Chapter 21
Northwest of Alteon. A massive city of clustered buildings dominated the space from afar. It was huge. This enormous mass, occupying more than half of the northwest, was both a society operating by its own rules and a planned small city. The Mage Tower. It was a term referring to the entire city-like structure, widely formed around the central Mage Tower where mages were the ruling class.
Players here were either merchants trading forbidden goods, or back-alley scum harassing people while evading the mages' eyes. 'And I heard the main missions involve assassinating mages who have joined hands with such scum.'
The ruler here is the Mage Tower Lord. He's evaluated as managing the Mage Tower rationally. However, behind the scenes, he reportedly conducts all sorts of unethical research like human experiments solely for the sake of advancing magic.
Seojun climbed up the wall. Then, leaping across the rooftops of the low-built buildings encircling the tower, he headed toward the center. In the center stood a massive tower piled high with white bricks. Its height couldn't compare to real-world buildings, but in terms of land area, it was similar to or larger than most skyscrapers. Seeing a large entrance, at least 3 meters tall, with many people coming and going, Seojun descended from the rooftop and joined the crowd.
“Alright, let's go for the assassination.” -Assassination X Destruction O -Infiltrating Mage Tower (while walking through the front door) -lololol this is the flavor -Seojun, you do know about the Mage Tower, right?
About the Mage Tower, huh. Seojun had deliberately kept only the basic settings and hadn't delved into the details. It was fine to study up on external sites beforehand, or to piece together settings by gathering information as the game progressed. But he didn't aim for such a bland broadcast.
“No? I'm seeing the Mage Tower for the first time now. Don't I just have to get to the top?” -Wow, just mindlessly headbutting again today tsk tsk -That's why I watch the broadcast. -Mage Tower might be tough?
Seojun merged into the crowd and entered the Mage Tower. “Well, let's just try it.” Indeed, the interior was as wide, high, and open as it looked from outside. Seojun looked around. Occasionally, people in long-sleeved robes caught his eye. “Are those NPCs mages? There's surprisingly few of them.” Does that mean the rest are mostly commoners? -Mages should naturally be rare. -To begin with, the tower's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors are like a market. That's why it's so huge and full of commoners. From the 4th floor is the real thing. -Gonna pickpocket?
“I don't pickpocket.” Seojun firmly cut off and examined the interior carefully to find the way to the next floor. The central area of the 2nd and 3rd floors was open, giving a sense of space, and the shops were attached to the walls. It was just like... “A shopping mall?” Of course, it had a structure more like a complicated anthill, but if you just took the key elements, it resembled a typical shopping mall you'd imagine. -Lolololol -It is kind of similar. -There's also a school and library!
It seemed like a curious place in many ways. Seojun found the circular staircase connecting floors 1 to 3 and climbed up to the 3rd floor. And then. He spotted an NPC who looked like a mage with a hood pulled over, and followed him. The NPC navigated the complicated 3rd-floor passageways like an anthill, heading somewhere. As Seojun followed, he felt the ground gradually rising. And at some point, people stopped appearing around them. The NPC went through a door guarded by two guards, and Seojun paused briefly. He thought it might be the door to the 4th floor, but couldn't be sure, so he checked the chat window. If it was flooded with 'lol's, he'd come the wrong way; if not, he was right. Fortunately, it seemed he'd come correctly.
“Hmm. More guards?” -Those guys are food now lol -Shall we destroy their weapons? Shall we parry them? -Let's just take them out quickly “Yes.” Seojun approached them. “This is a restricted area...” After lightly parrying and subduing the two, Seojun opened the fairly large iron door. And the moment he stepped inside. Seojun's body froze. Whoosh. “An intruder. Too bad.” From afar, someone launched a fireball formed on their palm at him. His instinctive movement tried to lead his body, but he couldn't move a muscle. Judging by the tingling sensation like static electricity, he was probably paralyzed.
‘Should I just take the hit?’ At that moment, the paralysis wore off. And the spell was already right in front of him. Fortunately, thanks to his excellent reaction speed, the instant the paralysis broke, he threw himself sideways to dodge the fireball. “Crazy... I really thought I was going to die.” -Someone survives that? -His reaction speed is insane lololol -Ah, we could've added a season 1 death. -I trusted you though! -Clearly didn't study up on the Mage Tower tsk tsk
“Whew.” Seojun let out a relieved sigh and began to stay alert. If the previous situation repeated, it could be troublesome. Whoosh. “You were lucky. Then how about this?” From the opposite side of the wide lobby, the mage created one fireball in each hand and launched them. But this time, no restraint was applied to Seojun's body. ‘Hmm, should I dodge and approach?’ No. There was the mission. Seojun used the skill Weak Point Detection. To face the Mage Tower Lord, it would be good to see the grain of magic. In an instant, the background flipped. And in that vision, the fireballs blazed even more fiercely. He could see solid lines drawn on the fireballs. Seojun smiled and sliced both rapidly flying fireballs in half at once. “Whoa, so magic really does have grains.” He hadn't expected that. Also, magic was an unfamiliar field to Seojun, so he had no sense at all about the form of the grain.
