Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Dormitory and the Faulty Lamp
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After knocking out the paperwork with 'Excel'.
I clocked out.
...More precisely, I was ordered to clock out.
"Clock out?"
"Yeah. There's nothing left for you to do, right?"
"..."
What was this?
Wasn't the standard procedure to work new hires to the bone for a few weeks?
Giuseppe tilted his head at my words.
"Is that some school's tradition?"
"...Well."
I couldn't exactly say it was from some graduate program back in Korea.
"Tch. Whoever they are, they clearly don't value their newbies..."
"..."
"Anyway, you probably haven't even unpacked in the dorm yet. Head back and get some rest."
Giuseppe flashed a bright smile as he continued.
"See you tomorrow. You better show up...!"
His light tone carried a hint of steel beneath it.
I wondered what would happen if I didn't come in tomorrow?
...My scholarly curiosity was piqued, but I held back.
Instead, I gave a short reply.
"Yes. See you tomorrow."
And with that, I headed out.
When I stepped out of the annex, the sun was still high in the sky.
I paused for a moment to bask in the sunlight.
It had been ages since I'd clocked out before the stars came out.
The Magic Tower dorms were inside the tower itself.
Studying in the Magic Tower, working in the Magic Tower, resting in the Magic Tower...
"Feels just like livestock."
I muttered that as I stood at the dorm entrance.
At least my lab was in the annex, so maybe I was free-range livestock?
Who even provided dorms for grad students in the first place?
I headed straight to the dorm management office.
The staff assigned me a guide: one grad student from the dorm listings.
"Hi. I'm Floor Manager Ellara. Nice to meet you."
"...Isaac."
Note: not the Dean, but Floor Manager.
Floor Managers oversaw the dorms and got scholarships as compensation for their labor.
But this insane Magic Tower even had those?
"Next thing you know, they'll be doing roll call..."
Ellara responded instantly to my mutter.
"You're right. We do roll call."
"...For real?"
"Kidding. This isn't the army."
"..."
Ellara seemed like a bit of a prankster.
I followed her around the dorms.
The cafeteria.
The gym.
And so on.
As we toured every corner, she suddenly stopped dead in front of an utterly ordinary staircase.
"Hold on a sec."
Ellara stepped up onto the stairs with me and continued.
Then.
Kuung!
The massive stone staircase began to move.
"This is the most important part: the Floating Stairs."
"Floating Stairs...?"
"You never used them going to your school?"
"No, my school's in the annex."
"Oh dear..."
Ellara averted her eyes awkwardly.
The annex must be treated like some kind of exile spot inside the tower.
No other way to explain that reaction.
Gugugugu.
The way the stairs moved gave me a massive sense of déjà vu.
'This isn't Harry Potter, is it...?'
I glanced down below the railing.
'If I fell, I'd be dead for sure.'
"No fall-prevention spells, by the way. So don't get on drunk."
"...Got it."
Thud.
The Floating Stairs stopped at the third-floor railing.
My assigned room was 304.
Pretty far in the corner.
We walked to the end of the hall.
"This is unusual, though."
"What is?"
"Dorm floors reflect student performance. Publish good papers, and your floor goes up."
"Whoa..."
Everyone knew the tower floors reflected professors' power, but this was new.
Master's students getting competitive like this, and not even PhD level?
I asked Ellara.
"So third floor... that's kinda bad?"
Not like I'd get expelled if I dropped to first, right?
She stared at me blankly.
"Not at all."
Her tone was firm.
"I'm on the second. Third is great."
"Huh...?"
"Floors four and up are PhD only. No matter what you do, master's maxes at three."
"..."
This was weird.
What had I done to deserve such a good spot?
"Maybe you aced the entrance exam? I hear top scorers sometimes get perks."
"Hmm... no way."
I'd fudged the answers just enough to submit.
First place? That paper screamed first floor.
"Or maybe you have connections high up?"
"No chance. Uphills is my family name. I'm an orphan."
"..."
Ellara's face froze instantly.
Damn. My bad.
Uphills was the surname given to orphans rescued from the northern beast frontlines.
'Didn't mean to advertise the orphan thing...'
I just wanted to say I had no connections, but it came out wrong.
"..."
"..."
The mood was shattered.
Not a confession attack, but an orphan attack.
'Who's gonna show me around the dorm now...'
A moment later, Ellara spoke up.
"Sorry... I'll watch my words from now on."
"No need."
"..."
Too late for awkward laughs now.
Time for other thoughts.
Why the third floor, though?
Someone pulling strings?
'No way it's that elf Dean...'
...Anything but that.
Fine with a dying emeritus prof, but getting noticed by long-lived elves meant a lifetime of hassle.
Lost in random thoughts, we reached my door.
"Here we are."
"Yep. Thanks."
I bowed slightly to Ellara.
"Take care. Hit me up if you need anything."
"Will do."
With that, I escaped into my room, victim of the orphan attack.
But they say no paradise in a runaway's refuge.
Kiiik-
The door swung open to a musty smell of old paper and ink.
