Securing Human Resources

While I was at it, I figured I might as well figure out exactly what the Disciple System was. I posted on the forum and sat back to watch the replies roll in.

“People can make mana cores?”

It wasn’t that shocking here since mana cores practically rained from the sky every time you killed a zombie outside. Still…

If I have to fight like I did earlier even one more time, I’m going bankrupt.

These golems were mana-guzzling monsters the moment you made them fight seriously. The more mana cores, the better.

I’m not sure about the bone and blood stuff, but…

Achievement bonuses. So that’s how it worked.

It was a little disappointing. Finding living people on purpose wasn’t easy.

Humans don’t even show up on mana detection…

From what I’d heard, other dimensions could use mana detection to locate humans or magical ingredients. Here, ordinary animals and people had zero mana, so they didn’t register at all.

Since I could take two golems with me, maybe I could leave one of them with a subordinate… no, with a disciple?

After reading a bit more, it seemed most Magic Tower mages kept a bunch of disciples specifically to squeeze resources and money out of them.

The system worked like this: once you registered someone as a disciple, that person gained access to a portion of the tower master’s magic under the tower’s system. With some restrictions, they were treated as a proper mage.

In exchange for granting them that magic, the tower master could demand regular payments of money, mana cores, or magical materials. Or they could assign them chores around the tower, golem maintenance, that sort of thing.

“I see…”

After confirming all that, I gave Unit 1 new orders.

“Uh… circumstances make it difficult for me to go up myself. Since registering a disciple seems to require bringing them into the tower’s domain anyway, could you bring that woman down here?”

The clothes were far too big on me, so it was hard to tell if I was even wearing anything. I grabbed an oversized hoodie from another room, threw it on, then sat on the bed and wrapped myself tightly in the blanket.

Only then did I feel a little more at ease.

Soon the door opened and Unit 1 and Unit 2 walked in, each holding one of the woman’s hands.

The moment the door opened, the heavy stench of old frying oil hit me. She’d been stuck in her PC room part-timer uniform for days without being able to change or wash. Of course she smelled.

“Huh? A kid?”

Her eyes went wide the second she saw me. She quickly covered her mouth, looking completely flustered.

It was obvious she had a mountain of questions but was holding back in case she offended me.

“You said you wanted to be saved, right? What’s your name?” I asked.

“…My name is Jeong Dayeon,” she answered, clearly tense.

I smiled at her and introduced myself in a calm, matter-of-fact tone.

“I’m a mage. These two are my golems. And from now on, Miss Dayeon, you’ll learn magic and work for me.”

“Pardon?”

She stared blankly into space for a moment, then glanced nervously at the golems standing beside her.

Well, if zombies existed, it wasn’t that much of a stretch for mages to exist too. She seemed to accept it with some difficulty.

“Um, is there anything you’re particularly good at?”

“I’m pretty confident in my cooking. My major was architectural engineering… but I was only a freshman, so I haven’t really learned anything yet.”

She says she’s good at cooking, so I should put her in charge of that. Though it’ll probably just be boiling ramen.

Come to think of it, the jajangmyeon from the PC room had tasted a little better when she was on shift.

I didn’t have any more questions. It wasn’t like I was going to ask her to write a self-introduction essay like a job interview.

The work I’d be giving her was mana core grinding or gathering basic resources like water and food anyway. I could teach her whatever magic she needed.

“Then first, go change your clothes. You smell like fried food.”

I had the golems hand her the clothes.

The oil smell was one thing, but the clothes she was wearing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were covered in dust. That couldn’t be sanitary. What I gave her were women’s clothes I’d found in another room earlier. They were quite revealing, which was why I’d felt weird wearing them myself.

Still, they should be fine for an actual woman, right?

“H-huh? Um…”

…Apparently not. Her eyes darted desperately between me and the clothes, silently begging for mercy.

But giving her any of my other men’s clothes wouldn’t work either. She wasn’t that big. They’d be huge on her and probably more embarrassing than what I’d already handed over. The pants definitely wouldn’t fit.

If it were winter I could’ve just given her thick clothes, but it was late spring. Thanks to global warming, winter clothes had already gone extinct.

“…Just wear those until I wash your current clothes. I’ll get you new ones soon.”

“Y-yes. Thank you…”

“You can use the room on the fourth floor for now. I’ll bring some water and food there shortly.”

I handed her some wet wipes.

“The water and electricity are out, so clean yourself with these. Take care of your business outside and dispose of it properly.”

Her face turned bright red again. She seemed like the easily embarrassed type.

Maybe women were sensitive about these things even with other women. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to say “We’re both girls, what’s the big deal?” My conscience wouldn’t allow it.

“Oh, and one more thing.”

I opened the disciple system window. Sure enough, since another person was now inside the tower’s domain, a message popped up saying I could register a new disciple.

“You should have gotten some kind of message. Please accept it.”

“Huh?”

It seemed she couldn’t see my message windows, but I could see hers clearly.

The message had the rapid-fire legal disclaimer energy of those insurance commercials at the end of ads. It even had a helpful “View more” button ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that listed things like “Achievement rates may vary by individual” and “You cannot unilaterally terminate the master-disciple relationship.”

It made me wonder why this damn status window never gave me such detailed explanations.

“Status window…? Like the ones in webtoons…?”

She glanced up at me and muttered.

I was in the same boat just a few days ago.

When she selected YES, several message windows appeared on my side.

Reward: Messenger Access Rights

The messenger unlocked by the achievement was exactly what it sounded like.

Seeing this, I finally understood why the people at the Freedom Archive kept saying humans were better than golems. Trying to talk to a distant golem required all sorts of annoying things like telepathy magic, detection spells, connection spells… and even then you could only send one-way commands.

But with this, I could communicate without any restrictions just by clicking…?

Maybe I should teach her combat magic and use her as a communications officer?

She had a small frame and looked pretty skinny, so I wasn’t sure how well she’d fight. But even if she just hid near farming or battle sites and relayed information, it would be incredibly helpful.

Still, it was dangerous outside. I didn’t want to lose a valuable human resource.

I’d wait and see how well she fought before bringing it up.

It looked like I could teach a disciple two types of magic.

“Something suddenly feels… weird,” she said.

From her reaction, it seemed a small amount of mana had begun circulating inside her body the moment she became my disciple.

“That’s the mana flowing through your veins,” I explained.

What should I teach her?

Should I teach her golem creation to increase my golem limit?

Or maybe teach her multi-element magic so she could run a water and plant factory?

Like that “Farmer” guy said, it might be good to have her tend a small garden on the rooftop.

“Once you’ve washed up and changed, I’ll teach you some magic.”

I could think about it slowly while she was cleaning up.