1.
I couldn’t sleep and spent the entire dawn poring over the wiki.
"The path of magic begins with opening the lower dantian, and one can become a high-ranking mage by opening the middle and upper dantians as well... Fuck."
I ruffled my hair.
I’d started studying magic as a side pursuit, but I still couldn’t get a handle on it.
Half-asleep, I wolfed down breakfast and mulled things over.
The other children had already finished eating. I’d overslept, so I was eating late.
I wouldn’t have minded if I were doing physical work, but having to use my head was killing me....
Though, using my head was actually my specialty.
From what I’d gathered, this world was simple.
It was a fantasy setting.
With a tower thrown into it.
I didn’t know whether it was a romance fantasy or not.
The place I was in was an orphanage that reeked of cow dung, so it was rather far removed from romance.
That only applied to where I was, though. Once I went outside, who knew?
The important thing was this.
Once someone came of age, those who qualified were given an invitation to the tower.
And whoever received one chose whether or not to climb the tower.
Strong or weak, climbing the tower was the goal of life in this world.
"...I don’t like towers, though."
They looked dangerous, plain and simple.
[It’s hard to think of it that simply, though.]
[The tower was the structure that supported this world’s economy, power, and social hierarchy as a whole.]
Well, that was how the overall system worked.
It wasn’t like anyone was threatening me to pick up a sword and climb it.
Unless I turned out to have an enormous talent for magic.
In that sense, the wiki entry on Dolores was much the same.
There was so much on the wiki that I couldn’t read all of it.
To sum it up simply—
‘Elysia von Dolores.’
She was the Duchess of House Dolores.
And once, she had been one of the tower’s top climbers.
Apparently, she had climbed the tower alongside six sworn sisters....
But one day, without any warning, she stopped climbing.
After that, Dolores withdrew from public life.
Now, she ran an orphanage and raised disciples.
[They say stopping one’s ascent of the tower is practically the same as retirement.]
"Really?"
I didn’t live here, so I didn’t know what it meant to stop climbing.
Maybe she just wanted to raise disciples. She did seem to find little kids cute.
"But what’s this, Ruler of the Fifth Floor?"
The name Elysia von Dolores had the epithet Ruler of the Fifth Floor attached to it.
[The tower is divided into climbing zones and residential zones. Like residential districts and commercial districts.]
[The person who oversees the benefits and profits of a residential zone is called its ruler. For reference, the Fifth Floor’s specialty is....]
"Yeah, yeah, okay. I get it for now."
A ruler. Just as it sounded—someone who held the rights and interests there.
Too much information was exhausting too.
I got the gist of it.
[Hmph.]
In any case, only one thing mattered right now.
Dolores had given me a mission.
I had to show her something that would surprise her within a week.
How the hell was I supposed to surprise that woman?
I slowly reasoned through the information I had.
And naturally, the first thing that came to mind was that.
[White Gloves of Gorgonew] [★★★★★]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility] [1.1/100] - [Extreme Poison]
[The wearer’s innate yin energy resonates with the equipment’s yin energy, amplifying both.]
[The cause of seven of the nine meridians being sealed among the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.]
The most questionable thing among all the information I had.
I remembered it because it was the most immediately obvious information I could see.
It was the window that had appeared when Dolores put on those white gloves.
Compatibility 1.1, extreme poison, Nine Yin Severed Meridians, seven meridians sealed.
It seemed to mean that those white gloves didn’t suit Dolores, but....
I couldn’t know for certain.
"...Let’s look into it."
What exactly did that window mean?
I stood up.
Then headed straight for the magic class.
2.
Fortunately, Dolores had guaranteed me a measure of freedom.
So I could visit the magic class.
Not that I was actually there to hang out. I had something to find out.
"Oh, Lionel! What brings you here?"
The person I had come to see was the instructor.
"Ah, I just had something I was curious about."
"Have you decided to attend magic class after all? Good thinking."
The instructor welcomed me with obvious delight.
I shook my head at his words and pointed to the table behind him.
"Not that... Instructor, could you put those gloves on for me?"
Gloves lay neatly folded on the table.
They seemed to be the ones he’d worn during yesterday’s magic demonstration, with sparse black embroidery sewn around the wrists.
"So this is why Dolores chose you. You have a keen eye."
Looking pleased, the instructor picked up the gloves, showed them to me, and began putting them on.
"These gloves are equipment that only those with exceptional magical aptitude can wear. They aren’t for just anyone. Only those chosen by mana may use them."
