Chapter 148
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: Layer Rules
“How did you get into this layer?”
The Tower Master approached me.
A handsome man with unusual earrings in his ears and red hair swaying as it covered his neck.
He looked down at me sharply and spoke.
“I did the Twist Grand Prostration...”
For now, I decided to answer honestly.
But instead, the Tower Master furrowed his brow.
“You did the Twist Grand Prostration? So you knew the layer movement rule?”
And mana began to boil around him.
It was clear hostility.
“Wait a minute. I just happened to...”
“Answer me. Who sent you? Are you a visitor who sneaked in?”
“I came from the academy?”
“You want to say you're a cadet?”
“Yes. Calm down first.”
I raised both arms and said.
It didn't seem wise to confront him.
“I just did the Twist Grand Prostration as a penalty while playing a game with my friends.”
“You expect me to believe that? That there's someone in this world who would do something as ridiculous as the Twist Grand Prostration?”
...So that was the issue.
Indeed, no one but me would do something like the Twist Grand Prostration.
But if that's the case, it means the Tower Master came here by doing the Twist Grand Prostration too.
“Is the Twist Grand Prostration the rule for moving to this layer? But then that means you did it too...”
“......”
The Tower Master flinched in surprise.
It seemed the Tower Master had done the Twist Grand Prostration as well.
“...Ahem. Where did you learn the Twist Grand Prostration? Are you one of the Archmage Dukes' men?”
“I didn't learn it. I developed it myself.”
“You developed the Twist Grand Prostration...?”
The Tower Master stood still for a moment, glaring at me.
From the situation, this seemed to be an upper layer of the tower that the Tower Master hadn't opened yet.
So it made sense that a cadet suddenly appearing in the layer would raise suspicions.
More than that, one of the Archmage Dukes'? Did the Tower Master have some connection to the Archmage Dukes?
For now, to clear up the misunderstanding, I explained in detail how I ended up here.
“Hmm...”
He still didn't fully believe me, judging by his eyes.
But the earlier hostility was gone.
Instead, he seemed deep in thought about something.
At that moment, a sudden beep-beep-beep echoed through the space.
The Tower Master pulled a small crystal orb from his pocket.
-Tower Master, apologies for the intrusion. We're contacting you urgently about a visitor who vanished via an unknown rule. His name is Ian Isaac, and according to his partner, he performed something called the Twist Grand Prostration...
Millio's voice flowed from the crystal orb.
It seemed to be a communication device used by the tower's people.
After receiving Millio's message, the Tower Master glanced at me and spoke.
“He's with me. I'll send him back soon, so don't worry about it.”
-...Understood. Then.
The communication from the crystal orb ended.
The Tower Master pocketed the orb and approached me.
“I'll believe you. You really are an academy cadet.”
“That's what I've been saying...”
The Tower Master finally seemed to believe me.
I thought it was time to head back to the first floor, but his words didn't end there.
“...Follow me.”
Then he led me to the massive pillar.
The enormous black pillar I'd seen since arriving in this layer.
He was a hard man to read.
I had no idea why he was taking me to the pillar, but.
Anyway, it felt like an opportunity, so I threw a question at the Tower Master.
“What floor is this? During the tour, I heard the tower is currently only using up to the 59th floor.”
“We can safely use up to the 59th floor. From the 60th onward, we still need to investigate the rules, so it's not open to my disciples.”
“Is that the pillar?”
“Yes. It holds clues to the rule for moving to the next layer.”
“I didn't see pillars like this on other floors.”
“The pillar disappears once you uncover the rule for the next layer.”
“So the 60th floor still has its pillar because we haven't figured out the rule to the 61st.”
“No, this is the 70th floor.”
70th floor? I'd assumed it was the 60th, so I was taken aback.
“But after 59 comes 60, right?”
“I alone know the layer movement rules after the 60th. I haven't opened floors 60 through 70 to my disciples either.”
“Why?”
“They're not immediately usable layers, and the movement rules are tricky. There are other reasons too.”
He knew the rules for 10 entire floors by himself.
The “tricky” movement rules—did that mean Grand Prostrations?
