Chapter 4
1.
I couldn't sleep and spent the entire night exploring the wiki.
“The path of magic begins with opening the lower dantian, and one can become a high-ranking mage by opening the middle and upper dantians as well… Ah, fuck.”
I ruffled my hair.
I had started studying magic on the side, but I still hadn't grasped it at all.
I pondered the matter while sleepily shoveling down breakfast.
The other children had already finished eating. I had overslept, so I ended up eating late.
It would've been one thing if I were working, but having to use my brain was killing me….
Actually, using my brain is my specialty.
As far as I could tell, this world was simple.
A fantasy world.
Someone had dumped a Tower on top of it.
I didn't know whether it was a romance-fantasy setting.
Since I was currently in an orphanage filled with the smell of cow dung, romance seemed a little far removed.
That only meant this place was like that, though. Who knew what things would be like once I went outside?
The key point was this.
When one comes of age, those who qualify receive an invitation to the Tower.
And whoever receives one gets to choose whether or not to climb the Tower.
Whether strong or weak, climbing the Tower was the goal of life in this world.
“…I don't like Towers.”
They looked dangerous just at a glance.
[It would be a little difficult to think of it that simply.]
[The Tower was the structure supporting the world's economy, power, and social classes as a whole.]
Well, that was just the general structure of things.
No one was threatening me and telling me to climb while carrying a sword.
Unless I had great talent for magic, that was.
The same went for the wiki on Doloris.
There were so many stories on the wiki that I couldn't read them all.
To summarize simply.
‘Elysia von Doloris.’
She was the duke of House Doloris.
She had once been one of the Tower's top climbers.
Apparently, she had climbed the Tower alongside six adoptive sisters….
But one day, she stopped climbing without any warning.
After that, Doloris withdrew from the world.
She now ran an orphanage and raised disciples.
[Stopping one's climb is practically the same as retiring.]
“Really?”
Since I didn't live here, I didn't know what stopping her climb actually meant.
Well, maybe she just wanted to raise disciples. That little one was cute, at least.
“But what's this about her being the ruler of Floor 5?”
The title ‘Ruler of Floor 5’ followed the name Elysia von Doloris.
[The Tower is divided into climbing areas and residential areas, like residential and commercial districts.]
[The ruler is the person who oversees the benefits and profits of a residential area. For reference, Floor 5's specialty is….]
“Uh-huh, okay. I get it for now.”
So ruler meant exactly what it sounded like. She seemed to be someone who held the area's vested interests.
Too much information was tiring too, for now.
I more or less understood.
[Hmph.]
In any case, only one thing was important right now.
Doloris had given me a mission.
I had to show her something that would surprise her within a week.
How on earth was I supposed to surprise that woman?
I slowly pieced things together using the information I had.
And the first thing that came to mind was, naturally, that.
[Gorgone's White Glove][★★★★★]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility][1.1/100] - [Extremely Poisonous]
[The wearer's innate yin energy and the equipment's yin energy interlock and amplify each other.]
[The cause of seven of the nine channels being blocked in Nine-Yin Blocked Meridians.]
The most puzzling thing among the information I had.
Since it was the most intuitive information visible to me, I remembered it.
It was the window that had appeared when Doloris equipped the white glove.
Compatibility 1.1, extreme poison, Nine-Yin Blocked Meridians, seven channels blocked.
It seemed to mean that the white glove didn't suit Doloris….
But I couldn't know for sure.
“…Let's find out.”
What exactly that window meant.
I stood up.
Then I headed straight for the magic class.
2.
Fortunately, Doloris had granted me the freedom to do so.
I could go visit the magic class.
I wasn't really there to play, though. There was something I needed to find out.
“Oh, Lionel! What brings you here?”
The person I went to see was the instructor.
“Ah, it's just that there's something I'm curious about.”
“Have you decided to take magic classes after all? Good thinking.”
The instructor welcomed me with great enthusiasm.
I shook my head at his words and pointed to the table behind him.
“Not that… Instructor, could you put those gloves on for me?”
The gloves were neatly folded on the table.
They looked like the ones he had worn during yesterday's magic demonstration, with sparse black embroidery around the wrists.
“As expected, there must be a reason Doloris singled you out. You have a good eye.”
The instructor picked up the gloves with a pleased expression and began putting them on as he held them up for me to see.
“These gloves can only be worn by someone with exceptional magical aptitude. They aren't for just anyone. Only those chosen by mana can use them.”
