The Magic Tower Entrance Test (3)
The Magic Tower's entrance test was basically getting easier with each passing day. This was all thanks to the Deputy Tower Master's strong opinion. The tower was already short on people, and Riel argued that making the tests even harder would make it impossible to recruit new members. Leon mostly agreed with her, but not entirely.
After all, a mage of the Magic Tower should excel in every aspect. According to his principles, this test—which was originally just about breaking through barriers and traps—had suddenly transformed into a deadly game of tag. Seeing that, it was only natural for Riel's face to twist like a vengeful demon.
Watching Leon cackle with the laugh of a wicked Satan, Riel let out a scream.
She immediately began drawing up her mana. The mages nearby quickly rushed in to stop her before the situation turned into an all-out bloodbath.
"I swear, that crazy bastard...!"
"Deputy Tower Master! Please hold back! You can't intervene here!"
"He's right. You need to calm down."
"Let go! I said let go! We're already short-staffed, and that insane head of his is trying to beat up our precious human resources! I'm definitely smashing the Tower Master's skull today, so let me go!"
Riel didn't get angry easily, but she couldn't just stand by and watch a grand mage cause this much chaos during the early test phase that had already been adjusted due to the manpower shortage. She knew full well that he was obsessed with magic. Most people in the tower were the same, after all. But even so, she couldn't focus solely on magic.
There were countless business ventures tied to the Magic Tower, not to mention all the administrative work for the tower itself, and she was the one handling everything. Seeing him kick away the very slaves who kept the tower running, Riel simply couldn't cool her head.
Whether he knew about her circumstances or not, Leon continued to rain down lightning with an absolutely delighted expression.
"This is what a test should be! Just breaking through barriers and traps? What is that? Way too boring. Move with some real energy! There it is! Now that's more like a proper test, right?"
Even as he punished the arrogant pair who had complained that the test was too easy, Leon's senses were spread across the entire jungle.
I need to adjust things moderately.
It might have looked like pointless destruction for the sake of causing chaos, but his true goal wasn't simply to fail the applicants. He was protecting the core principles of the testing system he'd upheld since the moment he first established the tower. While he agreed that more talent was better and that easing the difficulty was fine, there were certain lines he would never cross.
And that line was the Magic Tower's standard of difficulty.
The current test's difficulty was simply too low. Riel had insisted they needed to recruit more due to the manpower shortage, but because of the beliefs he'd set when first creating the tower, they'd compromised: instead of lowering the difficulty, he would participate personally to raise it. So he decided to elevate it to the level he considered appropriate.
The lightning that had been focused on a single target now began spreading in every direction. Those locked in combat, as well as those carefully avoiding the barriers and traps, started working together to survive. While the lightning could have affected the barriers and traps, Leon's godlike mana control made it avoid them completely, striking only the mages.
But that lasted only a moment. Suddenly, an intense killing intent washed over his entire body. When he slowly turned his gaze, there stood Riel, glaring with a face full of murderous rage.
Stop. Right. Now.
Her eyes were screaming exactly that. If her aura was this vicious, she was clearly furious. Still, stopping now felt like a shame. Leon pondered for a moment. He considered ignoring her and pushing through anyway, but...
Hmm... This should be enough, right?
Even though it had only been a brief moment, a significant number of mages who had let their guard down were already eliminated. This could be considered a decent success. And since Riel was quite angry, he withdrew his mana.
The gloomy sky cleared once more, returning to its original color. What satisfied him most was that this little stunt would produce quite a few dropouts. Leon used spatial movement to replace his clone and returned to his original position.
The first test's difficulty increase had ended successfully.
Despite a few incidents, Zeon had safely reached the destination.
The moment the time limit ended, I spread my mana to count the number of surviving mages.
Roughly two hundred and fifty, huh.
The lightning earlier must have been quite intense—over a hundred mages had been eliminated. It was quite satisfying, but Riel's face when she appeared for the next test looked utterly rotten.
We'll talk later, Tower Master?
I flinched at the telepathic message ringing in my head. It seemed my rather wild performance had earned me a less-than-friendly look from her. Of course, I had plenty I could say in return, but Riel was a crucial talent who held a massive stake in the tower. While I was technically the Tower Master, I couldn't exactly throw my weight around with her. I usually tried my best not to upset her.
