[…Analysis updated.]
[…Mental fatigue variable added.]
[…Long-term survival formula recalculating.]
[Rest environment improvement -> long-term survival chance +18.7%.]
[Energy investment validity above standard.]
“Now the calculation is right.”
Jin-woo said with a faint laugh.
Lumina always spoke of efficiency through numbers.
That was not a bad thing.
[However, excessive luxury is inefficient.]
“I know that too. I only plan to do it occasionally.”
Jin-woo rose from the bathtub.
Water droplets ran down and fell to the floor.
“Still, just for today, it’s fine, right?”
[Temporarily permitted.]
“Good.”
Jin-woo laughed briefly.
The warm steam slowly dispersed.
Inside it, his mind grew calm.
‘Next is….’
That was when it happened.
[Warning.]
With a low vwoong- sound, the entire Magic Tower resonated.
A moment later—
[Reanalyzing mana flow outside the Magic Tower.]
“…Did you detect something again?”
[Trend of rising mana density confirmed.]
[Possibility of ‘Mana Storm’ occurring within 7 days.]
Jin-woo stopped moving for a moment.
“So it’s confirmed.”
His brow furrowed.
His head suddenly hurt.
‘It’s faster than I thought.’
‘The timing has shifted.’
‘A variable?’
According to Jin-woo’s calculations, the Mana Storm was supposed to blow about a month after he entered the Tower.
It had been that way before the Regression too.
‘I naturally thought it would be the same this time… Did something go wrong?’
“In the end, there really is no such thing as ‘peace’ in this Tower.”
[Tower environment remains in constant danger state.]
Jin-woo slowly breathed out.
“Then I have to prepare.”
His gaze sank.
“A way to block it, and countermeasures too.”
[Tactical Analysis Mode can be prepared.]
“Good. Rest ends here.”
As he stepped out of the bathtub, Jin-woo quietly murmured, “Now, we move to survival phase two.”
Enduring was not passive.
It was the choice of the prepared.
This time—
he would endure until the end.
***
Mana Storm.
A disaster whose name alone made Hunters’ fingertips stiffen.
A phenomenon that blew through the Tower at regular intervals.
At first, everyone believed it was a natural disaster.
Jin-woo had thought so too.
But on the upper floors, they did not call it a “disaster.”
‘Circulation failure.’
Mana whose circulation had been cut off accumulated in one place—
and burst at the critical point.
It suffocated the breath, burned devices, and cracked walls.
Even if one survived, there was no next day.
That was a Mana Storm.
‘That’s why on the upper floors, they circulated the mana in advance before the storm came.’
Jin-woo breathed out bitterly.
It was a story possible on the upper floors.
But right now, he was on the first floor.
The means he could prepare, the infrastructure too, were all lacking at the very bottom.
“Lumina.”
Jin-woo’s gaze swept over the interior of the Magic Tower.
“About this. The Mana Storm… can we endure it?”
Lumina was silent for a moment.
[Recorded materials related to ‘Mana Storm’ lost.]
[Precise prediction impossible.]
“It doesn’t need to be precise. Tell me based on the worst case.”
[Calculating….]
[Survival chance upon Energy Concentration: 56%.]
“Half.”
[Optimistic calculation.]
“And in practice?”
[Perceived probability is lower.]
Jin-woo laughed briefly.
Breath leaked out.
Jin-woo rubbed his palms together and slowly steadied his breathing.
“If we can’t stop the storm, then we have to change direction and focus on enduring it.”
The Magic Tower’s Records Room.
An operations archive where only usable information remained.
Jin-woo slowly looked around, then picked up a few thin books piled beside a collapsed bookshelf.
There was a metallic smell mixed into them.
“Lumina. Check whether there are any records related to Mana Storms around here.”
[Checking….]
[Multiple records damaged.]
[No complete materials confirmed.]
[Three partially readable journals and two fragmentary records discovered.]
“Journals?”
Jin-woo opened the one that seemed to be in the best condition among them.
On the yellowed paper, crooked handwriting remained.
“Translate it.”
[Translation]
—34th cycle.
—Before storm occurrence, rapid increase in mana density confirmed.
—Upper circulation device unresponsive.
—Alternative measure required.
The sentence cut off there.
The content that should have followed had been deliberately torn out by someone.
The next page.
Half the book was blackened with soot.
The paper was dry enough to crumble crisply, and burn marks were clear along the edges.
Jin-woo carefully turned the page.
If he put even a little force into it, it looked as if it would turn to powder and scatter.
“…….”
Without a word, he picked up another record book.
The cover was worn and torn, but the inside was in comparatively better condition.
Lumina naturally translated the contents for him.
[Record Day 45]
-The Mana Storm blew in.
-Of all times, the Mana Storm barrier broke down now. We are ruined.
-As the Magic Engineering device was exposed to the storm, every circuit burned.
-Repairs? When am I supposed to fix all of this?
-The higher-ups say to restore it “within today.”
-…Don’t make me laugh .
-Overtime again today.
Jin-woo’s gaze stopped on the last sentence for a moment.
“…Overtime.”
For an instant, Jin-woo let out a breath like a hollow laugh.
It was a sound as if his body had reacted first, even in a situation where laughter could not come out.
The next record.
[Record Day 47]
-Circuits completely burned out.
