Chapter 65: Act 1 – The Burning City
Inside the World Tree, the white tower.
The Pillar of Ascendancy, having reached the height of ascension by the World Tree, has mostly lost its trials that elevated the status of those who succeeded in climbing. Yet, it remains one of the most mysterious structures.
The relics of the ancient mythological era can be accessed through the ‘Gate’ of the World Tree.
Now it has become the Mage Tower of Beriton, known as the ‘Tower of Wisdom’.
And on the 13th floor of the Tower of Wisdom, an experiment that would go down in history was about to begin.
——-
13th floor, the Boundless Boundary.
Originally, this layer was supposed to be an almost infinite and inescapable labyrinth, but now the trials of the labyrinth have disappeared, becoming a special area with slightly more fluid space than other layers.
Thanks to this, it consumes relatively less magic than other regions when distorting space, making it an ideal place for experiments that require a confined space but are difficult to perform externally.
In such a place, dozens of mages wrapped in cloth were inspecting a gigantic magic circle that seemed to stretch infinitely.
After quite some time, they gathered around their leader and began reporting their inspections.
“From zone A to Z, there are no abnormalities in any of the magic circles currently prepared.”
“The magic power distribution is perfectly complete.”
“All objects that could influence the surroundings have been removed. We can start at any time.”
“The space is also very stable. It won’t affect the results of the magic.”
The leader nodded as he stroked his chin after receiving everyone’s reports.
It meant it was finally time to reveal the answer to the long-awaited question.
“Then we will activate the tower’s system from now on.”
At his words, everyone nodded in unison and moved away from the influence of the magic circle, and the experiment utilizing the tower’s system commenced.
Flash.
A black light enveloped the entire magic circle.
The labyrinth, once bound by trials, burst forth in an instant, consuming the space.
Although it was already interpreted as a phenomenon by the Hela Spatial Magic formula, the sight could truly be described as an extraordinary event no matter how many times one saw it.
Such spatial compression would be impossible even if the magic of the World Tree were poured into it, unless it were through this tower’s ‘system’.
“I will begin the experiment.”
The man took out a perfectly calibrated dodecahedron die from his pocket.
A high-quality die made with nearly equal probabilities for each face.
This would be the final result of the experiment.
‘Shaeh, will his theory truly be proven?’
The amount of magic poured into the magic circle currently approached the astonishing quantity equivalent to nearly a month’s worth of production by a typical World Tree.
Moreover, the hundreds of top-tier mages overseeing the experiment wielded overwhelming magic power and manpower that could hardly be mobilized in an ordinary mage tower.
Thus, this experiment could only take place in Beriton, where the class magic originated and the World Tree also served as a mage tower.
“We succeeded in concentrating the effects of the magic circle in one place.”
Finally, preparations were complete.
“What a long wait…”
He carefully placed the dodecahedron die into the sphere of black light.
The labyrinth that erased causality, the remnants of trials that had frustrated countless heroes in the past, were compressed into the black space.
“Show me the result.”
Pahh—!
The die shot up as if it had exploded.
All the mages held their breath for a moment.
Thud, thud…
The dodecahedron die spun like a top, trying not to reveal its face at once.
At that moment, as everyone held their breath in tension, the die finally lost its rotational force and revealed its answer.
The face of the die that fell to the ground showed 1.
Is it a success? No, it’s too early to judge.
There’s still a possibility that it’s just coincidence.
He rolled the die once more.
But the answer remained the same.
1.
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, …
After dozens of rolls, the die continued to point only to 1.
As the instances of the die showing 1 increased, the expressions of the mages began to edge closer to ecstasy.
“Is it a success? Did we succeed?”
“Finally, the miracle has been proven!”
“Unbelievable! Who would have thought this could be achieved with magic…”
Ignoring the cheers of the mages, the man quietly picked up the die.
On the surface of the die, there were minute cracks barely visible to the naked eye, remnants of Shaeh’s miraculous form.
Now it was no longer just a die but an artifact that fixed a 1 in 20 probability to nearly 100%, disregarding causality.
“It has become the most complex cheating die in the world.”
——-
“Catch the thief?”
“Yeah!”
“How do you do that?”
“Oh, you don’t know? Alright, I’ll explain!”
Catch the thief is a type of matching game played with a standard deck of 52 cards along with one joker.
The method of play is quite simple: multiple players are dealt cards according to their number, and the game begins only when they lay down all paired cards.
“Cards with the same number and color are pairs. If you receive a pair in your hand, just lay it down in the center.
Once the game starts, we first settle the turn! For the first round, we will decide the order by playing rock-paper-scissors.”
