The Jusaek Magic Tower (Part 1)

Peace had returned to the gallery after what felt like an eternity.

Gone, for the moment, were the grueling days when dozens or hundreds of Gallums vanished every day, days choked with tactical nukes, inflammatory ragebait, and degenerate smut. Filling a bathtub I had purchased from the shop with fresh water, I dropped a single Heat Stone into the basin.

Bubble, fizz...

"Magic really is something else when you stop to think about it."

Heat Stones were originally an obnoxious byproduct left over after wizards concluded their experimental rituals in the Magic Tower. Whenever struck or fractured, they blasted out scorching heat, making them difficult and hazardous to casually discharge into the open environment. Yet that troublesome nuisance had crossed paths with modern bathing culture and finally found its true calling.

"I remember hearing that the Magic Tower was pulling in a rather handsome profit off these things lately."

I fished out the spent, cooled stone and sank deep into the steaming water. Sweating out the fatigue while indulging in a long-overdue soak, with a frosty glass of orange juice resting within arm's reach—now this was bliss.

"Aaah, this is the life."

With an untroubled mind, I leaned my head back against the tub's rim. A man had to savor peace whenever it deigned to visit. Constant debates and flame wars did nothing but rot the brain. What sort of bait would be drifting across the front page today? Would WholesomeModest ever muster the nerve to post a selfie?

Idle thoughts drifted through my head as I tapped open the gallery interface.

"Ah."

Of course. Why did I even hope otherwise?

The gallery was already boiling over, teetering on the brink of yet another catastrophic meltdown.

The sole magical spire standing in Kellierton: the Jusaek Magic Tower.

The genesis of this problem stretched back to shortly after Kellierton was first founded as a sovereign kingdom.

Just another typical shitpost on the board. At the time, I had written it off as nothing more than the delusional rambling of an eccentric gamer. Building an entire citadel out of thin air simply to fish for attention seemed a little excessive, after all.

Yet it hadn't been an empty bluff.

Against all odds, the madman had actually erected a ten-story magical tower. Right in the middle of the ground-floor lobby hung a portrait of an ethereal, gorgeous young maiden, which he proudly proclaimed to be me. To make matters even wilder, every wandering caster who had defected from Adrian had gathered under its roof, swelling its ranks until the enterprise became far larger than anyone had anticipated.

"And what was it they supposedly researched again? Magitech?"

Every magic tower had its specialized discipline. The Jusaek Magic Tower had dedicated itself to Magitech. Enchanted by the modern commodities I had continuously circulated into this fantasy realm, they had turned their sanctuary into a laboratory dedicated to deciphering my 'magic'—which wasn't magic in the slightest.

As a natural consequence, they produced the largest volume of Heat Stones in the entire realm. Up until recently, that hadn't posed the slightest problem.

Buyers across Kellierton, and even as far away as Adrian, lined up to snap up the burdensome waste. Using the system's Barter tab made physical delivery unnecessary, allowing instant trade across vast distances. Naturally, every transaction cut a neat little processing fee that funneled straight into my private dimensional warehouse, making me quite content with the arrangement.

The trouble began the moment the dwarves took notice.

The dwarven clans bought out the entire market. In fact, calling it cornering the market wasn't even accurate, because the moment they received a shipment, they burned through every single stone immediately. Surprisingly, their domestic bath consumption far outstripped their smithing needs, mostly because the bearded mountain folk had fallen in love with hot baths long before it became a kingdom-wide fad.

"That genuinely catches me off guard. Clean dwarves?"

Yet when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠viewed from another angle, it made total sense. Covered head to toe in coal grit and subterranean grime after grueling mining shifts, they craved thorough hygiene more desperately than anyone else.

Under the fiery fervor of dwarven demand, the supply vanished. It wasn't merely depleted; it was utterly wiped out. Discontent brewed naturally across the human populace. Why were they selling out the entire inventory to outsiders who weren't even Kellierton citizens, let alone human?

Eventually, the Gallums marched right up to the gates of the Jusaek Magic Tower. The cultured, enlightened citizens of Kellierton had no choice but to stage a righteous protest.

"Storm Mage, you wretched little scammer!"

"Normalize the pricing immediately!"

"It's all scripted banter until someone catches hands—take it any further and we're going full UFC. Anyone looking for a french kiss from my left fist?"

"Lmaooo look at this clown cowering inside because he's terrified."

Trapped inside the citadel, staring down the roaring mob outside, the Storm Mage was forced to take decisive action.

The fist was always closer than the law. In the end, the Storm Mage had bent the knee to the citizens' 'reasonable' protest.

Squeak.

"What the hell? How did a rat get down here?"

Stepping out of the bathroom to fetch a fresh glass of juice, I caught the faint rustle of a rodent near the ventilation shaft. It appeared to have gotten lucky and slipped through the airway, only to run dead into my enchanted armory. Leaving the frantic rodent to play a high-stakes game of tag with the Holy Sword and the Masterpiece Sword, I strolled back into the warm bathroom.

"I've been seeing a lot more rats around lately."

Had the cleaner streets made people lazy about vermin extermination? Tossing the thought aside, I reopened the gallery.

An all-out racial holy war was brewing across the boards. And predictably, the buck eventually stopped with me.

"Hey, I love taking baths too."

This wasn't something I could just gloss over. After pondering the matter, I drafted a quick announcement.

Just as I expected, absolute pandemonium.

The pushback from the dwarves was particularly ferocious. Having treated me as a sworn brother for so long, their sense of betrayal stung that much deeper.

Perhaps because they had remained quiet and reserved for so long, their passion for Heat Stones—the one obsession rivaling their love for liquor—proved entirely unshakeable.

Left with no alternative, I sighed and pushed myself up from the tub.

"...Guess I've got to play this card."

I really didn't want to sink to this level. Wearing an expression steeped in utter exhaustion, I pointed my camera downward, snapping a picture of my shivering hand alongside the murky bathwater, and promptly uploaded it to the forum.

The tide turned instantly. Moments later, the Supreme Storm Mage dropped a follow-up announcement.

And just like that, the great Heat Stone crisis came to an end.

A fresh batch of Heat Stones clattered into my inventory. Dropping one into the chilly water, I watched the basin instantly churn with soothing warmth, steam rising like a secluded outdoor hot spring.

"Ah, paradise."

Letting the soothing heat seep deep into my muscles, I resolved to browse the forum in complete serenity this time around.

Roughly an hour or two had slipped by.

Stepping out of the bath, I took a refreshing sip of chilled orange juice and hit refresh on the gallery feed.

"Ah, shit."

We had succeeded in imposing purchase quotas—only for the black-market prices to go batshit insane.