I Refused To Be Reincarnated
Chapter 492: The Archmage’s Secret

Chapter 492: The Archmage’s Secret

He spent an additional hour with Julius, speaking about his adventures and asking about his lessons with Nathan and Alexander.

From what he heard, Julius trained hard in controlled environments. As a former general, the adept overlooked the process each time, rushing to help when the boy messed up and ingraining battle strategies into his mind.

He sighed in relief as he went to Shepard’s.

Despite his apprehension and their origins, Alexander took care of his brother.

Once inside, he explained how Aurora had targeted him and handed the heavy material bag to the arcanist.

"You can ask Elena to help or do it yourself, but I won’t brew her potions."

Without waiting for an answer, he left, noticing his mentor’s darkening face from the corner of his eye.

A moment later, he stepped into Nathan’s room, almost bursting into laughter after pushing the door open and seeing Gaston and Elena had claimed the place.

Without invitation, he drew a chair, sat around the table, and fixed his eyes on the beautiful archmage.

"You wrote that affinities are a bait. Why?"

"Oh! My earlier explanation might indeed have confused you."

Elena floated to the table’s center and puffed her chest with pride.

"I won’t teach you anything by telling you how hard progress becomes after crossing three tiers, right? Well, I can remind you."

She raised three fingers, emphasising her explanation.

"To become an adept, you need fifty mana strands on average. To become a mage, it jumps to two hundred."

She lowered two fingers, everyone’s attention glued to her parting lips as she began revealing the secret to reach the seventh tier.

"To become an archmage, mana strands aren’t enough..."

Her voice trailed off, the air grew heavy around him, and his sparkling eyes narrowed.

"You first must alter your previously created mana circles to imbue them with your elemental affinity. The seventh isn’t an exception. That’s why it’s a bait."

Everyone’s eyes enlarged at the revelation. After all, they had never heard about this concept before.

Fortunately, she continued her explanation, sending them reeling in shock.

"Elemental mana is much scarcer than its natural counterpart. You might not find a speck in thousands of kilometers or mistake it with life force, which won’t work."

She clapped her hands, her lips stretching into a bright smile.

"Now tell me, how do you think they become archmages?"

Nathan instantly answered, the deduction logical to him and his tone confident.

"They set up territories and monopolise the mana. The sky guardian for thunder and wind in the west, The Beast Emperor for Earth in the south, and The Tidecaller in the middle of the sea for water."

"Correct! They need immense dominion to fuel their advancement to the seventh tier because of their affinities. But if you don’t have one? You can just build your circles with mana directly and skip the wars, conquests, and political trouble."

He tucked his fingers around his chin, exhaling a sharp breath as her words melted in his mind.

’Orion was correct, and that’s why there were six archmages in the past.’

He delved further, drawing theories to grasp the progression system.

’Since Selene draws mana from the sun, his affinity doesn’t clash with The Emperor, meaning two or even three archmages can share the same territory. It also seems that basic affinities have an edge over rarer ones since they’re harder to find in the wilds. I don’t really see someone with magma affinity living in the heart of a volcano all year round without going mad... Shiro is the worst. Does she have to go to space or a planet with stronger gravity to become an archmage? How would someone with time affinity even do?’

After a moment, he sighed.

"It’s indeed not the optimal path."

Then, he turned to Gaston, his lips curling into a smug grin.

"It seems you’ll stay stuck on your level for a long time. Good luck."

However, Gaston shrugged in disinterest before his malicious smile twisted his lips.

"Why would I spend time gathering elemental mana when I can steal it?"

His grin froze, and his lips twitched at the sharp answer.

’Tsk. Why did I expect you to follow the rules?’

He thought, rising to his feet and glaring at the nightmare.

"When will you heal your brother?"

Nathan jumped in fright, and his eyes bulged in disbelief. Heal him? After he spent his entire life without access to mana because of Gaston? What kind of cruel joke was that?

However, Gaston just nodded and gripped Nathan by the shoulder, causing him to yelp in fright. The wind whipped against the man’s clothes as Gaston threw him onto the table, knocking the air out of his lungs.

Then, he stepped on his chest to immobilise him, and his blue eye shone like a scanner. Dozens of miniaturised dark scalpels materialised around him like a tenebrous halo, and his smile enlarged to reach his eyes.

"By all means, scream in agony. It’ll help me focus."

He rolled his eyes at Gaston’s antics...

’He really enjoys people’s sufferings.’

He stepped back, watching with mixed feelings as the horrible scalpels dug into Nathan’s body.

Elena leaned over them, interest flashing in her eyes at the creative yet insidious method Gaston had used.

Agonising roars echoed as the nightmare’s dark mana cleaved open Nathan’s circuits and collided with dense balls of pure mana he had left there almost twenty years ago.

Assaulted by the ethereal pain, Nathan’s head collided with the table, dull noises echoing, and his body shook like a leaf battered by a storm for a minute. Then? He felt it: a sensation he had dreamed of but had been unreachable.

Meanwhile, Gaston dusted his hands and jumped down.

"Here, done."

Despite the man’s casualness, he knew no one could have helped Nathan without his cheat-like eye.

"I-I can feel mana!"

"Yes. Now you can become judgement and use your mythical brain’s full potential."

Gaston shrugged as he sat back and gestured for Elena to continue their earlier conversation.

As Nathan forgot about the agony and jumped in delight, he shook his head and left.

Unwilling to listen to the nightmare’s raving theories about a card game, he returned to his room and fixed the gashes on the ground using earth mana.

With everything back in pristine condition, even though the slabs were thinner than before, he leaned against a wall and retrieved Thurin’s force grimoire to deepen his understanding of the subject.