Got a Gallery in the Wild

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

Physics, alchemy, mathematics, engineering, medicine, and more.

The exact sciences were directly or indirectly connected to magic, so it was common for their scholars to visit the tower.

The Kingdom of Iris had also taken advantage of this to establish close diplomatic ties with numerous nations.

Thanks to that, not even the Empire could ignore the kingdom.

At present, the influence of the Magic Tower was increasing day by day, to the point that even the king had to tread carefully because of the existence of the Mage King, Kadir.

If something happened in such a place, it was equivalent to declaring a state of emergency throughout the Kingdom of Iris.

“Tell me, Mr. Mage. Do you know how old I am?”

“You’re a demon. Judging by those wrinkles, I’d say you’re at least two hundred years old.”

“Correct. I have seen the New Year dawn two hundred and thirty-one times. I have survived from the Era of Wars to this age where ball sports are the trend. Do you know what that means?”

“Sounds like you’ve seen an enormous number of strange things.”

At the mage’s response, the blue-skinned demon scholar nodded.

Demons were a race that rivaled elves, and their lifespan was also extremely long.

They lived for roughly three hundred years.

However, most died before reaching two hundred.

Before sports became popular, they spent practically every day fighting, even going so far as to start wars between nations.

Even so, even when they died early, they still accumulated experience equivalent to twice the life of an ordinary human.

“That’s right. And in all my life, I had never seen anything like that.”

“Not just you. I think everyone looking at it right now is thinking the same thing.”

“I suppose so. Then let me ask you something.”

The demon scholar tilted his head slightly and pointed somewhere.

What he was pointing at was the Magic Tower floating in the sky.

It wasn’t only the tower that had risen.

It looked as though an entire chunk of land had been torn out and lifted along with it.

It was as if a farmer had pulled a radish from a field and a massive clump of earth had come out attached to it.

“What exactly do you think that is?”

The Magic Tower, symbol of the Kingdom of Iris and considered by many its true core, floated suspended in the sky.

Because of that unexpected situation, most of the mages and scholars inside had evacuated in a hurry.

The only positive thing was that the tower had not continued rising until it vanished among the clouds and had instead stopped halfway.

Even so, it was still so high that one had to tilt their head back to see it.

Just imagining what would happen if it fell was terrifying.

“Is there really no one capable of explaining what the hell is happening?”

Meanwhile, some mages still remained inside the tower.

They were the people responsible for the institution and held various important positions.

Originally, they were supposed to hold a meeting related to the Celestial Whale.

But circumstances had changed.

Faced with this unexpected crisis, they needed to make a decision.

“If anyone has conducted an unauthorized experiment inside the tower, it would be best to speak up now.”

“Do you really think this is the result of an unauthorized experiment?”

“Then what? Are you trying to tell me this is a natural disaster?”

No one could refute the old man’s words.

They made sense.

Even though magic and mana existed in the world, common sense still existed as well.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, typhoons, lightning.

Those were all natural disasters.

In the past, some were considered divine punishment, but the advancement of science had proven that most were natural phenomena.

However, a Magic Tower flying away was far from natural.

“Even if it was caused artificially, we must discover the cause.”

“He’s right. If we can understand even a part of it, we can find a solution.”

“If anyone has any suspicions, no matter how small, speak up.”

Thus began the meeting intended to resolve the situation.

However, no convincing explanation or solution emerged.

The Magic Tower gathered the brightest minds in the world.

But this phenomenon completely exceeded the limits of ordinary knowledge.

And there was one person observing everything in particularly conspicuous silence.

“Hmmm…”

It was Kadir.

He was sitting neither at the head of the table nor directly opposite it, but somewhere in the middle.

He stroked his beard while thinking.

Although he had stepped down from his position as the highest authority, he was still the most influential person in the room.

And the fact that he remained silent meant he was thinking about something.

The Director General, seated at the head of the table, addressed him.

“Lord Kadir, what is your opinion?”

“I think it is fascinating. And at the same time, terrifying.”

Fascinating.

And terrifying.

As everyone wondered what those words meant, Kadir continued.

“If one observes the tower’s current appearance, it looks like a floating city.”

