If It's Too Easy, I'll Make It Harder
Since ancient times, for the veterans and the jaded players of any game, newbies were like the very lifeblood that kept them going. For most games to function properly, newbies were an absolutely essential element. But if a game had no newbies left and only the most stagnant veterans remained, it could no longer be called a game. It became something closer to a murky, stagnant pool.
But what if newbies suddenly flooded into such a game? In that moment, the veterans and rotten players would mobilize all their resources to help the newbies settle in—not pickpocketing, but the opposite—stuffing their sleeves full of gifts. They'd slip money into their pockets even if the newbies did nothing. They'd throw items at them even if they did nothing. And if a frightened newbie tried to stay hidden, pretending to be AFK, they'd get messages threatening them to accept the items right away. It was a bizarre sight that happened all too often.
In some cases, a veteran would pretend to be a game operator to give the newbie gold. In others, they'd ask the newbie to hold onto their gold for a moment before disappearing—an extreme build of the 'sleeve-stuffing' tactic. If we were to borrow the veterans' own terminology, it would be called newbie licking. It was the process of licking the newbies all over until they screamed something like "My body doesn't feel like my own anymore!" and in doing so, stamping them with their own mark.
And there was something similar in reality. It was like graduate students whose souls had been claimed by their professors. Daring to ask a professor a question out of curiosity. Reading the professor's paper and claiming that's why they came to this university—the fate of such graduate students was to sell their souls to the professor.
Let alone in a fantasy world, where a boy of quite a young age stood before the Archmage, having picked up the theoretical book written by the Archmage himself, self-studied magic—which was far more difficult than any thesis—and came to take the Magic Tower entrance test! Could anyone possibly hold back?
Leon fell into deep contemplation. At a glance, the boy had incredible potential and had even self-taught. He had come all the way from the countryside by himself! If it were up to him, he'd want to kidnap the boy right away. But...
'I can't do that.'
In this test, he was playing the role of an agitator of sorts. After all, entrance tests were supposed to get harder as the years went on. If one were to be picky, the very first entrance test had been the hardest, and it had actually gotten easier over time. But that couldn't be helped. Riel had said it was too difficult for people to pass, so they adjusted it every year. And with those adjustments, the test content was getting a bit easier each time, wasn't it?
Up until now, he had somehow let it slide, but this time it was too weak. Leon decided he would personally step in and raise the difficulty. After all, a mage might love researching magic, but sometimes they had to play dirty like this too.
Participating from the perspective of a new examinee, he walked together with the future Magic Tower slave he had his eyes on.
“Um... what should I call you?”
“What should you call me?”
“Yes...”
“Just call me hyung. What's your name?”
“It's Zeon.”
Zeon, huh... It had quite a nice ring to it.
“But hyung, what made you take the test? Is it because the Magic Tower is the ultimate goal for all mages?”
I just came to raise the test difficulty... That's why I participated despite Riel's attempts to stop me... Faced with Zeon's pure question, not knowing the truth, Leon felt awkward for a moment.
“Just. It seemed like it would be fun.”
Even though that was just a vague excuse, Zeon nodded.
“Fun is a wonderful reason too. I want to become a cool mage like the Archmage. And I want to enter the Magic Tower and research together! The Archmage must be an incredibly cool and amazing person, right? I'm curious what he's like.”
“Uh... yeah... I'm getting curious too...”
Leon's heart felt like it was being carved up with a knife, but he did his best to ignore the feeling and kept walking. If Riel had been beside him, wouldn't she have told him to learn a thing or two? It was as if her voice was playing in his head, but having lived his whole life with a thick face, there was no way a little scolding here would change him.
Anyway.
'I wonder how many will drop out.'
He and Zeon were walking through the jungle. But in this place that simply looked like a jungle, there were countless magic traps and barriers strewn about. Also, with hundreds of mages participating now, whether to cooperate and advance or to eliminate competitors was also an important point.
In the first jungle, what Leon would focus on was instantaneous judgment, composure, and cold-heartedness. A mage should be able to make appropriate judgments according to the situation and use suitable magic to overcome it well.
Wasn't it too tough from the very beginning? But...
'This is the easiest it's going to get.'
From the position of someone who had organized this test himself and checked everything with Riel, there was nothing as leisurely and easy as right now. But even so, it wasn't entirely simple. Rather, in a situation like this, countless choices and variables would tighten around them without pause.
“Hyung... you're feeling it too, right?”
“Yeah.”
Zeon, who was right beside him, suddenly stopped walking and broke out in cold sweat. Leon knew exactly what Zeon was referring to. There was nothing visible in front of them. But that was only on the surface. Looking at things on the surface here held no meaning whatsoever. How could the test to enter the Magic Tower—where the world's greatest mages gathered—be that simple?
Basically, all the hidden traps and various magical elements were concealed. The key was to find the destination point on your own within the time limit and break through them. And all within just four hours.
