Mage? Magic Engineer!-Chapter 36 - 33: The Tower of Stars Has No Tower

Rorschach and Kano walked out of the Starlight Torch Tower. Kano needed to make a trip back to the Magic Guild. Waiting just outside was his carriage. It bore no family crest, only the insignia of a white tower under a starry sky.

"It’s one of the Tower of Stars’ official carriages," Kano said. "As your mentor... well, I guess you could say I have a little bit of status around here."

Traveling by carriage was much faster. Moreover, Rorschach noticed that compared to the carriages used by merchant caravans or public transport, this one was so stable he could barely feel any vibrations. ’This is even better than the shock absorbers from my past life. It’s definitely not a mechanical structure...’

"Technically, we don’t need the driver or the horses. This carriage can move on its own," Kano said, leaning back comfortably against the soft cushions. "There are two Mages right here, after all. It wouldn’t take much effort."

"But this city—no, this entire Kingdom—is so dull. The Church does such a ’fine’ job of ’protecting’ the people."

Rorschach recalled his experience at the grand market, remembering how the air had grown tense the moment he started Casting.

"Sir, we’ve arrived at the Guild," the driver said, knocking on the partition.

"Alright, let’s get out."

"Thanks."

...

For such an important branch in the Kingdom Capital, the Magic Guild was eerily quiet. The grand, golden hall was completely empty.

As Kano and Rorschach entered, they heard the sound of steady snoring.

"SNORE... WHEEZE... SNORE... WHEEZE..."

With a grim expression, Kano strode to the front desk. He grabbed an ear and yanked, pulling up a sleepy, freckled face that was now wide awake with pain.

"Ow, ow, let go! Dammit... Teacher Kano?"

"Pascal! I gave you this shift as a chance to make up credits, and you’re using it to catch up on your sleep?"

Rorschach figured the master and apprentice could use some privacy, so he headed back to the carriage.

With three people now squeezed inside, the once-comfortable carriage felt a bit cramped.

Pascal yawned. "Rorschach, can you guess where we enter the Tower of Stars?"

Outside the window, neatly trimmed, square-shaped shrubs indicated they had arrived in a meticulously kept garden. The carriage navigated a seemingly endless number of turns through the shrubbery before finally stopping in the center of the grounds.

"It’s a small maze, and it changes in real-time," Pascal explained. "Helps us keep out any uninvited guests who don’t have a guide."

In the center of the maze stood a single, free-standing door.

"Go on in." Pascal opened the door. The frame enclosed a swirling, iridescent light. Kano stepped through first, followed by Rorschach. However, as Rorschach crossed the threshold, he found himself stepping right back onto the grass on the other side of the door.

"What’s going on?" Pascal, still holding the door open for Rorschach, looked confused. "Did the Star Gate’s Teleportation Magic fail?"

An invisible hand seemed to emerge from the swirling colors, grabbing Rorschach and yanking him inside.

"Keep up." It was Kano’s voice. Once Rorschach was all the way through, Pascal followed, scratching his head as he closed the door behind him.

"I’m not sure what happened," Rorschach said. "It’s like the magic on the door had no effect on me when I tried to walk through on my own."

"This door has some years on it," Kano said. "It’s normal for it to have a few issues."

The hall they entered was capped by a massive, transparent dome. Through it, the starry sky glittered with dense points of light, encompassing distant planets and stellar nebulae that drifted slowly, shimmering with ever-changing iridescent hues.

"Transmuting Dust," Pascal explained. "According to the records, it envelops the stars. They’re said to be fragments left behind where the Divine Kingdoms of the gods met our world."

The Tower of Stars had a vast, starry sky, but no actual tower. A circular hall, the size of a soccer stadium, was ringed by three levels of galleries, each one rotating slowly and out of sync with the others. At the center of the hall stood a triangular black stone pillar, covered in glowing, flowing Runes.

