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Chapter 57

Leonard sensed both curiosity and unease in their gazes. Typically, people from isolated regions like the Alliance territories were naturally several times more wary and hostile to outsiders than people from other places. In the past, Yeon Mu-Hyuk had also experienced this when he went to the South Sea Sword Sect.

Broadly, there were two ways to deal with it: bring something so beneficial that it makes others lower their guard, or intimidate them so that they’re afraid to show hostility.

Apparently, the Magic Tower had decided to use both strategies. From the magic circles drawn on Bermuda’s headquarters to the rest of the key facilities in the city, every single corner was imbued with magic. They’d quietly spread their power all across Atlantis City so that the capital would barely function if they left. Not only were they dangling a carrot in front of the horse, they were whipping it as well.

“We’re here. This is it,” Esther said, stopping in front of a cottage.

At some point, their surroundings had grown quiet, and they were now on a street with few people in sight. She knocked on the wooden door, and it swung open.

Esther said to Leonard, “Only people who know about this place can come here. Don’t even think about coming here alone, okay? It’s members only.”

“I understand.”

As soon as they walked inside, the tiny interior expanded vastly. Before Leonard could even ask, Esther explained, “There’s a spatial expansion spell attached to this place. It was built by the Magic Tower, you see. Thanks to that, affiliates can come here at any time without needing to make a reservation.”

It was a fascinating shop. There didn’t seem to be a single worker, but a hat flew toward them from nowhere and flapped at Leonard and Esther as if gesturing them forward. They followed it and arrived at a quiet room.

Leonard looked down at the set table and took a seat. Menus floated down from the wall and fixed themselves at eye level. He took his time to inspect the mysterious menus before speaking.

“Miss Esther—I mean, Esther, I’ll go with your recommendation,” he said.

“Ah,” she said, remembering his identity. “You’re not from around here, right? Is this your first time eating at Atlantis City?”

“That’s right.”

“Is there any kind of local fish you want to try or... never mind. I’ll just order the most popular dishes. Other than some seafood and crustaceans, you should be able to eat most of the food here if you’re in the External Force Tier.”

She nimbly wrote a few characters on the menu with her pen. It sensed her lettering and disappeared into thin air.

So that’s how they take orders here, Leonard thought.

Esther took off her robe and tossed it onto the coathanger before turning to Leonard, who was sitting on the other side of the table.

“Why don’t we chat for a bit while we wait for the food to come out? Why do you want to learn about magic?”

“Didn’t Fran tell you?”

“She doesn’t go around sharing others’ business. All she told me was that she wanted me to teach you about the fundamentals of magic,” Esther said.

Leonard nodded. “Let me begin with the story of how I ended up on the ship Aquamarine.”

He began by telling her about the magic explosion for a few minutes and then moved on to the story of how he had cut off Lucciano’s arm and wiped out his entire gang when they had arrived at the docks.

For some reason, Esther looked very delighted, laughing and clapping when she heard about what happened to Lucciano.

“Ahaha! Someone finally taught that bastard a lesson, huh? All he has is his father’s name. I bet he’ll be too scared to crawl out of his house for a while!”

That was when the sharp air of suspicion left her eyes. If Leonard were as crafty as she had thought, he would never have taken the risk of making an enemy out of Councilor Pablo.

She’d been wondering why Marianne had left the boy alone, but now she had no doubt that they were thinking the same thing: Will he become Captain Njord’s successor?

Fran really does have a good eye for people.

Esther’s face softened when she thought of the late captain.

That was around the time their food began to come out, landing on the table.

Clack. Clack.

Esther was lost in old memories, and the food had such an interesting taste that Leonard was left momentarily speechless. The only sound in the room was the clattering of the tableware. They gorged on their food until their plates were empty, finishing off with dessert and even some tea. Once they were finished, they stood up from the table.

***

Magic Towers were iconic buildings that people started building a very long time ago. The Atlantis Maritime Alliance was quite young compared to the sprawling years of history, whereas the oldest Magic Tower was thousands of years old.

Mages were generally cold and antisocial. They didn’t like to lead or follow. If it weren’t for the Magic Tower, they would be scattered all over and unable to concentrate their powers.

“In other words, it’s an organization that exists to force hermits to interact with society.” That was how Esther summed up the Magic Tower.

“Is it okay for you to say that?”

“The only people who can reprimand me never leave the top floor, so it’s fine.”

Esther appeared to have a higher status in the Magic Tower than Leonard had thought. She was only Class 4, but it seemed that only the mages on the highest floor could reprimand her. This was a kind of treatment that only direct apprentices of the Towermaster and the elders would receive.

“Follow me. I’ll take you to my personal quarters,” Esther said.

She led him to a wide, circular platform that resembled a discus. As soon as they stepped onto it, the platform shot up to take them to their destination.

The Magic Tower had no stairs or ladders, but it was filled with hexagonal rooms and doors that fit together like a beehive.

