Adaptation Period 6

While Han Se-ah kept her bizarre stream going with her head buried in the table and her eyes squeezed shut against the twisted, lurching screen, I casually opened the internet board.

The guild had naturally drifted toward a disbanding mood, so I figured I would drop some advice under the Jjanhae-jwa handle and then tell her to go learn some real magic once her hangover debuff wore off. Still, with Irene diligently kneading her with holy power, it might clear up a little faster.

What magic had the mages mainly used in the cave terrain of the twenty-first floor, again…? Digging through old memories, I tapped away at the holographic internet window. As I recalled, it had been wind-attribute magic—leaving fewer remnants than ice—that they used to knock down the vampire bats.

In those cramped caves, leftover ice shards would only get in the swordsmen's way, so they had gone around popping bursts of wind in midair. Probably. Once you were running as a party, even if the raw destructive power was lower, not getting in your allies' way mattered more.

In the end, nothing had really changed from the principles of the lower floors. Don't hinder your allies, hinder the enemy whenever you can, conserve mana when you can, and still be ready to drop a heavy blow when it counts.

Whether the other side was walking on four legs, scuttling up walls on eight, or even flying around, the fundamentals stayed the same. Looked at that way, it was identical even if you weren't a mage. The tank blocks, the swordsman cuts, and the mage uses magic to handle the things the blade-swingers can't.

"Ugh… still, maybe thanks to that holy power massage, the debuff's starting to ease up a bit. Grace unnie, well… it's sad, but all I can do is cheer her on. Honestly, looking at how much she drank yesterday, it's a miracle she even made it this far. Wouldn't have been weird if she was still flat on her back in the inn."

While I was writing the board post, Han Se-ah—whose debuff had eased enough—finally managed to lift her head. Grace, of course, wasn't under any mere debuff; she had genuinely collapsed from the alcohol and was still face-down on the table.

She looked so pitiful that even Kayden, who was still playing the stoic act, couldn't bring herself to leave the table and kept fidgeting. If it hadn't been her pretty real face underneath, you could have mistaken her for a zombie rather than a person.

"…At this point, should we force a potion down her throat or something?"

"That would be best. The Alchemists' Guild should sell hangover-cure potions, shouldn't they?"

And so Grace was hauled off to the inn like luggage, Irene cradling her with holy power and Kayden supporting her. Whether she had gotten carried away by the mood or it was just angry drinking because the conversation hadn't gone the way she wanted, she had downed every single drink the people around her offered.

That left only Han Se-ah—still a little blurry-eyed from the residual debuff—and me, perfectly fine, remaining at the guild. When I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stayed by her side, she threw me a questioning look.

"Mmm…. Are you waiting for me, Roland?"

"Once your head's a bit clearer, I was thinking of heading to the Magic Tower. Feeling any better? You've got new magic to learn, and we still need to collect the twentieth-floor rewards."

"Ah, right."

Apparently the side quest meeting with the Goddess in the Blessed Forest had left such a strong impression that she had completely blanked on the main quest. Then again, a goddess had descended and explained the Tower, so it was easy to feel like that had been the real main quest.

Even so, there was no way I was just handing over the twentieth-floor byproducts and mana stones for free. Han Se-ah would get system rewards like skill points anyway, so this time it would be better to grab something like a quiver for Grace.

Kayden would soon need her magic armor repaired, and Irene never wore anything but her nun's habit. Or we could just add more gear for Han Se-ah herself—that worked too.

"I'm starting to feel okay. Holy power really is something else… So, Magic Tower?"

"Yeah. No matter how much the knight orders and the Magic Tower were butting heads over pride, they should have reached a conclusion by now."

I figured the Magic Tower had probably won that pride contest. After all, if the knights had won and walked off with all the mana stones, what would happen to the twentieth-floor gate for the users? Clearing the main quest only for the convenience facilities to vanish—Heroes Chronicle had never had that kind of garbage-game stink.

