Chapter 16

The Returning Archmage Is a Max-Level Player Chapter 16

He closed his eyes.

He steadied his breathing and turned his consciousness inward.

He could feel the orbit circling around his heart.

One ring.

It was the first trajectory of Arcanum Cosmos that had been with him for fifty years.

‘I’ll engrave the second one here.’

Since the orbit had already been created, the process itself proceeded quickly.

With the requirement of Mana 10 already met, adding another ring was a matter of overlaying a new concentric circle onto the existing orbit.

But it was not easy.

If the rotation of the existing orbit and the new ring fell out of sync, they would collide.

A collision meant mana would flow backward, and in the worst case, the orbit itself could collapse.

‘Slowly.’

He drew the mana out as thin as a thread and sent it flowing outside the first ring.

He read the flow and matched the direction and speed of rotation.

Two different trajectories began to overlap.

Wooooong-!

Resonance.

The moment the wavelengths of the two rings matched, the entire orbit surged.

Mana spread beyond his body and outward.

The air in the living room trembled.

The orchid leaves on the shelf shook violently from the aftermath of the spreading mana,

And it was so strong that even the closed door and windows rattled noisily.

And then.

Click-

The second ring interlocked with the first orbit and settled into place.

“As expected, that was close.”

It had been close, but he had succeeded.

It was a path he had built over fifty years in the Sanctuary.

It was the moment he proved that even if the world changed and his body changed, he could still continue down that path.

Indeed, the aftereffects had appeared exactly as he expected.

The number 10 in Mana was only the minimum required to engrave the second ring.

If he had had more leeway, he could have proceeded much more stably.

‘But I don’t have time to take things that leisurely.’

For now, it had ended with nothing more than a flowerpot shaking and windows rattling, but next time it would not end like this.

The third ring. Especially when advancing into the completely new stage beyond that, there would be unavoidable damage to the surrounding environment.

Rather than merely having mana spread outward like earlier, it could shake the entire area.

‘I don’t have time to take things that leisurely right now.’

Still, while it looked unstable like this now, things would be different from the 3rd Circle onward.

As one was finally called a true mage at that level, it could be formed with almost no effect on the surroundings. Someone who could not even properly control their mana could hardly be called a mage.

“I’ll need a training space.”

Just as a new task settled into his mind.

A familiar notification sounded in his ears.

Ding-!!

-A change has been detected in the Circle (Unclassified).

-A remeasurement will be attempted for analysis.

-Analyzing the creator’s intent.

-Evaluation complete.

-Classified as the Circle ‘Star Embryo’ and temporarily registered.

‘Not bad.’

He swallowed a brief exclamation inwardly.

The embryo of a star. A star that had yet to become a complete stellar system, just before its birth.

The orbit had only just begun to properly take shape, yet the System had grasped his intention immediately.

He already knew it was capable, but its analytical ability was still quite impressive.

The next message was accurate as well.

Ding-!!

-Based on the amount of mana currently contained within the Circle, the special stat ‘Mana’ increases by (5).

-The Babel System recognizes the achievement of establishing an independent mana system and highly evaluates user ‘Kim Dohyun’s’ accomplishment.

-You have acquired the title ‘Shaking Star.’

[Shaking Star]

Grade: Rare+

Effect: Special stat ‘Mana’ increases by 1.5.

His Mana increased further merely from raising his Circle.

Including the title effect, his Mana stat rose sharply.

It was not merely a numerical change.

As his Mana increased, the range of magic he could use expanded, and its power changed.

Most importantly, now that the second ring was complete, he could operate Arcanum Cosmos without relying on Mana Cores.

“Nice.”

On Earth right now, the strength of an Awakened translated directly into money.

And for good reason. The stronger one was, the higher-rank monsters one could hunt, and the treatment one received from society changed drastically as well.

For Kim Dohyun, who needed to earn a great deal of money for his family, there could be no better news.

Above all.

“I don’t need to worry about Babel’s proposal anymore.”

A value of no less than 16.5.

It far surpassed the amount of mana possessed by a 2nd Circle mage.

The magic system he had already constructed and his magic items. And even fifty years of combat experience.

Taking all of those factors together, the conclusion was simple.

Even if he accepted the proposal to increase the difficulty, it seemed more than possible to clear it.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

A deep smile curved across Kim Dohyun’s lips as he checked the remaining cooldown until he could reenter Babel.

