Chapter 20

I Became a Newbie Favored by the Transcendents Chapter 20

“G-get away from me!”

The dark mage hurriedly drew up mana with a deathly pale face.

Fwoooooosh―!!!

Flame whips erupting from both his hands surged forward violently.

‘He’s supposedly a former royal court mage, but is that the only spell that bastard knows how to use?’

Slice―!!

I cut through the flame whips rushing at me with waves of heat using a single swing of my sword.

“How in the world have you been...! You’re not even blocking magic, you’re cutting it apart with a sword!”

At his shocked shout, I unconsciously hesitated for a brief moment.

How did I cut it with a sword? What kind of question is that?

He made it sound as though magic normally couldn’t be cut by a sword.

‘Don’t tell me this is also one of the abilities of God-King Style Sword Forms?’

Can cut what cannot be cut.

Could the ‘things that cannot be cut’ mentioned there include magic too?

If so, then it made sense why that bastard looked so shocked his eyes were about to pop out.

What the hell, then.

‘He was never even a match for me in the first place.’

No matter what magic that bastard fires off while going crazy, I can easily cut it apart.

Thanks to that, confidence that I would definitely win surged up.

I accelerated my legs as I ran across the swamp and condensed Divine Power along the horizontally leveled tip of my sword.

“Ugh!”

The moment I closed in right before him, the dark mage wrapped his entire body in tremendous mana.

It didn’t look like an attack spell, so he must have put up a barrier.

Seriously, he kept making the worst possible choices to the point that the word idiot came naturally to mind.

He had already seen that his magic was useless before my swordsmanship, so why was he doing that?

Instead of defending, he should have chosen to widen the distance.

Crunch―!!

“Ghk...”

The thrust extending through the air shattered the barrier.

Then buried itself deep into the bastard’s abdomen beyond it.

At that moment, I felt a faint explosion tickle my ears.

It seemed a wave of Divine Power had exploded from the blade piercing his stomach.

By now, everything inside his body, starting with his organs, should have been turned into proper mush.

Saaaaah―

The swamp covering the ground vanished in an instant.

The dark mage vomited blood from his mouth and dropped to his knees with the sword still piercing his abdomen.

He was gasping, but still alive.

I had deliberately left him alive.

“...Xenon.”

Because our problem child probably had a lot she wanted to say.

Honestly, what this guy said earlier had been bothering me too.

-“The royal family already knows that I turned to dark magic. And they are also very well aware that I am here.”-

The princess standing beside me happened to ask about the same thing I had been wondering.

“You said earlier that the royal family also knew you were here. Then, did Father deliberately stand by even though he knew you intended to kill me?”

“...”

“Answer me!”

The princess’s shout mixed with sorrow and anger echoed for a moment.

Then a chillingly sinister laugh leaked out.

“You are half correct.”

“What?”

“I shall tell you the other half. The royal family went beyond simply standing by. They gave me direct orders. To kill you, Your Highness.”

“...”

?

Gasp.

“What... did you say?”

“It happened relatively recently. The royal family discovered that I had turned to dark magic. Normally, according to the laws of the kingdom, I would have been destined for immediate execution―.”

The dark mage swallowed the blood bubbling in his throat like phlegm, then looked at the princess.

“The king gave me a choice. Die like this. Or dirty my hands in the royal family’s place.”

“D-dirty your hands means...”

“Yes. Killing you. Apparently even for the royal family, directly purging a princess of their own blood carried no small burden.”

“Don’t lie...”

The princess shook her head as one corner of her mouth twitched.

“That... makes no sense. W-why would Father, kill me―.”

“Do you truly not know why?”

“...”

“The disgrace of the royal family. A defective product born without any talent for magic despite receiving the ‘Baptism.’”

The dark mage grinned, baring teeth drenched in blood.

“Sixth Princess Helena Iris. The king has never once thought of you as his child.”

And those became the dark mage bastard’s final words.

Slice- thud.

Because I separated his head from his body with the Moonlight Blade.

[You have defeated an enemy with a significant level difference!]

[Your level increases!]

[Your level increases!]

[Your level...]

Thanks to defeating an enemy more than twice my level.

I gained a record-breaking amount of experience, but even I had enough tact.

If I celebrated power leveling here, I’d be a psychopath.

“...”

I spoke to the princess, who was now blankly sitting on the ground.

“...Let’s go back to the cave and get some more rest first.”

