Chapter 129: Mira
Mira,
Mira arrived at the Library of High Arcana. A massive crystal eye above the gate scanned her and clicked open the sealed door.
The halls were still the same. Cold. White. Perfect.
Her boots echoed on polished tiles as she walked toward the Examination Wing.
She passed a group of younger mages, all in black robes stitched with gold thread. Half of them barely in their thirties.
One of them turned. A woman with crimson hair, her robes modified to expose both cleavage and arrogance.
"Nera," Mira said, stopping.
"Well, well, well…" Nera smirked. "The fossil walks again."
Mira raised a brow. "Still dressing like a discount succubus, I see."
A few snorts came from the back.
Nera's eyes narrowed. "Didn't think you would crawl back here again. I thought you gave up and decided to become a full-time adventurer."
"I was occupied by things or two," Mira said simply.
"Trying to make your eighth failure more creative than the last? Kekeke," Nera laughed.
"You've been one step below Arch-Mage longer than some mages have been alive."
"Longer than you have been relevant, apparently," Mira replied.
One of the men stepped forward. A lean elf with silver tattoos down his arms.
The library is friendly towards the magic races such as nature elf, spirits, humans and a few others.
"Mira, was it? The one who keeps submitting unstable spell designs and getting kicked back?"
Unlike Alan who can summon magic from his imagination, these people here have to learn the complex patterns and formula.
Mira glanced at him. "I don't remember you. Must mean you haven't done anything worth remembering."
Her.tome was cold, she doesn't like these ppl people.
Nera's smile thinned.
"She's not even on the council registry anymore," another mage whispered behind them. "Didn't her last spell trigger a paradox rupture?"
"No," Mira corrected. "It solved a paradox. But that might be above your reading level."
Nera walked closer, folding her arms under her chest.
"Look," she said. "There's no shame in stopping. Everyone hits their limit eventually. Yours just happened to arrive, what, fifty years ago? Arch-mage isn't for you"
To be arch-mage, you need be be able to cast powerful magic spells, have high mana pool and much more.
Mira didn't respond. She turned toward the exam hall.
"Still submitting today?" Nera called after her.
Mira paused. "Yes."
"What circle is it now? Still struggling at Tier tenth?"
"No! Tier Twelve." Mira replied earnestly.
The corridor went quiet hearing the word tier 12.
Nera's smirk faltered just a little. "Tier Twelve? That's not possible. They won't even review that without council pre-approval."
"I have it," Mira said, showing a sealed slip with a red emblem.
Nera stared, then laughed again, but less confidently. "Well. Good luck failing harder."
Of course, she believed Mira was going to fail again, previously she have failed multiple times and lower tiers and now Tier-12?
Hmph, what a joke.
Some people really don't know how high the Mt.Tai is.
Mira said nothing more. She walked into the Hall of Spellcasting Trials.
* *
Inside was silence, it's not called library for no reason, duh.
A silver platform in the center. Ten warding crystals forming a dome. A projection orb hovered above.
A white-robed elder stood near the pedestal. He looked up as she entered.
"Mira. I wasn't informed you would be attempting Tier Twelve... It just says a trial."
"You're informed now," she said, handing over her scroll.
Elder: "..."
The man read it once and blinked twice, then gave a slow nod. "You have made adjustments."
"I found the flaw. The recursion error was never in the outer thread—it was the internal pulse." she added.
He gave her a look that hovered between doubt and respect. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. If not I wouldn't be here..."
He stepped aside. "The circle's open."
Mira walked into the center.
The crystals lit up and mana filled the room.
Her scroll hovered in front of her. Spinning slowly.
Runes began to glow, one by one.
Tier Twelve casting wasn't just power— it was structure, control, law manipulation.
A single misstep and reality could collapse in a ten-meter radius.
An arch-mage isn't a joke figure.
Yet,
She didn't flinch.
Her hands moved. Symbols aligned in the air.
A lattice of laws began to assemble, fragile as glass and heavy as truth.
The elder narrowed his eyes. The orb above began recording.
