Chapter 006…
A Small Gift for a Competent Subordinate (3)
[Wizard A wakes from meditation.]
ââŠYouâve worked hard.â
Watching A slowly rise from the partially destroyed meditation chamber tugged at Shinwooâs heart. Ah, why didnât you fix it earlier?
Shinwoo wanted to fix it right away too. ButâŠ
ăMeditation Chamber Lv.1 (Partially Destroyed)ă â The wizard is resting.
Warning! Recovery efficiency is greatly reduced due to the chamber being partially destroyed, and debuffs may apply.
Repair Materials: 10/10 logs, 5/5 stones, 30/30 mana
Required Personnel: 0/1 low-level wizard (Wizard A is currently meditating)
The system wouldnât allow repairs without a wizard. Shinwoo thought about waking A but then hesitated, wondering if repairs could even be done while A was in a state of âMana Overloadâ and âExhaustion.â
Itâs probably inefficient to make them work while in a status abnormality, like when exploring the gates.
So, he had to watch A cough for hours, and it tore at his heart. To ease that sadness, he watched a movie, Santa vs. Monster, and exercised to sweat away his tears.
After some timeâwell, after soothing his sorrowâA finally woke.
âNow that Aâs up, letâs see how magically the building can be repaired.â
[Starting repair of ăMeditation Chamber (Partially Destroyed)ă]
Thud!
A slammed the floor with his staff. A light brown magic circle spread from that point, instantly covering the floor of the meditation chamber.
Perhaps because heâd gained some knowledge of magic, Shinwoo muttered:
âWow, itâs earth-element magic, but the structure makes no sense at all.â
If Shinwoo tried to replicate that, he would surely fail. The magic circle in the chamber felt like a machine, every part interconnected organically.
As the circle activatedâŠ
Vwoooosh!
Dust and stone fragments from the floor flew up, filling in the broken walls. The materials A had brought split into smaller pieces, filling in gaps the stones couldnât reach.
The meditation chamber was restored as if time had reversed.
ââŠI have to admit, this is magical repair.â
And now that it was restored, Shinwoo noticed details he hadnât before: the hearth, a faintly smoking incense burner, a blue carpet, leather sofasâthe interior was surprisingly well-decorated.
It looked like a proper wizardâs lounge.
Who would imagine this room had just been left covered in dust?
Magicâso magnificent, yet fearsome and awe-inspiring.
âOf course, the performance must be improved as well.â
If only the exterior was cleaned up, it would have been a bit disappointing. Luckily, that wasnât the case.
ăMeditation Chamber Lv.1ă â Restore HP and mana through meditation.
Maximum Personnel: 0/5
A qualified low-level wizard gains eligibility for promotion to a mid-level wizard when meditating.
âThis is it!â
Shinwoo had been wondering how low-level wizards would get promoted. The meditation chamber seemed to serve that purpose.
Hmm, should he let A meditate again?
Just as Shinwoo was pondering thisâŠ
[All Magic Tower infrastructure is now functioning normally.]
[Some features unlocked as qualifications are met.]
[Feature: ăFacility Enhancementă unlocked.]
[Feature: ăHuntingă unlocked.]
â?!â
Shinwooâs eyes widened. Repairing the meditation chamber had unlocked new tower features. All of them seemed important.
âFacility Enhancement!â
He had expected skills like levels for each facility eventually, but he hadnât imagined it would happen now. He immediately checked the features.
ăFacility Enhancement â Summoning Roomă
Description: Adds âFacility: Astral Gateâ to the Summoning Room.
Effect: Reduces summoning cost and allows summoning of a low-level wizard by consuming extra materials.
Enhancement Materials: 0/30 logs, 0/30 stones, 0/20 orc tusks, 0/10 demon horn fragments, 0/1 mithril ingot
ââŠOof.â
Shinwooâs excitement deflated upon seeing the materials. Except for logs and stones, the rest could only be obtained in the Teeming Forest.
âEven if I try sending for the materials, the towerâs manaâand my wealthâwould be drained.â
Even just the mithril ingot was ridiculously expensive.
Hmm, other facilities are similar.
He checked other facilities; though slightly less demanding than the Summoning Room, they also required materials not available inside the tower.
But the system had never demanded the impossible.
Naturally, this made another feature even more importantâ
âHunting.â
Not the casual socializing type, of course.
ăHuntingă
Effect: Summons a gate containing a designated monster depending on the day of the week.
-
Monday: Imp
⊠-
Sunday: Random
âThis feels very familiar.â
Shinwoo chuckled; this was the classic âweekday dungeonâ style seen in mobile games.
