Book 2: Chapter 545
The ‘childish things' continued a bit longer.
The trials prepared by Torun were, in fact, closer to tests than trials. And if what he said was true, then the overall difficulty wouldn't exceed this framework up until the 10th floor.
The old man hid the confusion he had just shown and asked:
“How old do I look to you?”
“Can you tell what the main attribute of the magic I use is?”
“What are my hobbies?”
“Do you think I am married?”
Torun's questions continued, and Lukas responded while contemplating this space—though it was connected to the Three Thousand Worlds, there might be restrictions in the active range.
“Around 150 years old.”
“Fire magic.”
“Tailoring and gardening. The suit you are wearing was made by yourself, I see.”
“Married with three children: two sons and a daughter, in the order of son, daughter, son. Have you been away from your wife for a long time?”
“…….”
Torun could no longer maintain his leisurely smile. His facial muscles trembled uncontrollably as he spoke.
“…All correct. But how did you know?”
“…….”
“Of course, you do not have to answer. It’s just personal curiosity……”
“You know how to control aging.”
“That is correct, but…”
“Yet, you choose to appear old, which likely means you prefer to look experienced rather than young. ‘Wanting to look old' rather than ‘wanting to look young' is a tendency hard to understand for most people, and it typically appears after one has lived through enough time to face death twice.”
“…….”
“The attribute of magic was because when you were startled, the magic energy emitted from your body had traces of fire energy, and the hobbies I guessed from the embroidery. The patterns sewn into the tablecloth and your clothes, and this garden must be modeled after it, right?”
“That's right.”
“There were garden tools under the table, and there was a bit of dirt on the edge of your sleeve. It's evidence you were tending to the garden before I arrived.”
Torun glanced at the emblem sewn on the left side of his chest as he spoke.
“The fact that you're married was deduced from the stitching on the suit which differed in texture from other parts. Unfortunately, as much as tailoring is your hobby, your skill does not seem very adept. Probably, the flawed parts were mended by your wife. Lastly, about the children, this is it.”
Lukas suddenly showed a handkerchief he was holding in his hand.
“When did you…”
“While you were distracted for a moment.”
Of course, Torun had not been distracted.
“Surely, this isn't against the rules?”
“…No, it is not.”
“That’s fortunate.”
He nodded once and read the embroidered names at the end.
“Taylor, Lucia, Moric. I merely guessed they were your children from the dearly inscribed names.”
Yes. A guess.
Most of what Lukas had said was conjecture.
Results that can usually be obtained just from observation. Nothing is certain. One can only select the most likely possibilities.
Torun waited for an answer while looking at him.
It's a childish act, but if it's for climbing the tower, he could perform this farce several more times.
“…Impressive.”
Torun nodded his head.
He was smiling again, but now it showcased more absurdity and resignation than the profoundness seen at first.
“Is the test over?”
“It's not a test but a trial… Yes, it is.”
After saying that, he took a deep breath and changed his expression to a serious one.
“My ‘trial' is over. However, the trial regarding ‘observational skill' is not yet complete. On the second floor, a more challenging trial awaits you.”
Torun smirked slyly as he laughed.
“The trial there will not be as easy as this one. Hahaha…”
With a sinister laugh, Torun took a sip from his teacup.
Watching this, Residue commented.
[This old man, hasn't his character changed?]
“…….”
* * *
2nd Floor.
“H-how…?”
And the wizard on the 2nd floor, a man who introduced himself as Kingdel, gaped in shock.
If it were possible to score ‘the degree of surprise,' he would easily surpass Torun.
Lukas had just repeated the thing he had done on the 1st floor about 15 minutes ago.
“Is the test over?”
…It's not a test, but a trial.
Kingdel thought so with a gloomy face, but he dared not say it out loud.
“…Yes, it is.”
A more challenging difficulty of trial.
Torun had said that, but to Lukas, it was no different from the previous test.
“Please, just a moment. It might take some time to quantify the ‘observational skill' of the climber.”
With a nod, Kingdel disappeared.
Lukas slowly looked around.
The 2nd floor was a space universe, and hundreds of thousands of star clusters were spread out in all directions.
The trial Kingdel set was simple. To find the stars he defined in this vast universe.
…Just like the one on the 1st floor, it was not difficult for Lukas.
[What can you possibly gain from this climb?]
Residue murmured in a quiet voice then.
‘What can be gained…'
[Even if you do gain something, what meaning would it hold? The Beginning Wizard wished for your death, didn't he?]
‘……'
[Is it useless to kill you now? Does it only gain meaning after you have ‘learned something or realized something'? Or else…]
Residue paused for a moment before continuing.
[The worst possibility I can think of is… Lukas Trowman. The Beginning Wizard might be stalling for some reason.]
‘Stalling?'
