I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 172

The Magic Tower belonging to the Iris Kingdom was a gathering place not only for mages from all over the world, but also for countless scholars.

Physics, alchemy, mathematics, engineering, medicine, and so forth. Since STEM disciplines were directly or indirectly linked to magic, scholars in those fields visited frequently.

The Iris Kingdom utilized this advantage well to establish close diplomatic ties with numerous nations. Thanks to that, even the Empire could not look down on the Kingdom.

Currently, the authority of the Magic Tower grew stronger with each passing day, to the point where even the King had to walk on eggshells around the presence of Kadir, the Mage King.

If a problem arose in such a Magic Tower, it was tantamount to the entire Iris Kingdom declaring a state of emergency.

"Excuse me, Sir Mage. Do you know how old I am?"

"You are of the Demon Race. Seeing as you have wrinkles, I take it you are at least over 200 years old?"

"Correct. I have watched 231 New Year mornings so far. I have survived from the age of conflict all the way to the present, where playing ball is all the rage. Do you know what this means?"

"It sounds to me like you have seen all sorts of bizarre things."

At the mage’s words, the blue-skinned Demon scholar nodded.

The Demon Race was a species rivaling the Elves, possessing an extremely long lifespan.

Their life expectancy was roughly 300 years. However, most Demons died before reaching the age of 200.

Because until various ball sports developed, not a day went by without them fighting, even escalating to wars between nations.

Even if they rarely died of old age, it was still double a human’s lifespan, so their experience was not something to be taken lightly.

"Spot on. In all my years of living, this is the first time I have ever seen such a thing."

"Not just you, but everyone looking at that right now is probably thinking the exact same thing."

"Indubitably. Then let me ask you just one thing."

The Demon scholar tilted his head slightly and pointed somewhere.

What lay in the direction he pointed was the Magic Tower, floating high in the sky.

It was not merely the Magic Tower itself that had soared upward; even the surrounding earth had risen as if torn right off the ground.

It looked almost as if a farmer had pulled up a radish planted in a field, bringing the whole clump of dirt along with it.

"What in the world do you think that is?"

The Magic Tower, known as the symbol and true heart of the Iris Kingdom, was floating gently in the sky.

Due to the sudden, unexpected emergency, most of the mages and scholars inside the Magic Tower had evacuated in haste.

Was it at least a relief that the Magic Tower had not soared all the way into the heavens, but brought itself to a sudden halt halfway up?

Of course, even at that height, one had to crane their neck all the way back to look at it.

Just imagining what would happen if that thing crashed back down was terrifying.

"Is there truly no one here who can explain what on earth just happened?"

Meanwhile, the mages still remaining inside the Magic Tower...

As the executives of the Magic Tower, they held various key positions of responsibility.

Originally, they were supposed to hold a meeting regarding the Sky Whale, but the situation had drastically changed.

They needed to make a decisive choice on how to handle this unseasonable emergency.

"If anyone conducted an unauthorized experiment inside the Magic Tower, speak up now."

"Do you honestly think this happened because of an unauthorized experiment?"

"Then what? Do you truly view this as a naturally occurring ’disaster’?"

No one could refute the elder’s point, as his words were perfectly reasonable.

Even in a world where mana and magic truly existed, common sense still applied.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, typhoons, lightning strikes, and so on—such phenomena were referred to as natural disasters.

In the past, some disasters were believed to be divine wrath, but as science advanced, most were proven to be natural phenomena.

However, the current situation where the Magic Tower had levitated was far removed from anything natural.

"Even if this is an artificially caused event, we must figure out the reason."

"That is correct. If we can grasp even a fraction of it, a way forward will open up."

"If there is anything suspicious in the slightest, no matter how small, please speak up."

The meeting to resolve the current crisis began.

However, no proper solution or identification of the cause came forth.

Though the Magic Tower was a gathering of the finest minds in the world, the current crisis transcended ordinary common sense.

And there was one person watching this scene unfold in particular silence.

"Heeem..."

It was Kadir, sitting neither at the head seat nor at the front, but right in the middle. He stroked his beard, deep in thought.

Although he had stepped down from the position of chief executive, he was practically the person with the strongest voice in this room.

The fact that such a man was staying completely silent meant he had something on his mind. At this, the chief executive sitting at the head table addressed him.

"Kadir-nim, what are your thoughts on this?"

"I find it fascinating. And terrifying at the same time."

Fascinating. And terrifying at the same time.

As everyone harbored doubts over his cryptic statement, Kadir continued.

"Looking at the current state of the Magic Tower... it resembles the Floating Castle."

