Magic Tower Ascent
“Climbing the tower?”
Rowen couldn’t quite believe it. The woman standing before him was none other than Yuria Scarlet, the mistress of this very Magic Tower. Just moments ago, she’d descended from the top floor to this ground level in one effortless motion. And now she was suggesting they climb the tower?
“Don’t bullshit me.”
Arahan spoke for him, her thoughts mirroring his exactly. Of course, if Yuria hadn’t offered a ride, they would’ve climbed on foot. But the situation had changed.
“Can’t you just teleport us up there like you did before?”
“Of course I can~”
“...Then why the hell not?”
“Well… this is a personal request of mine.”
Yuria paused dramatically. Rowen tilted his head.
“Truth is, I’m interested in you…”
“Young master, we need to kill this bitch right now!”
“Hold on, Arahan!”
“What the fuck did that cunt just say?”
Yuria burst out laughing, clearly amused by Arahan’s reaction. Rowen just felt a pang of unease. He grabbed Arahan’s hand, steadying her. Surprisingly, her tense expression softened as she leaned into him.
“Puhahaha! That’s so cute. I don’t hate it.”
“Enough. Cut the crap. What’s your real goal here?”
“I already told you.”
“What?”
“That I’m interested in you. Well, more precisely, in your fundamental ‘power.’ I want to see it. It might sound a bit weird, but I can sense my master’s aura in you.”
Rowen thought it was for the best, actually. He needed her cooperation to learn about the holy sword’s traces and Mio’s whereabouts anyway. Revealing his past life would be the quickest way. But with Arahan right there… He felt bad, but he wanted to keep it from her.
Rowen’s face grew complicated. Yuria ignored him and Arahan, approaching a square object on the floor. She input a simple rune language into it, and a portal door opened—leading to the upper floors.
“Neat.”
“It’s called a ‘console.’ Technology has advanced since a thousand years ago. Input the rune language here, and it takes you to whatever floor you want. Those guys suck, but their tech is solid~”
“...The North is still a land of swords and magic, though.”
“Lianod and Kalia Rune are the same. Our Magic Tower just built on Arkanthia’s tech from five hundred years ago!”
“...This is magitech too, huh?”
“Ufufu, unlike my incompetent disciples, I don’t mess with magitech.”
It was a probing question. He’d felt a twinge of unease. Arkanthia’s flying ships were outside, and he’d heard the Magic Tower had fallen under their control. He’d wondered if she’d sided with them. But it seemed like unfounded worry. She knew they dabbled in magitech, but she didn’t touch it herself. She still saw it as dangerous power.
“With a mage of your caliber, you could’ve kept them at bay. Why didn’t you?”
“It’s a bit embarrassing, but…”
Arahan didn’t like the dramatic pause. Look at her twisting her body like that—like a fox swishing its tail.
“Spit it out.”
“I was so absorbed in my research that I ignored the outside world… A woman like me, so careless! I’m totally unqualified as a Grand Master!”
“What?”
Rowen was dumbfounded. Was that her answer? She didn’t seem to be lying, which made it even more absurd.
Who was Yuria Scarlet? The strongest mage in the world right now. Known as a psychopath who lived and died for magic. Smarter than anyone. That was the common lore.
Rowen felt a bit disappointed.
“...Disappointed in a sloppy woman like me…?”
“Yeah, hugely.”
“Hiiing…”
“...Young master, I’m starting to doubt if this woman’s really the tower master.”
“Me too.”
Yuria felt a little hurt by Rowen and Arahan’s reactions. She just wasn’t interested in the outside world! Besides, Arkanthia invading the North was none of her business. As long as they didn’t interfere with her research, she didn’t care what they did. That’s why she’d let them into the tower. But she didn’t like them.
So she decided. To see Rowen’s power up close, he’d need to fight. If he fought her, he’d be ash in an instant. So she’d throw those annoying Arkanthian soldiers at him as bait.
“I’m interested in your power.”
“So you want to see it?”
“Yes! And as long as possible, if you can.”
“That’s why you want us to climb the tower from the start?”
“Exactly.”
Rowen sighed. It was a hassle, but thinking back to how he’d massacred them in the port city, it wasn’t so bad. He’d come to this tower to cut loose anyway. The target had just appeared right in front of him—it didn’t change what he’d planned to do.
“But don’t you have disciples up there?”
“They’re obsessed with magitech. Master Mio wouldn’t tolerate such heretics.”
“...Yeah, she hates magitech that much. No way she’d allow it.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. So we just take this portal?”
“Yep, wipe them out the moment you see them~”
Rowen felt a chill at Yuria’s casual, grinning delivery of such a brutal line. At the same time, he liked her fiery personality. At least she wasn’t his enemy. She didn’t hate Arkanthia like he did, but she disliked them thanks to her master’s influence. It was a good moment for Rowen.
“You said you’re curious about my power because I remind you of your master the hero?”
“Yes!”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Rowen said it flatly. Neither Arahan nor Yuria understood. But it took less than ten minutes for Yuria to grasp his words.
*
Rowen watched the Arkanthian soldiers charging at him. They’d stood still when he entered boldly, but now every one drew a magitech-enhanced greatsword.
“It’s Valenos’s bastard!”
“Looks just like the wanted poster.”
“...Who are those two with him?”
“The Grand Master?”
“What? That woman’s the Grand Master you were talking about?”
Anyone hearing this would think he was the criminal. Rowen clicked his tongue and spun up his core. Yuria watched in admiration. The precise mana refinement her master had taught her, the amplification methods—all of it was visible and palpable in Rowen.
“Ice Hell.”
