The Problematic Child of the Magic Tower-Chapter 302

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Chapter 302: Seventh Circle (4)

“Hm, so this is the atmosphere.”

Oscar nodded as he looked around the dim surroundings.

The place he had entered was the former underground prison of the White Tower—now the Sealed Chamber.

It was the place Fran used to look at with teary eyes, saying it was too scary to go in.

‘No doubt this is better than a normal training room.’

Of course, training inside his personal pocket dimension—where no one could disturb him—was also an option.

But simple training was one thing; engraving a new mana circuit was another.

And this was the seventh circuit, one that would fundamentally change the nature of a human being.

His pocket dimension was, in the end, also a place controlled by mana.

He didn’t want to take unnecessary risks when he didn’t know what might happen during the installation of a circuit.

“Hoo.”

Sitting on the cold stone floor, Oscar checked his physical condition first.

Thanks to the artifact he received from the Black Tower Lord, he had slept a full 13 hours every day for the past week.

He hadn’t even had coffee that morning, so his heart wasn’t beating fast either.

Nervous?

Why would he be nervous?

It wasn’t like he was going to fight the Demon Emperor.

In short, his condition was perfect.

‘Good.’

Without dragging it out, he closed his eyes and his consciousness rapidly sank inward.

Oscar began observing his inner universe.

The first thing that came into view was the six clearly glowing lines.

‘Whoever designed this, it’s really clean.’

It tolerated not even a speck of excess, to the point it felt like an artwork.

When one more line was added today, the sight would become even more complete.

“Hoo.”

He had already given some thought to the path ahead.

As Edna suggested, he would combine his previous life’s experience with what he’d gained in this life.

‘Easy to say… but actually mixing them is close to impossible…’

He didn’t earn the title of Great Mage by gambling.

He had already finished the basic design; he only needed to execute it.

‘In my previous life, the path I chose was extreme harmony.’

A path that, in his view, was the most stable and highest in overall completeness.

Of course, there were downsides—weak destructive power and slow growth.

But it blended with everything easily.

It didn’t hit a devastating peak anywhere, but as a whole, it was a well-rounded hexagon.

‘It’s only because I’ve walked that path that I can now dream of improving it.’

But even so, digesting the ingredients he planned to combine this time wasn’t easy.

Frost and Holy Power.

Both were like sharp awls piercing through a single point.

‘Frost is cold, sharp… and fast.’

A wind containing frost carried extremely aggressive characteristics.

Sometimes he’d flinch even knowing it was his own wind.

‘Holy power, on the other hand, is a bit more familiar.’

Its very nature felt warm and soft.

It was similar to the wind he primarily used.

‘Most importantly, frost and holy power are polar opposites in temperament.’

One cold, the other warm.

One fast, the other leisurely.

One sharp, the other round.

‘When I killed Belpher, I put the two into a single wind.’

Controlling that nearly drove him insane.

Frost screamed for him to release the reins immediately, while holy power was endlessly relaxed.

‘Right now frost and holy power each claim their own rights, but in my previous life Harmony monopolized every circuit.’

In other words, Harmony was the senior.

Most importantly, Harmony had the capacity to embrace the other two.

‘Frost and holy power each have strong egos.’

So you shouldn’t try to press them down too hard—they might rebel more violently.

Thus, the path he needed now was coexistence.

Oscar chose Harmony to act as the teacher guiding that coexistence.

‘First, lay Harmony as the base of the entire circuit.’

Harmony, summoned first, leisurely filled the circuit as if this treatment was only natural.

The next one he summoned—surprisingly—was frost rather than holy power, which had a similar wavelength to Harmony.

‘Honestly, frost has seniority.’

Assigned a room before holy power, frost rushed around energetically.

Seeing this, holy power disliked it, so Oscar quickly assigned holy power to the opposite side.

‘Arranging it like this… Harmony will serve as the bridge between the two opposites.’

Indeed, this seemed to work well—the two powers didn’t resist.

Oscar thought of Itaca’s voice, which he could no longer hear.

‘It might actually be a blessing that holy power has lost most of its strength.’

If it had been as overwhelmingly strong as when he first received it, it might never have accepted this placement.

But now, with its strength reduced to a sliver and its voice silent, holy power stayed quiet, as if aware of its own situation.

‘Hoo, with the seating arrangement finished…’

There would be no chaos during the installation of the new circuit.

Oscar immediately began carving the seventh mana circuit.

“……”

His stray thoughts vanished; all his attention focused solely on engraving the circuit.

A tiny mistake could trigger mana rampage.

For three long hours he installed the circuit with massive concentration—

Crack, craaack!

His outer shell peeled away as if cracks had formed.

From level 7 and up, people were called Masters because the stage was completely different.

‘Reconstruction of the body.’

That’s what people usually called this phenomenon.

