After absentmindedly clearing the twenty-first floor of the Tower of Trials, I made a post in the gallery in hopes of finding some kind of solution.
The gallery was a total mess because of the post I had written and then run away from, but I didn’t have the luxury of worrying about that.
I needed to survive first. They could have all the cola they wanted—just save me already.
[Comments]
Anonymous: Seventeen-Year Newbie Analyst here) I told you, didn’t I? This guy just stepped on the get-murdered land mine.
┗Anonymous: Turns out that was actually true.
┗Anonymous: But that guy totally had it coming lol.
Baldness Not Stopped Even by a Ninth-Circle Archmage: It’s like breathing. It feels like you’re drawing in something that naturally exists there and making it your own.
Anonymous: If you weren’t born with it, you can’t feel that. No answer.
┗Anonymous: There’s been tons of debate about this, but it’s basically like having or not having an organ. Impossible.
Philosopher's Stone: Some people can get it just by breathing, some have to convert something into it, and some even create mana themselves.
┗Philosopher's Stone: There are cases where people learn to sense it later in life, but it’s difficult to teach yourself. And I don’t even know if there’s anyone here who can teach it.
I’m really fucked.
Thirty percent of the comments were wondering why the hell I was still alive, while the other seventy percent—presumably from gallery users who were mages—said, “That’s impossible.”
It wasn’t like there was absolutely no way, but learning through the gallery seemed impossible.
And it was questionable whether there was anyone among the gallery users who could actually teach someone how to sense mana.
"...Is this really it?"
Was it really going to end this pointlessly, with me just flushing all that TP down the drain?
Could buying a staff give me mana...?
Staffs had to exist for a reason, right?
Maybe weapons could have unique options like [MP +100] attached to them.
[TP Held: 593]
"..."
The problem was that I didn’t have any TP.
Honestly, I didn’t think buying a staff would actually give me mana, either.
At least the swordsmanship side of things was okay...
[Royal Palace Knights Basic Swordsmanship Form 1]
I could understand what was written in this one.
It laid out the stances, points to watch out for, foundational principles, and so on in an easy-to-understand manner. I could actually follow it, too.
I still didn’t know whether it would become a skill, but it looked like I could make it mine if I put in the effort.
"My 5,500 TP..."
I wouldn’t even care if the bed broke. I just wished it would let me sense mana.
Then I could figure something out somehow. Was there really no way?
Ding!
[New comment from Not an Eraser]
"Ah... That guy from earlier got banned, apparently."
At the moderator’s comment notification, I blankly entered the gallery.
The anonymous user who had received cola got orange juice too and even made a proof post. He must have gotten cursed out pretty badly, since he even did the customary full prostration.
Even so, the moderator banned him for two weeks.
There were a lot of comments worrying about me, too.
Over just a few hours, the moderator had left me five comments.
They ranged from asking whether I was okay to asking how I wanted the matter handled.
I would have felt a little less sorry if I had come back according to plan, but things had gotten tangled up somehow.
Not an Eraser🔸: I was really worried...
┗UselessWiki (Author): Sorry, something urgent came up.
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Are you a mage after all, Wiki? Why mana all of a sudden?
┗UselessWiki (Author): I have to use magic, but I don’t have mana.
After giving the moderator a rough answer, I flopped down on the bed in my hideout.
I couldn’t muster any energy. My will to climb the tower had completely vanished.
My dream of an electromagnetic cannon... no, a railgun, had disappeared.
My dream of becoming a grand mage who wielded every attribute had crumbled at the very first step.
"Heavens!!!"
Ding!
[New comment from Not an Eraser]
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Does it absolutely have to be mana...?
┗Not an Eraser🔸: What about another form of energy...?
┗Not an Eraser🔸: I don’t know what abilities you have, Wiki, so I can’t say for sure... but would that be difficult?
"..."
The moment I saw the moderator’s new comments, lightning flashed through my mind.
Did it absolutely have to be mana? Of course I needed mana or magical power. That was what magic was.
But... did I necessarily have to be the one who possessed the mana?
