[74] Dream On (3)
"You should've kept pushing! Don't you know the more trials you run, the smaller the error gets?"
"You'd need ammo for that! If we'd followed your plan we'd have been betting the house deed!"
"See? See? Nothing in the world can be consumed infinitely! Energy's no different!"
"Where did that even come from?"
"Ahahaha!"
Shirone burst out laughing. Everyone who dares to chase a dream thinks the same. Success or failure was only a secondary matter.
Even if the world pointed and called it a pointless waste, even if they sneered that he was an idealist who couldn't support a family—someone always did those things, and because of that humanity advanced this far.
'It's fine if it isn't me. I don't mind being the fertilizer for someone else.'
Shirone stopped worrying. He was grateful for every bit of luck that had made him who he was, and from now on he would simply move toward his dream.
Iruki asked, puzzled.
"Shirone, why've you been grinning like that? Did you eat something weird?"
Shirone shook his head without answering, then squared his shoulders and stepped forward.
"I'm back, you two."
* * *
Two days remained until the suspension was lifted.
Nade and Iruki had been waiting for Shirone at the Fourth Training Ground since before dawn.
It was early, but summer light already brightened the air. The two of them kept yawning as they watched the gate.
Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Nade complained, "What the hell. Calling us out this early."
"You said you had something to show, didn't you?"
"What am I supposed to show now? After everything you've shown us I'm already stunned."
"Well, maybe he's got a tattoo on his dick or something."
"Puhahahaha!"
Nade burst out laughing at Iruki's joke. Meanwhile Shirone walked into the training ground.
"Oh, you're already here. But what's up with Nade?"
"No idea. Maybe he's just a pervert."
"Puhahaha! A tattoo! On there…! Puhahaha!"
A little uneasy, Shirone didn't press it. They were probably just trading stupid jokes between themselves.
"Anyway, let's start. I want to show you quickly."
"What are you gonna show us? The tattoo? Puhahaha!"
Iruki said, incredulous.
"Cut it out. It's not funny anymore. So why call us here? What do you want to show?"
"Wait. I'll do it right now."
Shirone walked to the center of the training ground and reached out toward the rocky hill.
"What is that? Photon output? Did you crank up the power?"
Shirone activated the photon cannon. A white flash streaked across Nade and Iruki's vision.
Boom!
With a dull roar, the rock split apart.
Nade and Iruki, who'd been blasé a moment before, gaped. Their jaws nearly dropped.
The place the light struck had been blown out into a broad hollow. They ran forward at once to inspect it.
"What is this? A trick? Or real magic?"
"How strange. To put impact into light. I thought photon types couldn't be fused. Shirone, how did you do that?"
Shirone wore a triumphant smile.
"It's a new technique I figured out. Not photon output—it's a photon cannon."
"A photon cannon, huh. Sounds impressive. What's the principle?"
"Well… it's kind of a long story."
Shirone hesitated, and Nade hurried over, awake now, and shook his shoulder.
"Tell us! How did you do it? Putting physical force into light—this absolutely can't happen!"
Because light and electricity are close cousins, Nade realized at once the significance of what Shirone had achieved.
"I'll tell you. But… would you come with me somewhere first?"
* * *
Shirone and the others went to a tavern in the noble district. While they filled their stomachs with seafood pasta, Shirone explained how he'd mastered the photon cannon.
He told them about the whirl of dust on his bed, the moment he threw Ulk off the cliff, and the principle of the photon cannon that dawned on him then.
Even without bringing Armin into it, the photon cannon was Shirone's own insight, and he could explain it plainly.
Nade and Iruki listened, barely tasting their pasta.
After an hour of explanation, Iruki set down her fork and said thoughtfully, "I heard my father talk about gauge symmetry before. So the point is this—you mean there's a separate particle that carries mass? And you've learned to manipulate that particle."
Shirone felt fresh admiration for Iruki's father. To teach his son about gauge symmetry—he must be the head of a major family, well versed in the cutting-edge theories across mage society.
Nade said, "In short, the result of the Immortal Function is mass. You mastered the photon cannon, and even the phantoms that haunted you are gone."
"Yeah. And on top of that, I don't have nightmares anymore."
Iruki and Nade fell silent in thought. A particle that imparts mass to matter—Shirone's realization was a tremendous discovery.
Especially the photon cannon: a unique magic only Shirone could perform. You couldn't just learn a universal formula and cast it unless you'd directly experienced the Infinite.
"That's amazing, Shirone. This could be far bigger than we imagine. If you patented it you'd be swimming in money!"
Nade was already envisioning inventions born from Shirone's theory.
"So, I have a favor. Will you come to the library with me?"
"Huh? The library?"
