Come to the Land of Fantasy (3): The Seven Towers
Seven towers. Seven attributes of mana. And seven demon gods trapped in the demon realm. The quick-witted among you will get it right away. Ah, so conquering each tower one by one releases a seal!
The problem is that the difficulty ramps up relentlessly from the bottom to the top of each tower, and at the very pinnacle wait beings that wouldn't be an exaggeration to call SS-rank. Only by defeating them can you finally reach the Four Founders.
This means, at minimum, that if even their descendants can't triumph over enemies the Founders defeated five hundred years ago, they have no intention of opening the door they sealed to block the entrance to the demon realm. It's only natural. The Founders judged it impossible for themselves to enter the demon realm, which is why they sealed the gateway. If back then the Founders had formed a party and crossed over with the power to conquer it, humanity would have terraformed the demon realm by now, reshaping the world into something entirely different.
But those who wish to cross into the demon realm can't even surpass their own level—they can't defeat foes the Founders beat five hundred years ago, foes who are mere illusions, not even the real things? To put it bluntly, such people lack the qualifications. They don't deserve to challenge the demon realm, let alone stand before the Four Founders.
However, if someone conquers all seven towers and even defeats the Founders themselves? Then even they would have to acknowledge it. You're stronger than us, so we'll leave the decision to enter the demon realm—or not—to the descendants who bested us. That's the mindset behind the creation of these Seven Star Towers.
It's a spiritual world accessed through fairy tales, which is why it's unknown to ordinary folk, naturally forgotten so that descendants could live carefree lives ignorant of the demon realm. From the demons' perspective, it's infuriating—the Four Heroes gaslit by the heavens—but what can they do? The demon gods long ago lost their influence over the middle realm, and those hailed as earthly heroes now revere the heavenly laws and edicts as divine truth and gospel.
Built with a solemn, upright mindset for the sake of the world, no special privileges exist for those who access this place. Not even if among the entrants to this fairy-tale world, the Seven Star Towers, there are descendants of the Four Founders. Not even if that descendant doesn't precisely know they're truly a Founder’s heir, or if they entered this place in a slightly different way from the others right now.
"Ah, can you hear me?"
A single 'bun' floated through the air, chattering away. It was a Mont Blanc, its surface lightly browned from baking, dusted with white sugar powder on top. And inside lurked thick, deep green matcha cream—
"I can hear you. But why are you shaped like a bun?"
"Me, a bun?!"
"Yes, Instructor. ...I was expecting something like a mascot character or a doll-like figure."
Unia pointed at the floating Mont Blanc and looked at me. "Instructor Cardisha's 'avatar'—is this really okay?"
"It's the perfect shape for flying emergency rations."
"Flying emergency rations?!"
Instructor Cardisha let out a shriek, but unfortunately, she couldn't observe her own form right now. Just as people can't see their own faces without a mirror, Cardisha could only view this place through the 'eyes' attached to the Mont Blanc.
"Sigh. What does the appearance matter anyway? The important thing is that you're connected. How about it—can you hear me clearly?"
"Yes. Loud and clear."
"I was skeptical until Phoenix explained, but seeing it firsthand like this... Whew. So this is the trial space prepared by the Four Founders, right?"
"That's right."
I picked up Cardisha's Mont Blanc and spun it around once. Her magic tablet, which she was probably holding separately, would be showing the exact view from the front of the Mont Blanc.
"The seven towers... Do they symbolize the Philosopher's Stone? The seven bindings of mana? Or the Seven Magic Towers?"
"It's because there are seven mana attributes humans can wield. Not some specific connection—just that they share the same origin."
"A guess?"
"Even I don't know everything perfectly. I just infer and piece together what I do know."
No matter how much I know, I don't have every scrap of info that didn't appear in the game or anything the dukes of hell in the demon realm didn't reveal.
"Whether it's built on the Philosopher's Stone, constructed by a master of illusion magic, or our souls have actually been kidnapped to an entirely separate world—we have no idea."
