Genius Gamer Reborn into a Family of Heroes

Chapter 50

The Magic Tower, Golems, and the Test

After three long months of trials, or what could also be called a series of teachings, Harang finally reached the point where he could ascend the Magic Tower.

Rumble!

When he placed the helmet of Natalen’s armor on the altar, the firmly shut door slowly opened, guiding him forward.

The Magic Tower was a vast space, but aside from the spiral staircase, there was nothing else present.

Creak!

As he climbed the towering staircase and reached the top floor, he found a small room with an old box placed inside.

“Finally.”

Despite the dusty exterior, the inside of the box was pristine.

Its contents were merely a broken wristwatch, but Harang grabbed it with a heart full of anticipation.

[Artifact Detected]

[Attempting to interpret based on the ancient memories within the Knowledge of Kalantatis.]

After a moment, the information about the wristwatch was displayed.

━━━━[Artifact]━━━━

Arathon’s Wristwatch

A watch crafted long ago by the Dragon King Kalantatis, who coerced the Guardian of Space, Arathon, into creating it together with a Blacksmith.

Effect: When you snap your fingers, it forms a 2㎥ subspace.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Finally….”

Artifacts were all valuable, but among them, the ability to create “subspace” held the highest value.

Having experienced the utility of subspace through inventory systems in virtual reality RPG games, Harang already deeply understood its significance.

As soon as he wore the wristwatch and snapped his fingers, a round space appeared. It resembled a floating sphere surrounded by a ring of light, reminiscent of a black hole.

“Of course, a black hole wouldn’t have these cosmic patterns and would just be entirely black.”

When he reached his hand into it, it was sucked in smoothly.

“So, this is what it feels like.”

As Harang fiddled with the watch, he noticed a piece of paper lying underneath it. Unlike the old box, the paper looked relatively new.

When he pulled it out and unfolded it, a short message was written there.

* * *

[A gift for my disciple]

“…!”

The handwriting was unfamiliar, but Harang instinctively knew that it was Natalen’s.

“A gift?”

As that thought crossed his mind, the wall behind him suddenly vanished, revealing a hidden space.

“A secret room?”

When he cautiously stepped inside, he found a large room that looked like the library of a noble’s mansion, a stark contrast to the old storeroom outside.

The walls were lined with bookshelves, and upon closer inspection, they were filled with rare magic books that would be nearly impossible to find anywhere in the world.

Among them, Harang spotted forbidden magic that was said to have disappeared long ago and the names of famous wizards from history, making his heart race with excitement.

In the back of the library, there was a desk with two ancient magic books placed on top of it.

Harang could instinctively tell.

Those were the very magic books that recorded the unique, peculiar, and extraordinarily powerful magic that Natalen had used.

Next to them was a bracelet woven from flowers. When he picked it up, a message appeared before his eyes.

━━━━━[Artifact]━━━━━

Flower Bracelet of Return

A flower bracelet woven with the fragrance of the Flower Tower, a place of yearning.

Effect: Pluck one pink petal, and you can return to the Flower Tower from anywhere in the world. Reuse requires a year of cooldown.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“A space-traveling artifact?”

The ability to return to the Flower Tower from anywhere in the world—this was an artifact that seemed to defy the laws of modern physics.

“Even Warp Gates, at most, could only cover the distance of about an hour’s travel by carriage…”

Even the “Sky Tower,” the floating city of wizards, had only extended the range of its Warp Gates to a maximum of two hours.

“This… could be used as an emergency escape in a crisis.”

As long as the damage wasn’t fatal, one could return to the Flower Tower. Moreover, the first floor had a Recovery Field, which meant that minor injuries could be healed simply by resting there.

Of course, it wasn’t an item with unlimited uses; there were only three pink petals left on the bracelet.

But even with that, Harang was more than satisfied.

“It’s like I’ve gained three extra lives.”

Even as he prepared to leave, such a generous gift had been bestowed upon him. Moreover, this was a pure-hearted gift, with no expectation of anything in return.

Suddenly, memories of his past life surfaced.

Back when he was a professional gamer.

There were countless adults who approached him with gifts, hoping to get something from him in return. Their eyes were full of desire, and receiving their gifts always made Harang feel heavily burdened. He could see that they wanted so much from him.