...It'd definitely be hard for the Tower Master to admit something like Grand Prostrations out loud, for the sake of his dignity.
And so we walked in silence for a while longer.
It felt less like a magic tower and more like a puzzle tower.
You had to uncover the rule to ascend each layer.
Wasn't it structured like solving a code to go up?
“Didn't you build this tower yourself, Tower Master?”
“The fact that you're asking that proves you're not one of the Archmage Dukes' men.”
“Why do the Archmage Dukes keep coming up?”
“You don't need to know.”
The Tower Master no longer answered my questions.
Moments later, we arrived at the pillar.
“It's a hint for the rule to the next layer. Can you make sense of it?”
As the Tower Master said, mysterious drawings and letters were engraved on one side of the pillar.
They weren't magic formulas. They really seemed like some kind of code.
I had no reason to stay longer in this layer, but I was intrigued by the tower.
The Tower Master had just mentioned the Archmage Dukes too.
I might uncover something related to the Archmage Dukes' plans.
It could even connect to the missing Gonic that the gallery users mentioned.
I could snap a photo of the code and post it to the gallery.
The gallery users might solve it for me.
I stepped closer to the pillar to examine the code closely.
The code consisted of three parts.
A circle rotating counterclockwise like a clock. An X. And the number 3.
I stared blankly at the code for a moment.
“...As expected. No way you'd know. Fine. Go back.”
“No. It's not that...”
The Tower Master tried to send me away, looking annoyed.
He must have thought I couldn't solve it.
But it was the opposite.
How could I not solve this?
“It's too easy.”
“...What?”
The rule for the 70th floor was definitely the Twist Grand Prostration.
So the 71st would be something similar.
I didn't need to overthink it.
“Doesn't it mean do three backflips?”
“...What?”
“That's the only thing that comes to mind.”
Backflip. In other words, three back tumbles.
Nothing else fit.
“There's no way that's the rule...”
“It's better than the Twist Grand Prostration.”
I didn't know who made it, but it probably followed that kind of logic.
The lower floors had somewhat normal rules, but they got weirder the higher you went.
“I'll give it a try.”
And with that, I immediately did three backflips.
The space changed in an instant.
It was the 71st floor.
Unlike the 70th, it was a dark room with a high ceiling.
I lit a magical light, revealing strange coffins lined up everywhere.
There was a pillar not far away too.
The Tower Master appeared soon after.
He'd done three backflips as well.
“Shall we look at the next code?”
“...Wait first. We need to investigate the layer.”
The Tower Master surveyed the 71st floor briefly.
He said it seemed safe to move around, so I checked the pillar again.
But this time, the meaning wasn't immediately clear.
I posted it to the gallery, but even the users didn't know.
The only response was that it was awfully weird for a magic tower.
“Go back to the first floor now.”
“Wait. Is the 70th floor's identity a secret?”
“No. The fact that you have to solve the tower's layer rules to go up isn't a secret.”
“Is it okay if the Twist Grand Prostration gets out?”
“I have no right to stop it. However, boasting that you know the rules to the tower's upper layers won't be good for your safety. That's advice.”
Won't be good for my safety?
Three backflips were dangerous—you could break your neck if you failed—but still.
“It means it'll be dangerous if it reaches the Archmage Dukes' ears. Stay away from those guys.”
His follow-up words were unexpected.
Archmage Dukes again. Another warning to watch out for the Archmage Dukes.
“...What exactly are the Archmage Dukes plotting?”
“I don't know. Don't ask me about those guys. I just know they're scum. If word gets out that a mage knows the upper tower rules that even my disciples don't, they'll definitely take interest.”
But the Tower Master had no intention of saying more.
He looked like he didn't even want to think about the Archmage Dukes.
“Would you be in trouble if I got caught by the Archmage Dukes?”
“It has nothing to do with me. I just protect this tower.”
Damn, what the hell is he on about? If you're gonna talk, just spill it plainly.
“Anything but the final layer doesn't concern me. But if someone else learns the final layer's rule, that could be a problem.”
“What floor is the final layer?”
“I don't know.”
This guy calls himself the Tower Master but knows nothing.
