Successor of the Dragon

When I stepped out of the bank, Lim Sarang was waiting.

"Did you finish the exchange?"

"Yeah. You didn't see it?"

I'd walked out with a certain expectation brewing — what kind of reaction I'd get. Stream chat was one thing, but Lim Sarang, watching from right beside me, ought to give me something with a little more life in it.

She didn't.

This was the look of someone who hadn't seen a thing.

"Huh? Did the stream cut out?"

"No. While you're handling bank business, the broadcast feed pauses for privacy."

"Ah!"

Damn it. I'd been counting on clipping the part where I exchanged ten billion won and watching it make the rounds through the communities. What can I say — I'm a hopeless attention hound.

"Did you exchange a lot?"

"I'll show you."

I opened my status window and showed her the account balance.

"......No way."

Lim Sarang clapped a hand over her mouth.

The post-fee total didn't take them long to work out.

The world is full of rich people, and Haven is full of people who spend like it. Private individuals do it. Organizations do it, pouring money in as investment. Dig around and you might find more Haven Bank VVIPs than you'd think.

But one of them going out live on a stream — that was a first.

"As expected of you, Siwoo. You're amazing."

"Once you exchange it, money's for spending anyway, right?"

"Right."

Lim Sarang's expression hardened.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I think I underestimated you. Just a little."

"Eh?"

The sudden confession had me scratching my head. Had I done something wrong? Nothing came to mind.

"I'll aim two tiers higher than I planned and get you endgame gear. I'll stake my name on it."

"Ghk."

Grim with resolve, Lim Sarang got someone on the line.

Then she caught my wrist and pulled.

"Come on. We learn skills first."

Her enthusiasm looked about double what it had been a moment ago.

The Magic Tower rose high in the heart of the city — an ancient-style spire wedged between modern buildings. Magic Tower NPCs were stationed here, or so I'd heard.

"Whoa."

The outside was an ancient tower. The inside was modern through and through, from the front desk to the display counters selling every kind of magical item. Users crowded in to buy the potions and spell materials they needed. This was a place you visited at least once when you started the game.

"If a skill you've learned doesn't sit right, or you need a combat skill, you come to the Magic Tower to change it or expand your skill slots."

Skill slots increased by one for every ten levels, she said, and at each of those levels you also got one extra chance to add another slot.

"The materials are usually public knowledge, but nobody knows what it takes to expand a five-star class skill slot, so we start here. We check the materials, learn the skills, then we go to the auction house."

"Okay."

With a teacher this fired up, there wasn't much for me to do, which suited me just fine. And since she was a four-star mage ranker, the Magic Tower's NPCs ushered Lim Sarang through without delay.

"Siwoo."

"Yes?"

"Skill window!"

"......?"

"Say it out loud."

"Oh."

I said it, and it appeared.

A thoroughly unimpressive skill window. Staring at the empty slots left me unsettled.

"So this is another thing I'm supposed to pay to fill?"

"If you want SS-rank, yes."

"Hngh."

I was still bracing myself when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a mage of the Tower spoke.

"You are... a Dragon Words Mage, are you not?"

"Pardon?"

"It is an honor to meet you."

"Ah. Yes."

"Would you come this way? I shall escort you to the Magic Tower Lord."

"Pardon?"

"......"

The mage's sudden courtesy threw not only me, but Lim Sarang as well.

"What is this? I've never seen them act like this."

We rode the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor, and the scenery changed in an instant.

An elderly mage sat in a chairman's chair, looking exactly like something pulled out of a fantasy.

"Dragon Words Mage... O mage who inherits the blood of dragons."

The Magic Tower Lord of Korea rose from his seat, came all the way to me, and took my hand.

I had no idea what was happening, so I shut my mouth and watched.

"We have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been waiting. A promise of one hundred years — waiting only for the one who carries that blood to appear."

"......Pardon?"

"......"

A quest appeared at the same moment.

"Eh?"

"Lead our Magic Tower, O Successor of the Dragon."

"......"

"......"

Me. And Lim Sarang, watching from beside me.

And the viewers, whose numbers had somehow hit forty thousand.

For one long moment, every single one of us was lost.

I looked at Lim Sarang.

"What should I do?"

"Why are you asking me... it's your quest, Siwoo!"

"Is it okay if I just accept?"

"Of course!"

Lim Sarang shouted it, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

The Magic Tower Lord. An NPC, yes — but a name of tremendous renown across all of Haven. In Korea, a four-star mage past level 80. By Haven's measure, a ninth-circle mage. A figure every mage respected, user and NPC alike.

"Hmm. If I join the Magic Tower, there aren't any downsides, right? I don't want to get tied to some organization and dragged around."

"No. Being affiliated with the Magic Tower doesn't force you to do anything. I have a guild and a fixed party myself, remember? You simply become known when you pile up achievements under the Tower. You raise the Tower's fame, and you receive benefits through it. Every mage wants to belong to the Magic Tower."

"Aha."

In that case.

"Hey — but what's the Dragon's Staff?"

I asked before accepting. A staff handed over as a quest reward. It obviously looked like a weapon, but it had no grade listed, and I wanted to check.

Lim Sarang seemed curious too. Her eyes turned to the Magic Tower Lord.

Instead of answering, he drew aside the frame behind his seat and, from the space beyond it, brought out a single worn staff.

"A staff smelted from dragon scales. A hatchling's heart was melted into it whole. Only one who bears a dragon's power can wield it."

"Whoa."

I hadn't even completed the quest, but he offered it, so I took it.

Item grades, oddly enough, aren't ranked F through SS. They're sorted from one star to five. Nobody knows why. People say that's just how it is, so that's how it is — but this staff was six stars.

"Six stars exist?"

"First time I've seen one, too."

A growth-type weapon. No item options yet, but if they showed up once it found an owner, I'd know when I accepted.

"I'll join. The Magic Tower."

"Ho ho. I have waited only for this moment."

The Magic Tower Lord shed tears of pure emotion.

Was it really that big a deal? However self-aware an artificial intelligence might be, in the end he was an NPC belonging to this world, and if a quest had been written for him, something would have been planted to match. Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so, I dabbed at a tear of my own. Just a little.

"Ah. My blood feels like it's boiling. Must be because I've met an old friend."

"..."

Before he could think about taking the staff back, I hugged it tight against my chest.

The item's seal released.

And several options activated.

Curiosity followed on its own.

"Hmm. Is this good?"

"This is... this is completely ridiculous..."

It did seem good, though.

"Magic Tower Lord. You said this staff grows, didn't you?"

Lim Sarang asked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as if she couldn't believe it.

The Magic Tower Lord nodded.

"There are materials required for the staff's growth. Gather them and reinforce the staff, and its power will grow ever stronger."

And that was not the end of it.

"O Successor of the Dragon. Will you learn the spellbooks the Magic Tower has prepared? We hold several of SS rank."

"Oh?"

"Ah."

From the moment I'd stepped into the Magic Tower to this audience with the Magic Tower Lord, the viewer count had already blown past eighty thousand.