The Problematic Child of the Magic Tower

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 182: Ghosts (5)

What is a world?

The interpretation of this question varies slightly depending on the group or individual.

For some, the world was the utopia they had always longed for.

For others, it was the scenery they yearned for but could never see again, claiming that was the true essence of the world.

Yet others believed that the convictions they had protected throughout their lives were the most valuable and beautiful representation of the world.

The important thing was that anyone who wielded magic carried a world of their own within their hearts.

The question was whether it was possible to pull that world, which existed only in the mind or heart, into reality.

That was the standard for being classified as a "Master"—a 7th-level magic user.

“……”

Wooong, wooong.

The steady pulses of magical power reverberated in his ears.

Oscar watched as the countless spikes hurtling toward him came to a halt mid-air.

‘Yeah… this feeling.’

It was like observing frozen time alone.

A sensation that was both familiar and alien, like revisiting the streets he had roamed during his childhood.

Amidst this strange yet nostalgic sensation, Oscar organized his thoughts.

‘There are three steps required to liberate a world.’

The first was, of course, completing one's own world.

This alone was a massive hurdle—a seemingly insurmountable wall.

After all, merely thinking, "I wish my world were like this," was nowhere near enough.

‘…A world, as I see it, is a manifestation of desire and longing.’

Liberation was ultimately the act of expressing one's desires in their purest form.

In other words, to complete one’s own world, one had to first understand themselves perfectly.

‘What do I desire?’

What kind of person am I?

What do I like and dislike?

What parts of myself have I tried to ignore or deny throughout my life?

Only by fully comprehending oneself through deep introspection could one become the master of their own world.

It was no wonder that countless 6th-level magic users failed to pass this stage.

‘What’s most necessary is the courage to face and accept your own weaknesses.’

This was why those who completed their worlds were granted the title of "Master."

They were monsters who had transcended the limits of ordinary beings.

Wooong! Wooong!

The faint trembling of his magic seemed to question him.

Do you truly understand yourself?

If so, then what kind of person are you?

Oscar thought back to the kind of person he had been.

‘…Rather than complain to others, I preferred to silently endure the burden alone, even if it was difficult and exhausting.’

His master had often scolded him for being lazy, but when it truly mattered, he was always the first to step forward.

He was firm with the strong and gentle with the weak.

To the kindhearted, he was an angel; to the wicked, he willingly became a devil.

He wasn’t some naïve idealist or selfless saint—but he clung to his own sense of justice.

But what about now?

Was he still the same person he had been in his previous life?

‘No.’

Oscar firmly shook his head.

Without a doubt, he was no longer the same person he had been before.

Of course, his personality and core values hadn’t drastically changed.

What had changed was the shift in his perspective—the transformation in his heart after experiencing death and rebirth.

‘…In my previous life, I learned about the nobility of sacrifice by saving humanity.’

Back then, he believed it was the most noble and righteous path.

But now, he knew better.

He had seen the bitter reality hidden behind that nobility—the sorrow of those left behind.

And so, he had asked himself the same question hundreds, even thousands of times:

If I were faced with the same choice again…

‘Would I make the same decision?’

“……”

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Thirty minutes?

Two hours?

Perhaps half a day.

But after countless moments of contemplation, Oscar could only laugh at the conclusion he reached.

‘I really am stubborn, huh.’

Once again, he knew he would choose to save others.

However, that didn’t mean he would make the same choice as before.

‘I’m greedy, after all.’

People grew through their experiences.

Even a so-called flawless mage like himself was no exception.

‘I’ll still save others, but… I won’t lose the things I cherish anymore.’

Salvation without sacrifice.

A future where nothing precious is lost.

That was the conclusion born from his insatiable greed.

And he didn’t consider it reckless.

After all, he had the power to achieve such an outcome.

As he confronted his truest desire, a sense of liberation washed over him—a profound, exhilarating release, as if a weight had lifted from his soul.

