Chapter 27: Points and Secrets

The trees towering high into the sky exuded magic, creating a strange flow in the air.

I absentmindedly fiddled with the ring on my finger.

As I gently infused a bit of magic into it, the score appeared in my mind.

50 points.

Damn it, that just ruined my mood.

I irritably gave an order to the turtle.

The turtle cleared a path, knocking down trees that blocked the way.

I took out the map and checked my location.

There was a dot marking me, just a little distance away from the tower.

Still, a long way to go.

I sighed and took a sip of tea.

The scent calmed my insides.

The map had been given to me by the professor.

Surprisingly, it detailed all areas of the university.

The professor had said it was a map he received when he became a professor.

It was a map not given to students, I suppose.

When the professor handed it to me, saying he didn’t need it and that I should use it, I was so moved I almost bowed deeply on the spot.

***

Thinking back, it’s already been a week since I entered the university.

It had been a busy week.

I remembered when I first arrived at the tower.

I had collapsed after seeing something strange while cleaning the tower, then had to plan the professor’s lectures, and later spent all my time repairing and stabilizing the tower.

‘Wait, did I come here to work?’

Come to think of it, training had never even crossed my mind.

I was so busy that whenever I had even a little time to rest, I would fall asleep as if I’d collapsed.

Then, I’d wake up and work again.

It had already been a day since I left the tower.

The sense of betrayal I felt, sitting idly in the turtle, doing nothing but passing time—it was a reward for all the hard work I’d done up to now.

‘How much longer would I have to go?’

I checked the map again.

The destination was the city closest to the professor’s tower.

It was called Stalactite City.

There was a nameplate beneath it, labeled Arcana General Store.

Such cities existed all over the map.

There were twelve in total.

I also noticed a nameplate labeled Beast Corporation.

I remembered that man, Luo, from the opening ceremony.

He had said he was part of Beast Corporation.

‘Does that mean these names represent the organizations that control the cities?’

Arcana General Store.

This Stalactite City was the largest of all the areas.

It was almost twice the size of the smallest area.

I remembered the lecture plan tucked neatly into my spatial pocket.

It had the professor’s magic seal engraved on it, exuding a powerful magic aura.

I had to submit this.

Being the largest city, there must be a place where I could submit it.

But it was so far.

I sighed again.

It was too far.

When I left the tower, I hadn’t thought about it, but the map—its coverage was a bit strange.

Since it covered the entire university, that made sense.

I had run for an entire day, but I still hadn’t made it even halfway.

And during this day, I realized just how dangerous the university was.

The university was pure wilderness.

Every area was swarming with magical beasts.

Ah, and now one was coming at me.

A massive snake shot out from a tree and bite the turtle’s neck.

It wrapped its body tightly around the turtle’s neck.

The snake was enormous, at least ten meters long.

The turtle quickly pulled its neck into its shell.

When the snake’s grip disappeared, it fell to the ground.

The snake tried to escape, but the turtle’s foot was already falling toward it.

With a thundering sound, the snake’s body was crushed.

The turtle withdrew its head and examined the area beneath its foot.

The snake was already flattened, unrecognizable.

The turtle swallowed it whole.

It wasn’t a very strong magical beast, but even creatures like this needed to be collected.

I had very few materials, so every little bit counted.

Anyway, magical beasts were everywhere.

The area I was in had a very low altitude, so weak beasts like this appeared.

But in the higher mountain regions, where magic was thick, stronger beasts roamed.

The professor’s mountain was the same.

Strong beasts lurked throughout the mountain, powerful enough to swallow creatures like the turtle whole.

If I hadn’t received the professor’s magic seal, I wouldn’t have been able to leave the mountain and would have had to run to the tower.

It was taking so long to reach my destination because I had been trying to avoid areas with too many magical beasts.

I had a scroll next to the map, marking all the beast territories.

The map only covered the university’s core areas, so it lacked these details.

Eventually, it would come in handy.

I kept running.

Unexpected areas appeared, and paths were completely blocked, causing delays.

***

Finally, after two days of travel, I arrived at the city zone.

“This is it.”

I checked the map and looked around.

The red dot marking me was glowing, exactly where the map had indicated the city zone.

But there was nothing around.

It was just a slightly lower peak than the surrounding mountains.

As I scanned the area, I felt a faint magical presence.

Someone was approaching.

Quickly, I ordered the turtle to lie down on the ground and began to conceal our presence.

The turtle hide its limbs and camouflaged itself as a rock.