But seeing her anger practically at its peak because of this test, part of me wondered if I should stop here... but no.
That won't do.
Even if I had to face Riel's heaven-piercing fury, I couldn't let this go. This was something I simply couldn't compromise on. That said, if someone asked whether I was prepared to endure her anger? Well... that was a little scary. Still, since I knew about ten different ways to soothe her rage, I decided not to worry about the aftermath.
"Whew... That was intense. Are you okay, hyung?"
"Me? I'm perfectly fine."
Zeon beside me looked rather exhausted. Well, I had dropped lightning on his side too. He was the one I'd marked as promising, but I couldn't just let him coast through. I'd dropped the bolts to make him struggle a bit, but he'd handled it better than expected.
What impressed me most was how he'd intentionally lured the lightning, absorbed it with absorption magic, and then used that power to amplify his lightning-type spells—boosting both their power and output to smash through the traps.
Even though I'd held back, absorbing a direct lightning strike and then reversing it to destroy traps with lightning magic? That took serious guts. It was exactly the kind of thing I'd expect from the kid I'd taken an interest in.
As I smiled with satisfaction, Zeon was busy clicking his tongue at the brutal difficulty of the first test.
"If the first test was this bad, I can't even imagine what the next one will be like."
"It'll be pretty fun."
"Do you know what it is?"
"Not exactly, but I have a rough idea."
In truth, I knew perfectly well. Unlike the other tests, the second one was something I'd designed from start to finish.
If the first test evaluated instantaneous judgment, the next one literally measured knowledge of magic. In short, it was a knowledge quiz.
If you're entering the Magic Tower and obsessed with magic, you should at least possess that much common sense.
And since a simple quiz would be boring, I'd added various event-like elements throughout. I was already tingling with excitement. Of course Riel had strongly opposed it, but this was one part I was so eager about that I intended to push through no matter what. The fact that I'd even be intervening here? The corners of my mouth kept rising and refused to come down.
This is why magic is fun.
To be precise, everything related to magic was fun. I loved magic research, but discovering new sprouts was also one of life's greatest joys.
Seeing this makes me miss those days.
My first meeting with Riel—the one she considered a dark history. It suddenly came to mind. Even now, just thinking about it made me want to laugh, but since she hated it, I couldn't mention it. What a shame.
Anyway.
"...Then I'll begin the second test."
With Riel's pleading look that begged me to please take it easy this time, we moved to the second location.
The second location was none other than a massive maze.
Creating this thing took a lot of work.
No shortcuts would work in this maze. The entire structure was enchanted with magic that prevented any form of penetration. To break through with shortcuts, one would need to be at a higher magical level than me. And if someone could actually do that, they shouldn't be applying to the tower—they should be challenging me to a one-on-one fight.
"Alright, I'll begin explaining the second test immediately. As you can see, this is a maze. However, the Tower Master has personally engraved magic throughout the entire structure, making any form of magical shortcut impossible."
She clapped her hands lightly.
"Here, you can only solve the maze and advance using your knowledge of magic. That's the end of the explanation. The remaining two hundred and fifty applicants will each be sent to different entrances. Since the maze formats are diverse, I hope you solve each section well as you encounter them. Ah, and the time limit is three hours. The condition is to completely break through the maze and reach the destination! I wish you all the best of luck."
Once the explanation ended, the two hundred and forty-nine people excluding me were sent to their respective entrances. The test had truly begun.
I was about to step into the maze entrance before my eyes when—
"Tower Master. You understand, right?"
Riel smiled at me as I stood alone by the entrance. To be precise, it was a smile that was smiling but not really smiling at all.
I nodded at the bloody warning, but...
What should I do...
Naturally, I had no intention of listening.
Zeon looked at the maze entrance that had unfolded before him. It seemed each person would begin from a different entrance.
This marked the true beginning of the second test, but Zeon's gaze lingered on the maze itself more than anything.
I can't even begin to guess how many spells are engraved into it.
It was something for which the word "overwhelming" felt insufficient. As expected, the title of the world's first Archmage wasn't just empty words.
A goal he wanted to reach. A goal he must reach.
Zeon took a deep breath. He was alone now, but nothing had changed.
Having steadied his heart, Zeon stepped forward. To achieve his goal.