______________

About ten minutes after entering the cave.

We hadn’t exchanged a single word that entire time.

“...”

The princess... According to what that dark mage said earlier, was her name Helena Iris?

Crackle, crackle.

Helena’s gaze was empty as she silently stared at the campfire.

They say when shock or sadness goes beyond a certain point, instead of crying, a person simply loses all spirit.

Helena was exactly like that right now.

This is driving me crazy.

At this rate, she looked ready to stay like that all night.

“Your Highness. You need to sleep early if we’re going to leave early tomorrow morning.”

“...What meaning, does it have.”

“Excuse me?”

“The reason I wanted to obtain the Immortal Loop was to gain the family’s... no, Father’s recognition.”

Helena buried her face into her curled-up body.

Even the proud aristocratic way she used to speak was gone.

“If Father wanted me dead, then even if I obtain the Immortal Loop and return to the family, it’s all meaningless.”

“...”

“Hans. From now on, what... what am I supposed to do?”

Hmm, I think I screwed up.

Because I chose not to run and fought that dark mage bastard instead, I ended up revealing nothing but a cruel truth to Helena.

I didn’t know what words of comfort to offer, or whether she was even in a mental state where comfort would work.

For now, let’s stall for time and think.

“Your Highness. If it’s all right, could you tell me about the ‘Immortal Loop’?”

“...What, Hans. You don’t know?”

“Yes. I don’t know much about it.”

“Well, since you aren’t a mage, I suppose it makes sense that you wouldn’t know. The ‘Immortal Loop,’ simply put, is a great flame that contains a fragment of infinite providence.”

Was that supposed to be simple?

...I couldn’t exactly say that, so I listened quietly.

“A power that guides its target toward the path of magic. If one touches that flame, even a being with no affinity for magic whatsoever can form a Circle in their heart.”

“Forming a Circle means...”

“That’s right. Their body is forcibly changed into one capable of awakening magic. And not merely at the First Circle, but directly at the realm of the Fourth Circle.”

Hearing that, I could see why she made such a big deal about it.

Then if I touched the flame, I could become a Fourth Circle mage too.

“But that only applies to other people. Purebloods of the Iris family like me are different.”

“How so?”

“Only purebloods of Iris can obtain the true authority of the ‘Immortal Loop.’ We can gain inexhaustible infinite mana and a body favored by the four great elements.”

In other words, the true value of the ‘Immortal Loop’ could only be enjoyed by people from her family.

Damn bloodline privilege.

“Iris blood is more special than I realized.”

“It isn’t the blood itself that’s special. It’s the opportunity given only to direct descendants.”

“Opportunity?”

“When purebloods are born, we are made to touch the remains of Iris ancestors who reached the Ninth Circle in life. The ‘Baptism.’”

Looks like these guys had a grotesque tradition where they made children touch the corpses of their dead ancestors.

Come to think of it, that dark mage bastard mentioned something about a Baptism earlier, so I had wondered what it was. So that was it.

“Only those who have received the Baptism can enjoy the true power of the ‘Immortal Loop.’ But only direct descendants of Iris receive the Baptism, so in practice, it means only direct descendants can obtain the Immortal Loop’s true value.”

Now it roughly made sense.

So even if you weren’t of Iris blood, if you touched the remains of an Iris ancestor who had reached the Ninth Circle.

You could awaken the true power of the ‘Immortal Loop.’

‘Well, even so, it has nothing to do with me anyway.’

Unless I suddenly barged into their family estate and touched the remains of their ancestors.

“Then since Your Highness has already received the Baptism, touching the ‘Immortal Loop’ will allow you to become a powerful mage.”

“Yes, but...”

Helena’s mood, which had almost improved for a moment because the conversation turned to something she knew, sank again.

“Now that I know I was abandoned by the family, what does any of that even matter...”

“...”

“I suppose I deserved to be abandoned. I understand why Father tried to kill me. Someone like me who disgraces the family name would be better off―.”

“So are you just going to descend the mountain like this?”

At my question, Helena lifted her face from between her knees and looked at me.

“What happens to all the effort I put into carrying Your Highness all the way here?”

“Hans...”

“No matter what the truth behind everything is, nothing changes. What we have to do was decided from the very beginning.”

Go to the temple and come into contact with the ‘Immortal Loop.’

That way I can clear the quest and leave this place too.

