Return of The 8th Class Mage Chapter 32:
Invitation Of The Ivory Tower (2)
A letter received by the maid .
There appeared to be nothing on it .
However, any mage would recognize the secret behind it .
Mana was flowing through the letter .
‘Geezer . ’
From old times, the ivory tower had preferred some secret ways like this .
The secret communication that can be only done between mages, who had a mana heart and brain at same time . It effectively drew a feeling of superiority and involvement from mages .
*whirrr… . . *
After Ian injected his mana to the letter, words were slowly revealed .
‘To our dear mage, Ian Page . ’
[As much as the royal family does, we are also looking forward to meeting you…… . ]
As far as ordinary letters go, it started with common greetings .
Skimming it quickly, Ian looked at the main part .
[According to our traditions, you may need to pass the processing of the academy . But, what’s the point in letting your time be wasted when you are already one of our talented mages?]
As Ian had expected, the ivory tower didn’t wait for long .
They wanted to test Ian’s talent .
As an excuse, with the title of an ‘simple interview’, they wanted to ‘interrogate’ him .
Without a doubt, they would set up the strongest interrogation spells in the interview room .
[Hence, In exactly 7 days, we want to invite you to our small meeting . As a proud member of the ivory tower, please attend our meeting . ]
The only problem was the given period .
Ian could ask them to delay the meeting date, but Ian didn’t want to .
The longer he delay, the more unexpected situations might occur .
“It says we have one week . ”
Ian said to Ledio .
The potion must be completed before then .
The time they had was quite a bit shorter than what Ian had expected
Furthermore, Ledio had never used this ingredient before .
“If it seems too tough for you, I can ask this task of several other alchemists… . . ”
If Ian hadn’t met Ledio in the Mogrian province, Ian would ask it of several black market alchemists . Ian knew a few who had bad tempers, but were quite skilled . And there were many ways to keep them from talking .
“N, not at all . One week huh? It is possible . ”
But, Ledio was quite a talented alchemist .
He had pride in his skills, and it wasn’t that much of an impossible task .
“By reducing my sleeping time, it will be ok . ”
“Then please, I will bet on you . ”
“No problem at all . By the way, please persuade Douglas . Recently he seems to follow you more than me . I can’t make sure whether it is good or not . As you know, you aren’t an ordinary one……”
Ledio started to chat again .
This was proof that Ledio was confident about the task .
He already had thought of several possible recipes .
His chatting relieved Ian more than a thousand words of promises .
A week wasn’t that long of a time period .
And time passed quickly .
*clip clop, clip clop… . . ”
Ian was riding a carriage that was headed for the ivory tower .
To the place where most of the imperial mages were living .
‘Its effect will remain for approximately 2 hours . ’
Ian recalled Ledio’s explanation while grabbing the potion .
Ledio had managed to brew the potion .
‘Two hours…’
The interrogation won’t be that long, at most it would need to last for an hour .
It would be good enough .
‘Finally . ’
Through the window, an exotic view was revealed .
Grass, flowers, trees and butterflies of various colors .
Although the ivory tower was within the capital .
‘They have managed the surroundings like a forest . ’
It could literally be called a ‘forest in the city . ’
Since they had moved from the old place, they had built surroundings like this .
It could be called their tradition .
“We have arrived . ”
With the driver’s word, Ian took off with the carriage .
A familiar view of the ivory tower welcomed Ian .
It looked totally different from the old ivory tower .
It was enormous in size, with a well sharpened white outer wall, it was a very well built structure .
“Oh, here he comes, the first mage . ”
Several young mages approached Ian . They seemed uncomfortable since they had to come out and greet this very young mage called Ian . At this age they must be full of their own pride and superiority . Whoever and whatever Ian is, they didn’t care, but they just didn’t like to show respect to this young kid .
“Come, boy . High personages are waiting for you . ”
The young mage stated in a sharpened and rude voice .
To Ian, they were more cute than intimidating . Due to this Ian felt calmed .
‘High personages, huh?’
These young mages had just became official mages, so they were full of pride . When it came to ‘high personages,’ who they would show respect, there were a few people such as 4th class Arch-mages and the tower lord, Habert .
‘There must be a lot of mages I used to know . ’
While recalling his memory, Ian had entered the ground floor of the ivory tower .
Mages used to call this area as ‘the sanctuary of beginnings . ’
Ian had passed here more than thousands of times in his former life .
It hadn’t changed since the past, actually, future .
‘When I first stepped in here, it was so exciting . ’
Ian recalled the moment when he visited here at first .
At that time, everything was interesting to him .
A wide and enormous interior, lit by light globe spells .
Air conditioning systems controlled by magic .
White robed triumphant mages .
Books floating in the air .
An open and free atmosphere, unlike what he had expected .
‘I thought every mage was wise and charismatic . ’
He thought like that when he was young, but not now after he had figured out the truth .
The mages of the ground floor were newbies .
Rather than full of dignity, they were full of arrogance .
‘I was similar to them when I was their age . ’
With the guidance of the mages, Ian reached the end of the aisle .
A golden disc was floating there .
It was big enough to lift around 5 men at the same time .
Ian was familiar with the disc .
‘Elevator . ’
The precise title of it was ‘Mana elevator . ’
Powered by mana only, it brought mages from floor to floor .
Without it, mages would have a hard time climbing up all those stairs .
“Can you see the disc?”
“Yes I can see it . ”
“I didn’t mean for you to answer . Step on it . ”
The young mage who had been rude to Ian, replied unaffably .
“Know that you are honored . Not everyone is allowed to ride it . ”
It was the truth .
The golden disc was only allowed to be used by Arch-mages normally .
To mages, who only ranked themselves with magical talent, it meant many things .
‘The youngest in my former life, too . If I remember it correctly . ’
Ian was 19 years old when he was granted the authority to use the golden disc, he had reached the 4th class . This time, he was only 12 years old, but allowed to step on the golden disc . Of course he wasn’t officially a 4th class mage, but soon he would be .
‘Maybe today . . ?’
As soon as Ian stepped on the golden disc, the disc sensed Ian’s weight, and it vibrated slightly .
It was the preceding clause of strong levitation magic .
*Whirrrrr – !*
After vibrating, the elevator started to fly .
Precisely, it was rising upwards .
Without slowing down, it kept rising up .
*Gulp!*
Ian drank the stone heart potion he had brought .
His senses became dull, and he started to feel dizzy .
It felt like he was a puppet controlled by someone else .
But soon, everything became calm and clear .
He felt no more dizziness .
“Sigh… . ”
After a long breath, Ian looked up .
The tower had 22 floors .
Passing the ground floor ‘the sanctuary of beginnings’, ‘the sanctuary of training’, ‘the sanctuary of information’, ‘the sanctuary of records’, ‘the sanctuary of rest’, ‘the sanctuary of elements’, etc . There were many different kinds of sanctuaries, and above those, there was a banquet hall, lower council room, upper council room and finally, the 22nd floor .
‘The room of the tower lord . ’
The elevator had stopped .
It was way too big to be called a room .
In the room there were 11 mages .
Habert, and 10 other Arch-mages .
Every single one of them had their own characteristics .
From male to female, from old to young .
Unlike other mages, some of them didn’t even wear robes . {ED:0 . o what, they doing a nudy?}
‘It seems they won’t go easy on me . ’
Members who counted as the best of the best of the ivory tower .
They gathered at the same place, and at the same time they looked at the same boy .
A young mage, Ian Page .
Whose talent was compared to ‘the first mage . ’
They had gathered to test his talent .
Or maybe, to tame his dangerous talent .