Idle Tycoon System

Chapter 425: A monster

Sand’s father didn’t hesitate. The moment he finished speaking, magical energy exploded outward from his body as he launched a devastating attack directly at Noah.

But Sand moved faster than his injuries should have allowed, throwing himself between his father and Noah. The attack—a concentrated blast of pure mana that would have shattered concrete—slammed into Sand’s back instead.

Sand grunted in pain, his already battered body absorbing damage that drove him to his knees. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he hissed through clenched teeth.

“Father… he is a true mage,” Sand managed to say, his voice strained. “Please, just listen to me.”

His father stared in shock at his son, horrified that his attack had hit him instead of the intended target. “Sand! What are you—”

Noah calmly walked forward and moved Sand out of the way with a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder, positioning himself directly in front of the older man.

He turned his head slightly toward Sand. “What’s your father’s name?”

“Jake,” Sand replied weakly.

“Alright, Jake,” Noah said, his tone casual despite the tension. “Since you think you’re so strong and powerful, I’ll give you ten seconds to attack me with whatever you have. If you manage to leave even a scratch on my clothes, I will leave this place and never come back.”

His expression turned into a predatory smirk. “If you don’t… I will take more than what I came for.”

Jake looked conflicted, his eyes moving between his injured son and this arrogant stranger who seemed completely unconcerned about facing a rank 3 mage. His son wasn’t foolish—Sand wouldn’t have brought this person here without reason—but Jake also knew something his son didn’t.

“Sand… your father has reached the fourth rank recently. I’ve become a real mage! Not just someone playing with basic techniques, but a true practitioner who has broken through the barrier our ancestors struggled against for generations.”

He began gathering power, the air around him crackling with energy far beyond what Sand could produce. “I will show you how it’s done, boy. Watch how a real mage handles arrogant children.”

Jake wasn’t worried about his son’s health. He knew that he was a tough boy, and a single attack wouldn’t cripple him.

Under any other circumstances, Sand would have been elated to hear this news. Reaching rank 4 was an achievement that none of their ancestors except perhaps Napoleon himself had accomplished. It represented breaking through a ceiling that had limited their family for over two centuries.

But the man before them was too strong. Sand had felt Noah’s power firsthand, had experienced the vast gulf between their capabilities.

Sand sighed internally, unable to speak further through the pain radiating from his father’s attack and Noah’s earlier beating. ’Hopefully he doesn’t kill us,’ he thought desperately.

Jake began forming his strongest attack, channeling everything he’d learned from reaching rank 4. The mana condensed into a massive sphere between his palms, growing to the size of a basketball and crackling with compressed power.

“You chose to be arrogant! Take this!” Jake roared, hurling the concentrated ball of destructive energy directly at Noah’s chest with enough force to blast through reinforced steel.

’A low adept-rank attack. Not bad at all. Impressive for someone on Earth,’ Noah thought analytically, his enhanced intelligence processing the technique’s structure and power level. ’He’s genuinely talented to have reached this level without abundance of mana.’

Outwardly, Noah merely scoffed.

The attack hit what appeared to be thin air about a foot from Noah’s body. The massive ball of mana struck an invisible barrier and exploded with tremendous force, the blast radius expanding outward in every direction except toward Noah himself.

Furniture shattered. Decorative vases exploded into fragments. Paintings were ripped from walls. The expensive carpet caught fire in several places. Windows cracked from the shockwave.

But Noah stood completely untouched, not even a wrinkle in his clothing, as his protective pendant absorbed the attack with casual ease. The Tier 5 artifact that could withstand ten master-rank strikes had barely registered a low adept-level technique.

Jake stared in absolute shock, his confident smirk frozen on his face as his mind struggled to process what he’d just witnessed.

“How…” he breathed, magical theory he’d studied for decades crumbling under the weight of impossible reality. “I’m a tier 4 mage… that attack should have… you didn’t even move… didn’t cast a barrier… how?!”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Noah didn’t respond with words. He simply raised his hand and began counting down with his fingers, his expression completely neutral.

“Ten.”

Jake’s face twisted with desperate determination. He gathered more mana, throwing another compressed sphere of energy at Noah. It exploded harmlessly against the invisible barrier.

“Nine.”

“Impossible!” Jake snarled, channeling power into both hands now. He launched a barrage of smaller mana projectiles, each one crackling with destructive force. They all detonated uselessly before reaching Noah’s body.

“Eight.”

Jake’s breathing grew heavier as he poured more energy into his attacks. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He tried a different approach—spreading the mana into a wave pattern designed to overwhelm barriers through area coverage.

The wave dissipated like mist against stone.

“Seven.”

“What are you?!” Jake shouted, genuine fear creeping into his voice now as he realized nothing was working. He formed his most refined technique—a drill of concentrated mana designed to pierce rather than explode.

It shattered on impact without leaving so much as a ripple in Noah’s protective field.

“Six.”

Jake was breathing hard now, his mana reserves depleting rapidly from the sustained assault. But pride and desperation drove him forward. He gathered energy from deeper within himself, tapping reserves he normally kept protected.

Another attack. Another failure.

“Five.”

Sand watched from where he’d collapsed against the wall, his expression grim. He’d tried to warn his father, but Jake had been too confident in his recent breakthrough to listen.

“Four.”

Jake’s attacks were growing weaker now, his face pale from mana exhaustion. He tried combinations—feints followed by real strikes, simultaneous attacks from different angles, anything to find a weakness.

Nothing worked.

“Three.”

“Please,” Jake’s voice cracked slightly, the word escaping before he could stop it. “What do you want? Why are you doing this?”

Noah’s expression didn’t change. His finger lowered.

“Two.”

Jake gathered the last dregs of his mana into one final desperate attack, putting everything he had left into a technique that had taken him years to master. The sphere of energy that formed was smaller than before but more densely compressed, representing the absolute pinnacle of what he could achieve.

He hurled it with a shout of defiance and desperation combined.

It exploded harmlessly like all the others.

“One.”

Jake stood there trembling, completely drained of mana, his chest heaving with exhaustion. His expensive suit was drenched with sweat. His hands shook from overexertion. Around him, his study was devastated—furniture destroyed, walls scorched, the air thick with the smell of burned materials and discharged magic.

But Noah remained pristine. Untouched. Not even dust on his clothes.

“Zero.”

The countdown finished, and silence fell over the ruined study like a funeral shroud.

Jake’s legs gave out and he collapsed into his chair, all the fight and arrogance drained from his body along with his mana. He stared at Noah with the expression of a man who had just seen his entire understanding of reality crumble.

“You… you didn’t even try,” Jake whispered hoarsely. “You just stood there. What… what are you? A monster?”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​