“Your Highness needs to become stronger. You can’t become even weaker here.”

“...”

“All the obstacles are gone. What are you afraid of, and what are you worried about?”

If we struggled through just one more day tomorrow, we could easily reach the temple.

There was no murderous dark mage chasing us anymore, so all we had to do was walk hard.

“So think about what comes afterward when the time comes.”

When I said that, Helena was sniffling as tears streamed down her face.

No matter how many times she wiped them away with her hands, the tears wouldn’t stop, so eventually she silently turned over and lay down.

I couldn’t rush her for an answer.

Honestly, if I learned my own parents had tried to kill me, my mind would probably shatter too.

I couldn’t even imagine the shock a child like her must have felt.

Let’s wait until dawn.

Hoping Helena would make the right choice, I went to sleep.

And.

Early the next morning.

“Let’s go, Hans.”

Helena woke up even earlier than I did, woke me, and said this.

“Take me to the summit.”

The dawn seeping into the cave illuminated Helena’s resolute eyes.

Hmm.

I can’t really call her a problem child anymore, can I?

____________

After that, we climbed the snowy mountain without resting.

Of course, it was by no means a smooth journey.

The higher we climbed toward the summit, the steeper the slope became, and the already fierce blizzard only grew rougher until we could barely see ahead.

For me, my high stat values provided reliable support, so the climb was manageable enough...

But Helena was different.

After passing the halfway point, she fell so many times that I gave up counting after the thirteenth.

It wasn’t exactly a mountain with a nice little trail, so every single step must have been hell.

Every time Helena fell, I offered to carry her.

And every time, I heard the same answer.

“No. I’ll go on my own feet.”

...It would save far more time if she simply let me carry her.

The words rose all the way to my throat, but I swallowed them again.

Why?

I don’t know either.

Maybe I had finally thrown up both hands before this brat’s stubbornness.

But for some reason, I felt that here, it was right to let Helena walk on her own two feet.

It felt like if I didn’t, something enormous she was holding inside herself right now would collapse.

The one fortunate thing was that there were no other monsters or beasts on this mountain besides Yetis.

And as Helena said, even those Yetis didn’t attack humans unless provoked first.

All we had to do was keep moving forward without breaking.

Continuously.

Without resting.

And around the time the sunset dyed the white snowfield reddish.

“Your Highness.”

I was able to stand before a stone building from which a golden line stretched upward.

“We’ve arrived.”

The temple.

It was the moment we finally reached our destination at the summit of the mountain.

“...”

Facing the temple that appeared at the end of that long, arduous journey, Helena’s expression was...

Achievement, joy.

It was far from emotions like those.

Rather, she was expressionless.

It was the first time I found it difficult to read the emotions of this simple, one-dimensional little brat.

“While coming all this way, I thought about it.”

Breaking a silence that was neither particularly short nor long, Helena spoke.

“About what I should do after obtaining the ‘Immortal Loop.’”

“...”

“I’m not going back to the royal family.”

“Then?”

“I don’t know.”

...?

What?

“Once I descend the snowy mountain, I’m just going to wander the continent wherever my feet take me. Like a wanderer.”

“You mean you’re giving up the life of a princess?”

“The family threw me away anyway, so I can hardly call myself a princess anymore.”

“That’s true.”

“I’m going to live not as a princess, but as a mage. As Helena Iris the Mage.”

“Helena Iris the Mage...”

I chuckled.

“That rolls off the tongue much better than Sixth Princess Helena Iris.”

“Right?”

Only then did Helena look at me with a smile.

“I’ll travel the continent, building my realm higher and higher until I become a powerful mage. I’ll learn whatever magic I can, make contracts with outstanding spirits, and gather people of my own. And then―.”

I glimpsed the various emotions tangled in Helena’s eyes.

Among them, there was certainly anger too.

“I’ll return to the royal family and meet Father and my siblings again.”

“To take revenge?”

“I’ll know when the time comes.”

After saying that, Helena approached the temple.

Rumble.

The enormous stone doors opened astonishingly easily with only a little force from her hands.

The inside of the temple was an empty chamber with nothing in it except several pillars standing on both sides.

But it didn’t feel desolate at all.

Rather, the exact opposite.

It was majestic.

Fwoooooosh―

Because of the blue flame floating like the sun at the center of the chamber.

The moment I saw the flame forming a round band like a ring.

A thrill wrapping up from the tips of my feet told me that infinite power resided within it.