-A workshop filled with the smell of burning.
-A device we poured a whole month into ended with one storm.
“…….”
For a while, Jin-woo could not say anything.
What remained on the paper was not technology, not formulas, not solutions.
Only time someone had endured.
And the traces of collapse.
“This side… didn’t have it easy either.”
The moment he murmured as if speaking to himself, a memory he had buried for a long time quietly rose in Jin-woo’s mind.
Before the Regression.
It was when they had been making a large Magic Engineering device designated as essential equipment for a boss raid.
Even securing the materials had been hell.
They ran dungeons, hunted, and searched the exchange.
They gathered Mana Stones and metal, disassembled them, refined them, and assembled them again.
If even one circuit went wrong, it was back to the beginning.
Like that, for a full month.
‘We really… made it like mad.’
Four hours of sleep a day.
Even that ended with him waking up after worrying about circuit placement in his dreams.
When he opened his eyes, it was the workbench. When he closed them, it was the workbench.
And finally.
‘When I thought only the raid was left….’
A Mana Storm blew.
At the time, he had not worried too much.
A Mana Storm protection barrier already existed, and as long as they covered the device with it, a mere storm would not be a problem.
The problem was—
‘Someone changed the order.’
‘They skipped the confirmation procedure.’
‘Just once.’
The engineering device exposed directly to the Mana Storm burned down in literally only a few seconds.
Every circuit was severed, and all the Mana Stones were altered by the high heat and discarded.
That one mistake burned away an entire month.
That was why Jin-woo performed “confirmation” like a ritual.
‘The atmosphere back then….’
Curses.
Silence.
And faces gone blank.
No one spoke.
It might have been better if someone had just cursed.
That was how completely everyone stood there, stunned.
“……It was horrible.”
Jin-woo slowly breathed out.
The record before his eyes overlapped with the memory from that time.
The same situation.
The same despair.
Only, the people here had not even had a chance to undo it.
He slowly closed the book.
“So it wasn’t about blocking it. It was about making a structure that could endure.”
[Same conclusion derived.]
Lumina’s voice was still calm.
However, Jin-woo’s gaze had changed slightly.
This was not simple disaster preparation.
If he failed, everything ended.
He looked around the Records Room again.
“This time… I’m not making the same mistake.”
Low, but clear.
“This time, I endure.”
And the answer had to be in this Records Room.
***
《DAY – 22 ended》
《Survival EXP accumulates.》
A day passed.
Jin-woo barely slept and shut himself in the Records Room, searching through as many materials as possible.
Crumbling documents, fire-scorched journals, and even research notes torn in half.
If he could read it, he read it all.
Most of the important core records had been lost.
But—
‘It’s not like there was no harvest.’
In the Magic Tower, there was a device capable of blocking Mana Storms.
A “Barrier Generator.”
“Is it here?”
Following the coordinates written in the records, Jin-woo moved and stood before a barrier wall located deep inside the Magic Tower.
Complex mana patterns were carved in layers across its surface, and a sealing core was embedded in the center.
“Lumina. Can you open it?”
[Checking….]
[Entry possible.]
[Temporary Administrator (C) Authority satisfied.]
Jin-woo quietly breathed out.
He had not expected his Administrator Grade rising earlier to be used in a place like this.
“Open it.”
Vwoong—
With a low vibration, the barrier wall slowly rose upward.
Through the sealed gap, a passage that had long been closed revealed itself.
[Passage opened.]
[Guidance to the Barrier Generator beginning.]
An arrow of light continued along the floor.
The passage was not as deep as he had expected.
After he passed several bends, the distinctive smell of metal and mana mixed together began to seep into the air.
And then—
One enormous door.
Above it, Arcanist’s language was clearly engraved.
[Translation: Barrier Generator.]
“That’s right.”
Jin-woo murmured lowly.
But soon, a question lifted its head.
“Lumina. If something like this existed, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
[Record damaged.]
[Barrier Zone sealed.]
[Linked records accessible only after seal release.]
“…So before the seal was released, even you didn’t know.”
[Affirmative.]
[Partial backup data exists.]
“Then I just have to release it.”
He looked at the Barrier Generator again.
A core facility of the Magic Tower that had been asleep for a long time.
Jin-woo’s eyes narrowed with a faint glint.
“From now on— I’m not just enduring. I’m setting up the board so I can endure.”
Placing his hand on the door, Jin-woo spoke.
“Open this door.”
Vwoooong—
The door opened with a dull vibration.
The moment he took one step inside, Jin-woo’s feet stopped unconsciously.
And his brow naturally narrowed.
“…….”
At the center, one old core nucleus was floating.
The core was cracked.
Mana was leaking.
The circuits were severed, and the contact points had melted black.
No matter who looked at it—
it was a facility that had taken one storm and died as it was.
“…….”
Jin-woo slowly breathed out.
“Lumina.”
[Barrier Generator, severely damaged.]
[Operation impossible in current state.]
[Repairs required.]
“As expected.”
Jin-woo looked up at the core nucleus.
The unstable trembling mana flow proved those words.
“So even if there’s a Barrier Generator, it’s useless unless I fix it.”
[Affirmative.]
In order to live, he had to fix it so it could operate somehow.
‘Let’s take a look first.’