Violence in the Name of Education (1)
Violence in the Name of Education (1)
"Hmm..."
Aramis frowned at the strange energy he felt at his fingertips.
'Cold.'
What had unfurled from his hand was none other than Ice Magic.
"How is it?"
"To be honest... I'm not sure."
"It's your first time, so that's only natural. But this suits you much better."
"Is that so?"
Olivia nodded.
Mana resembles the caster's personality. People with fiery personalities match well with Fire-type magic, and gentle people with Water-type magic.
In that sense, what suited Aramis best was Ice. Jeina was lightning, and Ro was similarly light.
"Watch closely."
Fwoosh!
Snow blossoms bloomed at Olivia's fingertips. The blossoms, caught by the wind, bloomed and fell repeatedly until at some point they took the shape of a cloud.
The cloud didn't stop there; it grew larger. The mass, which had swelled like a snowball, compressed in an instant and then began rotating around its axis.
Aramis's expression turned subtle.
He was, without question, someone talented enough to be called a genius. He'd thought that even if the White Tower wasn't counted among the Five Great Magic Towers, no one of his age could surpass him.
But he looked at the sight before his eyes.
At a glance, it looked like she was manipulating three attributes simultaneously.
That wasn't it.
That was magic constructed solely from Ice Magic!
The cycle of snow blooming and falling substituted for wind, and the mass of snow suspended in the air served the role of a cloud.
"Uhm."
Aramis couldn't suppress a shallow groan.
- The kids at the Gold Tower can all do at least this much. This is fundamentals. Fundamentals.
The Gold Magic Tower. The place where the continent's most outstanding of all the Magic Towers gathered.
He'd assumed the Gold Tower wouldn't be anything special. But no matter how he thought about it, right now he had no confidence he could pull off that level of application.
He could create something similar by combining water, wind, and ice magic appropriately, but the mana consumption would be unbearable.
And on top of that, her version was more powerful.
Selection and focus.
It was a textbook example without flaw.
"Think you can do it?"
He'd seen it, but he had no confidence he could replicate it.
- If you can't do it, ask right away. If you come asking later, I'll split you in half, so keep that in mind.
Aramis, recalling Olivia's words, opened his mouth.
"Honestly, I think it might be a bit difficult in just one day."
"I'm done."
"Still, just a little..."
"Want me to hit you?"
Didn't she say to speak up if he couldn't do it?
What kind of teacher said things like that?
"Now, I'll show you one more time. Watch."
No, even if she said that, impossible was impossible.
"Know that if you say you can't do it this time, you're getting beaten."
"..."
Aramis squeezed his eyes shut.
No matter how he thought about it, he seemed to have made the wrong choice.
"Hey, disciple."
"...Yes."
"You don't think you'll become a Tower Lord training at that leisurely pace, do you?"
Olivia shook her head.
"You won't. Absolutely not. Well, I suppose you would eventually. Around age fifty or so?"
Did this damned teacher know that a Tower Lord at fifty was considered very young?
"Becoming a Tower Lord that old is utterly meaningless. I was a Tower Lord in my twenties, you know. So my disciples, you lot can do it too."
"...You were a Tower Lord?"
This was the first he'd heard of it.
No, in the first place, he'd never heard of a person who was a Tower Lord in their twenties.
"Yeah, I was the Red Tower Lord."
"Ah, I see... Excuse me?"
If it had been the Blue Tower, he could have at least understood. But suddenly the Red Tower popped out, and a shriek escaped him involuntarily.
Aramis unconsciously stole a glance at his surroundings.
Jeina, Ro, even Glacia—all of them had furrowed brows.
He could clearly see what they wanted to say just from their faces.
'She's lying.'
'No, that's a bit much.'
'No wonder her personality was as shitty as a Red.'
One of them seemed to be thinking something slightly different, but that wasn't the main point.
"You served as... the Red Tower Lord?"
"Yeah. Also did it once at the Blue Tower, and once each at the Green Tower and the Gold Tower."
"..."
Unable to hold back, Ro shot to his feet.
"I have never once heard of a single person holding concurrent Tower Lord posts across multiple Magic Towers!"
This was unimaginable from Ro, who was normally quiet. He looked ready to charge at her frothing at the mouth any second.
"An explanation, please!"
Silence washed over the surroundings. Even Olivia herself was staring at Ro, speechless.
'Ah, right. That guy was a lore purist.'
Lore purists.
People who could tolerate gates opening and aliens appearing in medieval fantasy, but not a Rococo dress.