I suppressed my magic and observed the approaching individuals.

They were a group of somewhat shabby-looking mages.

They were hovering a massive magical beast in the air, keeping a careful watch of their surroundings.

“Is this where the magic traces were left?”

One of them, a woman with a stiff expression, spoke.

“Eh, it’s probably just a mage trying to enter the city. There’s nothing special about it.”

A man with a carefree demeanor replied.

“He cast a light detection spell to scan the surroundings.”

The woman, who had been scanning the area, began to move again.

They headed toward the lower peak.

Then, they started entering the ground.

“Was there a path there?”

It had been hard to spot.

The path blended so perfectly with the surroundings that it seemed completely natural.

They left, and I waited a while to make sure they were gone.

But after waiting for a long time, there was no movement.

Carefully, I instructed the turtle to move toward the area they had disappeared into.

There, I found a deep cave leading underground.

Something inside was emitting a strong breeze.

‘Could the city be beneath the ground?’

The cave walls were illuminated by magical lanterns, guiding the path deeper.

Following this path, I soon encountered a massive flow of magic.

It was a huge city.

Looking at it, I remembered the university city above ground.

The tall buildings.

Those buildings were now hanging upside down from the ceiling.

The ground was nowhere to be seen.

Below, a deep abyss seemed to flow, veiled in a thick fog.

So this was the Stalactite City.

I couldn’t help but marvel at it.

The idea of suspending buildings upside down, it was only possible because everyone in the city was a mage.

I focused my magic and carefully observed the city.

Countless buildings were hanging down like stalactites from the ceiling.

Bridges swaying in the wind connected the buildings.

The buildings formed a gigantic underground maze.

I saw several stalls in between the buildings, likely for trade, and lanterns placed everywhere illuminated the surroundings.

Through the many holes in the ceiling of this underground world, magicians were coming and going.

They floated in the air, traveling in and out of the city.

The path I took was one of those holes.

I also lifted my feet off the ground.

The magical energy around here was all connected to that city.

With just a small amount of magic, I could easily float and head toward the city.

Drunk on the intense magic and atmosphere emanating from the city, I slowly flew toward it.

As I got closer to the city, I felt the magic that blocked my path.

It was a barrier protecting the city.

‘How do I pass through this?’

I slowly surveyed the surroundings.

In the distance, I saw a checkpoint-like structure in the lower districts of the city.

Other magicians were all flying toward it as well.

I followed them and joined the long line.

In front of me, I saw the group of magicians I had seen earlier.

They were sitting on monster corpses, chatting and laughing.

They exchanged a few words with what seemed to be guards, then entered.

Others quickly followed, heading toward the city.

I blended in as naturally as possible and entered the city with them.

The guards didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the magicians passing by.

They merely sat there, yawning, pretending to keep watch.

But even those guards had stronger magic than I did.

It seemed that only those at the level of a Hong Ryeong would be close to matching them.

I swallowed.

To think that such powerful beings were just guarding the gates… It really hit home how much this place was the cradle of magic.

Most of the magicians headed to the lower districts of the city, where the light was faint.

Only a few went toward the upper districts.

The upper districts were like a living heaven, glowing with light.

I had neither the score nor the strength to go there.

For now, I needed to properly assess the lower districts and gather information.

I followed the people ahead of me and entered what seemed like a dock area.

This was likely the place that everyone had to pass through to enter or leave the city.

The people scattered in all directions, heading toward different paths.

‘So where should I go?’

The best approach was to find something like an information guild.

But I had no score.

I needed to find a way to gather information about this university and the city without spending much money.

And I knew just how to do that.

I had learned this during my travels across the continent.

To gather the most common information, I had to visit places with people who loved to gossip.

And, such places were most likely taverns.

***

Once alcohol was involved, anyone would start talking.

There had to be a tavern in this upside-down city.

I looked around.

Many people were crossing a bridge, heading somewhere.

Among all these people, ‘who would be most likely to go to a tavern?’ I made my decision.

It was the group of magicians from earlier.

They had made it so easy to find the way into the city.

Their lack of caution made it almost impossible for me not to follow.

They were chatting loudly as they walked, likely about where they sold the monster corpses they brought along.

I quietly followed behind them.

Keeping an eye on my surroundings, I made sure to stay out of sight as much as possible.

As I wandered around, I scanned the entire lower district.

A lot of people were walking around.

Most of them were either saplings or higher-level magicians.

On the bridge, several magicians had set up street stalls selling items.

