White Tower (1)
Hundreds of buildings floated in the air. The sight of an entire district's structures hovering simultaneously in the sky was nothing short of spectacular. A few had risen a bit late, cracks spiderwebbing their lower sections and making them look precarious, but no major damage had occurred.
"What the hell is going on?"
The guard mages, dispatched to handle the sudden incident, widened their eyes at the scene. The ground had split open like parched rice paddies in a drought. If the buildings hadn't floated up, they surely would have crumbled like a house of cards. The earth was ruined that badly.
"An earthquake of this magnitude? But why only this district? Hey! What happened here?!"
The guard mage shouted up at the sky. Countless mages flew about overhead—all those who'd been in the quake zone. A few ordinary folk unable to use magic floated along too, guided by the buildings' defensive spells.
"We don't know either. The quake hit out of nowhere, so we just evacuated..."
"Out of nowhere?"
Earthquakes never struck suddenly. They were always preceded by foreshocks. No one else in the city had felt anything, so the odds of this being...
"Magic?!"
"Captain, there's someone down there."
Two figures stood stock-still atop the cracked earth. With every building and person floating in the sky, the mages spotted them easily.
"Hm? That's..."
Something burst from the ground before the pair. A massive, writhing earthworm. It shuddered violently, then collapsed dead from exhaustion.
"A Deathworm?"
An earthquake. A monster. And two suspicious figures.
It was Kim Sung-tae and Garba.
"Everyone, battle stations! They're dangerous!"
"Yes, sir!"
The guard mages encircled the two. Half prepared covering fire from the air, while the rest cloaked themselves in defensive spells and readied offensive ones.
"Just as I planned. Earthquake works like a charm."
"My lord... wasn't this a bit too noisy?"
"Gotta make a scene like this to meet the big shots, right? I've changed my mind a little. Getting a mage license doesn't guarantee I'll meet who I want."
Sung-tae eyed the Deathworm with smug confidence. The idea had hit him mid-swing while decapitating that giant. He'd come for a license out of spite toward the gatekeeper, but his real goal was fixing his armor. To show it to someone stronger than Gepelt—but meeting such a mage through normal channels would take ages.
So, the fastest way it was.
"Freeze! Hands up and get on the ground!"
Sung-tae and Garba turned at the guards' command. There was a reason for the commotion, but the one Sung-tae wanted hadn't arrived yet.
Hm. Not enough?
"On the ground now, or...!"
"Guards! It's them! They did this to the city!"
A few mages poked their heads from a floating house, yelling. The elite mages who'd tried to screw over Sung-tae.
"He unleashed that monster to destroy the city! We barely held it off, but they slipped away and cast this spell!"
"!?"
Did that mean this guy caused the quake? An Earthquake spell—and in such a confined space? That implied mastery of advanced magic. The guard captain bellowed.
"Attack!"
Judging that giving them an opening would let them counter or flee, the captain signaled. His subordinates unleashed their spells.
Just before they launched, another mage appeared, blocking the guards.
"No! He stopped the escaped monster! Sure, Earthquake was rough, but it was to take down the Deathworm!"
"Lies!"
"A former adventurer mage butting in?!"
The elite mages and Ruben clashed verbally. But the guards didn't halt their assault on Sung-tae.
Truth or not, he's dangerous!
The captain pegged Sung-tae's power at grand mage level or higher. No reports of such a newcomer entering the city. That meant infiltration—with bad intentions. No way they'd let him walk. Subdue or kill.
Can we even do it? The doubt flickered, but duty bound him.
"No!"
Ruben's cry came too late—the spells streaked toward Sung-tae and Garba from sky and earth. Sung-tae clenched his fist to smash them.
That instant.
Everyone, stop.
A beam of white light descended from the heavens. The spells vanished like smoke in an instant, and the mages doffed their hats in respect. Dangerous suspect or not, her presence solved everything.
Oh. Finally...!
Sung-tae gazed at the light with triumphant glee. The one who'd caused this and halted the mages mid-cast. She matched his criteria for the strongest mage.
Far off stood three towers. The light flowed from the white one.
The light halted before Sung-tae. Its source emerged.
"I sense no mana fluctuations. All lies, then."
A woman in white robes. Her hair, her eyes—all white, beautiful as a snow-blanketed world. She pointed at Ruben.
"Only this one speaks truth."
The elites' faces froze. She'd branded them liars and him truthful—busted. And with her endorsement, no power could shield them now.
She glanced at their expressions, then turned to Sung-tae.
"As for your mana... I sense none. But those eyes. Unshaken. No—expectant. Were you hoping to meet me?"
"Someone, yeah. Not specifically you."
"Mission accomplished, then."
"Kim Sung-tae. That's me."
She smiled. That pure white smile clashed with the wrecked city yet overwhelmed it, etching into every heart. Doffing her pointed hat and pressing it to her chest, she introduced herself.
"Lord of the White Tower. Aurelie."
She asked Sung-tae, as casually as greeting a neighbor at dawn. Utterly serene.
"What brings you here? Container of worlds."
＊＊＊
What would a world bathed in white light feel like? Pure, since everything gleamed white—but an obsession that the slightest touch might soil it, paralyzing movement?
"It's too white."
That was Sung-tae's first impression upon entering the White Tower via Aurelie's light. Everything was white. Objects, people—all drowned in it. People at least had colors beyond their robes, but even those seemed dimmed by the surrounding pallor.
"Is it? White is mana's essence. Fitting for us who study it."
"Essence, huh. So mana's naturally white?"
"Yes. Pure white. Mana's true source."
Turmoil erupted in the white world. The elite mages had ridden the light with them.
"Lady Aurelie! P-Please, forgive us just this once!"