"The Floating Castle?"

"The stronghold favored above all others by Aragon-nim."

"But is that not merely a myth? Even if ruins of a fortress presumed to be the Floating Castle were discovered, the claim that the fortress floated..."

"Seeing the Magic Tower soaring into the sky right now, I doubt it is just a myth."

Kadir was right.

They already had a mountain of things to discuss regarding the Sky Whale alone, and now the existence of the Floating Castle had been inadvertently confirmed as real.

Increasing their research material by a mountain was fantastic, but that was something to worry about after the current situation was resolved.

"Then what do you think is the cause of this phenomenon?"Get faster updates on novelping . com.

"Mmm..."

Kadir fell back into deep thought while gently stroking his beard.

Seeing him like that, the people waited for his lips to part.

Believing that Kadir, the wisest mage in the world, would undoubtedly know the cause.

’...What excuse should I make?’

And just as they thought, Kadir did indeed know the cause of the current crisis. In fact, he knew it all too well.

The moment he realized the Magic Tower was soaring into the sky, he had rushed to his laboratory, where he saw it plain as day.

Inside a translucent barrier, a golden stone was shining brilliantly—the ambergris of the Sky Whale.

It was only because he somehow managed to control that ambergris that the Magic Tower hadn’t drifted endlessly into the upper atmosphere.

No, honestly, it was questionable whether he had even controlled it.

Could a mere modern human mage truly control an artifact from the Mythic Era?

’Still, no one else knows this phenomenon is caused by the ambergris.’

Only Kadir knew the cause of the phenomenon.

Ambergris had been brought up occasionally, but it was promptly dismissed.

No one knew if it was appropriate to mention the Gallery during such a critical emergency, and even if it was an artifact from the Mythic Era, it was unbelievable that mere whale poop could trigger such a catastrophe.

’Above all, I cannot reveal that I am Allfather, even if I die.’

One wrong move and his handle might be exposed.

It didn’t matter if he openly stated it on the Gallery, since no one believed it anyway.

But reality was different. The moment his fixed handle was leaked, his future life would become a massive headache.

Was it because of an embarrassing private life? Absolutely not.

’I can’t kick away the chance to research this all by myself.’

All those rare research materials he would receive from Grylls...

He utterly despised the thought of having to share those research materials with anyone else.

A thirst for knowledge rekindled in his twilight years. This thirst for knowledge sealed Kadir’s lips.

Why, the ambergris alone was material for years—no, decades of research!

Kadir agonized over it again and again before resolving to fix the situation first.

"Though I have lived a long time, I too am unsure of the exact cause behind this phenomenon. However, as the Chief Executive said, it is far from natural."

"So Kadir-nim also believes this situation was caused by an unauthorized experiment conducted by someone."

"You could say that."

"Even if it were an experiment, lifting the entire Magic Tower would require an astronomical amount of mana..."

"Is there even such an energy source in our Magic Tower?"

"If you consider the Magic Tower itself as an energy source... wouldn’t it be quite vast?"

It was caused by someone’s unauthorized experiment.

There had to be a power source that levitated the Magic Tower into the sky.

Being a gathering of brilliant minds, progress—however agonizingly slow—began to take shape.

The more they reasoned, the drier Kadir’s throat became. At this rate, he might face the worst-case scenario.

Not only the ambergris, but the existence of the Immortal King kept in his refrigerator might be discovered!

’I must remove myself from the list of suspects at all costs.’

Afterwards, the first meeting concluded, and Kadir returned to his laboratory.

The moment he stepped back into the laboratory, what caught his eye was the brilliantly glowing ambergris.

Why on earth had it activated, and by what principle was it levitating the Magic Tower?

The problem was that, being an artifact of the Mythic Era, he couldn’t tamper with it properly.

What if messing with it caused the Magic Tower to plunge straight down into a freefall?

’Wait a minute. Let me calculate this too. How high has the Magic Tower risen so far?’

Kadir began writing theories on the chalkboard.

Calculating the altitude of the floating Magic Tower and the aftermath if it fell.

Furthermore, the Magic Tower was an institution packed with various experimental equipment and energy sources.

’If the Magic Tower crashes down like this...’

Damage equivalent to a meteorite strike would occur. That was the conclusion he arrived at.

Moreover, the Magic Tower was located in the capital of the Iris Kingdom.

If it crashed like this, the Iris capital would be completely wiped off the map, and the Iris Kingdom would instantly collapse.

A Meteor Storm, infamous as magic of total annihilation, would be preferable to this!

