Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 21

Northwest of Alteon.
A massive city of clustered buildings dominated the space from far away.
It was enormous.
This sprawling mass, occupying well over half of the northwest sector, was a society that operated by its own rules and a planned township.
The Magic Tower.
It was a collective term for the entire city-like structure widely formed around the central Magic Tower, where mages held dominion as the ruling class.
Players would encounter here those trafficking in forbidden
goods, or the scum of the back alleys who harassed people while evading the eyes of mages.
‘And so most of the missions assigned here involve assassinating mages who’ve joined hands with such trash.’
The ruler of this place was the Magic Tower Master.
He was known to manage the Magic Tower with rational judgment.
Yet behind the scenes, the lore held that he conducted all manner of unethical research—human experimentation and the like—for the sole justification of advancing magic.
Seo Jun climbed the wall.
Then, leaping across the rooftops of the buildings encircling the low-rise tower, he made his way toward the center.
At the center stood an enormous tower built of white brick, layered high upon itself.
It didn’t compare in height to buildings in the real world, but in terms of floor area, it was as spacious as or larger than most office buildings.
Seo Jun saw many people coming and going through a large entrance that stood at least three meters high, so he descended from the rooftop and merged into the crowd.
“Well then, shall we go commit an assassination?”

-Assassination X Destruction O
-Infiltrating the Magic Tower (by walking through the front door)
-AHAHAHA this is the good stuff
-You do know about the Magic Tower, don’t you?

About the Magic Tower, then.
Seo Jun had deliberately retained only the basic lore, avoiding getting bogged down in the fine details.
He could have studied it beforehand through external sites, or alternatively gathered information as he progressed through the game and pieced together the setting himself.
But he wasn’t aiming for that sort of bland broadcast.
“No? I’m seeing the Magic Tower for the first time right now. Isn’t it just a matter of climbing to the top?”

-Haha, another headfirst charge into the unknown, classic
-This is why I watch the stream.
-The Magic Tower’s gonna be rough, I think?

Seo Jun simply blended into the crowd and entered the Magic Tower.
“Well, let’s give it a shot.”
The interior was indeed as open and spacious as it had appeared from outside.
Seo Jun surveyed the surroundings.
He spotted the occasional figure in long-sleeved robes.
“Are those NPCs mages? There seem to be fewer than I’d expected.”
So most of them must be ordinary people?

-Mages should naturally be rare.
-The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors are basically a marketplace concept. That’s why it’s huge and full of civilians. The real thing starts from the 4th floor.
-You pickpocketing?

“I’m not pickpocketing.”
Seo Jun cut that short and examined the interior carefully to find the way to the next level.
The central areas between the 2nd and 3rd floors were open, creating a sense of space, and shops lined the walls.
Like.
“A shopping mall?”
Of course, it was more of an intricate anthill-like structure than that, but if you stripped away the complexities and looked at the essentials, it conjured up the image of a typical shopping mall.

-Hahahaha
-It’s kind of similar, yeah.
-There’s a school and a library too!

It seemed like a fascinating place in many ways.
Seo Jun found a circular staircase connecting the 1st through 3rd floors and climbed up to the 3rd level.
And then.
He spotted an NPC who appeared to be a hooded mage and followed them.
The NPC navigated the labyrinthine corridors of the 3rd floor, heading somewhere.
As Seo Jun followed, he sensed the ground gradually rising beneath him.
And soon, there were no more people around.
The NPC passed through a door guarded by two sentries, and Seo Jun came to a halt.
He thought this might be the entrance to the 4th floor, but couldn’t be certain, so he checked the chat.
If it was flooded with “HAHA”, he’d gone the wrong way. If not, he’d come the right way.
Fortunately, it seemed he’d come the right way.
“Hmm. More sentries?”

-These guys are easy pickings now lol
-Should I break their weapons? Parry them?
-Let’s just finish them

“Got it.”
Seo Jun approached them.
“This is a restricted area……”
Seo Jun lightly Parried them both into submission and opened the massive iron door.
And the moment he stepped inside.
Seo Jun’s body went rigid.
A tingling crackle.
“An intruder. Too bad for you.”
From a distance, someone hurled a Fireball generated on their palm toward Seo Jun.
His body tried to move on instinct, but wouldn’t budge.
The electric tingling sensation suggested he was in a state of Temporary Paralysis.
‘Do I just take the hit?’
Just then, the paralysis broke.
And the spell was already upon him.
Fortunately, his exceptional reaction speed allowed him to dive sideways the instant the paralysis lifted, dodging the Fireball.
“Damn…… I really thought I was done for.”

-Someone actually got hit by that?
-His reaction speed is insane lolol
-Damn, we could’ve added the first Season 1 death.
-I knew we could trust him!
-Shows he didn’t study up on the Magic Tower though lol

“Phew.”
Seo Jun exhaled in relief and began to stay alert, scanning the area.
If that situation happened again, it could become troublesome.
Another tingling crackle.
“Lucky you. How about this one?”
From the opposite end of the spacious lobby, a mage generated a Fireball in each hand and hurled them.
But this time, there was no restraint binding Seo Jun’s body.
‘Should I dodge and close in?’
No. He had a mission.
Seo Jun activated Weak Point Detection.
It would be good to observe the pattern of the magic before facing the Magic Tower Master.
The background inverted in an instant.
And within that shifted sight, the Fireball burned even more fiercely.
He could see the seams etched across the Fireball.
Seo Jun smiled and swiftly cut both incoming Fireballs in half with a single stroke.
“Wow, magic really does have seams.”
He hadn’t anticipated that.
Moreover, magic was foreign territory for Seo Jun, so he had no sense of what the pattern of seams would look like.

