Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I Became the Only Non-mage in the Academy.

Episode 21: Mine (1)

Weekend.

It should have been a relaxing Saturday, but unfortunately, I was tied up with club activities.

“Such a hassle.”

Yawning.

I yawned as I looked at the cursed objects.

I had chosen ones with stronger curse effects rather than beneficial ones.

If necessary, I could throw these cursed objects at my opponents to confuse them.

“You’re really dressed casually in everyday clothes.”

“…Why a hoodie?”

Ershil picked a fight.

“It’s more about the color combination than the hoodie. How can you wear black jeans with a black hoodie…”

I appropriately ignored Ershil. All black was a decent fashion statement, after all.

“So, you’re going out?”

“Yeah, I got a ticket from Yu-hwa to enter the tower.”

“The tower, you mean the Tower of Dreams?”

Ershil looked at me with eyes full of curiosity.

“Yeah. Isn’t there a tower in England too? The Tower of Proof, was it?”

“Yes, but the Tower of Proof only allows those of at least high rank.”

“Do you want to go?”

“Yes.”

“But you can’t. This is a solo trip.”

I waved the emblem that Hong Yu-hwa had given me.

Ershil made a dumbfounded face.

“How about meeting on Sunday, then?”

“Sunday? Oh my, are you asking me on a date now?”

She grinned mischievously, full of playfulness.

“Yeah, it’s a date request.”

I nodded.

Of course, the date included a Mine banquet.

As I nodded, Ershil’s face briefly showed a dazed expression.

“Don’t tease a lady, it’s not nice.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

Ershil was the one who had started it.

“So when should I come?”

“By 1 PM. Come to the Angel’s Hand coffee shop in Gangnam, Seoul.”

I set the time comfortably since the event happened at 2 PM.

“See you tomorrow, then.”

I waved at Ershil and headed to the next class.

“Huh? What’s up?”

“I’d like to borrow some things here.”

I took out about ten cursed objects.

“…You really didn’t hesitate to borrow them.”

Chuckling, the club president wrote down the names on the documents and nodded.

“Make sure to return them intact. If the objects get damaged, the curses might leak out.”

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

I said so, but I wasn’t sure if they would return intact.

After getting permission, I headed to the alchemy club room.

Just yesterday, the alchemy professor had told me that the club room was available.

“That’s right.”

I sent a message to Hong Yu-hwa on my way.

Hong Yu-hwa had personal matters and had missed today’s club activities.

-By 2 PM. Come to the Angel’s Hand Coffee Shop in Gangnam, Seoul.

-Get ready and come.

I couldn’t mention the fight with the Mine, so I vaguely stated it. This should be enough for her to bring what’s needed.

Ding.

The reply came immediately after I sent the message.

Hong Yu-hwa

-What?

-Can you not play strange tricks?

Strange tricks? Puzzled, I sent a message back.

-What tricks are you talking about?

-I have something to tell you. So come here by 2 PM.

I said that much and then checked my phone’s messaging app.

The list was sparse.

In my previous life, I had 300 contacts; now, I only had four.

I had gotten Ershil’s and Hong Yu-hwa’s numbers under the pretext of club activities.

Similarly, I had gotten Kim Ara’s number under the pretext of training.

And the same went for Kim Seo-hyun.

‘I wish I could call Seo Ga-yeon.’

Unfortunately, she hadn’t awakened her magic power yet, so she wasn’t part of the party.

Regretfully, I also called Kim Ara to the Angel’s Hand Coffee Shop in Gangnam, Seoul.

Kim Ara:

-?

-Oh, got it.

-A shy rabbit emoji.

She seemed quite shy.

I put my phone in my pocket.

I had gathered the members.

If needed, Ershil would serve as a safety measure, and Hong Yu-hwa and Kim Ara, who were considered immediate forces.

With Kim Seo-hyun added, we should be able to stand against Mine.

-Master… aren’t you afraid for your life?

“…?”

I pondered for a moment at the Black Heavenly Demon Sword’s words.

“Life is precious. That’s why I’m preparing like this.”

I said this as I deposited potions into my spatial bracelet while entering the alchemy club room.

The Black Heavenly Demon Sword gave me a peculiar look.

“Now that I think about it, the previous master was also oblivious, but strangely popular with women. Though she had a woman’s body… maybe it’s the destiny of the Heavenly Demon.”

Ignoring the sword’s musings, I sifted through the materials in the alchemy club room.

‘Pretty good.’

There were more materials than I had anticipated.

I was able to craft quite a few emergency recovery potions.

I also prepared paralysis and antidote potions for emergencies.

Additionally, I concocted some potions with exaggerated stat-boosting effects and deadly poisons by slightly modifying the recipes.

Despite all these preparations, thanks to the spatial bracelet, the burden was surprisingly light.

‘Maybe I should check my bank account.’

