The Magic Tower 2
Lawrence chose Water instead of ancient magic.
Water was a spell he had learned from a spellbook.
Its nature was different from the ancient magic he had learned in the Spirit World.
He thought that even if he showed it to someone, it wouldn’t cause any trouble.
He had no intention of revealing ancient magic inside the Magic Tower.
Judging by the clerk’s reaction at the Mistra magic shop, Void or Radiance would probably only make people wary.
It was foolish to expect a friendly response.
“Remember this well, Lawrence. To cross the wall is a taboo despised throughout history and across cultures. The magic of the Spirit World belongs to the Spirit World. To be different from others is to invite persecution and oppression. On the long road ahead of you, never forget that.”
Lawrence remembered Veles’ teaching.
This was the Magic Tower.
Since it gathered so many mages in one place, he needed to be as careful as possible in his dealings.
“I salute your scholarly passion for uncovering the mysteries of the world. You may enter, mage who seeks the road.”
The gatekeeper stepped aside at once and cleared the entrance.
After studying him cautiously, Lawrence entered the Magic Tower.
The moment he crossed the threshold, dense mana beckoned to him.
The entire tower felt as though it existed in a different space.
It was much the same sensation he had felt when he entered the Spirit World.
But only for an instant did that familiarity bring him comfort.
Lawrence sensed that something fundamental was different here.
Leaving aside the ease with which mana could be felt, there was a heaviness to the place.
His body felt less light, less refreshed.
If he had to compare it to anything, it was closer to a space suspended between the real world and the Spirit World.
The interior of the tower was dark in tone.
The faintly lit ceiling was so high he couldn’t tell where it ended.
Along the narrow corridor, stone statues of mages stood to either side, staffs in hand. At the tips of those staffs, glowing stone lamps shone like the poles that had once held Kaizle for lanterns.
Under that dim light, portraits mounted between the statues occasionally came into view.
The brushstrokes faded deeper inside, as if whispering of glory long past.
Before long, a desk that looked like a reception counter came into sight.
“Welcome to Sharnos Magic Tower, mage.”
The one who greeted him was a man shrouded in black from head to toe.
His black robe had blended into the tower’s darkness.
With his hood pulled low, his face could not be seen.
“This is our first meeting. I came to the tower in hopes of pursuing greater mysteries.”
“You have proven your qualifications. If you wish it, you may glimpse the wisdom held in the cradle, so follow me without concern.”
There was no need to ask whom he was meant to follow.
Without a sound, another man appeared ahead of him.
Like the man at the counter, he too wore a black robe.
The guide adjusted his hood and headed inside.
Lawrence followed after him, careful not to lose sight of his back.
How long had he walked behind him?
They reached a junction, and a maze of passages opened up before him.
There was the path straight ahead, just like the one he was on now.
There were staircases leading up to the upper floors and down into the basement.
Long corridors also extended to the left and right.
Now and then, mages dressed much like the guide appeared in the halls, then vanished again.
For a moment, the Shrine of Sorrow came to mind.
Back then they had not been mages but Penitents of Silence.
Even so, they had lived packed together in cramped quarters like this.
If he were to stay in the Magic Tower, would he have to live this way too?
Honestly, the idea didn’t appeal to him at all.
The guide headed down into the basement.
He descended in a spiral along the round staircase.
Stone lamps with lit flames were set at intervals along the stairs, so thankfully there was no danger of missing a step.
Looking toward the back as the man went ahead, Lawrence asked cautiously, “How many mages are there in the tower?”
He had hardly seen a single mage outside.
And yet inside the tower he had already seen several; when he thought about how mages would surely be living not only in the tower itself but in all the surrounding buildings, his feelings became strangely complicated.
“Well. Perhaps dozens. Or maybe hundreds.”
The guide gave him an ambiguous answer.
It had been a bad question. After sorting through his thoughts, the boy tried again.
“There are an awful lot of buildings outside the tower.”
“Those are the workshops provided by the Magic Tower.”
“Workshops?”
Lawrence could not hide his disappointment.
So that was what Lionel had meant by workshops….
They were nothing like Arwen’s workshop, from what he had seen.
