The Nebula's Shadow
The Iron Magic Tower had research labs assigned to each project, along with specialized rooms for certain senior mages.
These labs held enormous meaning even within the tower itself.
In essence, one either directed a specific research endeavor or occupied a position of equivalent authority.
Additionally, possessing a lab significantly amplified the support received from the tower, enabling one to recruit other mages as subordinates and treat them like extensions of one's own body.
But did this spark an intensified competition among mages seeking to claim a lab?
It did not.
The tower was like a colossal spinning top—a veritable **giant Pringles** can.
Even with several hundred mages present, the labs were plentiful.
Therefore, to obtain a lab, one engaged in a battle against oneself alone.
Mages pursued absolute self-assessment rather than relative evaluations, striving relentlessly.
The emotion felt upon stepping into one's very first lab was something countless mages had shared in hushed tones.
The air, the scent, the equipment, the dust—all of it.
For a mage, it was a monumental milestone.
“……How did you even get in here?”
Inside that research lab, Beldora furrowed her brow upon seeing Lee Dam open the door without permission.
The lab was strictly locked so that no one could enter at will, yet somehow this woman had managed to breach it.
“What does that matter?”
Smiling smugly, Lee Dam shook her sky-blue hair and stepped inside.
“Haah.”
With a sigh, Beldora followed and entered.
Naturally, given the lab's symbolic importance, one would not enter even if the door was unlocked.
Beldora made a mental note to bolster the lab's security further before stepping in.
Inside stood a person-sized model.
Crafted entirely from a dark metallic sheen, it resembled a humanoid monster.
“What is this…?”
“This? It's a frame. Not the one we're building—it's the frame for the Knight Armor.”
“Frame?”
In other words, the skeletal structure of the Knight Armor.
Or, more precisely, the basic framework.
Beldora's brows furrowed once more.
“Why does armor need a frame? Armor is worn over the body. This thing is shaped like a person.”
A knight would need to enter it, yet the frame occupied no such space.
Even if one were to clad a person in armor here, it would amount to nothing more than a lifeless model.
At those words, Lee Dam tapped the frame's chest and replied.
“Right here.”
“Hm?”
“Right here.”
The control seat.
The heart of it all.
Smiling wickedly, Lee Dam pointed. Beldora's face grew even more blank.
How in the world was a knight supposed to sit in such a tiny spot?
“And I'm operating it. Isn't that awesome? I can already imagine it racing along. Though I won't be able to sit in it.”
Even in her vulgar ramblings, Beldora's mind worked with remarkable speed.
She simply could not grasp what the woman was saying.
“Armor is something you wear. What is this talk of operating?”
“Huh? No, what else would you wear? Do you know, this thing is designed for an 18-meter knight?”
“E-Eighteen?!”
“Size is extremely tight and form-fitting, wouldn't you say? Eighteen meters tall.”
What utter nonsense.
The Knight Armor was the armor worn by knights.
Beldora was not building an ultra-large giant monster!
“Lee Dam, just a moment. Hold on! We're building the knight's armor! It seems there's some misunderstanding here!”
Where could such a misunderstanding even originate from?
It stemmed from the instant Lee Dam had shown her the figurine.
The gap in perspectives between the two women, born from viewing the palm-sized figurine.
Cognitive bias. Gestalt effect. Or something of the sort.
Beldora had naturally assumed it was armor after seeing the figurine.
Lee Dam, meanwhile, held the firm belief that the final product had to be a transforming mecha.
The chasm of misunderstanding between them ran deep—as deep as the valley of Lee Dam's cleavage.
Beldora realized that the crazed glint in Lee Dam's eyes and the faint, genius-level madness curling at the corner of her lips signaled an impending cataclysm.
“Absolutely not.”
* * *
“Hah, shit.”
Grumbling, Lee Dam returned to the underground dormitory and unleashed every curse that came to mind.
The other mages she passed only glanced at her with wary eyes, apparently uninterested in commenting on how loud she was or how foul her language was.
Why? Because they knew her.
The moment Lee Dam got her hands on something, it exploded without any warning—like pressing a button on a bomb.
“You real dog. Short, stocky little shit. Your breasts are small, so your dreams are small too.”
Startled.
The mage walking beside her had already forgotten what exactly had been said.
There was only one person in the entire tower worth calling a short, stocky little shit.
Bang!
Lee Dam kicked open the door and stormed in.
She snatched the hammer leaning against the wall in her narrow room.
It was a mace mixed with Baeklyk's staff, but the weapon now belonged entirely to her.
Rumor had it the staff was ridiculously expensive, yet Lee Dam had begun melting it down again.
“This is fucking awesome.”
And the colossal figurine it produced.
This time, instead of several small ones, she intended to create a robot figurine at least waist-high.
An hour passed.
Lee Dam's mace had transformed into a smooth, detailed figurine.
“Name… Abaddon.”
A newly crafted figurine, not the previous one. Its menacing horns and iron-gray hue evoked villains from legend.
In terms of anime, it radiated the aura of a protagonist's rival mecha or the final boss that would appear in the climactic battle.
Though the creation had been born from her own mind, it unexpectedly turned out well.
