The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 159

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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 159
Choi Kang-mok withdrew a single pen from his breast pocket.
A faint luminescence seeped from it, though it appeared unremarkable otherwise.
Yet this was an object held in the hands of an EX-rank Awakener. Lee Byung-gyu regarded the pen with cautious intensity.
“What is that?”
“A writer’s pen.”
This world had entered an open-source narrative framework.
Those who obtained the qualification of “writer” could influence the world’s narrative.
I was no exception.
‘The ink supply isn’t abundant.’
Thanks to my encounter with the ■■ Lord, a trace amount of ink had been generated.
Just enough to draw a single line.
“Will this work?”
I focused on the numerical portion of the weekly report’s original document.
───────
Simultaneous Capacity: 10,034,982 people
───────
If I could inscribe a digit before [10,034,982], the ten-million scale would shift to the hundred-million scale.
What if I wrote a 9 at the front?
10,034,982 ▶ 910,034,982
Ten million would transform into nine hundred million.
A ninefold increase in magnitude.
‘But nine is beyond reach….’
The ink was insufficient.
Realistically, only ‘1’ was feasible.
A single stroke.
10,034,982 ▶ 110,034,982
Ten million would become one hundred ten million.
The question was viability.
Whether this would succeed remained unknown to anyone.
I might simply waste the ink for nothing.
‘The system is not so lenient.’
I had already experienced forced ejection and entry denial from the Tower.
Had the system not taken illegal measures against me, who had wielded only legitimate magic?
-In truth, the distinction between legality and illegality does not exist.
-However, if it disadvantages the user, it qualifies as illegal. I find myself in considerable agreement with this judgment.
I was well aware that the system bore me no goodwill.
Perhaps the ink I had obtained should have been far more abundant than this.
-Yes. A reasonable suspicion indeed.
-It should have been fifty thousand percent more abundant than it currently is.
I had to use this meager ink strategically.
‘Let me just place a single dot at the very front.’
Very small.
They say you should tap even a stone bridge before crossing it.
If I filled in a 1 at the very front, 110,034,982 would be complete.
‘Once it’s written, I just need to complete the 1.’
I placed the dot ever so slightly.
[Invalid access route.]
The ink vanished along with that message.
-What a truly unscrupulous system configuration.
-Thank goodness for that.
“Wow, that’s a bit much.”
Given this situation, it seemed wise to try placing a dot at the very end as well.
Whether it would work or not, I had no idea. It was a matter of possibility.
There was only one way to find out. I placed the dot ever so slightly.
‘It works!’
I continued the stroke and wrote in the 1.
───────
100,349,821.
───────
The number shuddered.
The newly written ‘1’ collided with the surrounding digits like an intruding outsider.
The ‘1’ flickered between faint and vivid, wavering uncertainly, until it finally settled into place.
───────
100,349,821.
───────
Success.
The Korean Tower’s capacity increased to 100 million people.
-If we open one instance and can accommodate 100 million workers, the numbers should work out.
Choi Kang-mok made his decision.
To construct a Tower in Iraq as well.

