500 years ago, humanity faced a tremendous crisis.
The heroes, including the Four Founders, hunted as many named monsters as possible for the sake of their descendants.
Thoroughly.
They eradicated the monsters completely, leaving not a single offspring, ensuring that their genes wouldn’t continue to propagate.
So thoroughly that if the lineage was not continued and records disappeared, people today wouldn’t even know such creatures existed 500 years ago.
In that sense, the Seven Star Trials—Pandemonium can be considered a living, breathing site of history for historians, akin to seeing history unfold in a dream.
If modern archaeologists were given a “button to travel to Joseon 500 years ago”, about two-thirds of them might press it and step into the dream, knowing full well they might face death.
Whether they’d be arrested by suspicious authorities and flogged, or dragged somewhere by the neck by a giant yellow-striped feline of suspiciously large size—
They’d likely be thrilled and excited to witness that historical moment.
But unfortunately, the Wind Tower intends to make such experiences impossible.
“Well, it’s done now.”
I adjusted the implementation of illusion magic to entirely alter the presence of the tribes waiting below the cliff.
“What do you think, Kim Fenrir?”
“I think the special class students would be seriously traumatized if they saw this.”
Kim Fenrir tilted her head while scanning the beastfolk who had received the “normalization patch”.
“Wouldn’t it have been better if they were eagle-headed giants instead? This just looks like a group of temptresses.”
Kim Fenrir pointed to the female creatures with mint-colored hair and eyes.
When I first encountered them, and as they were classified in the game, they were ferocious A-rank monsters known as [Reconquista].
But now, they had become beings that looked like something out of Greek mythology.
Harpies.
Creatures with wings below their elbows, exposing human-like bodies without a thread of clothing, yet in a primal form reminiscent of harpies from 500 years ago.
“If this gets out, won’t it lead to historical distortion? The current harpies only have wings sprouting from their backs, don’t they?”
“That’s true.”
I infused the illusionary harpies with wind mana.
Shrrrk.
Their wings vanished, replaced by arms as strong as steel, and new bird wings spread out behind their backs.
Their hair extended dramatically, and the sight resembled the harpies from [Esdinas of Heaven].
“People might speculate, saying, ‘For 500 years, harpies with winged arms and harpies with free-moving arms coexisted, but only those capable of using their arms freely survived.’”
In a game, I wouldn’t have cared about such details.
But having saved this world from the Heavenly Realm, I couldn’t allow wrong knowledge to spread through the Wind Tower, especially when historians would already be overwhelmed by uncovering the truths of Heaven.
Imagine the scenario.
After I dismantle Heaven, unseal the Demon World, and drive out angelic influence from the Middle World entirely.
– What? The demons of the Demon World were actually the indigenous deities of this land, displaced from the Middle World?
– What? Angels were actually gender-bending yuri fanatics?!
Faith in the Goddess would collapse, and all the knowledge humanity had relied upon for millennia would crumble.
Once humanity recovered from the shock, it would naturally embark on a journey of reexamining its own history, delving into the past.
At that time, the Seven Star Trials would become a valuable resource for examining the reality of 500 years ago.
Setting aside the rivalry between Heaven and the Demon World, even just observing the geographical features, monsters, and lifestyles of 500 years ago would be historically significant.
I couldn’t tamper with that lightly.
“You can’t just say the ancestors of birdfolk had chicken heads 500 years ago, can you?”
“That’s true, nyah.”
There are truths in the world that are better left unsaid.
“If birdfolk are like this, what about catfolk or dogfolk? What about rabbitfolk or wolffolk?”
If muscular, furry creatures still existed, that’d be one thing, but the game developers weren’t desperate enough to pander to those communities.
As a result—
Thanks to the developers’ begrudging love for humanity, I now had the responsibility of preventing the beastfolk of this world from undergoing gestalt collapse.
Even humans on Earth know their ancestors were apes, but if someone told them that was only 500 years ago instead of eons past, it would be a massive shock.
Anyway, the patch is complete.
“Fenrir. What about the mandrakes?”
“I adjusted them so that pulling their heads releases an intense mint-chocolate scent instead of an ear-piercing scream, nyah.”
“Good. We can’t have eardrums bursting for no reason. And while we’re at it, let’s smooth out the stairs.”
“The stairs, too?”
“At the very least, there should be a proper trail, not just scaling a cliff. A pathway for people to walk along the slope would suffice.”
