Chapter 531 |
“Tower Master, the rats have gone mad!”
Inside Clark Tower, Benson reported: “Those people realized that now they can’t even control mortal graduates anymore—so they’ve completely snapped. They want your help to destroy several Academies!”
Among the sixty-seven Free Super Dimensional Mages involved, Clark was now the one under the least pressure. He felt that his arrangements from a few years ago were finally paying off—Benson had already become the leader of that cluster of anti mages, and could be discarded at any time, removing the stain from Clark’s hands.
“A bunch of idiots. Ignore them. You’re not affected by Faith Power, so find a way to infiltrate that so-called Scepter Empire. Gather as much information as possible—especially about the Divine Path, its cultivation processes, and its structure.”
He paused, then added with disdain: “That name is absolute garbage.”
In the Aetheric Void, Divine Path systems were incredibly rare. Across endless ages of conquest, the Holy Tower Faction had only encountered a dozen or so such worlds; the Free Faction hadn’t found a single one. Naturally, they had never had the opportunity to study the Divine Path in depth.
But this time, Nicholas V’s evangelism had sparked new ambitions within Clark.
The Divine Path was extremely unique: Faith Power had an unusually strong capacity to interfere with reality. With only slight guidance, it could achieve direct energy–matter transformation.
If he could acquire a complete Divine Path system and then spread it within some small plane outside the Mage World… its output and resources would be incredibly valuable—almost like earning unlimited profit without cost.
Deep down, Clark had other ideas too.
If, one day, the Mage World no longer tolerated the Free Faction…
…then becoming a God of Magic in another world might not be such a bad path.
Benson didn’t know what the Tower Master was thinking, nor did he resist the order. As a Tier-4 Mage, he truly was unaffected by Faith Power. He only asked:
“What about those real anti mages? How should we deal with them?”
“Let them die. They’re no longer important.”
Benson hesitated, then continued:
“Tower Master… I heard that Ronald and Laurent intend to help the anti mages, attempting to pressure the Holy Tower into changing the Academy Continent’s administrative system.”
Clark instantly lost his composure. He leapt from his seat in near panic and roared:
“Are they insane!?”
Benson lowered his head. “You know very well—they have no deep foundation. After the apprentice-system reforms, their losses were the greatest, so—”
“Damn it! Damn it!”
Clark paced rapidly back and forth, cursing nonstop. Only after a long moment did he halt and say:
“Abandon the group you control—no, wipe out the ones you control.
After that, carry out a task for me. Don’t worry… I will not treat you unfairly.”
“There are fifty-five Mage Towers that have unilaterally severed all contact with the anti mages… though they haven’t reported it to the Council’s Academy Department yet.”
Inside the Academy Tower, Wendy was briefing Adam.
This was expected. Nicholas V’s drastic actions had, in effect, helped them remove a burden. Those Free-Faction towers were eager to use this opportunity to escape.
“As for the remaining twelve towers,” Wendy continued, “seven of them are wavering. They sheltered too many anti mages, and now they’re being held hostage by their own people.”
She sneered. “The other five plan to join the anti mages and attack the Academies.”
Adam simply could not understand these anti mages’ thinking.
What was the point of destroying Academies?
Basic Academies were fully standardized: even if destroyed, the loss wasn’t significant. Intermediate Academies were a bit more troublesome, but nowhere near critical. And if they dared target the Advanced Academies… that was suicide.
Were they trying to become ter·ror·ists?
But even ter·ror·ists had political goals.
What purpose could these people possibly achieve?
Did they think a few attacks would force the Council to compromise?
Wendy couldn’t understand it either. Even more laughable were the Free Super Dimensional Mages supporting such ideas—they must have lost their minds.
Adam rubbed his chin:
“If it’s only five towers… or even twelve… then even if we gain the justification to punish them, the political value is low.”
It wasn’t truly a major issue. Mortals were far removed, and anti mages were sensitive but not influential enough to cause broad consequences. Adam’s original idea was to let all sixty-seven towers rebel, so that more would be implicated. But with numbers this small, the plan lost most of its value.
After thinking a moment, he said:
“There’s no need for the Academies to suffer damage.
Order the previously retired Law-Enforcement Robots to stand by.
If anyone dares attempt anything—eliminate them.”
But plans couldn’t keep up with sudden changes.
Just as Adam prepared to meet the incoming crisis, he abruptly noticed massive casualties among the monitored anti mages. The Free-Faction Towers rapidly withdrew their influence—many who failed to pull back in time were directly cut off.
Within the Intermediate Academies, the Mages associated with those Towers voluntarily requested teaching suspensions; soon after, they even left the Academies entirely to avoid suspicion.
The Free Faction was nothing more than a union of convenience—there was no real unity.
The instant they realized things had slipped beyond their control, or that they might be implicated, they all chose the most beneficial path for themselves—simultaneously.
And by doing so, they completely doomed the last twelve towers.
Adam originally thought this was all they could do.
But the next development exceeded even his expectations.
They began internal infighting.
Benson, acting on behalf of Clark Tower, was the first to approach Adam.
He handed over the complete intelligence on the Towers that were still in contact with anti mages and planning attacks on the Basic and Intermediate Academies.
The documents even included:
- the material support they had secretly provided to anti mages,
- the Council-movement intelligence they had leaked,
- and other covert operations even the Exploration Robots could not detect.
Clark’s betrayal was absolute.
He even sold out the major consortia that had originally organized the rescue and protection of the anti mages during the Third Holy Tower incident.
Adam did not immediately verify the intelligence. Instead, he stared at Benson in surprise:
“You and your Tower Master…
Do you truly understand the consequences of doing this?”
“Of course, Your Excellency.”
“Then tell me—what does he want?
What does he expect to gain from me?”
Benson smiled.
“The Tower Master intends to leave the Free Faction—and leave the merchant consortiums as well.
He wishes to join the Eighth Void Holy Tower.”