94 Entry
After Dianne Alben's appearance, the evaluation that had paused briefly resumed.
The final group to enter the Modras Tower.
Among them, the gazes directed at Adrias Cromwell, who was part of the very last group, varied.
"Wow, should we say he's overflowing with confidence or simply arrogant?"
"The young friend has enthusiasm; that's good. Any man should have that level of zeal."
Both Christian, the second-in-command of Rodren Magic tower, and Dainard, who came running upon hearing news of the 20th floor, a subordinate of the Duke of Marheim and Deputy Commander of the Marheim Knights, spoke one after another.
Both were influential figures, so the reporters were busy taking down their words one by one.
Among the people gathered here, there was not a single individual whose reputation lagged.
Thus, the impact of each word, each sentence, was substantial. These individuals began to exchange words in a lively manner.
"It's just the baseless chatter of a reckless youngling. There's no need to take it seriously."
"But Adrias Cromwell has a unique constitution. Being able to use both magic and swordsmanship simultaneously gives him an edge in handling variables."
"No matter how unique his constitution is, he's just a student. Moreover, his available mana is limited, so it's meaningless."
"Is Adrias Cromwell important right now? It's been a staggering 42 years since a 20th-floor passer emerged! Not to mention, the very first magician! Once Dianne Alben graduates, won't you be more curious about the honor she'll gain when she visits the real 'Tower' later?"
Leaving behind the commotion of the people, the final seven groups started entering the Modras Tower.
The sound of students cheering spread, and soon everyone's attention turned back to Dianne, who had just emerged from the tower.
Dianne, as soon as she came out, was besieged by all sorts of questions. She responded to the reporters with a tired expression.
"She seems tired, so let's stop here, my daughter. The screen recordings will remain anyway."
Finally, Bart stepped forward and gently cleared the people around Dianne.
Looking at her father, Dianne managed a faint smile.
"Thank you, Dad."
"You've worked hard. You make me proud."
Dianne's head nodded slightly in response to Bart's words. She glanced back for a moment.
On the screen was the image of Adrias, who had just entered the tower.
'If it's Adrias, he should be able to ascend at least ten floors. It's fine to rest a little and come back.'
Though she wanted to watch Adrias' performance, she was too exhausted right now. She thought she could rest and watch him later. With that in mind, she followed her father down the path.
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The Modras Tower had a superficial appearance of consisting of 30 floors.
Each floor had a different structure and content, with its appearance changing every time someone entered.
Even though the basic information was graspable, it was said that you couldn't memorize it like official knowledge.
'The 1st floor requires only the navigation of traps. However, the path is convoluted like a maze.'
The maze's shape changed every time, leaving everything to luck.
However, as students from the Rodren Academy were not low in skill, dealing with mere traps wouldn't cause them to be eliminated. One could simply consider it as a warm-up.
Kurrrk.
A massive boulder rolled toward them, but the freshmen who were blocking the path mercilessly split it with their swords.
Thwack!
"Too easy, isn't it?"
"Fool. It's the 1st floor, of course it's easy."
For now, I decided to use only magic.
Since everyone would be eliminated once they ascended further, and only I would remain, I chose not to exert my full effort. Besides, by resting now and evolving my talent in elemental magic, I might have the chance to evolve elemental magic into something more powerful.
At the moment, I was learning elemental magic of earth, fire, and wind types.
Currently, I was primarily learning the three elements that had favorable compatibility.
Elemental magic was typically focused on just three types even among other magicians, so I was mainly sticking to the basics for now.
'I should learn the other elements later if my talent evolves.'
Clank.
Someone accidentally triggered a trap, causing arrows to rain down.
I tilted my head slightly to avoid the arrows and cast an Earth Shield on Vincent, who was next to me.
Thud!
"T-Thanks."
In terms of magical ability alone, Vincent had higher skill and level than me, yet practical experience remained a challenge.
One could liken it to a raw recruit stepping onto the battlefield for the first time.
'Although there's one practical evaluation similar to a real battle every time, why is he so unfazed? How did he manage to advance without failing?'
Well, even the past me managed to advance without incident up to the third year, but this guy is something else.
In the end, what mattered most was graduation.
Advancing wasn't much of an issue as long as you did reasonably well, but graduation was truly difficult; that was the hallmark of Rodren Academy.
With that, we dealt with all the traps in the 1st-floor maze.
"It's the stairs."
"Aren't we the last ones?"
"So what? It's not a time attack."
The freshmen, now looking at me like their leader, turned their heads and asked.
"Senior, should we go right away?"
"We have time."
I glanced slightly at Vincent's condition beside me and spoke.
"Sure, let's go."
There was no need to drag things out unnecessarily.
We immediately ascended to the 2nd floor.
Starting from the 2nd floor, actual monsters appeared along with traps.
Of course, the monsters in the initial floors were more like cannon fodder, but once we got past the 5th floor, tougher monsters that first-year students would struggle with began to appear.
