Chapter 1360: 118. Identity

"Name?"

"Enmu."

"Sex?"

"Male."

"Age?"

"Twen—cough, sixty-five. I'm already sixty-five this year."

"Sixty-five?"

Across the table, the old man fiddled with the magic stone beside him and shone its light back and forth across Muen's face. After scrutinizing him for quite a while, he muttered:

"You brat, are you really already sixty-five?"

"What, is there something wrong with that age?"

The glaring light made Muen's vision swim, but he couldn't lose his temper, so he could only answer with a smile that wasn't quite a smile:

"I swear on the character of my most respected teacher that there is absolutely nothing false about my age. So, sir, could you show a little respect to an old man like me? We're both old men. Why make things difficult for each other?"

"What old man? Don't talk nonsense. Is sixty-five old? Isn't that exactly the age when you should be striving your hardest? When I was your age, I could conduct twenty magical experiments in one go without even getting out of breath."

The old man rolled his eyes.

Young people these days. Only sixty-five and already unwilling to strive. How were they supposed to carve out a place for themselves in the Origin Tower in the future? How were they supposed to create an entirely new path of magic and leave their names in the history books?

Lazy!

Not a shred of passion for hard work!

Muen: "..."

He somehow felt like he was being looked down on.

"Since you've even sworn on your teacher's character, I'll believe your age for the time being. I'm not some stubborn old fossil either. Still, for someone your age to already possess this level of strength really is astonishing. And yet, before this, I'd never even heard of you in the magical world?"

The old man once again flipped through the information he had only just obtained through questioning. His aged but still clear eyes settled on Muen's face as he studied him closely.

His perception instinctively probed deeper.

But even Ariel's Delusion-Breaking Eye couldn't see through the rule-level "truth," so naturally, neither could he.

What he saw was still nothing more than a genius mage who was only sixty-five years old, yet already possessed enough strength to beat Jerome like an infant!

And a genius mage who used Enhancement Magic at that!

What the hell? Could Enhancement Magic really become this powerful?

For the first time, the old man began to doubt himself.

"Cough. Sir, please show some respect."

Muen reservedly tapped the table. "Since you already know how exceptional I am, then you should understand even better that your current prejudice is shaking the very foundation of the magical world. Since when has the magical world become so rigid that it won't even allow a newcomer to rise?"

"The magical world is indeed somewhat rigid, but it hasn't reached that point yet."

The old man shook his head. "So I'm simply curious."

"Then isn't that enough? There's no meaning in asking so many questions like this. If this continues, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep you company. After all, as you know, as a mere sixty-five-year-old genius mage, I still have to go back and study Enhancement Magic. I'm not as idle as you, with enough free time to sit here with me for so long."

Since he'd been looked down on, of course he had to throw some sarcasm right back.

But for now, that was about all Muen could do.

It wasn't as though he could actually attack him.

If he really intended to fight, he would've done it back in the square instead of eventually backing down and obediently following this old fellow here.

And the reason he had backed down was very simple...

Grand Mage Douglas Jones.

That was the name of the old man before him, along with his honorific title.

Grand Mage and magic master sounded as though the only difference was word order, but in reality, the meanings represented by the two were completely different.

In the Origin Tower, anyone capable of establishing a classroom could be respectfully called the latter—a master in the field of magic.

But the former...

The words Grand Mage carried unquestionable weight no matter which country or which power they were spoken in.

Because they represented a genuine Truth-Rank powerhouse! A supreme expert standing at the peak of humanity in both strength and knowledge!

And that wasn't all.

Aside from the title of Grand Mage, the old man before him had a long string of other titles.

The true head of the Elemental School.

An ultimate old monster who had stepped into the Truth Rank seventy years ago.

A towering authority whose influence extended across the magical world of the entire continent...

And...

During this period when the Origin Tower had suddenly encountered a special crisis, after discussions among all sides, he had specifically been dug out of some coffin and brought back to preside over matters as...

The current rotating Tower Master of the Origin Tower!

In short, unless that old loli came over from the sea of flowers to crush everyone through sheer dimensional superiority, then purely in terms of status, there probably wasn't anyone in the entire Origin Tower who outranked him right now.

As for strength, they hadn't fought, so Muen wouldn't comment on that for the moment.

But his instincts told him...

Unless absolutely necessary, it would be best not to entertain the idea of finding out.

After all, for a "sixty-five-year-old" to fight someone who was over a hundred and who-knew-how-many years old, the roles would reverse, and he would become the "infant" getting bullied.

Thinking of this, Muen couldn't help sighing mournfully.

Damn it. Was this the price of smurfing in low-level matches?

He'd only bullied some weaker opponents a tiny bit. Was there really any need to make such a huge deal out of it and even alarm a big shot of this level?

"Of course I'm not idle. It's just that something this serious happened, and as the temporary Tower Master, I have to come out and deal with it," Douglas said leisurely.

