The Reality Behind Magic Implantation
I typed Magic Implantation Surgery into HunterNet’s search bar. An overwhelming flood of results poured onto the screen, the scroll bar plunging endlessly as if the information had no bottom.
“It’d take a lifetime to read all this.”
The improved search function was nice, but digging out anything useful from this avalanche of data was its own full-time job. I let out a sigh at the thought, and that was when my Future Sight suddenly activated.
“Oh?”
Was my Future Sight automatically filtering and presenting only the posts that would actually help me? That changed everything. As I scanned the curated information, the first thing that jumped out at me was the keyword race conversion.
“Hah.”
A dry laugh slipped out. So it wasn’t simply learning magic? The procedure literally remodeled your body and turned you into a different species.
Suddenly I understood why Oxy hated mages so much. Her kind had struggled so desperately to become human, yet these people were willingly throwing away their humanity. From her and her friends’ perspective, it must have looked awful.
But so what? Leaving behind the human race was actually an advantage. How fragile humans were was painfully obvious. Whether my body became that of a mage or a demon didn’t matter to me. Besides, becoming a different species might even make me more popular with certain shady individuals.
I kept scrolling through the search results, comparing the differences and costs between each Magic Tower’s procedure.
“Green and yellow are the cheapest and fastest. Black and white require recommendation letters from religious orders. The purple Magic Tower is practically free… but they’re the Styx guild.”
From what I could gather, most of the Magic Towers aggressively promoted the surgery. Even the shady underground towers like the Styx guild that had been expelled from the official association were in on it. Only one tower stood apart from that trend.
“The Red Magic Tower… all I hear are urban legends.”
The Red Magic Tower. The one Asha used to belong to. From what I knew they mainly used flame magic, fitting their color, yet they were completely opposed to the implantation surgery.
“…Hmm.”
Thinking back to what Drake had told me, the Red Magic Tower should have been the most aggressive about this procedure. Hadn’t they sent Asha to the tryouts to regain influence among the other towers? Or maybe their conservative stance was exactly why they had lost that influence.
On HunterNet, hunters spent all day in strangely productive debates about which Magic Tower’s magic was best and which was trash. But every single one of those discussions rested on the same unspoken premise.
The premise was that the Blue Magic Tower’s procedure was the best. It offered the most stable and powerful magic with almost no side effects, so it certainly deserved the title.
And I completely agreed. Even when I searched the Last Shion Community instead of HunterNet, the consensus was the same—if I was going to learn magic, blue was the way to go. Critical damage and cooldown reduction buffs were practically the hallmark of overpowered characters, after all.
“…Well, I can’t learn it anyway since I don’t have third-grade citizenship.”
Since I lacked the necessary citizenship right now, the Blue Magic Tower was off the table. There was only so much I could learn through the internet. It was time to go see for myself. In other words, I needed to head to Tower Street.
“Let’s see… Bus 56 would take too long. The subway it is.”
Tower Street was ruled by the Magic Towers, so the transportation links to Central Street were excellent. I wouldn’t have to risk the back alleys, which was a relief. No need to pinch pennies on travel fare, either. I headed straight for the subway station and waited for the train.
This station is Hunter Station. The next station is Mujin. Mujin Station.
Let’s see… I just had to get off at Magic Tower Station, so about four stops. The ride shouldn’t be that long, right? I waited for the subway with that optimistic thought. It turned out to be far too naïve.
“Coming through! Coming through! Yes, squeeze in tighter!”
“Ugh…”
The subway that arrived moments later was literal hell on rails. It was packed so densely it looked like a rush-hour train compressed to three times normal capacity. Come to think of it, even the surface streets of Shion suffered from constant traffic jams; of course the subway would be the same. The sight made me hesitate to even step aboard, but I clenched my eyes shut and forced myself inside.
I had imagined the stifling heat of so many bodies, but it wasn’t like that at all. Instead, I felt like I was going to freeze to death.
“Hoo… it’s so hot…”
“Just endure it. Five stops left.”
By sheer bad luck, the passengers standing right next to me were all ice elementals. The cold air pouring off their bodies from every direction felt like the dead of winter. There was nowhere to move, so I spent the entire ride shivering.
This station is Magic Tower Station. The next station is Blue-Green Station. Blue-Green Station.
