Genius Mage (1)

Four videos in total had been released to the public.

Footage of orc hunts spanning the eleventh through fourteenth floors.

The Heavenly Demon ascending the Tower in those clips was nothing short of invincible. She had no enemies, feared nothing unknown, and seemed to revel in the fight itself. Truly, Tian Shang Tian Xia Wei Wo Du Zun — under heaven and above earth, I alone am supreme. Everything lay beneath her feet; there was nothing left to fear.

She's insane.

There was simply no other way to describe her. Blood Demon thought back to his own tenth-floor breakthrough. A frontal clash against a swarming orc horde had been impossible from the start, so he had been forced to lure them out and pick them off one by one with painstaking care. On top of that, it had been an era without a single strategy guide. Clearing the Tower had been a high-wire act where one mistake meant instant death. Survival demanded the safest choice available — that was human instinct.

And the Heavenly Demon? She never retreated. She simply flash-froze entire packs of orcs on the spot, or reduced them to a handful of ash. Her combat style was markedly different from when she had first appeared before the public, but the sheer, otherworldly strength she displayed was impossible to hide.

If that had been the end of it, there would have been no problem. The problem was that every time she cleared a floor, she made sure to leave behind some flippant little message. And the contents of those messages were pure, primal mockery aimed squarely at Blood Demon himself — raw, vulgar slander directed at a national leader. A festival of the most vulgar phrases imaginable. And for no reason other than that they belonged to the Heavenly Demon, those messages were spreading across the entire world.

"That Heavenly Demon bastard!"

CRASH!

Having watched every last video, Blood Demon could no longer contain the rage boiling inside him. He brought his fist down with all his strength. The solid hardwood table split cleanly in two without resistance. He had long since lost count of how many pieces of furniture he had smashed like this in recent days.

Bzzzzt!

As if on cue, his phone began to buzz with irritating insistence. Blood Demon didn't even check the caller before slamming the power off. It would be his father, of course — ready to raise his voice and scold him for being a worthless son who couldn't even handle something this simple. There was no reason to pick up.

"Heavenly Demon…"

So this was how she intended to play it. He had thought her a proud fellow countryman, yet she was not only from that tiny nation — she was soaked to the bone in its petty way of thinking, unable to see the bigger picture.

"You will regret this day. Without fail."

You still don't understand what you've done. But the price of that arrogant choice — I will make certain you pay it in tears of blood.

"Hah."

The last video was finally uploaded. That should put an end to anyone still trying to smear me as Chinese.

The Bureau Chief looked like he still had more to say, but I decided to ignore him. I had a mountain of work piled up right in front of me. Wasn't the Awakener Management Bureau supposed to exist precisely to clean up messes like this? Watching how smoothly they handled Maestro's usual stunts, I figured something of this scale would be well within their capabilities.

"Next up is the fifteenth floor, huh?"

In the process of filming videos to provoke Blood Demon, I had blasted straight through floors eleven to fourteen. Naturally, it hadn't been a problem. Some days I froze them solid with Ice White Divine Palm. Some days I burned every last one of them with Samadhi True Fire. Other days I ruptured their eardrums with Lion's Roar, then caved in their skulls with a kick, or punched them to death one by one. Just… that sort of thing, more or less, as I climbed the Tower.

Clear rank locked at SSS, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. At this point the Tower was clearly playing favorites. Wouldn't be surprised if it confessed to me soon.

The rewards weren't bad either.

Nothing I'd call a jackpot, but a decent haul of loot had dropped. B-Class magic stones, plus a few rare items.

That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the general flavor of the Orc Warrior series that dropped. There was no way I was going to walk around wearing something that reeked, so I sold the lot on One Top Market without a second thought. That "smells a bit" was physiologically unbearable.

Thanks to that, my bank account was getting fatter by the day. Between the designated skillbook and the proceeds from the orc gear, the number of zeros in my balance had suddenly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠become hard to count. At this rate, a riverside apartment along the Han River wasn't even a dream anymore. Of course, these days those apartments weren't exactly popular with ordinary civilians — the Tower loomed a little too close for comfort — but still. For the time being, money was no longer a worry. Chicken and beer as a baseline, and the luxury of tossing a yogurt lid without licking it clean first!

Right, back to the Tower.

I'd gotten sidetracked thinking about money. This was why new money always showed — the moment cash entered the picture, my brain went careening off in that direction.

Anyway, the clear of floors eleven through fourteen had gone without a hitch, which meant it was time to properly challenge the fifteenth.

