An Old Bet — Part 1
Drip.
The coffee overflowed.
The hand tilting the pot had frozen stiff.
“What did you just say?”
“The coffee is overflowing.”
“Hm? Oh dear!”
The Tower Master flailed his hand.
The coffee pooled on the saucer shot up and smoothly flowed back into the cup, like a serpentine dragon.
The Tower Master turned to me with eyes that could devour a man whole.
“I must have misheard you, right?”
“You heard correctly. I have completed Ultimate Flame. In my own way.”
“Hah…”
The Tower Master’s mouth hung open.
He stared at me for a long while, then got up, paced around, sighed several times while looking out the window, and finally sat back down.
“Show me.”
“Yes.”
The trait was already prepared.
Just as it had been when I left the heretical cult’s temple.
I raised my index finger.
Click. Imagining the sound in my mind, I ignited a flame.
A small fire flickered to life.
Sacred and pure, yet at the same time persistent and ruthless.
Supreme Flame.
The Tower Master gazed at the flame, entranced.
“This is… Ultimate Flame?”
“Strictly speaking, it is not Ultimate Flame. My approach was different.”
The difference wasn’t just a single character.
“As I understand it, Ultimate Flame is meant to surpass even the Solar Flame in destructive power, be suitable for combat with its fast casting speed, and have minimal mana consumption. Isn’t that correct?”
“That’s right.”
“My Ultimate Flame… or rather, Supreme Flame, is different. I sacrificed some of its destructive power. No matter how large my mana capacity is, I can’t compete with magic-type superhumans.”
“That much is clear.”
“But in exchange, I drastically reduced its mana consumption. And its casting speed is even faster.”
“And you claim that this tiny flame can rival the Ultimate Flame?”
“Yes. I am confident.”
The Tower Master scrutinized the golden flame for a long while.
Then, he suddenly clenched it in his hand.
The flame flickered as his shielded hand squeezed it tight.
The Tower Master grinned smugly.
“Doesn’t seem very strong.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Whoosh!
I infused it with mana.
Mana carved from my own life force as a sacrifice, then further enhanced by the Thor Cultivation Technique and Mana Soul.
The flames flared up wildly.
They threatened not only to burn the Tower Master’s hand but to consume his entire office.
“Mm!”
The Tower Master let out a low groan.
Not from pain.
He was a fire-specialized mage.
And he was Level 8.
Even if we had a firepower contest between Supreme Flame and Solar Flame, I would lose.
The real reason he groaned was that, despite his nearly maxed-out fire resistance and protective barrier, it was rapidly being worn away.
“This is… this is unbelievable. Even if I gathered the Tower’s mana and cast Solar Flame, it wouldn’t be this powerful.”
“Do you admit defeat?”
“Defeat? What defeat?”
“Didn’t we make a bet last year? At the Sun Tower. We agreed to compare the Sun Tower’s Ultimate Flame and my Supreme Flame to determine which was superior. I believe I’ve won.”
The Tower Master scowled.
“Lose? Ultimate Flame of our Sun Tower is obviously far superior! You may have done well, but do you really think you can surpass the original, the true Ultimate Flame?”
“Has it even been created yet?”
“Hmph! The bet had a deadline of two years. We’re not even halfway through that.”
“I recall Ultimate Flame being the Sun Tower’s long-cherished project… The fact that I created Supreme Flame alone means I’ve won. I also remember you saying that if my version reached even 70% of Ultimate Flame’s level, you’d acknowledge my victory.”
“Cough! Ahem!”
The Tower Master let out a long, exaggerated cough.
“It may look decent at a glance, but once our Ultimate Flame is completed, your Supreme Flame won’t even compare! It will be far stronger, cast even faster, and consume less than half the mana!”
“Then shall we compare?”
“What?”
“Surely, Ultimate Flame’s blueprint has been completed by now. You must have run simulations as well. Let’s compare. See what the results say.”
