The AI Archmage - Chapter 20

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

AI Archmage Episode 20

Silence descended among the students.

‘…Stone Ants?’

Even students who didn’t know much about them could sense something from Briella and Eira’s reactions.

“Um, teacher?”

“Speak.”

“So, exterminating them means… we’re going to subjugate monsters with our current group?”

Tult asked Sion cautiously.

Sion nodded nonchalantly.

“That’s right.”

“But… the students here with real combat experience can be counted on one hand?”

“That’s exactly why we need to do this.”

An answer that came without any hesitation.

“It’s an opportunity to use magic in real combat most efficiently without shedding blood.”

“…Ah.”

“It’s true that Stone Ants possess enough killing power to be classified as monsters. But that’s only the case for ‘beginners’ who lack basic knowledge.”

When faced by experienced people, there are few monsters as easy to deal with as Stone Ants.

This is because their behavior patterns are extremely straightforward.

If you know enough about Stone Ants, dealing with them is never difficult.

And Sion possessed that knowledge in abundance.

“I’m not a beginner.”

“No, but when exactly did you…”

No matter how much they thought about it, all the students remembered was Sion acting like a delinquent all day long.

And this same Sion was an experienced veteran who had subjugated Stone Ants?

“…Tsk, that’s convincing.”

However, the Blue Tower students had already learned one important lesson about Sion.

Either way, Sion was not ordinary.

“Besides, this isn’t just simple real combat practice. This is work to develop the mine area, and at the same time, it’s an opportunity to improve your proficiency with the magic tools you’re wearing on your wrists.”

“Ah.”

“And let me tell you one good piece of news.”

Sion grinned and decided to present a reward the students couldn’t help but jump at.

“The magic tools I’ll teach you aren’t limited to this one.”

“…!”

“You’ll be using magic tools that are superior to this one and have various functions. That was the original purpose of my lectures anyway.”

And for that, they needed to maximize their proficiency with the current magic tools.

A simple and rational reason.

It was also a reason that would appeal to mages.

“So, who’s coming with me? Like I said, I won’t force anyone. I won’t force you.”

At Sion’s words, the students murmured and glanced at each other.

At this, Akasha casually asked.

[Isn’t that half coercion?]

‘Such words are not beautiful.’

Originally, truth is something that doesn’t matter.

‘Would you call it a beautifully euphemistic expression of a request?’

[….]

At least there were no particular lies in what Sion had said.

That there was a need to accumulate Real Combat experience, and that there was no environment as efficient as this one for gaining Real Combat experience.

All of it was true.

In the end, while there may have been hesitant students, not a single one dropped out.

Everyone seemed to have made up their minds.

“We’ll go.”

Tult stepped forward as their representative and spoke, and Sion nodded his head and turned around.

“Good.”

Thus, Sion led the students toward the Cross Stone Mine.

* * *

“Ugh, ugh… I don’t want to…”

Eira had followed along, but she still looked miserable.

Briella, who had been quietly looking after her, patted her friend’s shoulder and said.

The two had quickly become close recently through their common topic of Sion.

“It’s okay. There’s no need to worry. His personality might be a bit questionable, but lately he hasn’t said anything wrong…”

“Th-that’s not it…”

Eira glanced toward Sion and said.

“I just… hate bugs.”

“Ah, you don’t hate ‘Stone Ants’ but ‘ants’ themselves?”

“Something like that…”

Briella could understand what the situation was.

Indeed, if she had no resistance to bugs themselves rather than monsters with killing power… this reaction wasn’t strange.

‘No, is it rather natural?’

After all, most creatures classified as monsters tend to evoke disgust.

It’s just that Briella was used to such things.

She had seen all kinds of monsters under her mercenary father from the beginning.

She had even seen her father dismember those monsters several times.

But it would be natural for ordinary students to be unfamiliar with this.

Therefore, Briella tried to reassure Eira as thoughtfully as possible from an experienced person’s perspective.

“If you crush them, they don’t move.”

“…”

“And if you stomp on them a lot, you naturally get used to it. You know how sometimes corpses get maggots? Compared to that, this is much cuter…”

“Kyaaaah!”

Eira couldn’t hold back and let out a scream.

Briella nodded understandingly and said.

“Yeah, it won’t be easy right now. But you’ll gradually get used to it.”

“No, what you’re saying is even more horrible…”

Eira was now trembling as if she might jump out of her skin.

From her perspective, having grown up in a workshop, Briella’s explanation was far from comforting and only increased her disgust and fear.

Briella clicked her tongue as she looked at Eira, who seemed ready to vomit at any moment.

“If you hate it that much, why are you insisting on going? Teacher Sion said he wouldn’t particularly mind if you left.”

“Th-that’s…”

Eira hesitated for a long while as if it was difficult to explain immediately, then answered in a barely audible voice.

“…Because I’m curious.”

“About what?”

“This.”

With those words, Eira showed the magic tool on her wrist.

“This is probably a magic tool at a level that even famous workshops in the Capital couldn’t make.”

“…To that extent?”

“Have you ever seen mages using magic tools like this?”

