Maze (1)
The condition of my body the day after the duel wasn’t too bad. In fact, I even felt somewhat light. It was probably less the psychological satisfaction of having defeated Gerkhen Kal Doon, and more the fact that the mana quark treatment from Professor Yu Hains had worked quite well.
The man is indeed a doctor.
Chika-chika-
As I brushed my teeth in the dormitory bathroom, I saved someone’s number in my contacts.
[Number Saved: A]
This ‘A’ person was a client who had contacted me through [At Your Service] about half an hour ago. They had asked for some interpersonal relationship advice.
At first, I thought they were a nuisance and responded half-heartedly, but then they promptly deposited 5,000 Ren into my account. They seemed like a gold spoon, so I saved them immediately.
“Ptui.”
After rinsing my mouth, I stepped out of the dormitory.
“Good work, old man.”
As usual, I waved at old man Belthos, who was still tending the garden, and started walking when.
Ding-
My smartphone rang. It was a message from the messenger app.
[Lunatic: What are]
“?”
It was a message from Elise, but it seemed like something had been cut off.
Did she die while typing?
[?]
I sent a question mark. It seemed like she had left the chat room open because as soon as I sent the message, it was marked as read.
After that, there was no news.
I didn’t care either.
Today’s destination is the library.
The main event is on Friday, but I plan to make money during the two-day break.
Because I need money.
Not just for mana quark treatment, but also to invest an almost infinite amount of money in Professor Yu Hains to develop the facilities themselves.
To bring forward the complete cure for the treatment that took 12 years, and to change the subject from pigs to humans.
I’ll probably need tens of millions at the minimum, and billions at the maximum.
Therefore─.
From now on, I plan to actively use the knowledge of the future.
In simple terms, I will plagiarize the future and sell it.
—Ding.
I tag my student card at the library, enter, and sit down with a cup of coffee.
I picked up a roll of parchment for writing from the free paper.
I dissolved Perion in my café latte.
The Magic Spell I’m going to submit today is a turtle that eats corpses, ‘Corpse Eater’.
I slightly changed the name to ‘Death Eater’.
“Shall we try it?”
This Corpse Eater is in my 「Notepad」’s Database.
After recalling my experiences before regression through the 「Notepad」, it’s a concept I brought ‘across time’, to put it grandly.
However, I don’t know how it occurs, or what idea it was invented with.
Because it lacks the depth to me.
I simply calculate, compute and implement it with the 「Notepad」.
It’s a solution without theory, merely intuition.
If I were to make a comparison, I’d be like the dumbest genius.
“Huuk-”
I took a sip of the Perion coffee. I closed my eyes for a moment. Heat welled up in my throat. I opened my eyes amidst that concentration and excitement.
I started working.
「Death Eater」
Overview: A turtle that eats dead organisms……
I had transcribed the entirety of the Corpse Eater’s Magic Spell onto a scroll. From the starting point, turning point, and ending point of the Magic Spell, to the most crucial structure of the nucleus, I had even written down the circuit diagram and the user manual.
With a pencil that was wielded with utmost care to prevent even the slightest error.
By the time I finished, the sun was already setting.
[20 : 30]
I had started at 10 in the morning, and already 10 hours had passed.
“It’s done.”
Now, I will submit this patent to a company. Magic Spells are high-value products, so wouldn’t I get at least 400,000 to 500,000 Ren in royalties after taxes per year?
“Which one should I choose?”
There was still one more thing to worry about.
The company to which I would submit this Corpse Eater, no, this Death Eater’s Magic Spell.
First, it has to be put out in ‘Trick City’.
From Edsilla to Trick-City. The commercialization of Magic Spells mostly starts there, whether it spreads to the continent or descends into the underworld.
But there are too many companies in that Trick City…
“Ah, right.”
Suddenly, I remembered.
I searched for the name of a company on my smartphone.
[Valmant]
: Valmant Manalogy
: Valmant Tree
As expected, it was there.
Valmant Manaology.
The Corpse Eater’s Magic Spell isn’t a high or mid-high grade Magic Spell, so if it’s submitted to a large company, it might get buried. But there are too many swindlers to just submit it to any small or medium-sized company.
So, a company that is currently small or medium-sized, but is ‘certain’ to grow into a large company within 10 years.
[Valmant] is more than enough.
They have a trustworthy CEO as well.
“What should I name it?”
But to make contact and receive royalties, a separate identity is necessary.
I can’t receive it as DP when submitting to a company.
For smooth money laundering, a dual identity is essential.
After some thought, I wrote a name and contact information on the corner of the scroll.
[Dale]
Dale.
My father.
A person with a very common name, but that makes it all the better for camouflage.
I rolled up the scroll. Then, I placed an order for [Parcel Delivery] on the dark web.
“……”
I inadvertently looked at the messenger.
[?]
There was still no reply in Elise’s chat room.
In the autonomous district of the Deon region in the east of Edsilla, Plate (Plate).
The place also known as ‘Trick City’ is different from anywhere else on the continent. It’s extremely exotic. Special and peculiar.
A city that has become the backdrop of steampunk and neon city novels, built by fusing magic, mana, engineering, and science.
