Chapter 214: A Bit (4)

William was attempting to smuggle something out of the Tower of Wishes. The sphere’s existence was likely the entity meant to transfer the stolen item. And the being within the sphere had clearly stated:

That technique.

The crucial point here was that William still hadn’t found what he sought.

A technique even the Tower’s high-ranking officials can’t locate…

This meant it must be the core technology of the Tower of Wishes.

Grrr.

A grinding sound escaped Louis’s teeth as a sharp killing intent radiated from him. The air around him plummeted in temperature, explaining the mysterious chill William had felt moments earlier.

“That insect-like bastard…”

To Louis, William was no different from a mere bug.

A dirty pest gnawing at his tower. That’s all William amounted to.

“Haaah…” Louis exhaled, his murderous intent momentarily restrained as he sank into contemplation.

What should I do with him?

He wanted to stomp over there right now, crush William, and wring out every secret. But that would be the worst of all strategies.

Damn it, he’s a mental attribute user too.

Extracting a confession from William would be simple for Louis. He could just use one of the mental attribute Sacred Scriptures on him. Of course, that would turn William into a Mac, but Louis didn’t care about that.

The problem was that William was a Tier 2 mental attribute mystic.

Even as a Top Tier, I’d struggle to get a perfect confession from that bastard.

A confession meant dredging up everything from the depths of one’s unconscious mind.

However, a mystic with William’s level of mental attribute could manipulate even my unconscious mind.

If I were to confess under such circumstances, it would merely be cutting off the tail while leaving the body intact.

I need to strike at the core. No, I must unearth everything connected to that bastard.

William was undoubtedly involved.

Not just me. Not just myself.

If I unconsciously spoke of “us,” it meant he wasn’t the sole architect of this scheme.

At least two others, or perhaps more.

Other entities within the Tower of Wishes were aiding William.

Collaborators or accomplices, perhaps…

If I intended to purge them, I’d have to uproot the entire system at once.

Otherwise, I’d only give them time to regroup and hide deeper.

The mere thought of the insects scheming within the Tower of Wishes made me sigh involuntarily.

“Ha… This is all my karmic burden.”

The position of Lord of the Tower had remained vacant for too long, and the whereabouts of the four others who should have been my deputies were equally mysterious.

Meanwhile, the Tower of Wishes had grown too vast.

With no one to provide direction or wield the whip, this corruption had flourished.

Perhaps William is merely one of the visible symptoms.

As the tower’s structure had expanded, it might be rotting from within - a decay that wouldn’t show on the surface.

“If that’s the case…”

There was only one solution.

“I must cut out the rot from within.”

I would personally enter the Tower of Wishes, methodically searching for every corrupted element.

He needed to completely cut away the rotting flesh to prevent it from spreading further.

To do that, I need to examine the tower from its very foundation…

An infiltration investigation to uncover the tower’s stench-ridden corruption.

And Louis knew the solution all too well.

“So… that’s the only way, isn’t it?”

Louis’s eyes gleamed as his figure vanished from the spot.

Where he had stood remained only a fragment of the communication stone, casting an eerie atmosphere.

The lodging the Louis-less Louis travel party had secured.

The entire group gathered in the spacious room.

Khan, Kani, Kendrick, and Fin were in the center of the room, spreading out various drinks and snacks for a drinking party.

At that moment, Tania muttered while gazing at the door:

“When will our teacher come…?”

Lavina, who had been scratching Nabi’s chin as she waited with unwavering devotion, clicked her tongue.

“Do you really like him that much?”

“Of course! He’s my first love!”

“When was that?”

“When I was eight.”

”…You were more mature than I thought.”

No, should I say it’s impressive?

To still cherish a first love from when you were eight.

“Our teacher was so amazing back then! Really… there’s no woman who wouldn’t fall for him after seeing that!”

“What did you do?”

“Teacher did this! Just like this, and the ogre got all small!”

”…Isn’t it a bit strange that an eight-year-old kid would fall in love after seeing someone smash an ogre down to the size of a fist?”

“No! I’m just not explaining it well. If you’d seen it, Sister Lavina, you wouldn’t be saying that!”

“Right, sure.”

Lavina gave a half-hearted response to Tania’s animated explanation.

As Tania continued her story about her first love…

Thud.

“I’m here!”

Louis entered through the door normally today, which was unusual.

Everyone turned to look at his arrival.

“Louis is here! Oh…?”

“Teacher… Huh?”

Louis appeared before Kani and Tania, who had rushed forward at his arrival, and extended a pristine white paper toward them. He continued distributing papers to the rest of the group, leaving only Lavina out.

The recipients, now united in purpose, asked in unison:

“What’s this?”

Louis answered with a bright, cheerful voice:

“Transcendence Academy enrollment application!”

”…”

His toothy grin left the travel party speechless.

”…Why didn’t I get one?”

Lavina alone, having received nothing, pouted stubbornly. Naturally, no one paid attention to her sulking.

The members of Louis’s travel party knelt in a row across the floor of the room, completely absorbed in filling out the admission forms he had provided.

“Everyone, listen while you write,” Louis began, launching into his account of what he had witnessed and experienced.

Scritch, scritch…

His calm voice layered over the rhythmic scratching of pen against paper. When he finished his story…

“But sir,” Tania’s hand shot up.

“What is it?”

“What does William’s corruption have to do with us writing these forms now?”

“An excellent question.” Louis nodded appreciatively at Tania’s astute observation.

“There are two main reasons we must enter Transcendence Academy. First, William is at the core of this corruption. As long as he remains a professor there, we must approach him. From there, we’ll gradually unearth the hidden roots. And second…”

”…?”

