Ch.333328 – Magnum Opus

It was a quiet journey.

Cheon Kyu-jin glanced at NoName in the backseat through the rearview mirror.

The child was leaning her face against the window, breathing softly as she drifted to sleep.

The salty sea breeze flowing through the window gap gently caressed her hair as it passed.

When he turned his head forward again, a wide-open landscape stretched before him.

Metasequoia trees stood firmly like sentinels on both sides of the road.

Sunlight filtering through the swaying leaves fell onto the black asphalt, making the road shine like obsidian.

[I just know. Even if you ask where I learned it, it was in my head from the beginning.]

When he heard those words, Cheon Kyu-jin’s face had contorted with concern.

What exactly was NoName’s true identity?

What kind of research had Walpurgis been conducting in Korea?

What were the limits of her knowledge?

He left the driving to the AI and pondered for a long time, but no answers emerged.

Whatever she might be, NoName is NoName. It was a pathetically simple conclusion.

After passing a road without a single car in sight, the horizon greeted them.

The clouds floating in the clear sky had taken on a pastel pink hue in the morning sunlight.

They drove along a seawall road with a calm river to the left and the churning West Sea to the right, eventually reaching the mana power plant.

In the center stood a bizarre stone structure resembling an upside-down umbrella, surrounded by four towering spires.

Soon, endless gray wire fencing came into view.

National Critical Facility Class ‘A’.

A mana facility that must be defended at all costs during war, even if it means surrendering the Presidential Office and National Assembly.

Three military units and 1,000 security officers were stationed there permanently.

Cheon Kyu-jin briefly stopped the car in front of the barricade.

NoName, who had awakened at some point, was quietly staring out the window.

Simultaneously, guards with mana barriers surrounding their bodies rushed from the guardhouse.

“I’ll need to verify your identity.”

When he presented his access card, the man bowed at a 90-degree angle.

As he radioed that a VIP had arrived, the thick steel entrance gate floated up slightly from the ground and moved sideways.

Cheon Kyu-jin started the engine and took the wheel.

They drove through an area that didn’t appear on any maps, heading toward the center of the power plant.

Woong-

A subtle vibration could be felt through the car seat.

At the same time, whitish smoke billowed from the massive stone structure.

Colorful sparks flew through the clouds, creating a spectacular scene as lightning discharged upward.

NoName knelt on her seat, taking in the beautiful scenery.

Their final destination was the eastern tower, standing twenty stories tall.

The power plant grounds were eerily empty, except for one person who appeared in the distance, looking as small as an ant.

A hunched old man with a cane strode purposefully from the building entrance.

It was none other than Baek Hunjang, his white traditional robe billowing around him.

“Why were you waiting outside?”

“I thought my neck would break from waiting! They wouldn’t even let me in without you!”

In response to Cheon Kyu-jin’s question, the old man’s face crumpled as he shouted angrily.

* * *

“My, that storage tower is huge! This is my first time seeing it up close.”

“It’s the fifth largest in the world.”

“Let me guess, the biggest ones are in the Middle East?”

“That’s right.”

I overheard Professor Cheon and Baek Hunjang conversing behind me.

The structure that looked like an upside-down umbrella was called a “storage tower.”

The concept of storage that we learned in the fifth stage of magic originated from here.

It’s called a storage tower because it extracts and stores mana particles from the scaffold.

I’d agree that it doesn’t look like a tower at all.

Ironically, the four cylindrical buildings to the north, south, east, and west that actually look like towers are office buildings where the power plant employees work.

The pillars visible above ground serve as mana barriers protecting the entire power plant.

The main body of the power plant was underground.

We entered the oddly proportioned building with 3 floors above ground and 30 floors below.

Despite this imbalance, both the above and below-ground sections were about 120 meters in height.

While waiting for the elevator, Baek Hunjang continued talking to Professor Cheon.

“What kind of incredible magic requires renting an entire power plant?”

“Officially, it’s a 5th circle spell.”

“Planning to use dimensional descent or something?”

Professor Cheon remained silent and turned his gaze toward me.

It meant if the old man wanted to know more, he should ask me directly.

Since Hunjang and I weren’t particularly close, the conversation ended there.

[21st basement floor.]

We met with haggard-looking government officials, signed annoying pledge forms, and went through various procedures.

It didn’t take as long as I expected since we were just going to cast magic and leave.

After all, what the government fears most is an individual possessing excessive mana resources.

Entering and leaving empty-handed wasn’t much of an issue.

And we planned to dispose of all used mana stones anyway.

Finally, I registered a withdrawal account and paid a 10% advance of 21 billion won.

After receiving the storage process authorization from the power plant, we returned to the surface and exited the building.

“Isn’t there a laboratory or something at the power plant?”

