A Bit Harsh for a Welcome Greeting (1)
Return to reality. Nam Taemin turned on his smartphone to check the date. Leoni, who had been peering at the screen on tiptoes beside him, flinched.
“……It really hasn’t even been a day?”
The impressions of those stepping foot on the Arcana Continent for the first time? It was an experience beyond words, making even jet lag seem trivial.
Among them, the most astonishing was undoubtedly the endless buffs that kept popping up.
The three Giant Alliance guild masters and Skal had manually recorded the buff details themselves.
“We must devise a thorough plan for the future.”
Of course, the buffs weren’t exclusive to players. Though invisible to the eye, the people of Arcana could feel their effects in their bodies.
Pure Mana senior mage Banggrit Tom spoke up.
“You all can’t even imagine what’s happening on the Arcana Continent. It’s truly like hope is sprouting everywhere. To think we’re the only ones who’ve seen it……!”
It was a series of astonishing events that would make even novice mages call him a liar if he told them.
Yet, the reactions were muted, making his excitement feel out of place. No responses came back.
Banggrit scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“……Haha. I talked too much, didn’t I?”
Enchantment senior mage Kiko Armin was the only one who barely turned her head toward him.
“Uuuugh.”
Her dark circles reached her chin. Kiko rasped in a voice like she was on her deathbed.
“……Sorry. Senior Banggrit, what did you say?”
“Oh, no. Nothing much.”
“……Really? Uuuugh.”
Legendary blacksmith Walls Whale’s incredible work speed.
“In the end, I’ve returned standing on my own two feet!”
Thanks to that, Harkon got exactly what he wanted: prosthetic legs transcending human limits, forged from dwarven craftsmanship and the Mage Tower’s magical refinement.
“I really feel like I’m dying……”
But Kiko had pulled three straight all-nighters for it, so it was no wonder she lacked the energy to play along with Banggrit’s fussing.
Healing senior mage Bellie Yusia was in no better shape.
“Healing magic alone isn’t enough. We need something more……”
No, she was even more frantic than Kiko. Unlike Kiko, who had finished her task, Bellie was still researching ways to heal the dragons that had swallowed evil eyes, having collected heaps of necessary data from the Arcana Continent.
Naturally, Banggrit’s gaze shifted.
Then what about Senior Matis……?
He hadn’t expected much, but still, he flinched. Senior Matis’s expression was gravely serious.
Banggrit racked his memory.
He seemed fine right up until we entered.
That portal manifested by the chief. From the moment they opened their eyes on the Arcana Continent—precisely aboard the dwarves’ Iron Castle Ho—Matis’s face had darkened rapidly.
As if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have……?
……He shook his head.
Of course, Banggrit didn’t dwell on it. Senior Matis must have his own concerns. Just like how new worries had cropped up for him too.
The even denser mana concentration on the Arcana Continent. Banggrit had exceptional mana affinity even among Mage Tower mages. Thanks to that, he’d detected the changes in mana density upon arrival and was obligated to devise countermeasures and present them at the regular conference.
If we cast magic as usual on a continent like that……
It could produce results beyond imagination.
“Just thinking about it gives me a headache.”
In truth, Banggrit was more worried about Flame senior mage Bensy William than any novice or intermediate mage. Imagining Bensy unleashing flame magic amid that thickened mana made his temples throb involuntarily.
“……I need to warn him firmly.”
Of course, all this was assuming Bensy set foot on the Arcana Continent.
Banggrit chuckled wryly and headed to his office. Finally alone.
Suddenly, Matis—who had been walking in silence—stopped and spoke. His words were profoundly meaningful.
“……So it was impossible to veer from fate after all.”
The reason Matis had stayed silent the whole time was simple.
The moment he set foot on the Arcana Continent.
He had witnessed it.
The vast, all-encompassing affinity mana blanketing the continent.
“……”
Matis stared at the ring on his finger. The magic tool still stained black.
Yes, that immense affinity mana undoubtedly stemmed from Chief Lee Hoyeol’s past and background.
Thus, Matis was certain.
Blackening.
In the end, the chief had undergone blackening on the Arcana Continent, unbeknownst to him.
What on earth happened?
The aftermath was unimaginable. The Arcana Continent brimmed with vitality, as Banggrit said.
Yet the chief’s affinity mana hung over it like a shadow of blinding light—darker, deeper, infinitely profound.
At the moment of blackening, the entire world must have truly plunged into bottomless darkness……
Thus, the question arose inevitably.
How had the chief overcome the blackening? How had he triumphed over the resurgence of his past?
Matis shook his head. Even from the founder of black magic arts, it was inconceivable.
He could only feel relief.
That the chief remained wholly himself.
That he hadn’t been consumed by the aftermath of blackening.
Gazing toward Hoyeol’s office, Matis murmured.
“I am truly grateful, Chief Lee.”
Good thing.
‘As expected, the dwarf was the right call.’
Harkon’s new legs worked perfectly in his imagination. It had been an unavoidable battle with unavoidable circumstances piling on, but my conscience still wasn’t clear.
After all, Harkon had lost both legs completely while covering for my absence.
Of course, I had no intention of repaying his merits just by gifting him new legs.
“All may look forward to it.”
Truth be told, if time had allowed, I would have leisurely toured the Arcana Continent with Harkon and the others.
‘No leisure this time.’
But once entry becomes free, they’d naturally visit the empire’s capital, Antonim, and other imperial territories under reconstruction or reclamation.
Among them, of course……
“My domain shall always be open to thee.”
……Our vast Claudy family estate would be included!