-Oh, magic gets cut too -Should I really get Weak Point Detection? The skill is so cool lololol -It's cool because the streamer's face does it, don't get it twisted
Seojun smiled and rushed at the mage. Four more fireballs flew at him, but with the weak points already detected, they couldn't do any damage to him. “Urk.” The mage's HP pool was small. Unlike melee NPCs, which even as trash mobs required multiple hits unless parried.
“This is fun. Is this the 4th floor? Am I in the right place?” -Yes -Yup -E
“Hmm, then why did I stop earlier?” -Shh. -Quiet. -Stop! -No spoilers
“No, this isn't a spoiler...” -Shh, -Shh, -Shh.
How come not a single person tells me? Seojun watched the chat flowing in real time without missing any, but there was no message giving the answer.
“Sigh, so petty I won't even ask.” Probably. I must have opened the door or stepped on something wrong. For now, that's the best guess. ‘Guess I have to go to the next floor.’ The top of the Mage Tower is the 8th floor. Seojun looked around the 4th floor to go to the next. Various junk items. Laboratories decorated in all sorts of different atmospheres in surprisingly wide hallways. And mages immersed in their own work in the labs, paying him no mind. This was the true Mage Tower, different from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors.
“Hmm, still, I'm an intruder; I can't stand being treated like this.” Seojun deliberately went up to a focused mage and struck a flask-like object with his sword. -What? lololol -That personality level lololol -His way of thinking is different from ours. -???: They were just going to pretend not to notice, why is he doing this
“Y-you? An intruder?” “As expected. They react.” With the intention of examining magic more, Seojun provoked the studying mage. The mage activated a magic circle engraved on the back of his hand as soon as he spotted Seojun. He instantly moved to the room's entrance, putting distance between them, and launched a spell. “Oh, teleportation.” Ice arrows materialized in the air and flew at him. Seojun used Weak Point Detection again to check the magic's grain. The cooldown was 1 minute. Seojun verified the grain of the ice arrows and slashed accordingly. He still couldn't get a feel for it. Seojun waited still, hoping to check more. But the mage didn't cast any more spells. “What is it? Is he being careful because this is a laboratory?” -Nope. -Good imagination lololol -Info) Teleportation consumes an enormous amount of mana. He's just exhausted.
Seojun checked the chat and looked sheepish. No wonder they seemed particularly tired. Seojun dealt with that mage and inspected the other rooms. Besides fireballs and ice arrows, he confirmed the grains of various magics like binding with plants or trapping by raising rocks. They were NPCs he could have beaten even without the grain. ‘In this game, the grain is an added element.’ However. Thinking of the ruler Richard, who took no damage at all until his armor was destroyed, he thought the grain might be necessary. If he hadn't known the grain, he might have tried hitting it for about 10 hours to wear down the durability or found another method, but thanks to the grain, he finished it in an instant, didn't he? Seojun was preparing precisely for that. Because he had a hunch that the person who posted the mission seemed like the real developer. ‘They wouldn't have set such a condition for nothing.’ Thinking that, Seojun climbed the stairs to the 5th floor.
“Finally found it. No, why do I have to search separately for the stairs to the next floor?” -That way people don't skip the 4th floor and look around lolol -Oh lolol mages can use teleportation devices (for real) -The stairs are for emergencies. “But if it's for emergencies, they should be connected no matter what. What if you're evacuating and can't find where the stairs are and can't escape?” -So true -Are you listening, developers? -The stairs are for aesthetics. -Don't try to understand a mage's sensibilities.
“Well. No key needed.” After reaching the 5th floor, Seojun found another iron door and opened it. He saw guards and a mage standing behind the door. But for some reason, they only stood there waiting, even after spotting him. The guards drew their swords and raised their shields, and the mage generated magic on his hand, but that was all. “Look at these guys?” -lolololol -Did he notice? -This floor has body confusion tsk tsk -I wonder?
Seojun spotted a chat from someone who couldn't resist saying what they knew. “Ah. This time it's confusion? So if I go inside there, I get a debuff? And they're waiting for that?” -Ah! -He noticed. -Who was that in chat -No tact lolololol
“Thank you. Since you've let it slip anyway, please tell me more.” Seojun gathered information by reading the chats that clearly explained. To reach the top of the Mage Tower, there were two paths: the outer wall and the inner corridor.
“Ah, so each floor applies a debuff, and if you try to avoid it by climbing only the outer wall, the alarm magic goes off and that's not allowed. The 5th floor is confusion.” To use the inner corridor, you must receive the debuffs. The 4th floor had the temporary paralysis he experienced. The 5th floor: body confusion where left-right senses are swapped. The 6th floor: slowing. The 7th floor: darkness that robs your sight.
-Yep, so when climbing the outer wall, they stop by the interior on the 4th and 6th floors. -The darkness debuff is hopeless. Let's avoid just that. -Confusion is hopeless too -Just climb the outer wall -Surely you're not going to climb the outer wall?
“Truly. When have I ever sneaked in like a coward? I don't do assassinations like that.” -It wasn't even an assassination to begin with lololol, crazy -Yeah, this is the flavor. -Nice!
Seojun imagined his senses swapped left and right, and walked into the interior of the 5th floor.