Gerkhen Kal Doon is there.
The sound of the engine burning mana stones echoes, shhh-shhh-shhh, and the sound of the hammer hitting the anvil, clang-clang-clang, floods the factory.
It’s a small and medium-sized company called [Valmant Manaology].
“I heard you lost.”
In the middle of that place, a muscular old man in his 60s named Diesel spoke. Gerkhen Kal Doon replied in a quiet voice.
“Has the rumor already spread?”
“Yes. It was quite spectacular, wasn’t it? How could the youngsters handle the sword so fiercely?”
“Ah, ah! It’s working! See, it’s working! It’s working!”
The boisterous voices echoed from the workshop next to the factory. Gerkhen Kal Doon pointed in that direction.
“What’s going on?”
“Ah. A submission came in yesterday. A scroll arrived from the Darkweb. They’ve been up all night with their hair on end looking at it, seems like it’s going well. Is it going well?! Hey!”
─It’s working!
Swish-swish- clang- clang-
“What?”
The factory and the workshop, separated only by a single wall, have an imperfect communication system. [Valmant Mana Tease].
“Hey!”
─It’s working!
“What?! What did you say?!”
The old man Diesel shouted. Gerkhen Kal Doon quietly sighed.
─Damn! It’s working!
“What the hell?! Did you say ‘fuck’? You brat!”
Then the door of the workshop swung open.
“……Not ‘fuck’! I said it’s working, you deaf old man! How many times do I have to answer!”
A woman with a mix of golden and black bobbed hair filled the factory with her ringing voice. Drenched in magical oil and sweat, she scowled at Gerkhen Kal Doon as soon as she saw him.
“Why do you keep coming here? I told you not to call me.”
“I didn’t call you. You came on your own.”
“Really? Hmm!”
The woman crossed her arms in dissatisfaction as she looked at Gerkhen Kal Doon. But there was a smile-like expression at the corner of her mouth.
“Hey, Gerkhen. Hey. Hey. I saw your defeat~?”
She approached, playfully raising her eyebrows.
“Who did you lose to? Shion Ascal? You lost to him~?”
This woman poking Gerkhen Kal Doon with a wooden stick was Kanya Wieder, the brightest genius in Trick City and a talent that could become the core of the city.
“If you’re here to be comforted because you’re beaten, I didn’t raise you to be like that-”
“What’s that?”
Gerkhen Kal Doon cut her off, pointing between the door gap. A disgusting turtle was crawling out.
“Ah. This? You came at the right time!”
Kanya’s eyes sparkled like stars.
“It’s called ‘Death Eater’. It’s a Magic Spell used to clean up animal, human, or monster corpses. It’s a new submission after a long time.”
She picked up the turtle and threw it to Gerkhen Kal Doon.
“I don’t know who the genius is, but they sent an almost finished product.”
Gerkhen Kal Doon picked up the turtle with two fingers. The turtle squirmed on its back.
“Look. This is the turtle Magic Spell.”
Kanya handed him a scroll. Gerkhen Kal Doon put the turtle down and unrolled it.
“……”
He quickly scanned the scroll from beginning to end, and indeed.
He found himself nodding involuntarily.
He fully understood why Kanya was making such a fuss.
The submitted Magic Spell was too complete.
Not only the components and circuit of the Magic Spell, but also the center where the magic gathers – in other words, the ‘core’ – was perfectly represented, making it a complete patent.
“Why would such a genius submit to Valmant?”
Gerkhen Kal Doon found it puzzling.
Scavengers who occasionally submit Magic Spells are usually unfriendly. They often lack understanding. Especially those who submit to small and medium-sized enterprises like [Valmant], they are even more so.
For instance, they are mostly scoundrels who only make 2 out of 10 and expect the company to handle the remaining 8. But this person was different.
They made 10 out of 10… No.
It seemed like they had made 11.
“Hey, you bastard. You should say it. Our Valmant has such a bright prospect. It means that the old reputation of our family hasn’t completely died yet.”
Kanya pounded her chest.
“Anyway, this thing, with a mana stone the size of a fingernail, can devour three water buffalo carcasses, you know? You can immediately patent it and sell it. I’m about to contact this ‘Dare’ guy right away.”
Dare. Gerkhen Kal Doon looked closely at the corner of the scroll.
Dale.
“……It’s Dale. Not Dare.”
“Hey. These turtles are surprisingly fast, huh?”
Kanya, not listening, took out another turtle from the pocket of her work clothes.
“Look, look. Hey turtle, walk.”
Passing by Kanya, who was squatting down and watching the turtle race, Gerkhen Kal Doon entered her workshop.
In one corner of her workshop, where she researched, developed, and invented Magic Spells, filled with all kinds of reagents, mana stones, and books, there was a narrow bedroom.
A very poor place connected to the workshop, factory, and residence.
This is where Kanya lived.
“……”
Gerkhen Kal Doon silently looked around her ‘home’.
A single room with only a withered bed and desk as furniture. However, on that desk, a very special fluid was glowing inside a glass tank-like container-
“What, are you worried?”
Kanya approached from behind.
“It’s almost complete. All you have to do is wait for it to wake up.”
