Adelian's Tower
Adelian's Tower was, in simple terms, a place designed to push a mage's capabilities to their absolute limits. It created obstacles that were nearly impossible to overcome unless a mage's abilities had reached a certain threshold, naturally guiding those who entered to grow stronger. That was the core mechanism of Adelian's Tower.
So here's the question: what exactly are the essential capabilities a mage must possess? The answer would vary from person to person, but Adelian seemed to have his own clear ideas. First, perfect mana control. Anyone who let mana leak was no mage in his eyes. That was why he had created those enhanced goblins—creatures whose every sense had atrophied except for mana detection, yet whose physical stats exceeded all limits. The goblins couldn't even infer an enemy's position from the mana they sensed. Therefore, they could only be defeated through pure, flawless mana control. These enhanced goblins were tailored to the challenger. If I had faced the same one Noa fought at the first circle, there would have been no answer. Most likely, the tower summoned monsters scaled to the challenger's level—creatures with weaker detection and physical abilities for first-circle mages, and correspondingly stronger ones for fourth-circle mages.
Anyway. If perfect mana control was the first quality of a mage, what came second? Adelian had an answer for that as well. You had to be able to wield the elements to call yourself a mage.
[2nd Floor. Fortress Escape]
Clank. I rolled my eyes at the heavy sensation around my wrists. Iron shackles bound both my hands and feet. Where was this? A prison? But the restraints were far too severe for a simple cell. Even the most vicious criminals wouldn't be locked up like this. I instinctively tried to draw up my mana and frowned. It wouldn't move properly. It wasn't completely unresponsive, but it felt sluggish—slow. Whether the restraints themselves suppressed mana or some other device was at work, escaping this state was the most urgent priority.
I gathered mana slowly, trying to weave a spell that could sever the shackles. Before I could properly collect it, the cell door opened. Footsteps approached, and the person who stopped in front of me spoke.
"Get up."
The voice was firm. Pretending to sleep wouldn't work. I slowly opened my eyes. The red-haired woman who met my gaze curled her lips upward.
"Tell me every member of your organization."
The members of my organization were a money-obsessed succubus, a man-seducing holy knight, a miniature magic vault, a gloomy alchemist, and a human lighter. "Not talking? You're stubborn."
The woman approached slowly, floated a bead of flame on her fingertip, and whispered, "Then I'll have to force your mouth open."
She pried my mouth open and shoved the flame bead inside. The fire slid down my esophagus into my body. This was—!
"Ah."
"Scared now? That flame is still under my control, but what happens if I let go?"
"Hoo-ah."
"Speak. Who's the boss of your organization?"
I closed my eyes. I could feel the magic burning hot inside my body. After years, I was experiencing that complete sensation again. I muttered quietly, "One more, please…"
"What the hell is this crazy bitch saying—"
The flame bead that had been burning inside me retraced its path and shot out through my mouth toward the red-haired woman. "Kyaaaaah!"
She clutched her face and rolled on the ground. Using the mana I'd slowly gathered, I formed a blade of wind and sliced through the shackles. Once free, I tried to summon wooden soldiers to restrain her, but my mana still wouldn't move properly. It seemed the problem wasn't just the restraints—the room itself, or perhaps my body, was the issue. In that case, there was no helping it. I controlled the already-activated flame to its fullest and dealt with the woman. The mystery that bent the laws required mana to activate magic. However, localized elemental control didn't necessarily need mana. Mages were those who understood and controlled the elements. Therefore, simply controlling the elements required only will. The red-haired woman, apparently lower in rank than her presence suggested, couldn't even block my elemental control and collapsed to the floor.
After stuffing the woman into a corner, I examined the cell. There were no lamps anywhere. If Adelian hadn't taken them, they must have simply disappeared. I glanced down at myself. My robe had at some point been replaced with something resembling prisoner's garb. Could this tower be letting us experience a virtual world? Then dying wouldn't matter, would it? I wondered why he hadn't mentioned such an important fact, but on reflection, withholding it probably made the training more effective. There were powers that could only be obtained by facing mortal danger, after all.
I stepped out of the cell. A long corridor stretched before me. I crossed my arms and thought. The walls were all made of stone, and there were no windows. Was this the basement of some fortress? If so, escaping meant going up. I began walking in search of stairs.
