One thing was evident: the next day I would leave the tower, either together with the people or on the run from them. Therefore, I had to use the remaining time of the day for preparations.

First, I climbed to the top level to examine the broken portal again. Fortunately, the remains of the wall covered me from the gaze of the people in the camp. I had no idea if the portal could be activated somehow, but all the dirt in it certainly wasn’t helping. I cleaned up the stone frame as much as possible and even tried to straighten it up, but it was too heavy for that. I just managed to lift one corner a finger’s width.

After that was done, I went down to the study and looked again at the staff on the wall. Such an artifact was certainly useful to a mage, and certainly valuable, so I would gladly take it. If it weren’t for the strange magic spot on the wall next to the staff. I activated Magic Sight and carefully tried to put some mana in there. After a few tries, a golden flame with three tongues suddenly appeared in front of me. Wait a minute, that looked just like the crest on the glasses! Then I guess the three symbols I saw on the crest had to be placed there. Too bad I only knew one of them. Another magical riddle!

I looked extensively at the symbols on the glass. The first one was clearly the fire symbol. What could the others stand for? Similar to the riddle at the gate, I tried different words, hoping to guess the meaning of the symbols. Water, earth, air, light and life were out of the question, I already knew them. I tried the other magic directions mentioned in the book: Ice, Lightning and Metal. Nothing. With some trepidation, I tested darkness and then even death. I was particularly uncomfortable with the incantation of death; there was no one nearby who could die except me, and I certainly didn’t want to conjure up my own death. But even these words had no effect.

What kind of stuff did they write on the coats of arms in the Middle Ages? Honor, loyalty, courage and faith? None of it worked. What was the former owner doing in this secluded tower? Probably he was doing research here, maybe even in Forbidden Magic. And research is about... knowledge! The symbol I placed in front of me lit up briefly and something stirred in my mind, but it was only a fleeting feeling. Maybe I was just imagining it. But I had the second symbol before. Only one remained.

Hm, the knowledge was not an end in itself after all, what did the mage want to achieve? Orthok’s words about the mage war of that time came back to me: But just as strong as their thirst for knowledge was their lust for power. Exactly, he was looking for knowledge to gain even more power! So the word it was looking for had to be power. The symbol reacted without there being any visible effects. That would give me all three. Fire. Knowledge. Power. The motto had something.

Satisfied, I rubbed my hands together and activated the code query in flame form again. The three symbols appeared at the corresponding places, then I sent red mana into the first character. For a split second, the character was visible and then vanished again, leaving a grid of transparent lines that completely enclosed me. The distance between me and the grid was about half a meter. What was that? I took a small step towards the stairs so that my legs stayed inside the grid. The grate moved along with me. I continued walking slowly until I reached the stairs and carefully climbed up one step at a time. When I reached the bedroom level, the grate suddenly disappeared. I exhaled in relief and climbed back down. It did not reappear.

I sat down in an armchair and thought. The symbols were definitely right, so the color had to be wrong. But the fire magic was red, so what was the problem? On the other hand, the crest on the glasses was gold, so maybe I should use my original color? It was worth a try, especially since the consequences of a wrong entry didn’t seem to be that serious. I stepped back to the wall with the staff and activated the input. When the characters were back in place, I colored my mana to the original hue and sent it into the first character. Immediately, the grid appeared around me again, only this time, it wasn’t transparent. The lines had a dark purple color and looked somehow threatening. I took another tripping step towards the stairs, but the grid no longer moved with me. I was now standing very close to the magical lines and felt the ominous tension in them. I even thought I heard a faint crackling sound. Uh-oh, that didn’t look good at all! The grid didn’t want to move with me in other directions either. I was trapped in a magic cage! I didn’t dare touch the lines. I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but I didn’t suspect anything good. What was I going to do?