But the following warning shattered his amusement:
[Warning! If the tower is captured, important resources and internal facilities may be looted or damaged.]
ââŠIndeed.â
All the effort spent building the tower could vanish in an instant. He considered ignoring hunting, but after much thought, he decided to take the risk.
No growth comes without danger.
Besides, thereâs no guarantee that something like the Steel Predator incident wonât happen again.
He had to grow stronger. That meant it was finally time to do what he had been postponing.
âSummon a new wizard.â
ăSummoning Room Lv.1ă â Summons a low-level wizard.
Required Mana: 9/150
Required Personnel: Tower Master 1/1, Low-Level Wizard 1/1
Required mana: 150.
âWow, thatâs a lot.â
With research mana already tight, he couldnât easily attempt such a costly summon. Otherwise, the new wizard would just sit idle for lack of mana.
So he had delayed the summon to focus on research.
But to clear gates via hunting, strengthening the team isnât optionalâitâs necessary.
Looking at the mana output from the engine room, it would take roughlyâŠ
âOne day?â
Unfinished enchantment research flickered in his mind, but he shook it off. A man who draws his sword must also cut the radish! This was a tactical retreat to advance later.
âAh, but itâs still a shameâŠâ
He wanted to continue his enchantment, but would have to pass time watching videos. Luckily, he found something interesting:
ăPsychokinesis Techniques Even My Dog Can Do!ă
âOhhh!â
The title seemed silly, but it had over a million views.
The elderly man in the video was someone Shinwoo recognized from TV. His credentials were impressive:
A math professor at a prestigious university who awakened during the First Gate incident and spent 25 years mastering magic.
Now, he served as the magical advisor of Taesan Guild, one of Koreaâs top three guilds.
âCan I really watch this lecture for free?â
Shinwoo felt lucky and started watching⊠unaware why the comments were locked.
Later, Oh Hana, seeing her mentor again, gave a wry smile:
âWhy havenât you taken down your YouTube videos yet?â
âAre you scolding me as soon as you see me? And why would I take them down? I didnât say anything false.â
âThen you should remove âeven my dog can do itâ from the title. How is that even possible?â
She watched her mentor, Kim Cheolsu, float coffee in midair while playing Go by himself.
He was controlling five objects telekinetically. A genius who gained an A-rank job as a psychokineticist.
If he concentrated, he could probably handle double digits.
His power might not match a grand sorcerer, but his skill with magicâespecially psychokinesisâwas unmatched.
âOh, I still donât know how you became a professor with that kind of explanation skill.â
ââŠFormulas are honest.â
âAnd magic?â
âHonest too. You get predictable results, just needs imagination to use.â
âOh, thatâs more than just a little imaginationâŠâ
Before comments were locked, chaos had erupted:
-
âLunch time! Lunch time!â
-
âAh! The brain has left and right hemispheres, so psychokinesis can be separated too! But why does he read and play Go while making tea? How many parts is his brain divided intoâŠ?â
-
âEducational video (X) Genius chronicles (O)â
-
âIâm an A-rank hunter from the US but⊠is his brain a computer? Someone tell me the answerââ
The comment section had to be locked.
âRemember when you went to YouTube Korea to show a live demo?â
âPeople think the problem is that they canât do it themselves, so they assume no one else can.â
âNo one else would do this besides you.â
âBaek Seol-ah might try⊠Ah well.â
âOh Hana smiled bitterly. Kim Cheolsu sighed inwardly.
Would she come to me and not realize my former students compete with Baek Seol-ah, Koreaâs grand sorcerer?
The old man ignored it, turning the topic:
âImagine how rewarding it would be if someone learned something from my video.â
âHave there been any?â
âYou locked the comments. If unlocked, at least one person would surely learn. I guarantee it.â
âThen Iâll bet with you. If even one person learns, Iâll do one favor for you within a month. If not⊠you know the consequence?â
Kim Cheolsu furrowed his brow.
âYou want to become my student and not fulfill a single request? Fine. Letâs bet this way: if I win, you do one favor for that person.â
âHmm⊠fine. Thereâs likely no such person anyway. But it must be proven rigorously.â
âAll right, letâs do it.â
Kim Cheolsu, full of enthusiasm, declared heâd post more videos. Oh Hana snickeredâthere was no way she could lose this bet.
Meanwhile, at that momentâŠ
âWoohoo!â
Bubble, bubble
Swish, swish
Shinwoo cheered as he heated seaweed soup and cleaned the floor without lifting a hand.
Long live Professor Kim Cheolsu!