“They don’t need laboratories in a power plant. If something dangerous happened, it would be catastrophic.”

Hearing this, I found myself nodding in agreement.

If such facilities existed, the National Intelligence Service would probably harass the employees daily.

I was reminded that civil servants exist not so much to develop the nation but to maintain it.

Professor Cheon took a tent from the car trunk and set it up on a sunny patch of grass.

Now all preparations were complete.

Within the power plant grounds, we could charge mana stones without limitation from anywhere.

Though the mana particles in the storage tower were more than sufficient, the mana stones wouldn’t be able to handle it all at once.

We needed to charge them very slowly over 36 hours.

I placed the moldavite mana stones, which had a green glass-like luster, in a row on the ground.

I also took out the additional mana stone that Lee Bo-reum had procured.

Though it looked like an ordinary rock, it was actually a Hypatia meteorite born from a supernova.

Just brushing against my skin, it rapidly drained the mana from my body.

I shook my hands vigorously to dispel the tingling sensation.

I pulled the first mana stone in front of my knees and drew a circular magic formation.

[Cast: Circuit Reconfiguration]

I set the mana stone to its lowest base state and entered the coordinates provided by the power plant staff as the supply source.

As long as the magic formation exists, mana will naturally flow from areas of high potential to low.

A soft green light emanated from the raw stone.

I went outside the tent to announce that preparations were complete.

We just needed to take turns periodically infusing mana to keep the magic formation running continuously.

“So who’s going to start… huh?”

Baek Hunjang, who had been sitting in a camping chair, jumped up and shouted.

“36 hours? Why does it take so long!”

“I explained that it would take about a day.”

“I didn’t realize that ‘day’ meant staying up all night!”

“Anyway, now that we’re here, there’s no turning back. Please help just this once.”

“I don’t know if the father and daughter are both crazy… you’re determined to squeeze every last drop from this old man, aren’t you?”

Despite his grumbling, Baek Hunjang took off his shoes and entered the tent.

He hopped onto the chair that had been warmed up.

With the sun rising, even the March breeze felt pleasant.

“Dad, have you ever been camping?”

“Hmm. I did it often when I was in the Middle East.”

“No, I mean besides your veteran days…”

I was trying to make light conversation, but he suddenly turned the mood serious.

If we’re counting like that, I’ve done it countless times in my previous life too.

“For leisure purposes… I don’t think I have.”

“I thought you might enjoy fishing or camping since you like hiking.”

“I do enjoy fishing channels.”

“What’s the fun in watching others do it?”

“Aren’t your viewers all watching because they enjoy seeing NoName play games?”

I clapped and nodded at his spot-on answer.

Just then, there was a popping sound from inside the tent.

Bang-!

“Oh my! What happened, Hunjang?”

“I’m fine! I’m just not used to handling such high-purity mana stones after so long.”

“If that gets interrupted, we might have to start over from the beginning. So please be a little more careful.”

“This brat doesn’t care about his elder’s well-being…! Ah, forget it.”

“I’ll switch with you in two hours.”

If this were something that could be done casually, I would have joined them in the tent to keep them company.

But this task required utmost concentration.

After reminding him of this, I resumed my conversation with Professor Cheon.

Time passed quickly with our idle chatter.

Professor Cheon had returned to Korea University after finishing his research year.

In the meantime, my fame had spread so widely that even Professor Cheon had become a celebrity by association.

“I think I’ll need more autographs.”

“What? Again?”

“I give out my daughter’s autograph more often than my business card these days.”

“You’ll have to deal with it, fighting!”

Our conversation topics branched out until they completely derailed.

Professor Cheon suddenly brought up fan meetings.

“So how many confessions have you put on hold?”

“Huh? Oh, that’s all made up. There’s actually only been one person. You already know that from the principal.”

“And you rejected that one too?”

“I let them down gently.”

“Won’t you tell your dad who it was?”

“No way. I promised to respect their privacy. And I’m not as popular as you think, Dad. I have a rather intimidating impression, you know.”

“You, NoName?”

“What?”

“Hahaha!”

Professor Cheon burst into laughter.

I blinked in confusion.

Even when I asked why he was laughing, I never got an answer.

* * *

It was only at 2 AM that we managed to fill the two mana stones with mana.

We moved the mana stones outside.

The others needed to sleep. We still had a long way to go.

* * *

It was a morning without a single bird call.

The sad truth is that any birds attempting to enter the power plant instantly become roasted on the spot.

The staff mentioned that if you smell meat near the fence, it’s almost certainly bird meat.

I had a simple breakfast with abalone porridge that Professor Cheon bought from a convenience store.

Thanks to the adults’ consideration, I was able to sleep comfortably without having to take the night watch.

They had worked hard through the night, so both were sleeping soundly in the tent.

I summoned Adella via hologram and chatted with her.