But Oscar disagreed.

‘It’s not that big a deal. It’s nowhere near the “rebirth” state spoken of in Yan.’

Your skin just gets a bit cleaner and tougher—nothing more.

The process appears again when advancing to level 8, and the true transformation begins at level 9.

‘Back then, it really felt like being born anew.’

That was when the body was truly restructured.

Even Heavenly Sword would regain his lost hair roots if he reached level 9.

“……Hoo.”

Dead skin and other waste flowed out with sweat, filling the area with stench.

But he felt more refreshed than ever.

As Oscar looked at the brightly glowing seventh line—

“Huh?”

His vision spun.

It wasn’t something you could dismiss as mild dizziness.

His sight failed, and now even his consciousness was being swallowed.

‘What… is this?’

He had successfully installed the seventh circuit.

There had been no issues in the process.

Even during the body-lightening phase, nothing went wrong.

‘Then why?’

Dizziness and headaches worsened, cold sweat streaming down his face.

He tried to endure with pure grit, but soon reached his limit—

His mind shut down entirely.

* * *

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“……”

Inside Oscar—deep within the soul, undetectable even with mana.

There stood countless towers made from stacked books.

Rustle… rustle…

And the one endlessly reading among them sensed that the awaited time had finally come.

‘At last, level 7.’

A long time for others, but a mere instant for him.

To gain a body of this quality, enduring only this much was a bargain.

Rising slowly, the being descended the book towers and faced the door.

All he had to do was turn the handle and step out—

And the body would belong entirely to him.

He felt neither excitement nor nervousness, but he was curious.

‘How far…’

How far he could go once he owned this body.

The being grabbed the handle and turned it—

“?”

The door didn’t open.

Realizing something was blocking it, he lowered his gaze slowly.

At that moment, radiant light filled his vision.

“Holy power?”

He knew exactly what that was.

Better than anyone.

But why it was here, he had no idea.

Vwooom—

Summoned by name, holy power stood firmly, refusing to move from the doorway.

“……”

“……”

While the two locked horns—

Cold wind flew around excitedly,

And Harmony busied itself trying to calm frost down.

A strange cohabitation had begun.

* * *

“Oof.”

Oscar woke with an incredibly refreshed feeling.

“Uhhhhhhhhhgh!”

Stretching luxuriously, he looked around.

‘Ah, right. The Sealed Chamber.’

How did he fall asleep?

Tracing back his memory, his expression stiffened.

‘Hold on—I didn’t fall asleep. I fainted from dizziness.’

He quickly stirred his mana and checked his body.

Not satisfied with a simple check, he ran a precise scan through Wind Archive.

“Hm?”

The result was all green—perfect.

Not a speck of a problem.

He was so healthy it was ridiculous.

‘Then why did I faint? I was so dizzy…’

Was it some genetic issue of House Crucian?

Like acute anemia…?

After examining himself for a long time, he concluded nothing was wrong and stood up.

‘Unless it happens again, there’s no point worrying now.’

With test results this good, continuing to doubt would just look foolish.

Oscar summoned mana lightly.

“Hm.”

His mana rose much faster. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Even though he had only added one circuit numerically, the circulation had become far smoother.

‘It really feels like the part of the world I can perceive has expanded.’

Things he had vaguely sensed using his past life’s memories now felt sharp and clear.

After circulating mana several times, Oscar nodded in satisfaction.

‘Not bad at all.’

And now that he had reached full level 7, with expanded senses—

The World Liberation he could unleash would be incomparable to its previous half-baked state.

‘Now it’s truly worthy of the name World Liberation.’

There was no need to just imagine.

Oscar snapped his fingers.

“World Liberation—Limitless Heaven.”

In an instant, the sky expanded and painted over the entire space, imprinting his existence onto the world.

Wooong—

Feeling the breeze blow, Oscar let out a small sound of admiration.

“Oh.”

Outwardly, little had changed, but he could feel it clearly.

‘Looks like automatic attacks against anyone I perceive as hostile are active.’

And several new effects that didn’t exist in his previous life seemed added.

Like a child who’d received a new toy, he snapped his fingers again.

“If I do this…”

The sky turned gray, temperature plunged, and snowflakes drifted down.

Most enemies would freeze just by existing in this domain.

‘That’s what happens when frost permeates the whole sky.’

So what about holy power?

With a thought, the sky changed entirely—

Turning bright blue, emitting streams of warm wind.

“So that’s how it works.”

Undead wouldn’t last a moment in this environment.

For the first time in a long while, Oscar felt his heart pound with excitement.

‘Ah, is there no decent enemy nearby?’

He wanted to witness the full effects of this world—stronger than in his past life—with his own eyes.

Clicking his tongue in slight disappointment, Oscar spent a long time studying his newfound power.

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