Magic Monopoly: Reborn as the Sole Magic Tower Master-Chapter 240: Episode

On my way to Sector 4, I cut down swarming monsters, gathering mana for the Magic Tower as I went. The mine was fairly expensive.

’There really is a ridiculous amount of mana here.’

If I exaggerated a little, it felt like I was constantly sipping mana elixirs. I would cast second-order spells, and before long, my mana would already be refilling.

[Your Mana Breathing trait has reached Lv. 6.]

On top of that, the Mana Breathing trait that had been so stubborn about leveling up finally improved. I arrived at Sector 4 in high spirits.

Unlike the other sectors, which were as bright as if someone had flipped a switch, Sector 4 was shrouded in a heavy, oppressive darkness.

“Grrr...”

An Underhound—a Rank 5 canine monster with jagged, metallic fur bristling from its body.

“Let’s get started, Ea.”

I stirred my mana as I spoke.

-But Tower Master, she interjected.

“Yeah?”

-What exactly do you mean by buildup training?

“To put it simply, it’s this.”

I pointed a finger and fired off a single Fire Cannon.

The Underhound leaped straight up, dodging the fireball.

“It’s not easy to hunt high-rank monsters with a few second-order spells anymore, is it? The fast ones can just dodge like that.”

-That’s true.

“So, this is the method I’ve been using in response.”

I swung my arm in a wide arc through the air.

<Fire Cannon ×10>

A sequence of fireballs rained down from above.

The Underhound dodged the first three, but it failed to avoid the fourth and was engulfed in flames, rolling across the ground. The Fire Cannons that followed turned the monster into a pile of ash.

“Overwhelming firepower. If one or two shots didn’t hit, I’d just keep firing until one did.”

-Yes, that has been your style, Tower Master.

Another Underhound approached, growling.

“But now that I’ve reached the sixth-order, I have a better option.”

I cast the Fire Cannon magic circle, then laid an Acceleration Circle and an Amplification Circle in front of it, in that order.

The fireball that launched next passed through both circles.

Its power and speed amplified, the fireball flickered with red and green light as it slammed directly into the Underhound.

There was no need to fire again. The Underhound’s body melted away in a single blow.

-High-performance sixth-order buff magic. This is what Tower Master Minerva emphasized.

“Right.”

Now, the existing second-order spells could be combined with sixth-order buff magic to produce completely new levels of efficiency and power.

Old spells didn’t become obsolete; they created new synergies with new magic. That’s the truly wonderful thing about the craft.

-I agree with your explanation, Tower Master. So what is the problem we’re facing?

“This.”

I spread Fire Cannon, Acceleration Circle, and Amplification Circle in the air all at once.

Fire Cannon completed first, followed in sequence by the Acceleration and Amplification Circles as they lit up.

“The tempo of the casting is too slow.”

-That is certainly true.

Even though the sixth-order had a natural advantage in casting speed, these buff spells were surprisingly heavy. There was no way they could ever match the speed of a second-order spell.

In real combat, when I tried to use all three spells at once, the situation got even worse.

Sometimes the Fire Cannon would launch before the buff circles were fully deployed, or the fireball wouldn’t receive the full effect of the buffs I had cast.

“I’m trying to shore up this weakness while I have the time.”

-How will you do that?

“By bundling the attack and buff spells into a single, unified pattern.”

Instead of casting three separate spells, I would focus on completing one unified pattern. I closed my eyes and triggered all three magic circles at once.

’Stop here.’

In the middle of casting, I opened my eyes and halted the process. The half-formed magic circles floated in the air.

<Fire Cannon> – 28%

<Acceleration Circle> – 21%

<Amplification Circle> – 17%

-Just as I thought. The completion rates are all different, Ea observed.

After thinking for a moment, I spoke up. “Ea. Let’s unify the base construction patterns for the Acceleration and Amplification Circles.”

-If we proceed as you suggest, Tower Master, the Acceleration Circle’s construction speed will slow to match the Amplification Circle. Is that acceptable?

“It is.”

-Initializing pattern activation system, expanding formulas, analyzing patterns and margin of error, applying typographical improvements and modifications.

After a brief pause, she spoke again.

-Please follow my guidance.

“Got it. Here we go!”

Once more, I formed the magic circles and stopped at a certain point.

<Fire Cannon> – 28%

<Acceleration Circle> – 19%

<Amplification Circle> – 19%

“Nice!”

Acceleration and Amplification had roughly synced up. However, Fire Cannon was still far too fast.

-For Fire Cannon, let’s write the formula only up to the ejection phase and hold it. Once the other circles are finished, we’ll integrate everything and cast it all at once.

Ea and I kept adjusting the balance of the magic circles. The Underhounds that kept charging at me made for excellent test subjects.

By the time the Underhound corpses had piled up into a small hill—

[You have acquired Combo Casting.]

[You have gained the Combo Casting trait.]

“There we go!”

Just like in <The Fundamentals of Magic>. I drew up my mana and thrust my arm toward another monster rushing at me.

Three magic circles opened at the same time. Fire Cannon formed the fastest, while the other two completed more slowly.

Then the Fire Cannon circle’s speed slowed, and the other two sped up to match it, gradually balancing out.

In the final stage, the formulas of all three circles were integrated and processed together, activating simultaneously.