____________

The next day.

Completion of the second ring. Mana recovery through sufficient rest. And Babel’s reentry cooldown.

Every preparation for the clear was complete.

There was no reason to hesitate.

“Enter Babel.”

Ding-!!

-User ‘Kim Dohyun’ is entering Babel’s 2nd Floor.

Pure white light filled his vision before fading away.

What unfolded before his eyes was an empty, pure-white space with nothing in it.

At the same time.

Ding-!!

-The pending proposal will be presented again.

-Will you accept the increase in difficulty?

-If accepted, rewards equivalent to the fastest clear time and highest score will be guaranteed through the 5th Floor, and upon clearing the 5th Floor, you will be granted one Question Right.

He had already finished considering it carefully.

The answer had been decided.

“I’ll accept.”

Ding-!!

-Proposal acceptance confirmed.

-The Tower is changing.

His vision grew dizzy.

The pure-white space collapsed as though crumbling away, and the scenery before him completely changed.

A vast plain with no end in sight.

And the first thing to catch his eye was the crystal sphere placed in the exact center of the plain.

A transparent crystal as large as an adult man.

Kim Dohyun’s eyes narrowed upon seeing it.

“Defense.”

The objective of the 2nd Floor was to withstand waves of monsters and prevent them from even approaching the crystal sphere.

Fortunately, even though the difficulty had increased, the objective itself had not changed.

However.

Ding-!!

-Babel 2nd Floor (HARD).

-Defend against the monster waves and prevent them from making contact with the crystal sphere.

At the edge of the plain.

He could see things surging toward him, filling the horizon.

The number of monsters that should originally have been only five.

Had increased to the point that counting them was impossible.

______________

In his office at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building, Park Jungho was receiving a report from his secretary as usual.

“The Skating Federation has expressed its gratitude. They said the media response was handled cleanly and are requesting a dinner meeting with you, Assemblyman.”

Covering one issue with another issue.

For Park Jungho, the opposition leader and a three-term National Assembly member who had long manipulated public opinion as he wished, it was an extremely easy matter.

Still, even with something this trivial, it was better to firmly establish the master-servant relationship.

The Skating Federation had deep pockets, and the corruption buried within it could be used as leverage at any time.

“Forget the dinner. Tell them to make sure there are no problems with the flow of funds.”

“Yes. I’ll relay that immediately.”

The secretary bowed and left.

There were no special appointments.

The backlog of pending matters had also been neatly resolved.

It should have been a peaceful day, but Park Jungho was in a foul mood.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

Anonymous.

After the tutorial, they had even swept first place on the 1st Floor.

Of course, there was no certainty that the person was Korean.

But the very fact that things had gone outside his expectations. That the situation was not proceeding as he intended was inevitably unpleasant.

“Tch. That was a mistake.”

As Park Jungho clicked his tongue, the man sitting across from him on the sofa with his legs crossed spoke.

“Why are you so troubled? Even if the anonymous ranker really is Korean, it shouldn’t matter to you, should it?”

His tone contained sarcasm.

It could be called somewhat disrespectful, but Park Jungho could not reprimand the man before him.

Because the man speaking was Seo Jinhyeok, Guild Master of Cheongram, one of South Korea’s three great guilds.

A man who held considerable political influence and strength at the same time.

Someone even the political establishment could not easily touch.

“You never had the slightest intention of giving the Association more funding in the first place, did you?”

Park Jungho was a seasoned politician.

Even what he had said at the National Assembly had only been that they would ‘review it.’

There was room to delay things by saying they needed to watch a little longer.

But that was only under the assumption that this remained limited to the 1st Floor.

“For now, I can let it fade away ambiguously. But if they continue maintaining first place in the rankings, it’ll become difficult to escape with political rhetoric alone.”

Park Jungho’s eyes narrowed as he envisioned the political landscape that would unfold.

The ripple effects would continue growing.

It meant things could rise to a level that could no longer be controlled through political influence.

No. This was not merely a political problem.

“Aren’t you being too relaxed? This shouldn’t be something you take lightly either. If the anonymous ranker is Korean, I lose my justification for backing Cheongram. That means your position becomes dangerous as well.”

“You’re worrying unnecessarily. I don’t know much about politics, but isn’t it all ultimately a battle over justification? If the justification of being number one disappears, then my position won’t be shaken either.”

