The Problematic Child of the Magic Tower

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Chapter 401: Higher Than the Clouds (3)

“Sky Auction?”

Fidelina’s eyes widened after hearing the explanation.

“So, you’re saying you want to hold an auction in the sky right now?”

“Yes.”

“This is a little shocking, but……”

After rapidly running the numbers in her head, she sniffed the air.

“I smell it. This definitely smells like money.”

“Right? I think this could become the White Tower’s new business model.”

“Hoo, seriously, what would I have done without you?”

Love practically dripped from the eyes with which she looked at him.

“Good. Then leave all the auction-related work to me. You’ve already drafted the outline, right?”

“Yes. First, we need to gather the customers in one place.”

The continent was vast.

Which meant they first needed to gather the entrepreneurs, merchants, and nobles into one location.

“We’ll pick up VIPs from the north, east, west, and south, then head to the capital.”

“Wait…… then should we give them a hint about the Sky Auction beforehand?”

“No.”

Oscar shook his head.

“Anyone with enough power and money will want to experience the airship the moment it launches anyway. What matters to people like them is not falling behind the trends of high society.”

“But even so, there’s no guarantee every VIP will board the airship that day, right?”

“That’s fine. It’s actually better.”

“Better?”

“Yes. Whatever the reason, the people who fail to participate in this Sky Auction will realize it. That failing to quickly experience a new business the White Tower gets involved in is itself an enormous loss.”

In professional terminology, it was called FOMO.

The fear of missed opportunities and the resulting sense of exclusion.

Going forward, it would also return as positive reactions toward the White Tower’s various new businesses.

“So we ignore the complaints of the minority and prioritize the satisfaction of the majority? I get it.”

“Yes. Which is why this Sky Auction has to feel special.”

“Doesn’t the fact that it’s being held in the sky already accomplish that?”

“That alone isn’t enough.”

An auction held in the sky.

Sure, it would naturally be a fascinating experience.

At the very least, high society would gossip about it for an entire month.

‘But that’s all.’

This was something only a White Tower mage could understand.

“Elder, what was it like the first time you learned flight magic?”

“Flight magic? Well…… it felt good? I suppose you could call it liberation. Like escaping from a cage.”

The overwhelming speed and freedom one could feel while soaring through the open sky.

It unquestionably provided tremendous stimulation and dopamine, but it faded quickly.

“Then you understand. Flying is only thrilling and exciting the first time. After you experience it a few times, it stops feeling like much.”

“……Indeed.”

“And for the customers, it’ll be even worse. Unlike us, they won’t be freely traversing the skies. They’ll only enjoy it in a limited manner by boarding an airship as a means of transportation.”

The novelty would quickly wear off, and before long, airships would simply feel like a normal method of travel.

“That’s why we need to give them a sense of exclusivity they can’t experience anywhere else.”

“……What could that be?”

“We’ll sell dwarf equipment.”

After he continued by explaining the concept of white labels, she covered her mouth.

“M-My goodness. This is far too evil!”

“Is it bad?”

“The exact opposite!”

At the current point in time, dwarf equipment already possessed tremendous value in and of itself.

That was why Sirin’s dwarf workshop was crowded every single day.

But now they planned to go one step further and auction off limited-edition items among dwarf equipment?

‘Power and money. For those who’ve already achieved everything and possess everything, there’s only one thing left that they desperately desire.’

Scarcity.

The Sky Auction would become the place that sold that scarcity.

“Hmm. If VIPs from all over the continent gather together, then personal security will need to be our top priority.”

“Exactly.”

This auction was a double-edged sword.

It could create a new culture, allow the White Tower to lead it, and sweep in enormous wealth and fame.

But if handled poorly, it could also turn every force on the continent into their enemy.

“If something unfortunate were to happen during the auction……”

Fidelina shuddered after imagining the worst.

“Now that I think about it again, doesn’t this seem way too dangerous?”

“We still have to do it. It’s too good of a business to avoid just because it’s scary. We simply have to do it well.”

“Do it well…… and your concrete plan?”

“Realistically speaking, it’ll be difficult for the White Tower alone to cover every airship. So we’ll receive support from the Imperial Family.”

After all, even the airports already had city soldiers and imperial troops stationed all over the place.

They simply needed to assign some of them to remain aboard the airships as well.

“On top of that, to prepare for possible incidents, we’ll disguise some soldiers as passengers and have them board the airships.”

“Do we really need to go that far?”

“There’s nothing wrong with being cautious. Hundreds of passengers’ lives are riding on a single aircraft.”

If an airship were ever hijacked by hostile forces, the aftermath would be too horrifying to even imagine.

‘Of course, there are still minimum safety measures in place…….’

That safety measure referred to the flight captain.

For the time being, White Tower mages themselves would serve as captains and pilot the airships directly.

Just as the Wind Tribe Riders once did, this would continue until professional captains could be trained.

‘Right now, the captains are all mid-level White Tower mages, so they should be able to handle most threats on their own.’

But anyone bold enough to commit crimes aboard an airship was unlikely to be some ordinary nobody.

That was why security and protection needed to be strengthened even further.

“Understood. I’ll discuss that matter with the Imperial Family and the lords or mayors of each city.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

If it was Elder Fidelina, who handled matters meticulously, there should be no problems.

