A Swordsman’s Stream

Chapter 21

Northwest of Altheon.

From afar, a massive city dominated the space with its clustered buildings.

It was enormous.

This giant mass that occupied more than half of the northwest was a planned small city, a society operating under its own rules.

The magic tower.

It was a term that collectively referred to the city formed around the central magic tower where mages belonged to the ruling class.

Players often encountered merchants trading forbidden items or back alley thugs harassing people out of the mages’ sight in this place.

‘And they said the main missions involved assassinating mages who conspired with such thugs.’

The Ruler of this place was the Tower Lord.

He was reputed to manage the tower rationally. However, it was also said that behind the scenes, he conducted various unethical experiments like human trials, all under the pretext of advancing magic.

Sojun scaled the wall.

Then, he leaped across the rooftops of the buildings surrounding the low tower, heading towards the center.

At the center stood a massive tower layered with white bricks.

Though it couldn’t be compared in height to real-world buildings, its land area was as large or larger than most buildings.

Seeing many people entering and exiting a large entrance that seemed to be at least 3 meters high, Sojun descended from the rooftop and mingled with the crowd.

“Well then, let’s go assassinate someone.”

-Assassinate X Destroy O

-Infiltrating the tower (by walking through the front door)

-LOLOLOL LOLOLOL This is the taste.
-Sojun-ssi, you do know about the magic tower, right?

Sojun thought about the magic tower.

He had intentionally only familiarized himself with the basic settings, leaving out the detailed parts.

It was fine to study in advance through external sites or gather information while progressing through the game, but that wasn’t the type of stream Sojun aimed for.

“Nope? This is my first time seeing the magic tower. Isn’t it just about reaching the top?”

-Wow, just charging forward without a plan as usual, incredible.
-That’s why we watch the stream.
-The magic tower might be tough though.

Blending in with the crowd, Sojun entered the magic tower.

“Well, let’s give it a shot.”

The interior was indeed as spacious and open as it looked from outside.

Sojun looked around.

He spotted people wearing long-sleeved robes now and then.

“Are those NPCs mages? There seem to be fewer than I expected.”

So, most of them were common people?

-Of course, mages are rare.
-Anyway, the first, second, and third floors of the tower are like a market. That’s why they are huge, and there are many common people. The real deal starts from the fourth floor.
-Do you want to pickpocket?

“I don’t pickpocket.”

Cutting off decisively, Sojun surveyed the interior to move to the next floor.

The open central part extending through the second and third floors, with stores attached to the walls, gave it a vibe.

“Shopping mall?”

Although it was more convoluted, resembling a maze-like ant nest, the core reminded one of a typical shopping mall.

-LOLOLOL LOL
-It’s somewhat similar.
-There’s also a school and a library!

It seemed to be an interesting place in many ways.

Sojun found the spiral staircase running from the first to the third floor and climbed up to the third.

Then he saw an NPC who looked like a mage with a hood over his head and started following.

The NPC navigated through the complicated third-floor passages, heading somewhere.

As Sojun followed, he felt the ground gradually rising.

And soon, the surroundings became devoid of people.

The NPC entered a door guarded by two guards, and Sojun paused.

Believing this door led to the fourth floor but not entirely sure, he glanced at the chat window.

If it was filled with ‘LOLOLOL ‘, he took the wrong path. If not, he was on the right track.

Fortunately, it seemed he was on the right path.

“Hmm. More guards?”

-Those guys are nothing now.
-Should we destroy their weapons for you? Or parry them?
-Let’s just crush them quickly.

“Okay.”

Sojun approached the guards.

“This area is restricted…”

Effortlessly parrying and subduing them, Sojun opened the fairly large iron door.

And the moment he stepped inside, his body froze.

Flare.

“It’s an intruder. That’s a shame.”

From afar, someone launched a fireball from their palm at Sojun.

Instinctively, Sojun’s body had tried to move, but he couldn’t budge at all.

When the tingling sensation of static electricity arose, it seemed like he was paralyzed.

“Do I just have to take it like this?”

At that moment, the paralysis released.

And the magic was already closing in.

Fortunately, thanks to his excellent reaction speed, as soon as the paralysis released, he threw himself to the side and avoided the fireball.

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

– Someone actually survived this?
– His reaction speed is insane, lol.
– Ah, I could’ve added a Season 1 death.
– I knew he’d make it!
– You clearly haven’t studied the Magic Tower, tsk tsk.

“Phew.”

Sojun breathed a sigh of relief and began to stay alert to his surroundings.

If the previous situation repeated, it would be troublesome.

Whoosh.

“You’re lucky this time. What about this?”

On the other side of the wide lobby, a magician created a fireball in each hand and hurled them.

But this time, there was no restriction on Sojun’s body.

‘Hmm, should I dodge while approaching?’

No, there was a mission.

Sojun used the Weakpoint Perception Skill.

To confront the Tower Lord, he needed to observe the grain of the magic.

In an instant, the background changed drastically.

And in that sight, the fireballs burned even more intensely.

He could see the lines drawn on the fireballs.

Sojun smiled and swiftly sliced the two oncoming fireballs in half simultaneously.

“Wow, magic has grains, too.”

He hadn’t expected this.

Additionally, magic was a foreign field to Sojun, so he had no grasp of the grain’s form.
– Oh, the magic can be split.
– Should I really get Weakpoint Perception? This skill is awesome, lol.
– It looks cool because it’s streamer-nim, don’t be mistaken.

