The stranger casually mentioned the secret that Caike had spent his entire life investigating.
Caike focused his mana on his mechanical right eye to uncover the stranger’s true identity. The biological left eye sent hazy images of a human face to the brain, while the mechanical right eye displayed separate observation results.
The left eye still showed blurred human features. However, the mana-powered right eye only revealed a shadowy figure without clear form.
Biological eyes have countless blind spots compared to the meticulously designed mechanical eye. Yet inexplicably, why couldn’t the mechanical eye detect this being?
There was no way to explain this bizarre phenomenon.
The stranger took a step closer.
“How so? That’s quite an odd statement.”
Ortes took a step back.
“Simon Mageus didn’t challenge ascension? The procedure to ascend to the celestial throne where gods reside. Isn’t it logical to assume those who seek to reach the level of gods possess divinity?”
“They hid it!!”
Caike erupted. Everything the stranger spoke of were secrets the Ten Towers had concealed.
“They hid the fact that the ultimate goal of magic, which expelled the gods, resulted in the birth of new ones! Who are you? Where do you come from?”
“That level of information is hardly worth calling a secret.”
The intruder murmured that if the Ten Towers truly wanted to hide something, they would’ve changed the name “ascension” itself.
“Let’s talk practicalities. There must have been a point where quantitative expansion equaled qualitative improvement.”
That was accurate. Absorbing the essence of Mount Etna made the magic wieldable through the Artificial Tenth Rank increasingly refined and powerful.
“But there’s a limit. A stage where increasing mana doesn’t improve the level of magic. It seems you’ve been at this impasse for quite some time.”
On the left, the stranger’s smile could be seen. Through the right eye, a human-shaped darkness filled the void where reality should be.
“I know about your failure. Nonetheless, I commend your relentless efforts leading up to it.”
“Who are you! Where do you come from? Are you an assassin sent by the Ten Towers!”
No. The Ten Towers weren’t idle enough to focus on such failures. They were already busy balancing each other while pursuing ascension.
But who else besides the Ten Towers could create such an enigmatic existence?
“Didn’t I introduce myself earlier?”
Lernian Tower? No. Such an entity shouldn’t exist in a tower of that caliber.
Now that he thought about it, the phrase ‘the closest thing’ was Lernian.
Something from the Lernian Tower? No. The Lernian Tower wasn’t grand enough to harbor such an enigmatic presence.
Caike steadied his trembling body and stared at the figure, attempting to unify his left and right vision again.
It was clear that observing the stranger with the right eye revealed nothing. To overcome his fear, he had to restore his normal vision.
Clap.
At that moment, the stranger clapped.
Though devoid of hostility, it was enough to break concentration.
“Sorry, it seems you’re having trouble focusing.”
‘Did it recognize the magic that only works within my body?’
The stranger wanted Caike to observe him with his right eye. He couldn’t fathom the reason.
“Let me reintroduce myself. I’m Ortes from Hydra Corp.”
“Hydra Corp?”
The entity claiming to be Ortes shrugged.
“It should be in Pythos Tower’s automatic information collection program for this month. We’re the emerging tower that eliminated the Lernian School and took their place.”
“Are you the CEO?”
The smile visible only in the left eye deepened.
“CEO? Hardly. I don’t even receive officer treatment at Hydra Corp. I might be considered a regular employee in terms of hierarchy.”
It was unbelievable. In extreme confusion, Caike tried to grasp the purpose of the approaching figure.
“Because of the Artificial Tenth Rank… You came for me because of that ‘failure’ you acknowledge?”
“It was a failure until now. But things will change if you join us.”
Unstoppably approaching, Caike could only retreat helplessly.
Thud. His heels signaled there was nowhere left to retreat. Caike realized he had backed into the control device of the Artificial Tenth Rank.
“So this is the Tenth Rank. Compared to the real one, its density is lacking, making it somewhat bloated, but its mana compression rate surpasses even decent magic stones.”
Ortes’ hand passed over Caike and touched the control device, observed by Caike’s right eye.
───!
An indescribable primal resonance filled the mountain, flowing down and shaking the entire city.
Wherever the sound reached, flames erupted, igniting the volcano’s dormant heart once more.
Caike understood what it was.
“Echo…”
The echo Tiphoeus left in this world. What Caike had spent his life searching for.
The legendary great monster known as the father of all beasts. The king of monsters and a god. One of the vanished gods whose last recorded site was Mount Etna.
This was why Caike attempted to gather the volcanic energy of Etna City to create the Artificial Tenth Rank.
If the Tenth Rank represented the power left behind by ascended beings—humans who attained divinity—then perhaps gathering remnants of a god’s traces could recreate something similar.
However, Caike failed to account for time.
Even the Wizard King’s ascension belonged to an era called ancient times. The age of the vanished gods was so distant that records grew faint.
Caike underestimated the power of time that gathers everything.
No matter how much volcanic energy he gathered from Mount Etna, finding even a fragment of Tiphoeus’s divine essence from that era was uncertain.
In the growing frustration, as Caike was about to admit defeat, Ortes appeared.
Caike’s right eye precisely replayed the recent event. Ortes’s hand—the hand that looked like a shadow to the right eye—touched the control device of the Artificial Tenth Rank.
Something surged from the shadow, enveloping the Artificial Tenth Rank.
Having received something, the Artificial Tenth Rank resonated with the echoes of divinity within. Ortes brought forth the echo of divinity across time.
“Wh-who are you?”
Kneeling involuntarily, Caike asked. Even kneeling, the originally giant Caike’s eye level was higher than Ortes.
Yet Caike couldn’t feel like he was looking down on Ortes. If anything, it felt like Ortes was observing him.
“By what authority have you revealed my hidden sanctuary and summoned an ancient divinity’s response?”
A smiling silence. Each passing second increased the sweat on Caike’s forehead.
“I am…”
The eternal-seeming silence broke.
“A clerk at Hydra Corp.”
That wasn’t an answer. Caike was about to retort.
“The answers you seek lie within us.”
Why did Ortes know the secrets of the Ten Towers?
Why did his touch activate the Artificial Tenth Rank?
Before the heretic who left the Ten Towers, someone extended a hand promising answers to all questions.
“Don’t be afraid. My lord values even the small and turns them into greatness. How much greater success will he bestow upon you, who has already saved such a monumental failure?”
Caike took the offered hand.
*
I don’t know. What is this? It’s scary.
From the start of the conversation, I felt something was off, so I pressured Caike by mimicking a highly suspicious force to prevent him from striking first.
Throwing out bits of lore from the original story to corner Caike worked well until…
Watching the giant’s expression shift from bewilderment to shock, then to fear, was somewhat heartbreaking, but isn’t it better if we can resolve things peacefully without fighting?
Actually, in the original story, Caike never appeared since Baegmun likely used the Artificial Tenth Rank as a bomb.
To reduce the possibility of Carisia following Baegmun’s path, recruiting a competent magician seemed like a perfect plan.
I planned to end the intense interview atmosphere at the right moment, touch his inventions while giving compliments, and offer shiny benefits like “We have prepared these perks for you at our company” to persuade him to join.
When I touched the Tenth Rank, an unexpected phenomenon occurred. I couldn’t comprehend the reason at all.
‘Is it because of that mysterious facility where my body was?’
I had hypotheses, but no solid evidence.
Caike was staring at me with shining eyes, ready to prostrate himself.
With the abilities I possessed, fulfilling the expectations of a giant researcher secluded in a basement under a volcano and suffering from depression should be easy.
All I could choose in my predicament was one option:
Pass everything onto Carisia.
