Chapter 60

EP.60 The Rotten Thing (3)

"Really? There's a way?"

Kalt tilted his head in confusion.

There's a way to find the medium that entered the other world? Even if this magician can do the impossible, Kalt thought it was still impossible.

After all, the medium is in a different dimension...

‘A medium that has entered the other world, even a spirit mage who has a contract with the Spirit King can’t pinpoint its location, right?’

Even an authority in that field can't do it. It's possible to draw out a medium from the other world, but you can't know where or how it will pop out.

‘Surely, that’s the case...’

Kalt looked at Laniel. She was still resting her chin in her hand, gazing at the forest. Her gaze seemed to be searching for something.

‘...She wasn’t just talking nonsense, was she?’

Is there really a way?

Kalt paused for a moment before continuing.

"…Is it possible to pinpoint a medium in the other world?"

"That’s impossible."

"Then how...?"

"Kalt, do you want to hear something interesting?"

Instead of answering, Laniel started a different story.

"I was once chosen as a medium for the altar?"

"…What?"

Kalt’s eyes widened.

"When did that happen?"

"Obviously, after you left. And... after I faced that calamity."

Laniel shrugged and continued.

Her eyes were still fixed on the forest.

“At that time, I was a bit off. I wasn’t in my right mind. After all, I had encountered something that extreme. And, that bastard Kyle also went off the rails.”

That bastard, he made a fuss about quitting everything.

Muttering this, Laniel sighed.

“That coward probably saw it as an opportunity.”

"…An opportunity?"

"Yeah, an opportunity. A chance to cast a mind control spell and delve deeper. And, it was actually an opportunity. I was so immersed in the dream.”

Dream.

The mages who were chosen as mediums and barely survived the ritual all say the same thing.

The dream was sweet.

Waking up from that dream was impossible.

Kalt recalled these words and asked.

"…So, did you wake up just before the ritual?"

"Huh? No, that would be too late."

"Really?"

Laniel laughed.

“I woke up not long after I fell into the dream. When I compared later, I had only taken about ten steps.”

"…Is that even possible?"

"If it was the first time I saw the altar, maybe not, but… the structure of the spell was somewhat clear, and it was actually quite simple.”

She spread her fingers.

"Why would you want to wake up from a dream? Because everything you want is in there.”

She tapped her chest.

“But, I didn’t find anything there.”

"…What?"

“There was nothing I wanted in that dream.”

Kalt asked.

What did you want, then?

“Maybe a lot of things, but… in the end.”

Laniel answered.

“It wasn’t something I could get from the past.”

2.

Reflecting on his past was a mysterious experience.

Resti saw the dream with his gradually sharpening consciousness. He understood that this was a dream, but he couldn’t grasp its principle.

‘Something is blocked.’

His thoughts were limited.

His thinking direction felt constrained, as if he was under a mind-affecting spell.

‘…Blocked by what?’

Mind-affecting spell.

Mind-affecting series.

Series series series.

‘…I don’t quite understand.’

Something seemed to come to mind, but it quickly faded, making him continue to dream.

His thoughts were limited.

Repeating the cycle of recalling and forgetting, Resti blinked. The scenes he saw with his eyes open and closed were different.

When he opened his eyes, he saw flames.

Logs were continuously thrown into the burning flames. The flames represented extreme emotions, and the logs were biased memories.

-Is this all you can do?

-You.

-So.

-Why.

-That’s all you can do.

When he opened his eyes, he saw cold gazes.

Whether it was his own mistake or not, those gazes never changed.

-You don’t belong there.

-You don’t fit in that place.

-Compared to the Ashen Mage, you are...

The cold gazes and harsh words lingered in his ears.

Their condescending gazes tightened his throat. No one looked at him.

In contrast, what about the other side?

Resti closed his eyes.

-Great job! Resti.

A warm voice echoed.

The elder who stroked his head was there. There were only happy memories in that place.

-That’s how you do it.

-You have talent, Resti.

The memories he saw with his eyes open were terrifying.

The memories that came to mind when he closed his eyes were happy.

The contrast was stark.

The choice was obvious.

Resti closed his eyes again.

But it was different this time. His eyes wouldn’t close. Unconsciously, Resti opened one eye.

‘Something.’

Why did he only open one eye?

‘It’s not enough.’

The past alone wasn’t enough to fill something.

He kept feeling thirsty for something that couldn’t be filled. It felt like something important was missing.

Resti felt thirsty.

He wanted something.

But he didn’t know what it was.

* * *

"Is there something you can or cannot get from a dream? Can’t you do anything in a dream?"

"Typically, yes. But, a spell is different. Spells that interfere with the mind are very complex. You can’t create something that doesn’t exist.”

Laniel tapped her head.

“Ultimately, it’s made only from the memories of the target. It’s more like a recall spell than a dream. The trigger was probably opening and closing your eyes, and they drew a constraint circuit based on that.”

“I don’t know much about spells...”

“Simply put, it’s like this.”

She said.