That glowing organism is an augmented intelligence that surpasses artificial intelligence.
The theoretical resurrection of the dead, preserving and condensing the soul of a deceased person, fully implementing their previous personality.
“Just wait a little longer, and you can get everything back. Everything those damned Hilton bastards took away.”
Gerkhen Kal Doon did not respond.
“……You’re looking forward to it too, aren’t you? Gerkhen Kal Doon.”
He silently stepped out of the workshop. He bowed his head to the old man diesel in the factory.
“Diesel old man, I’ll be going.”
“Oh, okay. It was nice to see you. Don’t be too upset about losing. Rather, think of it as a good thing.”
As he was about to leave, Kanya stopped him.
“Hey! Gerkhen”
Kanya smiled brightly and gave a thumbs-up.
“They’re holding some kind of evaluation test. Do your best! And don’t be too upset about being humiliated by swordsmanship! It’s not that you’re bad, it’s that Shion Ascal is good!”
“……”
Whether it was consolation or mockery, Gerkhen Kal Doon left the company. He moved his legs straight to the train station.
Between each step, his past was mixed in.
Kanya and Gerkhen Kal Doon lived together when they were young.
No, the Wieder family took in Gerkhen Kal Doon. Thanks to that, they practically grew up like siblings from the age of five.
At that time, the Wieder family was one of the wealthiest families in Trick City, but now they have fallen. Kanya, who had lived a life of extreme wealth, fell to rock bottom in an instant.
Even in Trick City, where fortunes are reversed dozens of times a day, that incident was tragic enough to be long remembered.
Now Kanya seems to have overcome it at first glance, but that too is ultimately due to a handful of expectations.
That she can regain what was taken from her.
However, she doesn’t know.
Even if she fully utilizes her genius, she can never regain the old Wieder family.
Because……
──Gerkhen Kal Doon. I have a request.
An old voice seeps into his ear.
──This is a disastrous technology. So please……
The last words left by Kanya’s father, who is no longer in this world.
His will.
──……Destroy it with your own hands. So that Kanya won’t get hurt.
The patriarch of the Wieder family asked him.
To destroy the last legacy of the family, the ‘soul’ that Kanya is nurturing with all her heart.
Gerkhen Kal Doon was more than willing to do so.
Friday. On the day of the main evaluation test, on a nameless island northeast of Edsilla.
All the seniors participating in the college board course are in front of some ‘entrance’. In front of them, a portal about 5~6m high flickers.
Gathered at the pier early in the morning to take a boat and do what……
For me, this was the place when I came to my senses.
─From today for 72 hours, we will conduct the main evaluation test for the first quarter of the college board course.
Behind them, the representatives of the university association lined up at the harbor spoke through a loudspeaker.
─Today’s main evaluation test is ‘Entering the Maze’.
Maze.
I had some guesses because the portal was too big.
─Now, you will enter the Magic Space maze. Everyone starts from the same entrance and dives as deep as possible for 72 hours.
The maze is essentially a type of dungeon. Therefore, the [Dungeon System] will also be operational.
I tapped my wrist.
[Dungeon System]
[ID: 5092]
[Current EXP: 33]
As such, the dungeon system is ingenious and extensive, so as long as you are registered, the dungeon’s influence, that is, as soon as you come near, activation and login automatically occur.
─We will now distribute supply backpacks. For fairness, you can’t take anything other than the supply backpack, but you are allowed to use what you make directly in the maze.
Thousands of backpacks rose into the sky and were distributed to each individual.
─Then. From now, precisely 72 hours from Friday noon to Monday noon. We will start the evaluation test: Entering the Maze.
As soon as the person in charge spoke, some people went into the entrance, but most waited outside. They seem to be watching and trying to form a party-
Suddenly.
[News that Rune Crystals have been found in the maze, the location of the College Board evaluation test.]
“Eh!”
It stung like a needle in my ear. But my complexion brightened.
The future triggered at this moment, the word in the Memory of hearing── Rune Crystals.
“This is a jackpot.”
Perhaps more important than the evaluation test, a tremendous thing that makes your mouth water……
But someone next to me keeps fidgeting. Whether it’s on purpose or not, she flutters her hair and blocks my view by standing on tiptoes.
I looked at her.
There was Elise’s profile. She was looking somewhere right next to me.
“What are you doing?”
Then, she turned her head with a creak to look at me.
“Ah. There. You were here.”
“……I was here, of course.”
“You. Did you form a party?”
Her tone is somewhat awkward. Is Elise a robot in disguise?
“No.”
“……Shall we do it together? I have quite a lot of experience exploring mazes. I’ve done a lot of team play-”
“Are you crazy? I’m not doing it with you.”
“…….”
Gulp. Elise closed her mouth.
“Go play with your friends.”
I gestured towards Kain·Asher·Layla. That place suits Elise.
“…….”
Elise looked at me without saying a word. As if she had some complaints, or something to say, she stood there looking sullen, then turned around without a word and walked away with quick steps.
“Rune Crystals, Rune Crystals…….”
I closed my eyes again. To pull out even a little bit of Memory about the Rune Crystals.
