Chapter 69: The Wish Tower, VI

Dexter sighed as he guessed why Louis had come to see him. “Ah… Do you have questions?”

“…”

“Read through it first. I’ll answer your questions afterward. Understood?”

As Dexter moved to close the door after making his point…

Thud.

Louis blocked it with his hand, surprising Dexter once again when the door wouldn’t budge.

I felt this last time, but seriously… How does such a little brat have so much strength?!

Despite being elderly, he couldn’t believe that a mere child could prevent him from closing the door.

But there was yet another surprise waiting for him.

“I’m done.”

“…?” Louis held out the book.

Seeing this, Dexter raised an eyebrow.

Louis thrust the book toward him and declared, “I’m done with it. Give me the next one.”

“…What?” Dexter looked at Louis incredulously and scolded him sternly. “Stop messing around!”

“But I’m not joking. I really finished reading it.”

“…Really?”

“Yes, truly.”

Dexter cleared his throat as he saw how sincere Louis appeared to be. “Ahem… F-fine. I’ll trust you on your word. But mind you, books aren’t meant to be read hastily. You must pore over them until they fall apart from use and commit every line to memory—”

“I’ve memorized everything.”

Dexter was rendered speechless once again as Louis interrupted him. His face showed utter disbelief.

Finally, Dexter exploded. “You little punk! Stop agreeing with me just to mock me!”

“You serious?”

“Yes! If you’re so confident, let’s see if I can stump you!” With fury in his eyes, Dexter snatched away Louis’s book and roughly flipped through its pages. He stopped at a random page and demanded, “Explain the correlation between locations where natural talismans are frequently found and attribute stones!”

“Page 78, line 14: Areas with high occurrences of natural talismans have dense concentrations of Attribute Power. This is due to the aggregation of…”

Without hesitation, Louis smoothly recited from memory what was written on that page and line. Dexter’s jaw dropped as he listened to Louis’s explanation.

Once Louis finished…

“What…?”

“Page seventy-eight, fourteenth line…” To prove it wasn’t just luck, Louis repeated the exact words again.

This time, Dexter glared at Louis while following along with his finger. As Louis continued reading, Dexter’s expression turned increasingly incredulous. Once Louis completed the passage, Dexter hastily flipped through the pages.

“And for artificial talismans—no, how about paragraph three on page one hundred fifty-six?”

“Artificial talismans mimic the flow of Attribute Power found in natural talismans by…” Louis continued reading without missing a beat.

Dexter asked two more questions, and each time, Louis answered effortlessly. Eventually, Dexter had no choice but to acknowledge his abilities.

Is this for real…?

Dumbfounded now for an entirely different reason, Dexter probed further. “Did you…memorize all these over 200 pages word for word? Seriously?”

“Yes, sir.”

“In such a short amount of time?”

“Yes, indeed.” Louis’s matter-of-fact attitude left Dexter speechless.

Seeing Dexter staring at him blankly, Louis politely held out both hands. “May I please have the next volume?”

At this point, there was nothing else Dexter could say.

What could Dexter say to someone who had memorized the entire book?

“…Please wait just a moment.” Dexter retrieved the next volume from his shelf and handed it over to Louis, who eagerly accepted it before dashing off again.

Dexter muttered as he watched him leave, “…I’ve taken on quite an extraordinary disciple.”

He initially thought Louis was no ordinary child, but now Dexter realized that Louis wasn’t even an ordinary person. Memorizing a 200-plus-page book within thirty minutes left Dexter utterly speechless.

This is fantastic.

Louis had only just entered the Wish Tower, yet he seemed capable of learning quickly with minimal guidance. Relieved, Dexter closed the door and returned to work, though not for long.

Knock, knock!

“I’d like the next one, please!”

“…Already?”

“Yes, sir!”

“…” Thirty minutes later, Louis returned to demand the next book, and Dexter handed it over without batting an eye, no longer surprised by his rapid progress.

That was just the beginning.

“The next one, please!”

“…Here you go.”

“I need the next book!”

“It’s right here.”

“And after that?”

“…”

Dexter became exasperated with Louis showing up every thirty minutes demanding more books. He eventually yelled at him, shoulders trembling in frustration.

“You little imp! Even if you think you’ve memorized everything perfectly, there might be something you missed, so review them again!”

“There’s nothing I’ve missed. I know them all.”

“Agh!” Despite being furious, Dexter had no comeback, knowing full well how uncannily good Louis’s memory was. At this rate, they wouldn’t get any work done today.

His annoyance boiling over, Dexter rushed toward the bookshelf and started flinging its contents out the door.

One by one, books disappeared from the shelves, and soon, over a hundred paperbacks piled up outside the door. These were records of artifacts collected throughout generations within the Tower of Wishes.

Finally, all the bookcases were emptied.

“That’s it! There’s no more! So don’t knock on my door again!”

“Understood!”

Slam!

Dexter forcefully shut the door and retreated inside, but Louis paid him no heed.

“Twins!”

“Yes!”

“Hmm!”

“Let’s move these with some snacks as payment!”

“Okay!”

“Gotcha!”

Louis employed the twins’ services with the promise of treats to help transport the books. It had been less than twenty-four hours since he stumbled upon the Tower of Wishes, yet its centuries-old wealth began rapidly dwindling under his watch.

The next day, Dexter’s face fell as he spotted Louis gleefully standing amidst piles of books stacked outside his room. Regardless, Louis politely extended his hand once more.

“Anything else?”

