A Short Daily Life (2)

They were peaceful days.

In a situation where the Church of Ruin could not gain influence as it had before, each country began large-scale internal maintenance, and thanks to that, humanity bought time through a temporary peace.

As a result, all kinds of defensive measures became popular, and the world was changing so quickly that people even said many mages were dying happily under a flood of work.

Meanwhile, black mages also continued their course in step with such changes in the world.

The number of black mages who began researching defensive magic or barrier magic started increasing.

When it came to black magic, people tended to think of offensive things. In reality, because black magic could produce absolute destructive power, most black mages had strongly tended to focus on destructive magic in accordance with their traits.

But what the world demanded was not that kind of destruction.

Since physical Awakeners or psychic Awakeners claimed to be the world’s average as forces that could subjugate Gates or respond to Breaks anyway, the talk began spreading that black mages had to take a different route.

“So, Chairperson Jeong Gil-sun and Black Tower Lord Cheon Jong-un’s argument is that we should focus on defensive magic, which we have neglected until now?”

At Han Sang-gil’s question, Jeong Gil-sun proudly nodded.

“If we use black mana anyway, would we not gain quite an advantage in protecting against other psychic abilities, physical force, and white mana? So the idea is to systematize defensive magic through this and distribute it properly.”

“That is correct. The only group we are relatively weak against are Chantras, but the Church of Ruin, which is effectively a Calamity God, has been revealed to possess no specific divine power. In a way, that means our method will be even more helpful.”

At the two Masters’ argument, Baek Da-gyeong, who happened to be listening, raised her hand.

“In that kind of form, would it not be more accurate to call it magic that excludes rather than defends?”

“Are you talking about spatial isolation?”

Baek Da-gyeong nodded at Han Sang-gil’s question.

“Yes. I know fairly deep research is being conducted in that direction. It is not difficult for black mages to handle either. In fact, in the case of small-scale secret laboratories, do people not isolate the space itself and use it personally?”

Each mage had a personal space, and that space was usually located in sub-space.

In reality, during the early days of research, people recoiled at the very idea of putting living beings into sub-space, calling it absurd. However, a method to allow life to exist even inside sub-space had been developed by several mad mages, and that method was now mainly being used.

“It is a method that eats up too much cost. It may be fine for personal spaces, but it is difficult to use that method for large-scale spaces.”

After hearing Jeong Gil-sun’s answer, the Masters fell into thought.

At that moment, Tae Young-su raised his hand.

“It was a research paper I saw before, but there was a method of overlapping Mana Accumulation Circles several times and turning Magic Stones into charging stones. What if we make use of that?”

“You mean processing Magic Stones?”

Tae Young-su nodded at Baek Da-gyeong’s question and explained.

“It is a kind of multi-link method. You engrave one Mana Accumulation Circle onto one Magic Stone, then link those Magic Stones to make them act like one giant Magic Stone. Then, you install a giant Mana Accumulation Circle outside as well, prepare several more of those, and make mana be drawn evenly across a fairly wide space. They said the maximum research achievement was about six total overlaps through multiple overlapping.”

It was difficult to understand just by hearing it, but Tae Young-su happened to emit mana into the air and created a rough model with it.

And as everyone examined it, Jeong Gil-sun asked.

“So you are saying we should use this thing’s cost to isolate a giant space?”

“That is correct.”

But at that moment, Baek Da-gyeong found fault with it.

“But if the Mana Accumulation Circle drawn outside receives an impact and is dismantled, there would be a high risk of collapse, would there not?”

“It is not that I am not concerned about that part, but it is a problem that can be solved if we find a way to conceal and minimize it as much as possible during the design.”

“There are too many gaps.”

In the end, the debate continued, and various methods were additionally proposed, but no conclusion came out. It was then.

“Geum Seong-chan, are you going to keep just listening?”

At Old Man Jeong Gil-sun’s question, I snapped my fingers, and everything the Masters had discussed so far was drawn in the air.

Then, as I began crossing out the things that did not theoretically fit one by one, I spoke.

“In the end, it has to be explained at a level where it can actually be used, but if that is the case, is all of this not pointless?”

“Why?”

“What use is it if the Masters talk for a hundred days, but only the people here can understand it?”

“That is why we are trying to find a method and research it, are we not?”

After considering Cheon Jong-un’s words, I began drawing one magic circle in the air.

“Is there anyone who can draw this?”

At that moment, silence settled over the hall.

Because what I had drawn was a sixfold-overlapped Mana Accumulation Circle.

Everyone was rendered speechless as they looked at the feast of countless patterns that looked like a single picture, and I took out one Magic Stone from sub-space, showed it to them, and spoke.

“You engrave this on a Grade 6 Magic Stone of about this size. Then, if you set this thing’s entire cost to sub-space, what do you think will happen?”

“…If it is Grade 6 level, you could use about 100 pyeong of sub-space by floor area, could you not?”