What if there were another means to replace mana? Considering how one-use magic could be cast with things like parchment, surely it could be substituted.
There had to be magic from all sorts of worlds gathered here, so there had to be spells that used materials of some kind.
For example—
Magic stones.
Gem magic.
I had no way to acquire mana myself, but if I could replace it with an object that contained mana itself...
[Starpang]
[Magic Stones]
[Low-Grade Magic Stone] - 100 TP
[Mid-Grade Magic Stone] - 1,000 TP
[High-Grade Magic Stone] - 10,000 TP
[Top-Grade Magic Stone] - 100,000 TP
"Wakyapya...!"
This was really here.
I didn’t know whether they were used for experiments or for making magical tools.
They were fairly expensive, but if they let me use magic, I didn’t care.
Just knowing that I still had hope made my heart race again.
[Your order has been completed.]
[Remaining delivery time: 5 minutes]
Gulp.
In five minutes, my fate would be decided.
If this really... even remotely worked, I would have one more reason I had to climb the tower.
I didn’t care if I had to pay to cast magic. Please, let this work.
*
Ding!
[Tower of Trials]
- First Run, Floor 22 Strategy: If you succeed by making the last digit of the time limit 7, the count increases threefold.
Thanks, but I don’t need that right now, Wiki.
Ignoring the strategy that popped up, I carelessly shoved my phone into my pocket.
Squeeze!
"Whew..."
A black magic stone a little larger than a marble.
Feeling the magic stone clutched in my hand, I took a deep breath.
I had firmly memorized how to use magic... how to use skills, through the [Introduction to Lightning Magic] skill book.
All that remained was to cast the spell with a short incantation.
Which one should I try?
Lightning Bolt was a single-target attack.
Chain Lightning was an area-of-effect attack.
...Whatever. If it works, I’ll end up using both anyway.
With that thought, I opened my eyes wide, gripped the magic stone in my hand even harder, and—
"Lightning Bolt!!"
I swung my arm with all my strength and cast the spell into the empty air.
"..."
Did it not work through an incantation...?
I didn’t know yet. Maybe there was a separate method suited to magic stones.
Lightning Bolt.
Whoosh!
"..."
No, fuck, that didn’t work either?
Was this magic stone seriously useless for everything?
If even this didn’t work, what the hell was I supposed to do?
"You fucking Lightning Bolt—!!"
Overwhelmed by the emptiness crashing over me, I hurled the magic stone with all my strength and chanted once more.
Flash!
"...Huh."
I blinked blankly as the magic stone that had left my hand transformed into a sphere of blue lightning and shot forward.
KRAAAAAASH!!!
"It worked...?"
The magic vanished when it struck one of the tower walls.
I let out a hollow laugh at the booming blast and the pale smoke it gave off.
It worked. I had succeeded.
Magic had definitely come out of my hand.
"It worked—!!"
At this phenomenon that could only be called a miracle, this sight I had never once seen in the real world, I clenched both fists like a child.
All I need are magic stones.
With this, I could use any magic from now on.
Infinite possibilities had just opened up for me, someone who could obtain all kinds of skill books.
Fire magic? Water magic? Of course those were possible.
From incredible grand magic I had never even heard of to the brainwashing magic I had looked at before, all of it would be possible.
Ding!
I smiled at the smoking wall for a moment before Wiki’s notification sounded.
[StarWiki]
- Skill Book: [Lightning Bolt] support activated.
- Consumption: Low-Grade Magic Stone.
"Okay...!"
I grinned broadly, as though it were acknowledging me because I had successfully cast it.
The reason Parry had activated was probably because it appeared after I had built up a certain degree of proficiency.
I didn’t know the difference between support activation and automatic activation, but either way, it was certain that I could use it as long as I had magic stones from now on.
*
[Tower of Trials]
-22-
After clearing the twenty-second floor of the Tower of Trials at light speed, I immediately went all-in on Low-Grade Magic Stones with all my remaining TP.
That only got me four, though.
Gulp.