My gaze fell again on the staff on the wall. In Magical Sight, it continued to glow a fiery red that was brighter than the red color of Nigel’s that I usually used to feed the fire sign. This red seemed somehow aggressive and dangerous. Was this perhaps the right mana color for the code? I had to try it, the alternative would be to stand here and hope that the foreign expedition would come to the tower and free me, but what were the chances of that? Decisively, I matched my mana color to the red of the staff, making sure the hue was just right three times. I then activated the fire symbol with it. This time, the glow lasted, which relieved me greatly. The grid did not disappear, but it did not react negatively either. Presumably, I still had no room for error.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

What color should I use for the next character? In my opinion, knowledge wasn’t connected to any element, but if this red hue matched the tower owner’s mana color, maybe it would be proper to apply it to all symbols? I decided to stick with it, and sent the mana to the second symbol. It lit up fiery as well. Feeling more confident, I activated the third symbol, and the grid vanished instantly.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and only now realized how tense I had been. With somewhat shaky hands, I took the staff from the wall. I wondered what would have happened if I had grabbed it directly without turning off the magic fuse. The unknown material the staff was made of felt good. Was it stone or maybe something like ivory? I didn’t know. Hm, knowledge... I had the symbol for it now. On a whim, I made the symbol for knowledge appear above the staff. Since knowledge certainly had nothing to do with the fire element, I gave my mana the pale gold color again and then activated the sign. There was no visible reaction. The sign lit up briefly and disappeared, and I still didn’t know what material... No, wait! I did know! Somewhere I now knew for sure that the staff was made of magic-infused stone. It was not a guess, I was as convinced of it as I was of the fact that I had two arms and two legs.

I shook my head. How was that possible? Sure, magic and all, but still... It was admirable and terrifying at the same time. Well, the staff was made of stone. But what was the function of the red crystals at its ends? Two spells later, I knew they were two magically altered rubies. The crystal cut into a spherical shape served as a storage for mana and could hold up to 3000 mana. The ruby shaped as a pointed drop at the other end functioned as a focus, increasing the effect of the mana sixfold. Wow! This staff was really a powerful tool for a mage. But I also noticed that the crystals were exactly matched to the fiery red mana of the former owner. What that meant I had yet to find out, I didn’t get that knowledge from the spell any more than I got the instruction manual for the mage staff.

The list of things to do by the end of the day grew longer and longer. I stowed the staff in the storage ring and approached the work table. If I was going to break in everywhere, I couldn’t leave the magically secured drawer unopened.

When I sent in some mana, the same golden flame appeared in front of me as when I secured the staff. I placed the symbols of fire, knowledge and power inside and energized it with the right mana, which allowed me to open the drawer seamlessly. It contained a thick leather-bound volume that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be the mage’s diary. I skimmed the first pages.

Aardhak, an archmage of fire, had set up his research laboratory in this tower with the ambitious goal of crossing fire elementals and living beings. Given the fire salamanders running around outside, he had probably succeeded. The notes about the experiments were unfortunately written in the original language, so I couldn’t read them. In between, there were passages about hopes and disappointments. His relationship with a certain Beatrix also took up a lot of space. Was it probably her lingerie that I found upstairs? I put the diary in the ring, there was no time for that now.

Otherwise, I found two gold coins and a bag of silver coins in the drawer, as well as a round silver pendant with a sun on it. In the center of the pendant was a small orange crystal. In Magical Sight, a faint pale gold glow emanated from it. Having no idea what it could be, I applied my newly learned knowledge spell to it. As a result, I learned that it was a bank card of some sort. Unlike the gold charms, which were tied to their owners, the silver ones could be used anonymously. A kind of magical Bitcoin, in other words, with which payments could be made discreetly. I mentally thanked Annabel again for the storage ring and let the stuff disappear into it.

Having acquired a taste for it, I packed the carafe, glasses, dishes, and cutlery from the cupboard into the ring as well. More as an experiment, I tried putting an armchair in it and it worked without a hitch. Encouraged, I put in a second one; Orthok didn’t need to sit on the floor either. If we ever saw each other again... This thought slowed me down a bit, so I refrained from putting the map and frame into the ring. Instead, I carefully cut it out with the magnificent dagger I had gotten from Annabel and rolled it up before taking it with me. There was nothing else in the room.

I climbed one floor higher. There I knocked the dust out of the blanket as best I could and placed it in the ring along with a pillow. For a moment I imagined the look on Orthok’s face if I made the whole bed appear out of thin air before his eyes. That would have been almost worth taking the bed, but I let it go. But I did pack the men’s underwear and socks from the dresser, and after a moment’s consideration, the lingerie as well. Better to have than to need, right? In a pinch, they could certainly be sold.

Exhausted from the gathering, I finished the foray and stretched out on the bed. It was getting dark outside, the mountains surrounding the valley made for an early dawn. I didn’t want to conjure up any light so as not to draw unwanted attention to myself. Dinner would have been great, but this was not something magic could help me with. Instead, I conjured up another glass of water, meditated, increasing my mana supply to 98, and then fell asleep.