‘…Originally, I planned to use the same world I created in my past life.’

The "Boundless Sky Domain" was the ultimate utopia he had once dreamed of.

It was a realm where he, the most powerful mage of the White Tower, could perform at his absolute peak.

A place where fierce winds howled endlessly and an infinite azure sky stretched out forever.

But now, as his longing had changed, so too must his world.

‘I’ve gained new powers in this life.’

Space and frost.

By combining those two forces, his new world would undoubtedly be far stronger than before.

The ceaseless winds would become cold enough to make breathing nearly impossible.

And in the sky, torn apart by spatial magic, even the concepts of "up" and "down" would become meaningless.

Wooong, wooong!

As his magic surged and roared, a vivid image of his new world took shape in his mind.

Simultaneously, he could feel his soul engraving this new world into its very essence.

Without hesitation, he moved on to the next step.

‘The second stage of liberation is harmonization.’

World liberation wasn’t simply about pouring out a massive amount of magic.

At its core, it was an act of forcefully projecting one’s desire onto reality.

Thus, the world and the world, the concept and the concept, had to smoothly intertwine without clashing.

‘More than anything, the real world operates with powerful inertia to maintain its current state.’

This was what people commonly referred to as the laws of the world—

Concepts like gravity or the flow of time, which everyone took for granted.

To impose one’s world onto reality, harmonization was necessary.

‘In simple terms, it’s like negotiating.’

For example, a world where you could kill every living being with a single thought.

That kind of overpowered world could never manifest in reality.

The contradictions to the world’s fundamental laws would be far too numerous.

However, by adding reasonable drawbacks and conditions, it could be made possible.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

‘Under specific conditions, being able to wound a particular body part just by thinking about it… that much would be feasible.’

In other words, no world could completely ignore or override the fundamental laws of reality.

If that were possible, then no one who had achieved liberation would have any worthy opponents.

Thus, the harmonization process was necessary to gain reality's approval for one’s world.

“……”

Of course, there was no disqualifying reason in Oscar's world.

After all, what he desired was merely a place where he could maximize his abilities and magic.

As proof, he felt a thrilling sensation, as if lightning were coursing through his entire body.

‘It’s done.’

Now that he had come this far, only one step remained.

To summon his world into reality.

‘But… pushing my body right now wouldn’t be wise.’

Even as a 6th-level mage, unleashing a world would place immense strain on his body.

However, if he reduced the scale to the bare minimum, he could maintain it briefly without serious consequences.

‘The scale… I should just get a taste of it for now.’

About one ten-thousandth of what he had once used would be just right.

As Oscar channeled his magic, time, which had been suspended, began to flow once more.

And then, he heard Dirje’s mocking scoff.

‘What? World liberation? Has he lost his mind in the face of death?’

The battle was already over.

There was no possible way to evade the countless black spikes conjured by the darkroom.

‘Checkmate.’

The moment Dirje was certain of his victory, Oscar slightly parted his lips and whispered a single word.

“Endless Heaven and Earth.”

Chwaaaaaa!

In that instant, the countless spikes rushing toward Oscar scattered like dust.

“Huh?”

Seeing this, Dirje dumbly let out a bewildered sound.

Simultaneously—

Crack! Crrraaack!

The ‘darkroom’ he had so confidently boasted of began to collapse helplessly.

Rumble, rumble.

Dirje stared at his trembling hand in disbelief.

‘...I’m shaking? Me?’

It wasn’t his mind but his primal, animalistic instincts driving the reaction.

And then, Dirje's wide eyes were filled with the sight of a boundless night sky.

‘The sky?’

Above, beside, and even beneath him—the endless sky stretched in all directions.

And in the middle of it floated the very mage he had dismissed as a mere whelp.

“…Liberation.”

Dirje unknowingly muttered the word.

What he felt at that moment was not powerlessness or fear, but reverence.

Because in this vast and overwhelming space, he himself felt as insignificant as a speck of dust.