Normally, after purchasing the kit, I would have barely had 50,000 won left, but I had uploaded recipes to the Alchemy Guild and was somewhat hopeful.

“Wow…”

I found myself speechless.

A staggering sum had been deposited into my account.

235,014,571 won.

What was alarming was that in alchemy, copyright laws were strictly enforced, and this money would balloon into a phenomenal amount over time.

I needed to pay closer attention to the Alchemy Guild.

I powered up a computer in the corner of the club room.

Accessing the Alchemy Guild’s website, I saw my recipes at the top of the leaderboard.

“What are these comments…”

Next to them were thousands of comments, and the view count had already eclipsed 100,000.

Driven by curiosity, I clicked on one of the recipes.

-Oh, Truth itself! Please share more recipes with me!

-We live in an era where Truth resides!

-My light and salt. Please post a recipe at least once a month.

Was this person crazy? Did they think this was YouTube???

The comments overflowed with excessive adulation.

-LOL, an alchemist with the name Veritas? Such an arrogant jerk?

(The comment has been deleted and is only visible to the original poster.)

ㄴWhere do you live? I’m tracking your IQ right now.

ㄴThis guy bragged about being a great alchemist, but he just started with 5 recipes and is only a Bronze beginner.

ㄴLOL, such a noob.

There were also deleted comments from people who had been mocked and jeered at.

There were lots of messages too.

Some were threatening, others begged me to teach them just one thing.

The Alchemy Guild’s website, which was unseen in-game, was quite interesting.

Then, a forum post caught my eye.

[Question about the Physical Elixir of Strength.]

The title was intriguing.

But I was more focused on the username. ‘WantToEscapeTheLab’, a future renowned name in alchemy.

I clicked on the post.

I’m trying to make the Physical Elixir of Strength, but the results keep coming out weird.

I’ve used Harpas’s feather, Graiben’s claw, the fruit of Dream, and the whisker of a sky whale, but something’s off.

-Isn’t that because you’re short on ingredients?

-That’s what you get for mixing weird, incompatible ingredients LOL

-What an idiot. Such a waste of precious ingredients.

The comments were all mocking the post’s author.

I casually left a comment.

-Dry the fruit of Dream in a sunny place for three days and add the tail of a salted fish last.

After giving that advice, I shut down the computer. It’s about time to head out.

Buzz, buzz!

My phone rang. What now? I wasn’t expecting any calls.

As I looked at my phone in confusion, notifications started popping up about all sorts of comments being posted on the site.

I went into my phone, turned off app notifications, and headed outside.

Guro Station.

In the middle of it stood a building known as the Tower.

The Tower.

In this world, there were structures known as towers.

The most famous among them was the Tower of Trials at the Korea Hero Academy.

The Tower of Trials literally provided ‘trials’.

If you cleared a trial, you received rewards corresponding to its difficulty.

Towers were like that.

Depending on the adjective placed in front of the word ‘tower,’ it took on a corresponding ‘theme,’ and clearing the tower yielded immense rewards.

However, the difficulty varied from tower to tower.

Some towers could barely be cleared at the endgame.

Others could be conquered simply by overwhelming force.

Some towers posed riddles.

In this world, there were several such towers, and the Tower of Illusions, as it was called, existed in Seoul.

Among them, the Tower of Illusions was notably challenging.

But it suited me very well.

The Tower of Illusions literally only showed illusions.

“Though the story changes from the middle layer upwards.”

What I needed was in the lower layer.

From the middle layer, it consumed too much time.

Even setting aside a day, it would take a month.

I approached an attendant near the tower.

“How may I assist you?”

“I would like to enter the tower.”

“To enter the tower, you need a recommendation from the Magic Tower or a related emblem.”

The Tower of Illusions was owned by the Magic Tower.

‘The Magic Tower should be fine.’

The Magic Tower was known for its good management.

They captured any Mines or villains trying to enter the tower secretly and took care of safety within the tower.

I showed the emblem given to me by Hong Yu-hwa.

“It’s the emblem of the Red Tower.”

The staff member placed the emblem in front of a machine and nodded.

“Verified. You may now enter the Tower of Illusions. If you require guidance in the tower, you can hire a magician from our Magic Tower for a fee.”

“That’s okay.”

“Then please use the portal over there to enter.”

“Okay.”

I walked along the path guided by the staff.

Then, a portal revealing a different space within a blue circle appeared.

Ring.

My phone rang just as I was about to enter the tower. I checked the phone.

Hong Yu-hwa

-You entered the tower?

-Just tour around if you can. I know you’re great, but the Tower of Illusions is high-risk.

-Don’t stir up trouble.

The message appeared somewhat worried.

I smirked.

I wouldn’t touch anything unless necessary.

But if I happened to find a ‘secret room’ in the tower and accidentally cleared it to claim the reward—

Well, that was unavoidable.