"Chain Lightning!!"
The instant the Starpang delivery arrived, I immediately cast another spell.
Kzzzzzt!!
It succeeded, just as I expected.
An immense thrill surged through me as blue bolts of lightning crawled up the wall.
It works. It really works.
As long as I had magic stones, I could use any kind of magic.
For close-range attacks and parrying, I had my sword. For long-range attacks, I had magic cast using magic stones.
I was practically a pseudo magic swordsman, but I would be able to do anything from now on.
If I accumulated TP while climbing the tower, I would surely be able to build a one-man army someday.
I could handle magic stones being expensive.
One hundred TP per spell? I just had to stop ordering anything for a while.
Tap!
┗Magic Genius Wiki: I love you, Moderator. Want a kiss?
┗Not an Eraser🔸: What?! All of a sudden?!
┗Magic Genius Wiki: You’re seriously the only one I have... You’re the best, Moderator.
┗Not an Eraser🔸: Thank you...?
If it weren’t for the moderator, I would probably be shut away in my hideout crying right now.
Long live the moderator. Hail the moderator.
Our Eraser is the best at getting things done in the whole world, you know?!
*
[Tower of Mindscape]
- First Run, Floor 30 Strategy: Every movement increases the time required for escape.
"..."
A place utterly filled with darkness in every direction.
On the tenth floor of the Tower of Mindscape, it made me walk without stopping. On the twentieth, ghosts swarmed and clung to me. And on the thirtieth, it made it impossible for me to move at all.
Staying still in a place where I couldn’t see anything might seem easy in a way, but...
Screeeech... Creak...
An unidentified sound, like something scraping.
Thud! Thud! Boom!!
Reverberations from somewhere I couldn’t identify.
"Grrrrrrr..."
"Sob... hic..."
Human voices that sounded steeped in resentment.
Rumble...!!
And even vibrations that occasionally came through, as if a door had opened.
They continually tormented my mind, trying to make me unable to stay still.
If I couldn’t endure it and moved, the time until I cleared the floor would keep increasing.
No matter what happened or what sounds I heard, I had to remain still to clear it.
How long am I supposed to stay here?
It felt like I had been sitting here for three hours.
It probably hadn’t actually been that long, but it felt unbearably long regardless.
It wasn’t scarier or more frightening than the tenth floor, but I couldn’t help wondering whether staying still like this was really right.
That’s probably the point, though.
I just had to stubbornly stay still no matter what.
"Whew..."
It wasn’t particularly difficult. It wasn’t all that scary, either.
Maybe because I had experienced worse things over the past few weeks, but I honestly felt calm now.
What should I try next?
Instead, my heart was pounding at the thought that I would soon earn TP.
Flash!
Rumble...!!
"Speak of the tiger, and it comes."
I had heard the sound of doors opening several times in that short span, but this time, the light came on first.
Seeing the two doors open neatly as if to announce my clear, and the radiance descending over the pitch-black darkness, I rose to my feet.
[Tower of Mindscape]
-30-
"Ngh...!"
I stretched out my body, which had grown stiff in such a short time, and started walking.
-1-
[End: 324:07:23:03]
[Section: 1:07:23:03]
[135 / 42]
Click!
About two weeks had passed since I realized I could use magic with magic stones.
It had been over forty days since the day I entered the tower.
I’ve climbed quite a bit.
For two weeks, I had climbed tenaciously to gather TP.
...Well, not quite that tenaciously, actually.
Still, motivated solely by my dream of magic, I was climbing while even cutting down on my gallery browsing time.
Squeeze!
"Are my muscles starting to grow, too?"
I was also spending several hours a day on strength training and swordsmanship practice.
There wasn’t a huge visible difference, but compared to the day I first fell into this place, I thought I had changed quite a bit.
[???]
- Functionality is restricted. Upon meeting the conditions, ‘???’ will become available.
[Tower of Trials 25/50]
[Tower of Wisdom 50/50]
[Tower of Mindscape 30/50]
[Tower of Fate 30/50]
There’s still a long way to go before I can unlock it.
