The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 167

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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 167
It had been ages since I’d seen a red exclamation mark.
‘There’s no question about it.’
Mayo was equally excited.
-This is the path of a one-shot mage.
Without hesitation or second thought, I pulled the trigger.
[Opening mail by spending EX Coins.]
The system mail contained a single reward attachment.
───────
[Defensive Outpost Establishment Rights Certificate Purchase Request Form]
You can request a Defensive Outpost Establishment Rights Certificate from the EX Shop.
───────
“How convoluted.”
It’s not as though I can directly establish a defensive outpost.
Instead, I submit a purchase request to the EX Shop saying, ‘Please make this available for purchase.’
-Yes. The system is deliberately inconveniencing the user.
Making you take one extra step.
Much like websites that streamline the payment process but deliberately complicate cancellation and refund procedures.
-One could interpret this to mean the item is powerful enough that individuals shouldn’t possess it lightly.
After accepting the purchase request form, I opened the EX Shop.
I checked whether it could be used immediately.
‘I suspect they’ve made this deliberately troublesome.’
As expected, immediate use was impossible.
But through similar experiences, I’d accumulated considerable wisdom.
Choi Kang-mok promptly purchased the Seal of Justice.
It proves most effective when the system artificially attempts to obstruct something.
───────
[EX Shop]
Purchase Request Form Submission
───────
I found the purchase request submission link.
[Will you submit the Defensive Outpost Establishment Rights Certificate Purchase Request Form?]
Simple. Everything proceeded without a hitch.
As I grew as a mage, such developments followed naturally.
───────
[EX Shop]
[Floor 60] [Mage Category]
1. Degraded Elixir – 60 EX Points
───────
Though it was limited to a single purchase as a beginner, I had once bought a standard Elixir for 1 Point.
By comparison, the price is utterly vicious.
Enough to kill any desire to purchase it.
-In truth, this was designed to discourage buying. The real deal is below.
-Just looking at it makes one covet the purchase option.
───────
[EX Shop]
[Floor 60] [Mage Classification]
1. Degraded Elixir – 60 EX Points
2. Defensive Outpost Establishment Rights Certificate – 100 EX Coins
───────
Currency inflation was becoming critically severe.
One hundred EX Coins.
‘At least it’s coins and not points—I suppose I should be grateful for that?’
EX Points are only awarded upon clearing EX-rank dungeons.
EX Coins are tributed from the Korean Guild.
While coins do flow in from EX Layers across the world, accumulating one hundred requires at least a week or more.
When accounting for maintaining Mayo, providing for Emily, and expenses toward Tower reconstruction, it amounts to nearly two weeks’ worth of collection.
‘I need an enormous amount, don’t I.’
──────
2. Defensive Outpost Establishment Rights Certificate – 100 EX Coins
※ This item will disappear in 2 hours
!!!!!!!
───────
There was no time for prolonged deliberation.
[I purchase the Defensive Outpost Establishment Rights Certificate.]

* * *
A new stronghold had emerged in Seonyang.
[!National Territory-Wide Announcement!]
[A defensive outpost has been established in Seonyang.]
[The outpost’s founder is an Awakener from the Korean Territory.]
[The region will be incorporated into the Korean Territory.]
System territory had been reestablished in Seonyang, which had become a no-man’s land.
This was far more than merely a new outpost appearing.
[Wait, isn’t that a defensive tower?]
└? It looks similar to the one that appeared in Iraq
└But this one looks way more powerful
There was one reason modern civilization had been overwhelmed by the Barbarian Warriors of another world.
The defensive towers.
And now one had appeared in Seonyang.
A defensive tower equipped with far more mechanical, cutting-edge cannon barrels.
[Even borders are back lol]
└So to take Seonyang, you have to breach the border, then destroy that defensive tower to get in?
└Trying to plant a flag there would ruin three generations of your family
└Modern civilization? Nope, sorry, go home~
└Basically the safest place on Earth now
The defensive tower wasn’t merely blocking invaders.
Kang Pal-do had captured live footage of something.
A crimson bolt of lightning had descended upon the head of a field boss monster that had suddenly spawned within Seonyang’s territory.
Kang Pal-do’s AI narration interpreted the situation.
[The crimson bolt has penetrated the field boss monster’s head and spine. Reporting immediate death.]
It appeared and vanished so quickly that its exact nature remained unclear.
Death without even a scream.
What was presumed to be a fairly powerful boss monster had been eliminated in a single strike.
[Korea’s defensive tower does not permit monsters in the field.]
Foreign lands. Otherworlders. And a place safe from monster invasions.
Wealthy people across the globe began knocking on doors to purchase homes and villas in Seonyang.
[But the owner of the defensive outpost is EX-rank Awakener, right?]
└You’re stating the obvious
└No official confirmation, but it’s basically certain
And then the official statement came.
Lee Byung-gyu stood before the media once again.
-“As you all suspect, the owner of this outpost is an EX-rank Awakener.”
Conceal what must be concealed, reveal what must be revealed.
-“The outpost’s capabilities are partially synchronized with the EX-rank Awakener’s abilities.”

