The Wizard in the Game Is Rewarded in Reality

Chapter 4

“Um, excuse me…”

“It’s the Tower Lord.”

“Pardon?”

The old man speaks in an irritated voice.

“If you ask if I’m the Second Elder or the Grand Elder, I’ll kick you out right away, so know that.”

“N-no, I had no intention of saying such things.”

“For someone who says that, you stutter way too much, don’t you think?”

“Haha, do I?”

“Y-yes.”

It seems he enjoys teasing me.

“You know what you have to do, right?”

“I have to pass the Tower Lord’s test, don’t I?”

“That’s right. You might pass the first two elders’ tests if you’re lucky. But the last test is not something you can pass with luck.”

As the Tower Lord said, I passed the first test by just sitting still, and the Grand Elder’s second test by saying the right words.

“What do you think a wizard is?”

“Pardon? A wizard? Someone who uses magic?”

The Tower Lord’s expression gradually contorts.

Just as a person who practices medicine is called a doctor, and a person who deals with the law is called a prosecutor or a judge, my answer that a person who uses magic is a wizard is not entirely wrong.

It seems clear that the answer the Tower Lord wants is not the one I have.

Suddenly, something comes to mind.

“Are you… someone who deals with the essence of mana?”

The Tower Lord’s twisted expression slightly relaxes. But it’s still not enough to say it looks good.

“Hmm. Expecting more than that from you, who is just stepping onto the path of magic, would be wrong. Someone who deals with the essence of mana. It’s not incorrect.”

Snap-!

As the Tower Lord snaps his fingers, flames bloom in the empty air. Next, a droplet of water, and then a gentle breeze blows.

“Mana is the essence that makes up the world. The greatest gift given to humans by the gods is mana. Wizards are those who understand this mana and explore the fundamental knowledge that makes up the world through it.”

“People who explore knowledge.”

“Elder Lee’s test. Your affinity for mana is exceptionally high. It’s a talent unseen in the past hundred years.”

It’s the majesty of an intelligence stat of 20.

“And the Grand Elder’s test. Your eye for seeing the essence of mana is the same. A child with your level of mana affinity couldn’t possibly fail to see the essence of mana. But the final test is qualitatively different from the previous two.”

The Tower Lord raises a finger to point at his head.

“Are you smart?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking if you’re smart.”

“My head is…”

It’s not bad.

No, my school grades were excellent.

Since childhood, I had such terrible luck that I thought studying was the only way to survive, so I invested a tremendous amount of time in it.

Fortunately, I had a knack for studying, so my grades were always at the top of the school.

“I don’t think it’s bad.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

Snap-

The Tower Lord snaps his fingers.

Something whizzes past my eyes.

“What did you see?”

“A white beast resembling a deer, a horse, and a tiger, and a shield…”

As I recount what I saw a moment ago, the Tower Lord’s expression becomes peculiar.

“Your memory is impressive.”

“Well, this is nothing.”

Not to brag, but my memory is quite exceptional. Once I see something, I rarely forget it.

“Do you know about runes?”

“Runes? Magic symbols, right?”

“Magic symbols… That’s not entirely wrong, but it’s not entirely correct either. Runes can be considered magic itself. When the gods granted mana to humans, they also gave us runes. Rune symbols inherently contain the power of mana. To perform a 1st circle spell, you need two rune symbols.”

The tower master extends his index finger and draws a strange shape in the air.

That must be a rune symbol.

The fascinating thing is that when the tower master draws the rune symbol, it glows red.

“This is a rune with the attribute of fire. When you imbue a rune with will, the mana that composes the rune is activated.”

The tower master extends four fingers.

“To perform a 2nd circle spell, you need four runes. For a 3rd circle spell, you need eight. For a 4th circle spell, you need sixteen. How many runes do you need for a 5th circle spell?”

“Thirty-two.”

The tower master smiles and nods.

“When discussing a mage’s talent, the boundary is often set between the 4th and 5th circles. Mages are generally highly intelligent individuals. Even for them, drawing sixteen runes in their mind and combining them is a difficult task. Handling thirty-two runes, which is double that, is even more challenging.”