─────────────────
[Apprentice Cotton Gloves] [☆☆☆☆☆]
[Compatibility] [10/15] - [Suitable]
─────────────────
【Calling them a mage’s equipment would be an insult to mages, while calling them equipment would not exactly please the equipment either.】
─────────────────
[Equipment suited to mages who have only barely risen above the level of ordinary people.]
─────────────────
As he put on the gloves, a window popped up before my eyes.
I only half-listened to the instructor’s explanation as I focused on the information in front of me.
The white gloves Dolores had worn had five stars, every single one filled in.
And their compatibility... had a maximum value of 100.
But these stars were all empty.
The maximum was only 15, too.
"It is, no less, one-star equipment, and something that cannot easily be obtained around here...."
But all the stars were empty....
"Then isn’t this zero-star equipment...?"
"Hm? What was that?"
"Ah, nothing. They suit you very well."
It was fortunate that they genuinely did suit him rather well, but I couldn’t shake the bitterness.
After all, it meant he had only barely risen above the level of an ordinary person.
"Thank you. They look great."
With a satisfied expression, the instructor took off the gloves and placed them back on the table.
I watched his retreating figure and quietly organized my thoughts.
So, while the gloves themselves differed in grade—
Dolores had low compatibility with her equipment, whereas the instructor’s compatibility was high.
‘Dolores is [Extreme Poison], while the instructor is [Suitable].’
That meant that despite possessing expensive equipment, Dolores herself was an incompatible user.
"Um, Instructor...."
I was about to ask him, but stopped.
Come to think of it, rather than asking this man....
[Hm?]
This one would know better.
"Ah, thank you."
"All right. Class is about to begin, so perhaps you’d like to observe—"
"Oh, I have a bit of a headache."
I gave a brief bow and left the magic class.
I sat down beneath the shade of a tree on one side of the orphanage.
Then I asked her.
The thing I was most curious about first.
"What exactly does compatibility represent?"
But—
[I don’t understand it either.]
[There’s no data on that.]
"...What?"
[But I did find something that seems like a similar concept?]
[According to the Inner Tower community, there is a concept called the ‘Equipment Compatibility Theory.’]
[The problem is, it has never been established academically, and even in the community it’s only rumor-level stuff? An urban legend? People vaguely talk about it like that.]
"You mean it’s a rumor."
[Mm-hm. There are claims that wearing equipment compatible with you drastically increases your combat power....]
[But it doesn’t look like anyone has ever personally worn it and measured or proven it?]
I sat there blankly for a moment.
So.
This compatibility that I could see was information that didn’t exist anywhere in this world.
[But, big brother.]
[Can I tell you one more weird thing?]
"...Go ahead."
I answered shortly.
The scary thing about this little sister of mine was that she was an AI capable of making her own inferences and judgments. Because she surpassed humans, she could infer and point out things I had missed.
Sometimes, that was reassuring.
And sometimes, it gave me chills. She felt genuinely alive.
Just then, magic class training was in full swing on the field.
When the instructor drew a line through the air, the inside of his lower abdomen began to glow.
[Oh, that’s it. They say that’s the phenomenon of mana gathering in the lower dantian.]
[But you can see that, big brother?]
"So what?"
[How???]
[There isn’t a single report anywhere of someone being able to see the mana in a dantian with the naked eye...?]
I looked toward the field.
I could still see the glow.
There were flickering lights in the children’s lower abdomens as well, but they were not gathering.
For the instructor, on the other hand, faint though it was, the light gathered in his lower abdomen.
That was the difference.
[They say even goldfish have their own talents, so maybe you, big brother....]
Ignoring Yuna’s nonsense, a thought suddenly struck me.
It was something I had read on the wiki at dawn.
According to what some mysterious archmage had written on the wiki—
The lower dantian was the lower abdomen, the middle dantian was the chest, and the upper dantian was the head.
The instructor’s was in his lower abdomen, so naturally that would be the lower dantian....
But Dolores had glowed around her chest.
"Open Dolores’s wiki page."
I checked her estimated stats.
[Dolores again.]
[Based on her estimated stats, that person, who had once been a top-ranked tower ranker, is expected to have opened her upper dantian.]
The upper dantian.
The upper dantian was the head. That was common knowledge in any setting.
But what I had seen was her chest.
The part of her body that had glowed was definitely her chest.
"...Then has Dolores only opened her middle dantian?"
[It seems that way.]
[You can’t leave an opened upper dantian alone and use only the middle dantian. That’s what the theory says.]
I slowly scratched my head.
So, to summarize—
The world believed Dolores was a top-tier ranker who had opened even her upper dantian.
But I could see only her middle dantian.
Her equipment was high-grade, but it was [Extreme Poison] to her.
