The AI Archmage - Chapter 22

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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 22

 

“Firm earth, heed my request and grant your flesh…”

 

“Too long.”

 

Sion cut off that incantation and immediately taught the most efficient incantation on the spot.

 

“Firm earth, request, flesh.”

 

“Th-that’s nowhere near enough to substitute for the calculation, is it?”

 

“The magic tool on your wrist can cover that much, so just try it for now.”

 

At Sion’s confident instruction, the student recited the short incantation with a reluctant expression.

 

At that moment.

 

Crack!

 

The ground was dug up with just that simple incantation.

 

Of course, Dig itself was a basic 2nd Circle magic, but even so, it was undeniably impressive.

 

“Th-this actually works…?”

 

“That’s how you utilize magic tools. If necessary, you can even use calculation assistance meant for magic transformation for incantation shortening.”

 

Of course, being able to utilize magic tools this quickly was thanks to Sion’s help.

 

But regardless of the truth, it was enough to boost the students’ motivation.

 

They hadn’t completely eliminated the incantation, it was merely ‘shortened’, but even that alone had value.

 

As dozens of students rapidly cast magic in succession, the ground was dug visibly fast.

 

A mine was a place with solid ground, but magic was originally a power that showed such absurd efficiency.

 

‘No, even considering that, this seems a bit too smooth.’

 

Briella couldn’t believe it even while casting magic.

 

To begin with, the magic called Dig wasn’t meant for digging out rocks like this.

 

But Sion precisely commanded the students, leading them so their magic would be efficiently utilized.

 

And so, the current situation.

 

It was when they had dug the ground deeper than the students’ height.

 

“Stop.”

 

At Sion’s instruction, all the students stopped their magic at once.

 

Before they knew it, the students were following Sion’s instructions like clockwork.

 

It was a surprisingly natural change.

 

Sion also acted as if such changes in the students were natural.

 

Then Tult cautiously asked.

 

“Um, teacher. Could you explain why we’re digging here right now?”

 

“It seemed like something presumed to be treasure was buried here. If we can take it, we should. Don’t you think?”

 

Sion casually revealed the reason for digging this place.

 

There was nothing particularly to hide.

 

“Tr-treasure?”

 

“We’ll have to check what it is from now on. Well, the guys here wouldn’t get any strange ideas anyway.”

 

Sion looked around at the students with a gentle smile.

 

The students who met Sion’s eyes all swallowed their saliva and nodded repeatedly without exception.

 

Sion wore a satisfied expression as he looked down at the spot the students had dug.

 

‘I’m certain now.’

 

By physically removing the earth like this, he could feel it more clearly.

 

If they dug just a little more from here, the identity of what Akasha had determined to be an ‘Ancient Artifact’ would be revealed.

 

From this point on, more ‘Delicate Manipulation’ was needed.

 

Though it was hard to be certain exactly what the object below was, it would be a disaster if it broke from impact.

 

Therefore, Sion placed his hand on the ground and began to delicately spread his mana.

 

‘…There’s definitely something down there.’

 

The problem was that this something appeared to be much larger than expected.

 

Sion frowned as he briefly measured the size of the treasure that would be beneath this spot.

 

‘What is this?’

 

His bewilderment grew stronger.

 

The reason was that the size was far more massive than he had thought.

 

He carefully began using magic to dig into the ground.

 

The solid chunks of stone gradually melted away.

 

And so what had been buried below began to slowly reveal its identity.

 

“Oh.”

 

Sion’s eyes wavered momentarily as he confirmed its identity.

 

A pure white curve revealed as the rock was carved away.

 

Upon seeing it, a smile soon played around Sion’s lips.

 

“Teacher, what is this?”

 

The students tilted their heads as they looked at it.

 

Sion answered the students’ question simply.

 

“Something good.”

 

“…Excuse me?”

 

Seeing that the students didn’t understand, Sion added one more comment.

 

“Something incredibly good.”

 

“…?”

 

* * *

 

“Uhhhhh…”

 

Lumia was currently caught in a more serious dilemma than ever before.

 

‘Ah, should I just run away.’

 

She stared at the utterly dismantled upper body of the golem before her and quietly looked up at the ceiling.

 

“Oh, there was so much moss on the ceiling. I should clean it…”

 

Even geniuses have random thoughts when it’s time to study.

 

Lumia became absorbed in wondering how to clean the moss stuck to the ceiling.

 

But escaping reality could never be a solution.

 

“Lumia, you have to keep going…”

 

Lumia returned to reality at Serentia’s half-dying voice.

 

“Huh, hup!”

 

What she saw upon returning to reality was, as expected, a cruelly dismantled golem.

 

The reason Lumia currently had a dismantled golem before her eyes was simple.

 

This was Sion’s ‘homework.’

 

– You’ve studied hard. But your direction was wrong.

 

Sion clicked his tongue after checking the engineering knowledge Lumia had built up until now.

 

Honestly speaking, she was furious at that moment, but she couldn’t argue back.

 

Both in magic skills and magic engineering skills, Sion was superior in everything.

 

There was once a time when she suspected Sion might be using some kind of trick, but in the end she had no choice but to acknowledge it.

 

Sion was a genius.

 

No, he wasn’t just a genius-level person, but clearly someone with abilities that couldn’t be handled unless you were at her master’s level.

