Chapter 168: The Tower of Spirit Mage (1)
“Of course he’ll accept it. There’s no need to even look.”
Count Yurahan is a wise person.
Ethan believed in that wisdom.
‘There’s nothing left to do in the territory right now. I should quickly move on to other matters.’
Having finished his business in the territory, Ethan immediately headed south.
“I need to proceed with the quest. The quest I’ve been putting off for quite a while.”
Prochet.
This was a quite famous city even in the south.
Southern cities were generally coastal with good weather year-round, making them popular vacation destinations for everyone.
However, this Prochet was particularly famous in the south, as it had something special that ordinary southern cities didn’t have.‘The greatest Magic Tower in the south. Moreover, it has the only tower of spirit mages in the south.’
Known as the Prochet Magic Tower, it was a place where the tower of spirit mages and the tower of mages coexisted.
The two towers were embraced by a vast spirit forest, making it undoubtedly the largest in scale in the south.
‘But now it’s on the path to decline.’
Despite its size, the Prochet Magic Tower wasn’t a particularly renowned Magic Tower.
‘They say that in the past, everyone knew about the Prochet Magic Tower when mentioned.’
The tower of mages was still intact. The problem was with the tower of spirit mages.
‘An incident occurred, and from that point on, spirits stopped visiting this spirit forest. Since then, new spirit mages have been unable to form contracts with spirits.’
Because of this, those seeking to become spirit mages hesitated to come here, and the Magic Tower naturally reduced in scale.
‘Existing spirit mages are fine since they’ve already contracted with spirits. But new spirit mages can’t contract with spirits suitable for their level.’
For this reason, the tower of spirit mages was gradually declining, and the Prochet Magic Tower was restructuring itself around the tower of mages.
However, this place originally had strong spirit mage influence.
With the tower of spirit mages losing its power, it couldn’t exert its former strength, and despite its scale and history, it began to fall behind other spirit mage towers.
‘Prochet continues to decline, unable to regain its former glory.’
Because of this, one could accept a quest to revive Prochet in MePan. Although the difficulty was extremely high, the rewards were so good that it was considered one of the essential quests.
‘Among those rewards, there’s one that’s particularly significant.’
Everyone did this Prochet revival quest because of the most important element.
‘Even setting aside that reward, first I’ll obtain a spirit here.’
This would accomplish two things.
First, the third quest to survive as Ethan Whiskers.
And second, compensating for the weakness of Extinction.
“How may I help you?”
“I’ve come to form a contract with a spirit.”
“Pardon?”
The gatekeeper of the spirit mage tower looked bewildered at Ethan’s words. He seemed to doubt if he had heard correctly.
“You heard me correctly.”
“W-well, prospective spirit mage, please don’t take offense, but to be frank, it’s impossible to contract with spirits in our southern spirit mage tower.”
The gatekeeper said with an apologetic expression.
“Since the incident where the tower master of the spirit mage tower had trouble with a great spirit, spirits no longer come here. You can’t expect any intermediate or higher spirits, and even the few low-level spirits that do appear are mostly weak and difficult to handle.”
It meant that only spirits that could potentially be harmful to contract with visited this place.
“You’re being honest.”
At Ethan’s words, the gatekeeper sighed.
“Do you think I enjoy speaking about my hometown like this…? You seem to have a bright future ahead of you, so I’m telling you this out of concern.”
Saying that, the gatekeeper summoned a spirit.
It was definitely a spirit, albeit a tiny low-level one that seemed difficult to communicate with.
“So you’re a spirit mage?”
“I’m not worthy of being called a spirit mage. I just like spirits. I may not have talent, but I always consider spirit mages as comrades.”
The gatekeeper smiled slightly.
That’s why he thought there shouldn’t be any novice spirit mages trying to contract spirits in this southern spirit mage tower.
Regardless of talent, they could contract with better spirits if they used other spirit mage towers.
Ethan smiled at the gatekeeper.
“Don’t worry.”
“Pardon?”
The gatekeeper looked puzzled.
Ethan spoke with certainty.
“I came knowing everything.”
He already knew it all.
***
“I’m sorry to say this, but…”
First floor of the spirit mage tower.
With all the novice spirit mages gone, most of the remaining spirit mages here were intermediate or higher.
Rezervi, who greeted guests on the first floor, was also an intermediate spirit mage with 10 years of experience.
Rezervi told the rare visitor the same thing as the gatekeeper.
“If you want to contract with a good spirit, it would be better to go towards the central region. The spirit mage tower I recommend is…”
“Oh?”
At that moment, a girl walking out from inside the tower saw Ethan.
“It’s been a while, Roanna.”
Ethan greeted her.
Roanna Prochet.
She was one of the great rewards that could be obtained from this Prochet revival quest.
She was among the top five mage companions that could be acquired if one didn’t start with the academy route.
Surprised by Ethan’s sudden appearance, Roanna du Prochet fidgeted nervously.
She looked like she hadn’t expected Ethan to be here at all.
“Why are you here, teacher?”