"The school library is closed during suspension. I want to go to the nobles' library to research the photon cannon more, but I can't get in—so I was hoping you two would take me."
"We don't mind. It'd help us too. But why can't you go alone?"
Commoners can't enter the nobles' library. Even after the suspension ends he could use the school library, but since returning from the peasant village, Shirone had realized something: denying who you are doesn't change reality. He wanted, at least, to be honest with his friends.
"The truth is—I'm not a noble."
Nade, mid-bite, went slack-jawed. Iruki stared at Shirone in surprise.
"I'm a commoner. I was abandoned in a stable as a child and my current parents raised me. My father's just an ordinary mountain man."
He'd entered the magical world late, but no one would have suspected he was a commoner. The fact he'd been abandoned by his birth parents didn't fit Shirone's cheerful demeanor at all.
"Sorry. I should've told you sooner. I'll accept whatever criticism, but I didn't want to keep hiding it."
Nade and Iruki exchanged looks. The feeling between them was clear.
Iruki turned to Shirone and spoke first. "That's shocking, sure. But honestly, it doesn't change anything for me. You're still Shirone."
"Same here. Even if we'd known from the start, it wouldn't change anything now. The time we've spent together doesn't vanish."
He'd hoped his friends would understand, but that was only a personal wish. When they accepted him, Shirone felt his chest tighten.
Iruki bowed her head and laughed softly. "So you were a special admission. Learning magic late because you weren't noble. Talent doesn't care what family you're born into. Really impressive."
"Thanks. For saying that."
Nade waved Shirone's emotion away. "Hey, don't be so serious. I'm actually glad. I made friends without prejudice. If I'd known earlier, you probably wouldn't have presented at that research expo a few days ago."
Iruki finished her thoughts and rose from the table. Lingering any longer would only dampen the mood.
"All right, to the library. I was bored out of my mind anyway. Let's light up our scholarly passion!"
Shirone and Nade stood with her and shouted in unison, "Let's go!"
The Return of the Archmage (1)
Bashka, capital of the Kingdom of Tormia.
In the Jijeo Mountains surrounding the royal castle sat a dungeon seventy meters deep, completed a hundred years ago. Called the Labyrinth of Darkness, it had once been the lair of the archmage Viltor Arkein, who had once held sway over the world.
Arkein, an authority on dark magic, had fought many wars against nations and then mysteriously vanished forty years ago after a certain incident.
At the time, Arkein's mage rank was an unofficial Rank 3.
Once you reach Rank 3 or above, whether officially recognized or not, the title of archmage is conferred.
A mage's rank is decided by achievements and renown, and the Mage Guild manages this with a special scoring system.
To go from Rank 10 to Rank 9 requires 1,000 points of combined achievement and renown. But to go from Rank 4 to Rank 3 required a staggering 280 million points.
In other words, a Rank 3 mage had amassed achievements and fame beyond ordinary imagining.
For comparison, clearing an A-grade lair granted 500 achievement points, and being summoned by the castle to meet the king granted 100 fame points—so one could guess the reach Arkein once had.
Forty years ago, Arkein attained unofficial Rank 3 at the age of eighty-nine. His score showed 100 million achievement points and 180 million fame points.
His fame outstripped his achievements because he'd been a notorious troublemaker who overturned the continent: forbidden experiments, building dark organizations, spawning anarchists—he'd caused crises that shook nations.
Old men over seventy still shuddered at the mention of Arkein's name; his infamy needed no appeal to the 280 million points to be understood.
"Phew. Phew."
Arkein opened his eyes inside a crystal tube filled with green liquid. Naked and with the skin of a 149-year-old, his flesh hung loose.
"Finally… finally the essence of darkness is complete."
Forty years of collected dark power. Arkein intended to absorb it and recreate his former glory.
Humans age and die because cells reach the limit of their self-replication. But Arkein had suppressed cell division with life-support devices.
His eyes glittered as he looked at the crystal on the desk. It had once shone like a diamond, but now it was pitch black—dark power injected into it every day.
"Alpheas, wait! I will repay this humiliation."
After suffering a mortal wound at the hands of a young Alpheas in his twenties, Arkein's power had rapidly declined.
But driven by revenge, he had survived, and at last today he would reclaim his strength and rise again as an archmage.
As the green fluid drained away into the basin, Arkein's waist bent with the falling level. His body was fragile as if ready for a coffin.
The front of the crystal sphere split open as if cut, and Arkein crawled out, panting.
"Canis! Arin! Are you there?"
A boy and a girl who looked very young opened the door and entered. Having mastered dark magic, they carried a gloomy air.
"You called, master?"
"Clothes. Bring me my clothes."