The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The northwest of Alteon.

A massive city of clustered buildings overwhelmed the space from afar.

It was huge.

Occupying more than half of the northwest, this massive block was a society operating on its own rules and a planned town.

The Magic Tower.

It was a collective term for the entire city, which resembled a single building sprawled around the central Magic Tower, where mages reigned as the ruling class.

For players here, merchants trading forbidden goods, or back-alley trash tormenting people while avoiding the mages’ eyes.

‘And I heard that missions to assassinate mages who joined hands with such trash were mainly assigned here.’

The ruler of this place was the Magic Tower Master.

Although he was evaluated as managing the Magic Tower rationally,

behind the scenes, the lore was that he committed all kinds of unethical research, like human experimentation, solely for the development of magic.

Seo-jun climbed up the wall.

Then, leaping across the rooftops of buildings surrounding the low-built tower, he headed toward the center.

In the center stood a massive tower built layer by layer with white bricks.

Although it could not compare to real-world buildings in height, its footprint was similar to or wider than most buildings.

Seeing many people entering and exiting the large entrance, which was easily three meters high, Seo-jun came down from the rooftop and joined the crowd.

“Now, let’s go assassinate.”

– Assassination X, Destruction O

– Infiltrating the Magic Tower (while walking through the main gate)

– Hahaha, this is it!

– Seo-jun, you do know about the Magic Tower, right?

About the Magic Tower.

Seo-jun had intentionally only kept the basic settings in mind and had not dug into the details.

It would have been fine to prepare in advance through external sites, or to dig up the lore by collecting various information while playing the game, but

he did not aim for such a safe broadcast, after all.

“No? This is my first time seeing the Magic Tower. Isn’t it enough to just go to the top?”

– Wow, mindless head-on clash again today, shudder

– This is exactly why I watch this stream.

– The Magic Tower might be a bit tough, though?

Seo-jun blended in with the crowd just like that and entered the Magic Tower.

“Well. Let’s try it first.”

As expected, the interior had a spacious and high-ceilinged, open atmosphere, just like how it looked from the outside.

Seo-jun looked around.

Occasionally, people wearing long-sleeved robes caught his eye.

“Are those NPCs mages? There are fewer of them than I thought.”

Then, were most of them ordinary people?

– Mages should naturally be rare.

– In the first place, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors of the tower are like a marketplace. That’s why it’s super spacious and has lots of ordinary people. The 4th floor is the real deal.

– Wanna do some pickpocketing?

“I’m not doing pickpocketing.”

Seo-jun cut it off firmly and examined the interior closely to proceed to the next floor.

The centers of the second and third floors were hollowed out, giving a sense of openness, and the shops were attached to the walls.

It was like…

“A shopping mall?”

Of course, it was a more complexly intertwined structure resembling an anthill, but if one stripped away everything except the core parts, it brought to mind a commonly imagined shopping mall.

– Hahaha

– It is similar, indeed.

– There are also schools and libraries!

It seemed to be a fascinating place in many ways.

Seo-jun was able to climb up to the third floor after finding the spiral staircase that connected the first to the third floor.

And.

Spotting an NPC who looked like a hooded mage, he followed him.

The NPC headed somewhere while navigating through the anthill-like, complex passages of the third floor.

As Seo-jun followed him, he got the feeling that the ground was gradually rising.

And at some point, people no longer appeared around them.

The NPC entered past a door guarded by two guards, and Seo-jun paused for a moment.

He thought this was the door to the fourth floor, but since he could not be sure, he looked at the chat window.

If it was flooded with ‘lols’, it meant Seo-jun had come to the wrong place; otherwise, it meant he had come to the right place.

Fortunately, it seemed he had come to the right place.

“Hmm. Guards again?”

– They’re just easy prey now, lol

– Shall I destroy their weapon? Or shall I parry them?

– Let’s wreck them quickly

“Yes.”

Seo-jun approached them.

