A strong pressure was felt.
If they had tried to oppress me with force, I would have been dead in an instant.
I felt a renewed sense of gratitude for the fact that this was a university.
The promotion assessment ended surprisingly simply.
As soon as Myra saw me, she said I had passed.
The result was anticlimactic, unlike the tension I had felt upon entering.
The problem arose only afterward.
They coveted my mirror bug as they did now.
They wanted to dip their hands into the results I had created through my blood and sweat.
I thought about the process I had gone through during my research—how much pain and despair I had overcome and the uncertainty I had pierced through to reach this point.
And now they wanted to devour it whole.
In such a situation, there was only one thing I could say.
I looked at them squarely.
I felt my entire body brimming with strength.
The hesitation disappeared, and only conviction remained in my heart.
With firm resolve, I opened my mouth.
“Of course, I’ll do my best to cooperate.”
I rubbed my palms together and smiled servilely.
Myra burst into loud laughter, and the man blinked.
His expression betrayed obvious confusion.
“Isn’t that right… Mr. Myraeong?”
Myra said, still unable to erase the laughter from her face.
Miryeong—that must be the man’s name.
I etched it into my memory.
I had only guessed before, but hearing the name made it certain.
He was definitely a member of the family that Hong Ryeong and Hwaryoung belonged to.
“But we haven’t discussed any conditions or anything yet, have we?”
Miryeong said with a voice tinged with doubt.
He stopped radiating his magical energy, which had been pressing down on me.
The atmosphere around us began to lighten, and my body finally started to calm down a bit.
“If the senior masters desire it, I must comply.”
I said, shaking my head.
It was evident that they had calculated everything before coming to this place.
No matter what I did, they would ultimately achieve their goal.
Having failed to notice this beforehand and walking into this situation meant I had no options left.
As Myra had said, this was an announcement.
So, I changed my perspective.
There was no need to take a confrontational stance with them.
‘What benefit would such resistance bring me?’
‘They likely came prepared with the means to subjugate me.’
‘If I cooperated fully instead, perhaps my usefulness to them would grow slightly.’
Moreover, I trusted my professor.
Professor Irien had assured me that she had left them with a warning.
That meant they couldn’t recklessly treat me as a disposable tool.
Miryeong stared at me intently, then let out a slight chuckle.
“Interesting. Is this why my grandchildren were so fond of you?”
I swallowed hard.
‘Grandchildren? That didn’t match his youthful appearance. He must have been referring to Hong Ryeong and Hwaryoung.’
“So, how old could he possibly be? Then again, anyone who reached the eighth floor would have lived long enough to have descendants.”
The ageless man, Miryeong, folded his arms and looked at me.
“Hmm, I prepared so much, but it’s disappointing. Usually, these situations are about enjoying the despair of those crushed by power. That’s why I personally came here.”
He smacked his lips and slumped back into the chair he had been sitting on, as if his interest had waned.
“Well, I see now why Professor Irien treasures you. For a wizard who crawled up from the wild, you’re impressively quick-witted. Normally, in situations like this, people respond with, ‘That’s unacceptable,’ or ‘Just kill me instead!’ That’s the standard reaction.”
I smiled awkwardly.
‘As if I’d be so reckless,’ I thought, especially in the face of this writhing magical energy.
He then turned to Myra.
“Still, if we’re going to work together, Evron should understand what’s going on. Myra, may I continue explaining?”
“Go ahead…”
Myra nodded.
Miryeong straightened his slouched posture and looked at me again.
“Actually, Myra was the first to notice the potential. She analyzed the structure of the shadow puppet and devised this plan. True to her affiliation with the Abyss Secret Society, it was all carried out very quietly.”
Myra gave a shy smile.
“Abyss Secret Society, it was a name I hadn’t heard in a long time. It was the organization I used to buy information from. I never imagined she was a part of it.”
“I heard about an interesting artifact from the kids, did some digging, and eventually joined Myra’s plan.”
I blinked as I listened to his story.
Miryeong continued speaking.
“The truth is, this promotion assessment owes a lot to Myra. After all, she provided the Spectral Tree.”
“The Spectral Tree…?”
I asked in surprise.
“You’d better let Myra explain that part. I don’t know the details myself.”
He looked at Myra, who cleared her throat slowly before speaking.
“Well… knowing how shadows work… I could predict that you’d need an object to store information… instead of the shadows… So, I thought that using it would… help with the promotion…”
After finishing her explanation, she leaned back against her chair again.
I pondered the meaning behind her deliberate words.
Miryeong lightly scratched his head.
“Ah, so that’s how it happened? I thought it was just used as a kind of elixir.”
He clapped his hands as if amused.
“Anyway, originally, that item should have been worth at least 500,000 points, but we made some sacrifices to expedite the promotion assessment. We had to finish things before others got involved. That’s what you call an investment, isn’t it?”
