Chapter Forty-Five: The Madman Who Knows Only Tricks—Harold the Magician!

Since the boss arrived at the stronghold, Stewart had been secretly observing him through the magic mirror for three weeks.

Stewart was convinced his boss suffered from severe amnesia and persecution mania.

Yes, the persecution mania was the main issue—if that could be cured, the amnesia would surely disappear, for it was entirely self-imposed. Whenever Stewart informed the boss of something dreadful, the boss would promptly forget everything, wiping the slate clean!

As for the paranoia—the boss constantly imagined he had a terrifying adversary, one who could eliminate him at any moment. He made this person his target, seeking to surpass him.

What was this man’s name? Archimedes?

Yes, the boss depicted Archimedes as utterly fearsome. His magical power was not overwhelming, but it was steadily growing. Even more alarming, Archimedes possessed a... something, a lever.

According to the boss, if Archimedes were given a lever, he could move the entire world.

The boss believed magic was merely the weights, while the lever—knowledge—was what mattered most. When a person’s knowledge reached a certain level, he would need little magical power to vanquish Stewart or Oxicris with the simplest spell.

His nemesis wielded this lever with terrifying skill.

Stewart was certain the boss’s enemy was none other than the boss himself.

Each day, the boss tried to defeat himself—he called it something...

Breaking through the bottleneck amidst life and death?

Whether he succeeded, Stewart did not know, but according to the records, the boss had managed to kill himself hundreds of times.

For three weeks, the boss came here daily to play at suicide—dying fifteen or twenty times per day, on average.

During the first week, the boss’s games went like this: he would cast a vast array of magic on the far left of the hall, then instantly teleport to the far right as he released the spell, attempting to strike himself.

It wasn’t difficult per se, but the boss wasn’t using black snakes, foxfire, or magic missiles—he used petrification, nightmare curses, mind-twisting spells, and the like!

Casting such spells onto an empty space, then trying to catch them himself?

It was sheer madness! Anyone proposing such an idea must be insane!

Unless he appeared in two places at once, it was impossible.

Yet, before long, Stewart witnessed the boss successfully petrify himself—he was as shocked as Helen was today. Louis had become a series of afterimages, as if he’d lined up a whole row of himself!

Stewart questioned him for days; the boss explained for days.

What did he say? He called it an “interesting” phenomenon produced when four-dimensional magic reacted with advanced phantom apparition spells. In reality, he hadn’t used multiple apparitions, only one, but created a host of faceless copies.

Stewart suspected the boss was lying, afraid the head steward might learn something. After all, how could a single apparition allow someone to appear in multiple places at once? Clearly, it was a lie.

Moreover, the attempt was far from “interesting”—being struck by those spells meant certain death.

Soon, the boss grew bored of merely striking himself; he began seeking ways to withstand the spells while hitting himself.

It was obvious that in the second week of self-destructive experiments, he succeeded!

The magic mirror was shattered countless times, and the boss grew ever more resilient—Stewart remembered certain magical creatures worked like this.

For instance, the Hydra: the more its heads were severed and regenerated, the mightier it became. Many such creatures, during their growth, would attack themselves or recklessly court death, becoming immune to magic and blades.

The boss now resembled such a monster.

A few severed fingers, a bit of potion, and they’d regrow visibly before your eyes! Ordinary magic could not leave any mark on him—Stewart once saw him extinguish a foxfire with a flick of his finger!

Yet Stewart believed the boss could not withstand so many black snakes; it was futile, for their penetration was too strong. The boss would release them for minutes on end, waiting until their numbers exceeded ten thousand before starting the game.

No spell could withstand so many curses, even altering space wouldn’t help! The black snakes crept through every gap, always escaping his dimensional labyrinth to find him.

Apparently, the boss realized this too, finally encountering a bottleneck—his shield could no longer withstand his own spear.

He began darting about the underground chambers, sewers, and hidden passages of the Holy Icon Tree Academy, fleeing from the snake swarms. The terrifying snakes pursued him like bees, and if he faltered even slightly, they would devour him.

More deadly, the Academy was riddled with anti-magic zones and secret areas like the Hydra stronghold, inaccessible without knowledge of their secrets.

Thus, on his flight, Louis often encountered dead ends. The snake swarms could even follow him through the channels left by his apparition spells, striking him wherever he escaped.

Ultimately, he was trapped at this bottleneck.

Stewart was relieved that the boss finally acknowledged he could not escape the snake swarm’s relentless pursuit.

Still, Stewart doubted the boss would remain stuck for long. With such powerful magic and vast knowledge—plus the magic mirror to aid him—he would surely devise a new spell.