─────────────────
[Apprentice Work Gloves][☆☆☆☆☆]
[Compatibility][10/15] - [Compatible]
─────────────────
【Calling these a mage's equipment would be insulting to mages, while calling them merely equipment doesn't exactly make the equipment feel good either.】
─────────────────
[They are suitable for mages who have only barely risen above the level of ordinary people.]
─────────────────
When he put on the gloves, a window appeared before my eyes.
I half-listened to the instructor's explanation and focused on the information in front of me.
The white glove Doloris had worn had five stars, all of them completely filled with color.
Its compatibility was also… out of a maximum of 100.
But now, all the stars were empty.
The maximum was only 15.
“A full-fledged one-star piece of equipment, and one that can't easily be obtained here….”
The stars were all empty….
“Then isn't this zero-star equipment…?”
“Hm? What did you say?”
“Oh, no. They suit you very well.”
It was a relief that they really did look fairly good on him, but I couldn't shake the bitter feeling.
It meant he had only barely risen above the level of an ordinary person.
“Thank you. They look great.”
The instructor took off the gloves with a satisfied expression and placed them back on the table.
I watched his back and quietly organized my thoughts.
So, although the gloves themselves had different grades,
Doloris had low compatibility with her equipment, whereas the instructor had high compatibility.
‘Doloris is extremely poisonous; the instructor is compatible.’
Then that meant Doloris was an unsuitable user despite having expensive equipment.
“Um, Instructor….”
I was about to ask the instructor something… but stopped.
Thinking about it, rather than asking this man….
[Huh?]
She'd know more.
“Ah, thank you.”
“Sure. Class is about to start, so would you like to observe….”
“Oh dear, I have a bit of a headache.”
I gave him a short bow and left the magic class.
I sat beneath the shade of a tree on one side of the orphanage.
Then I asked her.
First of all, the thing I was most curious about.
“What exactly does compatibility indicate?”
However.
[I don't understand either.]
[There is no data on that.]
“…Huh?”
[But I did find something that seems to be a similar concept to compatibility?]
[According to the Inner Tower Community, a concept called ‘Equipment Compatibility Theory’ does exist.]
[The problem is that it hasn't been academically established, and even within the community, people only whisper about it as a rumor? An urban legend? Something like that.]
“A rumor?”
[Mhm. There is a claim that equipping something compatible can cause one's combat power to rise dramatically, but….]
[There don't seem to be any cases where it was directly measured or proven by wearing the equipment, though?]
I sat there blankly for a moment.
So.
The Compatibility visible to me was information that didn't exist anywhere in this world.
[But, big bro.]
[Can I tell you one more strange thing?]
“…Go ahead.”
I answered briefly.
If there was something frightening about this little sister of mine, it was that she was an AI capable of reasoning and making judgments on her own.
Since she surpassed humans, she could infer and point out things I had overlooked.
Sometimes, that was reassuring.
Other times, it gave me chills. She really seemed alive.
Magic-class training was in full swing on the field.
When the instructor drew a line through the air, something inside his lower abdomen sparkled.
[Oh, yeah, that's it. Apparently, that's the phenomenon of mana gathering in the lower dantian.]
[But you can see that with your own eyes, big bro?]
“Why is that?”
[How???]
[There are no reports anywhere of anyone being able to see the mana in a dantian with the naked eye…?
]
I looked toward the field.
The sparkling was still visible to me.
Lights sparkled in the children's lower abdomens as well, but they didn't gather there.
By contrast, the instructor's light gathered in his lower abdomen, faintly though it was.
That was the difference.
[Even a goldfish is supposed to have a trick or two. Could it be, big bro….]
Ignoring Yuna's nonsense, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
It was also something mentioned in the wiki I had read at dawn.
According to what an unknown archmage had written on the wiki,
the lower dantian was the lower abdomen, the middle dantian was the chest, and the upper dantian was the head.
The instructor's was in his lower abdomen, so it was obviously the lower dantian….
Doloris's had sparkled around her chest.
“Open Doloris's wiki.”
I checked her estimated stats.
[Doloris again.]
[Based on her estimated stats, that former top-tier Tower ranker is expected to have opened even the upper dantian.]
The upper dantian.
The upper dantian was the head. That was common sense in any setting.
But what I had seen was her chest.
The part of her body that had clearly shone was her chest.
“…Then has Doloris only opened the middle dantian?”
[Seems like it.]
[You can't leave the upper dantian open and use only the middle dantian; that's what the theory says.]
I slowly scratched my head.
So, to sum it up.
The world believed Doloris was a top-tier ranker who had opened even the upper dantian.
But all I could see was the middle dantian.