“Ah-!”

“It’s not just a matter of memorizing runes. In the space of the mind, you must draw the runes, imbue them with will, and combine them according to certain rules to make the runes exert their proper power. This is magic.”

“Forgive me for asking, but what circle are you, tower master?”

The tower master looks at me as if it’s a trivial question and says nonchalantly,

“I am at the 8th circle.”

“Wow-!”

Being at the 8th circle means he can combine 256 runes at once, doesn’t it?

“That’s amazing.”

“Isn’t it amazing that I’m the tower master of the Magic Kingdom?”

The tower master speaks seriously.

“I will now give you the final test assignment.”

*

The top floor of the magic tower, the tower master’s office.

Three people with identical faces are drinking tea.

“Hahaha. Isn’t he the greatest talent?”

“Who would disagree? Since the Magic Kingdom was founded, he can be considered the greatest talent. Isn’t that right, tower master?”

Tapju sips his tea, gazing intently at Elder Lee and Grand Elder.

“Why are you staring at me like that? Speaking of which, even the so-called greatest talent, Tapju, wasn’t as good as that child, was he?”

“Who said what?”

Tapju responds indifferently.

“Could it be… is it really true?”

Elder Lee asks, pushing his magnifying glass up with his finger.

“Hey, did it really happen? No, right?”

Grand Elder also looks at Tapju with eyes full of disbelief.

“That ‘could it be’ is correct.”

“What? Did you really give the highest difficulty task?”

Tapju nods as if it were nothing.

“Didn’t you say it yourselves? The greatest talent in the history of the Magic Kingdom. If the child has that level of talent, wouldn’t it be easy to pass?”

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting so creatively?”

“Don’t you think you’re speaking too recklessly? Can you handle the consequences?”

“Ahem. What did I say that was so harsh? That’s not the point right now. Why did you give such a task to a child who hasn’t even formed a circle yet?”

Elder Lee joins the conversation.

“Wasn’t that task just something we talked about casually while drinking? Doesn’t it make no sense? As Grand Elder said, how can a child who hasn’t even formed a circle manifest mana?”

“You felt that way, and I felt that way too. The child has the greatest talent. I only gave the task because I thought the child could solve it.”

Grand Elder shouts in frustration.

“What if the child runs away?”

“Then our fate ends there.”

“The greatest talent, I say! Didn’t you see the mana gathering around the child? It was like the mana was clinging to the child, asking to play.”

Tapju chuckles.

“Don’t worry unnecessarily. The chain of fate doesn’t break so easily. And watch. The child will complete my task splendidly and stand before me again.”

*

I woke up feeling incredibly refreshed.

Considering I only slept for four hours after being connected to Doomsday until dawn, my body feels too good.

“Maybe there’s a function in the connector that I don’t know about.”

After a quick wash, I hurriedly prepare for work.

Breakfast is cereal and milk.

I leave the house and head to the bus stop. It was when I arrived at the bus stop.

“What is this?”

Before a minute had passed since I arrived at the bus stop, the bus I needed to take arrived.

Usually, even if I timed it right, I would miss it by a hair and have to take the next bus.

When I got on the bus, there was exactly one seat left.

As usual, I was prepared to stand, but I quickly sat down, thinking it was a stroke of luck.

From the next stop, many people got on the bus. Naturally, there were no empty seats, so they had to stand.

“Is luck finally gracing my life?”

I got off the bus and walked towards the company, feeling elated.

“Did luck come to you?”

“Yes, sir. Nothing happened overnight, right?”

“If something happened, it would be a big deal. Nothing happened.”

After greeting the security guard, I passed through the company gate.

“Good morning, Mr. Noun.”

“Yes, manager. Good morning.”

“Did something good happen? You look bright.”

“Haha, do I look like that?”

I changed my clothes and left the locker room.

At Seun Industries, a monster carcass processing company, my job is to manage the inflow and outflow of monster carcasses.

I joined as a production worker, but after finding several errors in the inflow and outflow documents, I was reassigned.