That’s it.

The ‘Immortal Loop.’

‘So if I touch that too, I can instantly become a Fourth Circle mage.’

Then why wouldn’t I touch it?

Helena touches it, and I touch it too.

A happy ending good for both of us.

...Was my futile dream.

[The interior of the temple is an area not permitted to the Player.]

Because the moment I tried to cross the doorway, something like an invisible barrier forcibly pushed me away.

The area permitted to me ended exactly at the boundary separating the entrance from the outside.

Ah, seriously, that’s too much.

You didn’t have to go this far, you damn system bastard.

Of course, Helena strode into the temple without any problem.

“Hans. If it weren’t for you, I would never have made it this far.”

Before reaching out toward the ‘Immortal Loop.’

Helena turned back and smiled at me.

“Thank you, Hans. So, um...”

Just as she stammered slightly in embarrassment.

[You have successfully escorted the Sixth Princess safely to the temple!]

[You will exit the Gate in 10 seconds.]

Along with the message announcing the successful clear, another message warning of my exit appeared before my eyes.

Helena, who couldn’t see system messages, probably had no idea that I would disappear in only a few seconds.

“Until the day I become a great mage and return to the royal family, could you stay by my side?”

...What do I do, kid?

I’m disappearing in five seconds.

And once I leave this place, we’ll probably never meet again.

But completely different words from what I was thinking came out of my mouth.

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Hearing my answer, Helena smiled brightly and reached toward the ‘Immortal Loop.’

What happened afterward.

And what changes occurred to Helena.

I couldn’t see.

Because a blinding white light covered my vision.

[You have cleared ‘Journey Toward the Arcane’!]

[Clear Time: 29 hours 32 minutes 15 seconds]

[You have defeated ‘Dark Mage Xenon.’]

[Hidden condition fulfilled!]

[Clear Rank: S+]

[Your level increases significantly!]

[Lv.18 → Lv.20]

[Reward calculation will take some time!]

_____________

When the light faded, I was back in downtown Euljiro.

They kicked me out without mercy the moment those ten seconds passed.

‘I wanted to at least leave her with a few words of encouragement.’

Maybe I had gotten somewhat attached to that kid while spending a day together.

Now that we had been cut apart so abruptly, I strangely felt a little regretful.

‘...No, what am I thinking?’

Fundamentally, Helena was a fictional being created by the Gate.

The world she lived in and the trials she had to endure.

If you really broke it down, all of it was nothing more than fiction, like a story inside a game.

No getting overly immersed.

I decided there was no epilogue.

Thinking it was time to return to everyday life, I checked the time on my phone.

‘About four hours passed.’

While I had been trapped inside for nearly thirty hours, not even half a day had passed outside.

This is a dilemma.

Should I clear one more Gate?

Or should I stop here and rest for today?

While I was debating internally.

[Reward calculation is complete!]

[You obtain Highest-Grade Mana Crystal x5!]

“Huh?”

I blinked in surprise at the reward message that appeared after the delay.

...Five Highest-Grade Mana Crystals?

Then that’s 5kg.

‘I had 6kg of Mana Crystals gathered so far, so with this...’

I had fully met the 10kg quota of Mana Crystals required to concoct the Elixir.

In other words, I don’t have to clear any more Gates?

‘Jackpot!’

No reason to delay!

I immediately accessed the gallery and was about to start a chat with ‘IAmLegend.’

Ding!

[S+ Rank reward will be granted!]

[You obtain the ‘Immortal Loop’!]

Along with the completely unexpected message.

Thud!

Space tore slightly, and a glass cube dropped at my feet.

“...?”

Inside the cube was...

A blue flame rotating in a spiral.

Without a doubt, the ‘Immortal Loop’ I had seen in the temple was inside it.

________________

Pantheon Manifestation Realm No. 12.

The Elven Highlands, ‘Elvenheim.’

“Ugh...”

A blue-haired woman wearing thin cloth robes resembling monastic garments groaned.

Before the woman, who sat demurely on her knees and focused on meditation.

A towering ancient tree that seemed to pierce Pantheon’s heavens stood alone.

The World Tree.

The sacred tree worshiped by the natives of ‘Elvenheim,’ and the mother of all nature.

It had already been half a day since the woman sat planted before the World Tree.

As her body and mind slowly reached their limits, she opened her closed eyes and sighed.