Ever since acknowledging the Claudy family history, the family head’s haughty nature had been rearing its head.
‘Invite them to the mansion and cook for them or something?’
Inviting meritorious individuals to the mansion for a feast sounded perfectly noble.
More than that, I hated how I was growing accustomed to such aristocratic thinking……
Even so.
Clink-clink─
The moment I returned to my office, I elegantly filled my teacup. Let’s see, until the green tea steeps……
I couldn’t skip my routine, after all. I scanned the piled-up work on my desk.
“A single day’s gap, is it.”
Don’t make a fuss over just one day, Grandfell. Even a five-day workweek leaves two days off on weekends. People who don’t rest even a single day like you are rare.
‘Besides, it’s not like I only suffer in reality.’
On the Arcana Continent, where time flows four times slower than reality, I was meddling in big and small matters relentlessly. So calling it a roughly 14-day workweek wasn’t an exaggeration.
But……
‘……What’s this now?’
As I finished checking the routine documents one by one, my eyes caught a particularly ornate envelope. Even as the Mage Tower’s chief, it was my first time seeing a Mage Tower-issued letter like this.
‘Sealed with mana wax, no less……’
No one in the Mage Tower would dare peek at a letter meant for the chief.
Still, it meant a special process for documents only the recipient could open.
I murmured.
“Not bad at all.”
……Don’t praise its mere aesthetics without even checking the contents, Grandfell. Moreover, I had a faint guess why such a document was suddenly on my desk.
‘Definitely the Tower Master’s doing.’
Multiple times. After blocking Yunak Seus’s breath as an aftereffect, with his breath fading, the Tower Master had said to me:
—“I shall entrust the next Tower Master position to you, Chief Lee.”
It must have been the Tower Master’s last will. Naturally, I refused.
I just said it, didn’t I? No one else works a 14-day week like me. Even two bodies wouldn’t have enough time.
And now he wants me to take on the Tower Master role too?!
This cat was determined to work me to the bone until the end.
So I refused and threw it back.
—“Thy mission is not yet complete.”
What happened to the Tower Master after that?
‘Delusions are free, cat.’
The Tower Master probably thought he’d hidden well, seeing me at his funeral and feeling relieved.
But I’d heard all about your whereabouts from Jesi.
Thus.
“I thought thee faithful to thy mission.”
Cold words inevitably escaped my lips. Without hesitation, I checked the document.
As I lightly infused my finger with mana and touched the wax, the seal melted, and the paper unfolded.
Soon, my mouth opened.
“Is that so. A new procedure.”
My stomach churned.
‘……This cat for real!’
It was a Mage Tower regulation amended by the Tower Master’s will: electing the new Tower Master by vote.
I was certain. It was a scheme exploiting my nature to follow procedures, even outdated ones, to the letter……!
──────
1. Gentle Giant
2. Greatest Discoverer in Mage Tower History
3. Black Dark Dragon
──────
The blabbermouth informed me of the situation.
“The candidates are Yugweed, Marcelo, and this one, it seems.”
Someone might ask here: Isn’t that a bit self-conscious? Worrying about post-election already, overlooking two formidable rivals?
Yes, if that were it, I’d gladly admit to excessive self-awareness.
But this attached additional amendment, no matter how I looked……
Voting rights shall be granted without discrimination to all who have proven their qualifications in the Mage Tower.
This includes adventurers who lack the qualifications of mages.
──────
They’re dead set on making me the next Tower Master, aren’t they?!
Of course, there’d be a surface-level reason.
What kind of cat was the Tower Master?
“A regulation befitting an open Mage Tower.”
The Mage Tower, realizing closure was poison, was planning full openness. Electing the next Tower Master of an open Mage Tower required a new method—a plausible justification.
‘Internal votes alone wouldn’t cut it.’
No matter my relations or influence in the Mage Tower, I couldn’t match Yugweed and Marcelo’s achievements.
But granting players voting rights changes everything.
‘Of course they’d vote for me!’
Marcelo and Yugweed had little contact with most players.
At this point, the eccentric’s pursuit—internet surfing—was inevitable.
And my prediction was spot on.
‘Damn it.’
The communities were already ablaze with campaign fervor for me.
From receiving qualification quests in the Mage Tower to easy clear guides.
They were going all out to elect me Tower Master!
Me, Lee Hoyeol. Cold sweat beaded from within.
What if I really ended up with the Tower Master position?
The thought crept in relentlessly.
At the same time, chills ran down my spine at the Tower Master.
‘Hitting me from behind like this?’
Even the trusted Marcelo.
‘I didn’t want to blame Marcelo too.’
This happening in my absence meant Marcelo had joined the Tower Master’s scheme.
But most resentful of all was.
“Indeed, a valid procedure.”
My exhausting personality that died by procedure.
At this rate, I’d die of overwork before drowning in pride.
As I reached for the green tea cup to soothe my burning throat and desperately seek a way out.
Scribble─
Suddenly, letters appeared on the parchment. Elder mage Yugweed’s handwriting.
But the content was far from ordinary……
To Chief Lee Hoyeol.
──────
A single line, but its meaning was immediately clear.
Chief Lee, even cold water has its hierarchy.
──────
……Pardon?
*
At the same time.
(In Progress)
Players in the midst of the quest blinked as a new quest objective updated.
But the objective was anything but ordinary.
“……W-What’s this? Yours too?”
“I-It popped up!”
“No way…… Did something go wrong in the Tower Master selection?!”
Witness the Proof Duel between the Gentle Giant and the Black Dark Dragon.
(In Progress)
The massive bait sent the world into frenzy.