The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 149

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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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The Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 149
Choi Kang-mok flinched, his eyes narrowing.
‘What is this?’
A System Message?
Yet it felt far too unfamiliar for that.
It seemed like a message sent by someone with a will of their own.
[‘An invitation’ has arrived.]
───────
[Invitation from the Mad Scientist Aimonshuter]
Science and research alone are truth.
You mages who content yourselves with illusions,
come to the realm of science.
Come, visit the space of science.
※ Upon accepting the invitation, you will immediately enter Floor 60 of the Tower.
※ If floors 60 and below remain uncleared,
▶ You will be automatically evaluated based on the clear rating for Floor 60.
▶ A +1 tier adjustment will be applied to your Floor 60 clear rating.
※ This invitation is
exclusive to mages
only.
───────
[This invitation’s validity period is 24 hours.]
Choi Kang-mok let out a hollow laugh.
The cackling sound was not unfamiliar to me.
“Mayo. This is that, right?”
-Yes. A fragment that was ejected during my stabilization process as I attune to the user… ahem, I detect the voice of one of my former masters.
Words spilled forth between the laughter.
Evolution, collapse, mutation, destruction, control, restoration, contamination, proliferation, error, and more.
A sequence of words without context.
Yet within them lay a distinct hue.
‘The obsessive researcher’s consciousness.’
An echo of one of us.
It is one of the reverberations.
“Is this phenomenon occurring because of the open-source worldview?”
Direct entry to Floor 60.
If I were to clear Floor 60 at EX-rank?
All uncleared floors from 50 to 59 would receive EX+ evaluations.
It was quite an enticing invitation.
–
We
It’s clear that his useless self became a kind of trigger.
Choi Kang-mok nodded.
“Kang Hye. You know Raoul, right?”
“Yeah. Real Madrid’s assassin. I heard he’s gone mad and is in a Mental Hospital now?”
“Find out what happened to him.”
“…Understood.”
Kang Hye couldn’t quite grasp the full situation.
All that appeared before her eyes was an activated “Gate Exit” button.
‘What exactly did I do?’
The Tower cleared with a single spell.
The Labyrinth cleared by skipping.
The Gate cleared with a button click.
“I’ve always firmly believed my brother deserves special treatment, but…”
The more I see it, the more it seems a bit excessive, you know?
It’s not that I dislike it—it’s more like, is this even allowed?
“Alright, I understand. I’ll look into it right away.”
Kang Hye exited from the “Faded Dragon Palace.”
Choi Kang-mok did the same.
[You are exiting the Story Gate, “Faded Dragon Palace.”]
I returned to reality.
“Ugh, this is incredibly annoying.”
An [Invitation] floated before my eyes.
A massive sheet of paper roughly three meters wide and two meters tall.
It spun in circles, completely dominating my field of vision.
‘So distracting.’
My entire view was blocked.
It felt like I had to accept the invitation immediately.
Waving my hand passed right through it. Even closing my eyes didn’t help.
It was like having a single mosquito buzzing in my ear all day long.
I considered using Haeju magic or purification magic for
magical treatment,
but there was a risk that the invitation could be completely destroyed as a side effect.
-From a researcher’s neutral perspective, “destruction” is not a side effect.
-The magical treatment the user proposes could simply be called treatment.
-Classifying it as Haeju magic and purification magic is almost meaningless—in essence, the user’s magic is destruction itself.
-Now, let’s stop with the Kang-mok-style rationalizations and focus on the magical essence…
Mayo’s body crackled with static.
–
There’s no need to search. Halting magical development due to narrow-minded perspectives is foolish. The user’s magic is undoubtedly Haeju magic and purification magic 🙂 It’s already been conclusively proven.
Kang Hye brought news about Raoul.
“Brother. Raoul has disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Look at these photos.”
The walls of the Mental Hospital in the photograph were torn to shreds.
A silhouette—as if a single person had been violently hurled through—was imprinted clearly on every wall.
The outlines of shoulders, head, and limbs remained etched on the concrete, with rebar and cement splayed outward.
But that was only the beginning.
“From deep within the ward, the walls were breached all the way to the outside….”
As the photographs progressed, the human silhouette became increasingly distorted.
Arms stretched unnaturally, legs splayed in grotesque angles.
The torso impressions spread wider and wider until, at some point, they abandoned all semblance of human form.
Yet strangely, the outermost exterior wall bore no marks whatsoever.
“It seems he just vanished there.”
No survivors remained in the ward.
All had been slaughtered in horrific fashion.
Mouths were torn open, chests were hollowed out, and limbs were scattered in completely different locations.
Some corpses retained only their faces, others only their torsos, plastered against the walls.
Every body had been systematically dismembered and arranged in grotesque patterns.
It was as though someone had consulted an anatomical diagram, methodically severed each part, and then classified them according to some incomprehensible purpose.
I found myself speechless.
“….”
“But the CCTV captured nothing.”
No footage of walls collapsing, no footage of people dying—nothing at all.
The cameras simply continued their routine surveillance, functioning perfectly.
Displaying the ordinary, unremarkable everyday.
Yet one thing had become undeniably clear.
‘The moment Raoul escaped.’
It coincided precisely with the moment the invitation was activated.
There was definitely a connection.