“Th-that’s…”

Briella thought carefully.

It wasn’t like there were no mages working with her father.

And those mages were…

“There weren’t… any?”

Come to think of it, if such efficient magic tools existed, there would be no reason not to use them.

But no one used them.

Which means.

“Are you saying that Teacher Sion’s technical skills are above the high-level craftsmen of the Capital?”

“That’s… I don’t know. But if this is really a magic tool that the teacher developed personally… then it’s highly likely.”

No, it would be more than that.

Though he didn’t say it outright, Sion seemed to treat this magic tool as nothing special.

As if he could create even more advanced items.

And if that were true…

‘Perhaps the teacher has reached an even higher level than father…’

Eira, who had unconsciously thought that far, shook her head and dismissed the thought.

A craftsman with skills superior to her father, who had reached the pinnacle of contemporary magic tool artisans?

Unless it was Altair himself, that would be impossible.

She didn’t particularly like her father, but she did acknowledge his skills as a craftsman.

But even so, what if…

What if, by any chance, Sion Rostery was truly a ‘genius’ with talent that surpassed even her father…

‘Could I… be freed?’

From the festering obsession that had become her father’s delusion at some point.

Could he solve the shackles that began with the unfortunate death of the great genius named Altair?

‘As if that’s possible.’

She denied that thought with a bitter smile.

Someone with talent that surpasses even her father.

Haha.

‘There’s no way that’s possible.’

* * *

“We’ve arrived.”

As Sion reached the entrance of the mine, he immediately stopped walking. Cross Stone gemstones were visible right from the entrance.

Evidence that the deposits were abundant.

However.

“There are just as many ants.”

Sion clicked his tongue softly and plucked off a Stone Ant that was clinging to the ore.

– Kieek, eek!

The Stone Ant struggled and screamed in Sion’s hand.

“Now, look. This is a Stone Ant.”

Sion showed the Stone Ant to everyone.

It was only about the size of a fingernail at most.

“If you get bitten, your flesh just swells up a bit, but when they gather in swarms, they can anesthetize living beings and lead them to death. This is exactly why Stone Ants are classified as monsters.”

“….”

The students were either terrified or frowning.

“But the reason Stone Ants are still classified as the lowest-grade monsters is because their behavior patterns are excessively straightforward.”

Along with those words, Sion summoned a Magic Missile in front of everyone.

Then he lightly modified the Magic Missile, transforming it into dozens of Mana Masses.

Sion floated one of the Mana Masses he had created right in front of the entrance.

At that moment.

– Kieek! Eeeeek!

Stone Ants poured out from the darkness and clung to the Mana Mass.

“As you can see, these creatures instinctively rush toward the most basic magic, Magic Missile.”

“Ohh…!”

“And if you utilize this well….”

With those words, Sion lightly flicked his finger.

Boom!

At that moment, the modified Magic Missile exploded, sweeping away the Stone Ants that had gathered there.

“You can eliminate them this simply. Usually, people who fall victim to Stone Ants panic at their massive numbers and fire magic recklessly, then get overwhelmed due to mana depletion.”

“Th-then if we modify and use Magic Missile like you just did, Professor, we can easily hunt Stone Ants?”

“That’s right.”

Sion nodded his head.

“Moreover, let me tell you one fact that should interest you all—the Stone Ants in this ‘Cross Stone Mine’ are a bit special.”

“Special, you say…”

“Stone Ants eat ore. And depending on the ore they consume, they gain different characteristics. In the case of Cross Stone, they contain ‘mana.'”

“…!”

“What does that mean?”

With those words, Sion looked toward Eira among the students and spoke.

“Miss Eira, would you care to answer?”

“…Pardon?”

Eira asked back blankly, then slowly recalled her memory and spoke.

“Um, well… even if it’s a small amount, when you kill Stone Ants, you can absorb mana from them?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Sion nodded his head.

“The Stone Ants of Cross Stone Mine are essentially walking tonics for mages.”

“…!”

“Well, the mana each one contains is minuscule, but even such things can’t be ignored when they accumulate, right?”

At those words, the students’ eyes widened greatly.

Mana!

These were students who belonged to a poor Magic Tower and had little connection to tonics anyway.

[The effect is certain.]

‘Of course it is.’

Naturally, the mana contained in Stone Ants was so minuscule that it wouldn’t be of much help for growth.

But what did it matter?

If he could boost the students’ morale this way, it had served its purpose.

“Well then, shall we go?”

At Sion’s words, the students’ eyes sparkled. Their tense expressions from moments before had completely vanished.

‘Tonics!’

Tonics that could increase mana based on how many they caught…! Now there was no choice but to exterminate them.

The students realized.

‘Ah, I was originally born with the mission to exterminate Stone Ants!’

The fear of Stone Ants had completely disappeared from the Blue Tower students’ hearts.

Only one thing remained.

‘Crush every single one we see.’

Only the extremely righteous purpose of exterminating insects that were nothing short of harmful to humanity.

Thus began the pioneering of Cross Stone Mine under Sion’s leadership.

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