[If making you climb this tower is merely a deception? If it’s meant to make you believe you can gain something from this tower while actually preventing you from preparing for ‘something soon to happen'?]
Something soon to happen.
Lukas's expression hardened.
‘The destruction of ‘All things' apocalypse.'
[Of course, all this is just speculation. What I want to say is one thing: do not trust the Beginning Wizard. Blood relations, the destiny as a grand wizard, watching over you from beyond the Spring of Wisdom and gaining salvation from that sight? Ha. Even if it’s all true, it's meaningless.]
‘…….'
Lukas neither agreed nor denied explicitly, but he didn’t completely ignore Residue's advice.
Apocalypse.
When would the apocalypse come? What form would it take?
‘The First Apocalypse', and the ‘Void King'.
…It's different.
Diablo believed that the apocalypse, unnoticed by all beings, would happen in a way that everything would vanish like an illusion. But Lukas realized that it wasn’t so.
If that were the case, there wouldn’t be five forms of apocalypse.
The very fact that it has forms seems contradictory.
‘Can the apocalypse be prepared for?'
And the Beginning Wizard, as he himself said, knows the way.
When reaching the top of the tower, will the Beginning Wizard tell him that method?
“…….”
Lukas closed and then opened his eyes.
“Sorry for the long wait.”
Kingdel had returned just in time.
“Then, I will inform you of the figures. The climber's observational skill is…….”
* * *
The trivial tests continued thereafter.
After observational skill came analytical skill, creative skill, application skill, computational skill…
Lukas showed overwhelming numbers in all indicators. The highest was in the computational skill part, where the figure was marked with a ‘?'. When he asked the magician who measured it, this was the reply:
“With the knowledge I possess, I was unable to fully measure the climber's observational skill.”
After all the tests were completed, about 24 hours had passed. The reason it took so long relative to the effort put in was that some tests were of a type that inherently consumed a lot of time.
Thus, the final data emerged.
“…….”
Lukas looked at his data and compared it to the figures of the ‘Seven Magicians'.
Naturally, Lukas's total scores were higher than theirs. Honestly, it was almost embarrassing to compare.
However, there were those who had higher scores than Lukas in creativity and application skills.
[The 55th floor and the 77th floor, huh.]
Residue chuckled.
[You're definitely a bit of a hard head, so it's not strange that you lack creativity. It's surprising that you lost in application though.]
‘These might not be accurate figures. They were measured using the tower's unique testing methods.'
[Oh. Did that hurt your pride?]
Residue's taunting was improving day by day. For Lukas, this subtle poking was more irritating than outright swearing.
[But still, the stats of this guy on the 77th floor are quite impressive.]
Lukas didn't say it outright, but he agreed with that opinion.
The scores held by the magician on the 77th floor were several levels higher than the other Seven Magicians.
[He might be a disciple of the Beginning Wizard. Surely, and it'll be hard to beat him with restrictions].
“…….”
[Special privileges, was it? Would using that help you climb the tower?]
A special privilege was given for scoring higher than the Seven Magicians.
Lukas pulled out the special privilege from his pocket.
It was three gems.
Red, blue, and purple.
These gems had a different luster from ordinary jewels, seemingly sparkling clearly even in the absence of light.
[That is…]
“The red is for [Expand], the blue is for [Maintain], and the purple is for [Skip].”
[Expand? Maintain? Skip?]
Lukas looked around.
“This place is connected to the Three Thousand Worlds, isn't it? The magicians I've met so far seemed to try to hide that fact, but it doesn't seem like it's a secret that needs to be hidden. Probably, as you climb higher, you naturally come to realize it.”
[Hmm.]
“Even though it's connected to the outside, there are limits to how far you can move… On the 1st floor, you couldn't go beyond ‘Torun's Garden.' If you use this red gem then…”
[Indeed. Does it expand the range of movement you can act within?]
Lukas nodded.
“[Maintain] extends the time you can stay on a given floor.”
[Hmm? Was there a time limit on how long you can stay in the tower?]
“There wasn't until now, but it wouldn't be strange if some floors had such a limit going forward.”
[I see. Skip… well, no need to explain that.]
Residue snickered.
[Then the tutorial is finally over. Now it will get interesting to watch. What are your thoughts? You'll soon clash with the first of the Seven Magicians on the upper floors.]
Lukas thought of the man in the red robe.
The first of the Seven Magicians, Redrun.
It would likely be the first direct combat taking place inside the tower.
Lukas nodded once and said,
“I think I need to revise the climb period.”
[Oh?]
Residue showed interest. It was rare for Lukas to revise what he had previously stated.
[Have you decided to take the advice of that woman, what’s her name… Alaltain?]
“…It's Altata. And it's the opposite. I need to shorten the period.”
Lukas looked up towards the higher floors.
“I’ll reach the 77th floor by today.”
*****