“When I first received a gift from a fan, did it feel like this?”

Harang slipped the flower bracelet onto his left wrist. It seemed like the bracelets on his left arm were gradually increasing. The silver bracelet was from Arihil, the flower bracelet from Natalen, and the watch was a gift from Kaladan.

“…I’ll make sure to take care of the rest.”

The subspace was larger than he thought, more than enough to store all his magic books.

After neatly organizing all the items into the subspace, Harang left behind two very old magical tomes.

The first magic book, [Memory Cube].

The second magic book, [First Revelation of Myth Descent].

Harang picked up the first magic book. Thud! A note that had been tucked underneath the book fell out.

“I couldn’t complete this magic, but I believe you can!”

“…”

Harang felt he understood why Natalen had deliberately taken out and handed over this incomplete, somewhat embarrassing magic book to him.

Natalen must have thought that with Harang’s unique memorization ability, he might be able to complete the Memory Cube.

Being entrusted with a magic that even his master couldn’t finish was a heavy burden, but since he had no intention of giving up, he held it close to his heart.

The reason he didn’t put it in the subspace was that he intended to master it soon.

However, now was not the time.

There was a magic he needed to learn first, and that was the second magic book.

[Would you like to acquire the magic book “First Revelation of Myth Descent”?]

This was a condensed version of Natalen’s Myth Descent, reduced from a 3-star to a 5-star level, making it perfectly suited for Harang to learn.

“This, too, is a gift my master left for me…”

He swallowed dryly.

Natalen had once said that Harang’s growth was unbelievably fast, but even so, he still wasn’t ready to cast the full Myth Descent.

Thus, Natalen had surely left this behind for Harang to practice basic summoning magic step by step until the day he was ready.

“Right. I’m still lacking.”

Despite having received direct guidance from Natalen, Harang still didn’t fully understand what Myth Descent truly was.

Wasn’t it hard enough just learning the single 3-star Myth Descent?

And now, to master it all at once? It was utter madness, but once he left this place, there would be no time to learn and organize the magic in his mind.

“I need to learn it all here, and then understand and organize its principles in my mind so that I can use it in actual combat.”

With that thought in mind, Harang took a deep breath. The chances of a rebound effect were high, so he couldn’t help but feel tense.

“…I’ll learn it.”

Pressing the Y button firmly.

Harang squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the impending shock.

…The next morning.

“Ugh.”

Harang struggled to open his eyes and instinctively tried to lift his head, but a piercing headache made him grimace in pain.

“Cough, cough!”

When he coughed, sticky blood spilled out. He raised his sleeve to wipe it, only to find his nose and mouth covered in blood.

“Damn it…”

The world swayed, and his head throbbed, but Harang desperately looked around. At some point, he had moved to the recovery field on the first floor, realizing he wouldn’t be able to endure the rebound effect and had somehow managed to drag his body there as he lost consciousness.

Although the recovery field had somewhat healed his twisted internal injuries, the nauseating feeling was still so overwhelming that Harang couldn’t hold back any longer and vomited.

“Ugh…”

Harang retched, vomiting bitter bile and blood onto the floor. Tears welled up as he stared into the air. Through his blurry vision, he saw a single line of text.

[You have successfully acquired the magic book “Revelation of Myth Descent”!]

Despite the intense pain, that single message brought Harang joy.

“…It was an absurdly high-level magic. I overexerted myself trying to learn it all at once.”

But in return for the pain, Natalen’s magic was now swirling around in his mind.

They were not spells he could use immediately; they required at least a 5-star level to be fully utilized, so there was no need to learn them right away. However, Harang could feel that his knowledge had completely transformed.

At this level, even if he couldn’t cast Myth Descent spells right away, he could now unleash the 3-star spells with even greater power.

The feeling of nonsensical laws and formulas swirling in his mind gave Harang, as a mage, a thrilling sense of euphoria.

Then, upon reflecting on his own thoughts, Harang couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“A mage, huh…”

He had only lived with magic for three months, yet he was already thinking of himself as a mage.

“I’m still a swordsman.”

But…

“That doesn’t mean I’m not a mage, either.”