The workshops crowding the outside of the tower were nothing but dull weeds with no character at all.
“Are you disappointed?”
“I thought mages studied magic in the tower.”
A small laugh stirred beneath the hood.
“Proving you are qualified to enter the tower and proving you are qualified to live in the tower are entirely different matters. If you wish to receive greater instruction, you must begin in a workshop and prove you can produce results worthy of life in the tower.”
The guide continued in a thoroughly businesslike tone.
“You’ll hear the details soon enough, but the tower will give you a single assignment. Study it and prove your results. That will in turn lead to your qualification to remain here. If you fail to do that, you’ll have no choice but to keep asking questions of the world’s laws.”
Outside, in one of those workshops, he added.
Only then did Lawrence understand what the workshops were for.
Not every mage could live in the tower.
The workshops were the quarters of mages who had not been admitted into the tower itself.
“Don’t be too disappointed. You have already proven that you can awaken and wield the mysteries of the world. That alone places you at a very different starting point from the average mage.”
“That sounds a lot like saying not every mage in a workshop can actually use magic.”
“Ahaha. Not every mage can use magic. You know that well enough, don’t you? Magic is not something so easy to learn.”
Lawrence nodded without thinking.
Even learning a single spell required tremendous effort.
The interpretation of the spellbook.
Grasping the true meaning hidden in its phrases.
To become skilled, one had to go through countless trials and errors.
“Most of the mages in the workshops are scholars. Not everyone who studies magic is the same kind of mage. But it’s all right. The Magic Tower is generous toward those who seek the world’s mysteries. If you can prove your qualifications through effort, they’ll gladly share knowledge with you.”
Even though it wasn’t the time to do so, Lawrence felt a little relieved.
Truth be told, the sheer number of workshops he had seen outside had left him uneasy.
After all, not just anyone could become a mage.
The man did not descend all the way to the bottom of the stairs.
He stopped around the middle, opened a door, and showed Lawrence inside.
The room’s layout was simple.
A few bookshelves and a round table.
The lamp’s glow pushed back the darkness.
There was another room visible inside, but the guide did not lead Lawrence that far.
“Wait here a moment. Someone will come out shortly. I’ll be waiting outside until your business is finished. I hope you’re able to glimpse the mystery you seek.”
The guide left the room behind.
Lawrence took a seat at the round table.
He did not have to wait long.
Before much time passed, another man entered the room.
“Oh… you’ve already arrived. Sorry I’m late. The tower’s been rather busy lately, so I’ve been rushed off my feet.”
“Not at all. I’ve only just arrived myself.”
“Is that so? Then the hurry was worth it. I’m Malcolm. Welcome to Sharnos Magic Tower, you feeble seeker of the world’s laws.”
The man was fussy in a way that made him seem perpetually in motion.
When Malcolm sat down opposite him, the lamplight revealed his face.
Deep dark circles hung beneath his eyes. His cheeks were gaunt.
His pale skin looked as if it had never once seen the sun.
How should he put it?
He looked like someone who had been shut away in a back room for years.
“Let me see. You proved your qualifications with Water, did you? If you don’t mind, could you show it to me once more here? Ah, if it’s difficult, you don’t have to do it right away. The tower’s interior does make it easier to handle mana than the outside, but you only used magic recently, so it must still be tiring.”
He spoke incredibly fast.
And because his pronunciation was somehow muddled, it was hard to catch everything he said. Still, Lawrence understood what he wanted.
“Water.”
With the activation word, magic manifested.
After looking at the Water spell, Malcolm nodded, murmuring, “Mm, mm.”
“Splendid. The casting is quick, and the execution is flawless. Among the mages who have visited the tower recently, yours is one of the finest displays of skill.”
“You flatter me.”
Lawrence smiled faintly.
No one disliked praise.
And this was the Magic Tower, where the kingdom’s mages gathered.
To be recognized for magic by someone who had surely met all sorts of mages carried a meaning that struck deep in the chest.
“Why did you come knocking on the Magic Tower’s door?”
“I want to learn magic.”
“You want to learn magic….”
Malcolm scribbled something on a wooden tablet.