“Hah. You sound awfully confident.”
“Of course. Because I know I’ll win.”
“Haha, unbelievable.”
“Are you perhaps… not confident?”
“Not confident? Don’t be ridiculous! Fine. Good. Let’s consider this a midterm evaluation and compare.”
The deepest research facility was unlocked.
The very place where I had endured Solar Flame for fifteen seconds.
The elder mages in the middle of their research gathered around.
I even recognized a familiar face.
The head researcher of the facility.
The same mage who had invited me to study Black Flame and had recently participated in the Dark Jaguar Cult’s subjugation.
He extended his hand to me.
“Well, if it isn’t the Sword Star himself.”
“Haha, have you been well?”
“Of course. But what brings you to the Mage Tower? A busy man like you.”
“I came to settle a bet from a year ago.”
“A bet?”
The head researcher raised an eyebrow.
“Could it be about Ultimate Flame?”
“Yes.”
“I thought there was still time left… Don’t tell me you actually completed Ultimate Flame?”
“Yes. Though it’s slightly different. I’ve named it Supreme Flame.”
“Supreme Flame…”
The head researcher rolled the word around in his mouth, as if savoring it.
The gathered elders began murmuring amongst themselves.
“Did he say Supreme Flame?”
“He completed Ultimate Flame?”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“We haven’t even completed Ultimate Flame ourselves, yet a mere warrior claims to have done so?”
“He must have brought some random spell and slapped a name on it.”
“Spell? More like an esper ability.”
“There’s no way a warrior could properly use magic.”
“Let’s consider this a midterm evaluation.”
“Yes, it’s about time we saw Ultimate Flame in action anyway.”
“I heard you’ve made significant progress.”
The Tower Master personally took the lead.
He operated a machine, and a cylindrical structure aligned itself toward one side of the research facility.
A scarecrow stood in place.
Layer upon layer of fire-resistant magic circles and barriers surrounded it.
“Watch closely.”
The Tower Master pressed a red button.
“This is our Ultimate Flame.”
Wooooong.
The structure that once fired Solar Flame rumbled as it gathered mana.
I could see the magic circles carved both inside and outside resonate in harmony.
The mana flow was dazzling, intricate to an extreme.
Even without activating Bright Eyes or Sixth Sense, I could perceive everything clearly—thanks to Golden Crow Eyes from the Golden Crow and the Ring of Prophecy.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Finally, it fired.
A crimson blaze erupted forth.
Or should I even call it fire?
It was closer to a beam of pure energy than to ordinary flames.
A light composed solely of fire’s essence, striking the scarecrow with full force.
I watched as the magic circles melted away.
The barriers shattered in turn.
Ding, ding, ding!
A holographic display appeared above the scarecrow.
[Destructive Power] 299
[Range] 78
[Mana Consumption] 20
[Casting Time] 11
[Difficulty] 33
[Total Score] 441
“Hm…”
A dissatisfied voice hummed from the crowd.
“There’s still a long way to go.”
“The destructive power is almost there, but…”
“What’s with the range? That means the mana concentration is way too low.”
“The difficulty is an issue, too. Even Solar Flame is a complex spell, but at this level? I doubt it’s viable in real combat. This isn’t the Joseon era; no one is going to sit around for 10 to 20 hours waiting for a spell to be calculated.”
“No matter how high we set Solar Flame as the standard, this is too much. Even for a midterm evaluation, 441 points? That’s barely progress! If anything, it’s a step back!”
It seemed they had rated each metric with Solar Flame as a perfect 100.
A disastrous result.
Sure, the casting time of Solar Flame was short, so comparing it to Ultimate Flame might not be fair, but the range was shorter, and the mana consumption was five times higher—completely unusable.
As one of the elders pointed out, this wasn’t the Joseon era.
By the time a mage finished chanting their long-winded incantation, a bullet would have already punched through their barrier and their skull, sending them straight to America.