The fifteenth floor. Home of the mid-boss for the tenth-floor stretch. Last time, a goblin centurion had come out leading a hundred underlings, and I'd wiped them clean with Heaven-Shattering Infinity.

"Wonder if it'll be similar this time."

So, a hundred orcs?

Hmm.

Goblins and orcs didn't overlap in a single respect — not size, not behavior, not combat style. If goblins were the type to scrap and scheme with everything they had, orcs preferred a relatively fair, head-on fight. Of course, the minor issue was that their definition of "fair" was thoroughly orc-centric.

"Apparently a gang-up counts as an honorable tactic too."

By orc standards, a many-versus-one setup — a dogpile — was a perfectly legitimate method of combat. Complain about the unfairness all you wanted; the real crime was the opponent's incompetence for failing to match numbers in the first place.

If a hundred of them come pouring out on the fifteenth floor…

Wiping them out cleanly with Heaven-Shattering Infinity again wouldn't be a bad option. Goblins or orcs, from my perspective they weren't all that different. But this time, I felt the need to take a different approach.

Thanks to Ms. Rabbit, I can now turn Heavenly Demon Mode on and off.

For convenience I called it "Heavenly Demon Mode" — the state I entered the moment I stepped into the Tower. The exact cause was still a complete mystery. The second I crossed the threshold, a fierce conviction that I was the center of the world and everyone else mere extras simply seized control of my reason. My speech turned high-handed of its own accord, and a vicious arrogance that placed all creation beneath my feet reared its head.

Well, it wasn't all bad. It was how I'd smashed my way up the Tower this far without much trouble.

But.

I can't keep relying on this unknown state forever.

There was only one thing that put me on edge: the fact that I, the person it was happening to, knew next to nothing about this Heavenly Demon Mode phenomenon. Why it activated, why it only changed me inside the Tower — everything was an unknown. Which also meant that if this power vanished without a trace one day, it wouldn't be strange at all.

I need to build my own strength.

Depending solely on Heavenly Demon Mode would get me nowhere. What if it shut off without warning? Was I just going to throw up my hands and take the beating, saying there was nothing I could do? If that was the plan, I never should have climbed the Tower in the first place.

I have to get stronger myself.

To climb the Tower and someday surpass even Maestro, Blood Demon, and Super, Lee Jihan needed to become strong. Traits were an Awakener's unique power; some said a trait was a mirror reflecting an Awakener's deepest wish. In other words, a trait was nothing more than a weapon placed in my hands. I shouldn't be the one controlled by my trait — I should be the one who mastered it and wielded it as I pleased.

So I'll clear the Tower with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nothing but my own power.

Of course, I had no intention of charging straight into the fifteenth floor. The feel of clearing floors in Heavenly Demon Mode still lingered, but trusting that alone and throwing myself at the fifteenth would be pure arrogance. Between Heavenly Demon Jihan and ordinary Jihan, there existed — though it felt weird to say it myself — a vast gulf. Heavenly Demon Mode Jihan could face any monster and snort, "What an amusing little creature," with a heart of steel. Ordinary Jihan was just a regular human who instinctively flinched before a vicious monster. No matter how suddenly my body had changed overnight, inborn temperament didn't rewrite itself in a single day.

So first, practice on the fourteenth floor.

There was still far more I didn't know about this Heavenly Demon trait than what I did. Getting properly acquainted with the trait itself while I was at it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Though that does require a bit of preparation.

My combat style when I was in my right mind was thoroughly built around being a mage. All I'd ever learned, all I knew, was magic — so what choice did I have? I understood martial forms intellectually, but I couldn't just pull them out in a moment when a single judgment meant life or death. Heavenly Demon Jihan could. I was mage Jihan.

So what I need is magic.

Magic cast through Magic Formulas, not skills. Granted, when it came to efficiency and convenience, skills had far more advantages.

But I probably can't use those.

Most mages, when they wanted to expand their repertoire, acquired new magic through designated skillbooks. It was the most orthodox path to becoming a stronger mage, and in a crisis a skill was a hundred times faster than a Magic Formula. For some reason, though, I had a strong premonition that method would be impossible for me. Even if I brought back a designated skillbook that guaranteed a skill, I was certain I wouldn't be able to learn it in my current state.

In that case…

I had no choice but to obtain Magic Formulas. That route wasn't easy either. They were cheaper than designated skillbooks, sure, but Magic Formula prices still sat at a vicious level that made you involuntarily mutter, "That much money?" There was a reason mage-type Awakeners were called money sinks.

So.

"I'm going to the Mage Association."

The place where Magic Formulas could currently be obtained at the lowest price — and the place where Maestro himself served as an honorary advisor.

That was where I was headed.