Pascal explained that this was the core of the Tower Spirit. "Rorschach, activate your Mage Badge and press it against the core. It will remember you, and the Tower of Stars will officially be open to you. You’re joining Teacher Kano’s group as a researcher, so your access level will be faculty."

Rorschach did as instructed, infusing his Magic Power to activate the badge. The moment he pressed it against the pillar’s surface, the Runes began to flow. A moment later, an inhuman, mechanical voice echoed: "Welcome to the Tower of Stars, Rorschach Mage."

’Why a broadcast?’ Following the announcement from the tower-less Tower Spirit, everyone in the hall turned to look at Rorschach, their gazes filled with curiosity and appraisal.

Besides the main hall, the first floor had many other public areas.

"This is the dining hall. The head chefs from the eight best restaurants in Valuva take turns cooking here," Pascal said. "Since you’re considered faculty, you get to eat for free."

"And how much does it cost for an Apprentice like you?" Rorschach asked.

Pascal grimaced as if in physical pain. "We have to pay by the academic year. A full forty Gold Coins!"

Rorschach nodded. ’Is that expensive?’ He recalled seeing the prices at the sky restaurant in the Starlight Torch Tower, where a main course alone could go for three to five Gold Coins. An annual fee of forty gold was definitely a bargain compared to the normal prices at those eight restaurants. Still, forty Gold Coins was by no means a small sum. For a worker’s or farmer’s family to pay that much all at once for food alone, they’d have to sell everything they owned.

’Good thing my meals are free...’

"This is the first-floor Library, which is open to everyone. To access the collections on the second floor and above, you need a note from a professor... Oh, dammit, I forgot again. You don’t need one..."

Rorschach could hear the envy in Pascal’s voice. He smiled and said, "If you ever need a book, Pascal, I can write the note for you."

Pascal gritted his teeth. "Well, thank you so much, my dear Rorschach!"

Other spaces on the first floor seemed to be shops. One had shelves displaying a full cabinet of Purple Potions.

Pascal saw where Rorschach was looking and explained, "That’s an in-house product from our Alchemy Department. Why else would they be able to display a whole cabinet of it? But take my advice: if you don’t want to damage that brilliant mind of yours, stay far away from them..."

Just as Rorschach was about to ask what exactly the Purple Potion was, the broadcast sounded again. This time it was a real person’s voice—distorted, but vaguely familiar. "Hello? Hello? Mr. Rorschach, Mr. Rorschach, could you please come up to the Chief Professor’s office on the third floor. That apprentice, Pascal, you don’t need to come. Just go about your business."

"Oh, and be careful with the stairs. Wait for them to come to a complete stop before you get on or off. How does this thing work? I’ve always wanted to try this... wait a second..."

"Master Kano?" Rorschach asked, uncertain. Pascal glanced around, confirmed Kano was indeed gone, and nodded with a pained, twitching expression.

Rorschach headed for the stairs. Although all three floors were rotating, he noticed that other people used the moving staircases to go up.

The staircases would first be stationary relative to the main hall floor. Once someone stepped on, it would start moving, accelerating to match the speed of the rotating second or third floor until the staircase, its passenger, and the destination floor were all stationary relative to each other.

A door on the third floor suddenly began to glow. All the other doors were dark wood, so it stood out starkly.

’It’s strange, but rather thoughtful...’

The thought had barely crossed Rorschach’s mind when the glowing door began to flicker on and off, changing color with every flash—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet... It reminded the young man of the discos from his past life—though, of course, like most engineering nerds, he had only ever seen them in videos.

Yet now, he had to walk into this "disco"—the one with the "Office of the Chief Professor" sign hanging on it—under the watchful eyes of everyone present.

The apprentices and Mages in the hall stopped in their tracks, all of them staring at the flashing door and Rorschach. Pascal was long gone. The previously buzzing hall fell into a silence even more dreadful than the one back at the market.

"Yahoo! You can do this with it, too... Dammit, the broadcast is still on..."