“I’ll give it a try as well.”
“Hm…”
“You will?”
“No, we need to evaluate this fairly. Do you think your mana alone could even scratch the barrier? Wait a few days. If we stack multiple Dimensional Mana Focus Arrays and use a mana core, we can replicate the mana output supplied by our Tower.”
“Oh, come on. And what if the future CEO of Solar Security ends up causing a mana overload?”
“Tch, even if he’s from the warrior class, he’s Level 7. That won’t happen.”
Typical arrogance of a mage.
Let’s see how long they can keep that up.
I stepped into the testing area.
The melted scarecrow was removed.
New magic circles were installed, and a fresh barrier was erected.
A scarecrow designed to withstand even Solar Flame or Hellfire.
Indeed, the sheer offensive power of Ultimate Flame was formidable.
Seeing how it melted through such a strong barrier proved that much.
[Supreme Flame] [Thor Cultivation Technique] [Mana Soul]
[Undying] [Sacrifice] [Focus]
I selected the same traits.
Since arriving at the Sun Tower, I had yet to reveal my Trait Swap ability.
Because I was mindful of the Tower Master’s watchful eyes.
But that would only be temporary.
Soon enough, I would reveal it to him.
“I’m starting.”
“Let’s see it.”
“Just so you know, our Ultimate Flame’s target score is 750. The goal is to improve Solar Flame’s total score by 50%.”
“If you even reach 70%—that is, 525 points—we’ll call it your victory!”
“Surpassing Solar Flame at all would already be an achievement!”
“Aahm!”
I took a deep breath.
And stretched out my hand.
Despite being equipped head to toe with SSR-tier gear, I had no items that enhanced magic ability.
Essentially, I was working with my bare hands.
I focused my mind and released my mana.
Fwoosh!
Golden flames erupted like lightning.
They scorched the scarecrow without mercy.
At first, it seemed to hold up well.
For a moment—roughly five seconds.
The mages nodded in understanding.
“As expected.”
“Tch, I had a tiny bit of hope, but…”
“What were you even expecting?”
“Still, the spell composition is quite refined. If I hadn’t been informed beforehand, I’d have assumed this was developed by an established Mage Tower.”
“It even has a bit of a priestly feel to it…”
“Haha, well, that’s our future Solar Security CEO for you! The Tower Master didn’t make this bet for nothing!”
Did they think they had won?
The elders chuckled in delight.
The only one whose expression remained stiff—
—was the Tower Master.
Crackle!
Their laughter lasted only a few more seconds.
The moment the magic circles ruptured and the barrier shattered, their smiles froze.
Shaaah—
It melted.
Like a sandcastle collapsing.
Layer upon layer of barriers.
The magic circles that granted fire resistance.
All of them, melting away like candle wax, dripping and vanishing into nothingness.
The scarecrow?
Naturally, it was engulfed in flames, disintegrating into ash.
The Infernal Gold inlaid into its patterns.
The Molten Iron reforged into its body.
The Baby Phoenix Feathers woven into its clothing.
Everything was utterly deformed and crushed into a single, indistinguishable lump.
“This… this is…”
“No way… What’s the mana efficiency on this?”
“Just how long could this burn for?!”
“This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!”
Ultimate Flame was certainly powerful.
It hadn’t even reached half of its full potential, yet it had already reduced the scarecrow to nothing.
But Supreme Flame?
The golden flames I had been firing for over a minute now?
This wasn’t just reducing it to nothing.
What once was a scarecrow—what should still be called a scarecrow—had been completely transformed.
Now, it was nothing more than a molten metal slime, billowing acrid smoke.
“Hahaha.”
“Haha… Hahahaha.”
“What kind of warrior has that much mana…?”
“D-Doesn’t he look like he has more mana than us?”
The elders stared at me with sheer disbelief.
And they weren’t wrong.
I had used more mana than a Level 7 pure mage.
This was the power of Sacrifice.
