My Measurement: The Villain Desires a Satisfying Payback

The Magic Tower's 1st Floor Trial simply measured one's magic energy, or 'mana'.

Since casting magic required a significant amount of mana, only those who possessed this quality would be able to become mages, naturally limiting how many there were.

Higher-level spells took even more energy to cast, as well as a greater level of knowledge and comprehension, so those who could reach higher peaks were even less.

The 1st Floor Trial served as a way to quickly cull those who didn't meet the very first and most basic of many prerequisites.

Magic doesn't exist on Earth as it does in this Otherworld, but I'm not sure about the existence of magical energy. I would imagine that it doesn't exist on Earth, as otherwise it would have been discovered and researched by the scientific community, however.

So, ordinarily, I shouldn't have been able to pass the test, as I shouldn't have any magical energy in my body.

But, thanks to Reality, I was able to.

Recently, I have discovered more and more about her ever since being exiled to the Otherworld, but I could feel there was still a way to go.

Similar to the power of 'manipulation' that many of the other Concepts' Measurements are based around.

Saburou, Selina, Kanon Yuuki―even Azaki Kiryuuin's old Measurement.

They all share something in common, and that is their ability to 'manipulate'.

Saburou manipulates space.

Selina manipulates life.

Kanon Yuuki manipulates light.

My Truth―now Reality―has reached the same level.

From merely knowing the truth to shaping and sculpting it with my own hands.

In an instant, I went from the weakest of the 9 to undoubtedly the most powerful.

And so, as the strongest person on Earth, a Stage 1 World.

There is no way I could be beat by the likes of a lesser, Stage 2 existence.

No. Even if it were somehow possible, I would never let it happen.

Because I'm going to kill the Author who started this whole mess.

And no one will stop that from happening.

❖─────❖─────❖

The 2nd Floor of the Magic Tower was similar to the 1st Floor except for that I could see quite a few more people hanging around, reading stacks of thick tomes.

Ignoring all of them as we passed by, Lud led me to the door to the 3rd Floor per my request.

Opening the door, I entered the portal and found myself in a small room identical to the one in which I completed the 1st Floor Trial.

As I took a seat at the table in the middle of the room, a rectangular crystal plate materialised in front of me and a floating message appeared just like before.

[Magic Tower 2nd Floor Trial.]

[Phase One.]

[Place your hands on the device and channel your mana.]

[Your magical aptitude will be measured and recorded.]

[There is no requirement to pass this phase.]

The explanation was quite succinct and easy to comprehend, and I wasted no time in holding the crystal plate.

Then, I blankly stated.

"Aptitude? Can't you see, I'm not held back by your meagre limitations."

After all, why would I, from a higher plane of existence than this Otherworld, be held to the same standard as someone from here?

It simply didn't make any sense even if you thought about it for a moment.

One beat later, the plate radiated a brief, dazzling light before dissipating. More messages appeared.

[Phase One complete.]

[Your magical aptitude is: All.]

The crystal plate soon vanished into thin air and was replaced with a single, blank piece of parchment and a quill.

[Phase Two.]

[Draw the magic circle for any of the following 1st-circle spells: 'Spark of Ignition', 'Humble Breeze', 'Pebble Toss', 'Fragment of Rain', to create a tier-one magical scroll.]

[When you say 'done', the scroll will be automatically activated.]

[If any of the above spells are successfully cast by the scroll, you will pass Phase Two.]

Once again, the instructions were simple enough.

I didn't bother grabbing the quill and simply placed my palm atop the centre of the parchment.

Thereafter, I declared.

"This is a magical scroll for the 1st-circle spell, Spark of Ignition."

Moving my hand away from the parchment, a simple magic circle was revealed.

Well.

Wasn't this more like magic than whatever petty thing this scroll can do?

I thought as much for a moment, but immediately discarded the unnecessary thought and opened my mouth again.

"Done."

As I did so, the magic circle began to emanate a blue light; the edges of the scroll caught fire and disintegrated in an instant, and just after, a single spark exploded just above the position of where the circle was.

It was like a miniature firework, except much less exciting to look at, and it only happened once.

Finally, the last few messages appeared, proving my success.

[Magical scroll enchanted with the 1st-circle spell, 'Spark of Ignition', successfully cast.]

[Phase Two complete.]

[You have passed the Magic Tower 2nd Floor Trial.]

In the blink of an eye, I found myself in a place much more bustling than the 1st and 2nd Floors combined.

"Woah, you're already done?" Lud approached me with widened eyes.

He was obviously surprised as to how I passed the trial in a matter of minutes after I had claimed to have no previous relation to magic.

I could tell by the expression on his face as he stared wondrously at me that he was having misunderstandings about my identity, but it didn't matter either way.

"Take me to the 3rd Floor Trial."

"Huh? A-ah, yes...! Please, follow me."

