Tower of Knowledge (2)
Tower of Knowledge (2)
I blinked and rubbed my forehead, but only for a moment.
Soon, following the Tower Master of Knowledge's guidance, we sat facing each other across a table.
The tower's first floor had no furniture at all besides the chair she had been sitting in.
"Pardon me for a moment."
- Snap!
But the moment she snapped her fingers, a table and chair materialized nearby as if they'd always been there.
- Snap!
Then, atop the table, a beautifully designed pitcher and cups appeared.
'...Not retrieved from a subspace?'
I'd been closely observing the Tower Master's movements and let out a silent gasp of admiration.
She hadn't brought finished objects from another space. There was no process of retrieving materials and shaping them.
It seemed like magic... but these weren't illusions that would vanish once the mana fueling them ran out.
They were simply complete, physical objects.
Created on the spot, right here.
In other words, this was a feat bordering on Creation itself—even if only in fragments.
"I apologize for receiving you in such a humble place."
[No, it isn't humble at all.]
Creation.
Distinct from imitation—this felt like a subtle show of force meant to seize the upper hand.
Or perhaps I should say she'd allowed me a glimpse of her true capability.
Something about the Authorities acting strangely uncooperative nagged at me, too.
Could I escape with them in this state?
I couldn't get a read on the odds...
- Glug-glug...
As I settled lightly onto the chair, the pitcher levitated on its own and filled a cup with water.
Not a single other sound reached my ears.
The trickle of water slipping through the silence slowly dried my mouth.
The Tower Master sat across from me, both hands resting on her knees.
Her eyes were gently closed, as if granting me time to ease my tension.
'What is this?'
Her gesture didn't actually relax me.
If anything, an odd sense of dissonance kept tapping at the back of my mind.
The Authority of Observation.
Maybe because I was inside a tower, its operation had grown strange. That part wasn't a problem. I could Harmonize it however I needed.
But the Tower Master herself—I couldn't properly observe her.
My focus was clearly locked onto her, yet at some point it kept slipping away, deflected into irrelevant information.
As if the Tower Master were ordinary background scenery, as if the observation were dismissing her as just another part of nature, brushing past her carelessly.
I was digging into that dissonance, concentrating hard—
'!'
—when the Tower Master suddenly moved her hand, and I flinched.
Seeing my reaction, the Tower Master, whose hand had been reaching for her cup, flinched too.
An awkward silence hung between us for just a moment.
"Ahem..."
The Tower Master soon gave a soft, polite cough and smoothed over the awkwardness.
Her eyes had softly opened at some point, and she took a sip of water.
Following her lead, I quietly gulped down some water too.
As the cool water moistened my parched mouth, a portion of the tension seemed to wash away with it.
Amidst that—
The Tower Master of Knowledge, who had been absently glancing toward the corner of her vision, suddenly spoke.
"The Tower of Knowledge is less restricted compared to the other towers. Thanks to that, the Silence applied to it is not so broad, and I can convey comparatively many truths to you."
Less Silence.
She could convey much.
Behind my closed eyes, something sparkled with anticipation.
"Even so, it remains true that restrictions are in place. Conveying every truth in full is beyond my ability, so I wish to first offer my apologies to the Savior."
The sparkle wilted and dimmed...
For some reason, the Tower Master's shoulders drew in ever so slightly, as if she were gauging my reaction.
...
[...May I ask a few questions?]
"Yes. Within the bounds the restrictions allow, I shall answer anything with utmost sincerity."
The Tower Master nodded calmly.
Questions. Matters to press her on.
There were so many—so many I didn't know where to begin.
The doubts I'd felt coming here, and the doubts I'd felt since arriving—all of them piled high.
[Why do you refer to me as the Savior?]
Savior.
A being who rescues those in danger and hardship.
[Did you... did you intentionally bring me to this world?]
Savior.
An English word meaning one who saves.
The name of the game I'd enjoyed in my previous world—a game set in this very world.
