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"Direction Reveal: Aleresta Crowley!"
After leaving the Hunting Dog Team's base, George cast a tracking spell on the president, Aleresta, and then flew towards the Seventh District.
Based on the information he gathered, he knew that Academy City could only catalyze supernatural abilities to level five. Since he had already reached level five, this meant that Academy City was no longer of use to him.
With his abilities maxed out, the only option was to turn to magic.
He couldn't break the "Automatic Recorder" magical defense system in Index's library, nor could he obtain the 100,000 magical grimoires. Therefore, the best course of action was to infiltrate the major churches and directly search their libraries for magical books.
Alternatively, he could sneak in and incapacitate some high-ranking members of the churches, directly accessing their memories.
However, before all that, he was curious about Aleresta Crowley, the president who created Academy City—a person who managed to balance science and magic. He wanted to understand more about him.
On one hand, George felt like many events were somehow linked to this president, and he wanted to get closer to him to uncover his secrets.
On the other hand, as the highest leader and founder of Academy City, Aleresta might have some methods to allow a level five esper to break through to level six.
Level six espers, also known as "Absolute Ability Users," were speculated to be capable of perceiving divine will with a non-divine body, their strength comparable to that of demon gods.
According to Shirley's memories, demon gods were magic users who had understood the true essence of magic, completely mastering it. Through special rituals, they could elevate themselves to the realm of gods. They possessed unlimited power, able to easily destroy an entire world.
In terms of strength, they were roughly equivalent to universe-level beings in the Marvel Universe, capable of effortlessly destroying a universe.
Therefore, if he could ascend to level six, his strength would increase drastically.
After all, even in his full dragon form, he was only at the "sub-god" level.
"Ah, so this is the building. No windows—such a strange building!"
Following the tracking spell, George quickly found the location of Aleresta, a windowless building in the center of the Seventh District.
Instead of entering through the front entrance, he landed directly on the rooftop.
"Alaho, open!"
He cast the unlocking spell on the mechanical door to the rooftop, and, still invisible, he made his way down the stairs.
Soon, he arrived at a large hall on one of the floors.
Just like the building itself, this hall felt strange to him. The entire floor and walls resembled an enlarged circuit board, and in the center of the hall was what appeared to be a life-support device.
Inside the device, there was a slender man, his silver hair hanging down, suspended upside-down.
Surrounding the life-support device were various virtual displays.
"Is this the creator of Academy City, President Aleresta Crowley?"
Looking at the tracking spell that pointed directly at the man inside the life-support device, George knew this suspended figure was the target he had been searching for.
"Why does he seem like an ordinary person?"
Logically, someone capable of creating Academy City shouldn't be an ordinary person, yet George didn't sense any energy fluctuations coming from the body of the suspended man.
However, just a second later, he denied his earlier thoughts.
"Strange. How can you, as a clone, not only match the abilities of the original, but also use magic? Could it be that you've been possessed by a demon?"
But that didn't make sense either. There was no trace of a demon's aura inside him. How could this be?
Suddenly, Aleresta, suspended in the life-support device, snapped his eyes open, locking his gaze onto the invisible George. A surge of powerful magic instantly suppressed George, rendering him completely immobile.
It was at this moment that George realized the president was no ordinary person. His aura was so well-hidden that even he hadn't noticed the flaw.
Moreover, the president, who created the technological side of Academy City, was also a terrifyingly powerful magician. The magic within him was far stronger than any mage George had ever encountered.
The sheer force of the magical suppression was enough to freeze George in place, preventing him from even using his Phantom Shift to escape.
However, it wasn't as if George had no way out.
As long as he transforms into his dragon form using Animagus, his power would significantly increase, allowing him to break free from Aleresta's magical suppression and escape using Phantom Shift.
However, he didn't immediately take that route.
This was because Aleresta hadn't attacked him yet; he had simply restrained his movements.
Moreover, upon discovering that Aleresta was such a powerful magician, George's interest in him grew even more.
Such a powerful magician could never have remained anonymous throughout history.
Yet, no one knew that Aleresta was a magician. All they knew was that he founded Academy City, a city of superhumans based on technology, balancing the powers of science and magic.
People believed he was either a top-tier scientist or a level five esper.
So, who was Aleresta really? What was his true purpose in founding Academy City?
"I don't know how to explain it to you, but I'm definitely not possessed by a demon."
"True, if you were possessed by a demon, you wouldn't have such power."
Aleresta lifted the magical suppression on George and gazed at him with great interest.
"Then who exactly are you? You don't belong to this world."
George couldn't maintain his full power for long; if he did, it would be troublesome if his presence was discovered.
He had always stayed in the biological capsule, manipulating others within Academy City to achieve his goals without acting directly, all to keep his identity concealed.
Because of what happened years ago, he had been relentlessly hunted by both the magic world and the great demon Krenzo.
Had clone 9981 not barged in here, he would never have risked exposing his full power to suppress it.
However, upon closer inspection, he found that clone 9981's condition was quite unusual. Not only did it possess magic power comparable to that of a saint, but the magic it used was also strange.
It wasn't the modern magic he had developed or extended; it was magic that didn't belong to this world at all.
Why did he think it didn't belong to this world?
He knew almost every form of magic in this world, and his own abilities would naturally conflict with the magic from this world.
Since clone 9981 was an esper, it shouldn't have been able to use magic from this world.
Thus, the nature of clone 9981 might not belong to this world at all. Only entities like demon gods, demons, or angels might exhibit such traits.
But he hadn't sensed any of those characteristics from clone 9981.
This made him feel puzzled, and his curiosity about clone 9981 grew even more.
(End of chapter)