“Doesn’t it look suffocating?” Esther grumbled as she pointed to the cells. “All these tiny rooms are enlarged with spatial expansion magic. It’s the only way to house thousands of mages in one tower and give each of them their own residence.”

“It’s efficient but dehumanizing,” Leonard commented.

“I never said it wasn’t. I’m sure some mages are naturally ill-tempered, but I personally think it’s mostly an acquired trait.”

As they talked about such complicated topics, the two of them eventually arrived at the door marked with Esther’s nameplate. It had no doorknob, just like the entrance of Bermuda’s headquarters. She placed her hand on the surface and concentrated for a moment, letting the magic energy spill from her fingertips to undo the lock. It slid about one inch over on its own before it moved out of the way completely to allow them inside.

“So everything in here, from the platform to the room doors, uses magic,” Leonard observed.

“Well, it’s a Magic Tower after all. And it’s human nature to want to show off how special one is.”

He agreed with her and followed Esther into her room.

What a peculiar place. All the qi surrounding us is tangled together like spiderwebs.

Sure, it didn’t look much different than it did from the outside, other than having more space, but there was an overwhelming sense of artificiality. Perhaps magic was controlling aspects such as the humidity and temperature as well. It felt to him that the mages were living inside an innocuous Illusory Art.

When Leonard pooled qi into his eyes and looked around, he spotted a magic circle that acted similarly to the threads of energy that created an illusion. Since he didn’t know what it was, he made a note to avoid it and turned around.

“Take a seat over there. I have to get a few things ready. Would you like a cup of coffee?” Esther asked.

“Coffee? Is that a type of tea?”

She whipped around, looking truly shocked. “You’ve never had coffee before?! I thought it was quite popular in your country too,” she said, turning back around to fill a kettle with water and infuse it with a drop of magic. A moment later, steam poured out of the spout.

Is that an artifact that can boil water? That’s convenient, Leonard thought.

As soon as Esther started pouring the water into a mug, a pleasant smell quietly began to fill the room. It was the complete opposite of the delicate aroma of tea.

“It smells nice,” he remarked. He picked up the mug Esther had placed in front of him and took a sip. His nose wrinkled. “It’s bitter. Is it supposed to be like this?”

“Ahahaha!” The mage let out a delighted laugh. “You’re finally acting like a fifteen-year-old. I’ll add a few spoonfuls of sugar for you, so just wait a moment. Some people like it the way it is, but I suppose it’s not to your taste.”

“Thank you,” Leonard said.

If he had to compare coffee to something from his past life, he would say it most resembled the sophora tea he’d been given by the old Poison King. The Poison King had made the ridiculous claim that the bitter taste would save his life, and Yeon Mu-Hyuk had almost unsheathed his sword when he had tasted it. However, the tea had healed his wounds, so he’d spared the old man. This so-called coffee was better than the sophora tea, but he didn’t think it was something he would enjoy.

It didn’t take long for Leonard to change his mind.

“It’s not bad,” he said. A few spoonfuls of sugar had made it much less bitter, and he appreciated the aroma. It only took him a few seconds to regard it as something worth drinking.

Esther chuckled at his candid reactions. “I heard that some Kurdish aristocrats even add a few spoonfuls of cream, but I don’t have any, so you’ll have to be satisfied with just this.”

“It’s more than enough, but I’d like to talk about magic now,” Leonard requested.

“Agreed. That’s enough small talk.”

Esther looked at him from across the small table with two cups of coffee sitting between them. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d talked about the fundamental theories, and it took her a moment to speak.

“Knights such as yourself who train in mana cultivation use an organ to accumulate mana in order to strengthen your body and refine your Auras. You use external sources only to accumulate energy; your actual power mainly depends on your own agency. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Mages follow the complete opposite path. Instead of constantly using and developing an organ, they use a set number of Circles as the medium to influence the world. We spend most of our training time discovering and improving spells in order to create innovations for the world. For example...” Esther pointed her finger at him. “What will happen if you concentrate the mana in your body into your finger?”

At first, Leonard thought she was talking about a Wind Fingershot, but then he shook his head. “It will be released.”

“Yes. And that would be it. But a person can use the hidden laws of the world to make it manifest into something else. That is magic. Fire.”

As soon as she said the word, a tiny flame lit up from her fingertip. As she’d just explained, all she’d done was release the mana.

“Theoretically, every phenomenon in existence can be translated into magic. In order to create fire, I applied the principles underlying combustion to the mana. If I adjust the direction and speed of the flow of mana and apply principles that enhance explosive power, it becomes a Fireball.”

Leonard immediately understood what she meant. “So as long as you have enough mana and mastery over such principles, you can do anything? Is that what mages can do?”

“Exactly,” Esther agreed. “Class 10 mages can basically become omniscient and omnipotent, at least in this realm. But since they would be stronger than those in the highest mana cultivation Tier, Deification, it would be quite difficult to hide their power.”