Yeon-woo nodded in agreement. Victoria was a rune magician who was known widely throughout the Tower. As one of the top five artisans, she probably had a lot of knowledge in different areas, and she would definitely be a great help.

「We’re struggling to find a way to put the energy source inside the Philosopher’s Stone because there’s no way to keep it stable. However, isn’t it possible to do that with runes?」

She was right. However, there was an important problem. “I’d like to find her, but I don’t know where she is. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?” After the commotion on the twentieth floor, Yeon-woo had searched for Kahn and Victoria but he hadn’t turned up anything.

「I’m not too sure, but there is a way to find out.」

“What is it?”

「Victoria learned rune magic on her own, but she learned spells from a teacher. If she’s trying to hide, it’s likely she’s gone back to that teacher.」

Yeon-woo frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

「I only remembered it now as I was thinking of Victoria. Sorry about that.」

His connection with Rebecca told him she was telling the truth. However, it seemed like she wasn’t telling him the entire truth. Still Yeon-woo didn’t press her. Since she was only a vestige, her memories were muddled, and it was a relief that she at least remembered this much. Furthermore, even though Rebecca was bound to Yeon-woo, she hadn’t completely opened up to him yet.

When he considered how close Rebecca and Victoria had been on the Mountains of Penances, it made sense that Victoria would tell Rebecca what her plans were in case of an emergency.

“Where can I find her teacher?” However, as soon as Yeon-woo heard Rebecca’s answer, he scrunched up his nose. “What?”

***

“You’re saying there’s a great sorcerer here? I really can’t believe it.”

“Haha! It’s awesome here, what’s your problem? Wowww! Hey, check that out. Incredible, look at those curves.”

“Do you wanna die?”

Edora narrowed her eyes at Phante. But Phante ignored her and continued staring around him. They were in a famous entertainment district full of red buildings. In the doorway way of each building, a woman in revealing clothes stood waiting.

There were all kinds of prostitutes, night clubs, and even drugs, which made Edora feel uncomfortable. Although there were places that women could visit, too, she didn’t like the idea. It was too frank and uncivilized, and the desire that filled the street was unpleasant to her.

She had only come here because of one person, the one standing indifferently next to her. Edora glanced at Yeon-woo, was wearing his black mask and standing around in a relaxed manner. Whether it was because of his toned body or firm eyes, some women looked his way seductively, and others even grabbed his sleeves. However, Yeon-woo didn’t move and simply brushed them away like annoying flies.

As time passed, more people gathered around, amused by his reaction. However, Yeon-woo stood his ground. While Edora thought it was a relief Yeon-woo was like that, she ground her teeth thinking of how late the person they were meeting was.

The truth was that this kind of environment wasn’t unfamiliar to Yeon-woo. Back in Africa, the soldiers under him liked to release their stress through various ways. Since he was their leader, he also went with them, but he never really enjoyed it.

At the time, he had been dating someone, and he didn’t understand why people liked these kinds of places. His subordinates had teased Yeon-woo about being a prude, but Yeon-woo didn’t care.

It wasn’t that he felt uneasy, like Edora. To him, there were different kinds of lifestyles, and a place like this was just another example of how humans lived. Yeon-woo didn’t really care too much about it. The only thing that interested him was that a sorcerer lived somewhere here. ‘A sorcerer…’

Almost a year had passed since Yeon-woo entered the Tower, and he’d met countless players but not a single sorcerer. It was proof of how rare they were and how specialized their area of magic was.

While most people assumed that sorcery was classified under magic, this was bitterly disputed by magicians, who took their magic from the mana stream, unlike sorcerers who borrowed their power from spiritual beings. Magicians looked down on sorcerers as servants who couldn’t do anything on their own, while sorcerers despised magicians for not seeing the value of sorcery.

There were different types of sorcery, and they were similar to Apostles, who borrowed the strength of gods, or black magicians, who signed contracts with the demons. However, Apostles and black magicians were restricted when it came to borrowing power, but sorcerers had no such limits. They even used power from beings that were neither gods nor demons.

However, because they weren’t bound to just one source, they had several disadvantages. They couldn’t pass down their power to their progeny, and it was extremely difficult to succeed. Yeon-woo tried to remember if he’d ever heard of anyone who was powerful enough to be Victoria’s teacher, but no one came to mind. ‘Who could it be?’

Of course, it could be someone he or his brother didn’t know. The history of the Tower was long and many skilled people were around. However, if the sorcerer really lived in a place like this, as Rebecca said, it was likely that their personality might be tough to deal with, and he would have to take special care. ‘And it seems like people have started to guess who I am.’ The Large Clans had probably heard he had left the One-horned tribe’s village by now. He didn’t have to be wary of them, but there was no reason to get involved in skirmish either.

“Mm? What’s that?”

“I think it’s them.”

Phante and Edora suddenly turned. A group of people was rushing towards them, and the prostitutes who had been stalking Yeon-woo ran away. Even the servers and the customers all lowered their eyes and went somewhere else.

Phante and Edora’s expressions turned strange. They never expected the loud entertainment district to suddenly turn so cold. It seemed like the group nearing them was in charge of the place.

“Y-you’re here already.” However, when these guys saw Yeon-woo, they began bowing earnestly. They were members of the Night Watch, which Yeon-woo had defeated some time back and turned into his hunting dogs. Yeon-woo smirked, looking at the clan leader Bister and the guys behind him, his arms still crossed. “It seems like your group has become larger.”

