Streamer Han Sea 3
I sorted through the various trolls that flashed through my mind.
The guy who claimed he was great with a bow, learned a mountain of elemental arrows, then picked a crossbow as his secondary weapon—he always ran dry on mana and eventually got kicked from the party. The one who wanted to be a magic swordsman, sword in hand but never a single offensive spell learned, never even made it into a party. There was also the fool who decided he'd become the strongest with just one spell and learned only that; his growth as an adventurer stalled the moment reverse-attribute monsters showed up on a floor. And the one who only picked up shield and protection skills to protect his allies got completely outclassed by priests and became useless.
I propped my elbows on the table, leaned back at an angle, met Han Sea's eyes, and slowly opened my mouth.
"Sometimes novice adventurers have misconceptions about mages. They think a mage will just keep firing off spells the way an archer looses arrows."
At my words, her gaze quietly drifted downward. She looked a little stung—probably because both she and her viewers had shared that exact misconception. There had definitely been posts on the broadcast station board about packing five damage skills and blasting them off like a revolver, bang bang bang.
"But mages are completely different from archers."
She didn't answer, just stared at me with sparkling eyes. As she listened quietly like a well-behaved student, the novice adventurers at the surrounding tables naturally lowered their voices. Han Sea had started out by meeting me, already fully geared as a mage, so she might not know—but novice adventurer parties were a lot more destitute than most people imagined.
Their reality was four or five warriors banding together with no mage at all, just tanking everything with their bodies to finish quests. So knowledge about mages had to be picked up by eavesdropping on senior adventurers like this.
"You can maintain something like a shield spell for self-defense, sure, but that's only for skilled mages. No matter how amazing a mage is, as a novice they'll struggle with just two or three offensive spells."
I supposed that was the classic glass-cannon high-firepower character. From what I remembered of playing the game ten years ago, most mage characters were like that. Skill cooldowns about twice as long, skill costs about three times higher, but damage and range about five times greater—the poster child for high risk, high return.
Unfortunately, for the mages of this world, there was no path to becoming a nonstop damage machine spamming magic missiles like pop-pop-pop.
Of course, a player buffed by the game system might manage it… but all I knew was the common sense of this world. If Han Sea eventually evolved into some multi-casting magic machine gun later on, I'd just praise her to the skies and ride the bus.
"So if a novice adventurer is learning basic magic, the first thing they should learn is Shield. Like I said before, it's to prepare for when monsters reach the back line."
"Okay, then what about the other four?"
"One offensive spell and three support spells that can help the party is about right. Down in the lower floors of the Tower, there aren't any tough monsters that can tank magic hits and keep going. One shield spell to protect yourself, three support-type spells to help your party members day-to-day, and one offensive spell to dump firepower on unexpected strong enemies."
At my words, soft "Ooh"s and "Whoa~"s of admiration rose from the surrounding tables. At the same time, Han Sea's chin lifted a little, and her face took on a proud look.
"I learned Shield first, then only Magic Missile as my offensive spell. The other three are Light, Spark, and Water magic."
"Can you tell me why you chose those?"
"Well, first, Magic Missile seemed good because it has no elemental affinities. Other spells might hit harder, but if I can only pick one offensive spell, it'd be a problem if an enemy with a bad matchup showed up."
"And the other three?"
"I picked Light because securing vision at night seemed important. From what I've heard, when you head to the higher floors of the Tower you end up staying inside for quite a while, so you'd have no choice but to operate at night. I thought a lot about Spark… you can use it as a flint substitute, and it can disrupt enemies, so it seemed helpful. Water… because it might help when lodging…?"
"Nice. Really excellent."
Honestly, the fact that she'd only learned one offensive spell already meant she'd passed. The rest of the spells would inevitably change depending on party composition and activity location. Light was preferred in caves, Spark in snowfields, and so on.
It was obvious she'd cribbed from other streamers, but so what? I wasn't her real private tutor.
"From now on, just build experience operating on the lower floors, earn money, and learn a few more convenience spells. You can swap in a new offensive spell once you go higher and Magic Missile stops working."
"So the priority is broadening the range of magic spells to handle various situations?"
"Exactly. A party's mage is there for powerful finishing blows, sure, but their more critical role is resolving situations that can't be handled with mere handiwork. For example, Light magic in a sealed room where you can't use torches, or Water magic in a polluted swamp where you can't find drinking water."