“Got it, nyah. I’ll adjust it right away.”
Kim Fenrir floated into the air and swung her blade toward the cliff.
Swish, Swish.
Chunks of the cliff were neatly cut away.
Normally, such an act would send massive rocks tumbling down, causing an earthquake, but the debris dispersed into mana dust as if the objects had been deleted.
‘Now, this is normalization.’
Visual patch.
Difficulty adjustment.
Convenience improvement.
All of this is thanks to the grace of Azure Flame—
“…Ahem.”
Anyway.
At the very least, the Wind Tower would become a gentler place for the modern inhabitants of this world 500 years in the future.
“Oh, right.”
Kim Fenrir, who had been carving paths into the cliff, approached.
“Do we just leave the Fire Tower as it is, nyah?”
“My side?”
“Yeah.”
“No need to touch it.”
Not because I’ve experienced anything catastrophic there myself.
“Anyone who enters the Fire Tower will figure it out soon enough, unlike here.”
“Huh?”
“You’ll understand once you step inside. Want to come with me and see for yourself?”
“Hmm…”
Kim Fenrir sheathed her blade and hesitated.
“Are you sure I won’t be in danger if I go in there, nyah?”
“Come on. What trial could possibly endanger even the Wind Spirit?”
“From the way you’re talking, it feels like there’s something dangerous in there, nyah.”
“…”
“It’s not that dangerous.”
Probably.
“The trials related to the Fire Attribute left by the Four Founders in the Seven Star Trials consist of just three challenges.”
In the game, players would cheer when they discovered that the Tower of Fire consisted of only three floors, especially if they had entered with a water-focused party.
“Heh. So, does that mean we should target that tower first, nyah?”
“No.”
And then they would realize.
“Wouldn’t it seem odd if a tower has the same structure and height as the others but only has three floors?”
After clearing the difficult trials of the first and second floors and seeing the message that the third floor was the “final level”—
“You’d realize that a single floor here is equivalent to the difficulty of five floors in another tower.”
Players encountered the most challenging monster in the Seven Star Trials there.
A creature the Four Founders essentially said, “If you can defeat this alone, we’ll consider the Tower of Fire cleared.”
A beast meant to guard the fire trials, one that required overcoming the difficulty of five full floors.
“Let’s leave that as a treat for later and head back for now.”
The time had come.
“It seems they’re calling for direct conversation over there, so I think it’s time to wake from this dream.”
Spreading my wings, I ascended into the sky and flew toward the entrance of the Wind Tower.
“Fnyaaang. Wake me if there’s something urgent, nyah.”
“Sure, sure.”
Kim Fenrir returned to my core, merging back into me.
I folded my wings, channeled mana to sweep away the lingering resonance, and headed to the entrance.
“Next stop: the Tower of Earth, for its—”
* * *
“I give up.”
“…?”
As I sealed the storybook leading to the Seven Star Trials and stepped out of the old library, I was met with an unexpected declaration.
“What do you mean by ‘give up’?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. We’re giving up on this attempt to clear it.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Completely.”
Even Yunia nodded in agreement.
It seemed that Evangeline, Ludmila, and even Instructor Kadisha had all reached a consensus.
“May I ask why? It doesn’t sound like an ordinary reason.”
“First. We’re not yet skilled enough to clear it without the Phoenix’s assistance.”
I didn’t deny it.
Without me, they might just barely succeed, but they’d be utterly drained by the end.
“Second. If we’re going to tackle it, we’d prefer to go all the way to the top instead of stopping after a single floor. The opportunity isn’t limited, after all.”
“I understand.”
If we were faltering even on the first floor, it might be wiser to regroup and attempt it again later.
“And the third reason… Does the Tower of Earth happen to border the sea?”
“Hmm… probably?”
The first floor of the Tower of Earth indeed bordered the sea.
It was perfect for swimming after clearing out 400 monsters and the boss.
“Phoenix.”
“Yeah?”
“While you were researching in the old library, an incredibly important matter came up.”
“…What kind of matter?”
Surely nothing catastrophic had happened outside while I was busy normalizing the Wind Tower, right?
“Senior Yurha Silverstar invited us to a five-star resort she built in the south of the Marquisate of Ludvecia.”
“…”
“It’s by the sea, and there’s even a swimming pool.”
“Everyone?”
Clap.
“Exactly. It’s summer break; students should enjoy their vacation.”
* * *
And so, the Tower of Earth was temporarily sealed.