What Leon and Zeon were looking at right now were multiple layers of barriers stacked to block the path to the destination, with traps placed between those barriers.
Leon had already analyzed everything, but even if Zeon hadn't figured it all out, he could sense inwardly that what lay beyond was no different from hell.
“Are you scared?”
At Leon's question, Zeon shook his head.
“No way. Let's go right away.”
“I like your spirit.”
Even as he walked with Zeon, Leon was extending his senses throughout the entire jungle. The number of mages spread across this vast jungle was 365, including himself.
If anyone was judged to be incapacitated and unable to continue, the Magic Tower's mages and Riel, who were watching, would step in directly.
'Alright... then for now, I just need to observe.'
It was good to have found an unexpectedly smart newbie slave to take around, but his ultimate purpose for participating was to adjust the difficulty.
-Do it moderately! Moderately!
Although Riel had warned him, Leon had no intention of doing so. He could yield on anything else, but not on this. So he sought a way to raise the overall difficulty of the test.
What he came up with was to divide himself.
The moment he activated the magic without Zeon noticing, time seemed to stretch as Leon's body split into two. The clone walked beside Zeon, while the main body slipped away separately to move toward its objective.
Even then, Zeon hadn't noticed.
As Leon naturally took his steps, a very ominous smile rose to his lips. It was the moment that signaled the true opening of the 'test' that the examinees knew nothing about.
Hundreds of mages had participated in the Magic Tower entrance exam. Among them, two blue-haired men and women were quickly breaking through the test. Mages typically chose their primary school of magic. The two specialized in ice-type magic and were fellow disciples who had grown up together under a wandering mage famous for his name.
From a young age, both had been called geniuses among geniuses. As if to prove it, they weren't fooled by the illusions of the barriers and smoothly avoided the traps. Was it because their progress was as smooth as flowing water, peaceful as if they were out for a stroll? The woman was busy grumbling at that moment.
“What is this? They called it the Magic Tower's test, but there's nothing to it?”
“It's the first one, so of course they'd make it somewhat easy. And looking at the level of the barriers and traps, they're no joke. Avoiding the barriers and traps is possible, but breaking them is impossible. The formulas are so intricately intertwined that if you touch them to dispel it, you'll get hit by the backlash instead.”
“That's why I'm even more curious. With magic of this level, they could have made it much stronger.”
“They say the Magic Tower's test itself is getting easier every year, so it's probably a choice made with that in consideration. And that woman said it, didn't she? Not to get cocky. After seeing that monster, how could you say something like that?”
At the man's words, the woman swallowed her groan. Before the test started, there had been a rampage by one mage, but the person known as the Magic Tower's second-in-command appeared and wrapped up the situation in an instant. Most had simply let out gasps of admiration, but those who had reached a certain level could see it. The monstrous presence hidden behind the smiling face. And even that was with the woman suppressing it. If that presence had been revealed, it was impossible to even imagine how bad it would have been.
What was certain was that if the Magic Tower's second-in-command had been so inclined, wiping out the hundreds of mages present there would have been child's play.
'Even if Master came, he wouldn't be able to touch a single hair on that monster's head.'
Their master was a monster famous as a wandering mage, but the dignity possessed by the second-in-command of the Magic Tower—where the world's greatest mages were said to gather—was something close to impossible to challenge.
And that wasn't all.
“The level of the Magic Tower's mages was overwhelmingly superior, each and every one of them.”
It wasn't for nothing that those in the Magic Tower were called the strongest among all mages. They were beings who had literally reached an unreachable realm.
In fact, if you looked at the overall ratio of mages, the Magic Tower was a minority, so there were rumors like 'The Magic Tower is all hype' and 'The Archmage's dignity is nothing but empty rumors.' But at least those who could see reality mostly realized it. That the Magic Tower's level was beyond imagination.
That was why only a select few among mages could enter, and so many people came seeking to join the Magic Tower. The two, who held the ambition of becoming the strongest mages, were there for the same reason.
“Still, it's a shame. If it's this easy, it'll probably get called the easiest class ever. Like, 'It was like this in my day, but you guys got in so easily~' and we'll have to deal with some old-timer nagging. It would have been better if it was a bit tougher, since we're here anyway.”
However, perhaps because the test was much easier compared to the Magic Tower's reputation, the woman was expressing a bit of regret when it happened.
Swish!
Suddenly, something dug into their senses. An intense aura of death that pierced straight into their minds. They turned around and raised their mana, but...
“It's gone...?”
There was nothing behind them. Then what was that sensation just now?
Their question was soon answered.
“...Why is the sky... darkening?”
Suddenly, dark clouds gathered and the sky grew dark. Rain began to fall from the gathered clouds. And within the dark clouds, crackle! Yellow light flashed.
The moment they realized it was someone's artificial magic, the two began running without needing to say who was first.
Boom!
In the clear sky... no, in the dark sky where rain was being forced down, thunderbolts began to strike. And the culprit behind all these phenomena was...
He was laughing like a wicked villain.