Magic (1)
I stared at my phone screen and smiled. Honestly, I was pretty excited. Just how pretty were the clothes going to be?
The outfit I had on right now was so gorgeous that if I didn’t have any beef with the Ares Guild, I would’ve posted a fit check immediately.
…
I still couldn’t show off this body and face. It was truly tragic.
“Ares is annoying, but…”
The bigger issue was the so-called “Padaks”—the gallery mods—and “Jujak,” the owner of the gallery itself. Unfortunately, the Climber Gallery had a strict rule: post a real-life photo and you get instantly banned.
I quickly typed up a post.
The replies came flooding in almost instantly.
Gangcha. Short for continuously renewing the ban period. Basically, it meant permanent ban.
“Hmm…”
That single reply instantly hooked a ridiculous number of bait comments.
“Hmm…”
Maybe it really was impossible. I was muttering to myself when more replies rolled in.
“Oh?”
The replies came even faster.
…
Anyway, the point was that if I beat him, I could get the ban lifted. That was enough for me. Of course…
It wasn’t happening anytime soon. There was no way the current me—who had only just cleared the second floor—could beat people who had already passed the 50th floor.
But what if I kept climbing the tower?
What if I obtained enough power to wipe out the entire Ares Guild, every single Padak mod, and even Jujak himself?
“Then I can post selfies whenever I want, right?”
In that case…
I didn’t have time to waste staring at myself in the mirror. I needed to climb even one more floor of the tower.
Two hours of browsing had been more than enough. I put on my mask and the Mask of Severance, then headed for the front door.
Every step made my cloak flutter lightly in the wind.
The phone screen that buzzed showed the latest comment.
Baek Seohyun would only see that comment much later.
“Hmm…”
The number of skills I possessed and my current stats were, by any measure, average for a climber who had just entered the early floors of the tenth level.
The ways to raise stats were by leveling up, using special skills, clearing floors, and claiming rankings on those floors.
Leveling up granted random stat increases. Clearing a floor raised your stats randomly in proportion to the floor’s height and the difficulty you challenged. Additionally, the top three rankings on each floor’s clear-score leaderboard received an all-stats buff of 10, 5, and 3 points respectively.
“Heavenly Martial Body really is broken…”
When looking at the entire climber population, my stats honestly weren’t that high. The reason I could still annihilate those assassins was entirely thanks to that wonderful skill.
“…For now… let’s go take a look around.”
Before challenging the second floor, there was something I needed to buy.
The second floor’s neutral zone took the form of a massive medieval plaza. Enormous castle walls surrounded the area, with medieval buildings constructed inside them.
I passed a fountain spraying water and crossed a street that looked like a shopping district.
Recovery Potions For Sale
Specializing in Repairs. Selling Equipment.
You Can Do It Too — Skill Awakening in One Month!
Understanding Magic in Three Months
…
General stores, blacksmiths, even the huts of people looking for disciples. As I walked past them, countless gazes pierced into me from every direction.
Was it because I wasn’t wearing the mask?
Black, Asian, white—it didn’t matter. In this tower where people from countless different worlds gathered, I was receiving every possible stare from every possible race.
“Whoa…”
“Who is that…?”
“Should I talk to her?”
“Looking at her gear, she seems like a high-level climber?”
“That lady is seriously beautiful…”
The quiet voices of the people around me reached my ears with perfect clarity. Inside the tower, everyone’s language was automatically translated.
As I walked among them, I put every ounce of effort into maintaining a blank expression.
The Sword Princess had to be flawless in front of others. I couldn’t just grin like an idiot. I needed to remain the untouchable, ice-cold snowflake that would freeze anything it touched.
That was the image I had to maintain. Of course, nobody knew I was the Heavenly Shattering Sword Princess yet, but it was best to prepare for when they eventually found out.
A man preparing for the future… no, a woman? Whatever. Let’s just call it being a prepared person.
Anyway, that was me.
…
I endured the stares and kept walking. After some time, I reached the edge of the second floor’s neutral zone.
Magic For Sale
A shabby sign stood in front of a run-down house. The moment I saw it, I felt an instinctive pull. No—instinctive wasn’t enough. It was a fated attraction. Though I did question whether I should be feeling something so dramatic just because I wanted water magic to make bathing easier…
My steps toward the house held zero hesitation. I climbed the stairs and reached for the old wooden door.
Creak—
The unpleasant sound of rusty hinges filled the room as I pushed the door open. The next thing that hit me was the musty smell of old books. The first thing I saw was an old man leaning back in a chair with his face covered by a hat.
“Mmm… huh?”
Sensing my presence, the old man slowly sat up. He stroked his long white beard and nodded.
“Hmm… it’s been a while since I’ve had a customer… good, good…”
He lifted his hat slightly, revealing tired brown eyes. The old man leaned forward, furrowed his brows, and stared at me.
For some reason, it looked like a blue power was gathering in his eyes and burning brightly.
I felt a chill run down my spine.
…
Wait, why did the atmosphere suddenly feel so weird? Was this really okay?
While I was still wondering, he looked straight into my eyes and spoke.
“…You’re a body that should be learning martial arts, not magic?”
“…?”
“There’s a decent dojo on the 67th floor. Shall I send you there?”
“No, that’s not what I—”
“You even carry the seed of Heavenly Killing in your heart… If you have no qualms about the demonic path, you could join the Heavenly Demon Cult on the 87th floor.”
He didn’t give me a chance to speak and simply continued.
“If the flow of fate has led you here, it must mean you have the qualifications to inherit my vision… so why has someone like you come? You don’t seem to have any traces of having learned magic…”
…
Madness began to fill his eyes.
“You came here to buy magic, correct? What kind do you want? Magic that resurrects the dead? Magic that turns the entire world into a sea of flames in an instant? Magic that twists the flow of time? Magic that tears space apart? Speak. Anything is possible.”
…All these terrifyingly powerful magics were being thrown out one after another.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the money to buy any of those. The little money I had was already spent on clothes…
And even if I bought them, I wasn’t sure I could control them properly.
Let’s just buy what I originally came for.
“Um… water magic, please.”
At my words, the smile on the old man’s lips grew even wider. It was nothing short of maniacal laughter.
“Water magic… Do you wish to evaporate all the water on the planet in one go? Or perhaps drown an entire civilization? Or maybe… you want to rule over the very concept of ‘water’ itself?”
“No… I just want normal water magic.”
His expression turned strange.
“…”
“…”
We stared at each other for a moment. The old man spoke first.
“So… by normal water magic… you mean the kind you use to wash your body or clean your clothes?”
“Yes.”
“…”
He stared at me with his mouth wide open.
What? Did I do something wrong?
His trembling hand rose, and he pointed a finger at me.
“You… you… which floor did you come from?”
“The second floor.”
“…”
“Hello?”
He remained frozen like a statue.