‘This… this is nothing like my darkroom. This is the real deal—a truly liberated world.’

There was no time to even wonder how that brat had managed to unleash his world.

He only knew one thing—he wanted to live.

He had to survive.

Gripped by this singular thought, Dirje frantically searched for an escape.

‘…There’s a foothold.’

Scattered throughout the sky were small floating rocks, drifting like islands.

Dirje swiftly summoned the face of Karva the Swift and unleashed all his magic at once.

Fwoooosh!

He leapt from one rock to another, repeating the motion, desperately putting distance between himself and Oscar.

Sneaking a glance backward, he smirked.

‘Got some distance.’

To manifest a world of this magnitude would require an enormous amount of magic.

In other words, if he simply kept running, there would come a moment when Oscar could no longer sustain his world.

Dirje’s reasoning was sharp—and it was also correct.

“……”

Oscar, floating silently in midair, calmly watched Dirje’s retreating figure.

He had seen that same reaction countless times in his past life.

‘Back then, I had to pour out my own magic to chase them down.’

But now, there was no need for that.

With a light snap of his fingers, the infinite sky folded in half.

In the blink of an eye, Dirje, who had shrunk to a mere dot in the distance, was right in front of him.

“Gah!”

Dirje turned his head just in time for their eyes to meet, and he screamed.

Swallowing hard, he begged.

“...Please, spare me.”

Dirje had no idea that Oscar was a 6th-level mage.

Nor did he know that Oscar could liberate his world.

If he had, he wouldn’t have been foolish enough to challenge him head-on.

“I-I have a younger sibling. She was born with a weak body. She can’t survive without me.”

“……”

The wind stirred faintly.

It was the truth.

But that truth wasn’t enough to sway Oscar’s heart.

“All those faces you’ve stolen—they, too, had places to return to. People waiting for them.”

“You son of a…!”

Realizing that Oscar had no intention of sparing him, Dirje desperately conjured a dagger of congealed blood.

At that moment, Oscar coldly declared:

“Die.”

The frigid winds swirling in the sky turned into blades and mercilessly shredded Dirje.

* * *

“……”

The enormous, circular sphere that had engulfed the entire abandoned building.

When the darkroom vanished, Neil Brion had thought everything was over.

He was certain that Dirje would emerge, holding Oscar’s lifeless corpse.

But when he saw the alien space consuming the building, he took an involuntary step backward.

‘That… that’s Oscar Crucian’s magic?’

He had only witnessed it once before.

The sight of someone’s world invading reality.

Seeing the exact same scene again, Neil quickly reached a conclusion.

‘…I need to report this immediately.’

He retreated without hesitation.

After all, he was nowhere near the level of someone capable of liberating their world.

He wasn’t even confident in his odds against a mid-level 5th-tier mage.

The moment he turned to leave without a trace of regret—

“……!”

A chilling sensation seized his entire body.

Like prey caught in a spider’s web, he found himself paralyzed and trembling.

At the same time, he heard the voices of a man and a woman.

“Senior, I’m not seeing things, right? That’s definitely….”

“Yeah. It’s liberation.”

The woman, Kaya Lockwood, stroked her chin in contemplation.

Her lips curved into a delighted grin, as though she were going mad with excitement.

“I was planning to swoop in and kidnap him at the right moment, but this is way more fun than I expected.”

“...Liberation at level 6? That’s not possible, is it?”

“Not just impossible. Even geniuses can’t pull that off.”

A mage who could successfully liberate their world at the 6th level.

That was a feat worthy of being recorded in history books, placing them alongside legendary figures.

“Grrrrrk.”

Just then, as Neil Brion struggled to move, the man warned him.

“You’d be better off staying still. Unless you want your body torn to pieces.”

The man turned to Kaya and asked,

“What should we do with him?”

“...Put him to sleep. And let’s pull back for now.”

The original plan to simply abduct Oscar had changed.

After witnessing that, they realized Oscar was no longer someone they could treat lightly.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]