Thwack! Thump! Thwack!
A series of heavy thuds rang out in succession.
I relentlessly struck a wooden dummy marked with red X’s indicating human vital points.
With each swing of the wooden sword, I hit those marks from the most effective angle and with the proper force.
Miller, who was watching, had a shocked expression on his face.
Standing beside him, Eon spoke.
“Didn’t I tell you, Young Master? Now do you believe me?”
Though my palms were burning from gripping a sword after so long, I had to keep going to complete the 100 strikes as ordered by the captain.
Seventy-nine strikes so far—my accuracy hadn’t dropped yet.
When I finally reached the ninety-ninth and hundredth swings, the captain, Hute, said,
“Excellent. Your accuracy is impressive.”
What he had requested was a kind of entrance test.
He had once seen a faint trace of aura on my sword, with his own eyes.
Even though it was barely visible, the fact that he noticed it meant he likely acknowledged me from that moment. Still, he gave me one more test—perhaps to see my determination.
Each swing made my already-weak body scream in protest, but in my previous life, I had never once dropped my sword before hitting my goal.
“Congratulations on officially joining the order, Lady.”
Despite not being able to train 24/7 like the others, they had truly accepted me as part of the knights.
“Haah, haah… th-thank… you…”
I gasped between breaths that felt like they were going to knock me out.
“Building your stamina should come first. Run five laps around the training ground every morning, whenever you have time.”
Five laps? I glanced around the wide training grounds.
It was nearly double the size of a regular track field.
Swallowing my tears, I looked over at Garnet and Sister Serin, who were watching me with sympathy from afar.
“Ria, just a bit more! You’re on your third lap!”
Is that guy even human? Miller had started running the track with me, but while I was on my third lap, he was already on his fifth.
When he caught up with me again, I silently gave him a thumbs-up.
At least the future of Rayes looked bright.
Miller tilted his head, confused about what I meant.
“It means… you’re the best… haah, haah…”
Yeah, I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. Talking just made it harder.
Thanks to Miller acting like my personal cheer squad and running partner, I somehow managed to finish the five laps and collapsed right where I stood.
At that moment, a cool water bottle was set beside me.
“Good work, Lady.”
“Ion.”
I chugged the water he gave me. Nothing beats water after a workout.
“I didn’t think someone like you, who’s never exercised before, would actually finish.”
“I remember getting punished by the captain for giving up after three laps on my first day,” Ion added with a smile.
I brushed my bangs off my forehead and replied,
“I just… felt overwhelmed.”
Unlike in the past, where I despaired over my body not obeying my will, now I could wield the sword just the way I wanted. I was literally overwhelmed with emotion.
Ion asked what I meant, but since I couldn’t very well talk about my past life, I just took another sip of water.
After training, I returned to the mansion and washed off all the dirt and grass clinging to my body.
I changed clothes and sat on the sofa to read I Became a Mage?!
It was a must-read beginner’s guide that the old mage from the palace had recommended.
“First, you must understand the conditions for manifesting magic. Most newbies fail here. Hopefully, this book will teach you well.”
The author’s tone wasn’t exactly pleasant.
As I read the book—
Knock knock—
Someone knocked on the door. I got up to answer it when I heard knocking again—this time from behind.
It was the window, not the door.
Outside the window, perched on a tree, was Zen.
I turned, opened the window wide, and said,
“Here again?”
He pushed back his long, water-colored hair and smiled.
“I’m here as a representative of the Mage Tower.”
The Mage Tower regularly sent agents to monitor healing mages.
Zen was one of them.
“You said we’d speak informally, remember?”
“Oh, right.”
He looked momentarily flustered by my sudden tone shift but then burst out laughing.
“You really are fun.”
He definitely saw me as some kind of test subject.
Zen noticed the book I was holding—I Became a Mage?!—and said,
“Oh, that’s the old coot’s book.”
“Old coot?”
“My master. The author listed as ‘Princess New.’”
I hadn’t checked the author’s name, so I had no idea a mage with such a cute name had written it.
“Books like that are useless. What matters is real experience.”
“Real experience?”
Thanks to Zen’s smooth talking, I found myself at the Mage Tower.
The moment I grabbed his hand, we warped—and before me stood a massive white tower reaching up to the heavens, surrounded by green meadows.
Mages in white cloaks bustled about, and at some point, my own clothes had changed to match theirs.
“This is the Mage Tower…?”
It felt like a small city of its own.
It was like the most advanced scientific city and yet, with floating magic circles in the sky, it was unmistakably a city of mages.
Zen had hidden his bright, water-colored hair beneath his cloak.
“Lady, please put on your cloak too. If the Tower Lord finds out I’m slacking off with you, I’ll be in trouble.”
“Oh, okay.”
We walked the streets in white cloaks.
“Hey, you there!”
A man suddenly blocked my path with an outstretched arm.
He was holding a flyer.
“Wanna do something big by joining our crew?”
I took the flyer to see what it said.
New Club: Magical Item Development!
Now Recruiting Members / Open to All Mages
Club recruitment?
“The communication crystal developed by the Tower Lord is now being exported worldwide! We can make money too!”
Behind him, a dozen or so mages—probably his team—shouted, “We can do it!”
“What’s your name? I know every mage in this Tower. Say it and I’ll guess your floor!”
“Uh, I… um…”
He clearly had major extrovert energy—probably a big name in the Tower. I couldn’t reveal my real name, so I hesitated.
That’s when Zen stepped in.
“She’s Larisha, and I’m Zen.”
“Ooh! Larisha and Zen! Aren’t you mages from the 79th floor? Strong mages are more than welcome! Just sign this form and—huh?”
“Huh? They vanished!”
“President! They must’ve warped—track them down!”
“Damn, they’ve already erased their trail. No choice but to visit the 79th floor directly next time.”
We were standing right in front of them, but they completely missed us.
Zen must’ve cast an invisibility spell.
With his eyes, he gestured for us to move.
We left the area and headed deeper into the tower.
When we passed by a large mirror at the entrance, our reflections began to appear again—Zen’s spell had ended.
Following him, we arrived at a giant circular magic circle.
“What is this place?”
“This is the teleportation circle that takes you to your desired floor. It was drawn by the very first Tower Lord. Inside the Tower, you can’t use warp magic—you can only move via this circle. Well, except for the Tower Lord.”
Just then, a group ahead of us shouted, “30th floor!” and vanished in an instant.
“79th floor.”
Zen’s voice activated the magic circle, and in the blink of an eye, we were transported to a floor so high we were among the clouds.
“Wow…”
The 79th floor, with its beautiful indoor garden, was quiet—only a few people in sight, unlike the packed first floor.
“Magic is all about real-world practice. That garbage book won’t help you.”
“But Princess New is your master, right?”
“My master was obsessed with money. When he gained followers, he thought, ‘Why not make money from a book?’ Honestly, he didn’t even write that one—his summon did.”
“His… summon?”
“Yeah, like that one.”
Zen pointed at a fat little squirrel reading a book.
Wait… reading?
It even had glasses on!
As I stared in speechless shock, Zen chuckled.
“Summons don’t have fixed forms. These days, it’s trendy to take cute small animal shapes. Last time, it was a horse.”
From behind some bushes came a loud neighhh~.
“That summon clearly doesn’t follow trends.”
“Do you have a summon too, Zen?”
“Mages above the 50th floor in the Tower usually do.”
[Master! You were talking behind my back, weren’t you?!]
Just then, a blue horse burst through the bushes behind Zen.
“Of course not. You misheard.”
Turns out the off-trend horse… was his summon.
