For the past few days, all Prestige Academy’s monitoring room saw was chaos, confusion, and nerves sky high. Today was no different. In fact, it was a lot worse. Far much worse.

  “How in the world are we yet to have anything?” Im Ilseong asked, his voice a rumble in the monitoring room. Everyone present shook under the weight of his words. They had never seen him this angry before, and he didn’t like it any less than they did. But things couldn’t keep on carrying this way. It had been three days already.

  “We found no problems with the monitoring system, headmaster,” said one of the technical assistants present in the room. “There really are no bugs, and the development code hasn’t been tampered with in any way. Everything reads perfectly, just like the other Towers.”

  Im Ilseong had heard those words many times already. But he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. And that was why he had asked for Kim Hyeonki’s help. The Consortium Guild were well versed in the operations of systems and data relating to simulations of dungeons and Towers.

  The young Mage, Kang Do-Won, had come to oversee the matter on behalf of Kim Hyeonki, and the crew he had brought with him were currently in the server room, scouring through the various sources and code they could come across, while Im Ilseong breathed down fiercely on the members of Prestige Academy’s technical team to prove at least useful.

  He really hoped the Consortium could help. He had made a promise to Merlin’s parents that he would watch no harm come to the boy. And, now, this?

  Why? He couldn’t understand.

  “This is the second time it has happened, isn’t it?” Im Ilseong murmured, technically to himself, but his words made their way into Jung Seoyeon’s ears.

  “The second time, headmaster,” Jung Seoyeon replied, standing almost unnoticeably beside him.

  “How is it possible that all the measures we took to prevent this from happening again have failed?” Im Ilseong’s brows furrowed, his eyes placed on the centermost screen of the countless in the monitoring room. Unlike the others, which showed the exploits of the students in the Tower, it had no visuals. Only the words ‘lost signal’ were visible on it. “This is absurd.”

  The doors of the monitoring room came open, drawing Im Ilseong’s attention.

  Kang Do-Won strode in, and behind him were three Mages of the Consortium Guild all dressed in their blue vest.

  Their presence, though, didn’t fill Im Ilseong with the relief he so desperately sought. They were meant to have found a way past the portal into the Tower. If they hadn’t, then that meant that they had been repelled by it too.

  “How is that possible?” Im Ilseong muttered.

  In all his years, he had never experienced something like this. They had modeled the portals of the simulations based on the data they had extracted from dungeon and Tower portals when they were open. They had not put in the code for when it shuts itself out to outsiders. And that proved true for all the other Towers assigned in the simulation except Merlin’s.

  “We tried everything we could, headmaster,” said Kang Do-Won. “We have no way in. The portal repels us, just as it did you.”

  Im Ilseong took a deep breath and exhaled, calming himself. Being flustered wouldn’t do any good in this situation. But it was not like being coolheaded did as well. He had tried everything he could and even sought out help from external sources, and, yet, it all remained the same.

  What exactly was happening?

  “I heard this is the second time this has happened,” Kang Do-Won said as he walked forward to stand beside the headmaster and Jung Seoyeon. He glanced at them and they only stared back, not disputing his words. “That is true, then, I suppose?”

  Im Ilseong sighed. “It is.”

  “And the boy, Merlin, was involved the first time as well?”

  Im Ilseong remained silent, so Jung Seoyeon spoke on his behalf.

  “Yes,” she said. “It was during his physical assessment. The simulation itself went haywire, and I was unable to shut it down. This, despite being somewhat similar, is more dire than the last time. We cannot even see what is going on with him and the rest of his teammates.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Kang Do-Won folded his arms and tilted his head slightly.

  “Weird,” he said. “Why does this only happen when the boy is involved?”

  Im Ilseong shot a querying look at Kang Do-Won.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked. His tone was a bit harsh, but he wasn’t exactly angry.

  The truth was, he had been thinking the same thing Kang Do-Won was. But he couldn’t relay those thoughts. Keeping Merlin safe was his priority. If word got out about all the things involved with the boy—the simulation systems losing their wits, the fact that his mana was growing, all that considering he was a Deficient Mage who could use anti-magic—-the council of mages would have the boy brought to them. And if that happened, then Merlin would become nothing but a lab rat.

  He couldn’t let that happen.

  “Nothing out of left field, headmaster,” said Kang Do-Won as he noticed Im Ilseong’s stare. “The boy is a magnet for danger. And that was proven with his encounter with the wyverns. That, too, had never happened before. A dungeon break of that scale had last been seen during the Cataclysm.”