One ring. Two. Three. The pattern held.
She reached the Sixth Layer.
A flicker.
The mana surged, threatening collapse. One glyph twisted out of place.
The Elder leaned forward.
Mira didn't stop. She shifted her wrist slightly, rewrote the glyph in real-time, and forced stability, her touch was true art of magic.
The structure pulsed—then stabilized.
Seventh. Eighth. Ninth. The casting lattice formed like a web across the dome.
Tenth.
The glyphs turned black. The laws rewritten here would echo into nearby space. If it failed now, the entire chamber could destabilize.
She kept going.
Eleventh.
The elder opened his mouth, then stopped himself.
Twelfth.
( Silence.... )
Then...
The spell completed. A full autonomous loop began spinning above her head.
It was flawless.
A miracle of structure and law-bound harmony.
The recording orb lit red:
Tier Twelve Spell Design – Validated. Review by Council Scheduled. Candidate: Mira.
The elder looked stunned. "You… you actually stabilized it."
"I told you," she said, lowering her hands.
He swallowed. "This is… Arch-Mage level. Easily. If the council accepts it..."
"They will."
She stepped off the platform.
As she exited the trial chamber, a few of the same mages from before were waiting.
Nera stood at the back, arms folded, brows slightly furrowed.
"Well?" she asked.
Mira handed her the copied sigil slip. The same one the council would receive.
Nera read it. Her face darkened.
"This has to be fake."
"It's not."
"You stabilized a Tier Twelve loop. Alone."
"Yes."
"You—" Nera took a step forward, then stopped herself.
"By the way... I can help you, if you help me..." Mira said earnestly.
Tbh, she never saw her as an enemy or anything and she can't quite fathom on why these people like to mock her for no reason.
It's not like they don't mistakes, so, why laugh at someone else.
"What– What...." Nera was shocked, her red hair fluttering.
"Don't get me wrong... I have few things,"
Nera raised a brow. "Things?"
Mira folded her arms, eyes wandering to the high-arched ceiling as if weighing her next words like a spell array. "Things I want to protect. Things I want to give."
She looked at Nera again. "One of them is a man."
The silence that followed was so still it might've been magically induced.
Nera blinked. "Wait… are you confessing to me?"
Mira frowned. "Don't be stupid."
"I'm just making sure."
"I mean," Mira continued, ignoring her, "there's a man. A ridiculous one. A complete monster. He doesn't need wealth. Doesn't need power. Doesn't care for glory. He has enough of all that. So, I thought… I could give him something different."
Nera narrowed her eyes, cautious now. "What kind of different?"
Mira tilted her head slightly, serious but unreadable. "You."
"…Huh?"
"HUH!!!!??"
Mira gave a soft sigh. "He doesn't need things, but he is very fond of beautiful women"
Nera's face contorted. "You want to… gift me to someone as—what? An emotional support disaster?! Are you out of your mind,"
"Exactly."
"That's insane! Why don't you give yourself then..." She said, face red with shame.
She is untouched proud noble woman, his can she?
"I already did... But I want to give him more, aside from the adventuring party, I don't have much friends," Mira said.
"You... You… You absolute lunatic!" Nera sputtered, backing up a step, as if Mira's words had physically struck her.
Mira watched her calmly, arms still folded. "You act like it's a curse."
Nera's voice rose an octave. "You just told me you're giving me to a man like some... some offer—like I'm a sacrifice to a volcano!"
Mira tilted her head. "Not a sacrifice. A gift."
"That's worse!"
"Not really. You should feel honored. He doesn't accept anything lightly."
Nera opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her thoughts were spiraling too fast for her to form coherent insults. A part of her wanted to scream. Another part, disturbingly, was intrigued.
"Like I said I will help you... His semen is very magical, and it will help you. Just become one of his woman"
"One of his woman? I am leaving..." Nera said before turning around.
"Is that so? Don't you wanna be able to create high-tier magic too? Isn't that why you mock me? To feel superior, to feel you have achieve something... Is this an opportunity for you to be truly superior?" Mira mocked.