“This is a restricted area…”

Subduing the two of them with a light parry, Seo-jun opened the rather large iron door.

And the moment he took a step inside.

Seo-jun’s body froze.

Fwoosh.

“An intruder. How unfortunate for you.”

From afar, someone threw a fireball generated on their palm toward Seo-jun.

An instinctive movement tried to guide Seo-jun’s body, but it would not budge at all.

Judging by the tingling sensation similar to when static electricity is generated, he was probably in a paralyzed state.

‘Do I have to get hit like this?’

Just then, the paralysis was lifted.

And the magic had already come close at hand.

Fortunately, thanks to his outstanding reaction speed, the moment the paralysis was lifted, he immediately threw his body to the side and avoided the fireball.

“Crazy… I really thought I was going to die.”

– Someone actually survived this?

– His reaction speed is insane, lol

– Ah, we could have added his season’s first death.

– I knew I could trust you!

– Showing off that you didn’t study the Magic Tower, tsk tsk

“Phew.”

Seo-jun let out a sigh of relief and began to guard his surroundings.

If the situation from just now happened again, it could be troublesome, after all.

Fwoosh.

“You are lucky. Then what about this?”

From the opposite side of the vast lobby, the mage created a fireball in each hand and threw them.

However, this time, there was no restriction applied to Seo-jun’s body.

‘Hmm, should I approach while dodging?’

No. There was a mission.

Seo-jun used the skill Spot Weakness.

It would be good to observe the grain of magic in preparation for facing the Magic Tower Master.

The background instantly inverted.

And within that vision, the fireballs burned even more fiercely.

Solid lines drawn across the fireballs became visible.

Smiling, Seo-jun sliced the two rapidly flying fireballs in half at once.

“Wow, magic really has a grain too.”

This, he had not expected.

Furthermore, since magic was an unfamiliar field to Seo-jun, he could not grasp the shape of the grain at all.

– Oh, even magic can be sliced

– Should I really get Spot Weakness? The skill is so cool, lol

– It’s only cool because it’s the streamer’s face, don’t get delusional lol

Smiling, Seo-jun dashed toward the mage.

An additional four fireballs flew at him, but with their weaknesses already spotted, they could not inflict any damage on Seo-jun.

“Argh.”

The mage’s health pool was small.

It was different from the melee NPCs, who required multiple hits to damage if he did not parry them, even if they were just trash mobs.

“There is this kind of fun. Is this the fourth floor? I came to the right place, right?”

– Yes

– Yeah

– Ye

“Hmm, then why did I freeze earlier?”

– Shh.

– Quiet.

– Stop!

– No spoilers

“No, this isn’t a spoiler, it’s just…”

– Shh,

– Three.

– Shit.

How could not a single person tell him?

Seo-jun watched the continuously rising chat without missing a thing, but there was no chat that revealed the correct answer.

“Sigh, you’re so petty that I won’t even ask.”

Probably.

He had either opened the door or stepped on something wrong.

For now, this level of deduction was the best he could do.

‘In the end, I have to go to the next floor.’

The top of the Magic Tower was the eighth floor.

Seo-jun looked around the fourth floor to proceed to the next floor.

There were various junk items,

and laboratories decorated in various diverse atmospheres in a passageway that was wider than expected.

And mages inside the laboratories who were engrossed in their own work, not even paying attention to Seo-jun.

This was the true Magic Tower, completely different from the first, second, and third floors.

“Hmm, still, I’m an intruder, so I can’t tolerate this kind of treatment.”

Seo-jun deliberately went up to a focused mage and struck something like a flask with his sword.

– What? lol

– Look at his personality lol

– His way of thinking is different from ours.

– ???: They were going to pretend not to notice, so why is he like this?

“Y-you? Are you an intruder?”

“As expected. They do react.”

Seo-jun prodded the researching mage with the intention of examining magic a bit more.

As soon as the mage discovered Seo-jun, he activated a magic circle engraved on the back of his hand.

He instantly moved toward the entrance of the room to distance himself from Seo-jun, and then cast a spell.