Her pale eyes reflected me, still rigidly frozen in place.
The Tower Master, who had been sitting stiff as a statue, gave a small nod.
"Yes. We intentionally summoned you, Savior, into this world."
[For what purpose?]
"Before I answer that, it may be easier for your understanding if I first explain our circumstances. Will you permit me to explain our situation?"
I fired off another question.
Even to questions that came out rather sharply, the Tower Master of Knowledge responded with composure and deference.
[...Yes.]
[Please do.]
"Thank you for your mercy."
The Tower Master bowed her head, glanced briefly at the Confession Necklace, and then lifted her gaze.
And then, as if steeling herself before a long speech, she let out a deep breath.
.
.
.
The Great Cataclysm was a disaster and a transformation that not a single soul in this world does not know.
Family, lovers, friends.
From awkward relatives you'd only see a few times a year to complete strangers you'd never met.
Truly all manner of people, in numbers beyond counting, met their deaths in countless different ways.
Those killed by monsters, reduced to nothing more than a single meal.
Those swept away and erased by dungeons that rampaged without warning.
Those brutally murdered by fellow humans exploiting the chaos.
Not only that—countless relics and historical records, steeped in the gold and blood of previous humanity, were lost beyond recovery.
The Great Cataclysm. The Chaos Period that followed immediately after was a catastrophe so vast that those living through it could place no faith in tomorrow.
"But the true catastrophe hadn't even arrived yet."
The Tower Master of Knowledge.
She who had fiercely survived that very era shook her head from side to side as she continued her explanation.
"I do not mean to say the Great Cataclysm was trivial. Much vanished because of the Cataclysm, and much appeared anew. The world today is composed of elements that emerged through the Great Cataclysm—one cannot deny it was an unprecedented event across all of history. However..."
The Tower Master trailed off.
"...We who became Tower Masters were confident we could bring the Great Cataclysm under control."
The Authorities of Growth, Space, Observation, Harmonization, and Knowledge.
The towers' functions.
And beyond those, the many powerful figures and forces pushing toward the frontier of exploration.
Taking all of that into account, she said, they had believed they could certainly overcome even the Great Cataclysm.
"As such, we could not help but worry less about a manageable Great Cataclysm and more about the far greater calamity that would come crashing down right on its heels."
[A greater calamity?]
"An invasion by Tower Masters."
My shoulders jerked.
My fists clenched tight.
The Tower Master glanced at me and continued.
"One day, when we had each achieved growth and were brimming with hope that we might finally bring the Great Cataclysm under control, the Tower Master of Observation came to us with a deathly pale face and delivered this news. Along with it, she told us that the enemy was a mighty foe we had no means whatsoever of stopping with our current strength."
[The Tower Master of Observation...]
"Authorities are much like Unique Abilities. Though they are external powers granted by the towers, their manner of use still differs depending on the wielder. She focused her Observation on range and foresight. Thanks to that, in collaboration with the Tower Master of Space, we were able to detect the invasion in advance."
An invasion by a force their current strength could not repel.
For them—still not finished dealing with the Great Cataclysm—it was a future steeped in nothing but despair.
"But we could not simply resign ourselves in silence, so we strove to find some way—any way—to fend off the invasion. In that process, we incurred several restrictions."
[Restrictions, meaning...]
"The invasion was too swift. Even while we were struggling through the Great Cataclysm, before we became Tower Masters, they were already approaching—and we noticed too late. So, to delay the invasion, we applied additional restrictions and used our power. With the time we bought that way, we explored every possible path, but..."
The Tower Master of Knowledge shook her head.
"For a long time, no clear solution emerged. The invading Tower Masters were far too strong, and their armies were formidable. No matter how much we prepared for the invasion with the time remaining, the gap was simply too great for us to ever fend them off."
[...But you're all Tower Masters. Is the gap truly that extreme?]
"The position of Tower Master is not decided by sheer martial force alone. For reference, the Tower Master of Harmonization—that airhead... no, at the time she became a Tower Master, her combat strength by modern standards was merely that of an upper-middle-grade hero."
