The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 215

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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 215
Choi Kang-mok tilted his head in confusion.
Was there anything more important than combat training in a dimension where ‘battle mages’ stronger than Raymond existed?
‘Wait a moment.’
Did I just think something rather dangerous?
Choi Kang-mok quickly regained his composure and looked at Kang Hye.
“What do you mean? I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
“Tsk.”
Kang Hye playfully clicked her tongue once, then fulfilled her duty as an advisor.
“Your intelligence stat went up, brother. You should use the Fire Spirit’s Ring.”
“…Oh.”
───────
[Fire Spirit’s Ring]
Grade: Story
A contract medium with the fire spirit Igniasha.
You can form a contract with Igniasha by using this ring.
※Usable regardless of class.
※Fire attribute affinity significantly increased.
───────
Previously, I had summoned Igniasha but failed to establish a contract.
[Your intelligence is too low to proceed with the contract.]
[!Minimum Required Intelligence: 50!]
For Choi Kang-mok, it was a memory that stung not just with shame but cut right to the bone.
A mage unable to meet the minimum intelligence requirement and thus unable to form a contract.
Choi Kang-mok spoke with a slightly flushed face.
“But this doesn’t seem that important right now.”
It didn’t seem more important than magical combat training—or rather, magical exchange.
Besides, the intelligence I’ve already raised isn’t going anywhere, so I can do it later.
“No, brother, you have to show her.”
“…What?”
“Did you forget everything that spirit said?”
Kang Hye had memorized every word Igniasha spoke.
“No! Don’t say it! I already know! How could I cast such magic with this pathetic intelligence! It’s a scam! A complete scam! I have been deceived!”
No matter how I think about it, it’s ridiculous.
If intelligence is low, then what, am I not even a mage?
As long as I can cast magic well, what’s all this talk about being scammed?
Kang Hye’s anger grew even greater.
“A scam? A scaaaaaaam? You’re spouting nonsense about being scammed! Hurry up and summon her to prove it. Prove that your intelligence is absolutely not low.”
Red Cat, who had been listening quietly, tilted her head.
From what I’m hearing….
‘There’s no particular reason—it seems they just want me to show up and show off.’
But would such reasoning really work for a mage on the eve of a serious magical exchange?
No matter how I think about it, that doesn’t seem like it would rank very high on the priority list.
‘Even blood relatives make mistakes.’
At that moment, Choi Kang-mok slipped on a ring.
“Come out quickly, Igniasha.”
Red Cat, who was learning and absorbing so much, became confused.
Was showing off really that important?

* * *
The surroundings erupted in flames.
A fire that burned nothing.
It was a harmless, pure spirit flame.
From within it, Igniasha emerged in the form of a fire salamander.
She had grown far larger than the last time I saw her.
She was several times the size of Red Cat.
“You took far too long, you foolish apprentice mage!”
From Igniasha’s perspective, it was absurd.
On the verge of contracting with herself—a fragment of divinity and a pure spirit of fire—and yet you didn’t even raise your magical power?
You dragged things out all this time and only now finally summoned me?
Not even knowing how momentous a contract with me truly is!
“It would be insufficient even if you ran just at the sight of a contract, yet all this time you’ve been wasting effort on meaningless pursuits….”
Igniasha froze in shock.
From the ‘something’ perched on Choi Kang-mok’s shoulder, she felt an overwhelming presence.
“A dimensional mon… ster?”
At minimum, equal to herself.
Or perhaps even greater.
Igniasha was momentarily at a loss for words.
Confusion flooded through her.
Why was such a monster perched on the shoulder of a contract candidate?
Had it been subdued?
Yet the contract candidate appeared remarkably calm.
“Igniasha. You came?”
“Listen. You do know what that thing on your shoulder is, right?”
“Oh, you mean Red?”
Red?
Whoosh!
The flames across her body flared up.
A dimensional monster capable of directly and indirectly interfering with the system, capable of annihilating an entire dimension—and you call it that?
“You mad contract candidate! You don’t even understand how vicious a dimensional monster truly is….”
Meow.
Red Cat shook his head side to side.
I could feel his heart.
There was no hostility to be found in Red Cat.
Igniasha was bewildered.
“This… isn’t it?”
Meow.
“You’re serving my prospective contractor?”
Meow.
“So you… surrendered?”
Meeting Choi Kang-mok after so long only deepened Igniasha’s confusion.
Did dimensional beasts really submit to humans?
It seemed like only a tamer of legendary caliber could manage such a feat…
Meow.
“My prospective contractor is a genius at taming magic?”
Meow.
Red Cat nodded.
Igniasha cried out.
“Lies!”
A fragment of divinity. The pure fire spirit Igniasha knew better.
There wasn’t a single scent of magic woven into him.
Why would he lie and call it magic when it wasn’t magic at all?
“You have a dark heart hidden within!”
Meow?
“Look at you, pretending to be innocent and kind and cute!”
Though admittedly, those amber eyes were quite beautiful.
But I couldn’t fall for such a seduction tactic.
“Your contractor may not realize it, but dimensional beasts can communicate perfectly well with humans!”
No.
Choi Kang-mok understood this well too.
“It just seems like he doesn’t bother responding earnestly…”
Meow.
Half right, half wrong.
Red Cat’s silence stemmed from a desire to conserve his words.
It could be summarized as: ‘Rather than risk a mistake conversing with this clueless young spirit, I’ll just stay quiet.’
I shrugged my shoulders.
There seemed to be some misunderstanding here.
I’d clear it up later…
“Igniasha. Can you feel my intellect?”