“Good. Sharnos Magic Tower salutes your zeal for learning. The path toward mystery is open to all, but whether you can climb it depends entirely on your effort.”
He held out the tablet he had been writing on.
“Practical uses of the Water spell?”
“You seem to have talent with water-aspect magic. I picked the assignment for you at random. If you’d rather have a different one, I can give you another.”
So this must have been the assignment the guide had mentioned.
After a moment’s thought, Lawrence shook his head.
“No, a water-aspect assignment is fine by me.”
It was easier if they simply misunderstood him in the right direction.
Besides, Lawrence was active as a shadow mage.
He couldn’t rule out the possibility that the tower had heard of his exploits.
It might be a small deception.
But it was still better than doing nothing.
He had more reason to keep pushing a magic affinity far removed from his main specialties of Void and flame.
“So if I solve this assignment and come back, you’ll teach me magic. Am I understanding that correctly?”
“You’re quick on the uptake, which makes this easier. That’s right. Though of course, that only applies once you’ve produced sufficient results. It might end with a single task. Or you may have to solve more than ten.”
“Is there a clear standard? In what way does one have to produce results in order to be taught magic? In other words, how do I prove my qualifications?”
“Even if I explained it, you probably wouldn’t understand. The tower decides how the assignments are scored. Don’t worry. The dean, Androp, and the representatives of each department will handle the evaluation. If you achieve meaningful results, the tower won’t turn a blind eye to your efforts.”
Lawrence rested his chin on his hand.
No matter how he looked at it, it wasn’t a particularly convincing system.
He even felt an unpleasant suspicion that the tower was luring naïve mages in with magic as bait.
There was no such thing as kindness without a price.
The Magic Tower, where mages gathered, was surely no different.
To put it bluntly, it sounded as though they could freely seize research results that might take months to produce, then decide for themselves whether they counted and assign points accordingly.
In other words, if you failed to produce the results the tower wanted, you could spend months or years….
You would be stuck in a workshop doing research with no end in sight.
“If you’re worried about the place, you can rest easy. The tower rents workshops to the mages who are studying their assignments.”
His worries did not last long.
Since he had come all this way to the Magic Tower, he couldn’t return empty-handed.
Of course, if the stay dragged on too long, he intended to leave without hesitation.
“How do I rent a workshop?”
“Just fill out this paperwork.”
As if he had been waiting for it, Malcolm produced another wooden tablet.
It contained the purpose of the workshop rental and several blank fields.
“The fee for staying in the workshop is 5 silver a month.”
“You charge money to rent a workshop?”
Lawrence asked in disbelief.
Not only did they assign him research, they wanted him to pay for it too?
“Five silver is quite a reasonable price. The tower is guaranteeing your safety. Workshops are included within the tower’s autonomous district. There’s no criminal who would dare stir up trouble here. They know very well what would happen if they incurred the tower’s wrath.”
“Even so, 5 silver is too expensive. An inn would at least offer some basic conveniences. The tower doesn’t even have that, does it?”
“Ho ho ho. Naturally you’d say that. But don’t worry. The tower also provides easy work for mages who are short on coin.”
Malcolm spoke as though he understood perfectly.
“At the tower, we offer the mages in the workshops a job called mana crystal charging.”
“Mana crystal charging?”
“It means filling a mana crystal with mana. It stings a little, but it isn’t very painful. The procedure takes no more than about thirty minutes, either. There’s a slight headache afterward, though… well, headaches are eternal companions for us mages.”
He let the end of his sentence trail off a little.
“How much does it pay?”
“It depends on how much the crystal is charged. At minimum, we pay 5 silver, so it’s enough to cover the workshop rent.”
The pay was better than expected.
To earn as much as 5 silver in thirty minutes was no small thing.
“Five silver isn’t bad. That means I can rent it for a month every time I do one.”
“Yes. However, mana crystal charging is only available once a month.”
At that, Lawrence frowned.
He understood immediately what he meant, because it was a matter of money.
They gave exactly enough to rent the workshop, and not a single coin more.
By now, the Magic Tower no longer looked like a place without knives.
It was starting to look like a den of bandits.