“J-just enough to get b-by.” Bister was trying to appease Yeon-woo in case he said something weird. He was like a king in this district since he had outstanding subordinates, but Yeon-woo was still too scary to him.

Bister had even discovered that the commotion on the twenty-third floor had something to do with Yeon-woo, and to him, Yeon-woo was little more than a terrifying monster now.

However, Yeon-woo didn’t look as though he cared about Bister’s expression and said, “Do you have what I asked for?”

“W-we found the location. B-but the place i-is a bit…” Bister hesitated. However, Yeon-woo only nodded. “Take us there.”

Bister shut his eyes, knowing there wasn’t anything else he could do. “Follow me.” As Bister led them through the district, the crowds split like the Red Sea. Yeon-woo and The siblings followed.

“How do you know these people?” Edora carefully asked.

“Things happened.” Yeon-woo just avoided the question since it was too complicated to explain.

Bister took them to a building that seemed to be in the middle of renovations. He’d clearly alerted the people in the building in advance because the greeters at the door immediately whispered in his ear as soon as they arrived.

“T-the person you’re looking for is waiting on the eighth floor…”

The eighth floor was the penthouse of the building. Since Bister had rented the entire building, Yeon-woo told his friends to wait a bit, and he took the stairs to the eighth floor. He realized that the building was a little different from the rest of the entertainment district. The staff was composed of young, handsome men with a flower-like appearance.

The thick smell of drugs made the air feel heavy, and it grew denser as he climbed higher. By the time he reached the eighth floor, he thought that his nose was going to rot. Bang! Yeon-woo burst the door open in annoyance. He only wanted to find Victoria and return. Even though the person he was supposed to meet knew he was coming, it seemed like no one was prepared, and he saw a sight that was worse than what he’d been expecting.

A sleeping woman wearing only a robe lay on a bed hugging beautiful young boys and girls who barely looked ten years old. Smoke flowed into the room from somewhere and it was foggy.

Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes, thinking of Hanbin on the sixteenth floor.

「What a mess.」

「What do you mean? It’s a feast to my eyes, hehehe.」

Hanryeong was displeased, siding with Yeon-woo. However, Shanon giggled as he looked at the woman’s curves.

Yeon-woo stomped a foot. Bam! Magic power flooded out and shook the entire building. The smoke dissipated and the sleeping people woke up.

“Who are you?” The woman got up weakly. Her robe slid open, but she didn’t seem to care, and her seductive eyes looked Yeon-woo up and down. “Hm. I don’t have a mask fetish, and I didn’t call for you. Is this on the house? Well, since you have a nice body, so I’ll accept it this one time.”

The woman smiled, and patted the space next to her. Although her eyes were cloudy from drugs, it added to her captivating charm. Was she using a spell for seduction? Yeon-woo felt the sudden urge to run to her, to feel her skin against his, and throw her to the floor. His annoyance turned into desire almost instantly, and he wanted to extinguish his anger with her heat.

[Your trait, Cold-blooded, has helped you maintain composure.]

[The status 'Seduction' has been removed. You have developed a strong resistance to the spell.]

However, his trait repelled the spell easily, and the woman’s eyes widened.

“You’re Anastasia, right?”

“You know me?”

“I’m looking for Victoria.”

Immediately, Anastasia’s blurry eyes flashed with murderous intent, and the smoke in the air suddenly turned to strange creatures that ran towards Yeon-woo with their sharp teeth bared. It was sudden, but Yeon-woo had been expecting something like this, so he activated the skill he had prepared.

[The 3rd Soul]

[72 Bian – Byuk]

Souls poured out of his Black Bracelet and created a wall. With a Bian added on top of that, it was extremely sturdy. Yeon-woo had continued to train even as he researched the Philosopher’s Stone, the powerful spell attack couldn’t pierce his wall.

But Anastasia just snorted as though it didn’t matter and powerfully brought her hands down. The smoke gathered to create a large sword that descended from the ceiling to cut the wall of souls down.

Circulating his Magic Circuit, Yeon-woo pulled his Magic Bayonet out. He had already been annoyed from the seductive atmosphere and the drugs, and her sudden attack just because he’d asked about Victoria made him grumpier.

He had to suppress her first. Bang! With a large explosion, the eighth floor was blown away. Although he made sure not to harm the children, Yeon-woo ended up blowing the ceiling away.

Yeon-woo and Anastasia soared over the ballooning dust cloud and landed on separate rooftops.

Yeon-woo spread his Fire Wings and wrapped Holy Fire around his Magic Bayonet. He scowled when he realized his hand was still shaking. Anastasia was a skilled player.

She glared at Yeon-woo from a high vantage point, her robe fluttering in the breeze to reveal the outlines of her body. It made for a very alluring sight. Behind her, smoke gathered and formed a large, shadowy figure dozens of meters long. It looked like a fox with nine tails.

It was a Gumiho, the most powerful Legendary Beast. Was Anastasia borrowing the power of the Gumiho, or was she the Gumiho? Yeon-woo couldn’t figure it out since the monstrous energy of the Gumiho mixed with Anastasia’s spells.

The atmosphere shook, and Yeon-woo prepared himself to fight an enemy that had yet to appear. He was wondering whether he should reveal his dragon form when something fell between them.

“Both of you, stop!”

As the shadow opened, Victoria emerged. For a moment, Yeon-woo didn’t recognize her. Her hair had turned white, and there were dark circles around her eyes. Her body was weaker and her voice sounded raspy. She looked worse than when they’d split up.