NOVEL NEXT Chapter 63
“…So this is the Illusion Tower.”
Leisha arrived at the Illusion Tower.
A very wicked aura lingered in the air.
The Illusion Tower stood solitary, apart from other towers.
Though it was relatively shorter than the others, its appearance was neat.
Oddly, a giggle that sounded like “heheehee…” seemed to echo from the tower.
“Phew… I have to do this. I’m the student council president.”
The existing perception of illusion magic was utterly trivial.
However, this was an evil tower that had tainted the academy with the notion of ‘games.’
Resolving to never let her guard down, Leisha knocked on the tower’s door.
– Currently, the Illusion Tower only proceeds with pre-requested interviews. Additionally, purchases of artifacts are conducted through the Blue-haired Merchant, and suggestions or complaints regarding games should be directed to the in-game customer service. Violators will be blacklisted and may face account suspension without warning.
“…?”
At that moment, a voice, both businesslike and oddly irritated yet friendly, echoed from somewhere.
Even when she knocked again, the same voice came back.
It seemed like nobody was around. It was ghostly indeed.
The source of the sound was the illusion magic.
Due to the influx of people questioning the games, the Illusion Tower had set up this illusionary magic.
“Excuse me! That’s not—!”
But she, who was visiting the Illusion Tower for the first time, did not realize this.
She continued to knock hopelessly at the door.
After quite some time, a real voice finally spoke.
– …Who is it? Inquiries about games are not—
“I—I’m not here for that! I’m Leisha Leyard, the student council president of Teria Academy. I’ve come to discuss something regarding the Illusion Tower and the games.”
– …
The voice inside vanished once again.
After a brief moment, a brown-haired female illusion mage opened the door.
With prominent dark circles under her eyes, she had a somewhat frightening aura.
“…Please sit and wait over there.”
Leisha complied and sat on a chair in the lobby, waiting.
The interior of the Illusion Tower was mystical, unlike the outside.
Illusions floated around, seemingly random, looking like they had just been placed for aesthetic appeal.
Occasionally, a massive angel would pass overhead, and the walls would suddenly transform into views of beaches and oceans.
There weren’t any issues with moving around, but—
“Hehehe… It’s the ocean…”
“Father, take me with you…”
The illusion mages, looking terribly worn out, muttered while gazing at the views.
They resembled students during exam periods.
It felt oddly dangerous in some way.
“…What are you all doing? Hurry and get in for the balance patch.”
“Eek…!”
Just then, a male illusion mage appeared.
The illusion mages that were out there scurried away like they had seen a ghost, each entering their labs.
‘…What is going on?’
He resembled a professor assigning homework during an exam period.
Filled with instinctual fear, Leisha felt nervous without realizing it.
“…Are you Leisha? The student council president.”
“Yes, yes. Nice to meet you. I’m Leisha Leyard.”
“I’m Rai Ote.”
Leisha politely greeted him, and the illusion mage returned the courtesy, hinting he had some knowledge of noble etiquette.
‘This person is Riot, the creator of the illusion game…!’
Leisha was somewhat aware of him. He was well known in social circles.
Typically, when mages met, an indescribable sense of pressure would be felt, but he was slightly different.
At a glance, he merely looked like an ordinary man in his twenties.
“What brings you here?”
“Since the recent launch of ‘Auto Chess,’ the academy has been facing significant issues. It’s due to—”
Leisha began to spill the beans about the problems facing the academy lately.
Rai listened to her without much surprise.
“…I see. Such things happen even at the academy.”
“Yes. Because of this, classes are not being conducted properly due to the illusion game. The academy’s duty to pursue knowledge is getting muddled because of ‘games.’”
Leisha poured out her grievances that had been building up inside her.
Unknowingly, her complaints carried a hint of disdain toward the Illusion Tower.
While speaking, she didn’t notice she was revealing her frustration.
Rai understood this but quietly listened.
‘W-Was I a bit rude?’
Once she finished speaking, Leisha finally realized her mistake.
Having been stressed out by the recent academy issues, it seemed she wasn’t able to hold back.
Fortunately, Rai didn’t appear to be displeased.
“…So, you want to request a limitation on game time?”
“Yes. I don’t think it’s possible to ban it entirely, but if we could restrict access time…”
“Hm. Well…”
With a languid expression, Rai answered.
He was currently quite exhausted from dealing with matters concerning dragons, the Red Cross faction, and a slew of updates and patches.
“…So did students’ grades drop all of a sudden?”
“Yes, uh, no, not exactly, but…”
“Isn’t that what universities… or rather, academies are? Feeling pressed to cram knowledge hastily before exams, only to experience indigestion and struggle to digest everything? Professors expedite their lessons without considering the students who are new to learning. The exam grading can often favor those who’ve played the system rather than those who’ve genuinely studied. Grades depend on the professors’ moods, and one ends up piling useless knowledge just for the sake of grades and graduation. Isn’t that the reality of an academy?”
“Y-Yes, that’s true, but…”
Rai, as if he had a lot to say, began venting.
The glint in his eyes suggested an odd mania.
“A-Are you someone who went to an academy…?”
“…Not really.”
How did he know all these things without actually attending?
Clearly, he was an odd person.
“Anyway, what it amounts to doesn’t change. Whether a person prioritizes grades or academic importance, it remains the same. That’s how I see it.”
He was someone who had attended college in an age where games already existed.
Honestly, it didn’t seem like such a serious problem to him.
Moreover, as a developer, he had his reasons to dislike restrictions.
“But because of that, the classes are a mess.”
“That’s probably because that professor’s lectures are terrible. Being knowledgeable doesn’t mean one can teach effectively.”