It’s because I have a memory that doesn’t easily forget what I’ve seen once.

I crossed the site and headed to the warehouse. In the warehouse, the monster carcasses that the night shift workers had processed were piled up, already packaged.

The start of the day’s work is to check the quantity in the warehouse.

After matching the amount received yesterday with the amount of processed carcasses, I left the warehouse.

Day shift workers were coming into the site one by one. Soon, trucks loaded with monster carcasses would start arriving.

“Good morning.”

I entered the site office and turned on the computer.

After recording the warehouse inventory I had just checked in the work log, I made a cup of coffee in the break room and returned to my seat.

“Mr. Noun.”

“Yes, deputy manager.”

Park Hyun-do, the deputy manager overseeing the site, enters the office.

“Today, the supplies from the Changseong Guild are coming to us.”

“Changseong Guild? Don’t they usually deal with Hyunse Industries?”

“It means something must have gone wrong with Hyunse Industries. Since the executive director handled the sales, make sure to pay attention.”

“Yes.”

When he says to pay attention, he means to help the field staff.

Since my only task is to keep track of the incoming and outgoing supplies, I am an extra hand that can be easily used.

– Woon-ah, do you have some time?

– Employee Woon, can you help over here?

Here, Woon-ah, there, Employee Woon.

Several times a day, I get dragged into tasks unrelated to my work.

“Why the face? You’re not in a bad mood, are you?”

“Of course not.”

I force a smile at Deputy Manager Park Hyun-do and leave the office.

“Sss-, would you be in a good mood?”

*

The time left after lunch is spent in the warehouse.

It’s my own little resting place that I always seek out.

I think it was about a month after I joined the company that I started spending time in the company warehouse.

– I know someone in the same industry who awakened in a warehouse storing monster corpses.

– They say the chances of awakening increase if you stay close to monster corpses.

Normally, I would have taken a short nap during the remaining lunch break.

But today, strangely, I feel too good.

I raise my hand and move it slowly.

“Was it like this?”

I recall the time when the Tower Lord drew rune letters in the game Doomsday. I try to precisely replicate the Flame Rune that the Tower Lord drew, but nothing happens.

“Of course, it’s natural, but it feels a bit off.”

Even though it was in the game, the two elders and the Tower Lord praised my talent as the best ever.

“There’s no way the game and reality are the same.”

Saying this, my hand continues to draw the rune.

“Mana is the fundamental essence of the world.”

The greatest gift given to humanity by the gods: Mana.

And with Mana, the divine script given to humans: Runes.

Strangely, it doesn’t feel like just a simple line spoken by an NPC in a game.

That’s because the reality I live in has already transformed into something like a game.

The invasion of another world, the awakened ones who gained transcendent power through awakening, the status windows of the awakened ones similar to a game system.

And the power they use.

“Mana.”

The power used by the awakened ones was undoubtedly Mana.

This implies that Mana exists not only in the game world but also on Earth.

Focusing my mind, I slowly draw the rune of fire again.

Instead of simply copying the rune drawn by the tower master, I concentrate and try to feel the flame, the heat.

Zzzt-

“Huh?”

When I completed the rune of fire, I felt an unfamiliar sensation at my fingertip. It’s a feeling that can’t be described in words.

I draw the rune again. But I couldn’t feel the sensation I felt a moment ago.

It seems I was too hopeful for a power like Mana, which is not allowed to me.

“In reality, it doesn’t work, but in the game, it might? Unlike reality, in the game, I’m a talented prodigy.”

I lean against the piled-up monster corpses and close my eyes.

“Mana of fire-.”

I draw the rune of fire while thinking of small flames, campfires, slightly larger fires, house-burning fires, and building-devouring infernos in turn.

Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I feel the strange sensation in my fingers again. I opened my eyes, but nothing had changed.

“It’s already this late.”

I was so focused on the rune of fire that I didn’t realize lunchtime was almost over.

I hurriedly get up and leave the warehouse.

When I closed the warehouse door and left, a small change occurred inside. As the door closed and the lights automatically turned off, a faint red light began to glow inside the warehouse.