“...It doesn’t work.”

The infinite mana of the World Tree.

She had thought that cultivating mana before it would allow her to reach the ‘Supreme Realm’ she could not attain in life.

Attain it, my ass. She had only wasted time.

Once again, today had been a complete failure.

“Well, of course. Mana itself has no life force, so how could anything change? What in the world was I expecting?”

In the end, this World Tree too, and the mana possessed by the World Tree.

Everything was merely an imitation created by Pantheon.

Magic and mana were, at their roots, powers that represented life itself.

Perhaps reaching the ‘Supreme Realm’ with Pantheon’s fake mana had been impossible from the very beginning.

“Sigh.”

As the disheartened woman repeatedly sighed.

A cotton-like ball of light quietly appeared behind her.

The ball of light suddenly said.

<​Feed me.>

“A spirit of Elvenheim? Why are you bothering me again?”

The ball of light was a spirit.

And to a spirit, ‘food’ meant the woman’s mana.

“If you want mana, go ask the elves for some.”

<​Elf mana tastes bad. Yours is the best. Hurry and give me some.>

“Seriously.”

The woman waved her hand at the spirit hovering around like a fly.

It was meant to tell it to get lost, but the spirit persistently craved the woman’s mana.

Eventually reaching the stage of outright ignoring it, the woman pretended the spirit didn’t exist and reached a hand into the air.

At that moment.

Bzzzt―.

A blue window appeared before the woman’s eyes.

It was the ‘Pantheon Gallery.’

A sanctuary that had soothed the woman’s exhausted body and mind for a long time.

“Pfft.”

Once again today, the woman burst out laughing at the endless parade of shitposts uploaded to Pantheon.

High-class communication with nature as one’s companion.

This was paradise.

“Shall I start rereading the Archive... Hmm?”

Just as she was about to binge through the popular posts in the ‘Archive.’

The title of a certain post suddenly caught the woman’s eye.

=====

[Title: Just formed Circles and got fucking strong, recommend some overpowered Fourth Circle spells]

Author: Anon (111.111)

=====

“This person is...?”

The anonymous nickname from dimensional coordinates ‘111.111.’

A fresh newbie believed to have only recently ascended to Pantheon.

Ever since posting proof of perfectly using ‘SaviorOfTheEmpire’s’ swordsmanship, which no one else had ever managed to learn.

The existence of ‘Anon (111.111)’ had become deeply engraved in the minds of countless Transcendents residing in Pantheon.

The woman was no exception.

“And now that person has taken an interest in magic...?”

It wasn’t bad news.

As a mage walking the path of magic, magic newbies were always welcome.

However, the title of the post strangely irritated the woman.

“They just formed Circles, so why are they already asking for fucking strong Fourth Circle spells?”

They had only just learned to walk, yet they were already asking how to sprint at full speed.

Did they think magic was easy?

Slightly irritated, the woman immediately opened the post.

And the next moment.

=====

(Photo of ring-shaped blue flames wrapped around the upper body)

Got four all at once the instant my Circles formed. Huge win lol

Now all I need to do is learn magic...

=====

-NinthCircleArchmage, show yourself

-This bastard’s proof of Ernia swordsmanship last time too, low-key seems like a talent freak lol

└Low-key(X) Blatantly(O)

-If you’re in a hurry, go read the Tips posts written by NinthCircleArchmage. When it comes to magical knowledge, that one knows the most in Pantheon yeah

-SaviorOfTheEmpire) Benefactor!!!! Why!!!! What about our imperial swordsmanship!!!

└Why is this guy freaking out so hard

└Looks like she thought he’d go all-in on swordsmanship and panicked because he suddenly said he’s learning magic lol

└HolyQueen) Don’t say something nasty like she got NTR’d;

└SaviorOfTheEmpire) You are the worst one here...

Aside from a few insignificant comments, the Transcendents were mentioning one nickname.

NinthCircleArchmage.

It was none other than the registered nickname the woman used in the gallery.

“No, no, no, wait a moment.”

But the woman’s attention wasn’t on the comments right now.

It was focused solely on the image attached to the post.

Ring-shaped blue flames wrapped around the upper body.

There was no mistake.

“Immortal... Loop?”

While the woman remained frozen from a shock like being struck by lightning.

The spirit that had been lingering around her all this time urged her irritably.

<​I said hurry up and feed me! Why are you ignoring me, Helena!>