Even I, who devoured every scrapbook item book in the game, dissected every setting, and nitpicked lore videos from specialized YouTubers for inconsistencies, still have way too much I don't know.
"What we do know for sure is that conquering these seven towers will activate the central platform here, merging the seven sealed mana attributes into one path leading somewhere."
I held the Mont Blanc in one hand and tapped the floor of the white structure with the other.
"See this groove?"
"...A magic circle?"
"Yes. It's a cross-section view, but divided into seven layers. Like... this?"
I extended my hand forward and created a new Mana Bread.
"Whoa!"
"This... has quite the appealing color."
"There's Mana Bread like this?"
"It's Mana Bread, but also a cake you could actually make."
A rainbow cake. Layers of multicolored bread stacked high, with white cream nestled between them—a rainbow cake.
"Probably structured like this."
I lifted the red cake layer, scooping away some cream, and soon all four of us could see the inscription etched into the bread.
"A... bird?"
"That's what the shape would look like."
An emblem shaped like a phoenix bursting from purgatory. The cake form threw us off, but if this were a massive iron gate or a huge floor carving, we'd have recognized it instantly. Not just an emblem—a seal.
"And we use this to do this."
I neatly folded the red cake layer I'd made myself and popped it into my mouth in one bite. It tasted exactly like the cake I'd eaten before, and I swallowed it down in a gulp, flicking my fingers to dispel the remaining Mana Bread.
They weren't ready yet to see the other emblems hidden inside, the seven 'monsters' concealed like cream—the mana beasts. At best, maybe the wolf face on the green layer, but that's after we conquer the green tower.
"Alright, now one question."
I pointed out the seven towers to the four of them.
"Which tower should we tackle first?"
"......"
Unia cautiously raised her hand. She glanced between me, herself, Rydmila Lionheart, and Evangeline di Ershi, lingering especially on Rydmila with a confident expression as she spoke.
"The yellow tower."
"Why?"
"Because wind attribute counters earth attribute."
The yellow tower Unia indicated looked barren at a glance—like a wasteland, a desert, sheer cliffs.
"And among us, our strongest fighter, Rydmila, excels most at wind-attribute attacks. So starting with the yellow earth tower makes sense."
"Sound judgment. Matchups are crucial."
Instructor Cardisha raised no objections. It's basic magic knowledge, so Evangeline di Ershi didn't contradict it either.
"What do you think?"
"Exactly. That's the answer."
"......?"
"What's wrong, Miss Unia?"
"No, it's just... Phoenix's reaction feels a bit...?"
Unia stared at me, tilting her head.
"Like you're moderately satisfied with a second-best answer when there's a perfect one?"
"No way."
"It feels that way, but I won't press. You wouldn't tell me even if I did."
"......."
Maybe because it's a mental world, but she sees right through me easier here. Wrong, though. Not second-best—third choice. Ranking from 1 to 7, the yellow tower sealing earth-attribute mana is third.
By attribute matchup logic, yes, our party's wind advantage makes the earth-heavy yellow tower favorable.
"It's not like the outside is yellow but inside it's overrun by fire-attribute monsters favorable to wind, right? Leaving the red tower aside?"
"No way. Red is fire, yellow earth, blue water, green wind. Deviating from these intuitive colors would earn double middle fingers from gamers."
It's an unspoken RPG rule. But for first and second place, there's something Unia can't grasp yet—and I absolutely can't reveal.
Second: Green tower, wind attribute.
"Nyaaang."
We have the wind demon god, who holds absolute command over her wind-attribute mana beasts.
First: Red tower, fire attribute.
And I'm Phoenix. I couldn't tell them this, but the moment we enter the fire tower, I can conquer it with one short sentence.
—Then die.
Absolute command. In other words, the 'demon god's order.' 1. Climb the tower chanting 'die, die, die' for success. 2. Raid each mana beast one by one with favorable matchups. Which is easier? Obviously the former. But for us, the process matters more than the result.
"Alright, then. Let's enter the yellow earth tower. For our growth."