Chapter 54
The master from the Green Magic Tower, deputy masters from the Red and Black Magic Towers, and a Clarte from the Gold Magic Tower gathered at a cellar located in the western part of Seia. Baron, the master of the Green Magic Tower, who had called for this secret meeting, spoke.
"The masters of the Red, Black, and Gold Magic Towers could not come, and the Blue and Yellow Magic Towers said they have no interest in talking about this issue," Baron said.
"That’s totally understandable, because the Blue Magic Tower barely has anyone left, and the Yellow Magic Tower is still busy looking for evidence of the assassination of their master.”
"Well, it’s the same for our Gold Magic Tower," said the Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower.
Baron did not like the idea that the Gold Magic Tower had sent their Clarte to this important meeting, but he let it go for now.
"As you all know, the only towers that haven’t been attacked are the White, Green and Black Magic Towers. And here, we have a representative from both the Green and Black Magic Towers, but not from the White,” said Baron.
"Does that mean that you think the White Magic Tower is behind this incident?” the Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower asked.
"Yes, to be honest, I see it that way. What could be the motive behind these incidents? What else is there, other than to win the Deleague that’s happening soon? If it continues this way, it's obvious that the White Magic Tower will win the Deleague,” said Baron.
"But couldn’t there be another reason?” Ethan, the deputy master of the Black Magic Tower, asked.
"Okay, well, if that’s not it, what do you think it is? Tell me, Ethan," said Baron.Ethan had asked so that they would not jump to conclusions, but he could not think of another plausible reason for the recent events.
"If this continues, the White Magic Tower will not only win this Deleague, but the gap between them and the rest of us in terms of power after the Deleague will continue to grow,” said Baron.
"You’re right! We must find and kill the person behind all this,” the deputy master of the Red Magic Tower said determinedly.
The Red Magic Tower was the first one to get caught up in these incidents, and the Blue Magic Tower was just second to Red in terms of the damage taken. Helen was practically retired, and even the Head Clarte could not be considered as their main offensive power anymore since he would need a long time to recover.
Besides, many of the wizards in the Red Magic Tower were also injured. Therefore, the Red Magic Tower was determined to find the culprit and get their revenge.
"I agree with you. I don't want to simply allow the White Magic Tower to advance like this,” Ethan muttered, and others nodded in agreement at Ethan’s words.
"However, we have some internal affairs to sort out, so we will help you as soon as those are done," Ethan added.
"How can you be so sure that it's the White Magic Tower? We never know. The Black one here could be the real culprit," said the Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower.
Things had almost reached a conclusion, with the White Magic Tower being the culprit behind this whole incident. However, the Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower suddenly intervened, putting a stop to the plan to form an alliance to go against the White Magic Tower.
"You better not think that you have the same status that you used to have! Gordon is dead and your rising star Verren is dead as well. If you still believe in your past prestige and talk to me like that again, I’ll burn your mouth. You understand?” Baron shouted.
"How dare you talk to us like that? Do you really want to get killed? I'm already annoyed that they sent only a Clarte to such an important meeting.” Ethan seemed offended hearing the words from the Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower.
When Ethan added on to what Baron had said, the face of the Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower turned red, but he did not argue back. Just like the wizards had said, the stature of the Gold Magic Tower was no longer as great since the death of Gordon and Verren.
"Yeah, we need to gather as much offensive power as possible, so think about what you want to say before you actually say it, alright? If you're going to suspect the Black Magic Tower, bring plausible evidence before you even say that."
“Okay…” The Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower felt anger boiling inside; but as a wizard of the Gold Magic Tower, he could not compare with his opponents who were the masters and deputy masters of their Magic Towers.
The Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower knew that he could not win against everyone who was present in this meeting.
"Our Gold Magic Tower will stay out of this matter," said the Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower.
"What did you say?"
"Hey! Did you get upset because we said something to you?"
The Clarte of the Gold Magic Tower shook his head and repeated himself when the wizards from other towers started arguing.
"No, this is not my opinion, but our master had already ordered me to deliver this message even before I came here."
The Gold Magic Tower expressed that they will watch the situation a little longer because they believed that it was the White Magic Tower behind this, but they thought there could be another possibility. Therefore, they wanted to find the traces of Gordon and Verren first before making the decision.