‘The Spectral Tree—it was something I had purchased because I needed it. Handling it had allowed me to grow even further. But according to what he was saying, all my actions had been nothing more than a part of Myra’s plan.’
A chill ran down my spine at the thought.
“We had prepared many threats in anticipation of this moment. Simple ones, like barring you from entering the city. There are plenty of ways to pressure someone by bypassing the university’s basic rights. But to think you’d agree so easily.”
He slouched over the desk as he murmured, looking thoroughly disappointed.
While tracing a strange pattern on the desk with his fingers, he continued.
“After seeing how effective the Spectral Tree was, we had some discussions. If we could embed several of those into a body and feed it some elixirs, rapid growth would surely follow. With that, we calculated that it would be possible to establish a domain as large as a small city. Of course, no further advancement would be possible.”
‘If Professor Irien hadn’t stopped them, this plan might have gone forward.’
His smile sent a shiver down my spine.
The thought that discussions about my usage had been underway without my knowledge made me uneasy.
“So, we reverted to the original plan—to simply receive the goods from you, Evron. What we want is for you to deliver around 100 mirror bugs per month. That seems like the best you can manage.”
“But if that’s all you take, it would be useless.”
I asked cautiously.
The mirror bugs only worked when tethered to my Shadow Tree.
On their own, they could do nothing.
“Creating the puppets… may be… impossible… but the connection… I can… handle…” Myra spoke quietly.
I gave a bitter smile.
‘If it were her, she might indeed manage it. My puppets were based on shadows, and everything I had learned came from Professor Heisen’s tower.’
Myra had spent even more time studying shadows than I had.
Seeing her confidence, she must have found a way to establish that connection.
“That’s right. As long as we have the terminals, we can configure them somehow. Scores really are the issue, aren’t they? To achieve the same performance as what Evron made, it would take thousands of times more points.”
I swallowed hard.
A hundred per month—it was, as they said, the upper limit of what I could currently handle.
Knowing my limits meant they had done extensive research on me.
Still, perhaps this could be an opportunity.
‘If I envisioned expanding my domain, even if I reached the peak of the Young Tree stage, it would never extend to a full city.’
‘Only by surpassing my current level and becoming a fully mature tree could such a feat be achieved, something that would require centuries of further training.’
‘But if I joined forces with them, my mirror bugs could spread across a much wider domain—perhaps even throughout the entire university. This was something I could not accomplish alone at my current level.’
Yet there was a significant issue.
The mirror bugs scattered in this manner would not be connected to me.
They would function solely as tools within the artificial connections that Myra fabricated.
No matter how well she linked them, they wouldn’t originate from my Shadow Tree.
The mirror bugs distributed this way wouldn’t gather information or experiences.
Instead, they would remain mere puppets, losing the opportunity to develop self-awareness.
This was a conjecture I made as I listened to their conversation.
Miryeong’s next statement confirmed it.
“I think we should simplify the features. Myra can handle information, and I’ll manage the transactions. Let’s remove the open forums. Instead, we’ll enable basic communication between mirror bugs. Let’s also eliminate all the other unnecessary functions.”
He glanced at Myra cautiously before speaking again.
“Since we’re essentially copying the structure that Evron created, the connection won’t be seamless. We need to minimize inefficiencies as much as possible.”
Myra nodded silently.
Seeing this, Miryeong formed a circle with his fingers and pointed it toward me.
His smile widened to reveal his teeth.
“Finally, we can’t leave out the price. Wasn’t the cost of a mirror bug 50 points per month? That’s a fair price—it matches the convenience. We were thinking the same. If you supply the mirror bugs, we’ll pay you 5 points per month for each one.”
“How could I refuse such a generous offer, especially with points included?”
I returned his smile and laughed heartily.
The conversation continued for quite some time.
Compared to the tense atmosphere earlier, things had become much lighter, with laughter and jokes shared freely.
During these discussions, many terms regarding the trade were set, and the functionalities of the mirror bugs were meticulously adjusted.
My mirror bugs became thoroughly objectified in their plans.
***
The promotion assessment concluded.
I felt my body sag with exhaustion.
Standing in a dark alley, gazing at the abyss-like shadows beneath the bridge, I let out a bitter laugh.
Their proposal sounded appealing—at least in terms of immediate point gains.
However, these were things I could have achieved on my own, given enough time.
Reflecting on it, I realized I had grown quite arrogant recently.
Professor Irien’s tower could almost be considered my domain.
Within it, everyone respected me.
Everything unfolded as I planned, moving at my whim.
I had grown drunk on that sensation and momentarily forgotten my place.
I was just a tiny ant within the vast expanse of this university—a fat, plump ant that would have been devoured instantly without the professor’s protection.
The moment I stepped out of the tower, I had been bitten hard.
This was the result of my complacency.
Four years since coming to the university, I had finally reached the second floor.
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