Sojun laughed as he charged towards the magician.

Four more fireballs came flying, but with Weakpoint Perception, they caused no damage to Sojun.

“Ugh.”

The magician’s health reservoir was small.

Unlike multiple melee NPCs who required repeated hits unless parried, even minor foes went down quickly without that necessity.

“This is quite fun. Is this the 4th floor? Am I in the right place?”

– Yes.
– Yep.
– Right.

“Then why did you stop earlier?”

– Hush.
– Quiet.
– Stop!
– No spoilers.

“I’m not spoiling anything, though…”

– Hush.
– Three.
– Shush.

Not even one person gave an answer?

Sojun read every chat coming in but found none that provided the correct answer.

“Sigh, it’s not worth asking, then.”

Probably.

He’d either opened a door or stepped on something wrong.

That was the best conclusion he could draw for now.

‘Ultimately, I have to go to the next floor.’

The top of the Magic Tower was the 8th floor.

Sojun scouted around the 4th floor to move to the next.

There were several miscellaneous items.

Laboratories of variegated atmospheres arranged down the unexpectedly spacious passageways.

And the magicians immersed in their own work, paying no attention to Sojun.

This place was nothing like the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd floors—a truly authentic Magic Tower.

“Hmm, even so, I can’t tolerate being ignored as an intruder.”

Sojun deliberately approached a concentrating magician and struck something like a flask with his sword.

– Huh? Lol.
– Level of personality, lol.
– His way of thinking is different from ours.

“You, you are an intruder?”

“Exactly. I knew you’d react.”

Intending to scrutinize magic further, Sojun provoked the researching magician.

The magician, upon discovering Sojun, activated the magic circle engraved on the back of his hand.

In an instant, he moved toward the entrance of the room, distancing himself from Sojun, and then cast a spell.

“Oh, teleportation.”

An ice arrow materialized in mid-air and flew towards him.

Sojun once again used Weakpoint Perception to discern the texture of the magic.

The cooldown for Weakpoint Perception was one minute.

Sojun identified the texture of the ice arrow and slashed at it accordingly.

Still, he couldn’t quite catch the feeling.

Sojun waited quietly, intending to observe more.

However, the magician couldn’t cast any more spells.

“What? Is he being cautious because this is a lab?”

– No, that’s not it.
– Nice imagination, LOL.
– Fact: Teleportation uses a massive amount of mana. He’s just exhausted.

Sojun checked the chat and wore an embarrassed expression.

No wonder the magician looked particularly drained.

After dealing with the magician, Sojun inspected other rooms.

Beyond ice arrows and fireballs, he identified magic to bind through plants and magic to trap by raising rocks.

In fact, they were NPCs he could defeat without knowing these textures.

‘In this game, textures are additional elements.’

However, considering Ruler Richard, who took no damage until his armor was destroyed, textures might be necessary.

Without knowing the textures, he might have tried to wear down the armor’s durability for ten hours or found some other way, but thanks to the textures, he ended it in an instant.

Sojun was preparing precisely for that.

For some reason, he had an intuition that the person who set the mission was the real creator.

‘There must be a reason for imposing such conditions.’

Thinking that, Sojun climbed the stairs to the fifth floor.

“Finally found it. Why do I have to find the stairs to the next floor separately?”

– So that people don’t skip the fourth floor and look around, LOL.
– LOL, magicians can just use teleportation devices (seriously).
– The stairs are for emergencies.

“If it’s for emergencies, they should always be connected. What if one can’t find the stairs while evacuating and can’t escape?”

– True that.
– Are you listening, developers?
– The stairs are for aesthetics.
– Don’t try to understand the magicians’ sentimentality.

“Well, at least I don’t need a key.”

Sojun, after climbing to the fifth floor, saw a similar iron door and opened it.

Behind the door, he discovered a guard and a magician standing there.

For some reason, they just waited inside even after spotting Sojun.

The guard drew his sword and raised his shield, while the magician created magic in his hand, but that was all.

“What are they up to?”

– LOL.
– Have they caught on?
– The fifth floor has body confusion.
– We shall see?

Sojun noticed a chat from someone who couldn’t resist sharing what they knew.

“Oh. Is it confusion this time? If I enter there, do I get a debuff? And they’re just waiting for that?”

– Oh no!
– He figured it out.
– Who spilled the beans?
– Clueless, LOL.

“Thanks for the info. Since the secret’s out, tell me more.”

Sojun collected information while reading openly informative chats.

It turned out there were two ways to reach the top of the magic tower: the outer wall and the inner passage.

“Ah, so each floor has its debuff, and I can’t just crawl up the outer wall to avoid them since alarm magic would trigger. The fifth floor is confusion.”

To use the inner passage, he had to accept the debuff.

The fourth floor was temporary paralysis, as he experienced.

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

The sixth floor slowed movements.

The seventh floor darkened the vision.

– Yup, that’s why people alternate between the outer wall and the inner passage when climbing.
– There’s no solution for the darkness debuff. Just avoid it.
– The confusion debuff is also hopeless.
– Just climb the outer wall.
– Surely, you aren’t going to climb up the outer wall?

“Seriously. Have I ever snuck around because I was scared? I don’t do that kind of assassination.”

– That’s not even assassination, LOL. Hilarious.
– Yeah, this is the fun of it.
– Awesome!

Sojun, envisioning reversed left and right senses, walked into the fifth-floor interior.