A simple rune incantation. Cyan flames trailed his path, scorching the air. With blue sword aura, Rowen swung his Ice Blade in a star pattern, detonating flames simultaneously. It looked like countless shooting stars tracing a picture in their trails.
A chain-explosion spell of cyan flame.
“Stardust.”
As Stardust erupted in countless blasts, the imperial soldiers’ heads exploded too. No guilt. If they were asking about guilt now, they were idiots. Rowen had lost too much. No one could replace that sorrow. Family wasn’t something you could substitute.
Yeah, that was it. The root cause of losing his family stood before him. So he had to kill them. Otherwise, this emotion wouldn’t heal—it would drag him deeper. So he killed. For his current goal, too.
“...He’s really the bastard son?”
“If the bastard’s this strong, how tough is Kael Valenos?!”
Rowen’s blade grew sharper.
“...Don’t you dare speak that name.”
They hadn’t killed his brother. Arkanthia had stolen his home and killed his father. But they were enemies still. Hearing that name from mouths ignorant of Kael’s death, Rowen just amped up his magic.
Arahan stayed back. For Rowen’s sake, and to watch from afar. His wounds ran deep. She knew he shouldn’t be consumed by rage. But revenge was what kept him in check now. So she decided: once things settled, let him rest plenty.
“...Impressive.”
Yuria observed Rowen from beside Arahan, tracing his mana flow, peering into his essence. Something alien was bound to his soul, as expected. She recalled her master’s words.
‘This power… even if I told you, you couldn’t obtain it.’
It hit her like a brick to the back of the head. Now she got it. Curiosity and desire didn’t grant it. She’d thought as Mio’s contractor, she could grasp the essence. Naive.
That power. That soul-etched pattern. Not for anyone—only the chosen.
“Angel’s Blessing!”
The power Mio always showed. Proof of the hero. But why him…?
—You’ll find out soon enough.
Rowen’s words echoed. Countless calculations raced through her mind.
“Shall I take a peek inside?”
Yuria reached the truth. In that brief moment, she saw his essence. The boy was gone from her eyes. Deep in the abyss slept a man. Arms and legs severed, breathing ragged. He who followed fate without resistance, God’s emissary meeting death.
A demon sword pierced his blue heart, blood streaming from his forehead. Through half-lidded, weary eyes, a man lingered by Rowen’s side.
*
Yuria naturally ventured into Rowen’s abyss. A man bound by thick chains around his torso. No limbs, severed stumps blurred like mosaics in the gloom. In the darkness, Rian Rose stared straight at her.
No illusion—this was real. He who walked the path forced by the God of Fate showed sunken eyes. His wounded heart showed no spark of warmth. But he lifted his head at the woman before him—Mio’s disciple, a comrade he cherished in memory.
“You’re…”
“How utterly bleak. Nothing like the outside.”
“So you’ve come all the way here.”
“Yes, my eyes are a bit special~”
More noble than any, racing for his father’s vengeance. Son of Lianod’s founder ‘Lianod Rose,’ only child of the greatest hero ‘Liandri Rose.’ Sole survivor of the Rose Family. Many titles, but one sufficed: Great Knight, Rian Rose.
With eyes that saw essence, Yuria glimpsed his past life, if only briefly.
“That line about finding out soon—did you notice my eyes?”
“...You take after Mio. A disciple, huh? Calling yourself that without mastering those eyes is just arrogance.”
“Hehe, funny. Now I get why Master talked about you every day.”
“Mio did?”
Rian pondered. How much time had passed since his death, alone like this? Mio had been his partner from way back. It made him a little sad. Companions he’d sworn to spend life with—gone. No traces left. Honestly, lonely.
“It was all my fault.”
“Pardon?”
“...My eyes blinded by revenge. We should’ve stuck together from the start… My fault. All my fault…”
Clang—
Guilt’s chains bound him tight. He couldn’t move. Trying only crushed him with memories and wounds. Rowen bore the same, marching on with unhealed heart-scars.
Yuria crouched before him.
“You’re exactly as Master described.”
“...What’d Mio say?”
“Hmm… A moron who blames himself for everything, idiot, pushover, worm, dullard, fool, etc. Lots of nicknames.”
“Haha… Nothing’s changed.”
“That consistency is Master’s charm. Though she’d cry thinking of you sometimes.”
“...”
Rian looked at the floor, then back at Yuria. He tried not to look down—those who do lack self-esteem. But his head grew heavy.
“...Why’d you come?”
“Hm?”
“You saw proof I’m the hero. No need to dive this deep.”
“Hehe, ‘just curiosity!’ would be a lie. Truth is, there’s something to discuss away from her eyes.”
Arahan, surely.
“...Even that innocence is like her.”
“A compliment?”
“Who knows.”
“You’re hiding your past life from her, right?”
Rian nodded. Behind his chain-bound form loomed a massive mirror. There stood Rowen, bloodied. Forced fate. A path too grim to face head-on.
Yuria embraced Rian’s form.
“Worried?”
“...I can see it, but the current ‘me’ can’t. He won’t remember most of this talk.”
“Don’t worry too much.”
“...Thanks.”
“And I won’t tell her about your past life~”
“Good.”
Silence fell briefly. Yuria tilted her head.
“Hmm, you’re quieter here than outside.”
“...What bullshit.”
“The foul mouth’s the same, though.”
Yuria giggled, her smooth body quivering with each shoulder shake, exposed brazenly.
“Anyway, to business. Great Knight Rian—hehe, Rowen now?”
“Call me whatever.”
“Right~”
Yuria paused, then asked.
“...You’re looking for my master right now, aren’t you?”