My prediction proved correct. The moment we arrived at the Magic Tower and gave the name of Mage Hanna, a middle-aged mage greeted us with a bright smile.

"Haha, welcome! Mage Hanna and Adventurer Roland, correct?"

The middle-aged mage with the impressively plump cheeks looked more like a generous kitchen chef than a robed wizard. And whether his hands were as generous as his face or Antenor had pulled some strings, he began listing rewards so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lavish it was hard to tell which.

Free use of the gate that would be built on the twentieth floor was a given, of course—plus all sorts of magic tools, enchanted equipment, and even free magic tomes for Han Se-ah.

The rewards were so generous that even Han Se-ah herself, the one receiving them, looked bewildered. Viewers and streamer alike were united in speculation: twentieth-floor rewards are just better than tenth-floor ones, this is the Roland premium, and every other theory under the sun.

"Ahem. Originally the reward list was a bit shorter, but I put in a little effort."

"Ah, is that so? And your name is…?"

Around the time chat started spinning theories about Han Se-ah being a major shareholder of Vivi Games and special streamer benefits in Heroes Chronicle, the plump middle-aged mage cleared his throat and leaned in with a sly tilt of his head to whisper.

Han Se-ah was busy looking over the equipment and fielding the viewers' nonsense, so I started playing along with him instead. If a few words could net me the equivalent of a dozen gold coins in benefits, I was going to take them.

"It's not as if I had any wicked intentions—skimming rewards or doing anything underhanded, nothing like that."

"Of course not. As a mage, you simply had questions and commissioned an adventurer for the sake of research, right?"

"Exactly, exactly. That, uh… Hanna's party seems set to keep climbing higher… Have you been to the twenty-first floor?"

"Yes. The gate isn't finished yet, so we just took a light look around the twenty-first floor."

At my words the middle-aged mage's face lit up, but his voice dropped even lower. He hunched over like some back-alley black-market dealer instead of a Magic Tower mage, and Han Se-ah, now interested, quietly sidled over as well.

It was the Magic Tower's reception room—no one should have been eavesdropping—yet the three of us ended up huddling our heads together like we were plotting something. A handsome man, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beautiful woman, and a plump middle-aged uncle pressing their heads together must have looked pretty ridiculous to the viewers.

The viewers snickered, figuring nothing important could possibly come out of this. Fair enough—he wasn't a high-ranking mage, just a mid-level one delivering rewards, so he probably had nothing special to say. I thought the same.

Until the mage with the grave expression continued speaking.

"It's, uh, nothing major… Since you're heading higher from the twenty-first floor, I'd like to put in a request. I want various kinds of moss that can be gathered in the caves."

"Well, that much is simple enough."

"Couldn't you just put that request through the guild?"

"Come now, Hanna. If you go through the guild they take a commission fee. If mages deal directly like this, no fees needed."

At Han Se-ah's words the middle-aged mage's face twisted in a peculiar way. I was thinking the expression looked suspicious when Han Se-ah spotted a system window and her eyes went wide. She ignored the mage as he quietly slipped away with a "please take care of it" and started reading something intently.

Whether she had forgotten to share it on stream or was deliberately teasing the viewers by stoking their curiosity, her pupils just kept rolling around without anything appearing on the broadcast window.

"No—pff, you little—khhk—"

The sudden AI voice carefully pronouncing "LOOK" made Han Se-ah burst out laughing. Then, like a thief whose own feet had gone cold, she waved her hands and looked at me.

Streamer-only language made NPCs go blank as if hypnotized, but gestures and laughter weren't filtered, so she started ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠explaining to me.

"Uh, Roland? You know I learned alchemy, right?"

"Yeah. Back on the tenth floor, when you were making wolf lure scent, you picked up a little."

She rolled her eyes carefully, pretending to organize the words she was about to say, then revealed the quest window to the viewers who were already going wild.

"From what I know, uh… you can make a hair-loss remedy from the moss on the twenty-first floor… I heard. Is that right?"

"……How would I know? I've never taken a request like that."

So that was why he hadn't put the request through the guild….