* * *
A few hours earlier.
My heart raced with anticipation.
[The defensive outpost will be activated.]
[Please adjust the settings of the defensive outpost.]
A holographic projection materialized, displaying the defensive outpost in vivid detail.
A colossal defensive tower bristling with enormous cannons.
It resembled a cutting-edge battle tank manifested in the form of a tower.
-Your pulse is accelerating.
-It’s only natural for a man to feel the tremor of such a moment.
The defensive outpost could be configured through both automatic and manual settings.
───────
[Automatic Configuration]
Durability Specialization / Interception Specialization / … / Defense Specialization
───────
While the automatic system could handle countless adjustments effortlessly, I paid it no mind.
“Anything that’s convenient for me deserves suspicion.”
After making the purchase and setup such a laborious affair, suddenly everything configures itself automatically?
I had to be cautious.
Part of me simply wanted to tinker with it myself… but regardless, my instinct was sound.
“I can adjust all manner of settings and statistics according to my preferences….”
Adjustments remained possible until the outpost was fully generated.
After that, no modifications were allowed.
Everything had to be configured now.
“Something feels off about this.”
They deliberately separated automatic and manual options.
And they recommended the automatic setting first.
“What if something’s hidden in the manual settings?”
I examined the hologram intently for some time.
With the same eyes that had grasped the structure of Pocket Dimensions and the essence of magic itself,
I analyzed the magical cannon tower
before me.
-It has become a magical cannon tower. Quite revolutionary.
–
If we
believe it to be magic, then magic it is.
All my magical training had not been in vain.
The outpost itself was essentially akin to a Pocket Dimension construct.
Dispersing a Pocket Dimension designed for ‘defense’ across the entire territory to exert defensive authority.
It was fair to call it an expanded version of Mayo.
“A Pocket Dimension concept entity. There’s a blind spell cast over it.”
It darkens the user’s vision.
The sections where characters are hidden stand out.
-The previous user would not have been able to decipher this.
-However, the current user has achieved magical growth on an entirely different level than before.
-I, Mayo, am deeply moved. Now, let us attempt a Dispel.
Choi Kang-mok concentrated his mind.
To strip away the shell of invisible characters. Precise Dispel work had to be executed.
He began using Dispel magic—Energy Bolt—to unravel the various blind spells one by one.
It was an extraordinarily difficult task.
If his power wavered even slightly, the ‘Defensive Outpost Establishment Charter’ might be destroyed entirely.
Perhaps the system was counting on exactly that.
‘No. I will succeed.’
Choi Kang-mok believed in himself.
Practice would not betray him.
The time and experience he had invested infused him with confidence.
‘Dispel.’
The spells peeled away and dissolved one by one.
Among the dense, countless characters, a single sentence suddenly surfaced.
───────
[Manual Settings]
※ Synchronized with Outpost Owner’s Abilities [ON/OFF]
───────
I fell into a state of complete absorption. Manipulating the settings felt natural.
It was all the more so because they resembled Mayo’s configuration.
‘I’ll set this one.’
Likely ‘Damage’ would be synchronized.
And as I read through the various settings, I noticed an empty space within the hologram.
Barely visible. Flickering on and off.
Choi Kang-mok focused on the empty space.
Steam rose from the computational device.
And finally, I understood.
“Mayo. It’s exactly your size?”
In other words, the heart of the defensive fortress.
There, I could see a space perfectly suited for Mayo to occupy.
At last, I had deciphered it.
───────
[You can transplant the abilities of a Pocket Dimension concept entity.]
[However, this is limited to Pocket Dimension concept entities of the same type.]
───────
The font was slightly different from a typical system window.
-This appears to be the power of collective intelligence.
-It seems entities with creative authority have inserted their own settings.
Choi Kang-mok nodded.
This was where the hands of ‘authors’—those who could influence system settings—had touched.
“Mayo. Are you ready?”
-Of course. If my magical abilities are grafted into it, I’m confident a magnificent magical tower will be completed.
-Seonyang will become our
magical city.
A colossal Mayo spanning the entire Seonyang territory had been born through the grafting of Mayo’s abilities.
And Choi Kang-mok’s magical power was synchronized with it.
This was the foundation of Earth’s safest domain.
And Choi Kang-mok’s magical power was linked to it.
* * *