“Correct. Then, what if you use this in a parallel method?”

“…It could be increased infinitely. And since the defensive space itself can be minimized, it can be considered that you extracted the correct answers from what we discussed and compressed them….”

“This method was developed long ago. Any research mage who knows their stuff probably knows it. But the reason it has not actually been used is that this overlapped magic circle is not easy to draw. The biggest problem is that the shapes of Magic Stones are not uniform, and the second is that each Magic Stone has grain, so if you engrave it incorrectly, it breaks along the grain. As a result, one or two are only completed after going through a lot of trial and error. Can this be commercialized?”

“Damn it. It would be better to just engrave a bunch of security magic on one building.”

“That is why the method people use now was chosen and has continued until now.”

But then, Han Sang-gil asked.

“Then is there no method at all?”

“No. There is one ignorant method.”

Only then did people’s eyes shine.

“You surround the entire Magic Stone with magic metal and make it into a uniform shape. Then you draw the magic circle onto the metal surface.”

“Oh… There was such a method.”

Everyone was surprised, so I spoke to them.

“It is a reversal of thinking, but there is a reason this method was not used.”

“What is it?”

“Magic Stones cannot withstand the heat required to melt magic metal. So I will tell you one alternative.”

I almost laughed as I saw the Masters tense enough to swallow dryly, but I held it back with effort and spoke.

“Think of the Red Gates. A Chimera Slime made of magic metal. That is not difficult to make, is it?”

Only then did the Masters’ eyes shine.

If I gave them this much of a hint, they were people who could produce results sufficiently.

At that, Jeong Gil-sun spoke.

“Why are you being so generous?”

“To make their stomachs hurt.”

When they asked whose stomach I was trying to make hurt, I said one word.

“The Church of Ruin.”

Only then did everyone understand that what I had said was the “shit” I was throwing at them, and all of them burned with motivation, determined to make this experiment succeed no matter what.

The Church of Ruin had no choice but to hide underground.

Because the methods for dealing with Red Gates and Yellow Gates had become known to the world far too quickly.

At least when the conquering method became known, they had expected that four or five Apostles would already have been called out into the world, but as if mocking that expectation, the method became known after the second Apostle appeared.

As a result, the Saintess, Saint, and Apostle of the Calamity God gathered in one place and began devising countermeasures.

“It is enough to ripen Red Gates by using Gates in the deep sea. Humanity still is not paying attention beneath the ocean. But the problem is that, because of the aftermath generated when they become Yellow Gates, everyone will find out.”

Jo Yun-hui, who had been listening to Clark Hunt, asked.

“You are saying that because you have an alternative, correct?”

“If it is an alternative, there is one. It is a method of collapsing the ground in the area and hiding it underground. Otherwise, one of us would have to keep watching it continuously.”

“It is a tricky and cumbersome method. Still, if the problem is that the number of Apostles is too small, then we should endure it a few times. Who will do it?”

Jo Yun-hui looked over everyone present once.

“There is an alternative, but none of you want to go through the trouble. In that case, find another method. Find a way to cause chaos elsewhere so great that no one can even notice the chaos created by something on the level of a Yellow Gate…”

“Beral, because you failed to play your role properly, we have to rack our brains like this, do we not?”

[ …I have nothing to say. However, there will be no second mistake. ]

Everyone clicked their tongues lightly, and just then, Trinity Abel opened her mouth.

“I will go to the sea, and the rest of you will create chaos. Even so, I think it is definitely right to summon Apostles.”

Clark Hunt also agreed with Trinity Abel’s words, and when he said that he would also go to the sea, Jo Yun-hui opened her mouth.

“Then I will try creating chaos. If possible… it would be efficient for many humans to die, would it not?”

At Jo Yun-hui’s question, everyone’s eyes shone as they agreed, and Jo Yun-hui pointed to one of those lined up behind them and asked.

“You will have to kill the people of your homeland. Will that be all right?”

The one who received the question, Wang Sun, who had become a Chimera but recovered his mind through the power of the Calamity God, curled up the corners of his mouth and spoke.

“I no longer have a homeland anyway. If it is your order, I will gladly follow it, and if you tell me to erase China from the face of the Earth, I will certainly erase it.”

“You have become an obedient lamb. Power really is good, is it not?”

“Khehehe, do you even need to ask?”

Wang Sun was intoxicated by the power bestowed by the Calamity God, and he was not the only one.

All the Chimeras stolen from Korea had accepted the power of the Calamity God and become several times stronger.

They were in a state where they were restless, wanting to use that power to cause chaos at any moment. At that, Jo Yun-hui looked at the Saintess, Saint, and Apostle and spoke.

“I will make sure to draw attention… so at least three must be called in for the grand plan to succeed. Otherwise…”

Jo Yun-hui trailed off, and there was no one there who failed to understand what she meant.