When Baron heard the message from the master of the Gold Magic Tower, he nodded and accepted their reasoning. Besides, considering his characteristics, Baron expected that Astor, the master of Gold Magic Tower, would react this way. And it did not seem like the Clarte in front of him was lying.
'Well, he will end up joining us anyways.’
Baron thought that way, and concluded the secret meeting. Currently, only the Green, Red and Black Magic Towers were united as an alliance aiming to bring down the White Magic Tower.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Black Magic Tower, the wizards were eager to listen to Lee Shin’s lecture after seeing him summon the undead. After a lot of requests, it was finally decided that Lee Shin would give a special lecture on the summon field.
Originally, wizards in the lower classes were not allowed to give a lecture until they became a Clarte and showed a good performance. However, Lee Shin had made an extraordinary achievement during the test to become a Clarte. He was allowed to give a special lecture because even the deputy master and the Head Clarte were impressed by Lee Shin’s performance.
Lee Shin accepted the request to do the special lecture. Therefore, Lee Shin got a chance to give a lecture in the largest lecture hall in the Black Magic Tower. Since there were numerous requests, the largest and the best lecture hall in the tower had filled up with people coming to listen. In fact, there were not enough seats for everyone.
Not only were there second-class wizards, but first-class wizards and Clartes also gathered to listen to the special lecture. Even the Head Clarte and the deputy master came in to listen. Lee Shin could have possibly felt nervous in front of these many wizards, but he showed no signs of nervousness even though he stood alone on the large platform.
‘Wow, there are a lot of people here even though it's only a lecture on the summon field.’
In the meantime, Lee Shin had heard from the three Clartes about the topics they had learned in the summon field in the Black Magic Tower. Therefore, Lee Shin had a good sense of how much the people knew. Additionally, Lee Shin had demonstrated part of the lecture to the three Clartes in advance. Having received their feedback, Lee Shin was sure that his special lecture would be successful.
"Alright, I will start the special lecture," Lee Shin started to speak.
Although the deputy master and Head Clarte were present in the lecture hall, since the majority of the audience were of a lower rank, Lee Shin decided to speak in a more relaxed tone.
"What do you think are the advantages of summoning? This branch has no limitations in battles. Usually, wizards are capable of mass destruction, but there’s only so much a wizard can do alone on a battlefield. Their offensive power may be strong, but that means their defense can be weak. If they encounter many opponents on a chaotic battlefield, it’s almost impossible for the wizard to survive alone. And the same goes for other classes besides the wizard," Lee Shin explained.
Lee Shin seemed very calm and relaxed, exuding confidence, as if he had already experienced everything before. Along with his outstanding performance of magic that everyone had seen earlier, Lee Shin had the ability to keep everyone focused on his every word, even though he was actually only stating the obvious. The charisma that the audience sensed from Lee Shin even as he stood there alone was captivating.
"But, the Dark Wizard is different. Curse is also a good branch, but summoning has a big merit that is different from that," Lee Shin explained.
There was a large space between the platform and the audience. On top of that, Lee Shin made a passage using his black mana and Skeletons started to appear one by one.
Starting from a weak Skeleton made of just thin bones, there was a Skeleton Ogre that sent a shiver down the students’ spine just by looking at it. The giant Skeleton Ogre took the lead, followed by the Skeleton Archer, Mage and Warrior. The Skeletons stood there, their hideous black auras gushing out.
"The only one exception is the Dark Wizard, the Dark Wizard of the summoning branch. We call them necromancers. They kill the enemy and raise the dead body to create an undead. And using those undead, they kill again… and raise them back again as undead,” Lee Shin added.
The death aura and murderous intent that were spewing out from the undead made the hearts of wizards in the same space quiver in fear and excitement at the same time. It would have been scary if they had met those undead as opponents, but the prospect that these undead would be a more reliable ally or subordinate than anything else made their hearts beat faster.
"They kill again and again, and by doing so, the corps continues to prosper,” Lee Shin explained.
The mana of Lee Shin had spread and the corps of undead started to roar.
"Argh!"
"Oh my god!"
"W-w-what’s going on? They’re not coming here, are they?"
The wizards in the lecture hall started to panic when they heard the sudden roar, because Lee Shin had shown to the fullest, how intimidating the corps of undead could be.
"This is what you call a necromancer, otherwise called the one-man corps," said Lee Shin.