"Grrr!"
As I expected, goblins appeared on the 2nd floor.
There were just five of them.
Given that they were weaker than adult males and were fewer in number than us, the outcome was obvious even without looking.
Still, I decided to put my best effort into using magic to improve my skill level.
Fwooosh.
"Grrr!"
As we smoothly passed the 2nd floor and were about to head up to the 3rd floor, one of our team members spoke to me with a worried tone.
"Senior?"
"What is it?"
"Well, I was wondering if you're not using too much mana."
Since I had mentioned before setting off that we would only be using magic in the initial floors, it seemed there were no complaints. However, separate from that, it seemed they were concerned about me using magic indiscriminately.
"Don't worry about it. Like I said earlier, I'm not planning to lose to Dianne Alben."
"Understood."
Once I cut in, no more words came out.
But there might be some anxiety hidden deep inside.
"Don't worry."
After all, my goal was to conquer the Tower.
Even if all my team members were to drop out early, I could still achieve a top score on my own.
'Of course, assuming that I conquered it.'
No matter what, I had to break through for the sake of the rewards.
The rewards for conquering were just that sweet.
From then on, as we ascended the floors, we took short breaks and climbed steadily.
Since I wanted to score well in the evaluations, it was a bonus to take care that my team members didn't drop out.
"Let's rest for today."
"Nobody got eliminated!"
"Exactly. Looking at the other teams, they've been losing members since day one."
There was a close call where one or two members almost got eliminated on the 6th floor, but we managed to save them by a hair's breadth.
Until then, I hadn't used my sword, which allowed my elemental magic skill level to grow at an astonishing pace.
All of this was thanks to my abnormally high mana capacity and mana regeneration rate due to my original sin.
"Aren't you tired, Senior?"
"Ah, I have a unique constitution, so I seem to have quite a bit of mana."
"Wow, I'm envious."
We prepared to rest in the open area before the stairs leading to the 7th floor.
Since we had already cleared all the threats on the 6th floor, it was possible.
"Everyone survived on the 6th floor, and if we go to the 7th floor tomorrow, we're already in the top ranks, right?"
"Exactly. If seven of us are on the 7th floor, that's already 49 points. We've already surpassed the mid-ranking."
"It's all thanks to Senior Adrias."
Although it seemed like I didn't make much of an impact because I only used magic, that wasn't the truth.
Using my experience from my past life's special forces operations and the gaming information I already knew, I had been giving precise orders, ensuring that I hadn't let a single person be eliminated so far.
Unbeknownst to me, this unseen contribution was gradually raising my reputation among my team members to sky-high levels.
"Adrias, where did you learn all that? You know, the stuff about throwing the enemies into chaos and collapsing their formations."
"I was interested. I studied it when I was younger."
I gave Vincent a suitable answer to his question.
I believed that very few people in this world had experience that could catch up to me in small-scale tactical engagements. That was because what I was learning, mastering, and using was state-of-the-art modern strategy. Being proven by science, there was no one who wasn't a tactical genius that could beat me in small-scale engagements.
After a simple dinner, we decided on a watch schedule.
Even though we had removed all threats, sleeping outdoors required a watch, which was essential.
Thanks to my team members' consideration, I was in charge of the first watch. While tending to the embers of the campfire, I confirmed the potential for evolution in my elemental magic.
[Adrias Cromwell's Talent: Evolution Potential of Elemental Magic (Universal) - 74%]
[Would you like to evolve?]
When I first acquired it, it was 30%, but it had climbed over 40% by now.
If it kept going like this, I felt that by the time I left the Tower of Modras, it could exceed 90%.
'This is good, but I'm starting to want a genius talent myself.'
My highest talent was the prodigy talent.
Even with just the prodigy talent, it was at this level. If I evolved into a genius, how much stronger would I become?
'For now, the combat talent has the highest potential.'
The combat talent was the only talent among mine that showed an evolution possibility phrase even though it was a prodigy.
It was showing a whopping 41% potential for evolution, and its growth rate was certainly higher, probably due to it being a prodigy.
'I hope it happens before graduation.'
Before graduating, I wanted to raise my specs as much as possible. And if possible, I also needed to strengthen and add undead.
Unlike the Tower of Modras, in the real "Tower," the inner circumstances couldn't be seen, so I had no reservations about using dark magic.
'Of course, I'll probably only be able to use it after all the other participants have been eliminated.'
I would enter with the members who would graduate in the same year, forming a team together.
So, in the eyes of others, I wouldn't be able to use it.
Ultimately, the time I could use dark magic would be when I was the only one left.
I had confidence I would last until the end.
As I am now, I'm in a state stronger than any other playable character.
'I can probably rival Dianne in this state.'
But the growth rate of the guys coming up next was also tremendous, so I wasn't worried.
I just thought that my and Dianne's growth was a bit abnormal.
While organizing my thoughts alone, I continued tending to the campfire.