Her equipment was only high-grade, yet it was extremely poisonous to her,
and her middle dantian was blocked too?
This was a little dizzying.
“…But maybe I just can't see the upper dantian?”
Maybe my skills were slightly lacking.
Maybe my knowledge was too shallow.
If something wasn't certain, I shouldn't jump to conclusions.
When I turned my gaze away, I saw the quaintly decorated annex beyond the orphanage.
That was where Doloris was staying.
Apparently, she rarely stayed here in the first place, but this time she had unusually decided to remain for a week.
Equipment.
Compatibility.
She would probably figure it out on her own… but it might have something to do with her stopping her climb.
In any case, that wasn't my problem right now.
I had to find a way to surprise Doloris within a week.
Narrowing it down, there seemed to be about two options.
First, I, Kim Yoo-jin… no, Lionel.
I could truly possess the talent of a natural-born mage and show her that talent directly.
But the problem was that this was realistically impossible.
[Casting Light Magic / Lowest Grade]
[Pray for two hours every dawn for two weeks under moonlight.]
Every spell was like this.
This was the standard.
In other words, doing it within a week was impossible, impossible, impossible.
Of course, just in case, I did spend a few minutes praying every dawn whenever I had the time.
If I had talent, I should've been able to cast a spell with a poof.
Naturally, nothing had happened yet.
Then, the second option.
Use Compatibility.
This seemed like the best option in practical terms.
I sketched it out.
‘Your Grace, your equipment sucks.’
“……”
If I blurted something like that out without any evidence,
could I keep my head attached to my body?
Mentioning Nine-Yin Blocked Meridians might make it more convincing. The problem was how to prove it.
Fortunately, whenever I thought of Doloris, that status window appeared again.
“…It's dazzling.”
But the status window was translucent, and the sun was high in the sky.
The glare made it difficult to see properly.
“How am I supposed to move this…?”
It was then, while I was fiddling with the air.
When my fingertip touched the status window.
- Flutter.
“Huh?”
The status window unfolded dramatically, splitting into two screens.
I knew what this structure was the moment I saw it.
It was an equipment screen from an RPG.
You know, those famous Korean RPGs. Its structure was exactly like their equipment windows.
In the center of the screen, Doloris stood in an elegant pose.
There seemed to be several slots that were probably for equipment, but all of them were locked in black.
The only exception was the slot by her hand, where an item that looked like a glove was inserted.
The glove slot.
I pressed it.
Then.
- Flutter.
The window opened.
[Replace]
A Replace button and.
[No equipment owned]
“……”
There was no equipment.
Of course, I had only arrived at the orphanage yesterday. I was just a little kid.
I felt my heart pounding.
So that meant I couldn't do it because I had no equipment.
In theory, the fact that I could check equipment here meant that if I brought her a suitable piece and equipped it… its Compatibility would appear.
Then that would become evidence I could present to Doloris.
There'd be no need to explain it verbally. It would appear the moment she put it on.
I looked toward the field.
The instructor was still exercising.
This was it.
I quickly slipped into his office.
The gloves had been stored with great care. Maybe he had only put them on last time because Doloris was coming.
I immediately picked up his gloves.
Then I held them up to the glove slot on Doloris's status window.
[Would you like to replace them?]
“I have to.”
Then a window appeared.
─────────────────
[Apprentice Work Gloves][☆☆☆☆☆]
[Compatibility][0.1/15] - [Immediate Removal]
─────────────────
[Unless one had lost their mind, there was no reason for a genius archmage to wear these. Even so, if you insist on wearing them, we recommend visiting the nearest doctor.]
─────────────────
“…There it is.”
Only then did I realize I had been holding my breath.
I slowly exhaled the breath I had been holding.
I could check equipment compatibility.
Without even putting it on.
“Then.”
Now there was only one problem.
How to obtain equipment that suited Doloris.
From what I could see, finding equipment suited to Doloris in this backwater village would be like finding a star in the daytime.
It would be better to make it myself.
Could I perhaps cheese equipment crafting too?
I clicked around on the interface with hope, but….
Nothing appeared.
That was when.
[Big bro hehe]
“Why?”
[Work for it with your body]
[Read this]
She opened an Inner Tower Community post in front of me.
[✪][Request for a featured post for future generations)Basic Blacksmith's Equipment Crafting Guide.]
“……”
I stared at the title for a moment.
Right, where was anything easy?
It had to be better than magic.
It seemed better than praying under moonlight for two weeks.
I immediately opened the post.
And revised my future career plan.
And revised my future career plan.