15 – It’s a Crime to Grant Wishes (3)
—–
[System: The point function has been activated.]
The system message appeared, just like when I obtained the curse name and learned advanced magic.
As my magical proficiency increased, the gallery gradually gained various functions.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed that points were accumulated based on the user’s posts, comments, concept posts, and the number of received recommendations.
I would think about what I could do with these points later, but for now, I decided to extinguish the fire first.
“Oh no! This is the only hiding place I have…!”
“Clark! Fetch water quickly!”
“Water? But aren’t you a high-level wizard?”
“How can the Haeju School extinguish the fire with magic…! Hurry up and bring this!”
Although there were three wizards present, it was Prina who extinguished the fire with the drink she was drinking and my top-ranked water magic.
The ember containing my curse name almost completely burned the carpet and walls before finally subsiding.
Coughing out smoke, the two of them looked at me with strange eyes and started whispering among themselves.
“W-We should report this, right? That guy is crazy…!”
“What does it mean?”
“What if he becomes known as the curse magician in the future? What will happen to us?”
“No way… Did a new seed of disaster just sprout and come to life here?”
“J-Just survival is enough. I heard the food at the Matap Detention Center is good. Or…”
The room was so narrow that I could hear every word.
Were they treating me as a wicked curse magician who would become a significant figure in the continent in the future?
Ironically, I felt more unjust because I didn’t expect the name “Judaki” to have such an impact.
I had always considered myself a proud Clean Light User.
I diligently managed the gallery, wrote announcements in polite language, and rarely did anything that would inconvenience others.
Occasionally, I would put on a different mask to relieve stress, but that was a kind of self-care activity, like being a Dark Knight.
There were times when I had to confront evil with evil.
But why were the wizards of Matap treating someone like me, who had a mere presence, as a monster?
It was clear that the gallery users, who knew my innocent and upright self, would never agree with such treatment.
—–
[Feeling bored? Want to have a trash battle?]
I’ve heard the saying, “Sometimes you’re worse than me” from Joo-ddak before.
– You win.
– Surrender.
– This is trash that can’t even be recycled, lol.
– I can’t imagine being treated worse than this in my life.
– Why not just kill yourself? Lololol.
—–
—–
[Come to think of it, maybe the gallery needs to get rid of Joo-ddak to restore peace?]
I’ve never seen Joo-ddak do anything as wicked as others while gallivanting in the gallery.
Gonics sometimes came in and caused trouble, but Joo-ddak was strangely absent. Is it because of the mood?
From Noble mtl dot com
– Yeah, there used to be a lot of them back in the day~
– But all those who tried are now up there, right?
– Everyone has changed so much~
– Genius Blonde Girl: (2/10)
ㄴ Don’t agree with that, lol.
ㄴ Raid collection? lol
ㄴ You’re doing one more year, huh?
—–
—–
[Don’t underestimate the importance of Jjutak]
Jjutak is a necessary evil.
Without it, the gallery will fail, and there are countless wicked people oppressed by it.
If Jjutak doesn’t show up for more than 4 hours for any reason?
That will be the gallery’s final day.
– Seriously, there’s no one as good at managing as her.
– Even when the Paratak’s all broken, they still hold on.
– If there’s no Top Jjutak, there’s no Ma-Top either~
– Those who try to provoke Jjutak usually have an unconscious fear at the core, so they struggle.
ㄴ That’s right. I’ve personally been warned by Jjutak in the past, and since then, I’ve had sleep disorders. It was really scary.
—–
Isn’t it? Anyway.
“Well, sorry. Congratulations on joining the Hajupah once again.”
Two people who had just finished their meeting approached me as I was checking my location notes.
Fortunately, it seemed like they hadn’t made a decision to sell the only new recruit who joined this year to the Peacekeeping Corps.
Instead, they had an unexpected proposal.
“Clark, don’t you have any plans to participate in the Magic Festival? With Prina, for example.”
The Magic Festival.
It was a battlefield for the magicians that took place every five years at the magic tower.
Only those belonging to the “Lower Level” could participate, forming teams of two.
It was a place to introduce new magic developed by each faction and notable newcomers.
Among them, there were quite a few who hid their identities and participated to test their skills.
“We are currently trying various attempts to change the perception of the Heaju faction at the magic tower. There is no better way than achieving high scores at the Magic Festival.”
“But I haven’t learned anything yet.”
“Even if you only learn the basic Heaju magic, it should be enough with your talent. Besides, we’re not aiming for victory.”
Surprisingly, there were few opportunities for magicians to fight each other at the magic tower.
So, it might be an exciting event for someone, but I’m not so sure.
Since my goal was simply to expedite my promotion, Rupert’s proposal didn’t sound appealing.
Even if I win at the Magic Festival, it won’t make my curse any stronger.
As I was contemplating, Prina spoke up.
“I advise you, it’s better to just do it.”
Her face, which was revealed for the first time as her robe was burned while extinguishing the fire earlier, was completely different from what I expected.
Hair that was cut short and eyes that avoided eye contact, as black as can be.
However, despite her lack of confidence and a somewhat dejected attitude, she had a rather cute impression.
Covering her nose, which had faint freckles, with her hand, she explained to me why I had to participate in the Magic Festival.
“If you don’t participate, you won’t be able to move up.”
“Why is that?”
“From the 3rd to the 9th floor, it’s all commission missions. And you have to form a party, at least 4 people, because the most important thing in the Grand Labyrinth is teamwork.”
The reason why the apprentices were eager to join a large school came from here.
