บท 22: The magic tower

"Finally, what took you so long?" Old Sword complained. It had taken Eldrian more than 3 hours before he had managed to master the poleaxe to rank 1.

"I don't really know. But it didn't take that long did it?" Eldrian responded as he looked at the time. It was now just before 11, so he felt he had made great progress. In total only around 5 hours was spent on mastering the two.

[Quest 'A Veterans Training' Completed]

[Quest reward: 1200 XP]

[Quest continuation]

[Talk to Old Sword to receive a new quest]

Eldrian was quite happy to see that he completed another quest. He was now only 200 XP short of leveling up. He was still unsure how leveling and progression worked in the game, but from what he experienced so far. He felt that it was certainly a side action and that most actually focus should be on your own ability in the game.

He thought like this since he hadn't felt as oppressed against Vivian who had a ten-level lead on him than he had against Old Sword, where he had felt completely helpless.

Still, he was quite happy with his progress as he was certain he will be the first person to reach level 2 unless someone else completes a higher rank quest than he had, and they would have to do it soon.

"In any case let's go eat something. It should help you recover some of your stamina. After that, we will go visit a friend of mine." Old Sword said as he put away his sword.

Hearing the mention of visiting a friend of Old Sword, Eldrian became very excited. The last time he met one of Old Sword's friends, Boran, he had gotten his first weapon, Grace. Unfortunately, Eldrian hadn't had the chance to wield it yet, but he was looking forward to it very much.

As they started walking Old Sword thought, 'Such a genius. If he also learns magic as fast as he did on these weapon basics. Then we will probably see the birth of a hero.'

Eldrian took a last glance at the training field as they started leaving. He was surprised by the number of players now on the field. Almost all the training dummies had players practicing against them.

When he and Old Sword had started sparring the players had grouped around them, curious to see what was going on. But after the 3rd time, Eldrian had fallen down from exhaustion or had gotten knocked down, they started to get bored and went back to their own training.

Most players didn't see anything special in their fight. And the few who had stayed for a while longer had left when they had found the breaks between each bout being too long. Since Eldrian had rested for around 5 minutes after each bout.

The players currently on the field also weren't the ones who were here since the morning. At most the players spent 2 hours practicing before they had gotten bored. After which they had gone wolf hunting again.

…

"Here we are." Old Sword said as they approached one of those strange towers Eldrian saw yesterday.

They had gotten something to eat while they were walking. The entire walk had taken almost 30 minutes. During which a lot of time was spent in silence. Eldrian had asked a bit about the city, but most of what he had gotten as answers left him with more questions.

"What is this tower?" Eldrian decided to ask since they were now seemingly going to enter it.

"This," Old Sword said as he pointed to the tower, "this is called a magic tower. This is every cities' strongest defense. Normally at least two mages are in the tower at all times."

"And no this isn't where they train new mages. That happens in the magic academy near the noble district. My friend told me to bring you here when he heard you were a High Elf. He said that it might be easier to explain to you here." Old Sword said as he led Eldrian inside.

Eldrian was surprised greatly at how empty the tower was. There were a few guards at the entrance, but other than these he didn't see any other people inside. Even after they had left the first floor, which was like a massive reception room. The first floor was a single room around 10 meters tall.

He had no idea why they would make the first floor so massive and then not decorate it or anything similar. It felt like a big empty promise.

As they climbed each floor, Eldrian was left amazed that no one seemed to be staying here. Every floor was massive, reaching 5 meters in height, with a central open space in the middle. This space then connected to different rooms. Eldrian had even asked Old Sword to stop so that he could explore a bit.

He stopped exploring after the third floor, as its layout was exactly the same as the one before. Having a central area connected to 12 rooms, which he hadn't entered as they seemed to be locked.

A good amount of stairs later they finally reached the top of the tower. Eldrian was left astounded by the number of stairs. They had climbed a total of 14 floors, with there being a ground floor also, which meant the tower had 15 different floors.

Eldrian was amazed at the sight presented to him when he reached the top of the tower. The place looked wide open. Except for a small circular room right in the middle of the floor. Other than this single room the entire floor was only compromised of a railing at the edge of the floor, and pillars in the railing which supported the roof over their heads.

Eldrian started to wander as he was still reeling from the shock of such a design. He was certain that this tower was by no means architecturally sound, but here it stood. At first, he thought that this was due to it being a game, but he soon shook the thought out of his head as he felt certain there would be a better reason. He felt the entire game had been too realistic to go to such a conclusion.