”…No.”

Hearing the resigned tone in Dexter’s voice, Louis withdrew his hand with disappointment written all over his face.

“You mean that’s it for the entire tower?”

“That ungrateful brat…” Dexter was about to berate Louis for dismissing centuries of accumulated knowledge so casually, but he managed to suppress his anger and sighed quietly.

This is karma… Pure karma.

It was his mistake to have admitted such an exceptional genius without considering whether the tower could handle him. Who could’ve predicted that its entire foundation would be stripped bare within a single day?

Look at those indifferent eyes; they seemed to convey, “There’s nothing more to learn here? How boring.” This sight stirred something deep within Dexter, and he exclaimed passionately:

“You fool! What you’ve been memorizing all this time is merely theory! No matter how well-versed you are in theory, it means nothing unless applied in practical situations!”

“Oh really? Is that so?”

“Yes, indeed!”

“How should I do that?”

“How else but by creating talismans? What is the purpose of the Wish Tower if not crafting artificial artifacts? You must put your knowledge into practice!”

“I see…”

“And as it happens, I have prepared something specifically for you.”

“What is it?” Louis’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

Having mastered—or rather, perfected—the theoretical aspects, his next step was applying them practically. He couldn’t help but feel excited about what Dexter had planned.

Louis couldn’t help but feel excited about what Dexter had prepared for him. The tardy disciple’s intense gaze made Dexter slightly uncomfortable, and he discreetly looked away to focus on the newly repaired door.

“It’s about time they arrived.”

As if on cue, the door to the Wish Tower opened, admitting a group of people. Dexter’s expression shifted subtly at the sight.

“You’re here.”

“It has been a while, sir.”

“Greetings, Lord of the Tower.”

“What brings us all together?”

Entering through the doorway were Victor the werewolf, Erica the Jötunn, Floria the elf, and Douglas, who cautiously stepped inside as he kept glancing sideways at Louis.

It had been quite some time since all members of Tower of Wishes were gathered together like this. Dexter, who had previously driven away his disciples, opened his mouth to address them.

“It’s been a while.”

Erica frowned and retorted, “Last I checked, you kicked us out. So what brings us here now?”

Dexter calmly replied, “No matter where you go, you will always be my disciples of the Tower of Wishes. And it has been a long time since we’ve welcomed a new member. He is quite—no, exceptionally—smart, so please help him adjust.” As he spoke, Dexter gently patted Louis on the back, prompting Louis to step forward slightly.

Erica’s expression hardened at the sight. “Hey, aren’t you that kid from a few days ago? The one with the big guy?”

“…So you’re that kid who came to our house.”

As they recognized him, Louis bowed politely.

“It’s me, the rookie! Nice to meet you all!”

Only Douglas responded to Louis’s charming and friendly greeting.

“Y-yes! It’s nice to meet you too… If you have any questions, feel free to ask…”

“…What’s with your speech pattern?”

“What do you mean? I’ve always talked like this.”

Erica eyed Douglas strangely as he ended every sentence with “…yo.” Feeling self-conscious under Louis’s gaze, Douglas looked away while hastily making excuses.

After brief introductions between Louis and the members of Tower of Wishes, Erica scowled deeply before turning on her heel.

“Oh, whatever. Anyway, I got it, so I’m off!” With a wave, Erica strode out of the Tower of Wishes with confidence.

Then…

“Rookie, understood. See you later.”

“Heh-heh, rookie, take care.” Victor and Floria also left the tower, seemingly unimpressed by Dexter’s behavior.

“…” Everyone had departed except for Douglas, leaving behind an awkward silence.

Louis broke the quiet, sounding incredulous. “Grandpa…”

“It’s Consul to you!”

“Consul Grandpa”

“You little—!”

“In any case, those two really are your disciples, aren’t they? They don’t seem too keen on listening to you, though.”

“…” In response to Louis’s question, Dexter muttered while staring at the ceiling.

“Well, our tower has always been…somewhat strong-willed—”

“I mean, considering Grandpa herself is like that…”

“…” Dexter had no response to Louis’s observation, as it was undeniably true.

Dexter awkwardly tried to change the subject. “Anyway, they’ll help you out. If there’s anything you don’t understand about crafting talismans, just ask them.”

“…”

With those parting words, Dexter disappeared inside his room, clearly trying to foist this bothersome task onto others. Louis rolled his eyes at the blatant maneuver.

“Are these all basement-dwellers or something?”

Both Dexter and his disciples seemed content never leaving their quarters.

Douglas, unable to escape quickly enough and left standing alone, hastily defended them. “Ha-ha! Th-these individuals simply have a strong passion for research…”

“Hmm…” Louis grumbled, clearly displeased.

Instinctively sensing danger, Douglas cautiously backed away. And indeed, Louis was quite irked.

These whippersnappers treat me like I’m invisible—no, worse than that, they see me as a nonentity.

Despite making an effort to greet these youngsters, he received nothing but cold indifference. The blatant snub caused Louis’s lips to curl into a smirk.

“You’re treating me like some sort of invisible dragon, aren’t you?”

Well then, Louis would just have to show them why he was known as the Invisible Dragon. After all…

“Transparent dragons tend to be quite nasty and temperamental, you know.”

“…Excuse me?” Douglas cocked his head, unsure what Louis meant, but suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He had a foreboding sense that something terrifying was about to happen.

“I guess it’s time I establish some hierarchy here, ha-ha!”

Douglas paled at Louis’s sinister grin.