Chapter 200
Perhaps because it’s a dungeon that uses the Magic Tower itself as material?
Grooooan…
The light enveloping the surroundings faded away.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a Magic Tower soaring into the sky.
‘This place is…’
I looked around.
The structure resembled Oxford City.
A city spread out around a floating Magic Tower at its center.
And surrounding that city were towering walls.
[Ding!]
[Stage: Magic Dropout Student]
[Enter the Magic Tower and find the magic dropout student.]
“…”
The tasks somehow feel simpler and simpler.
Just enter the Magic Tower without any hints and find the dropout student?
Is this what S-Rank difficulty is like from now on?
》Brat.
The Elder raised a hand as he floated in the air.
》Do you feel it? The Energy here? It’s far richer than the Energy in your world.
That did seem to be the case.
The air itself felt denser than on Earth.
A refreshing energy tickled my nose every time I breathed.
Even the Supreme Azure Mind Method reacted more actively.
It felt like my Energy was circulating faster.
》In a place like this, rather than physical training, it would be better to train in using Energy in various ways.
The Elder hummed happily.
As if he were shopping through his Ten Thousand Arts, picking out suitable ones.
‘Yeah, I should train while I’m here.’
I had no intention of letting a good opportunity pass me by.
Still, since this was the start of a new dungeon,
I needed to assess the situation first.
‘For now, I should move.’
Step, step.
After walking for quite a while while admiring the buildings rising beyond the walls,
I arrived in front of a massive city gate.
Thud!
The gatekeepers slammed the shafts of their spears against the ground.
“Who goes there!”
“State your identity!”
Huh.
Come to think of it, what was I supposed to do here?
I knew nothing about this place.
And naturally, I didn’t have any identification.
“Hmm.”
No choice, then?
“Haha, sorry. I lost my ID. I’ll come back another time.”
As I scratched my head and said that, the gatekeepers frowned as if asking what kind of nonsense that was.
But.
Swish!
By then, I was already stepping into the shadows.
Using [Silence], I dashed toward the side of the city gate.
To the gatekeepers, it must have felt like being clubbed in broad daylight.
》What are you planning to do?
‘First, I need to get inside, even if I have to do it illegally. Entering the tower is the main objective.’
》Huh, you’re planning to climb that wall? It’s practically a cliff face.
The wall was about 100 meters high.
A height absolutely impossible for an ordinary Hunter to climb.
Of course, that was exactly why the security there was bound to be weak.
‘Hey, I’m someone who’s ridden Aranvalon and the Great Demon Dragon. This is nothing.’
Whoosh!
My Godslayer-grade weapon split into two short daggers.
Thunk!
I drove them horizontally into the wall.
Even that seemingly solid wall yielded easily before the weapon.
Thud, thud, thud!
Slowly, like that,
I climbed over the wall.
===
A clear sky.
Swish!
A man in a black hood stepped onto a shadow.
His alias was the Great Thief.
A nickname he had earned for mainly stealing valuables from nobles who had more than enough to spare.
“Whom shall I rob tonight, and whom shall I visit with nightmares? Hehe.”
Humming to himself, the Great Thief walked the walls of the Magic Tower city every day.
The reason was simple.
He was looking for homes with weak security.
Swish, swish!
Even with soldiers patrolling the walls, his movements were unobstructed.
With extreme mastery of Shadow Art, he could slip right past them without leaving a trace.
“Hmm. I don’t see any particularly tempting places to rob today.”
After making a full circuit, the Great Thief muttered in disappointment.
“Guess I’ll just fleece some easy marks today.”
In truth, he ran an organization in the underground of this city.
Illegal gambling dens, drug distribution, entertainment, loan sharking, and so on.
A rotten organization that fed on both commoners and nobles.
As they say, the brighter the light, the darker the shadow.
He was one of the dark sides of the Magic Path World, thriving under the rule of the 3rd Magic Tower Lord, Gospelheim.
“Phew.”
The Great Thief let out a breath and stepped onto a shadow again.
To return to the city below the wall.
His Shadow Art was smooth and covert.
And his gait was overflowing with confidence.
As if there were no one in the world more covert than he was, he moved briskly.
Which was why he never even imagined
that another shadow was following him.
》Tsk, tsk, look at him move. He absolutely reeks of being a greenhorn.
‘He’s kind of cute.’
I chuckled.
After climbing the wall, I had spotted someone stepping through the shadows.
And from that moment on, I began tailing him.
》See that? His gait is full of bluff. It’s like looking at you in your greenhorn days.
‘Hey, why would you say something so hurtful…’
Swish!
My feet moved like a ghost.
[Silence], which I had mastered, was considered the pinnacle of Shadow Art.
The secret art of the Shadow Shepherd King, surpassing even Ki Soyul, who was called the Shadow Empress.
Combined with the Elder’s Unrivaled Supreme Footwork…
‘He’s just a smooth worm trying to act wrinkled. I’m already a fully wrinkled pupa.’
》Tsk tsk, that’s quite the novel metaphor.
The Elder snickered.
It seemed he was enjoying the sight of a new world.
The unfamiliar scenery.
And this amusing situation.
》But why are you following him?
He asked at the same time.
》Don’t tell me you just want to show off that you’re stealthier.
‘Hey, of course not.’
