Chapter 324 : Chapter 324
Chapter 324. The Sealed Archive (2)
Deep within the middle levels of the Mage Tower.
There lay the “Sealed Archive,” a place passed down among the laborers like a legend.
A space said to be inaccessible even to high-ranking mages, where the oldest secrets of the Mage Tower lay dormant.
After passing through corridors layered thick with dust, the full presence of the Sealed Archive finally revealed itself.
A massive door forged from pitch-black obsidian.
Standing guard before it were a pair of magically reinforced golems—and a single laborer, motionless as a statue.
“I will be going now.”
“Yes, Archmage.”
Radel, concealed within the shadows, observed with sharp eyes a mage who had just emerged from the archive.
A black robe embroidered with intricate silver-thread patterns, graying hair at the temples, brown eyes, even the wrinkles etched across the bridge of his nose.
Radel etched every detail into his memory, determined not to miss a single thing.
Once he confirmed that the mage had disappeared completely down the corridor, Radel lightly tapped his own hair.
An astonishing change followed.
His once-bright blond hair instantly dulled into streaks of gray, and his eyes darkened into deep brown.
He now bore an uncanny resemblance to the high-ranking mage who had just left.
This was the slime disguise magical tool gifted by senior Ishan Rau—Radel’s trump card, affectionately nicknamed “Sticky.”
This bizarre item, capable of altering one’s appearance without magic, was nothing short of wings for Radel’s infiltration of the Mage Tower.
At first, it could only maintain the transformation for about five hours, but after repeated improvements, it could now last more than half a day without issue.
“To think slime could do this. Truly remarkable.”
Watching the transformation, the Spirit of the Library clicked his tongue in amazement.
“Shh. This is where it begins,” Radel whispered.
With the Spirit of the Library tucked under his arm in book form, Radel pulled his robe low over his head.
Then, as if he had simply returned to retrieve something he had forgotten, he calmly walked toward the Sealed Archive.
The senior laborer guarding the entrance looked puzzled when the same high-ranking mage appeared again, but he did not dare block his path.
“I realized there was something I needed to double-check.”
“I see. Understood.”
Speaking in a low, steady voice, Radel prompted the laborer to hurriedly bow and step aside.
Thus, Radel passed the first checkpoint without incident.
But the true challenge began there.
Creeeak—THUD.
As the heavy outer door closed, a massive steel door appeared before him.
Across its entire surface, complex and grotesque magic circles writhed as if alive.
At their center, a cold blue light pulsed faintly.
“Hm. Impressive. With a barrier like this, most mages would not even scratch it,” the Spirit of the Library remarked in admiration.
The mana radiating from the Mage Tower’s barrier was anything but ordinary.
“But it cannot fool my eyes. That barrier is a layered construct of multiple spells. Neutralize the core formula, and the rest collapses.”
“How do we do that?” Radel asked.
The Spirit of the Library fluttered his pages smugly.
“There. The third bookshelf. Fourth book from the top. Pull it out.”
Radel approached and drew out a dust-covered ancient tome.
Unrecognizable archaic characters were engraved on its cover.
Whirr.
The moment the book was removed, a dull rumble echoed from the wall as a hidden door revealed itself.
“Keheheh, this much is basic,” the spirit bragged.
Following his guidance, Radel dismantled the traps one by one.
He avoided pressure plates hidden in the floor, arranged the paintings on the walls in the correct order, and rotated specific statues to precise angles.
It felt like solving a perfectly designed game. His steps never faltered.
At last, they reached the innermost chamber.
A small space enclosed entirely by shelves packed with books.
At the center stood a single old lectern, upon which a parchment scroll lay carefully unfurled.
‘The Mage Tower’s original blueprints.’
Radel felt his heart race.
He carefully spread the plans open. Amid the tangled lines and symbols, the Mage Tower’s most secret spaces revealed themselves.
That was when it happened.
“Stop!”
The Spirit of the Library abruptly blocked him.
“What is it?” Radel asked.
The spirit’s pages trembled violently.
“……Someone is coming. I sense mana.”
Radel’s expression stiffened. A bead of cold sweat slid down his back.
“It is extremely powerful mana. Even among high-ranking mages, only a handful are this strong.”
If he encountered someone like that, his disguise could be exposed instantly.
Radel slipped behind a nearby pile of clutter. A tattered cloth barely concealed his body.
At the same moment, the door opened.
***
Creeeak.
The sound of the heavy steel door sliced through the silence of the archive.
Hidden in the shadows, Radel held his breath.
The owner of the overwhelming mana the Spirit had warned him about finally appeared.
A man with purple hair stepped into the room.
His blood-red eyes gleamed eerily even in the darkness.