At Park Jungho’s reaction as he leaned forward with a mixture of curiosity and vigilance, Seo Jinhyeok showed a confident smile.

“Do you have some clever plan?”

“I wouldn’t call it certainty. The probability is simply very high.”

“Probability?”

Seo Jinhyeok leaned back against the sofa and spoke quietly.

“Assemblyman. How much of the information humanity possesses about Babel do you think has been made public?”

“Ninety percent? No, around eighty?”

“Less than fifty percent of it is probably known to the public.”

“Stop beating around the bush and get to the point.”

At Park Jungho’s sharp voice, Seo Jinhyeok shrugged and adjusted his posture.

“There isn’t only the normal mode when climbing the Tower. Something called Hard Mode exists.”

“That much is already known.”

It was known that Hard Mode could be entered after reaching a certain floor.

But the anonymous ranker was currently challenging the early section.

Only the 2nd Floor at that.

“Doesn’t Hard Mode not exist in the early floors?”

“It is the early section, yes. But among current Awakened, the prevailing theory is that only the 1st Floor specifically does not have it.”

In other words, if Babel judged that someone had sufficient qualifications to enter Hard Mode, it would make the proposal immediately.

“The reason people say it only appears after a certain floor is simply because most of them failed to prove their qualifications until then and therefore couldn’t enter Hard Mode. In fact, I understand that Ryan Cooper and several other exceptional Awakened received Hard Mode proposals starting from the 2nd Floor.”

If Ryan Cooper, who had previously ranked first in the tutorial and fifth on the 1st Floor, had received the proposal starting from the 2nd Floor.

Then there was no need to even think about the anonymous ranker, who had consecutively taken first place.

“In other words, they would have received a Hard Mode proposal starting from the 2nd Floor.”

“Can that information be trusted?”

“I obtained it from people with good ears, so you can trust it.”

A smile curved across Park Jungho’s lips.

“In that case... I was worrying about something that won’t happen.”

No Awakened who had entered Hard Mode had ever had their record listed on the rankings.

It meant the situation he feared would not occur.

Park Jungho smiled darkly in satisfaction, but Seo Jinhyeok cut him off.

“You shouldn’t be so certain. Hard Mode has rankings too.”

“...So it wasn’t just a baseless rumor?”

Hard Mode Rankings.

Several Awakened had claimed they existed, but everyone had dismissed it as nonsense.

Because there was no faction or country willing to lend credibility to that claim.

But that was precisely why the question only grew larger.

“Why... are they letting it remain nothing more than a rumor?”

Hard Mode Rankings.

If they became known to the public, the impact would be considerable.

And someone among them. Or a particular country could reap enormous benefits.

In other words, it should have been impossible for everyone to work together to conceal it as they were now.

“How in the world?”

Seo Jinhyeok answered Park Jungho’s question.

“To put it bluntly. I suppose the right expression would be that they’re embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed? About what?”

“Because there isn’t a single one. A person belonging to Earth. To humanity.”

Seo Jinhyeok’s voice lowered further.

“Earth. Unlike the normal rankings, where humans compete against other humans, Hard Mode also has you competing against other races from different dimensions. The playing field itself is completely different.”

Park Jungho’s mouth fell slightly open.

The fact that Awakened encountered other races through Babel was itself already known.

But sharing rankings with them. And the fact that Earthlings were being thoroughly excluded from those rankings was an entirely different matter.

It was a story on a completely different scale.

But they could not bring themselves to reveal it to the world.

The reason was simple.

“This is where the problem arises. Other races like elves and dwarves are fundamentally different from birth. Even their physical specifications are different. There are occasionally a few Awakened who show respectable results, but compared to those other races, they still fall short. In the end, they’re nothing more than supporting players.”

Supporting players.

It would come as a tremendous shock to humanity, which had studied the Tower for so long and now took pride in believing they were conquering it.

And so.

“Think of it as an unspoken agreement. Until we secure results above a certain level in Hard Mode. Everyone is simply keeping a lid on it.”

The story was so unrealistic that it did not fully feel real.

But there was one thing Park Jungho understood for certain.

“In the end, the anonymous ranker. No matter how exceptional they are, it would be safe to assume they ultimately won’t be able to place their name on the rankings.”

“That’s about right. No matter how exceptional they are, they’ll eventually run into the limits of their race.”