* * *
After sharing my vision with Kang Hye through the Explorer skill, she scrunched up her face in displeasure.
“Wow, this is insane. I thought I was going blind.”
The invitation was far too bright.
It felt like staring directly into a car’s headlights from point-blank range.
“And you’re just… tolerating this?”
“Yeah, I’ve gotten used to it.”
“You’ve gotten used to this?”
“Reverse tolerance is severe.”
I’d nearly lost my life to magical fragments more than once.
Compared to those ordeals, this level of visual obstruction was bearable.
My eyes burned and my mind raged, but at least I wouldn’t die.
I’d grown accustomed to enduring almost anything.
Kang Hye let out a hollow laugh.
It was something I always felt, but truly… I was like a madman.
I spoke.
“I’m being manipulated into rushing forward.”
The deceptive staging of the Story Gate. The message “[You’ve been caught?]”. The eerie laughter. And then the arrival of the invitation. Followed by the horrific spectacle of the Mental Hospital.
Without a moment to catch my breath, stimuli and incidents cascaded relentlessly.
As if designed to shatter my judgment. As if destabilizing my mental state was a deliberate strategy.
And it continued to shake me.
───────
※ This invitation is
Mage
exclusive.
───────
It emphasized the identity of being a Mage.
A temptation designed so that no Mage could refuse.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned through magic… it’s that fundamentals matter.”
Even Raymond praised my grasp of the basics.
Because I’d built my foundation carefully, I could become an EX-Rank Mage today.
Had I neglected the fundamentals and pursued advanced magic instead, I would never have become who I am now.
“…Fundamentals?”
“Taking things step by step, progressing methodically.”
“I see.”
Kang Hye nodded at my overly logical explanation.
Though I wondered if this was really something learned through magic…
“First, I need to verify whether the daily visit benefits of the Story Gate were indeed deceptive.”
I opened the EX Shop.
And once again, I activated the newly generated ‘Veil of the Void’.
Each time I performed the ritual, the Void Veil grew progressively stronger, yet I had grown alongside it.
As a combat mage reborn, my Haeju magic had become more refined and safer.
I succeeded at Haeju far more easily than before.
───────
[EX Shop]
[Floor 35] [Mages Only]
1. Guide of Crimson Lotus – 30 EX Coins
2. Seal of Justice – 20 EX Coins
───────
According to the European Lords, the supply of EX Coins continued to grow thanks to the expansion of “colonies.”
Though it varied day to day, a minimum of 10 coins accumulated daily, sometimes reaching around 20.
Purchasing the Seal of Justice was well within reach.
“If the rewards obtained from Story Gates were deceptions and obstructions using the system….”
Then this should work.
First, let me start with the Fire Spirit’s Playground, the first one I activated.
[Do you wish to enter the Story Gate, Fire Spirit’s Playground?]
The invitation had grown larger.
It gleamed even more brilliantly.
Part of me truly wanted to destroy it.
About 20 hours of validity remained.
[Daily Visit Benefit….]
I used the Seal of Justice.
At that moment, the notifications began to cancel.
[Daily Visit Benefit….]
The Daily Visit Benefit was indeed a deception.
The true reward lay elsewhere.
-So this is what they mean by “a world where you lose your nose while your eyes are open.”
-It’s terrifying.
To become a great mage,
I must keep my wits about me.
[‘Creator’s’ capacity is being verified.]
Numbers, diagrams, and incomprehensible symbols materialized in the void.
The invitation obscured my vision, preventing me from seeing everything,
but soon notifications flooded in.
[Maximum user count achieved!]
[Maximum hidden reward acquisition achieved!]
[Maximum favorability for this story achieved!]
[Maximum interconnection with other stories achieved!]
In the past, I had chosen not to monopolize the Story Gates but to make them public.
That decision now returned to me like a tempest of rewards.
[Creator’s Capability:
Extremely High
]
[Creator ▶▶▶ Promoted to Author.]
Choi Kang-mok understood.
All authors were creators, but not all creators were authors.
Upon acquiring the qualifications of a creator and satisfying certain conditions, one was elevated to author status.
And this meant….
───────
…’Authors’ could share, use, and modify it collectively.
───────
Becoming an author meant I could now participate directly in the ‘open-source worldview.’
Though I still didn’t know the specific methods.
‘Then the daily rewards from other Story Gates must have been fabrications too.’
Something similar had occurred in the second Story Gate, the Dragon Palace.
After the same progression, different rewards were granted.
[You obtain the Author’s Notebook.]
First came the qualification. And this time, I obtained the ‘Author’s Notebook.’
It was a single-page notebook.
Afterward, I entered England’s ‘Faded Dragon Palace.’
[You obtain the Author’s Pen.]
I had acquired both the Author’s Notebook and the Author’s Pen.
I held both items in my hands.
The pen moved of its own accord, scribbling something across the notebook.
The invitation still distorted my vision, but the letters the pen traced upon the notebook were distinctly legible.
───────
[Floor 60 Integrated Boss, Mad Scientist, Aimonshuter
───────
Something began to write itself.

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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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