 

A superhuman who should be held onto even if it meant banging your head on the ground, especially in their current dire situation.

 

Moreover, what was even more shocking than Sion’s magical abilities or engineering knowledge was his teaching ability.

 

How should she put it.

 

Sion’s teachings stuck amazingly well in her ears.

 

It wasn’t difficult to understand, and she naturally reached enlightenment.

 

And it wasn’t only the students who benefited from this.

 

Lumia and Serentia, who had reached 6th Circle and 5th Circle respectively, were the same.

 

“This is like learning from the very beginning. Even trying to correct what I learned wrong while self-studying, it’s really not easy…”

 

“You, you were good at magic though.”

 

“Magic just worked for me?”

 

“…”

 

At those words that contained no malice whatsoever, Serentia quietly shook her head.

 

This is why geniuses are impossible, really.

 

Anyway, the homework Sion gave the two of them was simple.

 

Golem repair.

 

The Blue Tower was a powerful Magic Tower that possessed numerous mages as one of the Four Great Magic Towers just 20 years ago.

 

Naturally, it also possessed many golems.

 

The problem was that as the Blue Tower fell into decline, those golems became burdens.

 

The golems that hadn’t received maintenance and repairs for a long time were left neglected, rotting away in the Blue Tower Underground.

 

“…Who would have thought that being unable to sell them because the owner was recorded as the Main Tower would turn into a benefit.”

 

Lumia let out a hollow laugh while looking at the dismantled golem.

 

The golem that Sion had repaired as a demonstration moved surprisingly well.

 

The problem of power to move the golems was also perfectly solved by beating up the mana thieves.

 

Already in the Blue Tower, repaired golems were moving around and being used for basic cleaning and building maintenance.

 

Thanks to that, the Blue Tower was clean these days.

 

There were almost no more places left broken and neglected like before.

 

And the golem the two were currently repairing was one of the remaining spare models.

 

One of the damaged models.

 

Lumia once again untangled the complexly twisted wires inside the golem and proceeded with the repairs following Sion’s teachings.

 

Unlike magic, her talent for engineering wasn’t quite at the level of genius, so there was no other way but effort.

 

Nevertheless, she had a talent that worked even for things like this.

 

“The 3rd Mana Tube… hmm, I need to untangle it like this. And the part that needs to be replaced was this round section…”

 

Concentration.

 

Having resumed the golem repair, she focused solely on fixing the golem while reviewing the knowledge she had learned from Sion.

 

She continued the golem repair like this, and before long, her efforts bore fruit.

 

Whirr.

 

Light suddenly flickered on in the golem that hadn’t moved at all.

 

Then one arm twitched and began to move.

 

“Ah!”

 

Lumia’s face brightened.

 

She smiled broadly and spoke to Serentia.

 

“Sister, it worked!”

 

“R-really?”

 

Serentia also widened her eyes in surprise.

 

It was just one arm, but for the two of them, it could truly be called tremendous progress.

 

Just as the two were embracing and savoring their joy.

 

“Huh?”

 

Lumia, sensing something, widened her eyes and suddenly stood up.

 

“Lumia?”

 

“Sion is here.”

 

Lumia immediately used magic to exit the Tower.

 

Sure enough.

 

In the distance, Sion was approaching, leading the students.

 

But how should she put it?

 

“Sion looks perfectly fine, but the students look somewhat… like their souls have been drained?”

 

“Right?”

 

Serentia, who had followed behind, also confirmed this and tilted her head in puzzlement.

 

As she said, they all had expressions as if their souls had been drained.

 

It seemed like Sion had done something…

 

“Perhaps the ‘practical training’ Sion conducted this time was a bit harsh?”

 

“That possibility isn’t entirely out of the question. He’s someone who doesn’t go easy when it comes to training people properly.”

 

The two had this conversation as they approached Sion.

 

“Ah, did you come out to greet us?”

 

“You’re back, Sion!”

 

“How’s the homework?”

 

“That question isn’t very beautiful.”

 

Lumia quickly averted her eyes from Sion.

 

It could truly be called a very unbeautiful question.

 

“B-but I moved one arm! That’s tremendous progress.”

 

“Hmm….”

 

“I-I tried hard!”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

Sion nodded with an extremely displeased expression.

 

“It seems we’ll need to extend the lecture hours a bit more.”

 

“….”

 

“It’s fine. With me here, insufficient talent can be covered with effort.”

 

Though it wasn’t comforting words at all, Lumia decided to resolve her curiosity first.

 

“U-um, Sion. But what happened? The students’ expressions….”

 

“Ah, there was some gain. Their expressions are, how should I put it… think of them as cats who’ve seen an unknown world.”

 

“…?”

 

She didn’t understand what he meant.

 

Instead of giving a more detailed explanation, Sion took something out from his subspace.

 

“Here, this.”

 

Thud!

 

Something heavy fell to the ground with a thud, dazzling the eyes of Lumia and Serentia.

 

It was a ‘bone’ with beautifully curved pure white lines.

 

“Wh-what is this….”

 

“As you can see, it’s a bone.”

 

“A bone? What kind of bone?”

 

Since it was such an unexpected object, both Lumia and Serentia couldn’t help but be puzzled.

 

But at Sion’s next words, Lumia’s mouth fell open.

—————
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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