“Then, going clockwise, each person will take one card from each of the players’ hands!”
“Hmm, I see. So it’s a game where we have to match all pairs in our hands.”
As Luke nodded, seemingly understanding, Mary smiled and nodded back.
“Got it? The one who ends up holding cards until the end loses, while whoever lays down all cards first wins!”
“Yeah, I understand.”
The rules were simple.
It was a game simple enough for children to enjoy.
As it is a simple matching game, it’s more reliant on luck and wits than skill, making it perfect for casual enjoyment.
“Alright, let’s shuffle then.”
The kid who brought the cards began to shuffle them with her small hands.
However, due to her small hands and possibly a lack of experience, her technique seemed quite clumsy.
Would the cards actually get shuffled properly? Would everything be done within today? Most importantly, the kid had a rather distressed expression, so Luke stepped in.
“It seems shuffling the cards is quite difficult for you. Hand them over; I’ll shuffle for you.”
“Can you shuffle well?”
“Of course.”
“Hmm… I understand! Here!”
As soon as the girl handed the deck over, Luke first checked the material of the cards.
Thickness and size, strength, and elasticity.
After gauging the level of force that wouldn’t damage the cards, he started shuffling with quick hand movements.
“Wow, you really shuffle well.”
“It’s no big deal.”
In fact, the origin of cards traces way back even into Luke’s time, almost hidden in history.
You would have to go back to the second dragon era of the mythological age.
Thus, Luke certainly had some experience handling cards.
So shuffling wasn’t particularly difficult.
Moreover, some mages from the past used cards as magical tools to assist with magical calculations.
However…
Luke wasn’t particularly versed in any magic that involved handling cards, so his method of shuffling wasn’t extraordinary.
Compared to the ‘Arcana’ school that could pull out any desired card at will, his skills were rather shameful.
But even with such skills, the children found enough flair in his shuffling to be impressed.
As they admired him, they soon gazed at the neatly arranged cards in front of them and erupted into applause.
“That’s really amazing!”
“It looks like you shuffle better than my dad!”
“It’s so cool, can you do it again next time?”
“Shuffle them again!”
“Wow, that’s so impressive! Where did you learn that?”
The children approached him, their eyes shining with excitement, which was truly adorable. However, as they got a bit too close, Luke felt slightly uncomfortable.
In the past, would he have thought of the children crowding around him as just cute antics?
“Wow, you smell good! What shampoo do you use?”
“How can you shuffle so well? Your hands are even smaller than mine!”
“Your hair is so soft!”
No, he likely wouldn’t have thought so.
No matter how innocent the children might be, if he had been in the form of an old man from the past, they wouldn’t dare pinch his cheeks, play with his hair, or crowd right up into his face.
“Haha… I get it, I get it. But let’s start the game first.”
——–
“…Hmm.”
Luke looked at the two cards he held with a troubled expression.
Then, Py, who floated nearby and checked the cards, said in amazement.
– Another pair!
Luke nodded and flipped the cards for everyone to see.
A Spade Ace and a Clover Ace.
It was undeniably a clear victory.
“This time, it’s already over in one go…”
“Really! Again? How do you do that? Luke, are you really trying to avoid playing with us and using some trick?”
Luke immediately waved his hand, denying Mary’s speculation.
“I swear on my heart, that’s absolutely not true.”
Of course.
Who would use tricks to win while playing cards with children?
If such an adult existed, they would indeed be a foolish one.
Thus, it was really strange.
Already on the tenth time, Luke always discarded his hand before it was his second turn.
Not once did the outcome change.
Even though he had made no moves with the cards.
Even when one of the other kids had shuffled the cards for a long time out of suspicion that only Luke was winning.
Despite not touching the cards while they were being shuffled.
Furthermore, even when they changed the order in which the cards were received, and switched the order of drawing cards from each player’s hand, the result remained the same.
“It’s boring!”
That was understandable.
The rule was for the winner to impose a penalty on the loser, but while the loser might not mind, the winner would not change.
Moreover, Luke didn’t want to impose any penalties on the kids, so he ended the winner’s privilege with a mere playful flick of the forehead, making it boring.
“Well, I suppose it can’t be helped. It seems today is just not my day. Let’s play the card game next time. I’m going to my room to rest.”
As he said that and got up from his seat, Luke muttered softly in the hallway.
“…Today, I have good luck.”
So overly artificial…
‘Could it be that some magical effect was at play?’
However, there didn’t seem to be any part related to magic sight.
And if it had been magic, he would have definitely realized it.
If it was nothing, then could it truly be just a coincidence?
‘I should experiment with this later…’
