No Coordinates Required

Is that hard?

I lifted my head and stared at the message floating in front of me again.

Right then, two skill cards slowly materialized in front of me.

One brown, the other silver. Bronze and Silver cards, in other words.

What tower climbers looked forward to most were the rewards every five floors. I was no different. Especially this time—I was excited at the thought of filling one more slot in my Memorize skill.

So of course my lips twisted into a crooked line.

A sigh full of utter disappointment slipped out. This wasn’t some random floor—it was the tenth. And the best I got was a Silver-grade reward? Might as well have just given me a truckload of mana stones instead. I grumbled under my breath.

That was when it happened.

Ding—

“Oh, right. Record update.”

The exclamation came out naturally. The cards floating in front of me began to spin, each glowing with a shifting color. Bronze turned to silver. Silver turned to gold.

There was no need to choose carefully. It was obvious.

Last time on the fifth floor, the skill I pulled from a Gold card was Lightning Bolt. It was a common skill, but when combined with my natural lightning, the synergy was insane. So what about this time?

Without hesitation, I reached for the gold card on the right.

The moment my fingertips touched it, the card spun rapidly before stopping in a burst of light. The name of the skill engraved on it shone clearly in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my eyes.

“…Quake? Like an earthquake? Or just vibration?”

I tilted my head slightly, holding the card as I read through the full skill description. After finishing it, I frowned, staring blankly into space with a dumbfounded expression.

Quake. A vibration skill. I’d been hoping for something at least related to lightning.

Disappointment washed over me. Sure, I could shake the ground and split it open to use as an attack. But would it actually synergize with my lightning? I couldn’t picture anything right away. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine what kind of combo it would create.

The only thing that came to mind was shaking the enemy’s balance with tremors before sniping them with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lightning Bolt.

“Hmm.”

When I thought about it that way, it did seem to have decent utility. Still, something about the tempo and efficiency felt off.

For a moment, I considered asking the Gallery out of frustration—how exactly I should use this skill, whether it was actually useful, if I was missing some hidden advantage. But I shook my head and dropped the idea.

“If I ask, they’ll just chew me out again. They’ll go on about how I’m a brain-dead idiot. I can already hear all four verses of the lecture.”

Getting advice and nagging was fine, but only for a day or two. There was a reason people said experience was the best teacher. Skills only revealed their true worth once you used them yourself.

Luckily the arena was completely empty, and I still had plenty of time left on the clock. There couldn’t be a more perfect place to test a new skill.

I took a stance right in the center of the arena and thought for a moment. Using it on the ground was too obvious. Vibration was ultimately about shaking something and creating waves. Did I really need to use the earth as the medium? What if I used it somewhere else?

The thought suddenly hit me.

“Now that I think about it, if I make the air vibrate… that might actually be useful.”

Since I had nothing to lose, I decided to just try it. If it worked, I’d gain an unpredictable form of attack.

I closed my eyes and focused on my mana core. Drawing mana into my right hand, I stared at a single point in the empty air ten meters ahead. Then I quietly spoke the activation word.

That was the moment.

At the exact point I had designated, the space began to ripple ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like it was twisting. It warped and distorted, creating a bizarre phenomenon. And then something far beyond what I had imagined occurred.

Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii—!!!!

The sound slammed into my ears. A horrifying metallic screech, like two pieces of metal grinding against each other, pierced straight through my skull.

I frantically covered my ears with both hands and collapsed to the floor. The vibration that had erupted in mid-air had transformed into a high-frequency wave and hammered my eardrums. A ringing filled my head, followed by overwhelming dizziness and nausea.

My vision kept spinning. The arena walls even looked like they were overlapping in doubles. It took a long time before the strange phenomenon finally began to subside.

Panting heavily, I pushed off the floor and struggled to sit up. My body was still a little shaky, but there was one thing I absolutely had to say.

I’d only meant to create some vibrations, but this was what happened. Could armor even defend against a phenomenon like this? Could mana shielding block it?

In other words, I had just obtained the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ultimate CC ability that couldn’t be stopped by raw defense. …Goddamn.

I had cast it ten meters away, yet the effect on me was still this strong. If a monster had been standing right next to me?

I didn’t know the exact numbers, but it was obvious the results would be devastating. At the very least, a stun. Then I could follow up with another skill and it would be over. Just imagining it sent shivers across my entire body.

And then I thought—wouldn’t it be a waste to keep this incredible discovery to myself?

Still staggering a little, I opened the Gallery and started writing a post.

The moment I posted it, comments flooded in like they had been waiting for me.

A festival of question marks followed, along with pure confusion. The usual crowd that only ever roasted me was now reacting with genuine bewilderment.

I tilted my head at their responses.

“…? Why are they like this? Did I write something wrong?”

I’d honestly just wanted to brag a little. While I was still feeling puzzled, a new post caught my eye. The author was Archmage.

…Yeah, I didn’t understand a single word of that. Seriously. I really didn’t get it.

“…Hmm.”

“Ugh…”

They were serious. They were having an extremely earnest, serious discussion about exactly how I had managed to pull it off. Ah, what a beautiful scene of intellectual debate. This was the Gallery’s true purpose.

They passionately discussed how casting magic in mid-air required an incredibly high level of mana control and computational ability, all while treating me like some kind of monster.

But honestly, I didn’t understand a single thing they were saying. I just blinked.

Coordinates? Axis calculations? Why would I do any of that?

All I did was look at the empty space in front of me and think, It’d be nice if Quake happened right there. Then I spoke the activation word.

Hmm. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with an answer. Maybe it was because I had a natural lightning affinity. Or because I had learned the Regia cultivation method, which was especially effective for those with natural elements. So I could intuitively feel the atmosphere itself.

Even as I thought it, I realized how ridiculous it sounded.

I let out a small chuckle. And then I thought—This is it. This was exactly what I had been looking for!

With that in mind, I happily wrote another post in the Gallery.

Then I closed the Gallery.

It had been an incredibly good day. Ahahaha.

“Uahaha!”