For the first time in his life, he had someone he could rely on, someone who sincerely taught him for his own sake.

For that person’s sake, Harang vowed that one day he would excel in magic as well.

Having discovered how much joy and happiness came from learning, he knew he wouldn’t be able to abandon magic while continuing to hone his swordsmanship.

“…I look like a mess.”

Even though he tore his clothes to wipe his face and washed up with water, his haggard appearance did not return to its original state.

In the mirror, Harang’s once beautiful face was now completely darkened and lifeless.

He wasn’t actually dying, but if someone asked him if he was suffering from a chronic illness, it wouldn’t be surprising.

Rubbing the deep dark circles under his eyes, Harang let out a deep sigh and put on his outer garment.

“…I should return.”

Today was the last day of his confinement. The knights and servants at the villa were surely waiting for Harang’s return.

Shhhh…

The heavy rain that had been pouring since last night still hadn’t stopped.

The mid-summer monsoon.

Overcoming the sticky and damp discomfort, he began to walk.

Staggering, Harang returned to the villa, where he noticed that the knights had already finished preparing for his return.

The knights were lined up, waiting with the carriage ready at the back. Among them, Harang spotted a maid kneeling on the ground, her eyes lowered. His gaze sharpened.

Clack! Clack!

As Harang approached with a leisurely pace, the knights raised their swords in salute. Some of the knights even broke out in cold sweat, and the reason was simple.

“The young master’s aura… he’s completely different.”

Three months ago, Harang’s swordsmanship was impressive, but the knights had still considered him just a fledgling.

But today, Harang was different.

The heavy, dark shadows cast over his eyes and the sunken look in them. Even though he was small in stature, there was an inexplicable weight to his presence as he walked slowly toward them.

Shhhh…

In the still-pouring rain, Harang’s hair was soaked and clung to his face. The strands of hair, weighed down by the water, should have fallen, but an invisible aura seemed to hover around him.

A few of the knights swallowed nervously, waiting for Harang’s next move.

The woman kneeling among the knights was the maid Soyrin.

She had confessed to the knights out of the blue. She admitted to having laced Harang’s elixir with San-Gong Poison.

Administering San-Gong Poison to a young Kaladan heir was an offense that, once revealed, would carry a minimum sentence of death.

No, given that Harang had the attention of Duke Kalel, the punishment could be even more gruesome.

She could be flayed alive, have her organs ripped out, or be forced to watch her family tortured in front of her… Although none of these had actually happened, such scenes kept flashing through the knights’ minds.

These were all things that Kaladan could very well do if they so wished.

With such punishments awaiting her, it would have made sense for Soyrin to deny her crime and struggle to the end, yet she had abruptly confessed?

“What is she doing there?”

At Harang’s question, a knight grabbed her by the back of her neck and dragged her to the front before throwing her to the ground.

Soyrin let out a small groan but quickly knelt again, albeit awkwardly.

“She hasn’t moved from that spot since she collapsed yesterday. She said she must atone until the young master returns.”

“She confessed to mixing San-Gong Poison into your elixir.”

San-Gong Poison. If consumed by a young boy over a long period, even in small amounts, it could cause irreparable damage to mana growth. The crime of poisoning a direct bloodline member of Kaladan aside, simply mixing such poison into food was already a serious offense.

Inwardly, the knights hoped Harang would draw his sword in a fit of rage.

Not one of the knights present supported Harang. Most of them were agents sent by other bloodlines, eager to find a flaw or weakness in Harang.

No matter how noble a Kaladan might be, killing a maid during a period of punishment would severely damage Harang’s reputation.

“We’ll hide the matter of the San-Gong Poison and exaggerate the story about him killing a maid during his confinement.”

That was one of the plans the knights had in mind.

“…Is that so?”

Despite hearing about Soyrin’s crime, Harang’s expression remained indifferent, showing no particular reaction.

He didn’t express anger, nor did he draw his sword.

Instead, he silently looked at Soyrin, then suddenly walked over to her, knelt on one knee, and reached out his hand.

Was he about to strike her?

Soyrin flinched, but Harang merely lifted her chin gently.

“You can’t tell me who ordered you to do this, can you?”

