Chapter 175

From Jaeyeon’s perspective, time flew by quickly for Ardenia’s mages—like a week had passed in legend or myth. In what felt like both an eternity and a blink of an eye, Emperor Han Jaeyeon answered countless questions from numerous wizards without missing a beat.

“Magic missiles don’t accumulate mana. To be precise, the required mana increases exponentially, making it hard to handle.”

“There are two—no… four ways to do this. The first one is…”

Tak-tada! Tap!

As Jaeyeon tapped his notepad, several formulas and shapes appeared on the large display behind him.

And then…

Scritch-scritch. Scritch-scritch.

Ten thousand mages wrote down the information simultaneously.

The mages were so hungry for magic knowledge that they even copied down spells unrelated to their own fields.

One of the old mages among them wept as he took notes.

“I… I was born too soon…”

“Yes… This theory could have existed all along…!”

“So this is how it works…!”

For these mages, especially those who knew about the past magical world, this lecture was incredibly precious and insightful.

To them, seeing the emperor was like watching gold being showered around. They couldn’t lift their heads until every last piece of gold had been picked up from the floor.

“From Ice Circle Ring…”

“Fast casting is…”

“You want to enter class 3…”

Despite the flood of questions, Jaeyeon never hesitated or wavered. It was natural since he was just reading from what others had written, but it didn’t seem that way to the mages. To them, his performance wasn’t a simple lecture but an overwhelming display of knowledge.

Scritch, scritch.

All the mages were scribbling down Jaeyeon’s answers on thick stacks of paper.

That wasn’t all.

“Yes, Harmony.”

As the Human Empire’s top star, Harmony knew the structure and functions of this 10,000-seat concert hall better than anyone. He directed the ten rare broadcast cameras installed in the venue, ensuring the smooth continuation of the live stream.

Festival Land was different from the other seven Gigas Lands. It was a city of festivals and art. Instead of stone or steel walls, its palace was made of displays.

This made it less secure, but the big advantage was that these walls could show all kinds of videos.

Right now, they were showing Jaeyeon’s lecture on those walls.

It wasn’t just the mages in the concert hall who were listening. Everyone in the Empire could hear Jaeyeon’s words.

“Wow, he’s truly amazing. Not sleeping for a week…”

“He has knowledge that reaches up to the heavens…”

“Teaching so many mages by yourself… I’ve heard each one is a great scholar.”

The general audience couldn’t fully understand Jaeyeon’s lectures. It was natural since they lacked magical knowledge.

But that didn’t matter.

People can still enjoy mystery comics even if they don’t grasp the locked room trick. They can marvel at their country’s figure skating competitors in world championships without knowing how scores are judged. In baseball, they cheer for their favorite pitcher even though they might not know why a batter reaches first base sometimes or gets out other times despite four balls being thrown similarly. When you think about it, specialized knowledge isn’t needed to appreciate Jaeyeon’s lectures either.

He spoke with unstoppable enthusiasm, pouring out all kinds of knowledge. Shapes and formulas appeared on stage—none knew what they were, but they looked impressive. Many mages nodded in amazement at each word he said. The sight filled the hearts of those who loved the emperor with pride—an overwhelming sense of fulfillment that not even the most potent drugs could match.

If even non-mages felt this way, imagine how it affected actual mages!

His knowledge was incredibly vast. In the original Ardenia, it would have taken hundreds or maybe thousands of years to accumulate such information. It goes without saying how Reyeon must have seemed as he shared this wealth of knowledge.

A superstar. An idol.

Jaeyeon was more than just the emperor of the Human Empire—he was something else entirely.

“Next question.”

“Yes! I’m Smile, a fourth-class mage. One of the spells from the Wheel School is…”

As he answered, Jaeyeon munched on sandwiches brought by the maidservants. It wasn’t appropriate behavior for his position, but no one protested. After all, wasn’t this the Emperor who sacrificed sleep and even mealtime to impart as much knowledge as possible to them?