-Oh, magic can be cut too
-Should I really get Weak Point Detection? That skill looks so cool lol
-It’s only cool ’cause of his face, don’t be fooled

Seo Jun charged at the mage with a grin.
Four more Fireballs came flying, but once the weak points were detected, they dealt no damage to Seo Jun.
“Ugh.”
The mage’s health pool was small.
Even as a common mob, it differed from melee NPCs, which required multiple hits to deal damage without a Parry.
“This is fun. Is this the 4th floor? I got here right, didn’t I?”

-Yes
-Yeah
-Yup

“Hmm, so why did I freeze back there?”

-Shh.
-Quiet.
-Stop!
-No spoilers

“But that’s not a spoiler, it’s……”

-Shh,
-Be quiet.
-Shush.

Why won’t anyone tell him?
Seo Jun watched the chat stream constantly but found no message with an answer.
“Ugh, you’re being mean. I won’t ask then.”
Probably.
He’d opened a door or stepped on something by mistake.
For now, that’s the best he could deduce.
‘I’ll have to head to the next floor anyway.’
The Magic Tower’s top was the 8th floor.
Seo Jun explored the 4th floor to find the way to the next level.
Various pieces of loot and.
Surprisingly spacious corridors lined with laboratories furnished in all manner of different aesthetics.
And mages within those laboratories, oblivious to Seo Jun’s presence, absorbed in their work.
This was the true Magic Tower, unlike the lower three floors.
“Hmm, but I’m an intruder here. I can’t let that slide.”
Seo Jun went next to a mage who was concentrating and slashed at a Flask with his blade.

-What?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-His personality lolol
-His way of thinking is different from ours.
-???: We were just gonna ignore him, why’s he doing this

“You, who are you? Are you an intruder?”
“See? They react.”
Seo Jun, curious to learn more about magic, disturbed a mage who was conducting research.
The moment the mage spotted Seo Jun,
they activated the Magic Circle inscribed on their hand.
In an instant, they Teleported to the entrance of the room and distanced themselves from Seo Jun before casting a spell.
“Oh, Teleportation.”
An Ice Arrow materialized in mid-air and flew at him.
Seo Jun activated Weak Point Detection once more to examine the seam of the spell.
Weak Point Detection had a one-minute cooldown.
Seo Jun examined the seam of the Ice Arrow and traced it cleanly.
Still no sense of the pattern.
Seo Jun waited patiently to get more data.
But the mage cast no more spells.
“What’s going on? Are they being careful because this is a laboratory?”

-No, that’s not it.
-Good imagination though lol
-Info: Teleportation consumes a ton of mana. They’re just exhausted.

Seo Jun checked the chat and felt embarrassed.
No wonder they seemed particularly worn out.
Seo Jun finished off that mage and examined the other rooms.
Beyond Ice Arrows and Fireballs, he observed the seams of various spells: magic that bound through plants, magic that raised stones to imprison. And more besides.
These were NPCs he could have defeated without understanding the seams at all.
‘In this game, seams are an auxiliary element.’
But.
Thinking of the ruler Richard, whose armor he couldn’t damage without understanding the seams, he wondered if understanding them might be necessary after all.
Without knowing the seams, he’d have had to pound on him for ten hours waiting for Durability to wear down, or find another method. But thanks to the seams, he’d ended it in an instant.
Seo Jun was preparing precisely for that.
His instinct told him the person who’d issued the mission was likely the actual developer.
‘They wouldn’t have set such conditions for nothing.’
With that thought, Seo Jun climbed the stairs to the 5th floor.
“Finally found it. Actually, why do we have to hunt for the staircase to the next floor?”

-So people don’t skip the 4th floor and just run through it lol
-Ah lol mages can just use a Teleportation device
-The stairs are emergency-use only.

“But if it’s emergency-use, you have to connect it clearly. What if someone’s evacuating and can’t find the stairs and fails to escape?”

-True talk
-You listening, developers?
-The stairs are for aesthetics.
-Don’t try to understand mage sensibilities.

“Well, no key required anyway.”
Seo Jun ascended to the 5th floor, found an identical iron door, and opened it.
Seo Jun spotted a sentry and a mage standing behind the door.
But for some reason, upon noticing him, they simply waited inside.
The sentry drew their sword and raised their shield; the mage generated a spell above their hand. That was all.
“Look at these guys.”

-Lololol
-Did you catch on?
-This floor is Body Confusion lol
-Really?

Seo Jun caught sight of one chat message from someone who couldn’t resist dropping a hint.
“Ah. It’s Confusion this time? So you get a Debuff when you go inside, and they’re waiting for that?”

-Oh no!
-You caught it.
-Who was that in chat
-So thoughtless lololol

“Thanks for the help. Since I’ve been found out anyway, tell me more.”
Seo Jun read the chats that openly explained things and gathered the information.
There are two paths to reach the top of the Magic Tower: the outer wall and the interior corridors.
“Ah, so each floor has a Debuff, and to avoid it, you climb the outer wall only—but Alarm Magic triggers and you can’t. This floor is Body Confusion, and
if you use the interior corridor,
you get hit with a Debuff.
The 4th floor was the Temporary Paralysis I experienced.
The 5th floor is Body Confusion, where left and right senses get reversed.
The 6th floor is Slowdown.
The 7th floor is Darkness, which blinds you.

-Yeah, so people climb the outer wall and dip inside on floors 4 and 6.
-The Darkness Debuff is impossible. Just avoid that one.
-Confusion is also impossible
-Just climb the outer wall
-You’re not actually planning to climb the outer wall, right?

“Come on. When have I ever cowered and snuck in? That’s not how I assassinate.”

-That’s not even an assassination lol, I’m dying
-Yeah, this is the real deal.
-Yes!

Seo Jun envisioned the inverted left and right sensations, then walked forward into the 5th floor.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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