<Fire Cannon – Accelerated, Amplified>

The Fire Cannon shot out immediately and exploded against the monster’s body. The Underhound turned to ash in a single strike.

“Good! I’m going to keep repeating this until it becomes second nature!”

-Yes, Tower Master.

This was the essence of buildup training.

You take multiple spells, shuffle their completion order to find the optimal arrangement, and then train until they all activate at the exact same moment.

It was like setting up a hotkey so that a whole skill combo would fire off the instant you pressed it. The goal was to make it a habit.

In theory, the operating principle of Fire Cannon – Acceleration, Amplification had been simple when I first thought of it.

But the more I used it, the more the three magic circles began to move like a single interconnected ecosystem.

I identified overlapping parts among the three formulas and processed those sections all at once, continually streamlining the calculation process.

After countless repetitions while chugging mana elixirs, the combo had evolved to the point where it felt like a single spell.

“Hmm.”

After a moment of thought, I unfolded a new spell.

<Mirror Shield>

Winslow’s original spell, which reflected light-based attacks. I’d copied that one, too.

In my case, I’d reworked it slightly to alter the direction of my own spells.

Then I set up three Mirror Shields in front of Fire Cannon – Acceleration, Amplification and fired.

The red-and-green Fire Cannon flew forward, struck the first Mirror Shield, and was deflected upward. The next Mirror Shield waiting above caught the incoming Fire Cannon and slammed it straight down.

Another Underhound vanished under the crushing downward blast.

’This is good, too!’

I could now turn a simple straight-line second-order spell into an attack that could travel along multiple paths.

’One more time!’

<Fire Cannon – Acceleration, Amplification.>

<Mirror Shield>

<Mirror Shield>

<Mirror Shield>

Under normal circumstances, having to cast six spells at once would have made this completely unusable in real combat.

But now, things were different.

The quick-slotted Fire Cannon combo counted as a single spell, making it only as difficult as casting two different types of magic at once.

I had far more mental capacity to spare. I fired the completed Fire Cannon at an Underhound.

The fireball flew straight ahead, passed through the Acceleration and Amplification Circles to power up, then hit a Mirror Shield and bounced, then bounced again, and again, until it struck the final Mirror Shield I had set up and curved around to target the Underhound’s back.

Thinking it had dodged, the beast charged straight at me, only to be swallowed from behind by the incoming fireball and vanish.

“Very nice!”

This was good enough for now. With a bit more practice, I would be able to use it in real combat without any issues.

Spells that would leave any opponent speechless. I’d use these fast spells to buy time until the enemy’s casting window closed.

Then, once I had enough focus built up, I would finish them off with heavy spells like fourth-order, fifth-order, or Chain Hole. Perfect.

“Ea. I can skip dinner tonight.”

-You’re planning to stay up all night, aren’t you?

Ea asked in a tone that said she already knew the answer.

“I hate to break my flow. Still, I won’t push myself too hard. We never know when we’ll have to move against Albert.”

-I’ll just bring your meal here.

Oh, right. Ea could come here, too. I kept forgetting that.

-I’ll prepare a Mediterranean-style meal with the groceries you bought yesterday, Tower Master.

“Nice! I’m counting on you.”

I psyched myself up again and began casting.

* * *

Time passed, and world affairs unfolded exactly as I had expected.

The Alliance and chemical companies around the globe were pouring everything into developing an antidote, but there was still no news.

Public anxiety only continued to grow.

As a result, the pressure on the Alliance intensified. The Global Alliance’s social media accounts were flooded with protests and desperate cries in hundreds of different languages.

[Give us the antidote! If you don’t, disband the Alliance!]

[The Global Alliance must negotiate with GOT.]

[Human lives come first!]

[Abolish nuclear weapons! Execute the racists!]

[Why won’t you save people when you can? Are your vested interests really that important?]

Before long, the sensitive demands GOT had made—like abolishing nuclear weapons and addressing human rights issues—became a source of massive conflict, splitting people into factions who fought among themselves.

Regardless of public opinion, the Alliance refused to negotiate with a demonkin.

Not only would it set a precedent of humanity making deals with demonkins, but even if they agreed to GOT’s terms, there was no guarantee GOT would actually hand over the antidote.

“Haah...”

Sitting in the lobby, I let out a sigh and turned my head away from the news I was scrolling through on my smartphone.

At some point, Jin Bora had come in and was brewing potions over a cauldron.

“Bora! I told you to go lie down and rest!”

“I’m fine! If I lie around all day, I just feel weak and sleepy.”

Despite her words, her complexion had grown much darker.

She was trying not to show it, wearing long sleeves and a turtleneck, but I could see blackened veins faintly showing through the skin of her wrist.

I fell silent.

I clenched my teeth.

According to what GOT had revealed, after an incubation period of about one to four weeks—depending on the person—the veins would turn black. From that point, they could transform into monsters in as little as two weeks.

We were now approaching the end of the first week.

’...Would I be able to kill Jin Bora once she turns into a monster?’

I shook my head hard, forcing the anxious thought from my mind.

This was no time for weakness. I had made a promise to myself, hadn’t I?

I could not lose her like this.

“Tower Master! We have a problem!"

Ea appeared in midair.

“What happened?”

I had been hearing nothing but bad news, so I had thought things couldn’t get any worse.

That was what I had been telling myself.

“...The admiral appears to have betrayed us.”

But the worst was yet to come.