Chapter 165

"Is the magic formula ready to operate?"

"Foreign substance inspection and magic circle check are both complete."

"Good."

Reed tilted the board with the scroll of the magic circle drawn on it, fixed with tweezers, towards the front.

The target of the scroll was a dummy for damage measurement.

"Inject mana."

"Injecting mana equivalent to a mana bolt."

The experiment proceeded according to the manual, with repeated commands.

A mana bolt's worth of mana was released, filling the magic circle.

The magic circle scroll vibrated heavily.

Oooong-.

Shortly after, a flash of light burst out.

Boom!

The dummy shook violently.

There was a hole in the chest of the startled dummy.

"Experiment ended."

Reed retrieved the scroll and approached the dummy.

There was residual heat left inside the chest of the damage-measuring dummy.

It was undoubtedly a fatal wound.

"How many mana bolts do we need to shoot to make that hole?"

"By the numerical standard, it takes 5 bolts from a senior mage. It needs to be pierced with precise aim."

It wasn't a mana bolt created by a senior mage's direct tuning, simply using a magic circle, yet the damage was significant.

'The downside is that people can't use it directly, and the mana storage has to be left to break?'

It takes at least a minute to install something like a scroll, even at the fastest.

Despite this, Reed thought it might still be better to use this magic.

'Worthy of being the magic that challenges the power of a god.'

The Tower of Sky Chamber barely appears in 'Disaster 7' and only briefly appears in the latter part.

It was only fitting for the Tower of Sky Chamber, making an entrance using teleportation and briefly using magic to clean up the surroundings.

'The reason why it wasn't revealed till the end... Was it because there was no such thing as magic engineering?'

Magical engineering itself was barely recognized in the latter part of the story, and since it wasn't a magician from the Tower of Silence, but a workshop magician, there was no doubt they tried to hide it until the end.

Reed cleared a condition that could never be cleared in the game, and he received a reward for it.

'Really a crappy game.'

The condition for the hidden ending was like this.

He felt pathetic for having repeated such a game dozens of times.

'Although it's still too difficult for humans to use...'

If applied to objects, this small laser could be used.

Even if it's not just the amount of one mana bolt, but using only 10% of the tower's mana.

'Wouldn't Cosmo just disappear in one shot?'

[T/N: Cosmo refers to Rosaria from Disaster 7]

If that happens, wouldn't it be possible not to find all the disasters as prophesied?

Reed was convinced.

'If the weapon Helios wants is made, the disaster situation will completely subside.'

With that conviction, Reed began the project.

It was a large-scale project conducted in the Silence Tower.

He selected talents who had been deeply involved in magic engineering so far and had them work under Kaitlyn's guidance.

"What will you name the project?"

"Project name..."

There was no need to think about what name would be good for this project.

"Let's go with Sunflower."

The project name was 'Sunflower.'

In Korean, it's a famous flower that looks towards the light like a sunflower.

The only difference is that it emits light, but nothing suited it better, and Kaitlyn agreed.

Project: Sunflower was launched, and Reed, along with Helios, invited the leaders of the empire and the Althea Order to discuss the project.

An item that cannot be used if either side refuses.

It was clear that its purpose was to punish those who would disrupt the balance of the continent other than them.

There will be a war someday, and when they are weary of that war, if a third party interferes to disrupt the balance of the continent, they will have no choice but to be caught off guard.

- Since it's an item created for that purpose, we will divide the usage rights if you all agree.

The emperor of the empire and the pope agreed to that proposal.

There was no reason to refuse since it would strengthen their position and power.

As with all diplomacy, receiving favor is incurring debt.

They began to help Project: Sunflower by providing resources and manpower to ensure nothing was lacking.

***

* * *

Dream big tl dot com

***

After the successful negotiation, the rumor spread quickly.

Reed conducted this project as an open disclosure from the beginning, so it spread quickly.

It was a rumor that the most powerful weapon on the continent was being made, and only four people could use that weapon.

The rumor that only four people could use it was distorted and spread everywhere, as it couldn't be used without the approval of the four.

Although they tried to clarify the rumor belatedly, there were people who didn't believe their explanation.

There were voices of concern that they might be eating the continent with a four-power system.

Although public sentiment was on the verge of turning hostile, it did not fall into the hands of the agitators as intended.

At this time, the favorability for the Silence Tower had reached its peak.

- If it's made by the Silence Tower, there's some degree of trust.

- Our savior must be making it out of concern for the safety of this continent.

Although skeptical voices were heard here and there, agitators could not openly agitate.

It was because someone who mocked the Silence Tower's owner got stoned.

People were captivated by his half-godlike martial arts tales.

The nobles also admired him and began to target Reed, wanting to get a share.

The most certain way to draw someone to the same side was marriage, although gifts and land were also good.

- Our daughter has had her coming-of-age ceremony this year. She has grown into a refined lady under the tutelage of the most famous bridal teacher, Old Reyna...

- Although there's a rule of one spouse for magician families, please reconsider marrying our daughter once more...

There were even suggestions to ignore the rule of magicians and bring in concubines.

It wasn't just one letter.

All the well-known nobles and military factions sent such letters.

'Well, it's tempting.'

They probably thought Reed was just like any other man, poking at him despite knowing the rule of one spouse.

Of course, Reed had no such thoughts.

Bringing in concubines, intoxicated by the lust for power, only leads to fostering new disputes.

That's why Reed always called one person when such a troublesome letter arrived.

"Twelve more came today."

It was his fiancée, Dolores.

Whenever such a letter came, he always opened it with Dolores.

It was a kind of fence rule to show that he didn't harbor any other thoughts.

