The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 269

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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 269
Her homeland had abandoned Salia, but Salia never abandoned her homeland.
Salia had given the Egyptian Lord a hint.
Regardless of anything else, he should apologize regarding ‘magic’.
He should treat the EX-rank Awakener not as the emperor of a new era, but as a mage.
And the Egyptian Lord did not dismiss Salia’s words.
One day prior.
He immediately retracted the joint statement he had issued and changed his position to support the EX-rank Mage.
Until yesterday, countless people had mocked him.
Hahahaha the shift in stance is crazy, is this a national-level Talulah situation?
└Then don’t criticize in the first place
Haha, betraying the continent like that
Opinion was divided within Egypt itself.
Those who prioritized pragmatism and those who valued pride.
If forced to estimate the ratio, it was roughly 2:8.
Resistance against the EX-rank Awakener had reached its peak.
Some even began suggesting that the Egyptian Lord should be overthrown and replaced with a new one.
It didn’t take even a day for that to change.
[He’s providing aid to the entire planet?]
└Does that even make sense?
└Huh? It happened again
└This is actually happening? → It’s happening
└Is this real? : EX-rank Awakener identity
The EX-rank Awakener began pouring aid to the entire planet.
That aid seemed endless.
The world, excluding Africa, had recovered its daily life.
Exceptionally, Egypt was included among the aid recipients.
[Doesn’t this mean Egypt made a smart move?]
└Seems like it, actually
└Didn’t Salia provide the information?
└Salia saved them
└You lot should reflect on yourselves, Egypt
└All those protesting against the EX-rank Awakener disappeared
The people of Earth had come to realize it.
When three Higher Dimension beings gather, sustaining one Lower Dimension is nothing.
Earth’s level was merely this much.
[Apparently the burden on other dimensions isn’t actually that great]
└Even if the burden were significant, wouldn’t it not matter?
└???: Feeling burdened? So what are you gonna do about it? What can you even do? lol
Even if I don’t know about Rotin, Brain Dimension and Arsian… haha
└They have original sin lol
Rotin is a strategic partnership.
But Brain and Arsian are different stories.
They were invasion forces that attacked Earth, yet became conquered dimensions because of Choi Kang-mok’s counterattack.
It’s only because Choi Kang-mok is a ‘Mage’ that they weren’t plundered far more severely—if he were truly the ‘Emperor of a New Era,’ the exploitation would have been catastrophic.
[It really drives home that Earth is a dimension carried by a single person]
└Do the African guys not have internet?
└lol even with no connection, this is too much
└They’re defying Earth’s #1 ruler
└? Don’t even mention the word ‘Emperor’!
The Egyptian Lord publicly apologized to Salia.
[A momentary lapse of judgment clouded by emotion. Deep gratitude to Salia and the EX-rank Mage….]
The Egyptian Lord became the first among the African Continental Lords to definitively establish Choi Kang-mok as an ‘EX-rank Mage.’
Salia, once her homeland’s traitor, ascended to become her homeland’s hero in a single day.
[Salia’s humble declaration, “I will learn much from my master and return.”]
Salia’s actions were no betrayal.
Nor were they treason.
[That’s diplomacy]
└Ah, so this is what ‘magical diplomacy’ truly is
It was exemplary diplomacy.
[Isn’t Salia the EX-rank Awakener’s first disciple?]
└Yeah, Egypt is the disciple’s homeland
It was the finest strategy for establishing a connection with the EX-rank Awakener.
[Honestly, Egyptians should be eternally grateful to Salia]
└True
And it sent a message to all the lords.
The Emperor of a New Era.
He is magnanimous only toward those who bow and submit of their own accord.
[Isn’t this the most benevolent empire in history?]
└Empire?
└It’s basically a one-man empire
└Yeah
Tyler, the United States’ lord, let out a sigh of relief.
‘Thank goodness.’
The United States was included in the aid recipients.
Though the amount was somewhat less compared to other nations, the United States is a country capable of self-sufficiency without Tower Civilization.
The fact that the United States wasn’t excluded from aid recipients put Tyler at ease.
‘I may have made a bad impression, but I’m not completely marked as an enemy.’
Through this incident, the EX-rank Awakener made one thing abundantly clear.
‘He is no mere Emperor of a New Era.’
Outwardly, he presents himself as a mage.
That much must be accepted unconditionally.
It’s a principle set by the Emperor.
If one adheres to that principle, the Emperor is merciful.
‘His true identity is….’
The people’s words were correct.
‘A one-man empire.’
He was the empire itself.
Dominating the entire Earth.
‘He’s accomplishing alone what the United States once did before the Tower Civilization era.’
The sense of relief vanished. I swallowed hard.
The term “one-man empire” was hardly an exaggeration.
The EX-rank Awakener would only grow more formidable.
The thought of it made my vision darken.
‘Damn it.’
What nonsense—an empire consisting of a single person.
Tyler seized power by leveraging the “anti-EX-rank Awakener sentiment.”
…How am I supposed to handle the aftermath?
As time passes, there seems to be no solution.
Based on the precedent set by Egypt, if I bow first and submit, he would probably accept it.
But if I did that, I’d likely be assassinated by Americans instead.
‘Should I retire?’
My concerns deepened.
He had demonstrated his overwhelming power through Africa.
So what would the one-man empire’s next move be?
‘It might be the United States.’
Of course, I had shown maximum respect as a mage, but ultimately, I had still criticized the EX-rank Awakener.
What would the one-man empire’s political moves entail?
‘If I were an EX-rank Awakener….’
I considered the hypothetical.
Thinking from the one-man empire’s perspective was remarkably simple.
‘He must be scheming how to deal with us.’
Wrong!
Choi Kang-mok had no such thoughts.
‘I should just focus on clearing the Tower.’

