The Trial of the Blind Liquid
Noa had only been a mage for a mere two months. His experience was sorely lacking, and his magical prowess itself was still pitiful. Because of that, he was of little help in most situations. Whether facing bandits, mercenaries, or the priests of the Evil God, Noa could do nothing but watch from behind. Of course, thanks to his rare affinity for the lightning element, he possessed some combat ability even at the 1st circle, but the truth was that it alone was far from enough to be useful. The party's combat strength was simply too overwhelming for something like that to make a difference.
There was Leon, the paladin candidate who had honed his sword for years in pursuit of justice. Muran, the prized disciple of the Alchemist Guild's capital branch chief. Jerry, the disciple of Archmage Adelian Croft. And then there was Ruina, Noa's master and the one who endlessly collected magic. Among them, Ruina was especially different. Despite being only at the 3rd circle, she possessed the greatest power in the group.
Noa wanted to become stronger. At the very least, he wanted to grow strong enough to be of help to his master, Ruina. It wasn't about repaying a debt or disliking being protected. Noa clearly understood that he was still young and that his career as a mage was far too short to become strong. However, he also knew well that remaining weak forever would not lead to anything good.
Noa recalled the distant past, then quietly shifted his gaze to the side.
1st Floor. Blind Liquid
The words that had appeared the moment they entered the tower. Blind Liquid. What that meant became clear the moment he looked straight ahead. A black slime wriggled and undulated. Noa recalled what his master had once said to the motionless slime embedded in place.
"A mage must be able to observe all things."
"When I say this, nine out of ten people simply stare at the object. They examine its appearance. They imagine what shape it takes."
"That is not observation."
"Observation means, precisely this."
"To grasp the essence of a thing—that is observation."
Noa picked up a pebble rolling on the ground and threw it near the slime. The stone rolled across the floor, sending out noise, but the slime remained still. From the fact that it stayed motionless even when someone stood right in front of it, he had guessed that its eyes had degenerated, but the experiment suggested its ears had degenerated as well.
Noa pondered. Essence. The essence of the slime. And beyond that, the essence of this tower. Archmage Adelian Croft had created the tower to nurture mages. Then one question arose. What kind of structure should a tower built to nurture mages have? What capabilities did a mage need?
……A slime that sensed mana. Hiding one's mana was Noa's specialty. The characteristic of "Trial" he had discovered in the lightning element was that it temporarily weakened mana. Noa focused his mind as much as possible and twisted his mana. Soon, a bundle of lightning was born. He threw the bundle of lightning—woven into a round shape and weakened to the level of static electricity—toward the slime.
The slime reacted by swelling its body at the sudden mana response, but the bundle of lightning reached it faster. Crackle! The weakening lifted and lightning spread in all directions. The lightning that pierced through the slime burst intensely, and Noa immediately threw another prepared bundle of lightning. Lightning illuminated the dark cave. Capturing the flashing light in his vision, Noa checked the slime, then narrowed his eyes.
The slime was still wriggling quietly in place. As if it had taken no damage at all.
No effect?
Noa was flustered by the slime that had endured the bundle of lightning so casually. As mentioned, Noa was a fledgling mage. If even one spell was blocked, all his means disappeared. What should he do? It was at that moment, as Noa racked his brain in the hopeless situation, that the slime's body suddenly condensed and shot forward as if springing out.
Noa rolled across the ground to dodge the slime. Boom! The slime slammed into the cave wall, sending shockwaves through it, then condensed its body once more. And it shot forward again. However, this time it aimed for an empty wall instead of the direction where Noa stood. Its senses had degenerated, so it could not accurately locate Noa's position. The slime bounced around, smashing the cave walls here and there. Noa swallowed hard and fixed his gaze on the slime.
For now, the slime was busy darting around the cave, so the danger of being attacked was low, but that would not last. If it continued sweeping the area at such speed, eventually the slime would fly toward Noa. Of course, he could dodge if that happened, but ultimately this was a matter of time. Fundamentally, unless he defeated the slime, it would inevitably crush him after endless attempts.
A method. He needed to find a method. While ducking to avoid the slime's charge, Noa turned his thoughts over. Why had the bundle of lightning not worked on the slime? There were two possibilities. Either it was immune to the lightning element, or his magic was simply too weak to penetrate the slime's defenses. In the former case, he could just use an attack of a different element, but Noa possessed no elements other than lightning. That method was unusable. And this was a tower built to nurture mages. It would not present an impossible method as training. Therefore, by elimination, the slime did not possess lightning immunity. The problem was simply that Noa's magic was too weak.