The overwhelming appearance of the undead corps made the wizards tremble. Even knowing that these undead were not opponents, the wizards still felt like they were going to get a heart attack in the presence of their death auras.
"Get rid of the prejudice that the Dark Wizards of the summon field would be weak, because these are the people who can be stronger than anyone else,” Lee Shin explained.
The wizards of the Black Magic Tower, who had been listening to Lee Shin’s every word, began to aspire toward the summon field, as they looked at the undead corps in front of them.
"So, from now on, I will tell you the secret of summoning," said Lee Shin.
Click—
When Lee Shin flicked his fingers, the assistants brought in a cart with a dead body from the side of the lecture hall.
"The way you have learned to summon is fundamentally wrong,” said Lee Shin.
When people heard what Lee Shin said, the lecture hall became noisy with discussions.
"The most important thing here is 'dominance.' It's not just about aligning bones and connecting them to raise them up forcefully.” Lee Shin explained.
There was a dead body of an Orc warrior placed between the platform and the audience. Lee Shin had returned all the undead he had summoned into the Shadow Space.
"What you see over here is the dead body of an Orc warrior. Currently, even the first-class wizards are finding it difficult to raise an Orc. Why is that?” Lee Shin pointed to the first-class wizard who was sitting at the front and asked.
"Isn't it because Orcs are strong individuals?" the first-class wizard replied.
"No, it's not that," said Lee Shin.
Lee Shin shook his head firmly and pointed to another wizard who was sitting next to him.
"Well… is it because the Orcs are... rebellious…?” said another wizard in a small voice.
When he spoke in a voice that was getting smaller and smaller as if he did not know the answer, Lee Shin could hear a giggling sound here and there. It was because most of the wizards in the lecture hall thought that it did not make sense for a dead body to rebel.
"That’s right. I see that you have some insight,” Lee Shin said.
The wizards were surprised by Lee Shin's answer, including Ethan and the Head Clarte, who were sitting at the front.
"The Orcs have a high fighting spirit, and the stronger they are, the worse it gets. The fact that we are not keeping this factor in consideration in the first place tells me that your first step to summoning is wrong," Lee Shin explained.
The soul swayed over the cold, dead body of the Orc warrior. And Lee Shin could clearly see its violent soul.
"The first thing you must add to your magic is the power to suppress them, called ‘dominance.’ Even if the body is dead, their soul still remains. The dominance, coercion, and charisma that captivates the soul, those are the key points of summoning!" Lee Shin explained with passion.
Then, the black mana of Lee Shin flowed over the Orc warrior.
"Necromancers need to be tougher than anyone else," Lee Shin explained.
A strong will to suppress and subordinate the soul was expressed by Lee Shin’s mana power. When the soul of the Orc warrior faced Lee Shin’s black mana, it began to tremble at the powerful dominance contained in the black mana.
"The reason why it is difficult to make an old dead body into an undead is that as time goes by, the soul bound to the body is more likely to leave. Do you understand? We have to subordinate the soul of the body first, not the body itself," Lee Shin explained.
There was a powerful dominance in Lee Shin’s black mana. Also, Lee Shin could see the soul of the Orc warrior because he could see souls.
"Be my subordinate," Lee Shin ordered.
The soul of the Orc warrior that was shaking as if it had seen some kind of a devil was sucked into the dead body.
"The next step is the decomposition of the body and the addition of power to the bones," Lee Shin explained.
As Lee Shin scattered the black mana, it permeated through the body of the Orc warrior, and at the same time, the flesh of the body rotted and disappeared.
Crunch— Creak—
The bones began to connect with each other, creating a strange noise. As the black mana was injected into the bones, the bones creaked and the Skeleton Orc warrior got up. The wizards stared blankly at the strange yet amazing sight with their mouths agape.
“Keauughh!” the Skeleton Orc warrior roared.
Under the influence of black mana, the Skeleton Orc warrior gave a more ferocious roar than before. The Skeleton Orc warrior with shining black eyes hit the podium on the platform. Then, with a breaking sound, the podium broke as if it were a tofu being crushed.
The sight of the Skeleton Orc warrior instilled motivation rather than fear among the wizards.
"The Skeletons you make can be as strong as you want, and any monster can be your subordinate, so please don't limit yourself. Do you have any questions?" Lee Shin asked.
The wizards who had been listening to Lee Shin’s special lecture fell in love with his demonstration and speech, so all of their hands went up to ask questions.