Pretending to shop for items, I followed the magician group.

They eventually entered a building.

The sign outside read, “[Arcana Tavern].”

The menu outside listed a beer and ham set for about 5 points.

Damn, that was about 10% of all my savings.

Still, I could stomach this kind of expenditure if it meant I could gather information.

I opened the door and stepped inside, and the noise of chattering filled my ears.

Every table was packed with people.

Looking around, I tried to follow the new arrivals as subtly as possible.

I found a table near the magician group and ordered ham and beer.

The ham… it had been so long since I had any.

I hadn’t seen real food while staying in the tower.

I couldn’t help but feel a bit excited.

The magicians at the nearby table started stretching and talking.

“Good work today, captain!”

“We’ll do the settlement once we get back to the inn.”

“Hehe. After we settle up, we can sign up for classes!”

Classes.

Now that was an interesting topic.

I pulled out a scroll, scribbled roughly the design of a doll, and perked up my ears.

“Tsk, to secure a seat, we’ll need to gather more points.”

The woman called captain snorted.

“Even so, with eight thousand points, we should be able to secure a decent spot in class, right?”

Eight thousand points.

I inhaled sharply.

That was a number I had not even considered.

I had only been thinking in terms of a few hundred points, but this was ten times more.

‘Well, that messes up my plan’, I thought, biting my lip.

The thing I needed most right now was to sign up for a lecture by Professor Heisen, but eight thousand points… this meant the new students who entered this year probably wouldn’t be able to take lectures.

Or rather, if what I was hearing was true, they might have to suffer for years before they could even apply for classes.

“How did you gather that many?”

“I saved every penny for the past two years.”

The jovial man scratched his head and took a swig of his drink.

Hmm.

***

My food arrived at the table.

The smell and magical energy immediately impressed me.

This wasn’t the normal, run-of-the-mill food I had expected from a beer and ham set.

I slowly took a sip of the beer.

The golden liquid sloshed in the transparent glass, releasing a cool magical energy.

As I brought the glass to my lips, the bitter scent of beer brushed against my nose.

The first sip smoothly slide down my throat, refreshing my tired body.

This beer was incredible.

The magic added to it enhanced the first and last tastes, gently soaking into my body.

I shuddered in delight.

As for the ham… there were five pieces.

I carefully picked one up and took a bite.

‘Was it made from monster meat?’ Every time I chewed, the juice mixed with magic, and the flavor of the meat filled my mouth.

The salty taste of the ham blended perfectly with the bitterness of the beer, creating a new harmony.

Both were delicious on their own, but together, they were a perfect match.

I took another sip of the beer and chewed the ham.

The thick texture of the ham, saturated with oil, met the dryness of the beer, creating a delightful sensation on my tongue.

A smile spread across my face, and for a moment, I forgot all about the information gathering.

I took another sip of beer, letting out a deep breath.

‘Was this what happiness felt like, with just ham and beer for 5 points?’ All the food I had eaten so far felt like trash compared to this simple dish.

Now I understood why this tavern had so many people.

Even magicians who didn’t need food would probably find it hard to stop once they tasted this.

I continued sipping my beer, listening to the magicians’ ongoing chatter.

They were talking about some useful things, like the city’s buildings, the reasons for constructing the underground city, and so on.

By piecing together their scattered, tiny bits of information, I started to fill in the gaps in my knowledge.

The city’s layout was intriguing.

It seemed that many of the buildings were actually huge stores.

The lower floors were of lower quality, while the upper floors had higher standards.

From what they were talking about, I could guess that this tavern was located in the lowest level.

I began to wonder if there were more spaces above this.

‘What kind of food would they serve up there? How much better could it be?’

I also learned why the city was built underground.

It was because land aboveground was outrageously expensive.

Even underground areas near the surface were priced exponentially higher.

“Here, another beer and ham!”

I couldn’t resist and called out.

The waiter quickly brought me another round.

Damn, I hadn’t intended to spend so much.

I still needed to gather points to apply for classes.

But it was so delicious.

I stuffed the ham and beer into my mouth, unable to hold back.

The magicians next to me had already drunk themselves halfway into a stupor and were talking nonsense.

But even their meaningless chatter was valuable information for someone like me who knew nothing about the academy.

I continued to gather the crumbs of information they dropped, sorting it all in my mind.

“Here, the same menu again.”

But I couldn’t resist.

I decided to order just one more round.

After spending half of my savings, I finally left the tavern.