know that?

That kind of silence continued, but they couldn’t bring themselves to say it out loud.

After all, it was true.

Besides, considering the rumors about Sion that had been spreading within the Magic Tower recently…

“Um, excuse me!”

“Hmm?”

Sion crossed his arms and looked at Briella, who had enthusiastically raised her hand.

“What is it?”

“Well, before we start working. I have something I want to ask you… sir.”

“Speak.”

“That…”

Briella hesitated for a moment, which was unlike her, before finally getting to the point.

“Is, is it true? That you were secretly an ‘elder’ of the Blue Tower who had been cultivating in the Tower for a long time?”

‘What kind of bullshit is this?’

Sion thought to himself, but didn’t show it outwardly for now.

His first thought was that it was ridiculous nonsense, but Briella’s expression as she spoke was serious.

‘…Do they seriously think that?’

Logically speaking, it was absurd.

An elder who had been cultivating?

Ah, then he should have distinguished himself before the Blue Tower fell.

What good would it do to appear as a savior just before the collapse?

Besides, if they had seen the ridiculous behavior Sion Rostery had shown for several years, such words wouldn’t come out…

[But human.]

‘What, why.’

[Anyway, isn’t that kind of thing always rationalized after the fact?]

‘…Hm?’

[Frankly speaking, wouldn’t that be more convincing than the idea that you suddenly achieved enlightenment and became an incredible mage?]

“…”

…Right?

Come to think of it, that was true too.

If anything, the idea that the omniscient Altair was reborn as Sion Rostery using an ancient artifact was more absurd.

‘Hmm.’

Having quickly finished that thought, Sion nodded once and smiled quietly.

“Well. I don’t think I can answer that question for you.”

He answered ambiguously enough to leave room for misunderstanding.

It wouldn’t be wise to outright affirm such stories.

‘I should have a talk with the Tower Master sometime later.’

If they coordinated their stories well, it seemed they could create a plausible past.

That would be more convenient.

“W-wait, is it really true?!”

Briella asked with her mouth agape, looking at Sion, but he only smiled without answering.

That alone was enough for all kinds of fantasies to unfold in the students’ minds.

Just as Sion had expected.

* * *

‘That rumor… is really true?’

Briella’s eyes trembled slightly.

In truth, Sion had never explicitly confirmed it, but she was already half-convinced that Sion had revealed her secret.

And for good reason…

‘Honestly, if that’s not it, then nothing makes sense, right?’

There was no way he could have truly achieved enlightenment in just one night and become the world’s strongest mage who could even mock the Tower Master.

It made much more sense that a high-ranking mage who had already reached great heights had simply been hiding his identity until now and was only revealing it now.

And thinking of Sion as some kind of hidden secret weapon of the Magic Tower, everything seemed to fall into place.

While this theory wasn’t particularly plausible either, it was still more convincing when compared to the alternative.

And if that were true, then all the abilities Sion was displaying now were ‘real.’

In that case, perhaps…

‘Even that…’

Briella’s gaze darkened for a moment.

Given everything she had endured, her feelings toward Sion Rostery couldn’t possibly be good.

But if all of that had been unavoidable acting, then perhaps… she could think that the things Sion had said in the past weren’t the truth.

She could believe that a mage whom even that Tower Master couldn’t treat carelessly hadn’t truly denied her worth as a mage.

That’s when it happened.

“Now then, I’ll explain why I came here. But first, take these.”

Sion pulled out a chest full of magic tools from his subspace and placed it in front of the students.

“Take one each.”

“This is…”

“That’s right, it’s the same magic tool I showed you in the lecture. It’s an item that enables magic transformation.”

“…!”

The students’ eyes lit up.

As soon as Sion finished speaking, they grabbed the magic tools, put them on their wrists, and used magic.

Immediately, the same kind of transformation that Sion had demonstrated occurred in the students’ hands.

“Oh, ohh…!”

“I-It really works!”

The students looked at their magic with complex expressions mixing shock and emotion.