'Feels like a decent-sized studio apartment...'
The room was about 20 pyeong, pretty spacious, but one corner was buried under a mountain of books.
'That's why it feels cramped.'
A guy sat amid the book piles.
He jumped at my footsteps and looked up.
Skinny build, thick glasses, dark circles like he hadn't slept in days.
Classic grad student.
"Ah... right. New roommate today... Hi. I'm Liam."
His voice was small and weary.
"Isaac."
I gave a quick intro and headed to my assigned bed and desk.
Liam fidgeted awkwardly my way for a bit, then dove back into his books.
'No noise worries here.'
Roommate gacha: success.
A-rank easy.
Very satisfying.
I started sorting my furniture.
Spread the bedsheets, moved the desk to the window.
I asked Liam.
"Sunlight good here?"
"...Eh, not really."
"Too bad."
Darn.
Roommate A-rank, room itself B-rank.
Sunlight was crucial for mental health.
Ignore that, and plenty of grad students burned out.
Guess I'd need good lighting and intentional sunbathing.
As I unpacked, only paper rustling filled the room.
Evening rolled around.
I asked Liam.
"Not heading to dinner?"
He didn't even look up.
"Nah... I'm good. Got a report due today."
"...Rough."
"It's nothing. Everyone in my lab's like this."
"..."
Skipping meals for reports.
Glad I dodged that lab.
After dinner, Liam was still glued in the same spot.
A-rank roommate, researcher...
But as a human, kinda pitiful.
'I've been there...'
Chasing references into unknown fields.
Scribbling hypotheses on the apartment whiteboard.
Desperately tackling whatever the prof said.
Then wrecked my health, and no one came looking.
"Ugh..."
Liam groaned low, dropping his quill.
He clutched his forehead and muttered.
"Damn... starting again."
He casually pulled pills from his desk drawer and popped them.
Then grinned sheepishly at me.
"Don't mind me. Bad posture."
"Cervical headache, right?"
"...Dunno the name, but yeah, neck issues cause head pain."
"Hm..."
Cervical headaches usually stem from poor posture.
Even with the same head weight, force on the neck varies by angle.
I scanned his posture.
Forward head, rounded shoulders.
'Just your average grad student...'
Did the math, but neck load didn't seem extreme.
"Doesn't look like posture to me."
"...Then what?"
My eyes locked not on him, but the 'Mana Lamp' brightly illuminating his desk.
Looked like a normal lamp, but a faint noise leaked out.
Zeiiiiing...
'That?'
I strode to the Mana Lamp.
Placed my hand on it, trickled in a bit of mana.
A scan to grasp the internals.
"Knew it."
"Huh?"
"Found the issue. Your headaches are from this lamp."
"...?"
Liam tilted his head.
"What do you mean?"
I flicked the lamp with my finger.
Tok.
"It's flickering constantly, hurting your head."
"Doesn't look like it to me."
"No, it is."
"...?"
I picked up his dropped quill, spun it rapidly under the lamp light with telekinesis.
"See? Under normal light, the pen's afterimage should blur smoothly. But here?"
"It looks... choppy..."
The spinning pen didn't form a smooth circle—instead, it looked like multiple pens, stuttering in place.
Classic stroboscopic effect.
"Now, let's fix it."
I poured mana into the lamp again.
Liam's eyes went wide.
"Messing with magic tools can hurt you!"
"...Huh?"
"Rebound!"
"Ah."
Tampering with others' magic or tools often backfired.
Like an unlicensed electrician shocking themselves on wiring.
That magical shock was called rebound...
"..."
"..."
No rebound happened.
If it had, I'd be down with acute mana poisoning.
"...Huh?"
"I'll keep going."
I visualized the lamp's mana circuits in my head.
"All light is waves, and all waves have frequencies. The problem? This lamp's light frequency is irregular."
Same with this Mana Lamp.
Mini mana crystal power source aside, it was principled like any electric bulb.
"Normal lamps emit near-stable sine waves. Predictable."
Fluorescents exactly.
They flicker too fast for eyes, but no headaches.
Fast and regular.
"This one's different. Its light... close to a square wave with irregular amplitude."
The square wave came from resonance in the internal mana stabilizer circuit.
Energy amplifying uselessly at certain frequencies.
I designed a new circuit and overlaid it.
Flash!
Mana reaction leaked light.
Done.
Problem solved.
Spun the pen under the lamp—smooth afterimage now.
"...It actually worked."
Liam blinked between the lamp and me, stunned.
"But honestly... I didn't understand a word of that explanation."
"...Figured."
His lack of reaction earlier should've tipped me off.
I'd explained so earnestly...
"Still impressive."
"Saying that now doesn't help..."
"No, really. No catalysts, no safeties, no chants... mumbling principles while modding someone else's tool."
He continued, entranced.
"Never seen magic like that."
"...Anyone can do it with effort."
"No."
Liam shook his head.
"You newbies might not know, but the Magic Tower has no 'slackers.'"
"..."
"Filter out effort, and you've got talent."
He added.
"Insane talent."