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”Is it finally finished?” Llethunaxx asked with a mix of relief and awe in his voice.
“Finished is a relative term. The work is never entirely finished as there will undoubtedly be upgrades that I will need to make in the future as other materials become available. But if you’re asking if the construction itself is done for now, then the answer is yes. Yes, it is.” Karna said with a bit of pride in her voice.
They were both looking at the completed tower currently remaining in the air with its own power. The central pyramid had dark and glowing metal running through it in various places, while the same metal surrounded the central pyramid in a larger frame that utilized a fair bit of negative space, mostly in order to allow other vessels to dock with the tower. The whole thing was a little over 700 meters long and wide while being a little over 300 meters tall. The framework itself was rather triangular, almost looking like it was fitted to slip over the central pyramid section. Karna had mentioned that the framework and pyramid could function independently, though the central pyramid was the main part that should be protected. The bottom of the pyramid was covered with the same glowing metal that shined with a mix of green and blue light, as the whole thing was held aloft by a mix of both magical and mechanical means.
“So can we go home now?” Llethunaxx asked hopefully. The whole project had been inspiring in many ways, but it had also been boring to spend months doing nothing but shooing away curious onlookers.
“Not quite yet. There’s one last thing left to do. A wizard’s tower can be their greatest asset and weapon, but only if utilized properly. For that to happen though, there’s a need for a tower spirit.” Karna refuted Llethunaxx’s hopes.
She didn't bother explaining that a tower spirit functioned very similarly to an advanced AI, except it would be able to interface with the spells and magical formations of the tower as well. By utilizing the power-gathering formations built into the tower, the spirit would also be able to use the magic of the tower to perform various tasks to assist the wizard or to defend the tower if necessary. With a proper spirit in place, the wizard could reap the benefits of the tower, without wasting effort in actually controlling every minute aspect of it.
“Will that take long?” Llethunaxx asked.
“Hard to say exactly. Likely not, though that’s going to depend a bit. The Spirit World can be a bit hard to predict at times.” Karna shrugged her shoulders.
“Spirit World? But the night to open the portal to Spirit World already passed. how are you going to get there? And you already have a spirit. How are you going to get another?” Llethunaxx asked a couple of very good questions.
"While access to the Spirit World is hard to gain during other times, it's not impossible. Spirits themselves can make the journey any time they so choose. It would also be possible to reach the Spirit World through the elementals planes but we're not going there." Karna explained.
“Ah, so Gem is going to do it?” Llethunaxx realized.
“Yes. The downside is that she might have to spend a while looking for the right spirit instead of the single night a prospective master would need.” She confirmed with a nod.
“So when is she leaving?” The impatient dragon asked.
“She already left a week ago. I was kind of expecting her to return by now, but the problem is that she doesn’t get along with the spirit we’re looking for. In fact, Gem is generally quite feared among the other spirits due to her power and unique nature. As such, this might take a while.” Karna knew that it was more of a case of Gem disliking the other spirit and not the other way around, so it was quite likely that the only reason Gem was taking so long was because she didn’t want to find the other spirit. And as usual, the Spirit World was greatly influenced by your desires.
“We can’t just return while we wait?” Llethunaxx asked, his hopeful tone returning.
“We could, but the tower would be a sitting duck without a spirit. And we’ll likely draw some attention once we arrive. I want to be prepared.” She shot the idea down. “All we can do is wait.”
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Gem kicked at the grass beneath her feet. She’d taken the form of her master as that one felt the most natural. She rarely got to use the form though, as Karna took a rather dim view of anyone trying to impersonate her. Gem’s master also knew very well that Gem would find it difficult to resist making some mischief if the opportunity presented itself, just like she’d done when she had been actively pretending to be Karna to all the immortal investigators.
She really disliked the idea of another spirit serving her master. She should be more than enough for her master’s purposes! Except she didn’t have the patience required of a tower spirit, nor did she have the intention of staying back whenever her master stumbled from another amusing mess to another adventure. After all, her master was a trouble magnet and wouldn’t be able to manage without her. Those lives in universes without spirits didn’t count. They were short anyway, proof positive that her presence was actually required!