  Im Ilseong fell silent.

  Kang Do-Won shrugged. “I understand you. You want to keep the boy from the Council of Mages. Wise. Guildmaster Kim Hyeonki told me. He also told me about how the boy now had the mana output of a C-Class Mage.”

  Im Ilseong’s expression remained the same, tightened and hardly stoic.

  He was aware that Hyeonki had mentioned that to Kang Do-Won. The lad was basically Hyeonki’s right hand man. There were few things that happened at the Consortium Guild that he had no idea about. And Im Ilseong was certain he would keep it a secret. Kang Do-Won also knew how important Merlin’s abilities were to them in the grand scheme of things. If the boy was sliced open and nothing fruitful came of it, the destruction the incoming Cataclysm would bring could possibly be far more devastating than the last. Evil only grew stronger with time, and so they had to counter it in the best way they could.

  However, Im Ilseong had no idea where Kang Do-Won was going with what he was saying.

  “Get to the point,” he said, impatient.

  Kang Do-Won turned to Im Ilseong and sighed.

  “Hopefully, they manage to clear the Tower and escape,” he started. “If they do, I would advise that you hand the boy over to the Consortium Guild. We will take care of him.”

  Im Ilseong jerked back at those words, and he wasn’t the only one. And as he took the time to process what he had just heard, Jung Seoyeon took the initiative to speak up.

  “He’s our student,” she said. “We have a duty to impact him with the required knowledge he needs as a Mage. What could the Consortium Guild possibly teach him?”

  “But he’s not a Mage now, is he?” Kang Do-Won argued. “Mage academies were created for those with the ability to use magic, to teach them how to make use of their arsenal to the fullest capabilities.”

  Jung Seoyeon was about to refute his statement with one of hers, when he raised a hand to shush her before she could start. She recoiled at the action.

  “Yes, the Deficient Mages,” he continued. “That is your argument, I suppose. But we both know that the reason any even get accepted into any Mage Academy at all is so that they can serve as some last line of defense in the advent of any unforeseen circumstances. Regardless, the boy is neither an actual Mage or even a Deficient Mage any longer. He’s an anomaly. You do not have the syllabus for an anomaly. The Consortium Guild would do better. Teach him what is needed in the face of real danger.” He turned his gaze to Im Ilseong. “Look on the bright side. That will prevent any more of what is currently happening from happening any longer. The boy will be safe with us, and the rest of your students will be with you.”

  Despite the blood pounding in Im Ilseong’s ears, he had taken in every word of Kang Do-Won’s with clarity. And, if he was to be honest with himself, the lad was right.

  Prestige Academy did not have the syllabus to take care of the boy. They would, in truth, only be dampening his growth. Being with the Consortium Guild would take that up a notch. He would be watched closely by veteran Mages in the field, tested continually by Hyeonki, and would earn the experience required to stand against the Cataclysm way faster.

  The logical thing to do was hand Merlin over to them.

  However, Merlin was just a kid. He had already done too much by putting the weight of the world on the boy’s shoulders, and now they would have him pry the boy away from his friends? Would the boy want that? Would he leave without protest? Forsake his school life—his youth—because of a preconceived destiny that no one had an idea would even come to be?

  Im Ilseong exhaled deeply.

  “Good words, Do-Won ssi,” Im Ilseong said, and Jung Seoyeon shot him a glare. She wasn’t on board with handing Merlin over. And she needn’t worry. He wasn’t as well. “But he’s my student. It is my duty to teach him in the most conducive environment possible. If the Consortium wants him, then Hyeonki would have to ask himself. And even if he did, I would tell him to wait until the boy was ready for his internship. Then, you can have him.”

  Kang Do-Won alternated a look between Im Ilseong and Jung Seoyeon before smiling. He turned away with a shake of his head, saying, “Fine. I understand. I’m sure you’ll take care of the boy well.”

  Im Ilseong knew that the statement was a jab at him due to the current events, but he didn’t let himself be riled up.

  “Never mind that,” he started, shifting the conversation as he turned back to the screens in the monitoring room. “We have yet to figure out a way to bring the students back. I am certain you don’t mind if we focus on that instead?”

  Kang Do-Won nodded. “Certainly.” He cleared his throat. “We will try our best to help.”

  If only that was reassuring.