Ro Fernandi was exactly that kind of lore purist.
Because of his habit of devouring old texts at every opportunity, he'd earned the nickname 'Old Text Verifier,' but in return he'd contracted an incurable disease where his eyes rolled back the moment anyone started talking about history.
Of course, Olivia had no intention of providing an explanation. In the previous Run she hadn't held any Tower Lord position, so she had no evidence to offer, and besides...
'I'll just show them.'
She hadn't mastered the magic, but she'd memorized every formula.
Swoosh.
Olivia's staff began tracing an elegant curve. For her, the empty air was a canvas, and the staff was a brush.
'That's...'
A red residue remained wherever the staff passed.
It was a spark. Though only ashes remained in its wake, even knowing that, one could only watch dazedly.
[This magic conflicts with your main element!]
- Magic power is halved.
- Mana consumption increases significantly!
- Magic duration reduced.
Olivia paid no mind.
This was for demonstration anyway.
'This is what your teacher is like,' she was saying.
'So trust me and follow.'
She was as practiced as someone who had trained in magic her entire life. Drawing lines, connecting them, linking formulas—there was not a trace of hesitation in the process.
Swoosh.
"Spread."
When the magic circle finally revealed itself, the surrounding landscape began to change.
One moment it seemed like a flower field, then another moment it seemed like standing atop a soaring spire.
It was impossible to tell whether this was a dream or an illusion.
Shaaaah.
The flames that overlaid the world with their color gradually lost intensity. The illusion grew fainter. When it finally crumbled to ash and vanished, the disciples let out exclamations of awe.
"Uh, uhh..."
Even with no discerning eye for magic, they could tell that spell just now was extraordinary. No—it wasn't just extraordinary; it was practically the ultimate ideal the Red Tower pursued.
"Well, want me to show you the others?"
"N-no. This makes no sense?"
Ro gaped.
"Th-there's nothing about this in the historical records?"
Of course there wasn't. That was from a run a very long time ago.
Olivia spoke as if it was nothing.
"History doesn't know everything."
"..."
The disciples shut their mouths. Even though Olivia herself didn't care much.
Clap!
Olivia clapped her hands to reset the mood.
"Now, anyway. From now on, start what I taught you. Call me when your mana runs out."
****
What was the most important thing in Lactea?
Items? Rare Skills?
All important, but in the end, level was supreme.
Leveling up wasn't simply a number changing. It was a process of elevating one's own standing and advancing to a higher place.
That was why level held an absolute position in Lactea.
When your level was high?
Your standing literally changed.
A level 5 goblin was the livelihood of low-ranking mercenaries, but a level 50 goblin made low-ranking mercenaries its livelihood instead.
It could thrust a rusted dagger roughly and pierce plate armor, while arrows bounced off it.
How did she know that?
'I didn't want to know either.'
Lactea wasn't called a newbie-death game for nothing. It was so bad that even Olivia, hailed as a Pioneer, had nearly been wiped out.
Anyway, how to raise this incredibly important level.
First, the easiest method was hunting.
Of course, that didn't mean brainlessly bashing goblins. Doing it that way not only provided no help, the efficiency was also garbage-fucking terrible.
So how were you supposed to hunt?
You bashed goblins, but on a fierce battlefield where life and death hung in the balance.
Blood sprayed and vision blurred in that desperate moment between life and death.
You killed the goblin.
Surviving on such a battlefield was itself a testament to yourself, and an act that elevated your standing.
...So said the game operators.
'Hmm, no matter how I think about it, they're crazy bastards.'
No matter how she thought about it, what had most contributed to Lactea walking the path of a trash game was these damned game operator freakshows.
Calling it a "battlefield where blood spurts" was just telling you to fight while getting beaten up by monsters.
Warriors with plenty of stamina aside, telling a mage to fight while getting beaten up?
That was just telling them to quit the game.
'But we did eventually find an answer.'
A build discovered by tens of thousands of mage users gathered together.
That build was...
"T-Master, I'm out of mana."
Jeina raised her hand. Given that lightning magic consumed the most mana, this was only natural.
She must have been exhausted from draining her mana to the bottom, but she was making an effort not to show it.
Seeing Olivia's magic had apparently left her with some impressions.
"Completely out?"
"Yes. Completely."
Olivia pulled out a potion and handed it to Jeina.
"Drink this and do it again."
"Huh?"
"I said do it again."
Build?
There was no such thing.
"I've got loads of potions, so don't feel pressured and just keep going."
"..."
Grinding was the build, really.
Heheheh.