Considering that the lecture had been going on for over a week now, it was astonishingly superhuman. The Emperor seemed like he possessed both limitless knowledge reaching up to the heavens and inexhaustible physical energy.

“I’ll… I’ll have a sandwich too.”

“Me, a hot dog…”

The emperor ate without pause during his lecture, and the other mages did the same. They wrote down answers as they ate food brought by attendants.

This concert hall had folding tables for 10,000 people and plenty of bathrooms, so it was comfortable to listen to the talk.

But these mages weren’t superhuman like the emperor—they had limits.

“H-Row 117. Get out.”

“Sssshhhk… Oof! No sir! I wasn’t sleeping!”

A knight growled at the mage who’d startled everyone with his loud voice.

“Quiet down! Are you trying to disrupt His Imperial Majesty’s lecture? Don’t be stubborn—go outside and get some sleep. You don’t have to do this here.”

“That… No. Yes.”

As more mages started succumbing to sleep, knights would find them and escort them out of the concert hall.

And then, in their empty seats…

“It’s done! They’re finally here.”

“After waiting so long…”

The seats were filled with mages who had been waiting outside. These were the ones who had been kicked out earlier but returned after getting enough sleep.

Meanwhile, a mage who had just woken up saw the long line snaking toward the entrance of the concert hall and felt hopeless.

“Oh man… Look at how many there are…”

The standing tickets, initially provided to give as many mages as possible a chance to attend, had all disappeared. The organizers realized that having everyone stand for both the lecture and meals throughout the day would leave the concert hall’s corridors and break rooms messy. Plus, they discovered Harmony’s broadcast was more effective than expected. So Jaeyeon limited the number of mages to exactly 10,000—just enough to fill the seats.

“But… why is everybody lining up like this?”

“You’re right. If they’re just taking notes, couldn’t they do it while watching from the palace walls?”

The sight of mages queued up, listening to Jaeyeon’s lecture and scribbling down notes, sparked whispers among the Empire’s citizens.

They weren’t wrong.

If the broadcast could be seen from the palace walls, there was no need to enter the concert hall. Whether you were inside or outside, you’d hear the same thing, wouldn’t you?

But mages were eager for this moment.

What nonsense…

People willingly went to concerts just to hear singers perform live. It wasn’t rare for them to pay a lot of money and endure discomfort to watch musicals or plays in theaters.

In fact, it was inefficient. Watching high-quality videos with excellent sound at home was better than trying to see everything from far away in an outdoor venue. And often these videos were free online!

Yet despite all that, some people would spend tens of thousands—sometimes even hundreds of thousands—to be there in person. Mages felt exactly the same way.

They couldn’t wait to hear the emperor’s explanation themselves.

The sense of being part of history—no, maybe even legend—was overwhelming. And most importantly, I had the right to ask questions directly.

“3,000 gold… no, make it 5,000 gold. Would you mind giving up your spot?”

“No deal. Try elsewhere.”

“I have to ask something really important!”

“So do I!”

“Me too! First ten people, if anyone wants to sell their spot, it’s 6,000 gold!”

“I’ll give 7,000!”

People were dumbfounded by the squabbling mages.

“Wow. Paying for a place in line…”

“I’m kind of jealous. If I knew how to use magic, I’d be trying my luck too…”

In Ardenia, mages were lined up eagerly for a lecture.

Meanwhile, on Earth…

The exact opposite situation was unfolding.

No need to break down or rebuild your existing circles!

Since it’s an improved version, let’s call it Twin Mirror…

It was a really tough question, yet not only did we get a quick answer, but two popped up right away.

Jaeyeon didn’t care either way and read both responses, but their authors started arguing with each other.

Jaeyeon was confused by the bickering between these experts.

“No, why is everyone so worked up… I appreciate the doctor’s help, but…”

Just then…

Countless mages…

Were lining up to teach me their methods.