“……”

With a slight tremble in her voice, she nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.

Harang suspected that Soyrin probably didn’t even know whose orders she was following.

“What about your family?”

“…They’re in my hometown.”

“Parents? Siblings?”

Why was he asking such questions? With a tense expression, Soyrin replied.

“I have a sick mother and three younger siblings…”

“So, you’re the one supporting your family. It’s a situation perfect for someone to exploit and force you to do their bidding.”

“……”

Harang could already guess how she had come to poison his elixir with San-Gong Poison.

It wasn’t difficult to deduce, so he wasn’t particularly surprised by this part. However, the issue at hand was not the deduction itself—it was the fact that this wasn’t the kind of situation where one should be calmly reasoning things out.

Someone had attempted to poison him in order to suppress and hinder his growth, and now, the maid who had carried out the act was kneeling right in front of him.

If he were an ordinary 14-year-old noble, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to be raging and drawing his sword at this point, but Harang was unnervingly composed.

What on earth is he thinking…?

As the knights watched with bewildered expressions, Harang spoke to Soyrin.

“Open your mouth for a moment.”

Flinching, Soyrin’s body trembled, but she obediently opened her mouth without hesitation. Harang inserted his fingers into her mouth, inspecting it carefully, then shook his head.

“Just as I thought—there’s a seal.”

If she tried to reveal who had ordered her, how she had obtained the San-Gong Poison, or any other details, a spell would activate.

“This seal doesn’t kill you; it kills your family, doesn’t it?”

“……!!”

Soyrin gasped, exhaling sharply.

She hadn’t expected him to know that much.

“So, you confessed, hoping I’d just take your life and leave it at that. If you die, the ones who gave you the orders won’t have any reason to harm your family, right?”

“H-How…?”

Realizing that Harang had seen through her entirely, Soyrin began to tremble uncontrollably. Harang stood up and turned to the knights surrounding them.

“She couldn’t have done this alone. One of you must have delivered the poison to her or given her the orders. If you confess now, I’ll let it slide.”

Harang then stood silently, waiting. The knights sneered inwardly. Even though he had confirmed that she was under a seal and knew she wouldn’t be able to speak even at the cost of her life, did he really think the culprit would come forward?

While they acknowledged that Harang had a good deductive ability in uncovering Soyrin’s situation, they still thought he was just a 14-year-old kid, not much different from any other young noble in such a situation.

But then Harang nodded.

“You’re kicking away your last chance.”

In his mind, Harang was already thinking of the Recovery Field at the Flower Tower.

A magical space that nullified all curses and spells below 7-star level.

“Soyrin, let’s go.”

“…What?”

“I’ll break your seal. Then I’ll know exactly who gave you the orders. As for you lot,” he said, addressing the knights, “stay here and wait.”

He helped Soyrin to her feet, then added one last comment to the knights.

“Of course, if any of you think you can keep up, you’re welcome to follow.”

“……”

The knights’ pride took a hit.

No matter how much he was praised as a genius, he was still just a 4-star knight. His arrogance was grating.

Harang headed into the forest, and the knights pretended to stay back, but then quickly moved, climbing the trees to follow him.

These knights were handpicked for their skills in infiltration and information gathering. They were the best of the best, assigned to keep an eye on Harang.

So, if they decided to conceal their presence, even Harang would find it impossible to detect them.

…Or so they thought.

“W-What the hell?!”

The knights trailing Harang suddenly realized that his presence had completely vanished, and they were thrown into confusion.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

When they rushed to where they thought Harang had been just moments ago, they found no trace of him at all.

Whoooosh…

The area was a vast open space. Harang’s trail abruptly ended here, as if he had simply vanished into thin air.

“Magic scan! Someone, do a magic scan!”

Some of the knights had brought artifacts for detecting traps, but their devices found no trace of magic.

It was as if Harang himself had evaporated into the void.

“What the hell is going on…?”

He was just a 4-star knight. And he had been traveling with a maid in tow.

Yet, without using any magic, he had completely eluded knights with skills above 6-star level and vanished without a trace?

Feeling an overwhelming sense of futility, the knights lowered their heads.

Of all the times they had been monitoring Harang, this was undoubtedly the most hollow and disheartening moment.