“A new spell? My teacher’s been making me do homework lately, no time to invent new magic. I think understanding spatial structure and Schrödinger’s Cat is enough,” Louis scratched his face, saying, “Do you know what unusual experiences those with apparition talent encounter?”

Louis’s words left Stewart bewildered—Cat? What cat?

Then terrified—this maniac had an even more formidable teacher?

Who assigned him homework?!

How powerful must she be?

Stewart buried this terrifying speculation for now, and answered the boss’s question about apparition, introducing several notable black wizards from Blackhorn Alley.

Thus, Gray-Gloved Eagle and others entered Louis’s hat.

Stewart didn’t know what inspiration or secrets the boss gleaned from their dreams, nor what homework his teacher assigned him.

In any case, the boss didn’t seem to create a new spell.

Instead, during the third week, after finishing his homework each day, he came to study mathematics—bringing piles of geometric plaster models, stacks of paper, pens, and Muggle math books!

Mathematics... what could accounting have to do with magic?

“Oh, Stewart, in essence, there is no connection. These math and geometry books reveal no magical secrets, but you know, math is a language. It’s a pair of eyes. It lets me find patterns.”

“As I probe and understand the structure of space, I can perceive the fourth dimension mentally, but it’s so complex that exploring four-dimensional structures is like a blind man feeling an elephant. I need eyes to discern their patterns.”

Louis pointed to the geometric plasters on the ground: “They are the most basic constructs. Once I master them, I can discover certain laws and ‘see’ the forms of complex objects in four dimensions.”

“These past days, I recalled a book called ‘How to Turn a Balrog King into a Pixel Map.’ It uses mathematical methods to depict an object’s structure across different dimensions. The memory of this book lingers in my mind, but I need to do some derivations.”

Soon, aided by the magic mirror, Louis found formula after formula, solved mysteries, and filled the floor with sheets of paper.

Today, Louis succeeded in turning a box into a sheet of “paper.”

More eerily, when he threw this “drawing” of a box onto a distant cup, the cup was enveloped by the paper—without any bulge!

When Louis picked up the sheet, he stood atop it, and it was as if he stood inside the box—his body shortened! Stewart could see Louis’s “disappearing” legs, and they looked remarkably three-dimensional.

The sheet with the box drawing was like a master artist’s trompe l’oeil on the floor, but this illusion could actually hold objects!

Stewart was dumbfounded.

And his boss uttered these words: “Now, the entire Academy, in my eyes, has become a plane.”

With that, Louis summoned the snake swarm from above.

He took a step forward—suddenly, the hall seemed filled with countless mirrors, each reflecting a Louis.

The innumerable black snakes struck each Louis, yet none were harmed.

As if he did not truly exist.

Clearly, beyond the “plane of the eye,” Louis could hide himself within dimensions.

Now, he could visit any so-called “anti-magic zone” or sealed secret location. He could even grant himself a buff for 100% evasion.

“Curious? Let me explain.” Louis rolled up his sleeves, delighted. School hadn’t started yet, and Oxicris, that little truant, had run off again. No “bad students” were around to hear his lectures, which was dull.

“Sir,” Stewart, ever ignorant, wiped cold sweat and quickly changed the subject: “I’ve finished the map you asked for. Please return to study it. I hear a certain alliance has appeared in Blackhorn Alley, hunting a vicious criminal... I think they’re looking for you. Don’t run into them tomorrow.”

“Oh, then I won’t go out. I’ll stay here this month.”

“No, boss, with this map, you definitely won’t meet them—really. I’ve compiled all the spies’ reports for you. There’s a fascinating scholar in Blackhorn Alley right now—he understands your lectures. If he can’t see you, he’ll be disappointed.”

Stewart wiped his sweat again. He felt that this “accountant Archimedes,” who believed knowledge was useful for magic, should have a chat with the “mad hatter magician” who insisted he had no magic.

The boss was far too idle; it was time to find him something to do, and stop him playing suicide at the stronghold.

“All right,” Louis brightened. “I’ll go have a look. If I meet that scholar in the beginner’s zone, all the better. I hope we can exchange ideas.”

But Louis met a fat man.

He wore a tailcoat, a tall hat, and looked eccentric, his mind hardly normal. Yet he seemed interesting.

His hat was curious too, adorned with a Jack of Diamonds and a grinning jester.

What did he say? That he’d always been targeting Louis?

And that he was neither wizard nor magician, knew no magic or spells.

He only knew magic tricks and illusions.

For he was a magician.

Then, Louis was pulled into a magic box, looked up—and saw a god blotting out the sky!

[Magician Harold]

[Magic Power: 300+]

Louis raised an eyebrow, feeling excitement for the first time.

It was the first true wizard he had met since arriving in this world.

And these truly formidable wizards all seemed to be a bunch of eccentric fellows...

......

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