I felt like I had climbed a fair amount, yet I still had so far to go.
I had practiced and experimented with magic stones, raising the Tower of Trials to the twenty-fifth floor.
I discovered that if I threw multiple magic stones at once, I could cast multiple spells simultaneously.
From casting the same spell at the same time to using different kinds of magic simultaneously.
I went through all sorts of trial and error and used up plenty of magic stones, but I eventually succeeded.
It’s probably thanks to Wiki’s support activation, though.
Even I thought it sounded ridiculous, but somehow I had become a fucking awesome mage who could cast multiple spells without incantations.
I wasn’t sure whether I could really call this being a mage, but...
Either way, I was using magic, so I called myself a mage.
Wasn’t this even more impressive, if anything?
Step.
There were no anomalies this time either.
I had climbed the Tower of Mindscape and the Tower of Fate to the thirtieth floor, but no anomalies appeared.
I didn’t know whether they only appeared in the Tower of Wisdom as expected, or whether the conditions simply had not been fulfilled.
Ding!
[Cleared Floor 30 of the Tower of Mindscape - TP +3,000]
[Cleared Floor 30 of the Tower of Mindscape in the fastest time ever - TP +1,000]
"Nice. Gotta love the bullshit buff."
I smiled at the TP notifications that appeared.
Other people must have moved first in order to figure out the condition for clearing the thirtieth floor.
I had simply listened to Wiki and stayed still the moment I entered.
Thanks to Wiki, I cleared it easily and even got a bonus, so all I could feel was grateful.
[TP Held: 6,520]
I had earned some TP climbing the Tower of Mindscape and the Tower of Fate, but I had already spent quite a bit of it.
I had spent over 3,000 TP on magic stones alone.
I had handed out cola in the gallery, of course, and I had even sent the moderator another burger as thanks.
Still, I’ve built up a decent lump sum again...
I planned to shop for one more new spell, then challenge the thirtieth floor of the Tower of Trials in a few days.
I had also perfectly made the Royal Palace Knights’ swordsmanship my own.
I was starting to want some practical experience in both close-quarters and ranged combat.
Up to the twenty-fifth floor, all I had encountered was boring grinding.
So the question is, what should I learn?
I still hadn’t decided what kind of new magic would be best.
I had put various things in my cart, but every single one of them appealed to me.
Swipe.
"...Should I take care of what I need to do first?"
Back in my hideout, I drank some cold water (1 TP) I had ordered in advance and entered the gallery.
It had been around ten days since I posted proof of my ‘one hundred floors in one month’ achievement, and I hadn’t posted another proof post since.
Doing it every ten floors felt kind of lame, and I was starting to feel like the reactions were dwindling.
Every time I made a proof post, people looked for cola before they even looked at me, so they needed some attitude adjustment.
[Infinite Regression Gallery]
[Fate Tower is fucking bullshit lmao] (12)
[Day 15 of praying to win cola] (3)
[So is the moderator really a cute girl?] (43)
[Does [Irregular] <<<< this thing actually exist???] (24)
[It’s my 998th run. Only two bullets left now.] (13)
There were noticeably fewer posts about me now, too.
Or rather, the rate at which posts appeared in the gallery itself had slowed down somewhat.
This is probably what’s normal, actually.
Everyone was trapped in the tower and did nothing but climb it, yet they couldn’t properly talk about the tower itself.
There weren’t any special topics for discussion, and aside from the bait I occasionally tossed them, the conversations were all more of the same.
After living like this for hundreds or thousands of years, there was no way anyone would keep writing the same posts and talking about the same things every time—
[Water mage got destroyed, what a fucking scrub lol]
[Look at this pathetic fire mage]
"There they are."
There really were people here who had spent hundreds of years writing the same posts and doing the same thing.
...Aren’t both of them mages?
As I watched them, inspiration surged through me.
I had been worrying about what new magic to learn anyway...
Swipe.
[Create Post]
Should I toss them some bait?
Why not prod them into a fight, then learn the magic of whoever won?
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