At least he wasn't capturing and killing mages like the Archmage Dukes. Small mercies.
“Go back. I need to check this layer.”
The Tower Master turned his back to me and began inspecting the floor.
Judging by his demeanor, barging into this layer uninvited wouldn't end well.
I wouldn't gain anything from digging around the tower anyway.
Above all, this 71st floor was pretty creepy.
A dark room with coffins, the ceiling so high it vanished into shadow.
There were about 13 of them.
What the hell was this room for?
Pondering didn't yield answers.
I muttered my name three times, and the familiar space appeared.
“Ian!”
“Loser!”
“Ian! Are you okay?”
Three people were waiting for me in the first-floor lounge.
They'd been worried, apparently. Thanks to the Tower Master, I assured them nothing had happened.
“Good thing I landed in a layer with the Tower Master right on time.”
“Heh...”
“So there are layers you can reach with the Twist Grand Prostration.”
“Yeah. But it's pretty scary up there, so better not go.”
Scaring them worked—they stopped thinking about the Twist Grand Prostration.
They just realized you shouldn't do it in the tower.
For the rest of the night, I focused on training in my room.
The other three followed suit, training until they fell asleep at dawn.
I trained through the night, sorting my thoughts.
Magic Tower. Tower Master. Archmage Dukes. Candidates.
What the hell was going on?
Even chatting in the gallery yielded all sorts of guesses from the users.
But one thing they all agreed on.
Get stronger first.
No exceptions—raise your realm, become a great mage.
Once you're great, you won't need to worry about petty stuff.
I agreed.
To put it into practice, I trained until sunrise.
Soon, morning came, and the second day of the tour began.
*
“Yesterday, I gave you a general overview of the magic tower. Today, I'd like our visitors to experience one particular aspect.”
The second day of the tour began.
We gathered in the first-floor lounge as usual, listening to Millio.
“Please insert your left pinky finger into your right nostril.”
As Millio instructed, the space changed.
The Twist Grand Prostration was one thing, but who came up with these layer movement rules?
“This is the tower's 31st floor. As you can see, it's like a maze.”
Millio explained the layer we'd moved to.
The magic tower's 31st floor, also called the “Maze Layer.”
“According to our senior researchers, when they first discovered this place, magic books were hidden throughout the maze. Of course, now that it's solved, nothing's left.”
A brief explanation of the floor. And of today's “experience.”
The experience was exactly what it sounded like: solving the maze.
And finding magic scattered throughout it.
“There are no magic books, but instead, we've hidden magic formulas that are hard for cadets to encounter. They're quite advanced, so if you find any, take them back to the academy and study them well. We've prepared this experience to share the joy of discovering and researching magic.”
A maze hunt with rare magic as prizes. Or treasure hunt, really.
It didn't particularly interest me.
Rare magic from here probably couldn't beat what I got from the gallery.
“I doubt it, but for those not interested in the formulas, we have a prize for the first to escape the maze.”
Fortunately, it wasn't just treasure hunting.
“The maze has its rules, so please solve it well. We'll start now. Moving to another layer counts as forfeiting, so keep that in mind. I'll be waiting at the exit.”
With that, Millio vanished into the maze.
The cadets rushed in after him.
“Ian, what do you plan to do?”
Hisenna approached me and asked.
We still had to stick with our partners inside the maze.
“I'm not into magic formulas, so maybe aim for the fastest escape.”
“Oh... Really? Then I'll do that too!”
I'd thought Hisenna would be interested in formulas, but surprisingly not.
Elrim's group was aiming for first place too.
Somehow, it turned into a competition.
“This time, I'll win... Heh heh heh.”
Time to pay back last night's humiliation.
I couldn't lose to the likes of Elrim and just accept it.
With the gallery, I could ask the users to solve the maze and beat Elrim easy.
“Let's go, Hisenna!”
“Y-Yeah!”
I took off energetically with Hisenna.
Thud—
“Ah, sorry.”
In my haste, I bumped into another cadet.
We bowed awkwardly and parted ways.
‘Why's he alone...?’
I belatedly realized the cadet was wandering without a partner.
But I brushed it off, figuring he was heading to find his partner.