Since magic was something you learned and used, there was no restriction like a single mage only being able to use a handful of spells. Because of that, no one endlessly repeated Light magic just to become the strongest at it—utility magic was something you learned in bulk as soon as you could afford the spellbooks, then swapped out depending on the situation. That was the common practice. Thankfully, this part at least didn't resemble the game.
How nice that people weren't forced to use one passive, two skills, and one ultimate like game characters.
"So mages aren't simply offensive."
"That's why they're called mages."
Magic was a technology that had developed in place of science, not merely a substitute for guns or bombs.
Han Sea nodded at my words and asked me again.
"Then… what should we do now?"
"You haven't actually used the magic since learning it, right? Let's try it a few times, then head back into the Tower."
The only answer I could give to her question was practice, of course. Since the schedule of learning magic had been skipped, I needed to have her practice a bit before throwing her into real combat. After that, we should stop by that café Alice had mentioned.
She'd specifically pointed out which café it was, so if I didn't swing by soon, there was a high chance she'd get sulky.
Thinking that, I stood up from the table, and sighs full of regret rose from the surroundings. Ignoring those reactions, I headed straight for the empty lot behind the guild, and Han Sea followed right after. At least she had some sense—she didn't come all the way out to the lot openly.
Sometimes the ignorant and brave ones would charge right at me, after all.
"First, want to try the Shield spell?"
"Okay… Shield!"
She gripped her staff tightly with both hands and used the magic. Her head dipped slightly, as if saying the skill name out loud was a little embarrassing. Still, the skill activated properly—a hazy hemisphere enveloped her. When I pressed a finger firmly into it, I felt a faint rebound.
This level should easily block a goblin's stone throw.
"Good. This should block most attacks on the lower floors."
"Um, it looks like it cracked… Did I use the magic properly?"
"Ah, that was me messing up the force control. The magic itself is fine."
Han Sea had startled at the crack that started from where my index finger had dug in, but since my finger was stronger than a goblin's stone throw, it didn't matter. The viewers seemed just as startled by the crack in the shield, given how busily her eyes were moving.
I hadn't intended it, but it had somehow turned into a show of strength.
"Then…"
"Um, Roland?"
"Hm?"
I'd been about to look at her offensive magic next, but she spoke first.
Curious what she wanted to say, I nodded for her to go ahead, and she looked up at me with sparkling eyes.
"Roland, you're pretty strong even among Advanced Adventurers… How high up the Tower have you gone?"
What Han Sea was curious about was my track record. No need to mention the 6★ stats—I was an NPC that Intermediate Adventurers bowed their heads to. My reputation as an adventurer was enormous, so her eyes said she expected my achievements to be just as impressive.
I could tell what she was imagining, but… sorry about that.
"I'll say this first… I didn't climb the Tower all that high."
"What? But you're an Advanced Adventurer."
"This is a bit different from ability."
Now that I'd met Han Sea, I was going to be forced into the Tower whether I liked it or not, but past me had chosen a wealthy, comfortable life over climbing the Tower. The reason was very simple. Ordinary adventurers had none of the convenience features gamers enjoyed.
No teleport, no minimap, no inventory, no save and load—a life overflowing with reality.
"The parties aiming for the top floor of the Tower are currently on the 43rd floor. I gave up climbing around the 37th floor and came back down."
"The 37th floor… why?"
"Because to go above the 40th floor, you have to give up life in the city."
"…What?!"
Reaching the 37th floor meant passing through 36 fields. Relying on scraps of adventurer badges and hand-drawn maps, crossing grasslands, passing through forests, traversing swamps, and breaking through caves—that was reality.
By that point, the top of the Tower was farther away than a round trip across the kingdom.
Giving up the hot-water showers created by magical civilization, the delicious food from inn landladies, and soft beds, then laying out a sleeping bag in a tent and breaking through unknown fields—that was the destiny of Top-tier Adventurers. Like soldiers on the front lines waiting for a golden carriage, they only looked forward to the Adventurer's Guild's large-scale supply convoys while chewing on grass roots—a life closer to homelessness.
I couldn't endure that kind of terrible life and had returned to the surface for comfort, living leisurely.
"Think about that wide grassland from yesterday. Wandering that vast place looking for the door to the upper floors somewhere in it—that's the life of a Top-tier Adventurer. And it's not even grassland; it's things like swamps full of poison, relying purely on luck to find a door that might be somewhere."
"That… is a really tough story…"
Han Sea didn't have teleport functions either. Watching her face darken as she imagined her own harsh future, I smiled bitterly.
Don't worry. I've got to go too, fuck.