* * *
Choi Kang-mok did not cease his display of power.
[Tower (South Korea) Floor 86 has been cleared.]
Flames erupted above the Korean Tower.
For Seoul citizens, it had become an everyday occurrence.
EX-rank clears were now routine.
Only a single name was etched into the Hall of Fame for Floor 86.
───────
1. Mage (Korea, EX)
───────
Yet this time, it felt far from ordinary.
“Wait, isn’t Tower entry supposed to be blocked?”
“Huh? Can we get in?”
Truly, the Korean Tower.
What made the world’s greatest Tower so different?
“Let me try!”
“What?”
“Entry isn’t allowed?”
The Tower remained shut down.
At this moment, only EX-rank Awakeners could ascend the Tower.
Bessius posted a story on social media.
[I want to learn correction magic too, I want to climb the Tower too]
Immediately deleted.
[I can learn correction magic. I can climb the Tower.]
It was rewritten into a more positive, more characteristically Bessius story.
Thanks to that, the reason why EX-rank Awakeners could currently ascend the Tower was revealed.
‘Correction magic’ had become widely known to the public.
By intervening in set parameters, it corrects unjust treatment.
“So the Tower shutdown was unfair?”
“Yeah, I guess?”
Even games occasionally undergo system maintenance.
Users can’t log in just because they protest.
Yet EX-rank Awakeners could do exactly that.
[Can this happen? → It can]
└Can be called entry magic, derived from correction magic
Choi Kang-mok felt slightly delighted.
Now people were finally beginning to understand his true intentions!
He had only thought of it as correction magic, never extrapolating it to entry magic.
Yet the people interpreted the phenomenon on their own.
The power of collective intelligence—so beautiful, so brilliant, so remarkably awe-inspiring.
[Conducting a continental competition while providing global aid (forcibly) deploying entry magic and conquering the Tower—that’s the class of an EX-rank Awakener.]
└Isn’t even an EX-rank Awakener pushing themselves a bit too hard at this point?
People still judged with ‘relatively’ common sense.
The dominant opinion was that even an EX-rank Awakener must be straining considerably.
That news reached the resistance forces in the Brain Dimension.
Some Barbarian Warriors came to Earth claiming they would ‘take the Emperor’s head,’ but that was quietly handled by the Assassination Guild.
Not even a report reached Choi Kang-mok.
The trivial resistance from the Brain Dimension ended futilely without ever reaching Choi Kang-mok.
Arsian, based on magical civilization, didn’t even consider resisting Choi Kang-mok.
Rather, because there were many mages, they felt acutely how perilously dangerous Choi Kang-mok’s magic was.
Hawk, the Emperor (Captain) of the Sea Dimension Rotin, interpreted it thus.
‘The EX-rank Awakener has forgiven the United States.’
No.
He simply hadn’t paid much attention to them from the start.
But for Hawk, it was a different story.
By his standards, the United States couldn’t be forgiven.
An example had to be made clear.
‘And he made us help the United States with our own resources.’
He was certain this was the ‘Emperor’s’ judgment.
A message from the Emperor ruling Earth.
This is the direction of governance I will pursue.
Of course, this wasn’t it either.
The truth was ‘the United States doesn’t need as much help.’
It was the Korean Guild’s decision to lighten Rotin’s burden.
But Hawk couldn’t interpret it that way.
‘He’s directly showing us that he embraces with appropriate generosity and magnanimity.’
Deliberately.
‘An unspoken pressure: if you’re to share the same boat, follow the same course.’
Hawk had chosen a governance structure somewhat more coercive and violent than Choi Kang-mok’s.
He believed it was more effective to crush them so thoroughly they couldn’t even dare to resist.
But now the story had changed.
‘I cannot simply ignore the Earth Emperor’s will.’
Of course, his situation was different.
For that to be possible, one needed ‘overwhelming power.’
If you displayed such generosity with mediocre strength, you’d never know when you’d get stabbed in the back.
You stab me in the back? Then I’ll crush yours—that’s the level required for such conduct.
In truth, the Sea Dimension Rotin wasn’t quite at that level.
‘Which is precisely why I must follow his will all the more.’
The EX-rank Awakener as Hawk saw him was truly a great sovereign.
He presents himself as a mage, but in reality, he is the Emperor himself.
So he would understand.
He would appreciate even more the admirable sincerity of one striving to keep pace with the Emperor despite possessing relatively modest power.
He would regard it favorably.
‘Our relationship will grow even stronger.’
A thin smile played at the corners of Hawk’s lips.
Of course, Choi Kang-mok had no such thoughts.
Rotin’s political strategy had nothing particularly to do with magic.
In the meantime, Floor 87 of the Tower (South Korea) had been cleared.
[Again?]
└Wasn’t that impossible?
└By common sense, it shouldn’t be possible?
[Huh? Check the Korean Tower Hall of Fame]
Something unprecedented was unfolding.

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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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