“A floating city?”

“Argorn’s favorite castle.”

“But that’s a legend. Even if ruins resembling a floating city were discovered, it has never been proven that they actually flew…”

“Then how do you explain the fact that the Magic Tower is floating right now?”

He had a point.

They already had a mountain of things to investigate because of the Celestial Whale.

And now, on top of that, they had accidentally discovered that floating cities had really existed.

The multiplication of research topics was fantastic.

But that would have to wait until the current crisis was resolved.

“Then what do you think caused this situation?”

“Hmm…”

Kadir slowly stroked his beard as he thought.

Everyone waited for his answer.

After all, he was Kadir.

The wisest mage in the world.

They were convinced that he must know the answer.

‘…And now what excuse do I make up?’

And indeed, Kadir did know the cause.

He knew it all too well.

The moment he discovered that the Magic Tower had begun to rise, he immediately ran to his laboratory.

And there he saw it clearly.

The golden stone shining inside the translucent membrane.

The Celestial Whale ambergris.

He had somehow managed to contain it, preventing the tower from continuing to rise indefinitely.

Or rather.

He wasn’t even sure he had truly controlled it.

Could a modern human mage control an object originating from the Mythological Era?

‘At least they still don’t know that this phenomenon is related to the ambergris.’

Only Kadir knew the cause of this phenomenon.

From time to time, someone mentioned the ambergris, but the idea was immediately dismissed.

No one was sure whether it was appropriate to bring up the Gallery in such a serious situation and, besides, no matter how much it was an object from the Mythological Era, it was difficult to believe that something as simple as whale excrement could cause such a disaster.

‘Above all, I can never admit that I’m AllFather.’

There was a risk that they would discover his nickname.

In the Gallery, it didn’t matter if he said it openly. After all, nobody believed him.

Reality was different. The moment they discovered his main account, his life would become terribly complicated.

Was it because of some embarrassing private life?

Not at all.

‘I can’t waste the opportunity to research all of this by myself.’

All the incredibly valuable research materials he would receive from Grills.

The mere thought of having to share them with others was unbearable.

His renewed thirst for knowledge, awakened in old age, was what kept Kadir silent.

The ambergris alone represented years—no, entire decades—of research.

After thinking it over again and again, Kadir decided that he first had to resolve this situation.

“I have lived a long time, but even I do not know the cause of this phenomenon. However, I agree with the Director General. This is very far from being natural.”

“Then you also believe it was caused by some unauthorized experiment?”

“You could say that.”

“Even if it were an experiment, it would require a monstrous amount of mana to lift the entire Magic Tower into the sky…”

“Is there a source of energy of that magnitude inside the tower?”

“If we consider the Magic Tower itself as an energy source, then yes, it would be enormous.”

Someone had caused this through an unauthorized experiment.

There had to be an energy source capable of keeping the Magic Tower afloat.

Since the place was full of brilliant minds, progress slowly began to be made.

And the more progress they made, the drier Kadir’s throat felt.

Because this could end in the worst possible way.

Not only could they discover the ambergris.

They could also discover the Immortal King stored in the refrigerator.

‘I need to divert any suspicion away from myself.’

When the first meeting ended, Kadir returned to his laboratory.

The first thing he saw upon entering was the ambergris glowing intensely.

Why had it activated?

And by what principle had it managed to make the entire Magic Tower float?

The problem was that it was an object from the Mythological Era, and he could not manipulate it freely.

What if he touched it incorrectly?

What if the tower plummeted?

‘Wait. Let’s do the calculations. How high is the tower right now?’

Kadir began writing theories on a board.

He calculated the current altitude of the Magic Tower.

He also calculated the effects of a potential fall.

Furthermore, the tower was filled with experimental equipment and enormous energy sources.

‘If the Magic Tower were to fall like this…’

The conclusion was simple.

The damage would be comparable to a meteor impact.

And the Magic Tower was located right in the capital of the Kingdom of Iris.

If it fell, the capital would be completely destroyed.

And the Kingdom of Iris would be annihilated.

At that point, even the famous mass-extermination spell Meteor Storm would seem like a better option.