“Sis, shouldn’t you be watching the magic formation?”

“It’s fine. A mage of my caliber can do this with my eyes closed.”

“The mana is overflowing from the circuit. Is that okay?”

“Oh!”

I quickly swallowed the abalone in my mouth and adjusted the magic formation.

What a waste—I was saving it to savor slowly.

The roof of my mouth got slightly burned as a bonus.

“But seriously, don’t you need to introduce me to your father? He is the homeowner after all…”

Adella mumbled hesitantly.

“Adella, are you planning to live at our house…?”

“What? Where else am I supposed to live? Are you telling me to sleep on the streets?”

“I’m kidding. So what will you say when you meet my dad?”

“Um… I’ll be in your care?”

“And?”

“And umm…”

She was at a loss for words.

Honestly, I couldn’t think of a good excuse either, so I just let it slide.

They say it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission when it comes to tattoos.

Perhaps the same logic applies to bringing a cat home.

And this kind of fantasy magic is hard to believe until you experience it firsthand.

“Anyway, it’s a good thing I borrowed one more from Bo-reum. It would have been disastrous if we only brought three mana stones.”

“What happens if we run out of mana?”

“Well, I’m not sure…”

An incomplete casting of Dragonia Nascientia? Even I can’t guarantee the results.

Dragons don’t typically run out of mana with such simple spells, so there’s no precedent.

“If Adella turned into Petite Adella, that might actually be fortunate.”

“What if the despair circuit goes full throttle?”

“You might become Limbless Adella or Durahan Adella…”

“Aaaaaahhh!”

Adella’s scream broke through the microphone’s volume limit.

“I’m joking, right?”

“Of course I’m joking. High-circle magic like this is difficult to cast incompletely. The result is always either 0 or 1.”

“Phew… Please don’t make such weird jokes when someone’s life is at stake. Okay? Please…”

She continued complaining so loudly that I was tempted to turn off the hologram.

Fine, just for today.

Just for today, I’d let Adella do as she pleased.

* * *

“It’s done! Finally done!”

Baek Hunjang shouted.

“If you’ve called this old man all the way here just to cast a Light spell, you’re in trouble!”

“That would be quite interesting too. I wonder how powerful a 200 billion won Light spell would be.”

Light is a scalar magic, so the more mana you inject, the stronger the effect.

Of course, it follows a logarithmic scale, so dramatic changes can’t be expected, but even that changes when money is thrown at it.

It could probably illuminate an entire city, at least.

Anyway, it took exactly one day and 11 hours to fill the four stone chunks with mana shells.

This way, mana particles could be shot directly from the power plant without going through a human’s aura heart.

9 PM.

All the power plant employees had gone home, and the flashlights of patrolling police officers could be seen in the distance.

I wondered if I would ever spend money this extravagantly again in this lifetime.

I took out a portable synthesis formation creator and took a deep breath.

I patted both cheeks with my hands to sharpen my focus.

Let’s start with the preparation work.

[IWC Reminiscence]

[5th Circle Cast: Devil’s Horn]

Mana particles descended and stacked up to form horns.

My vision cleared, and things previously invisible now shimmered before my eyes.

Through this new vision, the power plant appeared truly serene and calm.

The constantly moving mana remained very homogeneous.

I thought this must be heaven for demon-kind.

I made a request to Professor Cheon.

“Dad, could you bring the hoodie and sweatpants from the backseat?”

“The ones we bought at the department store? Sure.”

“And no matter what sounds you hear from inside the tent, please don’t come in. Understand? Absolutely not. If something goes wrong, I’ll shout for help, but otherwise, please keep this promise. You too, Baek Hunjang.”

“Ah, yes, I promise.”

“I’m counting on you all.”

I gathered the white clothes with stripes on the arms and legs and entered the tent.

“Adella, are you ready?”

I had put away the hologram creator to avoid potential mana interference.

I used an old-fashioned phone that operated solely on electricity to communicate with Adella.

[Yes.]

“Then I’ll begin.”

I pricked the tip of my index finger with my thumbnail and let a drop of dark red blood fall.

I extracted DNA to gain access to the Akashic Records.

[Preface: Humans consist of 46 books (chromosomes), containing 30,000 sentences (genes), and 3 billion letters (nucleotides).]

The “Magnum Opus” of the Blue Dragon, cursed with knowledge.

Who would have thought that a magic capable of destroying the world would be used to save a single cat?

[2nd Circle Cast: Cerebral Cortex Reconstruction]

[4th Circle Cast: Lateral Septum Activation]

[Decryption: Neurotensin Receptor 1]

[Innate Magic – Estasha Style Second Form – Schadenfreude]

[5th Circle Cast: Akashic Record]

[Replication: Tsurevis Ostantein]

[Innate Magic – Savior of the East]