“To fully grasp the extent of corruption within the tower, it’s best to experience it step by step from the very bottom. This incident has solidified my resolve. I will never tolerate even the slightest immorality or injustice in my tower!”

“Teacher, aren’t you the epitome of immorality and injustice yourself… gurgle!”

Kendrick received a sharp kick to the ribs from Louis and tumbled sideways across the floor.

Of course, no one present cared about this incident. It wasn’t as if this was the first time he’d been beaten for thoughtlessly running his mouth. By now, such occurrences had become mere trivialities of daily life.

Leaving Kendrick clutching his side and snorting in pain behind them, Lavina raised her hand this time.

“Um… I fully understand what you’re saying, Louis, but there’s something we need to address first, isn’t there?”

“What is it?”

“Your plan ultimately depends on us getting accepted into Transcendence Academy, doesn’t it?”

“Correct.”

“But when is this test… exactly?”

“We have plenty of time.”

“No, I mean when specifically?”

“In two days.”

Shiba’s words… Didn’t he say people from all over the world would be scrambling to take this exam?

And Louis was going to pass it after just two days of studying?

Despite Lavina’s incredulous look, Louis spoke with nonchalant confidence.

“Don’t worry. It’d be stranger if we failed with our skills.”

The Transcendence Academy’s entrance exam was divided into two sections: piloting and technical.

For the piloting section, basic theoretical knowledge of flight principles served as the foundation, but admission was ultimately decided by each candidate’s personal combat ability.

While Louis and Dexter had designed the Transcendent to operate even without innate power, in modern times, an individual’s combat prowess had become the sole measure of a pilot’s capability.

Well, it’s true that superhumans make better pilots than ordinary people.

That’s why the twins and Flame siblings applied for the pilot division. Once they mastered the basic theory, there was no way they’d fail.

The real problem was Lavina, who had applied for the technical division…

Even Louis couldn’t get Lavina through the exam without any prior knowledge.

She seemed to understand this too, her pouting lips flattening as she realized she was the only one not receiving an admission form.

Instead, Lavina had a different concern.

“Um, Louis?”

“What?”

“If everyone else gets accepted… what am I supposed to do alone?”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already thought of a solution for your problem.”

”…”

“Ah, and since they say it’s all dormitory-based there, if you don’t get in… you’ll have to figure it out yourselves.”

“W-Wait! Why are you only telling me this now? What am I supposed to do if everyone else gets dormitory placement?”

“Ah, don’t worry. I’ve already thought everything through.”

“Can I really trust you?”

“If you can’t, then start studying now and take the test.”

”…I’ll just trust you for now.”

Lavina avoided Louis’s gaze, perhaps not wanting to study.

The only sound in the room was the soft scratching of pen on paper as they filled out the application forms.

Scritch, scritch.

Tania, determined to stay with the twins and their teacher who found this whole affair utterly fascinating, showed her resolve by vowing to get accepted no matter what.

Kendrick still clutched his side, while Lavina stood alone, staring blankly out the window.

Thus, Louis’s travel party secured their admission to the Transcendence Academy that day.

Two days later…

At the main entrance of the Transcendence Academy examination hall:

“Wow… This is insane.”

“Are all these people here for the exam?”

The Flame siblings were stunned by the teeming crowd.

Tania asked with worried eyes, “We… we can actually pass, right?”

“Come on, I told you it’s not that big of a deal.”

“But…”

Louis patted Tania’s back, seeing her lack of confidence. “Alright, let’s go! Everyone, good luck on the exam. We’ll see you later!”

“Yes!”

“Right…”

“Good luck, everyone!”

With Lavina’s encouragement, the group led by Louis confidently entered the examination hall.

Eight hours into the Transcendence Academy entrance exams, Harold chuckled as he made his way to the interview hall, observing the sea of people surrounding him.

The professors conducting the pilot interviews will be grumbling again this year.

The academy’s freshman quota consisted of 100 pilots and 100 technicians. With 4,124 applicants vying for 200 spots, it was remarkable that over four thousand people had applied to this mere educational institute affiliated with the tower, rather than the tower itself.

But when you consider the underlying reasons, it’s not so surprising.

Out of 4,124 total applicants, over 3,500 were for the pilot track, while only about 600 applied for the technician track. This disparity stemmed from public perception—most people found Transcendent pilots more glamorous than technicians.

If you ask children what their dream job is, nine out of ten will answer “Transcendent pilot.”

Due to this public misconception, the number of Techno Mages who specialized in Transcendent technology remained very limited.

And Harold deeply disliked this popular perception.

Tsk. What nonsense. Techno Mages are the most awesome and excellent profession, far superior to those sword-wielding fools!

If anyone else had said such words, they might have received disapproving looks. But when the speaker was Harold, the situation changed completely.

After all, he was one who had earned the glorious title of “Master,” regardless of what others might say.

Click.

Harold advanced with purposeful steps and opened the door to the interview room.

Four first-grade apprentices who had arrived earlier stood up to greet him.

“Master, you’ve come.”

“Enough with the formalities. Sit.”

“Yes, Master.”

Harold sat down and looked at the large stack of documents on the table.

“Are these the application files of the written test passers? How many are there in total?”

“There are 321 written test passers this time.”

“That’s quite a lot.”

“It must mean the level of applicants has risen accordingly.”

“Are these the full score applicants you set aside?”

“Yes. There were 32 full scorers in this exam.”

“Ho?”

Harold looked through the full scorers’ files with interest. The documents stopped at one particular application. His gaze lingered on the applicant’s motivation statement.

Motivation: To bring new winds to the Tower of Wishes.

This motivation statement stood out clearly from the others.

Louis… What an interesting fellow.

Harold chuckled once and put down the application. “Let’s begin. Bring in the interviewees.”