“Ah, I should color it too.”
The metal construction meant the coloring was rather lackluster.
Lee Dam crossed her arms, rested her chin on her hand, and stared at the figurine in silence, pondering how best to paint it.
[Where are you going to use it?]
Beldora's voice echoed once more inside her head.
‘This is truly amazing! Even the Tower Master would—!’
[What are you going to do with an 18-meter weapon?]
‘No, it's a time of war. If I sell this—!’
[You can make something far more efficient than that.]
[If you just prioritize efficiency—!]
[Where are you going to use it?]
[A man's dream—!]
[Where are you going to use it?]
[Later it will even transform—!]
[Where are you going to use it?]
[Fuck you, bitch.]
[What?]
When she unleashed a torrent of curses, Beldora—who had somehow managed to discipline Lee Dam with magic—finally snapped.
Despite her raw skill and ironclad logic, Lee Dam had been completely outmaneuvered and now returned grumbling, doodling on the figurine.
The root of her frustration was simple: she herself had failed to find an answer.
If mere existence was enough, there would be no need for something that moved; a figurine would suffice.
“Haah.”
Irritated, Lee Dam fidgeted with the newly made Abaddon while muttering.
Knock knock.
“Lee Dam-ssi?”
“Who is it?”
From outside the door.
“It's Nari, Master Noman.”
“Noman? What's that? Introduce yourself.”
“…Noman is my name.”
“What about it?”
“….”
“Eh? You just open the door and walk right in?”
Given her already foul mood, Lee Dam glared at the middle-aged man who entered.
A middle-aged man who had served as an apprentice mage in the tower for ten years.
His hair had thinned to the point of baldness. Though the oldest among the apprentices, his talent was the weakest.
All he did was manage the apprentice group based on experience.
“Lee Dam-ssi, I came to warn you.”
Letting out a sigh, Noman said, “Exercise caution with your speech toward the Tower Master. It could cause problems for the other apprentices as well.”
“…”
“You know the senior mages are watching you closely right now—.”
“Old man, more importantly, look at this.”
“Haah.”
In response to Lee Dam's twisted remark, Noman sighed and stared at the figurine she had just created.
“Look at that. Doesn't it make your chest flutter? Your breasts jutting out so prominently, just like mine.”
“…Stop making toys already.”
“Toys? You just called it a toy? You dare call Abaddon a toy? Do you want me to rip you apart?”
“Ah, Baddon?”
Suddenly, Noman's eyes widened. Then, without warning, he thrust out his hand and unfolded a mana barrier.
The technique was far beyond what a talentless apprentice could manage, yet it was perfectly concealed.
“Ha… ha ha ha! Hahahahaha!”
“What the—?”
Legs crossed, Lee Dam asked, curious about the situation that had suddenly turned bizarre.
Noman's eyes, previously ordinary, burned with an intense new light as he nodded.
“So that was you too.”
“Hm?”
“A member of the Nebula!”
Mages could be viewed as a form of power throughout the world.
Mages had been banned from participating in battles to avoid turning nations into armies, and the towers had been established as safe gathering places for them.
Yet from the opposite perspective…
Towers could also be seen as prisons—places where mages were locked away, watched, and oppressed.
Born with nothing more than mana talent, mages outside the towers were destined never to leave.
Mages not affiliated with any tower were always treated as the tower's primary targets for extermination.
And.
The secretive resistance group that opposed the towers.
The Nebula.
They were veiled figures in every sense. Rumors abounded that they worshipped demons and parasitized the realm of darkness.
And Noman was the spy the Nebula had planted inside the tower.
“Depicting Master Abaddon! Haha! You've clearly received less instruction! It is forbidden for deities to be depicted as statues!”
“…”
“But that's all right! That's all right! A genius like you being part of the Seong-un! How surprising!”
“…”
“Indeed, Abaddon Master's—”
As Lee Dam listened, a strange sensation stirred within her—the sense that dots were inexplicably connecting.
This absurd coincidence.
Could it truly be fate?
[Where are you going to use it?]
The words Lee Dam had been pondering in response to Beldora's voice lifted the corners of her mouth.
‘If there's no use for it…’
Then one would simply have to create a purpose.
Heroes are born in turbulent times.
“Fuck yeah! That's it! Ah, Abaddon! Abaddon worship! Worship, worship, worship!”
Lee Dam suddenly erupted in excitement, causing Noman to look visibly startled.
“Abaddooooon! Aaaah! King of Kings! Burn all these evil little tower maggots to ash!”
“…”
“Master, don't you worship?”
“Heh, Lee Dam. I suspect you misunderstand something. The Nebula values hierarchy above all.”
“…”
“Apologize for the disrespect you showed me. And destroy that statue you made of Abaddon Master.”
“Fuck, sorry.”
“…”
“Ah, I said sorry.”
“That's what apology sounds like now—!”
In the end, Lee Dam decided to unleash her ultimate technique.
Since her transformation into a woman, this had been the easiest thing she had ever uttered.
“That day, fuck you. Don't touch me while I'm in a bad mood.”
“…”
Noman sniffled and closed his mouth tightly.