Chapter 81: The First Elder’s Mysterious Scroll

Kent had intended to reveal the answer anyway.

Still, hearing the First Elder personally admit defeat filled him with unmistakable satisfaction.

“First Elder, after living for so many years, don’t you think you’ve wasted quite a lot of that time?”

Kent grinned.

“Actually, this problem is very simple.”

He picked up a stick and walked toward the grid.

“Everyone, watch carefully.”

“First, place the number one in the center square of the top row.”

“Then continue placing two, three, four, and so on diagonally upward and to the right.”

“If the square in the upper-right direction is already occupied, move down one square instead and continue from there.”

“Follow that pattern, and the final arrangement comes out naturally.”

Kent quickly began filling in the grid.

“Here’s the answer.”

24　1　8　15

5　7　14　16

6　13　20　22

12　19　21　3

18　25　2　9

“Go ahead and calculate it yourselves.”

“You’ll see that every row, every column, and both main diagonals give exactly the same total.”

Kent shrugged.

“Just remember the rule I gave you. Explaining every little detail would take far too much effort.”

With nothing more than a stick in his hand, Kent filled out the entire five-by-five magic square in one smooth sequence.

In truth, once the method was known, the problem was remarkably simple.

Every row, column, and diagonal added up to sixty-five.

The same general principle could also be applied to larger odd-order magic squares.

A seven-by-seven square, for example, followed a similar pattern, though the movement rules could be adjusted accordingly.

Once the underlying method was understood, constructing such a square was no longer especially difficult.

Everyone watched as Kent steadily wrote number after number into the grid.

Less than half a minute passed.

The problem that had tormented the First Elder for two full hours was solved before their eyes with almost ridiculous ease.

The spectators immediately began checking the sums.

Sixty-five.

Sixty-five again.

Every row.

Every column.

Both diagonals.

Not a single error.

It was exactly as Kent had said.

The First Elder’s face turned pale.

Darkya was growing increasingly anxious as well.

What troubled the First Elder even more was the way the people around him were now looking at him.

Even some of the dark elves who had once treated him with unquestioning respect no longer looked at him in quite the same way.

As for the dwarves, gnomes, and humans from the other races, they made no effort at all to hide their amusement.

Their mocking expressions were almost painfully obvious.

Still, the First Elder had lost.

There was nothing he could say to change that.

At the same time, he quietly raised his estimation of Kent.

It seemed that this boy had not been able to defeat the kobold army through sheer luck after all.

He truly possessed some ability.

But the moment the First Elder remembered that the other elders had been the ones who had drawn him into this entire situation, his anger flared all over again.

Ever since they publicly declared that his actions did not represent the dark elf race, he had sensed something was wrong.

Now he finally understood.

Whether he won or lost this wager, he had already lost.

If he defeated Kent, others would say that he had bullied and betrayed a benefactor of the dark elves.

If he lost...

then there was even less to say.

The First Elder slowly turned his gaze toward the other elders.

There was now a sharp, dangerous edge in his eyes.

“Boy.”

He looked back at Kent.

“I’ll admit you have some ability.”

Then he gave a dismissive snort.

“But I doubt you came up with that method yourself, did you?”

The First Elder was clearly trying to recover at least a little of his lost dignity.

Kent rolled his eyes.

“First Elder, if you don’t believe me, you can always go to the surface and ask around.”

“See whether anyone in the General Mages’ Guild has ever heard of this problem.”

Then Kent smiled faintly.

“Though from what you’re saying, I suppose you don’t intend to make use of knowledge discovered by other people.”

He nodded as though suddenly understanding.

“Well, that makes sense.”

“If I could live for more than a thousand years, I imagine I’d manage to come up with quite a few things myself too.”

Kent simply could not stand people who refused to admit defeat.

The First Elder had clearly lost, yet he was still trying to preserve his pride.

“Hmph!”

Kent’s words nearly made the First Elder explode again.

Soft laughter immediately spread through the surrounding crowd.

The First Elder’s face shifted between green and purple several times before he finally managed to regain control of himself.

“Enough.”

His voice was filled with resentment.

“Listen carefully, boy.”

“This time, I’ll be asking the question.”

Kent spread both hands.

“By all means.”

He gave the First Elder an almost exaggeratedly courteous smile.

“Please proceed, my dear First Elder.”

The First Elder’s expression twitched.

Then, unexpectedly, he smiled.

“This is an alchemical formula.”

He reached into his belongings and took out a scroll.

“Since you claim to be an alchemist, take a careful look.”

He handed the scroll to Kent.

“Tell me exactly what this formula is meant to create.”

There was an unmistakable confidence in the First Elder’s smile.

This scroll contained one of the dark elf race’s deepest secrets.

Only two people knew of its existence.

One was Her Majesty the Empress.

The other was the First Elder himself.

It was not that the First Elder could not think of any other question.

The truth was far simpler.

He was afraid of losing again.

The object described by the alchemical formula on this scroll existed only in ancient legend.

No one alive had ever seen the real thing.

And because of that, the First Elder was convinced that this time...

Kent could not possibly know the answer.

Curiosity stirring in his heart, Kent slowly unrolled the scroll.

The instant he saw what was written on it, however, he froze.