“Oh, teleportation.”

An ice arrow was generated in midair and flew toward him.

Seo-jun used Spot Weakness once again to check the grain of the magic.

The cooldown of Spot Weakness was one minute.

Seo-jun checked the grain of the ice arrow and slashed it just like that.

Still, he could not get a feel for it.

Seo-jun waited quietly with the intention of checking more.

However, the mage could not cast any more magic.

“What is it? Are they being careful because this is a laboratory?”

– Nope, not that.

– Nice imagination, lol

– Info) Teleportation consumes an enormous amount of mana. He’s just exhausted.

Seo-jun checked the chat and wore an embarrassed expression.

No wonder he had looked particularly exhausted.

Seo-jun disposed of that mage and searched the other rooms.

In addition to ice arrows and fireballs, he checked the grain of various spells, such as magic that bound with plants or trapped him by causing rocks to rise.

Actually, they were NPCs he could defeat even without the grain.

‘Since the grain is an optional element in this game.’

However.

Thinking of the Ruler Richard, who did not take any damage until his armor was destroyed, he felt that the grain might be necessary.

Had he not known about the grain, he would have had to hit him for about ten hours to deplete the durability or find some other way, but did he not finish it in a single moment thanks to the grain?

Seo-jun was preparing for precisely that point.

For some reason, he had a hunch that the person who gave the mission was the real developer.

‘They wouldn’t have attached such conditions for no reason.’

Seo-jun climbed the stairs leading to the fifth floor.

“I finally found it. No, why do I have to search for the stairs to the next floor separately?”

– That way, people won’t skip the 4th floor and will look around, lol

– Ah lol, mages can just use teleportation devices (for real)

– The stairs are for emergency use.

“No, if it’s for emergencies, they should definitely be connected. What if someone can’t evacuate because they can’t find where the stairs are while trying to escape?”

– For real

– Are you listening, developers?

– The stairs are for aesthetics.

– Don’t try to understand the sensibility of mages.

“Well. I don’t need a key.”

After reaching the fifth floor, Seo-jun discovered an identical iron door and opened it.

Seo-jun spotted a guard and a mage standing behind the door.

However, for some reason, even after discovering Seo-jun, they merely waited inside.

The guard drew his sword and raised his shield, and the mage generated magic above his hand, but that was all.

“Look at these guys?”

– lol

– Did he notice?

– This floor is body confusion, shudder

– Indeed?

Seo-jun spotted a chat from someone who couldn’t resist showing off the one thing they knew.

“Ah. Is it confusion this time? Do I get a debuff if I go inside? And they’re waiting for that?”

– Ah!

– He noticed.

– Who in the chat did that?

– So clueless, lol

“Thank you. Since it’s already exposed, tell me more.”

Seo-jun gathered information while reading the chats that refreshingly revealed everything.

They said there were two paths to reach the top of the Magic Tower: the outer wall and the inner passage.

“Ah, so a debuff is cast on each floor, but climbing up only the outer wall to avoid this doesn’t work because an alarm spell rings. And the fifth floor is confusion.”

To use the inner passage, one had to receive the debuff.

The fourth floor was the temporary paralysis he had experienced.

The fifth floor was body confusion, where the left and right senses were reversed.

The sixth floor was slowness, which slowed one down.

The seventh floor was darkness, which took away one’s vision.

– Yeah, so they climb the outer wall but stop by the interior on the 4th and 6th floors in between.

– Darkness debuff is hopeless. Let’s just avoid that one.

– Confusion is also hopeless.

– Let’s just climb the outer wall.

– No way you’re going to climb the outer wall, right?

“Oh, please. Have I ever shrunk back and sneaked in? I don’t do that kind of assassination.”

– It wasn’t an assassination in the first place, lol. This is driving me crazy.

– Yes, this is the flavor.

– Wow!

Picturing the reversed left and right senses in his mind, Seo-jun walked into the interior of the fifth floor.