He surveyed the archive as if entering his own study, then suddenly fixed his gaze on the lectern at the center of the room.
“Could it be……?”
A quiet doubt escaped his lips.
Had someone touched it?
His eyes turned to the Mage Tower’s original blueprints laid open on the lectern.
But soon, he shook his head.
“……Impossible.”
Only a select few mages within the Mage Tower could reach this deepest part of the Sealed Archive.
And what value would such an outdated blueprint even hold for mages who already knew the tower’s structure inside and out?
Seemingly dismissing his suspicion, the man moved toward the shelves.
As if he had a specific target in mind, he began pulling books out without hesitation.
Ancient tomes piled up one by one at his feet.
From the gap in the clutter where he hid, Radel stole glances at the titles of the books being removed—and his eyes widened involuntarily.
Understanding Curses.
Reenactment of Ancient Sacrificial Rituals.
Forbidden Magics: The Soul Volume…….
In the academy, these books would have been burned on sight.
Yet here they sat openly on the shelves.
It was a stark reminder of how closed-off and independently governed the Mage Tower truly was.
The man flipped through the books for a long time, growing increasingly frantic.
At last, unable to contain himself, he hurled one of the books to the floor.
“It is not here. No matter how much I search!”
A fury-laced voice spilled from between his teeth. His red eyes grew cold.
“Master…… where did you hide it……?”
His trembling hand clenched into a fist. Then, overcome with rage, he slammed the bookshelf beside him.
BANG!
“Did you really think this would stop me? I will never stop.”
Muttering in hatred, he reached into his robe and pulled something out.
Radel’s heart sank.
The Key of Seal.
A Key of Seal emitting a pale blue glow.
The man gripped the key tightly, twisted desire etched across his face.
“With this power…… it is only a matter of time before I become the master of the Mage Tower. The old era is over. From now on, it will be my era. The era of a new Mage Tower!”
Clatter.
At that exact moment, a faint sound came from the pile of clutter where Radel was hiding.
“Who is there?”
His head snapped around.
He swiftly concealed the Key of Seal and released killing intent.
Whoever it was, they could not be allowed to live after seeing his secret.
His crimson eyes pierced straight toward Radel’s hiding place.
The pile of clutter draped in old cloth. He silently began chanting a spell.
Black, viscous darkness coiled like a serpent above his hand.
WHIP!
He seized the cloth and tore it away in one swift motion.
But inside were only old scraps and discarded junk.
***
“Curses everywhere, no matter where you go!”
From under Radel’s arm, the Spirit of the Library exploded in anger after they had safely escaped the archive.
Having witnessed Hayden’s traces in the past, he knew all too well what the Key of Seal truly was.
“A single one is enough to corrupt a human soul! And now it is in the hands of a high-ranking mage of the Mage Tower!”
His pages trembled violently as he fumed.
“After seeing Leviathan descend, he still acts like this? The world has truly gone mad!”
“Perhaps that is precisely why he wanted it even more,” Radel replied calmly.
Now that everyone knew an Archdemon could truly descend upon the world, the Key of Seal would be an irresistible temptation to anyone who lusted for power.
Radel recalled what he had just seen.
The blue key. A color symbolizing Mammon, the Archdemon of Greed.
Even within the closed confines of the Mage Tower, the heretics’ reach had extended.
“More importantly, did you see the blueprints?” Radel asked.
The Spirit of the Library puffed up proudly, as if he had never been angry at all.
“Who do you take me for?”
In that brief moment, he had perfectly engraved every detail of the blueprints into his memory.
A feat befitting the administrator of the Library of the World.
“Then I will leave it to you.”
“Very well! Do not faint in shock! Keh heh heh!”
At Radel’s request, the spirit eagerly displayed his power. He opened his pages toward the air.
FLASH!
Particles of light poured forth from his body, gathering and forming lines and planes.
In moments, the Mage Tower’s complex structure manifested before Radel’s eyes like a perfect three-dimensional hologram—from the lowest levels to the highest.
Of course, as the original blueprints, there were differences from the present structure.
Yet perhaps because they were crafted with magic, the diagrams were astonishingly precise.
“Incredible. I did not expect this level of accuracy,” Radel murmured in admiration.
Then his eyes widened.
‘Wait. Why is the Mage Tower Master’s chamber here……?’
He had assumed it would be somewhere in the upper levels, accessible only to high-ranking mages.
That would have been the natural place for the Mage Tower Master to reside.
But astonishingly, the chamber was not in the upper levels.
Staring at the projection, Radel muttered,
“……I never would have guessed this.”
The Mage Tower Master’s chamber was located on the very lowest level.
The place the tower’s laborers passed through every single day.