“Teacher?”
Rezervi looked at Ethan.
The person who came to the fallen southern spirit mage tower wanting to contract with a spirit was Roanna’s teacher?
If so…
“Could it be…!”
Ethan nodded at Rezervi’s words.
“I’m Ethan Whiskers.”
As Ethan introduced himself, Rezervi exclaimed in surprise.
“I-I’ve heard a lot about you from Roanna! She said a new amazing teacher came to Ivecar and praised you so much! And she’s not usually one to talk about the academy. It’s an honor to meet you like this.”
“It seems Roanna has said many good things about me.”
Ethan glanced at Roanna.
Her face was slightly flushed.
“What brings you here, teacher? Perhaps-“
“It’s not a home visit.”
This was Roanna’s home.
“I came to form a contract with a spirit.”
“What? A spirit contract at our Magic Tower?”
Roanna looked perplexed.
“Why did you come here?”
Even though she was a member of the Prochet family, she couldn’t understand.
“Our Magic Tower is ruined…”
Roanna said with an embarrassed expression.
Rezervi also sighed. There was no way to deny it since it was true.
“I know. That’s why I came to talk about it.”
“Pardon?”
“Could I meet the tower master, Roanna?”
***
“I’ve heard so much about you, Teacher Ethan.”
Michael Prochet, the owner of Prochet Magic Tower and the lord of Prochet territory, greeted Ethan politely.
“I heard our Roanna caused you trouble. Thank you so much for forgiving her with your generous heart.”
“Not at all. I should be the one thanking you. Your daughter is an excellent student. She has outstanding talent, understanding, and a spirit of challenge. Thank you for sending Roanna to Ivecar Academy. Roanna will be a new hope for Ivecar Academy.”
Ethan spoke quite in detail about Roanna.
As he continued to praise based on facts rather than empty flattery, the corners of the kind-looking Tower Master Michael’s mouth twitched, and he soon started to beam with joy.
“Hahaha! You’re too kind, too kind!”
Even as he said this, he looked extremely proud.
“Ahem, I heard it wasn’t a home visit, but you’re speaking so fondly of my daughter.”
Tower Master Michael knew everything about the Ivecar situation.
Not only from what he heard from his daughter Roanna but also from separately collecting information.
It was natural for a parent who sent their child to an academy.
Because of this, he knew well how Ethan was positioned at Ivecar.
The best among new teachers.
No, he heard Ethan was an extraordinary teacher who would go down in Ivecar’s history. To think such a teacher thought so highly of Roanna.
“As Roanna might have told you, I’ve decided to make Miss Roanna my assistant for my next class.”
“Thank you so much. I’m grateful that you think so highly of our daughter.”
The tower master, who was smiling contentedly, soon put on an apologetic expression.
“By the way, I heard you came to our Magic Tower to form a spirit contract. And you know the situation, right? If you know everything, there’s no need for a longer explanation. Due to a series of incidents, our Magic Tower has become a dead land where good spirits no longer come.”
The tower master sighed deeply.
“People seeking to form contracts with spirits no longer come to Prochet. Neither professional spirit users nor mages come anymore. Some come hoping to contract with dark-aligned spirits due to rumors of it being a dead land, but this place is literally a land spirits don’t visit…”
Whether dark-aligned or whatever-aligned, it was impossible to form spirit contracts in a place spirits didn’t visit.
“I’m the owner of a ruined spirit tower, but I still have some name value. So I can write you a letter of recommendation. If you want a spirit contract, to a tower in the central region…”
“Tower Master Prochet.”
Ethan said with a serious face.
“I came to revive this dead land.”
“…Pardon?”
Tower Master Prochet’s eyes widened.
But he soon frowned and shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
An impossible task.
The tower master shook his head, saying it was too late to do anything.
But Ethan knew everything.
Why this land had become a dead land.
How to resolve the series of incidents and restore it to its former state.
Ethan was full of confidence because he had cleared this Prochet Magic Tower revival quest countless times while playing MePan.
‘There are a lot of achievements here too.’
“I have a way.”
“A way…?”
Tower Master Prochet still looked doubtful.
Many people had said it was possible. But they all ended in failure.
“I can restore it to a land full of spirits like before.”
Those who said it was possible were all scammers.
Having been deceived several times, Tower Master Prochet couldn’t help but be extremely sensitive about this matter.
If Ethan hadn’t been Roanna’s teacher, he would have been driven out without even being given a chance to explain.
“…What method do you have?”
“Of course, I’m not doing this for free.”
Of course, he had no intention of doing all this out of pure goodwill.
“What I want is…”
After hearing Ethan’s words, Tower Master Prochet’s mouth fell open.
Author's ThoughtsHi everyone, I've completely translated this novel! So, for those who love this novel and wanted to binge read until the last advanced chapter, you can go to my Patreon "Shop" page. There, I have a product in which you can read them with discounted price (basically you get around free 90 advanced chapters) instead of buying them here with normal price. Thank you for the attention!
This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com