And her middle dantian was blocked?
My head was spinning a little.
"...But maybe I just can’t see the upper dantian?"
Maybe my ability was lacking somewhat.
Maybe my knowledge was too shallow.
I shouldn’t jump to conclusions about things I wasn’t sure of.
When I turned my gaze, I saw a charmingly decorated annex beyond the orphanage.
That was where Dolores was staying.
I heard she rarely stayed here, but that this time, unusually, she had said she would remain for a week.
Equipment.
Compatibility.
She would surely handle it herself, but... it might be related to why she had stopped climbing.
In any case, that wasn’t my problem right now.
A way to surprise Dolores, within one week.
When I narrowed it down, there seemed to be about two options.
First: I, Kim Yujin... no, Lionel.
I could possess truly heaven-given talent as a mage and demonstrate that talent myself.
But realistically, that was impossible because—
[Cast Light Magic / Lowest Grade]
[Pray beneath the moonlight for two hours every dawn for two weeks.]
Every magic method was this kind of bullshit.
And apparently this was the orthodox way.
In other words, doing it within a week was impossible-impossible-impossible.
Of course, just in case, I had been squeezing in a few minutes of prayer-kiting here and there at dawn.
If I had talent, I should be able to go poof and cast magic with it.
Naturally, nothing had happened yet.
Then the second option.
Use compatibility.
This seemed like the most realistic choice.
I pictured the scene.
‘Duchess, your equipment sucks.’
"......"
What if I suddenly said that without any basis?
Would I be able to keep my head?
Mentioning the Nine Yin Severed Meridians would at least make me sound more convincing. The problem was how to prove it.
The fortunate part was that whenever I thought of Dolores, that status window appeared again.
"...It’s blinding."
But the status window was translucent, and the sun was high overhead.
The glare made it difficult to see properly.
"How am I supposed to move this...."
Just as I fumbled at the air—
My fingertips touched the status window.
Flutter.
"Huh?"
The status window unfolded wide, expanding into two screens.
The moment I saw it, I knew what this layout was.
It was an RPG game’s equipment screen.
You know, like those famous Korean RPGs. The structure was exactly the same as their equipment windows.
Dolores stood in the center of the screen, posed with elegance.
There were several slots that appeared to be equipment slots, but all of them were blacked out and locked.
Only the slot by her hands contained what looked like a pair of gloves.
The glove slot.
I pressed it.
Then—
Flutter.
A window opened.
[Replace]
A replace button.
[No Equipment Owned]
"......"
I had no equipment.
Of course I didn’t. I was a kid who had only arrived at the orphanage yesterday.
I felt my heart begin to race.
That meant I couldn’t do it because I had no equipment.
The fact that I could check equipment here in theory meant—
If I brought suitable equipment and tried putting it on her... its compatibility would appear.
Then that would become proof I could present before Dolores.
I wouldn’t even have to explain it in words. I could just put it on, and the result would show immediately.
I looked toward the field.
The instructor was still exercising.
Now was the time.
I quickly slipped into his office.
The gloves were stored very carefully. Perhaps he had worn them last time because Dolores was visiting.
I immediately picked up his gloves.
Then held them up to the glove slot in Dolores’s status window.
[Would you like to replace it?]
"I would."
Then a window appeared.
─────────────────
[Apprentice Cotton Gloves] [☆☆☆☆☆]
[Compatibility] [0.1/15] - [Remove Immediately]
─────────────────
[Unless she is out of her mind, there is no reason for a genius archmage to wear this. Should she still wish to wear it, a visit to the nearest doctor is recommended.]
─────────────────
"...There it is."
Only then did I realize I had been holding my breath.
I slowly let out the breath I’d held.
I could check equipment compatibility.
Without even putting it on.
"Then."
Now only one problem remained.
How was I supposed to obtain equipment that suited Dolores?
As far as I could see, finding equipment that suited Dolores in this backwater would be like plucking stars from the sky.
I’d be better off making it myself.
Could I perhaps get equipment crafting handed to me on a silver platter too?
Hopeful, I pressed this and that in the interface, but....
Nothing appeared.
That was when—
[Big brother, hehe.]
"What?"
[Get to work.]
[Read this.]
She opened an Inner Tower community post in front of me.
[✪] [Requesting this be pinned for future generations) A Beginner Blacksmith’s Guide to Crafting Equipment.]
"......"
I stared at the title for a moment.
Right. Nothing in life came easy.
Still, it had to be better than magic.
It seemed preferable to praying under moonlight for two weeks.
I immediately opened the post.
And revised my future dream.
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