If they entered a place like Glesia, they could find colleagues to climb up with, along with various support, within the school.
But what about unpopular schools?
And what if you were a magician who couldn’t even control the sparks from a fireplace?
“Hey, do you think the Haeju School can form a party? Do you want to check the request board?”
I already knew the answer without having to look at the location note.
The only reason to look for the Haeju School in the gallery was when someone wanted to curse them.
“If you just make it to the top in the Magic Festival, you’ll have a free pass up to the 9th floor. It’s like proving that you can enter the labyrinth alone.”
“No matter what….”
“Or do you have a lot of friends?”
“….”
With one word that struck at my pride, I decided to participate in the Magic Festival quietly.
Except for Mariel, whom I sent off with all my classmates five years ago, I didn’t know anyone from the starting floor.
*
“Where were you! I was looking for you for a long time!”
I met Sien at the stairs leading down to the first floor and explained the situation to her.
She was surprised to hear that I was going to the Magic Festival.
“You’re going there? You just obtained the mystery recently.”
“Yeah, but I heard that the seniors will teach us magic from the Haeju School. I don’t expect much, though.”
The area classified from the Magic Tower to the Lower Floor goes up to the 40th floor, and Freyna was currently staying on the 27th floor.
As a magician of a hierarchy far beyond mine, she had a somewhat disdainful expression, but there was no reason to refuse when the senior willingly offered to teach me magic.
Upon hearing my words, Sien pondered for a moment, tilting her head.
“I see. Finally…”
“Why?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. But do you have confidence to stand out? To skip the starting floor, you need to be at least in the top four.”
It wouldn’t be easy for me and Freyna, who were on the 2nd and 27th floors respectively, to face the magicians on the Intermediate Floor.
However, I had one plan in mind without needing to ask.
Freyna’s curse name was probably her nickname on the gallery.
If so, the more attention she received within the gallery, the more she would be able to freely manipulate the mystery.
The newly introduced point system.
Thinking of a way to use it, I returned to the dormitory and wrote a note in my position note.
—–
Administrator
[We will hold a small event for this Magic Festival]
You can predict the outcome of each match in the voting section at the top of the gallery.
You can use your accumulated points to participate in betting, and we plan to provide ways to use points in the future.
If you participate in the match, write down your nickname and you can receive an additional portion of the dividend.
Thank you.
—–
Points, which can be considered a kind of combat power measurement device.
Users who saw their meaningless scores next to their usernames and realized that their efforts were converted into points were in a frenzy.
—–
(1,204,325P)
[I believed in myself!!!]
All the effort I’ve put in, all those days of striving to not be stagnant, were not in vain.
I believed that Judah would not deny the sincere me in the gallery!!
— Damn, ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 1.2 million, ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
— But it feels like you’ve been denied by reality, right?
— You should go outside for a bit
— Is this for real? I only have 130,000
— How much do you have to sh*tpost to accumulate that?
—–
—–
[So… if you want to earn more points, you have to go out and face the magic society, right?]
It’s not easy, ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
— Why bother hiding your social status? Just participate.
— Yeah, anyway, those closed-minded faction members are covered in perception-disrupting magic.
— But wouldn’t this put the middle class and above at a disadvantage? Even if they want to leave, they can’t.
ㄴ If you don’t like it, just graduate~
—–
—–
[Date Voucher with Jutak]
Will 100,000,000 points do?
— Bought it right away.
— Didn’t hesitate for a second, gave up all my possessions.
— Come to think of it, I could sell a refusal voucher for points later on.
ㄴ Are you a genius?
ㄴ Ultra genius blonde girl: I’ll hand it over right away.
—–
—–
[Teachers… My hands are shaking]
Administrator (9,321,323,654P) ＜- Is this a mistake?
I’m scared…
— What the hell is that?
— Is it a hoax? No way a person would be like that.
— The surprising fact is that the account isn’t just that one.
— From now on, I’ll have to listen to everything carefully. It’s beyond my grasp.
—–
—–
(6,632P)
[But is this a good thing?]
The point is, it’s not something that I can immediately make use of, and I’m worried about it being abused for no reason.
What if Juddak later receives points and releases all the banned users?
From Noble mtl dot com
— Hm… Coming from someone with only 6,000 points, it’s not worth listening to.
— Logically, would Juddak, who has 9 billion, receive points and release the banned users?
— The gallery’s operating principles are quite reliable, so there’s no need to worry.
ㄴ Actually, I’m more worried that he’ll receive the points and still not release them. Seriously, LOL.
ㄴ Yeah, he’s a real jerk. LOL.
—–
While there were some expressing concerns, most of the atmosphere welcomed the addition of a new element to the gallery culture.
Since I didn’t want the gallery to be consumed by mischief, I had planned to only conduct bets during the Magic Festival.
Unless they were hardcore trolls, there wasn’t much merit in revealing their identities and participating in the games.
But it was a different story for Freenara, who had a cursed name.
“Let’s see… Huh?”
As I was checking the posts on the gallery until the late dawn, a new post caught my eye.
I looked at the points and realized that I was a complete newbie.
—–
(Page 212)
[But how do they handle things like voting and tallying the participants?]
There are over a hundred factions beneath the seven schools participating in the Magic Festival.
We have to match up with Galnic and manually write down the tournament brackets.
The Magic Tower Administration won’t cooperate, so who’s going to do all this?
—–
To the one who asked the obvious question, I kindly replied in the comments.
—–
— Administrator: Paradak
—–
Immediately after, a scream echoed from the direction of the female dormitory to the supervisor’s office.