* * *
Everything proceeded exactly as before.
“You who have awakened the narrative. You who dwell in the depths of emotion. You who traverse the gaps of story. You who smuggle in foreshadowing. You who collect settings. You whose lips awaken the ripples of forgotten lore. You mortal who rewinds the ending.”
The contract with Igniasha progressed.
The contract took place in a virtual space.
Upon an endless expanse of marble floor, a colossal Temple of Fire unfurled.
Flames rose naturally from the ground, dancing and swaying to carve elaborate patterns into the stone.
The fire symbols etched upon each pillar glowed crimson, and lava flowed slowly through the crevices between them.
Yet the most incongruous element within this spectacle was the rows of black monoliths, each the height of a man, standing scattered across the floor.
My body was engulfed in flames.
[Contract with Igniasha has been completed.]
[Fire attribute affinity has increased dramatically.]
Igniasha, having entered her own world, grew even more colossal.
Flutter.
With massive wings spread wide, Igniasha soared through the air, her form resembling a dragon from ancient legend.
Red Cat exhaled a weary sigh.
‘Still so naive.’
The potential of that divine fragment was remarkable.
But she was still far too young.
To be more direct, she knew nothing of how the world truly worked.
‘She’s showing off, isn’t she?’
She undoubtedly believed the master would be impressed.
Impressed, certainly.
Oh, a bigger target! That sort of thing.
‘You’re not even my rival.’
Excluded from the competition entirely.
Since she felt sorry for her, she decided to be a little nicer.
Igniasha, now in the form of a colossal dragon, spoke.
“Contractor. You now possess the mighty authority of fire in your grasp. My flames are the power to purify all things.”
She unleashed a breath.
Far in the distance, a pitch-black monolith shattered completely.
“Purification is destruction itself.”
“…Isn’t that a bit of a stretch?”
Fragments of the monolith lay scattered chaotically across the ground.
No matter how I looked at it, that was simply destruction.
“Behold. Has it not been purified cleanly?”
Igniasha was confident.
Powerful flames of destruction.
Should these flames combine with the contractor’s magic, the destructive force would be amplified beyond measure.
“You must be somewhat astonished. That monolith was crafted from the Unbreakable Rock itself. You are a mage whose magic is rooted in formidable destructive power. You pursue devastation of the highest caliber, capable of laying waste to Haeju itself. You shall be captivated by this tremendous force!”
No!
Choi Kang-mok had grown somewhat weary of words like “destruction” or “annihilation” lately.
His voice naturally sharpened slightly.
“Really now. Is this also purification magic?”
In an instant, he manifested an energy field barrier defense spell.
By layering five of them, he created a black hole.
An entire tombstone was sucked in whole.
Nothing remained in that place.
It was literal annihilation.
Igniasha was left speechless.
He had grown stronger than the last time she saw him.
‘No, he got even stronger from there?’
Igniasha, now noticeably smaller in stature, glanced at Red Cat.
Meow.
-I understand completely.
Red Cat’s consolation seemed to reach her.
“….”
“Tell me. Is what I used also purification magic?”
“That is… well, no matter how I look at that magic…
It’s destruction magic.
”
Red Cat intervened at a timely moment.
“Looks like a defensive spell to me.”
Igniasha was startled.
She understood Red Cat was twisting the words, but defensive magic? Really?
Choi Kang-mok’s tone became gentler.
“Still, for a fragment of a god, your perception is quite keen.”
“….”
Igniasha felt wronged.
So my purification was forced, but you insist that this is defensive magic?
Shouldn’t I protest this?
Igniasha glanced at Red Cat once more.
Meow.
Red Cat shook its head firmly.
A strange bond was beginning to form between the spirit and the dimensional beast.

* * *
Due to this notification across the cosmic realm, the ‘magical anomaly’ within the open world setting became extraordinarily famous.
Neroph, the dimension of combat mages, took notice of this as well.
Neroph is a dimension composed of the 12 Nation Alliance.
Twelve lords gathered for a council.
“A dimensional gate has opened on Earth, it seems.”
“The location has not yet been pinpointed, however.”
Earth’s explorers were searching with fervent determination, so discovery would come in the not-too-distant future.
“What if we dispatch a combat mage first from our side?”
“While gathering information about the magical anomaly.”
And,
“To issue a warning as well.”
Forcing a connection from a lower dimension to a higher one?
It was madness.
It was no different than a puppy wandering into a tiger’s den.
“As a higher dimension, we must show some mercy.”
The situation was different from Arcsia and Brain.
Neroph, after all, had to consider the eyes of the international community and cosmic human rights organizations.
“Since the magical anomaly seems so eager for magical exchange… we should demonstrate it.”
“It seems necessary to teach them painfully that magical combat is not limited to ranged warfare alone.”
Ranged combat was certainly surprising.
I acknowledged that spatial liberation magic was formidable.
I recognized the destructive power of ‘defensive magic’ that unfolded by separating dimensions.
But not all combat unfolds that way.
“The true combat of combat mages.”
“Unfolds at close quarters.”
“I wonder if the magical anomaly can even cast magic in such urgent combat situations.”
It appeared they specialized in complex magic: spatial liberation, layering, physical force manifestation, and the like.
Such intricate magic proves ineffective in ‘actual combat’.
They would be dead before they could even cast it.
“Right now, that one is the hottest topic in the cosmos.”
“If we could bring an EX-rank awakener to their knees, it would be an enormous gain for the entire dimension.”
The calculation was complete.
“Let us show them.”
The dimension of ‘combat mages’.
The true strength of Neroph.

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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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