Ascension Of The Failed Mage

Noir was currently being cheeky, testing the patience of the judges. However, seeing as they were powerless against him, they complied.

"Fine. You will be escorted to the Archmage's office by some of the-" Julian was about to say, but was interrupted by a slight tap on his shoulder.

He looked to his side and saw Trevor smiling at him.

"Better idea. Why don't I take him there personally? This way it'll be safer and better... for all parties."

Noir was surprised that Trevor would make his intentions known so abruptly, and even more surprised that Julian agreed.

"Trevor will accompany you there. Do you have qualms with this decision?"

Noir smiled, but slightly shook his head. It was inconsequential anyway.

"I do not. Let's do it."

************

"So, why do you want to see the Archmage?" Trevor Netherlore asked, walking beside Noir while smiling.

His eyes glowed with interest as he kept staring at the man beside him. Noir ignored his gaze as he kept facing forward, keeping his pace with Trevor.

After the council dismissed the case, Noir demanded that he be taken to Archmage's office immediately. Since they were in no position to argue, they allowed him to leave with Trevor first.

So, without talking to Galand and whoever else wanted a piece of Noir, he left.

"Come on, it's not like we're strangers. You can talk to me about it. Who knows, I could be of some assistance..." Trevor added, continuing his adamant effort to get Noir to speak.

At this point, Noir finally paused in his advance. Trevor smiled, thinking he had caught Noir's interest.

'I'm sure he wasn't aware of my status as one of the Top 3 in this Institute. He must think I can be of some use to him... It'll be beneficial if-'

"Will you keep quiet and lead the way already? I couldn't care less about a mere Tier 8 Mage." Noir suddenly said, bashing all the hopes Trevor had built up.

"W-what did you just-" Trevor said, stunned by Noir's words.

A mere Tier 8? Sure, Noir was already capable of Tier 9 magic, and Trevor knew he could nullify spells, but that didn't mean that he was a small deal as well.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I'm certain I'm one of the Top 10 mages in this Empire... and you call me a mere Tier 8?"

Noir smiled upon hearing this.

"And that's why you are all so weak. You overestimate the conventional Tiered magic System. The realm above Tier 9... do you not wonder about how vast that level is?"

Trevor gritted his teeth. It was one thing to watch Noir make a mockery of the entire Institutional body as a whole, but for him to insult him directly... that was too much.

Trevor knew he couldn't resist, and any further conversation would only end in more disgrace.

"Tch..." He moved away from Noir's side and guided him to the Archmage's tower.

After walking for a while on the empty school grounds, since the students were either in their Lecture Hall, or engaged in one activity or the other, no one bore witness to the two of them.

They finally arrived at their destination.

"Here. This is the place."

Noir looked at the tall tower and smiled. There was definitely no way anyone could miss this spot. Even he had already discovered that the Archmage tower was at this particular place.

Just like its name, it was a huge tower. It stretched for several stories, appearing white in color and elegant to the eyes.

"I'm pretty sure you are already aware of this, but Lord Denzel is a mysterious man, you wouldn't want to try insulting him the same way you did to all of us and get away with it.

Noir turned to Trevor, who gave a sincere look. Perhaps the young man spoke from experience. The dark knight wondered why Trevor would go so far as to give words of advice. Perhaps he was still trying to gain Noir's trust.

"Duly noted..."

The both of them entered the building, passing by the reception. As soon as the receptionist felt the presence of someone approaching, she made to intercept.

"Please state your identities and purpose for-"

Her eyes instantly bulged as soon as she saw it was Trevor that was before her, as well as another unknown individual.

Their handsomeness caused her to nearly lose her breath, and the powerful aura emanating from them could make her pass out.

"W-welcome, Sir Netherlore." She greeted stiffly, bowing her head.

Trevor laughed softly, shrugging a little.

"It's fine, it's fine. Leah, I've told you several times already. Call me Trevor."

The receptionist known as Leah nodded after hesitating and decided to try out the words.

"S-sir Trevor...?"

"Fair enough. Oh, and we're here to see the Archmage. Is Lord Denzel presently in?" He said, smiling a little as he drew nearer to the receptionist.

His question created an unsure expression on her face. She appeared to be deliberating something, making Noir decide to pay more attention to the details.

"W-well..." She mumbled.

"Lord Denzel does not wish to be interrupted unless it's for absolutely important matters... I'm sorry, but-"

Before Leah. could conclude her statement, Trevor quickly slipped beside her and placed them around her shoulder.

"Come on, make an exception for us... don't worry. I'll take responsibility..."

Noir's eyes rolled upon seeing Trevor play dirty by using his charms. Was this how he easily swayed the women he knew?

'Hold up, this guy has met Ciara. Don't tell me... he...' Noir's mind rang as he eyed Trevor more watchfully.

"B-but..." Leah weakly protested, though everyone already knew she had lost any will to resist.

Trevor drew closer as he caressed her arms and put his face closer to hers.

"You could just simply say I overpowered you. It's not a big deal, right?"

This was too much. Leah gave up all forms of resistance as she weakly nodded.

"Perfect! I'm in your debt once again, Leah. I'll be sure to reward you later" He winked, slowly moving away from Leah and back to Noir.

"O-okay. I look forward to it." She smiled shyly.

"Let's go, Sir Noir. I don't have all day." Trevor whispered, quickly moving across the reception hall and ascending the stairs.

Noir looked at the woman who dreamily touched her cheeks and sighed.

'Trevor, that manipulator... toying with a woman's heart like this...'

In a flash, he caught up with the rascal, and both of them ascended the stairs together. While walking, Trevor was surprisingly talkative. Noir wasn't sure whether it was the nature of the man, or he actually wanted something from him, but he seemed to have forgotten Noir's cold response from a while ago and engaged in conversation with him.

Since Noir didn't mind hearing information, he played along with the talk and gave a few words to keep it going.

He learned quite a bit since they began ascending the tower.

The Archmage's tower was the first-ever building in the entire Southern Empire's Magic Institute. It was created for the sole purpose of researching magic.

It was only years after it was founded that the Magic Institute was created and became an open learning center for young and promising potential mages.

Despite this, the Archmage's Tower didn't waver in its purpose of researching and developing new magic.

"Each floor is dedicated to a particular field in magic, and there is a total of 90 floors. No, well... 91 floors if you include the apex floor of the Archmage himself." Trevor had added, among other things.

Noir was fascinated, but also suspicious. There was no way Trevor knew all this without a form of in-depth knowledge of the tower, and even while he did, why would he so easily inform Noir of this?

"You know quite a bit about this place... how come?" He bluntly asked.

"Whoah, you don't beat around the bush, do you?" Trevor responded, a little stunned by Noir's bluntness.

Unlike Trevor, Noir didn't see the use in using finesse to find out what he wanted. Since Trevor was also a master at the art, and also most likely more skilled at it, Noir settled for honesty.

"Well, I used to be a member of this tower. I was also the head supervisor of the 69th floor that focuses on magic tools and puppets, then transferred to the 78th floor that deals with soul and spirit magic, also the 45th floor that specializes in creation magic..."

From what Trevor said, Noir already knew where he was headed.

"So, you joined the research team in order to further your own personal research into creating an artificial human, a Homunculus..." Noir stated bluntly.

Trevor smiled as soon as Noir said this.

'He's sharp!'

************

In the office of the Archmage, everywhere was colored white, with adornments of silver and gold.

They were perhaps magic stones or various magic tools.

A man sat behind his desk, his hand on the table as his fingers intertwined with each other. He appeared expectant, no, impatient.

"So, I have visitors, uh?"