It was indeed an alchemical formula.

But not an ordinary one.

This was an ancient alchemical formula—something that dated back to before the Great War of Gods and Demons.

Worse still, the entire scroll had been written in ancient Elvish.

Kent stared at the densely written symbols for a long moment.

He recognized only a handful of them.

His first instinct was to protest.

How was he supposed to identify an alchemical formula if he could not even read the language?

But the objection died before it reached his lips.

This was, after all, a contest of knowledge.

Being able to recognize ancient writing was also a form of knowledge.

Fortunately, the First Elder had not asked him to translate the words.

He only wanted Kent to determine what the formula was intended to create.

And there was still another way to understand an ancient scroll.

Spiritual power.

That was one of the extraordinary features of scrolls left behind from ancient times.

When ancient alchemists recorded important knowledge, they sometimes used spiritual power to imprint the meaning they wished to convey directly into the scroll itself.

In other words, the written words were only one layer of the record.

Beneath them lay a spiritual imprint left behind by the original creator.

The General Mages’ Guild on the surface had discovered this secret roughly three hundred years ago.

At the time, a large number of ancient scrolls had been excavated from a forgotten ruin.

The problem was that not a single mage could read the language in which they had been written.

For a time, the scrolls were considered almost useless.

Then, entirely by accident, an intermediate mage discovered something astonishing.

If the spiritual seal hidden within such a scroll could be opened, the information stored inside would flow directly into the reader’s mind.

There was no need to decipher the writing at all.

The knowledge would simply be transmitted into one’s memory.

It was an extraordinarily convenient method of preserving and passing down knowledge.

Unfortunately, ancient scrolls carrying this kind of spiritual imprint were exceedingly rare.

So far, such imprints had only been discovered in two kinds of scrolls—

magic-spell scrolls and alchemical formula scrolls.

That ancient ruin from three hundred years ago had yielded an especially shocking discovery.

A long-lost earth-element forbidden spell.

Meteor Shower.

A Level Nine forbidden spell.

Once cast, it could summon a vast barrage of meteors from the heavens and rain them down across an entire area.

It was essentially an advanced version of Falling Meteor.

Falling Meteor was a single-target offensive spell.

Meteor Shower, by contrast, was a devastating area-of-effect spell.

The difference in destructive power was enormous.

Yet knowing how ancient spiritual imprints worked did not make Kent’s present situation any easier.

In fact, it made him even more troubled.

The requirements for accessing such an imprint were extremely strict.

Take this alchemical formula, for example.

The person attempting to open its spiritual imprint normally had to possess the same elemental affinity as the alchemist who had created the scroll.

Not only that, their level of spiritual power also had to be roughly comparable.

Put simply, both their elemental attributes and their level of strength had to be reasonably well matched.

It was almost like an ancient master selecting a suitable disciple.

And there was another problem.

Until the spiritual imprint was successfully activated, there was no way to sense in advance what kind of elemental affinity or level it required.

One could only attempt it.

Scrolls protected in this manner almost always contained exceptionally valuable knowledge.

That alone made Kent even more curious.

But it also made him worry about one thing—

his own level.

“Heh heh.”

The First Elder noticed Kent’s stunned expression and immediately relaxed.

The heavy stone that had been pressing on his heart seemed to vanish at once.

“Boy, I’ll give you two hours as well.”

He smiled with obvious satisfaction.

“Take your time and figure it out.”

As far as the First Elder was concerned, this round was practically his already.

If he could tie the score at one victory each, then the third round would depend on drawing lots to determine who asked the final question.

At that point, victory and defeat would be split almost evenly.

Whoever gained the right to set the question would naturally have the greater advantage.

Kent was thoroughly irritated by the First Elder’s smug tone.

Still, there was nothing he could do except try.

Besides, he was genuinely curious.

A scroll important enough for the First Elder of an entire race to carry with him personally—

what sort of treasure could possibly be recorded inside?

What kind of alchemical creation could be valuable enough to survive only in legend?

Kent ignored the expressions of everyone around him.

Carrying the scroll, he slowly walked to one side and sat down.

Then he closed his eyes.

His spiritual power began to extend outward, carefully probing the ancient scroll.

It was an extremely slow and delicate process.

He had to examine every part of the scroll with his spiritual power while constantly changing the elemental nature of his mana.

One element.

Then another.

Then combinations of multiple elements.

Again and again.

The process was almost like trying to open a locked chest without knowing the combination.

Kent had no key.

All he could do was test one possibility after another.

Then—

“AAAAAH!”

A sudden scream tore through the hall.

No one, least of all Kent himself, had expected what happened next.

His spiritual power had only just spread across the entire surface of the scroll.

He had barely drawn a trace of mana from within his body.

He had not even had time to change its elemental nature.

For Kent, changing the attribute of his mana required nothing more than a thought.

Yet before that thought could even fully form—

the scroll reacted.

An overwhelming torrent of information suddenly erupted from the ancient parchment and surged directly into his mind.

There was far too much.

Far too fast.

Kent felt as though the contents of his skull had suddenly begun to boil.

His mind seemed ready to burst beneath the flood of knowledge.

The pain struck without warning.

Kent threw back his head and screamed。