Strong magic. Reflexively, Ruina came to mind. Ruina, who summoned tree giants and unleashed compressed flames to sweep away all enemies. Noa gathered mana and activated a spell. He compressed lightning. Bolts of lightning wove together densely above his hand and condensed into a single point. —Then it futilely dispersed, scattering along with the mana. Failure. At that dismal sight, Noa rolled his body before he could feel disappointed. The slime dropped onto the spot where his mana had just been. Dodging the scattering rocks, Noa bit his lip.
It was easy to misunderstand because Ruina made it look simple, but compressing elements was an extremely difficult task. The reason Ruina could do it so easily was solely because she utilized the characteristic of "Equitable Exchange." For other mages to imitate that, they needed to be at least at the 4th circle. With elemental control below the 4th circle, it was impossible to compress elements in any meaningful way.
Noa thought of other spells besides elemental compression, but every single one was impossible for the current Noa to reproduce. In other words, there was only one way to overcome the current situation. He had to raise his circle. Using elements as tools, he had to understand the world. Ruina had once said,
"Magic cannot be taught to someone. Magic is the process of endlessly pushing oneself in order to discover something within. And only the person themselves knows what lies inside them."
Over the past two months, Ruina had instilled a great many things into Noa. Magical theory was one of them. What existed within oneself. What could that be?
"A mage's life is reflected in their magic. The fact that you discovered the characteristic of Trial in lightning is also a result of your life being reflected in it."
Noa calmed his eyes. Why had he discovered the characteristic of Trial in lightning? To Noa, life had been a trial. That had been an established fact ever since his family was burned to death by the priests of the Evil God. Life had been painful, life had been agonizing, life had been difficult. Therefore, it was a trial. Because a trial was a test that fate imposed upon humans.
But here a question arose. Why a trial, of all things? If it was painful, agonizing, and difficult, why not hardship or punishment instead of trial? Yet Noa had felt that lightning resembled a test sent down from the heavens and had realized the characteristic of Trial. He had not felt it as punishment. Why? Why was that? The answer was something Ruina had told him not long ago.
"It is a way to deepen one's understanding of elements. If it were me, I would have focused on the reward that comes after the trial."
"If only pain exists, that is simply punishment. Since a reward is given upon overcoming it, is it not called a trial?"
Indeed, Noa's life had been painful, agonizing, and difficult. However, he had not despaired. There had been too many people who helped him for him to fall into despair there. He could not stop. Therefore, it was a trial. Therefore, it was a test. Pain that could not be overcome was not called a trial. It was called despair.
Crackle. Lightning quietly lingered before Noa. Noa twisted the weakened lightning into a bundle and hurled it straight at the slime. Just before the bundle of lightning touched the slime, the weakening lifted. At the same time, its power amplified. In proportion to the time it had been weakened. Noa, who had torn the slime to shreds, named the magic. JeongroeA name his master had once given him. It suited perfectly the magic that had correctly "overcome" the "Trial."
CLEAR!
Reading the words, Noa let out a long breath. So rote learning really is effective, he muttered.
*
Sepia thought as she climbed the tower. She had expected much from a tower created by an archmage, but the result was disappointing. No matter the floor, after the first exploratory battle, the rest was smooth sailing. Far from testing the limits of magical ability, it was a situation that only made one yawn.
CLEAR!
After single-handedly wiping out an entire army, Sepia quickly moved to the next floor.
10th Floor. Cooperative Battle.
At the words that appeared in the air, Sepia furrowed her brows. Cooperative? Surprised by the change from how she had been acting alone until now, she looked around. However, there was no one. Am I the first to arrive? Just as Sepia relaxed her tension with that thought, someone spoke in a calm voice.
"What business do you have at my residence?"
Startled by the sudden situation, Sepia turned her head. The direction the voice had come from. There stood a young man with a composed expression. The young man spoke.
"Are you perhaps an assassin?"
"……."
"You do not look like an assassin, given the air of someone raised in luxury. What is your purpose?"
Instead of answering, Sepia aligned weapons of elements in the air. After all, the purpose of this tower was to defeat enemies. There was no reason to engage in conversation. Sepia fired the elemental weapons with full force. Immediately after, the young man murmured softly.
"A friend who gives a rather rough greeting."
Dragomil-style dual-wield swordsmanship, Form 1. Dark Dragon's Piercing Fang. Before she knew it, the sword in the young man's hand shot down all the elemental weapons. As Sepia stood dazed by that splendid swordsmanship, the young man smiled.
"My name is Valion Dragomil, but it seems you are not the type to exchange names."
Thus, the past of the man who would one day become the Empire's Greatest Sword slowly continued, his presence rising.
"I hope you will entertain me."