"We beg you!"
Noisy.
The racket shattered the serene white noise. Sung-tae frowned.
After Aurelie arrived, she'd deemed the quake and monster escape the elites' doing. No evidence—just her uncanny knowledge of their lies, which she'd use to investigate.
We belong to the Black Tower! The White Tower has no authority to investigate us!
The elites protested their affiliation, but shrank at her retort.
Then, as lord of this tower, I stake my honor on investigating you. If you're innocent, I'll apologize publicly before all.
Her words stunned the other mages. Yuglatsil's three towers—rejecting the White Tower lord's honor was an insult to all mages, negating their lives' pursuit. The elites, knowing this, submitted meekly.
"Please! We beg you!"
With her handling it personally, all would come to light. Elite status and family prestige would fade like predawn shadows before the White Tower's light.
Reap what you sow.
Sung-tae eyed their desperate faces, then locked gazes with Ruben, the registration clerk also implicated. He couldn't escape punishment either.
Ruben met Sung-tae's stare steadily. His eyes were earnest, conveying resolve.
I won't run anymore.
That's what they seemed to say. Ruben nodded slightly in greeting, then vanished with the elites.
Sung-tae watched his back a moment, then hurried after Aurelie lest he lose her.
"Your request is still beyond me."
"Hm. My armor... can't be altered after all?"
"That's just a glance. I need a closer look in my room."
Unbefitting her station, she'd agreed to help. Angelic in look, name, and deed—yet Sung-tae felt uneasy.
Why help like this?
No free lunches. Good Samaritans existed, but rarely. Mistaking the few for the rule was dangerous. Test the bridge before crossing, right? If she pulled strings later...
He had wealth and power aplenty, but a backstab would sting. Better clarify.
"Sorry, but what do you want from me?"
"Want? Nothing specific. Just to observe you closely."
"Me?"
Her white eyes fixed on him. Like other powerhouses, she saw his life force—a golden, radiant wave.
"How much do you know of our White Tower?"
"Not much. You study pure mana essence and amplify mana itself?"
Sung-tae recited what Gepelt had told him. Aurelie smiled. A common misconception.
"Not wrong, just slightly off."
"Then what?"
"To grasp the White Tower, first understand mana's essence. What is mana to you?"
"Mana's... the all-purpose stuff that lets you cast spells?"
"Right in a sense."
A truth known only to White Tower folk surfaced in her mind. Truth? Hypothesis? Others rejected it, so hypothesis fit better.
"Mana forms the world's base matter. All substances are mana; without it, existence is impossible."
"Huh? What? Can't things exist without mana? I'm mana-less, right?"
"You lack the mana for standard spells. Your body and life force are just different mana types."
Everything mana. His golden life force—a mana variant.
Earth had string theory or something. Similar, but not quite.
"Mana of life. Of magic. Of matter. Of the world. Too vast for one word—countless types."
Sung-tae got it. Gepelt said saintly power was faith-altered mana. Sloth and Envy's black mana wasn't standard either—variants.
"You lack common spell mana, but overflow with body- and life-forging mana."
"So you wanna study that?"
"Among other things. Your armor reeks of demon king mana. And..."
Beyond his golden life force, a faint hidden gleam. Visible only to mana experts like her.
"You wield hero mana too."
"Huh? Hero?"
"I've met demon kings and heroes. Can't judge otherwise. That's why: help with your request, study you in return."
"Hrm. Sure, why not."
Her plea aside, Sung-tae fixated elsewhere. Why did Mukkebi pop into his head at "hero mana"?
"Thank you."
She smiled at his ready consent, taking his hand. Sung-tae regretted not shattering his gauntlet first.
"But body scans after armor. No alteration method, no deal."
"Hee hee. I'll work hard, then."
Chatting, the trio headed to her room atop the tower. The corridor teemed with portraits.
"Lots of paintings. Who's who?"
"Past White Tower lords."
Massive frames lined the walls like sentinels. No art buff, Sung-tae glanced elsewhere—names below.
[Auriel]
[Michael]
[Gabriel]
[Raphael]
"Hm..."
All evoked something. Hearing "Aurelie" first, he'd thought of Earth's angels. But "Auriel" matched Uriel—coincidence. Yet all past lords' names perfectly matched the four archangels.
Were Earth's angels multiversal?
"Saint Country's angels? All angel names."
"Pardon? Angels? We don't believe in gods."
"Aren't they all angels?"
"We researched magic-saint links once, but angels having names? First I've heard."
No angel names? Then what were these?
People named after Earth's archangels becoming lords by miracle?
"Know something of our names? They're a mystery to us. Care to share?"
"You don't know your own names?"
"No. Not birth names. We cycle ones preset by the founder. See the earlier portraits."
Sung-tae checked. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel—cycling.
"This is..."
"Custom. Founder mandated them. Ancient, but I've tweaked mine to end it."
Hence Aurelie.
Nearing her room, portraits faded like time's passage. At her door, only outlines remained—ghostly figures.
"No name on this one?"
Founder's portrait, obviously. But nameless? Others had them—including the four archangels'.
"The founder's. Sadly, no records remain."
"What? No records of the tower's founder?"
"Another mystery, like our names. Second lord's memories of their master were hazy too. Only this portrait endures."
"Probably same name as the others anyway."
"Maybe. We guess, but no proof. Founder's name remains a mystery."
Fantasy world's enigma. Pausing to stare, Sung-tae felt an odd familiarity despite the blur.
What is it?
But he shrugged it off. Brains tricked with déjà vu sometimes. Probably that.
"Anyway, let's check my armor quick."
Shaking the feeling, Sung-tae followed her inside. Thoughts of the founder vanished from his mind.