I shook my head.
‘Guys who move around that covertly usually have something dirty hidden behind them.’
What I needed most in a new world was an identity.
Having already tried entering the Magic Tower in Oxford,
I knew very well how difficult it was to get into the Magic Tower without one.
‘And you know what?’
Thump!
After dropping down from the wall and entering the city, I muttered,
‘It’s a universal rule that people with dirty backsides are good at illegal things.’
To accomplish my primary objective,
I intended to make use of that man.
This world, too, was similar to ours.
There were stores selling daily necessities, lodging houses, and taverns.
La la la~
In the square, a performer handled musical instruments while collecting Leaf Coins.
Woof, woof woof woof!
Stray dogs roaming the streets barked.
And in a dark, secluded alley,
I crouched low beside a particularly flashy, glowing sign.
Just a moment ago, the man I had been following had gone inside.
‘Hmm.’
Closing my eyes, I scanned the interior of the building and the area beneath the ground.
I could sense the occasional person with decent Energy, but nothing particularly threatening.
I’ll hide here and wait for a bit.
“Hehehe, let’s have some real fun today!”
“Fun my ass. Just don’t lose everything again.”
“What nonsense! You’ll see! I’ll buy a building near the Magic Tower with the money I make here! One with a city view!”
“I sincerely hope your wish comes true.”
One by one, rough-looking men carrying thick bundles of cash entered the place.
From the sound of their conversation, it was clearly a gambling den.
And the fact that it was tucked away in a secluded alley made it even more obvious that it was illegal.
》Tsk, tsk, that must be the base of that bluffing fool.
‘Looks like it.’
》Gambling… Really, the world is the same everywhere. Instead of wasting time playing money games, they should be training more. Tsk tsk. So what are you going to do now? Charge in and cause a scene?
‘Hmm.’
I do plan to cause a scene.
Just not by force.
‘First of all, I can’t just walk past a gambling den.’
I grinned to myself.
‘Since I’m here, why don’t I learn the currency system and make some money too? In any world, money is power.’
》You? When you don’t even know what games they’re playing?
‘I don’t know the game, but I do have a cheat key.’
》A cheat key? What’s that supposed to mean?
‘What else? It’s you, Elder.’
In other words, the cheat key called the Elder, invisible to everyone else.
Sniff, sniff.
A thick smell stabbed at my nose.
The hazy cigarette smoke filling the room and the scent of strong alcohol.
And that unpleasant odor unique to cramped spaces.
“Phew.”
After infiltrating the place with Shadow Art, I started breathing through my mouth.
I couldn’t bring myself to breathe through my nose.
Just looking at the place made my head ache.
“Come on, let’s get this over with!”
“What are you doing! Deal the cards already! I need to make some money!”
“Ah, damn it… If you win big, can you share a little?”
“Share what? Does money grow on trees? If you don’t like it, go somewhere else.”
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle!
The crisp sound of cards being shuffled.
And then,
clatter!
The sound of chips being thrown into the middle of the table.
There were around twenty tables in the room, with people sitting around them, dealing cards and gambling.
‘Looks like a game similar to the ones in our world.’
Match the suits and numbers, then the side with the stronger combination wins.
“…”
While hiding, I swiped several stacks of chips from the front desk.
A woman who looked like the madam was counting money right beside me, but with my presence concealed, she couldn’t notice a thing.
》Tsk tsk, using [Silence] for theft. If that black shadow mutt knew, he’d be wailing in lamentation.
By black shadow mutt, he meant the Shadow Shepherd King.
Ignoring the Elder, who was snickering as he teased me, I revealed myself.
As if I had been there from the start.
With my arms crossed, I observed the way the game was played.
“Hey.”
A strange man tapped me on the shoulder.
He’d taken the bait.
“What are you standing around for? If you’re here, have some fun. Looks like you’ve got plenty of chips. Want to join a round?”
“Sure.”
It’s not even my money anyway.
The rules of the game
I could learn as I played.
The game was set up quickly.
Perhaps because he was a regular,
he paid the madam a fee and quickly gathered enough people to fill the seats.
“Hey, Gald! Pulling another all-nighter today?”
“Oh? A new face? A rookie?”
“Hehe, if you’re a rookie, be careful. The tuition here is pretty steep.”
The gamblers greeted me like old friends, flashing their yellow teeth.
One of them ordered liquor the moment he sat down.
Another asked for cigarettes.
“…”
Silently, I arranged my chips in front of me.
Judging by the color, the white chips were worth 1 Gold Coin, and the black chips were worth 1 Silver Coin.
And ten black chips equaled one white chip.
Pourrrr!
I overturned the pouch full of chips onto the table.
A considerable number of white chips spilled out.
“Ooooh!”
“He’s loaded?!”
“Looks like a bigger fish than I thought!”
In an instant, the gamblers’ eyes changed.
Their glittering pupils filled with greed.
‘Too bad.’
There won’t be any chips left for you to take.
Why?
》Hoh, that spade pattern looks like a strong hand.
》Interesting. There are all kinds of possible combinations here.
Behind me, the Elder was moving around, learning the rules.
A place with no CCTV.
With the Elder, the cheat key who could inspect everyone’s cards from behind, there was no way I could lose.
“Well then.”
I grinned.
“Shall we begin properly?”
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