“Y-You’re right… but no, that’s not it.”
“By the way, have you played any games, Leisha?”
“No, I’ve never played or plan to play.”
The moment Leisha asserted this firmly—
A crackling sound came from above, and a woman descended.
She was a beautiful lady radiating mysterious and powerful energy.
“Electra?”
“What a fun conversation you’re having.”
Just in time, Electra, who was visiting the Illusion Tower, caught all of their dialogue.
For her, who couldn’t live without COL, this was unbearable.
“Did you say you’re the student council president of the academy?”
“Yes, yes. I’m Leisha Leyard.”
“Hm. Leyard.”
She expected as much from a straight-laced individual.
Muttering to herself, Electra touched down on the ground.
“But to criticize something you know nothing about feels quite ignorant. It’s like judging based on fragmented information.”
“But there’s definitely damage caused by the games. Even now…”
“Can it really be called damage? Did the children playing say so?”
“Not exactly. But if you look at the situation…”
“That’s your interpretation of the situation. I think those kids probably felt happiness. Right, Rai?”
Sharing the same sentiment as Electra, Rai brought up the games.
He thought once people tried it, their perspectives would change.
“If you feel that way after trying it yourself, I’ll consider it.”
“…”
After pondering for a moment, Leisha nodded.
As Electra stated, it wasn’t right to criticize something she didn’t understand.
She wanted to firsthand experience and reveal the harm of what she didn’t know.
“Understood.”
“Great. Then here, take this.”
Leisha accepted the maple leaf-shaped artifact Electra handed her.
With a determined heart, Leisha logged into the Maple Leaf Story.
“What a bold kid. The Leyard family has always been like this.”
“To be honest, it doesn’t quite seem like you’d accept it just by trying a bit. Since you don’t plan to implement any shutdown or anything…”
“No, you will accept it.”
“Eh?”
Sparks danced in Electra’s hand.
Rai had just thought to send her off casually, but her expression was lit like a flame.
“Electra, what are you thinking…?”
“By now, character creation should be complete, and real play would have started.”
Saying that, Electra placed her hand on Leisha’s head.
“W-Wait! Killing someone without permission is—!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll just make it a little more enjoyable. Electricity, when adjusted delicately, can allow for this. After all, brain signals are all a form of electricity.”
Zing- zap-
Electra sent a very delicate current into Leisha’s brain.
There was initially no reaction.
However, as time passed and the game progressed, Leisha’s waist began to tremble intermittently.
“W-Wait a minute, this is—”
“I told you not to worry. This is simply an honest reaction to how fun the game is.”
“Are you telling me the game is fun enough to make my waist twitch…?”
“You’ll find it even more enjoyable this way.”
Could it be that Electra had played games like this all this time?
If pleasure was forcibly amplified like this, there would surely be addiction.
Rai finally understood why Electra often wore such expressions while gaming.
“H-Haa, ugh… This is…”
“Isn’t it quite fun, kid?”
“T-This enjoyment… No, this pleasure is…”
“Well then, try this as well.”
This time, Electra handed Leisha Auto Chess.
She happily explained the rules and started the game.
“Ah, ahhh… uh…!”
“Yeah, that’s it! Don’t stop rerolling!”
“Ah, ahh! No…! Just one Leeshim! Haah… SSSS…!!!”
Leisha, enjoying the game multiplied by a hundred times pleasure due to Electra’s magic.
For some reason, Electra mirrored Leisha’s euphoric expression.
Rai, witnessing this scene, found himself at a loss for how to react.
“Pleasure is just oozing into the brain—!”
‘What on earth…?’
Anyway, with Rai’s cold gaze firmly set, Leisha’s (game) first experience concluded.
*
“Haa… so this is… gaming. It feels… so good… no, so fun…”
“Yeah, kid. Do you understand what you were about to do?”
“I…I…”
Thus, Leisha developed a new perception of gaming.
Moreover, she ended up receiving all games from the Illusion Tower.
Leisha apologized for her earlier rudeness and left the Illusion Tower.
Thinking back, there hadn’t been any immediate changes to the students’ grades.
And during original lecture times, there hadn’t been much gaming either.
Though most of the conversational topics centered around games, the atmosphere at the academy seemed even brighter than before.
In truth, she realized games had done nothing wrong.
What was wrong was her attempt to impose restrictions that pressured and stressed the students.
She had already known that suppressing something good would lead to its release in the wrong ways.
Leisha felt that despite all her studying, she had learned too little.
Instead of suppressing, it was better to teach how to enjoy it properly.
A few weeks after Leisha returned to the academy,
Plans to hold an international gaming competition similar to the Arcane War in the empire were announced.
“This is it!”
As soon as she heard the news, Leisha slapped her thigh and stood up.
The student council members who had been playing Auto Chess looked at her in shock.
“W-What is it, president?”
“I’m going to create a new subject… no, a new major!”
“Eh?”
“What major?”
“I-SPORTS (Illusion game sports) major!”
Exploring this beautiful pleasure and new world.
Researching new battles within COL, new worlds within Maple Leaf Story, strategies in Auto Chess, and even engineering, psychology, and sciences in Minecraft.
“Games are, in themselves, a beautiful study!”
Games. They are an academic field.
Thus, there was no reason not to address it at the academy, which was meant for pursuing knowledge.
That is the right thing and the path to correctness.
Considering the world’s changes, it was a rather late proposal for a new major.
“Th-That’s…”
“No matter what, that’s…”
“That’s…”
“Really a good idea, president?!”
The student council members smacked their heads in agreement with her thoughts.
And so, a new field of study named I-SPORTS began to take root starting from the academy.
A stepping stone for games to rapidly advance forward.