And the efficiency of Supreme Flame.
Theoretically, by combining Sacrifice and Undying, I could become an infinite Supreme Flame turret.
Pop! Pop-pop!
Numbers appeared.
Bright green digits etched themselves onto my retinas.
The Tower Master gripped the armrests of his chair.
The elders’ eyes widened.
One elder’s mouth hung open, drool dripping freely.
[Destructive Power] 200
[Range] 100
[Mana Consumption] 100
[Casting Time] 200
[Difficulty] 200
[Total Score] 800
Perfect numbers.
A flawless display of 0s across the board!
The crowning achievement was the total score.
A staggering 800 points.
Nearly double Ultimate Flame’s recorded 441 points.
Even compared to their so-called ambitious goal of 750 points, Supreme Flame was still superior.
‘Ah, I couldn’t hit 120%.’
That was my only idle thought.
Because the grading was relative.
The scores were based on Solar Flame being rated at 100.
If this had been an absolute scale, I might have actually hit 120%.
“H-H-Huuaaah…”
“This is…”
“Y-You… Are you seriously telling me you made that yourself?”
“Yes. Would you like me to swear on magic?”
“Hahaha.”
“Hah… Hahaha.”
“Heeheehee!”
Their mental states had completely collapsed.
Their sanity had left the building.
The elders chuckled to themselves in disbelief.
But the head researcher was the most spectacular of them all.
“I… I… Just what was all my work for…?”
He looked like he had lost his entire nation.
The man who designed Solar Flame and conceptualized Ultimate Flame.
He lacked the magical ability to cast Solar Flame himself and would never be able to cast Ultimate Flame when it was complete.
Which made this even more devastating.
Even if his prowess as a mage was lacking, he had always prided himself as one of the top researchers in the country.
And now, he had been completely outdone—by a mere warrior, not even a mage or a magitech engineer.
“Well then, what do you think? I believe I’ve won the bet.”
“Urgh…!”
No one could refute it.
Especially not these prideful mages.
The Tower Master slowly nodded.
“Fine. I acknowledge it. With results like this, there’s no way I can deny it. Hah… I really underestimated you. I thought I had judged you correctly.”
“You weren’t the only one, Tower Master. We were even worse.”
“He was never meant to just be a corporate executive in the first place.”
“With that kind of power, he should be at least a Legion Commander, don’t you think?”
“Hm… Maybe he’ll become the next Heavenly Demon, like the journalists speculate.”
“Pfft, nonsense! Heavenly Demon is Level 9! Level 9!”
“Well, who knows? He reached Level 7 in just one year. In ten years, he might be Level 9.”
The elders erupted into murmuring discussions.
The Tower Master raised a hand, silencing them.
Then, with eyes gleaming sharply, he spoke.
“I lost the bet. And if I lost, I promised to grant you one wish. Speak. The Mage Tower will fulfill it.”
I could ask for anything.
A magic sword, an airship, even a skyscraper—everything was on the table.
But I needed none of those.
I already had far better things.
What I desired was something far more valuable.
Something I couldn’t simply demand, even after winning a bet.
Something so weighty that even the straightforward, fire-loving Tower Master might shake his head at.
Which is why, instead of stating my wish outright, I made a counteroffer.
“How about this instead?”
“Hm? What are you suggesting?”
“I will assist in the completion of Ultimate Flame. You and the elders must have already noticed—the similarities between Supreme Flame and Ultimate Flame.”
After all, half of their components overlapped.
The fundamental design philosophies were similar as well.
“If I participate in Ultimate Flame’s development and contribute significantly, I ask that you seriously consider granting my wish.”
“What exactly are you planning to ask for?”
“If it’s you, Tower Master, I’m sure you’ve already guessed.”
The wish I intended to ask of the Tower Master.
An alliance.
Specifically, a joint front against the Old Father’s Cult.
A Blood Pact.
–TL Notes–
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alliance ftw