"Three of them are from the same place as last week."

"Really? They must have fixed it because your reaction was lukewarm. Let's see how much they've retouched their portraits."

Dolores personally opened the unopened letters and examined the portraits inside one by one.

Her reactions were of two types.

Either she talked a lot, or she just snorted.

Whenever Dolores found a portrait she thought was pretty, her reaction was always the former.

"Look at this woman. She definitely fixed her chin and nose."

"Did she?"

"I can tell just by looking. She's trying to catch your eye and meet you at least once. When you meet, she'll be the type to say 'I'm a good woman~.' or 'My appearance may not be pretty, but I have a beautiful heart.' So funny, really."

Dolores snickered as if she found it amusing.

It wasn't jealousy, but purely a condescending attitude towards them.

Who is she?

The fiancée who is acting as the hand of the very man all the women are after, sitting on his lap.

The fiancée who reads the letters on his behalf and feeds him the fruits on the table.

She was as good as having the world, and there was no reason for her to be jealous.

Reed accepted her actions without any thought.

He was smiling, but there was a storm raging in Reed's mind.

He tried to talk about Phoebe but the words didn't come out.

'I don't know how it will turn out, and if it's extreme, I don't know if I can accept it...'

He wondered if forgetting, as Phoebe said, was really the best choice, and the question haunted his mind.

"Phoebe confessed to you, didn't she?"

"Uh, yeah?"

Reed let out a flustered voice.

He couldn't have imagined that Dolores would launch a preemptive strike.

"Did Rosaria tell you?"

"She talks a lot. If you provoke her a little, she'll get cocky and spill everything."

Rosaria.

How could you betray me like this?

No, before that, wasn't I the fool for telling such an important fact to that girl?

Yes, I'm the fool.

So I have to take responsibility.

Contrary to what seemed to be full of jealousy, she was cautious.

"What are you going to do?"

"Do you want me to reject her?"

Dolores gently held Reed's hand at his words.

"Both of us are just ordinary magicians with abilities, without any secrets like family heirlooms. Phoebe isn't from a declined family, and her individual abilities aren't lacking either..."

"It doesn't sound like you agree."

"What can I do? I'm a woman full of jealousy."

Reed hugged Dolores tightly.

In Reed's arms, Dolores was quiet for a while before answering.

"I'll do as you say since you have the right to do so."

This permitting phrase.

Although the phrase itself agreed, hesitation was incorporated in her expression and tone.

It seemed as if there was a trap set somewhere.

How great would it be if he had the ability to see through her thoughts?

Then he wouldn't even have to worry like this.

Reed nodded his head.

"Okay."

"Alright. ...Ah! Look at this! It's exactly the same as the third one. Anyone would think they're twins."

Dolores, as if nothing happened, began to laugh again while looking at other people's photos.

***

An unexpected visitor came to the Silence Tower.

It was Freesia.

-The Master of the Black Sky Tower has visited.

"Has she already come in?"

-...I'm sorry.

Freesia cannot be stopped.

She invades in one way or another due to her willful nature.

'Thanks to that, I can improve security...'

Seeing the defense line that was broken even after improvement, the Silence Tower still felt extremely shabby.

Reed roughly guessed her destination.

'Office? Laboratory? Or is it my room?'

He waited, thinking about where she would break in.

After waiting for 30 minutes and not seeing her in the office, Reed eventually got up from his seat and began looking for Freesia.

The place where he found her was an unexpected location.

It was Rosaria's room.

***

Rosaria's room.

"Ugh..."

Rosaria sat at her desk, staring intently at a book.

What she was looking at were math problems.

She was having a headache, repeatedly checking the formulas and getting different answers every time.

"Meowmeow, does this answer seem right?"

-Meow.

"Okay."

As Meowmeow nodded, Rosaria pulled out the answer sheet with a serious expression.

The moment she unfolded the answer sheet and checked it.

"No way!"

-Meow.

"Meowmeow, you always say it's correct."

-Meow...

Meowmeow lay down on the spot, looking defeated.

Rosaria had high expectations for the low-intelligence lower elemental.

With no choice, she marked the wrong answer and started solving the problem again.

"What's the answer to this..."

While holding a pencil and poking her lips,

"That seems to be 4."

A voice of a girl her age echoed from behind.

Rosaria turned her head in surprise.

"It's Freesia."

A black-haired girl dressed in a gothic dress, Freesia was standing behind her.

"It feels like I haven't seen you in a long time, you've grown a lot from that little runt."

"I grew taller! A whole 3 centimeters taller!"

"It seems you've grown a bit sideways too. Your face has gotten fat like a pig, like a puppy that couldn't eat well."

"I didn't gain weight!"

Instead of puffing her cheeks, she sucked them in to look as thin as possible.

Freesia chuckled.

Rosaria, who couldn't stand still, counterattacked.

"Why didn't you grow taller then?"

"..."

Freesia's laughter stopped abruptly.

That question was so sensitive that no one had survived asking it.

"Pfft."

However, Freesia answered with a snicker.

"It's because I'm cursed."

Freesia caressed Rosaria's chin as if she found it adorable.

She glanced at her desk.

"Is your magic study going well?"

"Yes! I can do everything I couldn't do before! I can even do Gwain's Magic Theory now!"

"Oh, really?"

Gwain's Magic Theory.

She couldn't remember when she did that.

Her head hurt whenever she tried to recall her childhood memories.

All she needed to remember was that she was very young.

'When this kid does it, I...'

Suddenly, as her own childhood passed by, Freesia unknowingly threw a question.

"Do you know what kind of existence you are?"