"Old Sword, why on earth is this floor so open?" Eldrian asked as he walked to the railing to take a look at the city.

The sight presented to him was simply breathtaking. Eldrian could for the first time look to any part of the city and not have his view be obstructed by the buildings. He noticed a few things, such as that the tall 30-meter wall surrounded the entire city, as he had expected. But he was still surprised to see it span for kilometers and kilometers.

He also looked further and saw that there were fields outside this wall for a few kilometers before it turned into a forest. This surprised Eldrian as he never truly understood how far the other players had to travel to try and hunt the wolves. He was also astonished by the sheer size of the city, it looked like it stretched on forever.

Eldrian then walked around the tower to take a look into the city's heart, as the central room had blocked his view. He was surprised to see that there was a second wall about three quarters through the city, he had never seen it before. In the center he saw what he could only call, the most massive castle or palace he had ever seen, he was unsure which it would be called.

He now even felt stupid for not realizing the size of the cities from the trailer. But truly, seeing something with your own eyes made it so much more real.

Finally, Eldrian calmed down and turned around, seeing Old Sword waiting for him patiently to finish his escapade.

"Don't worry, almost everyone reacts this way when they get here for the first time. The view is just amazing." Old Sword said, as he chuckled lightly at the embarrassed Eldrian.

"And to answer your question, the floor is so open to allow the mages to use their spells effectively. You will learn more about it from my friend. Let me introduce you, then I can go back to my work." Old Sword said as he headed to the only door on the entire floor. The one leading to the circular room.

As he reached it he knocked a few times, before waiting patiently. Eldrian had walked up and waited next to Old Sword.

When the door was opened Eldrian saw two men. One opening the door and the other reading a thick book over a table. The room was cluttered with circular bookshelves, with a few books even lying on the ground, some open and others stacked together.

"Old Sword you really brought one here." The man said as he looked at Old Sword and then at Eldrian, excitement evident in this man's eyes. This naturally made Eldrian uncomfortable, but he was certain that Old Sword would explain the situation soon.

"Yes Dave, this is Haru," Old Sword said, as he pointed at Eldrian, "He has already reached rank 1 in four weapon categories, so he is a good learner. I am hoping he will also give us a surprise with magic."

"Sorry to say this old friend, but I don't expect that to be so easy," Dave said as he looked at Eldrian again. "You know High Elves have it hard to start learning magic. That is why we always say they are monsters when matured, but most often they never mature."

"In any case, he is in my care now correct," Dave questioned.

"Correct, unless he feels it isn't appropriate." Old Sword said as he tapped Eldrian's shoulder, indicating for him to have to decide.

"I think I am okay with it. What is he going to teach me?" Eldrian questioned as he felt lost during this encounter.

"Ah yes, of course, let me redo the introduction. I am Dave, an official mage. This means I have many duties, and currently one of them is to ensure the operation of the tower for the next few months. Thus for this time, I will have some extra time on my hands. You see managing the tower doesn't take a lot of time." Dave said as he finally left the room, closing the door behind himself.

"Due to this and the event of you, Chosen, being summoned. I had asked a few friends to help me find an apprentice. This is where you and Old Sword come in." Dave said, pointing to both of them.

"Thus if you want to learn magic, I am willing to teach you. That is, as long as you promise to give it your all." As Dave said this, Eldrian got a notification.

[Quest continuation]

[Quest name: A Veterans Training, part 2.]

[Quest giver: Dave]

[Quest Description: Player must learn how to wield magic.]

[Quest Progress: 0/1 spells or skills cast]

[Quest Rank: B]

[Quest Time limit: None]

[Quest Reward: 5000 XP, Continue studying under Old Sword and Dave]

[Due to the player race being High Elf, quest difficulty increased]

[Quest Rank: S]

[Due to race condition on increased difficulty, no reward increase]

[Speak to Dave to confirm quest]

When Eldrian saw the difficulty increase he felt like crying. Even at Rank B, he was certain it would be very difficult. Now he had to complete an S rank quest, and he didn't get any extra reward for the increased difficulty.

'I guess this is the consequence of choosing the most difficult race.' Eldrian complained to himself before he answered Dave.

"I would like to learn from you. And I will give it my all."

"Good, I hope you don't back out later," Dave replied with a big smile.

[Quest confirmed]