“Ughhh…”
The moment I finally reached Magic Tower Station, I had only one thought: I needed to earn more money and buy a car immediately. I had assumed walking and using public transport would be fine, but I had changed my mind. A personal vehicle was non-negotiable.
Dragging my exhausted body out of the station, I was greeted by a completely different landscape. Instead of sleek skyscrapers, massive stone towers of overwhelming majesty pierced the sky.
It looked like a scene straight out of a medieval fantasy, utterly unlike Sleeping Street or Central Street. The racial makeup of people walking around Tower Street seemed to contain far more fantasy-style species than even Central Street.
Yet there was one thing that resembled Central Street: a colossal tower rising high enough to pierce the heavens among the other spires. If Central Street had the Babel Tower, Tower Street had this one.
“…It’s incredible.”
Tower Street
It is not called Tower Street because towers are gathered here. It is called Tower Street because of the tallest tower.
The message floating on the airscreen upon my arrival at Tower Street told me that colossal tower was the origin of this district’s Mental Image. Was that the famous passage connected to the mages’ homeland of Zeroth? Even if it was, the tower was off-limits to anyone outside the Magic Tower Guild, so it wasn’t my concern.
I was headed for the Yellow Magic Tower and the Green Magic Tower. Between the two, they seemed the most trustworthy among the towers that offered the surgery without special conditions. With that in mind I started walking toward the yellow tower visible from the street, but—
“Look at all these people.”
An absolute sea of people had gathered in front of the Yellow Magic Tower. The crowd was so dense it made me dizzy. For a second I considered just going to the Green one, but it would probably be just as bad. Everyone else must have had the same idea. As I stood there looking around, a tower receptionist quietly approached me.
“Are you here for the implantation surgery?”
“Yes. Is there anything else I need…”
“Just take a number and wait for your consultation. Here you go.”
“Ah. Thank you.”
Following the receptionist’s instructions, I drew a waiting ticket and joined the long line stretching outside the tower. Only then did I get a good look at the hunters waiting for their consultations. There were a few beastmen here and there, but most were humans like me.
Right. In this city, anyone who cared about the human race was the weird one. As that thought crossed my mind, I suddenly felt someone’s gaze on me.
“…Hm?”
It felt like someone was watching me from the alley. I tilted my head and looked in that direction, but no one was there. While I was distracted, my turn finally came and the receptionist guided me inside.
“Yes, you’re interested in receiving magic implantation surgery?”
“That’s right. Roughly how much does it…”
“Here. If you look at our basic plan…”
Talking with the receptionist felt strangely similar to signing up for add-on services at the Hunter Guild. I had expected something more mystical because it was a Magic Tower, but it was exactly the same.
“Before that, have you ever had your magic aptitude tested?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“I see. Would you like to take the test while you’re here? Even among humans, a rare few possess magic aptitude.”
“Really? Sure, I’ll take it.”
The most expensive plan I had glanced at was around two hundred million won, so there was no reason to refuse a simple test. When I nodded, the receptionist asked me to present my citizenship card.
“Then, for a quick identity verification, please present your citizenship.”
“Sure. Here it is.”
I handed it over without thinking, and—
“…Huh?”
The receptionist’s face clouded over as she checked my card. Why the sudden change?
“Is something wrong?”
“Your citizenship… this is a government-issued one?”
“Yes, it is. Why does that…”
“I’m sorry. Our tower does not provide magic implantation surgery to government-affiliated hunters.”
“Excuse me?”
They didn’t perform magic implantation on government hunters? I had never heard anything like that. My eyes widened, and the receptionist patiently explained the situation.
“The magic implantation surgery is only offered to guild members affiliated with the Magic Towers. I’m very sorry.”
“…The government isn’t affiliated?”
“No. I apologize for wasting your time.”
“I see. Understood.”
Damn. I never imagined my government citizenship would trip me up here.
“Is there any other way? Besides joining another guild?”
“Well… it would be possible if you had a recommendation letter from a Magic Tower guild member…”
“Understood.”
A recommendation from a Magic Tower guild member. Where was I supposed to get something like that? Unless I knew someone inside a tower—
“…Wait.”
Hold on. I did know someone in a tower.
“So that’s why you called me?”
“Yeah. Well, that’s how it turned out, so help me out a bit, Drake.”