* * *
Shocking news struck the entire world.
[The dignity of the world’s uniquely supreme quality nation?]
Even England’s maximum concurrent capacity was only 3 million people.
Yet the Korean Tower could accommodate 100 million people at once.
[Korean Tower Surpasses 100 Million Capacity]
└This is what a real nation looks like
└Even the Tower is K-class
└Honestly, wasn’t K-class just one EX-rank Awakener going overboard?
└Europe: Even if we all combine, it won’t work ㅠㅠ
└United States: This is pay-to-win bullshit
The surprises didn’t end there.
[Korea to Build Second Korean Tower in Former Iraq]
└EX-rank Awakener decides on massive investment
└Simultaneous investment from England, Saudi Arabia, and the United States!
And Middle Eastern nations rushed forward with outstretched hands.
“An EX-rank Awakener does not turn away from the weak.”
“Surely they won’t monopolize the Tower completely.”
Inventory-type Awakeners. Mages. Miners. Non-Awakeners.
Countless precedents already prove it.
An EX-rank Awakener never monopolizes all gains.
“We must lead the way in investment, even if only slightly more.”
“Only then can we also climb the Iraq Tower—no, the Second Korean Tower.”
[One EX-rank Awakener moved the entire world… Countries rush to invest in ‘remarkable soft power’]
[One EX-rank Awakener alone transformed the diplomatic landscape… Global investment competition intensifies]
Investments poured in.
Trillions in Diamonds? Orbs? All manner of artifacts and materials?
Everything was gathering in an instant.
At a speed even EX-rank Dedicated Team Leader Choi Kang-chul hadn’t anticipated.
“The Middle East really is wealthy, isn’t it.”
Building a single floor of the Tower required resources in the trillions.
Yet within mere hours of the announcement, construction of Floor 60 was confirmed.
By simple calculation, over 60 trillion had gathered in an instant.
“There are so many nations wanting to invest that I actually have to be selective.”
“You handle that yourself, hyung.”
“…Alright.”
Choi Kang-chul observed Choi Kang-mok, who seemed utterly unmoved.
Despite tens of trillions in money and resources flowing around.
Hours earlier, in the heavily secured Seoul Guild secret conference room, after shouting “Kang-mok!! This is all thanks to you!!” loudly dozens of times and feeling his heart lighten, Choi Kang-chul now regarded his younger brother with a colder gaze.
‘You’re not happy at all, are you.’
With just a pen, I drew a single “1”.
And it produced this effect.
The entire world is now focused on the “Second Korean Tower”, bringing money and flocking here.
To deploy even a few more of their own Awakeners.
But my younger brother remains expressionless. He doesn’t seem particularly pleased.
“Kang-mok.”
“Hm?”
“You can’t solve everything with magic.”
I understand my brother’s heart.
Even without much conversation, it’s always been this way since long ago.
“Your pen wasn’t a product of magic, but….”
Strictly speaking, it was a loophole in the system.
A kind of cheat that slightly tweaks the world’s settings.
At least it’s certain that it wasn’t “magic” based on my own mana and theory.
It’s probably not a solution my brother would welcome.
“These results are sufficiently magical.”
Just a year ago, Korea was a minor nation even among third-rate countries.
A remote region among the three powers.
But now the situation has completely changed.
People no longer use the term “World’s Three Major Guilds”.
“You know they’re calling England and Germany together G2, right?”
And sometimes they group Saudi Arabia and the United States as G4.
Terms referring to the great powers of the Tower civilization era.
But Korea is absent from that list.
“We’re simply Korea.”
No modifiers like G1 or G2 are attached.
An independent entity unto itself. Classified as beyond standard categories.
If I had to explain it, a nation of EX-rank Awakeners.
“If you don’t call this magical, then what could you possibly call magical?”
“…I suppose so?”
Perhaps because my brother doesn’t usually speak much.
His words resonated a bit more deeply.
-The process wasn’t magical, but the result is magical.
-Impressive.
Mathematically perfect
indeed.
Even Mayo actively agrees.
Now that I think about it, that makes sense.
“No, hyung. I wasn’t really in a bad mood or anything.”
I was just thinking about how to use and practice the Dispel magic I recently acquired more actively—it wasn’t that my mood was bad.
“Is that so?”
Then that’s a relief.
Choi Kang-chul exhaled a breath of relief.
Having lived through the past fifteen years, I couldn’t help but be sensitive about my younger brother’s affairs.
‘You just walk the path of magic, the flowery path of magic.’
Everything else—I’ll handle it as the EX-rank Dedicated Team leader.
My younger brother doesn’t need to understand the world’s complexities.
Magic alone will be complicated enough for him.
I spoke somewhat bluntly.
“Study Dispel earnestly.”
The moment the word ‘Dispel’ left my lips, my younger brother’s face bloomed with laughter.
Like a bright-eyed child. Not an EX-rank Awakener, but a boy who loves magic.
I could feel how much he truly loves magic.
‘Even when you were a non-awakener.’
Back then, the happiest you were was when talking about magic.
You just do the magic you love.
Politics, diplomacy, intrigue—I’ll handle all that.

* * *
A Tower appeared in Iraq.
Simultaneous capacity of a staggering one hundred million.
As Korea’s second Tower, an identical tower ecology system was established.
[Second Korean Tower built in the heart of the Middle East, top-tier tower quality]
There was no chaos.
Thanks to Korea’s ‘border setting’ system.
Without permission from the Seoul Guild, the proxy of an EX-rank Awakener, no one could enter the Iraqi domain.
Those who entered once kept their heads down.
One wrong move and they could be expelled.
A Tower’s capacity of one hundred million meant that hundreds of millions could simultaneously reside and operate within it.
Countless Awakeners gladly chose to go to Iraq.
But this massive transformation was not solely the affair of ‘those who climb the Tower.’
[After miners and mages come construction workers… The EX-rank Awakener’s philosophy of ‘taking care of working people’]
Plant companies and construction firms from around the world flocked to Iraq.
[It was perfect for Iraq… ‘Fast-paced’ Korean reconstruction, becoming the victor of the speed game]
[‘The nation of expedited schedules’ Korea, revealing its true colors in Iraq’s reconstruction]
Among them, Korea stood out most prominently.
Korean construction companies and Korean Awakeners reaped overwhelming benefits.
The ‘fast-paced’ culture proved to be the perfect answer for the devastated land of Iraq.
As hundreds of millions flooded into the Tower, hundreds of millions more followed in their wake.
Iraq’s reconstruction proceeded at a dazzling pace.
[Tower + EX-rank Awakener + Korean-style speed warfare = Iraq’s Great Renaissance Formula Complete]
Lol but seriously, 1 EX-rank Awakener = national prosperity and military strength
“Feeding the whole country by myself lol”
└So there’s no more doubters now, right?
└After accomplishing this much, calling for proof would be a betrayal of conscience
Construction laborers, once classified as a vulnerable class, saw their value skyrocket overnight.
Labor shortages sent their market value soaring.
Their social standing had transformed completely from just days before.
Their treatment, income, and even the titles used to address them had changed.
[But this has to be part of the EX-rank Awakener’s grand design, right?]
└Obviously?
Then there’s no way this is just a coincidence lol
That’s actually fire, for real.
“Well, that’s just how EX Awakeners’ beliefs are from the start lol”
└Man, we’re a nation that possesses an EX-rank Awakener!
It became commonplace to observe that an EX-rank Awakener’s soft power had reached the level of restructuring the global order itself.
Yet not everyone harbored goodwill toward the EX-rank Awakener.
“The EX-rank Awakener’s influence is growing excessively. It’s dangerous.”
“We must check this by any means necessary.”
“The lands we lost. We must reclaim Shenyang as well.”
We cannot merely stand idle while a minor nation transforms into an empire.
A transformation wrought by a single individual. It was unacceptable.
A great power that had achieved unification under the leadership of the Beijing Tower.
China began to move.

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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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