“The past tends to be romanticized. The spell makes you think that everything you want is in the past as you recall it.”

“...”

“But, you know.”

The Ashen Mage said casually.

“A mage shouldn’t be like that.”

Her eyes were looking far away.

“The elder, my teacher, told me that. A mage shouldn’t be like that.”

* * *

Feeling thirsty, Resti looked at the past.

To satisfy Resti’s desires, the dream painted a more detailed landscape. It brought up even the smallest memories and displayed them before Resti.

Memories of the elder flowed.

The happy memories she had were already gone. The spell brought up more from the past.

-If you do.

-This time...

Many things came to mind and disappeared.

But Resti’s thirst remained unquenched.

The spell sensed this.

It brought up more memories.

Past memories flooded his mind.

"Resti."

And memories are never complete.

Sometimes they are distorted. Sometimes they are forgotten. That’s what memories are. But the spell didn’t understand the subtleties of memory.

"Resti, look at me."

Resti looked ahead.

He saw the elder lying in the hospital bed.

‘This is...’

It was probably the memory right before the elder lost consciousness. At that final moment, the elder called Resti into the room and told him something.

‘What did we talk about then?’

Resti couldn’t remember it clearly.

The memory, clouded by sadness, was incomplete. This time, Resti looked at the memory calmly.

“I have something to say.”

The elder’s voice was weak.

It lacked vitality, but her eyes, looking at Resti, still shone.

“There’s a friend named Laniel. She’s now far away, but she was the next Ashen Tower Master.”

The story began like that. The words that Resti never heard before seeped into his ears.

“I told her something. When she was struggling as the next Tower Master, I told her this.”

The elder continued.

In a tone and voice she had never used before, she spoke.

“Resti, a mage needs to be selfish. You need to run wild and do what you want, regardless of what others say.”

At that time, Resti didn’t hear this.

“I know. I know how you lived following your curiosity, and what happened at the orphanage. That’s why I came. The summoned creature you called hurt the children, right?”

At that time, Resti only held the elder’s hand and cried endlessly.

“The price of curiosity was high. The price of using your talent to the fullest was heavy. Unrefined talent can sometimes be poisonous.”

That was then, but not now.

Resti opened his eyes wide and listened to the elder’s words. He heard her final words.

“But, not anymore.”

The elder reached out her hand.

“You can handle what you have. You just couldn’t ignite the fire because you were trapped in the past. You are already an excellent mage.”

Her hand stroked Resti’s hair.

“Don’t be trapped in the past. Look only to the future and run. That’s the duty of a mage.”

The elder met Resti’s eyes.

“Try until you are satisfied.”

With those final words, the elder’s hand fell.

That was the last memory.

Leaving the memory that tried to return to the beginning, Resti opened his eyes. There was no need to see more.

Resti.

With his eyes open, he asked himself.

Are you satisfied?

The memories of the past three years were spread before him. Memories of crouching and running away. Resti muttered, looking straight at them.

“No.”

Resti opened his mouth and spoke.

“I wasn’t satisfied.”

* * *

“A mage needs to be selfish.”

Laniel said.

“Run wild and do what you want. Tear down everything others have built until you are satisfied, and build your own magic in your way.”

She said, laughing.

“Don’t be trapped in the past. Look to the future and live.”

Then she added.

“So, there was no time to be trapped in the past. Because there was nothing I wanted there.”

“…But, don’t other mages think the same? Yet, other mages...”

“Well, you need a certain level of mental strength, at least. That’s the basic, you know.”

“Ouch...”

Kalt shook his head.

“Then we’re back to square one, aren’t we? From what you’re saying, a student was chosen as the medium, right?”

“Right.”

“Can you really expect a mere student, a child, to have that kind of mental strength? ”

“Yeah, the coward probably thought so. And that was his mistake.”

Laniel sighed and said.

“Kalt, you don’t seem to understand.”

“Huh?”

“He survived three years in the tower. His mental strength wouldn’t be lacking. He couldn’t endure it with a clear mind.”

“What...”

“A mage, especially an Ashen Tower mage...”

Pointing at herself, she laughed mischievously.

“Is usually a bit twisted and has a foul temper.”

* * *

Click.

Resti opened his eyes.

His eyes, which had been closed and then opened, were different from before.

A faint light flickered in her eyes. The light was platinum. A brilliant platinum light settled in Resti’s eyes.

The light drove away the darkness.

The world turned stark white.

Numerous circuits floated in the stark white world. They were black. They weren’t circuits drawn by Resti.

‘The spell that created this dream. And the spells that took over my body.’

Once he saw them, the circuits were understood.

He couldn’t trace them, but he could see how they connected to the stars.

His eyes had always been like this.

They read the flow of mana.

They grasped the structure of spells at a glance.

Resti reached out his hand toward the spell connecting to the stars. Then, with a tap, he changed the direction of the spell. The spell began to collapse one by one.

His mind became clear.

His vision began to clear.

Tap, tap, tap.

Breaking the spells one by one, Resti thought.

‘I failed the test.’

The first thought that came to mind was