Chapter 239: My reward

— Within the secret world, everyone must take responsibility for their own actions during the bloodbath.

— Are you planning to violate the agreement?

Marcelina had stood up.

Her vampire fangs were completely exposed, while a powerful magical aura exploded around her body.

For a moment, I thought she was actually going to attack.

— That’s enough!

The blue-robed figure standing before the three presidents spoke.

A terrifying blue aura instantly spread throughout the entire area.

Weng! Weng!

The pressure made my skin crawl.

— I already told you to abide by the agreement!

The blue-robed man’s voice carried absolute authority.

At that very moment, the black-bearded old man spat out a large amount of blood.

His face, which had previously been twisted with rage, quickly lost its color as Fear replaced his fury.

He knelt down.

— Sir, please forgive this old man who has just lost his nephew.

—I beg you to show mercy!

The blue-robed man remained indifferent.

— Just this once!

His voice became even colder.

— Otherwise, I will extract your soul and roast it in the flames of my fury for ten thousand years!

A deadly silence descended upon the area.

The black-bearded old man did not dare to respond.

He stood up and returned to his Tower’s camp.

But before leaving, he cast an extremely sinister glance at Toral.

That man truly intended to kill Toral at another time.

Marcelina noticed it as well. Her expression became slightly grim.

Even though the high-level Mage had prevented the conflict for the moment, I knew that didn’t mean Toral was safe. As long as he remained inside Arcangrove Tower, he might be protected.

But if he ever left alone... The consequences could be terrible.

If I had still been carrying those items that contained traces of magical power... The result would have been exactly the same as Toral’s.

Fortunately, I had discarded the dangerous objects before crossing the portal. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how important that decision had been.

Those teachers had lost personal disciples or exceptionally talented successors.

And the ones responsible for those deaths were precisely their sworn enemies.

Even under the agreement imposed by Sus Tower, it was impossible to expect them to simply forget everything.

Mages were far more dangerous beings than acolytes.

If they were willing to pay a certain price, they could find indirect ways to seek revenge. They didn’t necessarily have to act personally.

While thinking about this, I met Magaly’s eyes among the other acolytes. Her former aura of arrogance and anger had completely disappeared.

Moreover... She was walking somewhat strangely. Her steps were cautious. Her body seemed slightly rigid, as if she felt something uncomfortable whenever she walked.

When she realized I was looking at her, she immediately looked away.

I tried to hold back my smile.

But I failed.

It was simply delightful to see...

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Some time later.

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It was already late at night when I finally returned to my resting area.

I lay down on the bed.

In my hands was a small black test tube.

I stared at it in silence.

The tube was made of black crystals that emitted a faint glow, and its density was frighteningly high. Even while holding it, I could feel an unusual weight.

These crystals were made from an extremely precious ingredient. Any low-level spell would have great difficulty damaging them.

For this reason, containers made from this material were used to store extremely valuable potions. According to ancient records, test tubes made from Black Rainbow Crystals could preserve their contents for more than a thousand years.

I rotated the tube between my fingers. Inside it was a small sphere of liquid, with various dark colors mixing together within it. When light struck the liquid and was refracted by the black crystals, a rainbow-like glow appeared.

It was truly beautiful.

But I knew that such a small amount of liquid possessed extraordinary value.

After the high-level Mage from Sus Tower had suppressed the conflict, the presidents of Black Bull Tower and Black Blood Tower had no choice but to lower their heads and take their acolytes away.

Even Deilok’s teacher, despite having lost an exceptionally talented acolyte, wasn’t foolish enough to challenge that Mage a second time.

As for me and the other survivors from Arcangrove Tower, we were taken back by our teachers.

On the way, we received information about our contribution points.

And that was when I discovered something quite convenient.

Arcangrove Tower had an anonymous exchange policy.

The person responsible for the exchanges was a chimera created by the president himself. It possessed no human emotions, much less any interest in revealing information.

This made the exchanges extremely secure.

When I examined the reward list, I was impressed.

There were precious ingredients, Level 1 Spell Models, potions capable of increasing mana, and many other resources I desired...

But my points were limited.

I managed to accumulate only about fifty contribution points.

However, that was enough to exchange them for the standard amount of Black Rainbow Crystallized Aura.

If I had brought the emblems of the acolytes I killed with me, I could have obtained many more points. But would it have been worth provoking the wrath of an Official Mage?

Definitely not!

Before becoming an Official Mage, it was better to keep a low profile, and there was nothing wrong with that.

Chory was a perfect example. His talent in engineering was extraordinary. If it weren’t for the Biochip, I would probably have been far behind him in that field.

But what was the result?

Chory’s reputation caused his enemies to focus their attention on him, and in the end, he died during the bloodbath in the secret world.

Being a genius before possessing sufficient strength didn’t mean much.

In reality... Even an exceptionally talented acolyte could still be crushed like a stone in the road.

That was why, all this time, I had deliberately tried to maintain the image of someone weaker and less talented than I actually was.

While thinking about this, I remembered the high-grade meditation technique that the laboratory ghost had told me about.

Before completing the Life Shield Cube, I had extracted a large amount of information from that vengeful spirit.

Among it was the location of the inheritance left behind by the Great Mage Redof Reneu Darof in the Mundane Forest of the Distant Mountain.

If I could obtain it, I could follow a completely different path.

According to the information I possessed, Mages who used high-grade meditation techniques were superior to those who relied on Black Rainbow Crystallized Aura to advance.

Moreover, their future potential was much greater.

And I wanted to reach the pinnacle of the Magical World.

If I wanted to preserve my possibilities for future advancements, using Black Rainbow Crystallized Aura should only be my last resort.

I immediately reached into my pocket and took out the Life Shield Cube.

Its surface was covered with countless gemstones of different colors.

But now...

The gemstones were only emitting a faint glow.

The consumption had been enormous.

[Life Shield Cube: Low-Grade Magical Artifact.]

[Effect: Instantly deploys a defensive barrier.]

[Current Condition: Energy completely depleted.]

[0%.]

Its physical and magical resistance had reached an extremely high level.

But there was one problem: energy.

Each activation consumed a certain amount of energy, and once all the energy was depleted...

The cube would be nothing more than a beautiful decorative piece.

I thought for a few seconds.

Then I issued a mental command.

— Biochip.

— Establish a mission.

— Utilize all remaining computational resources to find methods capable of conserving the energy of the Life Shield Cube.

[Beep!]

[Mission established.]

[Beginning utilization of idle processing capacity for calculations.]

[Time required: Unknown.]

I nodded.

Then I stood up and went to the laboratory.

I walked to the experimental area and placed the Life Shield Cube at the center of a mysterious magical formation.

Several glowing blue stones surrounded it.

— Begin the recharging process.

As soon as I gave the command, rays of blue light began to emerge from the formation.

The energy contained within the stones was slowly extracted, and beams of light converged toward the cube.

The Biochip immediately issued a new notification.

[Life Shield Cube recharging.]

[Current Status: 1%...]

It seemed that recharging the cube was surprisingly simple.

All I had to do was continuously expose it to that light.

As long as enough energy was supplied to the formation, the process would continue.

...

1415 Words

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