At least Meteor Storm could be defended against; this couldn’t be guarded against at all!

’...Oh, Aragon-isiyeo.’

Allfather froze like a stone statue as he looked at the equations he had calculated.

No matter how many times he calculated, though the precise values varied slightly, the answer was basically the same.

If the Magic Tower crashed as it was, at minimum, the capital of the Iris Kingdom would be destroyed.

Flash! Flash!

Ignorant of Kadir’s inner turmoil, the ambergris merely pulsed with brilliant light.

Kadir turned his head away from the chalkboard and looked at the ambergris.

Fist-sized ambergris. Just how long would that effect hold?

The instant that anxiety flared up, a change occurred in the ambergris.

Paseuseuk—

It was ever so subtle, but a tiny portion of the ambergris crumbled into dust.New chapters come out on novеlping.com first.

Nothing in this world was eternal and immortal, and the same applied to relics of the Mythic Era.

Kadir was struck utterly dumbfounded.

’...I’m fucking doomed.’

But he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

He pulled every single book related to the Mythic Era and the Sky Whale off the bookshelves.

There were so many books that they piled up high on the floor.

Normally, he wouldn’t read so extensively, but given the gravity of the situation, he couldn’t afford to be picky.

’I must figure this out. By any means necessary.’

In truth, getting more ambergris from Grylls was the best solution.

But realistically, that was merely an inadequate stopgap, like extending the timer on a time bomb.

He had to figure out the underlying principle somehow to prepare for the disaster to come.

’I must step closer to the divine knowledge, even if just a little.’

He was a mage who had long surpassed ordinary human limits.

But now, he was quite literally dipping his toes into divine knowledge purely for ’survival.’

’Wait a second. What about the Forest of the Four Seasons then? He has a chunk of ambergris much bigger than this!’

Kadir suddenly remembered Grylls.

He possessed a piece much larger than this one; could he really be fine?

Even if it was tucked away in a Subspace Backpack, surely some anomaly must have occurred.

After all, hadn’t Kadir put his inside a translucent container for storage, only for this to happen?

With that thought, Kadir hurriedly logged onto the Gallery.

Right now, the Gallery was in total chaos with posts about the "Flying Magic Tower," "Sky Spire," and whatnot.

Among those, he searched for Grylls’s posts, wondering if a similar calamity had unfolded there.

[I tried burying the ambergris in the ground.]

And he found a post with a far from ordinary title.

Burying ambergris in the soil—a story truly shocking enough to cause a faint.

But Kadir, grasping at straws, immediately clicked on it.

Title: I tried burying the ambergris in the ground.

Wild Grylls

(Picture of burying the ambergris in the dirt)

I watched to see what would happen if I buried it, but nothing happened.

This is just left for recreational use, right?

Nothing happened, he says. For Kadir, it was infuriating enough to burst his spleen.

Someone here is going crazy because their Magic Tower floated into the sky, while over there, absolutely nothing happened!

Was it because it was the Forest of the Four Seasons that even the ambergris became meaningless, or was it the exact opposite? He couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

’Th-Then what about Praise the Sun? Didn’t that fellow also get some?’

Kadir wasn’t the only one who received ambergris. Word had it that Praise the Sun received some as well.

Title: Ah, that was fucking fun lmao

Praise the Sun

(Picture of a messy bed)

Neither I nor my wives have ever experienced something like this before, so we all had a blast playing around haha

Definitely gotta do this again next time. I still have quite a bit of ambergris left.

└ Allfather: Did you perhaps process all of it into incense?

└ Praise the Sun: Yeah, why?

└ Allfather: Did nothing out of the ordinary happen?

└ Praise the Sun: Nothing happened? Ah, you mean having fun with my wives?

Only answers that ruptured his blood vessels in a completely different sense came back.

Kadir closed out of the Gallery and returned to reality.

’I must figure this out...!’

Thus began the chronicle of a human mage challenging divine knowledge.

Around the same time, in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

"Hey. Just close your eyes and take one bite. I’m really curious if you can fly after eating it."

"Take it away."

"If you eat it, I’ll give you something tasty."

"Bad guy. Real bad guy."

Grylls was performing an experiment on Lackey.

Lackey, showing off his remarkable linguistic skills, resisted this terrifying unfairness.

While one person was desperately devouring knowledge, another was trying to figure things out through one-dimensional thinking.

"Just endure it once. If you think about it, Bbareumbo ate it too."

"You bad guy. Snake tongue."

"Where on earth did you pick up words like that?"

And he was doing it without an ounce of responsibility, no less.