After walking for a while, two people appeared from the opposite direction. "What? How did you get out!"
They were holding torches to light the dark fortress basement. I flicked my fingers toward the brilliantly burning flames. The fire surged upward and engulfed the soldiers. Cutting through their screams, I felt why mages were respected. Non-mages were reluctant to fight mages. That was common knowledge to anyone who'd spent even a month in the mercenary business. Reluctant? That wasn't quite accurate. More precisely, non-mages—ordinary mercenaries—feared mages. That was why mages were respected. Respect came from fear.
A mage was someone who could defeat non-mages using only will to control the elements, without expending a single drop of mana. It would be stranger if they weren't feared. "Ugh." "I'd like to ask a question. Which way do I go to get out of here?" "Th-there." "Thank you."
I headed in the direction the soldier pointed. He hadn't lied—there were stairs leading upward. I took a torch as a protective measure in place of my sluggish mana and climbed.
"The witch has escaped!" "Didn't we give her the mana-suppressing potion?!"
The moment I reached the open hall, soldiers and knights scattered everywhere pointed at me in shock. There were quite a few knights. Knights were a bit troublesome when I couldn't use magic. Could it be that this educational tower had them learn liberation as well? They were probably only moderately strong. I brought every flame illuminating the fortress under my control. And then I scattered flames spectacularly. I blocked charging soldiers with walls of fire and gifted fireballs to knights who swung their swords through the flames. In the beginning, before magic existed, mages had fought by controlling only the elements. Reproducing that ancient style of combat, I felt a thrilling sensation. The elements felt closer. The elements looked closer. The elements were grasped more closely. My sense of understanding the elements had diminished. That was something Kelton had taught and Adelian had confirmed. It hadn't changed. But from now on, within my limits, I felt I would understand the elements better.
"A m-monster." After burning the last remaining knight, I climbed all the way to the top of the fortress. The moon hung in the night sky. Below it spread the encampment. And floating in the center of the encampment's sky was a black-haired, blue-eyed beauty. "I've put up with a lot, but I can't tolerate someone ruining my work."
Though hundreds of meters away, the voice sounded as clear as if spoken right in front of me. Probably everyone in the fortress was experiencing the same thing I was. "Because, you see—" The black-haired, blue-eyed beauty created a massive rod of flame in the air. The complex-shaped rod spun at tremendous speed, and enormous bands layered around it. Dozens of bands roared as they rotated, and the black-haired, blue-eyed beauty—Adelian—finished speaking. "You ignored me, so you did something like this, didn't you?"
I threw myself out of the fortress. No wonder it had felt strangely easy. Was he appearing in person at the end to raise the difficulty? This wasn't fair. Using the mana I'd gathered in advance, I created wind currents to land on the ground and immediately ran forward. At the same time, the Roaring Wheel was unleashed, dyeing the world red. I glanced at the waves of fire spreading in all directions and focused my mind. Thanks to this, I would definitely get some elemental control training done.
*
Adelian, who had popped a dried fig into his mouth, muttered quietly, "Kelton. Did you really take in a proper disciple?"
Adelian recalled the scene he had just witnessed. The situations on the second floor varied greatly, but in Ruina's case, it had triggered the torture scenario. The point of the torture scenario was simple: to maintain elemental control even in extreme situations where concentration was difficult. He had thought it was a basic quality every mage should possess, but the recent events had slightly shaken that belief. It was all because of his disciple's disciple, who seemed to enjoy having a fireball shoved inside her body. Even now, his disciple's disciple was desperately blocking the Roaring Wheel Adelian had unleashed in the past while looking delighted. She wasn't just someone who liked being burned. No wonder she had burns all over her body. Kelton, you must have had a hard time.
Shaking his head, Adelian soon surveyed other parts of the tower. Jerry, fallen into a lava cave; Ferant, repeatedly having his head severed by goblins on the first floor and retrying infinitely. And numerous mages from various magic towers. They were quick with news. They had already entered. Though he had deliberately summoned the tower in the middle of the plains so they would. Adelian scanned the many mages rapidly clearing the tower before fixing his gaze on one. So. Just how talented would his disciple's disciple's disciple be? He was looking forward to it.