🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 25
“Shield!”
“What the hell is going on?!”
“Protect Lady Sempherion first!”
Glass orb shards exploded in every direction. The mages hit by them panicked, running around in confusion.
Jerome was the only one who kept his composure and quickly cast a shield around Elysia. He asked urgently,
“My lady! Are you alright?!”
“Yes… I managed to dodge it.”
Thanks to her exceptional agility, Elysia had grabbed some cover in time. Seeing this, Jerome let out a breath of relief.
‘Right, she is pretty strong and quick.’
While he nodded to himself, the mages inside the testing room stared at the broken shards, looking puzzled.
“Why did this thing even shatter?”
“…”
Elysia looked away, guilt pricking at her conscience.
‘Seriously, why did it break…’
Wasn’t it just supposed to determine whether or not someone had mana?
She thought nothing would happen.
LOL
This must be the first time a glass orb tried to test someone with tens of millions in mana, lol.
Why on earth did you think it would survive??
“…Well, still.”
She didn’t even cast a spell! Why would it just shatter on its own?
“None of you thought this would happen either! No one even tried to stop me!”
We just wanted to see what would happen~ LOL, this is gold.
“Maybe it wasn’t me. What if the testing device just malfunctioned?”
Just as Elysia shrugged, the mages, having assessed the situation, approached Jerome to report. An elderly-looking mage spoke up with an awkward expression.
“Sub-tower master, this appears to be an overload…”
“Overload?”
“Yes, but… it’s just a measuring device. It’s not supposed to overload unless the mana is completely out of spec. I mean, unless we’re talking about something absurdly beyond human limits…”
The mage tilted his head, clearly confused, and continued with a hint of disbelief.
“Like… if we were trying to measure a dragon’s mana with this device? That would definitely trigger an error—it’s way out of spec.”
LMAO
DRAGON-LEVEL MANA?!
Magic tool: “You said you were only testing humans! Why is there a dragon here???”
What a disaster. Elysia’s mind raced.
‘This could cause a serious misunderstanding!’
Out of spec? People might start thinking she was some dragon or demon in human form!
‘Well, I am technically out of spec since I’m a transmigrator…’
Still, she forced a natural, innocent expression and said,
“Oh my, that startled me. How frightening. I didn’t know magical devices could malfunction. It just shattered like that…”
She took a step back as if frightened. Jerome looked flustered.
“A-Ah, my lady, it’s fine. This sort of thing happens sometimes. I’m here, so there’s no need to be scared.”
She was the daughter of the Duke of Sempherion, brought here despite the duke’s resistance. If she went home now without even completing the test?
What could he possibly tell the Tower Master?
And if it was due to equipment malfunction? He might be blamed for negligence!
Thinking fast, Jerome quickly cast a cleanup spell and gathered all the shards into a pile.
“The first phase of testing is mostly symbolic anyway. We could’ve skipped it…”
Mana detection was just the basics. The Phase 1 test was mostly created to weed out annoying people who kept claiming they had talent and showing up at the tower.
Occasionally, they used it on rare cases like Elysia—where even Jerome couldn’t fully grasp the individual’s potential.
“We can just move on to Phase 2. If anything, it was rude of me to make you go through that.”
Jerome handed her a wand.
“This is the second phase, testing magical control. Even if you don’t know how to cast, holding the wand will automatically draw out your internal mana to activate magic.”
‘Though… whether it works on her is anyone’s guess.’
He had clearly sensed no mana before, yet the orb had shone brilliantly when she touched it. Even if the orb was faulty, if she’d had zero mana, it wouldn’t have reacted at all.
‘So she definitely has mana!’
He just didn’t know how much.
‘Phase 2 should reveal that much.’
While this test didn’t directly measure the mana amount, it gave a good approximation based on the magic’s scale and power. It also helped determine magical affinity—fire, dark, or others.
“…Please take the wand.”
Elysia stared at the wand held out to her. Jerome spoke as if it were a simple test, but she knew better.
‘They’ll figure out my magical power and affinity from this.’
Even if the first test was a disaster, she had to manage this one carefully. She needed to control her strength and show just enough.
Elysia slowly grasped the wand.
At that moment—
A system window appeared, catching everyone off guard.
Alert
Warning: You have equipped the magic tool ‘Wand of Precise Activation’.
The tool is attempting to cast magic based on your mana. Will you allow it?
※ If accepted, 1% of your mana will be forcibly consumed, and a random spell from your most familiar affinity will be triggered.
“…!”
A warning?!
That could’ve been a disaster. Elysia stared at the part that said “1% of your mana will be consumed.”
Her mana level was in the tens of millions.
Even 1% of that was hundreds of thousands!
Just that much could wipe out every major male lead in this story.
If that kind of power was unleashed now—and randomly, no less? What if it triggered something like Hellfire?
‘This would instantly become a national disaster!’
Even a simple fire spell could cause a blaze that would engulf the entire tower. The whole room would have to go into emergency defense mode.
This wasn’t a test—it was a catastrophe in the making.
There was only one right choice.
“Decline.”
Wait, then how are you going to complete the magic test?
If literally nothing happens, wouldn’t that be even weirder…?
“It’s fine. That’s why we prepared for this yesterday, remember?”
Elysia lifted the wand. As if in response to her refusal to activate the tool’s magic, the glow around the wand faded out.
“Huh? What’s going on?”
The mage assisting with the test mumbled, startled. The orb shattered, and now the wand too? Faulty devices, one after the other? Jerome also looked suspicious and reached out.
“My lady, something seems off. Please hand it back to me for now—”
“Illusionis.”
The spell was cast in a whisper no one could hear.
Whoosh!
The wand lit up again—this time more brilliantly than ever. Light flowed along the engraved lines like water surging through a stream.
At its tip, a galaxy exploded into existence.
“…!”
The room filled with dazzling stars, like the night sky brought to life. Iridescent lights shimmered through the stars, like rainbows caught in soap bubbles. Everyone stared, mouths agape.
It was beautiful.
To think a night sky, something they had only looked up to, could appear this vividly right in front of them.
‘But… is this even possible?’
The mages, awestruck, slowly regained their senses. A spell like this—conjuring the night sky? No one in this room had ever seen such a thing in person. Only ancient texts even referenced magic like this.
All eyes turned to Jerome, the sub-tower master. He had gone quiet, and his face was now deadly serious.
“My lady, this is…”
“Is something wrong?” Elysia asked innocently, as if she had no idea what she’d just done.
Jerome stammered,
“No, your mana is within normal range. The scale of the spell is quite large, and you clearly have talent. However…”
He trailed off, and Elysia let out a small sigh of relief inwardly. But then he added, as if he still couldn’t believe it:
“…You cast illusion magic.”
“…”
Gasps erupted from the surrounding mages.
“Was that really illusion magic?”
“The sub-tower master just confirmed it!”
“How the heck did she cast it?!”
Magic of legend. So rare and precious, it was considered invaluable to study—yet not dangerous enough to be politically threatening.
‘And it only cost 100,000 won.’
Elysia smirked inwardly. She’d bought this spell yesterday during her livestream.
Because “Illusionis” wasn’t a combat spell—just decorative or for fun—its unlock price had been extremely cheap.
But in this world, illusion magic was legendary.
There was no other spell that gave this much prestige for so little investment.
‘Best value for money ever.’