Who would have thought they could experience magic transformation like this?

Briella was the same.

“I-It really works…?”

Briella stared as if mesmerized at the eight mana masses floating above her palm.

It was a strange feeling.

The moment she put the magic tool on her wrist, her mana naturally circulated according to the magic tool and distributed mana in sync with the activation of Magic Missile.

‘…This is possible with just one magic tool?’

It wasn’t as if she had never used magic tools before.

But no magic tool had ever helped with magic incantation itself like this.

“Ah.”

Just then, at the sound of a voice from beside her, Briella’s gaze naturally turned in that direction.

It was Eira.

She too had an expression of utter disbelief, but it was slightly different from his.

Eira was focusing her gaze not on the magic itself, but on the ‘magic tool.’

“Is it possible to construct circuits this efficiently? And he made this level of magic tool by himself in such a short time?”

Eira stared intently at the magic tool, struggling to somehow examine its structure.

“Ah…!”

But Eira suddenly came to her senses and immediately turned her attention away from the magic tool.

‘Wh-what am I getting worked up about… There’s no reason for me to care about such things even after coming here, right?’

Right, her dream wasn’t to become some craftsman of a magic workshop.

A mage.

There was no reason to worry about such things.

She desperately denied her instincts.

Talent for being a magic tool craftsman?

She didn’t care about such things.

‘I-I will overcome fate!’

Altair and all that, honestly, she was sick to death of it.

Hadn’t she come all this way to escape from that damned mission?

It was when she had made that resolution.

‘…Wait.’

Feeling something suspicious, she tilted her head.

“Don’t tell me this place is…”

Eira bent down and lightly swept the ground with her index finger, then rubbed the dirt on her finger a few times.

“Cross Stone?”

Eira’s pupils trembled slightly.

She knew about the Cross Stone Mine.

Cross Stone itself was a valuable mineral.

However, to mine Cross Stone, there was inevitably a ‘cruel process’ that had to be endured…

“T-Teacher…”

Eira slightly raised her hand and asked Sion a question.

“By any chance… is the reason you distributed those magic tools because of ‘something’ that might be sleeping in the mine?”

Heh.

At those words, a smile quietly played around Sion’s lips.

And confirming that her thoughts were correct, Eira stepped backward.

“I-I-I want to go!”

“What? Why?”

“Let go! Let me gooooo!”

“No, I mean why are you acting like this!”

Briella asked while grabbing Eira’s shoulder.

She had never seen her with such a terrified expression before.

“Th-that’s because…!”

Before Eira could finish speaking, Sion addressed the students.

“The mine beyond here is special. And as special as it is, there are tons of extremely ‘troublesome things’ there.”

“…Troublesome things?”

“That’s right.”

Sion said with a bright smile.

“Stone Ants.”

“Stone… Ants?”

At those words, Briella’s face hardened.

She had heard about Stone Ants before.

“You don’t mean ‘those Stone Ants’, do you? The ones that are disgustingly small but aggressive, and the areas they bite swell up mercilessly…”

“That’s exactly right.”

“No way, you’re crazy!”

Stone Ants were creatures classified as monsters.

Each individual’s danger level was low-grade, but when they gathered together, the story changed.

They were dangerous enough to devour an inexperienced mage in an instant, leaving only bones behind.

“Then we should call a mercenary group, what are we doing here! Even if they don’t attack unless provoked…!”

“From your reaction, it seems you know the habits of Stone Ants well. That makes this conversation faster.”

Sion nonchalantly explained to the students about this ‘manual labor’ task.

“We need to develop the Cross Stone Mine. The problem is that there’s a colony of Stone Ants in that mine. That’s a danger that Cross Stone Mines inevitably harbor.”

“Wait, Professor, you mean…”

When Tult looked at Sion with a panicked expression, Sion grinned and said.

“That’s right, we’re going to exterminate the Stone Ants today using those Magic Tools I just distributed.”

“…!”

The students’ eyes widened greatly upon hearing those words.

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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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