"Agusheed, so this mythological ruin was actually a maze, huh—"
"I think if you hadn't blasted nine detours in a row, it would've been a normal spiral tower descending downward."
"Agusheed, this main road looks safe. Let's go this way."
"Safe where? Just feel the mana feedback—you'll know this road is filled with traps, and it's a dead end."
"Hmm, found the stairs to the next floor... Okay, decision made. Let's go back to that crossroads and try a different path."
"We could've just gone straight to the next floor… Fine, whatever makes you happy."
This kind of conversation occurred on every floor of the mythological ruin.
Agusheed originally thought he could speedrun this ruin he had previously visited in ten minutes.
But accompanying Flamme floor after floor, wandering around exploring hidden chambers and eerie paths—
Occasionally dealing with monsters popping out of nowhere, and disabling infernal traps left from the mythological era...
In the end, the two Great Mages actually spent an entire afternoon clearing the first six floors of the seven-floor ruin.
And now, in a hidden chamber not far from the entrance to the seventh floor—
Agusheed stood quietly to the side,
Watching Flamme have a standoff with a motionless treasure chest.
"This mana signature… is it a mimic or a spell book? This is so tricky."
Flamme crouched in front of the ornate ancient chest, hesitant about whether to open it.
"Flamme, that's a mimic."
Agusheed stated this based on his mana sensing.
"Not necessarily, Agusheed. Your mana sensing isn't always accurate."
Flamme turned her head, wearing an expression of "I know what I'm talking about."
"Even Serie's mana sensing has a 1% chance of being wrong when judging mimics."
Agusheed couldn't keep up with her logic, so he tilted his head and asked:
"So?"
"So, there's still a 1% chance that it's a spell book—"
Flamme, for some reason, sounded unusually confident.
But Agusheed still rejected her theory.
"I'm sure it's a mimic."
"Hmm~ but with my experience as a Great Mage, I'd say it's definitely a valuable spell book."
Flamme closed her eyes and placed her hand on the chest.
As if sensing something unique.
"...…"
Agusheed opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't argue further.
He just looked at Flamme, who was about to open the chest, and said helplessly:
"Let me just say this first—if you get bitten by a mimic, I'm not breaking it from the outside."
"If your hair gets messed up when you break out from inside, I'm not fixing it either."
Hearing that, Flamme hesitated a bit.
But in the end, she stuck to her belief.
"Trust me, it's definitely a spell book."
Flamme spoke confidently and slowly opened the ornate chest.
And then the mimic bared its fangs at her.
...
Crunch—
Before the mimic could bite her, Agusheed's Severance Magic had already struck.
The mimic was cleaved in half and disintegrated into ash.
"Hmm… not a spell book after all. Looks like my intuition does fail sometimes—"
Flamme rubbed her chin, a bit disappointed.
But she didn't seem all that surprised.
Agusheed, on the other hand, scolded her bluntly:
"I told you it was a mimic. I've never seen your intuition be right even once in these cases."
Flamme brushed off his criticism.
Instead, she asked another question.
"Didn't you say you wouldn't interfere?"
Not even a bit flustered, she turned and smiled after the mimic vanished.
"I didn't want to waste more time on something like a mimic."
Agusheed said calmly, watching her smile even after being scolded.
"How is that a waste… it was fun, right?"
"I didn't find it fun at all."
Agusheed responded expressionlessly.
Then, to Flamme's surprise, he hoisted her onto his shoulder.
And walked step by step toward the seventh floor.
"Put me down! I promise I won't wander off."
Flamme, lying on his shoulder, poked the back of Agusheed's head.
"I'll put you down when we reach the final floor."
Agusheed replied as he walked down the steps.
In less than twenty seconds, they arrived at the seventh floor… or at least, the entrance.
A door made of pitch-black ancient stone blocked their path.
If it were an ordinary stone door, Agusheed would've blasted it open easily.
But this one was different.
At the center of the door was a vaguely familiar giant stone carving of a demon's head, emanating a sinister laugh.
Agusheed stopped.
"What's that?"
Flamme, peeking through Agusheed's side, curiously asked about the demonic head on the door.
"A Gluttonous Demon, sealed by mythological humans to act as the door's unlocking mechanism."
This made Flamme even more confused.
She knew Gluttonous Demons feed on mana, but—
"What do you mean, unlocking mechanism?"
She tapped Agusheed's back and pressed further.
Agusheed placed his hand on the demonic head and explained:
"This door is made of special rock infused with 'demon-sealing ore' from the mythological age."
"So attack magic is useless. It can only be opened through the demon."
"The actual unlocking method is to speak the password set by the mythological humans."
"But you didn't have a password back then… so there's another way?"
Flamme asked.
Agusheed nodded.
Then his hand glowed as he pressed against the demon's head.
"There's a simpler method that doesn't need a password…"
As he spoke, a surge of mana rushed from his palm into the carving.
One second, two seconds...
Under their calm gaze, the ancient stone gate shook from the mana influx.
Cracks formed on the demon's carving.
With a loud boom, the seal shattered.
"You just overload the Gluttonous Demon with mana until it bursts."
Kicking open the now-unsealed door,
Agusheed set Flamme down and explained.
"That's… quite the shortcut."
Flamme felt his massive, unreasonable mana with awe.
But they didn't dwell on it—
Because a stone tablet stood at the center of the seventh floor.
"So this is the incantation for the Magic of Eternal Youth…"
Agusheed recalled the magic upon seeing the inscribed spell.
Flamme tried it out.
After five minutes, she sighed in disappointment.
"Just my luck…"
"It's another one like Counterspell Magic—requires a hundred years of training."
No sooner had she complained than Agusheed placed his hand on her shoulder.
"…Sorry to trouble you…"
Seeing him unhesitatingly activate Transfer Magic,
Flamme turned to him and softly said,
"I told you—I don't mind."
Agusheed's tone was as steady as ever. As he said—
A century meant nothing to him.
Transfer Magic was activated.
Agusheed used the simplest form—
Transferring all his knowledge and experience of learning the Magic of Eternal Youth to Flamme.
The process was successful.
The magic was successfully passed on.
Everything should have ended there…
But after the transfer was complete,
Agusheed looked down—
At "Little Flamme," who now only reached his waist.
And fell into silence.
Though he didn't know what went wrong—
His wife, Flamme…
Had turned into a child.