After filling my stomach, I walked around the streets, looking around with interest. I was savoring the scenery.
While wandering, the greedy gazes I felt earlier were still following me. I decided to deal with them.
I walked into a nearby alleyway — they followed.
"Stop and hand over your gold."
I turned around and saw five thugs blocking the exit. Behind me was a dead end.
I didn't say much and raised my hand, aiming at them.
They frowned at my action, some sneered in mockery.
"Fool, do you think you can cast magic at this distance? Before you could even chant, you'd already be dead."
Most mages take time when casting spells — it's common knowledge that mages recite long incantations, leaving them vulnerable in close combat. There are rare cases of ultra-short chants, but these thugs didn't even consider that. Blinded by greed, they thought I was just a rich mage with no power to speak of.
"This will do," I said calmly, without encantaion I cast a spell.
A sphere of water formed on each thug's head. They panicked and tried to remove it, but it was useless. They could only hold their breath and wait to drown.
One by one, the thugs fell to the ground, dead — drowned to death.
My shadow expanded, swallowing the corpses whole, leaving no evidence behind. I walked out of the alley, continuing my aimless stroll.
Night fell.
Magic streetlights awoke and illuminated the streets. Taverns grew packed and lively.
Peddlers appeared, selling their products such as street food.
The streets became crowded, the parks lively with night walkers enjoying the cold breeze beneath the glowing sky. Restaurants buzzed with customers, and the markets roared with noisy sales.
In a Ramen Push Cart, a man in a white cloak, looking like a mage, sat on one of three seats.
"One Katsu Ramen."
"Coming right up," the old peddler said.
The old man began to cook using magic, speeding up the preparation and cooking process — in just ten minutes, it was done.
"Are you an adventurer, old man?" I asked.
"Hahaha, yes I am."
"I'm Texor Relbelt. Back in the day, I was known as Clever. A level 4 adventurer of Bia Familia."
"Oh, do you have any advice or information about the dungeon for a newbie like me? By the way, I'm John Alver — a wandering mage and healer too."
"There's plenty, but the most important thing you need to know is that you must join a Familia first before registering with the Guild. It's a waste of time to go now without one. Kid, do you have a Familia?"
"Nope. I just arrived this morning."
"Well, go find one then."
"Can't I just sneak into the dungeon?"
"Haha, you can't, even if you try. See that?" He pointed at the tower in the center of the city. "That's Babel Tower. What you're seeing now is only its projection. Once you enter its vicinity — the Babel Plaza — you'll realize the tower you see now is fake, just an image."
"Its true form is a boundless tower. Even my Goddess said that calling it boundless is an insult. And the plaza — it's endless too. You wouldn't be able to reach Babel Tower without teleportation arrays. You need an Adventurer ID to access those."
The old man and I talked for a while. I listened to his advice while expanding my magic sense to examine the tower at the city's center — Babel Tower.
Babel Tower was surrounded by the Babel Plaza.
When my magic sense was just a meter away from the tower, it detected something — a barrier. No, a Tower Barrier, ten miles in diameter and height, piercing through the Multilayer Dimensional Barrier and continuing upward, connecting with the barrier encompassing the entire planet's atmosphere.
It was similar to the boundless towers scattered throughout the old world — but also different in terms of layout and design, Babel Tower was a small one by comparison.
I plunged my magic sense into the barrier, and what I saw almost shattered my mind from the sheer scale of the tower and plaza.
I instantly withdrew my magic sense and deactivated it.
My face turned pale, my breathing heavy.
"What's wrong, kid? You're so pale."
"I'm alright. Just hungry."
"You're taking this info well."
"I'm a newbie, but I've already experienced many things in life."
"Are you one of those masters living in seclusion for cultivation?"
"No. Are those guys even real around here?"
The old man laughed boisterously. "Hahaha! They're real, kid! I even met one in the past, though I've no idea what he's doing now."
We chatted.
I picked up the chopsticks and began eating the ramen. In just a minute, I finished it all. The old man was dumbfounded.
"More, please. Same order. No — just cook, and I'll eat. This is my payment, and this extra's for your advice." I tossed a box of gold onto the counter.
Seeing what was inside, the old man's face lit up with a wide grin — after all, it was gold.
The old man began a cooking rampage while I ate like a starving beast.
Atop a bell tower, I sat on the roof, observing the scenery below — brightly lit streets, flickering lights within buildings and homes, dark alleys, and plazas brimming with people.
The streets looked like veins seeping between the rooftops. I looked up at the beautiful sky — the moon high above, illuminating the world with its gentle glow. The stars twinkled, blanketing the heavens. It was a breathtaking sight. Beyond them loomed an unfathomably massive purple planet, with colossal structures scattered across its surface, piercing through its atmosphere.
Unchanging and eternal.
I had already measured its diameter when I first woke up on this planet — and the distance between this world and that purple planet. Both results reached scales beyond ??? entirely, endlessly so. But even so, my instincts told me I was merely scraping the surface of boundless mysteries — truths so vast they could drive anyone insane.
As for Babel Tower, I don't even have an idea.
I sighed, gazing at the night sky, thinking deeply about what to do next.
The night deepened, and I fell asleep right there.