[?]
In the Association's grade system, 'middle' serves as a baseline.
Upper-middle is the level of a leader who commands a party.
Lower-middle is roughly the level of an outstanding member within such a group.
From upper-middle-grade hero onward, you can consider them as possessing a degree of command authority.
[A Tower Master... is upper-middle grade?]
Honestly, the idea that a Tower Master's skill was only around upper-middle grade was hard to believe on multiple levels.
"A tower is essentially no different from a kind of artifact. Far larger, with far more diverse functions... but much like the artifact you yourself wear, Savior, it evaluates conditions. If one meets those conditions, it bestows an Authority."
At those words, I touched my left arm.
The Proof of Protection. Its condition was probably a good-aligned wearer, wasn't it? I still found it curious why I'd satisfied it, but I was making good use of it regardless.
"If one does not meet the conditions, the tower will not grant its Authority. You will have experienced this yourself in the game you played, Savior. As with the 11th, even if one conquers an Unconquered Tower, if they do not satisfy the required qualities and qualifications, they cannot become a Tower Master."
The Unconquered Tower.
The 8th Iteration failed to see it through to the end—cut short by the Tower Master of Bitter Cold's sudden interference and Baek A-rin's betrayal.
But the 11th Iteration climbed to the very end and obtained the tower's Wish Ticket.
With that Wish Ticket, he further drew out his latent potential, amplifying physical abilities that had already far exceeded the norm.
"Though unqualified, the fact that one has conquered the tower remains true. In place of an Authority, the tower grants a wish within the scope of the power embedded within it."
[Is that so...]
"And, perhaps, the reason Bitter Cold interfered was— — —%#$)*#$)(@"
[?]
Her words cut off abruptly.
The voice, breaking and reconnecting in bizarre fragments, was utterly impossible to parse.
"It seems this part is bound by a restriction."
The Tower Master of Knowledge furrowed her brow gently.
"Returning to the main thread—we wandered in search of a way to stop the invasion with the time we had left. In particular, the Tower Master of Observation expended her strength to foresee various futures and devise countermeasures. As a result... we found it."
[...Found what?]
The answer was expected.
But I asked again anyway, just in case.
The Tower Master of Knowledge fell silent for a moment.
Her pale eyes gazed directly at me.
Those deep, profound pupils—no matter how much I turned my Observation, I couldn't tell what she was thinking.
"In a certain region, we discovered the physical body of Lee Ha-yul."
The answer I'd expected.
Lee Ha-yul of this world.
Just as a complicated expression—hard to describe—crossed my face—
[Excuse me? Physical... body?]
—a sudden sense of dissonance in the word made me tilt my head.
Physical body.
A person's body.
It was a strange way to put it.
Finding me was finding me, so what reason was there to specifically call it a physical body?
At my expression, laden with that question, the Tower Master of Knowledge nodded as if she understood and added an explanation.
"To be precise, it was a physical body—little more than an empty shell devoid of a soul."
[What?]
I understood even less.
My head tilted further and further.
* * *
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul → Tower Master of Knowledge (?)
●●●○○○○○○○(31/100)
「Complicated」「Confusion」「Questioning」「Unable to Communicate」「Gratitude」「Sulking」「Nutcase?」
▽Change▽
Lee Ha-yul → Ariel Segnis Ternovsia
●●●○○○○○○○(31▷32/100)
「Tower Master of Knowledge」「Complicated」「Confusion」「Questioning」「Suspicion」「Gratitude」「Nutcase?」
...
[The Tower Master of Harmonization is dumbfounded, saying she's putting on feigned innocence]
...
Lee Ha-yul → Tower Master of Harmonization (?)
●●●○○○○○○○(30/100)
「Upper-Middle Grade」「Complicated」「Confusion」「Questioning」「Unable to Communicate」「Gratitude」「Sulking」
...
[The Tower Master of Harmonization is appalled]
* * *