Owen, an intermediate-level mage, came tumbling down to the 1st Floor in a flustered rush.
“Welcome, Director!”
He too had witnessed what became of the otherworlders.
The main forces had been thoroughly toyed with by the director, while the remnants were all intercepted by the ‘defensive stronghold’.
Everything recognized as ‘enemy’ had been eliminated in a single strike—crimson lightning descending upon their heads.
“That was truly a flawless defense. Since the worlds unified, I don’t think we’ve ever seen such a perfect defensive operation. Hehe. You’re truly remarkable.”
Owen had become even more deferential than before.
So deferential he was nearly servile.
Seonyang’s safety meant the Magic Research Institute was also safe.
All worries could be set aside, and one could dedicate themselves entirely to magic.
Moreover, there was only one absolute authority. Freedom from all manner of politics and issues.
For a mage, it was the optimal environment imaginable.
Owen wanted to spend his remaining years here.
“By the way, Director. What brings you to seek out this Owen today?”
Choi Kang-mok hadn’t specifically come looking for Owen.
But he saw no reason to belabor that point.
“Mage Owen. There’s something I’d like to ask you about from a magical perspective.”
While reviewing the magic by rewatching Kang Pal-do’s footage, I noticed something odd.
“…So, upon closer inspection, I’m somewhat uncertain whether the surfactant magic binding the magical tower’s spells together is truly a [curse].”
Owen examined the footage carefully.
A sense of duty as a mage burned within him.
“Yes. That is not a curse. As you well know, Director, surfactant magic—or interfacial magic—is primarily used with curses, but that’s limited to Earth. At Earth’s magical level, binding with curses is the most stable approach. However, in more advanced civilizations’ magical dimensions, surfactant magic itself is activated without relying on curses.”
Let me unleash all this knowledge!
“Yes. That is not a curse. As the Research Institute Director well knows, it’s emulsion magic. In other words, the fact that curse-series magic is mainly used as surfactant magic is… limited to Earth. Because at Earth’s magical level, binding with curses is the most stable method. However, in more advanced civilizations’ magical dimensions, it’s not a curse, but surfactant magic itself that is activated.”
I’ll unleash all my knowledge!
For the Research Institute Director!
For my Research Institute!
“Then how did it become Haeju?”
“Haha! Perhaps it was destruction.”
“….”
“No. After Haeju, Dispel is more accurate.”
Snap.
Owen suddenly came to his senses.
His social skills were deployed to their maximum capacity.
“I was only joking, haha! I’ll research that thoroughly within ten days and report back to you with precision! I’ll dedicate myself entirely to contribute meaningfully to the Director’s magical advancement!”
And a few minutes later.
Choi Kang-mok, upon meeting Raymond, found himself confronted with a shocking truth.

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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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