She quickly left to prepare for the launch ceremony, which was less than ten days away.

‘Then I should…….’

Maybe spend the meantime training.

Oscar headed toward the training room.

* * *

Entering the training room, Oscar comfortably sat down on the floor.

Then he pulled out a single book from his chest.

A magic tome personally created by Magiro and completed over twenty-one years by his thought-form.

When he turned a page, a warning was written in the prologue.

-This magic merely accelerates thought processes. You must understand that it is not time stop.

“I see.”

Magiro had said that mastering this spell would create the illusion that everything around him had slowed down.

If the effect became too intense, it might even momentarily feel as though time itself had stopped.

But the two should never be confused.

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‘It only feels that way. That doesn’t mean I can move normally in that state.’

In other words, within that slowed perception of time, his own body would also become slower.

The effect of this magic was ultimately to read the opponent’s moves and think of ways to counter them.

After carefully memorizing the warning, Oscar turned the page.

‘The brain. The hardest body part to interfere with.’

Since ancient times, countless mages had conducted endless research in an attempt to strengthen the brain.

Because if successful, it seemed possible to catastrophically increase the calculation speed of magic.

The conclusion was a spectacular failure.

‘The brain is highly sensitive to mana.’

If he had to compare it to something, it was like a sunfish.

Expose it to even slightly excessive mana, and severe side effects would appear—memory loss, deterioration of language abilities, and more.

How had Magiro solved this problem?

Rapidly flipping through the pages, Oscar let out a sound of admiration.

“Huh, it’s not magic that directly interferes with the brain itself?”

Magiro Time was hyper-acceleration of thought.

Naturally, he had assumed the method would involve strengthening the brain with mana.

He thought it would apply concepts like 『Acceleration』 or 『Durability Enhancement』 to the brain itself.

But this magic approached the problem from an entirely different angle.

-Basically, the human brain is an organ capable of processing an enormous amount of information simultaneously. Anyone who has ever tried creating and controlling a golem should understand this. The amount of information processed through actions we perform naturally, like breathing—seeing, hearing, speaking—is astronomical. Artificially replicating this requires an immense number of magic circles and mana.

That was true.

It was also why most golems were stupid.

-However, consciousness only perceives information serially. Simply put, no matter how intelligent someone is, they cannot read two books simultaneously. At this point, the original developed a single question. Though it may belong to the realm of supernatural abilities, Lapiros—one of the Four Great Counts—examines countless possibilities and even reads the future. If so, then doesn’t the human brain, whose structure is not drastically different from that of demons, also possess the potential to think in the same manner?

“Hmm?”

Now that he thought about it, that was true.

Of course, he had no intention of denying that demons were inherently superior to humans physically.

However, most things they could do were also things humans could achieve with enough effort.

-Thus, the original arrived at a hypothesis. Perhaps humans are also capable of processing information in such a way, but under normal circumstances, the brain instinctively suppresses it.

The brain instinctively suppressing it?

It sounded highly plausible.

After all, there was already a theory that the human nervous system intentionally lowered the body’s output so people could not use 100% of their strength, considering the backlash.

Stories of mothers displaying superhuman strength to lift wagons and save infants were examples of that.

-In other words, this magic does not strengthen the human brain itself. Rather, it focuses on nullifying the output limitations imposed by the nervous system.

After carefully examining the following formulas, Oscar nodded.

To state the conclusion first, Magiro’s hypothesis was correct.

The human brain was capable of simultaneously processing vast amounts of information, but normally restricted that output.

‘So that’s why he said not to use it for more than three seconds.’

However, there was a reason it remained restricted under normal circumstances.

The human brain was pitifully fragile, and once the limiter was removed, it would melt within mere seconds.

-One thing, however, can be stated with certainty. During the moment this magic is maintained, you will be able to look down upon the entire world.

An expression grandiose even by Magiro’s standards.

Overcome with curiosity, Oscar immediately guided his mana according to the formula.

‘Like this.’

And the moment the formula was completed.

“……!”

It felt as though a third eye that had long remained closed had suddenly opened.

His thoughts accelerated, all his senses sharpened, and the illusion that time had slowed blanketed his entire body.

No matter how long he stared at the clock hanging on the wall, the second hand did not move.

‘This is.’

In this state, there was no attack he could not evade, and no attack he could not land.

For a brief moment, overwhelming confidence surged through him, as though he could accomplish absolutely anything.

But only for a moment.

Oscar frowned as his senses dulled.

“Kh!”

Then his vision spun violently, and his sight blurred.

His head felt foggy and sluggish, like he had come down with a severe fever.

Instinctively pressing a hand to his forehead, Oscar was startled.

An incredible heat radiated through his palm.

‘The spell’s duration…… it probably didn’t even last a full second.’

And yet the aftereffects were already this severe.

A couple hours later, after finally regaining his senses, Oscar immediately cast Magiro Time again without resting.

He needed to know exactly how long the spell could be maintained if he intended to use it in real combat.

“……Hoo.”

A week passed with him doing nothing but obsess over that magic, skipping meals and training day and night without distinction.

Only then did Oscar finally leave the training room.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]