At least Meteor Storm could be blocked.

This could not.

‘…Oh, Aragorn.’

AllFather froze as he stared at his calculations.

No matter how many times he repeated the calculations, the values might change, but the conclusion remained the same.

If the tower fell, at the very least the capital of the Kingdom of Iris would be destroyed.

Flash! Flash!

Unaware of Kadir’s anguish, the ambergris continued to emit a brilliant golden light.

Kadir looked away from the board and stared at the piece of ambergris.

A chunk the size of a fist.

How long would it continue functioning?

And just as that thought crossed his mind.

The ambergris changed.

Crack.

A small part.

A tiny part.

Turned to dust and began to crumble.

Nothing in the world was eternal.

Not even objects from the Mythological Era.

Kadir went pale.

‘…We’re screwed.’

But standing still was not an option.

He pulled every book related to the Mythological Era and the Celestial Whale from the shelves.

So many that they formed mountains on the floor.

Normally, he would never have approached a research project this broad.

But the severity of the situation left him no choice.

‘I have to figure it out. No matter what it takes.’

In truth, the best solution would be to obtain more ambergris from Grills.

But that would only delay the inevitable.

He needed to understand the mechanism.

Only then could he prepare for the disaster to come.

‘I must approach, even if only a little, the knowledge of the gods.’

A mage who had surpassed human limits from the very beginning.

But now he was venturing into divine knowledge for one reason alone.

To survive.

‘Wait. Then what’s happening in the Forest of Four Seasons? He has a much larger amount of ambergris there.’

Suddenly, he thought of Grills.

He possessed a far greater quantity than what Kadir had right now.

Was he really okay?

Even if he had stored it inside a spatial backpack, it was impossible that it hadn’t caused some kind of change.

Kadir himself had sealed it inside a translucent container for storage, and even then this had happened.

Kadir hurriedly logged into the Gallery.

At that moment, the Gallery was in complete chaos.

Everyone was talking about the Flying Magic Tower or the Sky Tower.

Amid all of that, he searched for Grills’ posts.

Perhaps something similar was happening there.

[I buried the ambergris.]

And he found a title that looked insane from the very beginning.

He had buried the ambergris.

A story so absurd it left one speechless.

But Kadir was desperate enough to open the post immediately.

Title) I buried the ambergris

WildGrills

(Photo of burying the ambergris)

I buried it to see what would happen.

Absolutely nothing happened.

Is this really just a toy?

Nothing happened.

For Kadir, that was maddening.

While his Magic Tower floated through the sky causing chaos, nothing was happening over there.

He didn’t know whether it was because it was the Forest of Four Seasons and even ambergris lost its significance there, or if the exact opposite was true.

‘T-Then SunForEver. He had some too, right?’

Grills hadn’t been the only one to receive it.

SunForEver had also gotten a portion.

Title) Ah, that was freaking fun

SunForEver

(Photo of a messy bed)

Neither I nor my wives had ever experienced anything like that before.

We all had a great time haha.

We’ll do it again next time. I still have plenty of ambergris left.

ㄴAllFather) Did you turn all of it into incense?

ㄴSunForEver) Why are you asking?

ㄴAllFather) Didn’t anything strange happen?

ㄴSunForEver) Anything strange? Ah, do you mean me having fun with my wives? lol

The answer only made him even more desperate.

Kadir left the Gallery and returned to reality.

‘I have to figure it out…!’

And so began the story of a human mage challenging the knowledge of the gods.

***

At the same time.

In the Forest of Four Seasons.

“Come on. Close your eyes and eat it just once. I’m curious whether you’ll be able to fly too.”

“Get that out of my sight.”

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

“You are evil. Truly evil.”

Grills was using Lackey as a test subject.

And Lackey, facing such terrifying injustice, responded by demonstrating exceptional language skills.

While some were dedicating their lives to studying forbidden knowledge, others were trying to understand everything through extremely simple methods.

“Just endure it once. If you think about it, Sloth ate it too.”

“You are evil. You have a snake’s tongue.”

“And where did you learn that expression now?”

And all of it, of course, without taking the slightest bit of responsibility.