In this fashion, I quickly climbed my way up the Magic Tower, breezing through all kinds of magical trials and passing by thousands of mages embedded in their research.

The Hero Summoning Ceremony was going to be taking place in a few weeks, and I didn't want to miss it no matter what, so I didn't want to waste any time here when I didn't have to.

Thus, despite only entering the Magic Tower at noon, I climbed into the evening, making quite significant progress.

By that time, I had already made it to the 10th Floor, where Lud couldn't follow.

❖─────❖─────❖

"Hm... It's boring."

Murmuring to myself as I wandered around a labyrinthian library-like space, I couldn't help but think so.

The 10th Floor was exceedingly vast―enough to swallow all the 1st-through-4th Floors, in fact, and it truly felt like a maze as I found myself lost rather quickly.

However, despite all the room, most of which was taken up by countless bookshelves stacked to the brim with many bizarre grimoires, scrolls and magical spellbooks of all shapes and sizes, I had not glimpsed a single soul since arriving here over an hour ago.

As for the reason, well, it was simply that there were not many people blessed with enough talent to make it to the 10th Floor of the Magic Tower, as it seems such a person would be categorically recognised as a 'rare genius'.

Moreover, the few people who did inhabit this place all seem to have created their own sub-dimensional domains in which they carried out their research, so it could be effectively said that there truly was nobody here.

Really.

I was in a place that an unfathomable amount of people would probably kill to gain access to, and yet it was so unbelievably dull.

It's almost laughable.

Out of the total 13 Floors that existed in this Magic Tower, the two Archwizards I was aiming for lived on the 12th Floor, so I still had two more floors to go.

Unfortunately, that meant it could only get worse from here.

Well.

It took quite a bit longer than I expected to make it here due to the trials becoming unnecessarily complex and requiring many clear conditions, using magical terminology that I had never heard in my life.

I think I've had about enough.

So, for the last couple of floors, I'll just get it over with quickly.

Thankfully, despite not having someone like Lud to guide me to the next floor, I didn't have to worry about finding it myself or getting lost in this boundless library.

Not because I knew where it was located thanks to Truth;

But because I could alter where it was located thanks to Reality.

"I am at the door leading to the next floor."

Like so, I blinked and found myself in a different area of the library, a door taking up the space in front of me.

One benefit of going through all these useless trials is that I've gained a little bit of proficiency when it comes to utilising Reality, so I suppose it wasn't a totally pointless endeavour.

Opening the door, I entered without hesitation, and the trial began.

Instead of appearing in a tiny wooden room, however, I stood in the middle of an expansive grassland, rich with a verdant landscape and even a mountain range on the horizon.

There was no visible civilisation to be told of, let alone a Magic Tower, but I wasn't worried.

I had seen similar sights on the previous floors, after all.

[Magic Tower 10th Floor Trial.]

A few seconds after I took in my surroundings, the tower's messages appeared, explaining the trial.

[Phase One.]

As the sentences formed in the air, I suddenly felt a shift in the serene and peaceful atmosphere.

What was a cheerful, blue and sunny sky was rapidly tainted with darkness.

Like a mysterious blight on the world was manifesting a physical form, the ground in all directions was overcast with a black shadow and I spotted something huge and sinister forming in the distance.

At the same time, the trial revealed itself to me.

[Observe the invading Nightmare Forces.]

[If you cast magic, you will fail the trial.] ,mpyr.

The task was simple enough, though I didn't understand why a trial of the Magic Tower would fail a mage for casting magic.

As I contemplated this temporarily, I did as I was instructed and watched the sickly, shadowy beasts that arose from the contaminated ground and dripped down as black splodges from the now-cursed sky.

The result was hundreds-- No, thousands, or even tens of thousands of ink-like monsters that would make even a grown man shudder with despair.

Although, it wasn't much of a problem to me, since these were only... Hm?

Belatedly, it occurred to me.

Needless to say, these monsters were all Nightmares. However, something was strange.

From what I had learnt previously, the Magic Tower was created by the ancient Sage who lived over thousands of years ago in the lore of this Otherworld.

However, I had also been told that Nightmares only began appearing roughly 50 years ago, when the Demon King last perished.

Logically speaking, there should be no way for an old man who lived millennia ago to know of the Nightmares' existence, let alone recreate an illusion of them to this extent, even if he were some kind of magic expert.

So, how is it...?

I wondered if it were simply some kind of future foresight, as Avon Laura was capable of, or perhaps something more.

Originally, I was going to just bypass all of the remaining trials with Reality, but it now seemed that the Magic Tower was hiding something behind its surface.

Observe the invading Nightmare Forces.

If you cast magic, you will fail the trial.

Glancing back at the instructions for 'Phase One' of the 10th Floor Trial, I couldn't help but wonder.

What kinds of things is it going to make me do?

And more importantly.

What is it trying to say?