"Serious? I don't think it was serious at all."

"Thirty-eight comminuted fractures throughout his body, extensive muscular contusions, a severe concussion, and hemorrhagic shock. Injuries this serious haven't appeared within the Origin Tower for quite some time... I mean among those masters who mainly teach and who have remained inside the Tower for so long that they rarely leave."

"Are those injuries really that serious?"

Muen asked strangely, "From my perspective, aren't those all just superficial wounds? Wouldn't a couple of healing magic scrolls fix them right up?"

"...Superficial wounds...?"

Douglas suddenly smiled.

As though something had occurred to him, a meaningful look flashed through his eyes.

"In that case, let's leave that topic aside for now."

As he spoke, he casually tapped the tabletop with one finger. Instantly, by some unknown principle, a steaming cup of coffee appeared on the table.

"You said earlier that you don't like tea? Please."

Douglas pushed the coffee toward Muen.

Muen glanced at it without moving.

"What? Afraid it's poisoned?"

Douglas interlaced his fingers and rested his chin on them.

"You think that I, the dignified rotating Tower Master, would use that sort of method against the little head of some declining school? Relax. Even if Jerome belongs to my Elemental School, I wouldn't use a method with such terrible cost-effectiveness."

"Tower Master, you're thinking too much. I was merely carefully appreciating the aroma of the coffee. As for thinking you might poison it... how could that possibly be?"

Muen smiled as well, picked up the coffee cup, tilted his head back, and drained it in one gulp.

Out of courtesy, he even turned the mouth of the cup toward Douglas to display the completely empty interior.

"First of all, we don't have that sort of etiquette when drinking coffee here."

Douglas tapped the table again, and the coffee cup suddenly vanished.

Then he stared at Muen curiously.

"Second... isn't it hot?"

"Hot?"

Muen froze.

It was just a cup of scalding coffee at exactly one hundred degrees, wasn't it?

What was hot about that? He usually gargled with—

Wait.

Muen jolted and abruptly realized what had happened.

With his current Crowned One-level body, forget scalding coffee—even if he took a mouthful of magma, the most he would do was praise it for having some kick.

But his current identity wasn't some crude brute.

He was an elegant mage!

How could a mage drink boiling water without getting burned?

Of course it should be hot!

Which meant...

This old bastard... was testing him!

He suspected him?

Suspected his identity as a mage?

Muen narrowed his eyes and suddenly realized that, in that instant just now, he seemed to have been influenced by some invisible force, which was why he had done something that looked so foolish.

Damn it!

This old bastard was smurfing!

How despicable, using something like that against a weak and helpless little white rabbit like him. Sure enough, scumbags who smurfed in low-level matches deserved to be severely punished!

"Tower Master, you've misunderstood. Under normal circumstances, of course it would burn me."

Fortunately, after having his reaction speed forged through all kinds of hellish predicaments, although storms were raging through his mind, Muen's outward panic lasted for less than an instant before he recovered his composure.

"But as the head of the Enhancement School, the man destined to make Enhancement Magic great again... even at times like this, I continuously maintain Enhancement Magic to strengthen my body."

"Oh? Really?"

"Really. More real than twenty-four-karat pure gold."

Muen placed one hand over his chest and pointed the other toward the sky as he said solemnly:

"Once again, I swear on the character of my most, most, most respected teacher... You know what an oath like this means to a mage."

"..."

Mages placed great importance on lineage and inheritance, so an oath like that... really was among the most solemn oaths possible.

Was this guy not lying?

A trace of doubt flashed through Douglas's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a sly gleam like that of an old fox—one Muen failed to notice.

Whether he was lying or not, this brat really was still too young.

Only sixty-five years old. Not steady enough.

Just a slight probe, and he'd already gotten anxious.

Did he really think Douglas was doubting his Enhancement Magic?

...He did doubt it, admittedly.

But in this world, aside from certain existences that simply couldn't be judged by ordinary standards, there probably wasn't any magic capable of deceiving his eyes.

So approaching things from that direction would undoubtedly be foolish.

That was why, from the very beginning, what he had been investigating was something else entirely.

Namely—

Identity.

That was the true key to everything.

Douglas lowered his head and looked at the document lying on the table before him.

This brat's identity had already been pulled up while he was fighting Jerome.

After a detailed investigation, Douglas had reached a conclusion...

There was nothing wrong with it.

That's right.

There was nothing wrong with this brat's identity, his origins, or even the way he had obtained that Enhancement School emblem.

But...

The fact that there was nothing wrong with it was precisely the biggest problem.

How could the information on someone who hadn't returned to the Origin Tower for several decades be this complete?

That was why Douglas had tested him.

And after that test and his analysis, he had more or less confirmed the brat's identity.

"Severed Enhancement Magic."

After analysis from every angle, this brat's identity was already practically obvious.

That's right!

He was—

"The successor of the first head of the Enhancement School, who disappeared for so many years and has finally resurfaced!"