The clump of grass she had kicked slowed down in the air before turning into a bunch of butterflies. Nothing in the Spirit World was permanent. Except maybe that damn pond she’d have to sleep under every time her master died and before she was summoned again. That was probably the most permanent fixture in this entire place, and even its location changed. Her surroundings kept changing, but just the fact that they were growing more stable and firm hinted at the fact that she was closing in on her destination. She didn’t want to, but there was also a growing urgency inside her that was pushing her towards arriving soon.
“Oh, Gemini, you’re back!” A chipper voice greeted her almost as soon as the thought had entered her mind. Letting your mind wander in this place could be dangerous in various ways.
She gave a deep sigh. "Zuellni. You look…normal." She stared at the childlike spirit that looked more like a ghost than a spirit. The bright blue and glowing spirit took the form of a small child with a floor-length fluffy hair and certain fairy-like air about her. She looked and acted like someone extremely curious and child-like, and while that wasn't a lie, Gem knew the innocent-looking spirit also had a darker side to it.
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The spirit was entirely amoral in that it would fulfill their master’s commands without any hesitation or question, no matter what that order was. If Karna ordered an entire world devastated, then Zuellni would quite happily oblige without batting an eye. Gem herself was extremely loyal, and would also follow any commands, but she also recognized the dangers of blind loyalty. A true companion would question and second-guess their master, and not just wordlessly fulfill every command.
“Oh-oh, is my new body ready?! Did you come to bring me to our master?!” The childlike spirit asked with an excited voice.
“Yeees. Master has created a new tower. It’s still relatively low level, but you should be quite pleased as we managed to acquire large quantities of Blackstone.” Gem replied with a tired voice.
"YAAAY! Master is the best! I can't wait to start working on the tower! I assume it's already flight-capable? What am I asking. Of course, it is. Master would never make an antiquated stationary tower. Quick, quick, take me to master! I want to see her? Him? It? What's master rocking this time? I hope she got a female form this time." That was another thing that annoyed Gem. Zuellni was even more perverted than her and shared her proclivities of voyeurism. Except as the literal tower spirit, the childlike spirit got to observe a lot more often. Just another thing to prove that the childlike form and behavior was a huge lie.
“Let’s go. The less time we have to spend here, the better.” Gem grabbed a hold of Zuellni’s diminutive hand.
The other spirit giggled. “You still don’t get along with the others. You should lighten up a little.”
“I don’t need to anymore. After this life is over, I never have to accede to the wishes of the others.” Gem stated angrily before they both disappeared from the spot they had been.
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Karna could sense the arrival of the two spirits before they appeared. “Get ready. We’ll be leaving soon.” Her words stirred Llethunaxx from his stupor.
As soon as the words left her mouth, she vanished in a burst of flames and appeared deep inside her new tower. As she was the master of the tower, she was naturally also keyed to the wards protecting it. She’d designed the wards herself, so she could say without bragging that they were nigh-impregnable, and any immortal trying to brute-force their way through the wards was in for a nasty surprise. Of course, she had learned long ago that there were always ways around every single ward and security measure, which is why she had stacked several of them, and it was also why a tower spirit was so necessary, as the spirit would be able to adapt the tower’s defenses on the fly against any enemies that could get through the wards.
She ran a hand along the soft fabric covering the walls with a smile on her face. Every tower was unique and her tower naturally reflected some of her peculiarities. She couldn’t make her entire tower into a giant pillow, but she could at least do the next best thing and cover all the walls with soft fabrics, and the floor with a cushy carpeting. Of course, her entire hoard of pillows was scattered around the insides of the tower, with plenty of space for more. There would always be space for more. The walls and floor under the soft fluffiness were covered in magical formations designed to protect the place. Only the outer walls of the pyramid and the superstructure were actually made of Blackstone to allow the magic to take hold.
With a few steps, she was standing inside the central core of the entire pyramid. The round core was made of strands of silvery metal that was only the thickness of hair, but it had been woven together to form thicker strands. Every individual strand was covered in runes, and the thicker strands came together to form a mix of complex formation that was constantly in flux as the strands moved around like a cascading waterfall that was flowing around a central center of gravity. Just outside the core were thick lines of heavily enchanted mithril that ran through the entire pyramid and into the outer structure. The outer structure wasn't just for docking and holding cargo, but it was also an enormous magical construct designed to gather mana from the surroundings and to channel it into the core here that powered all the formations inside and outside the tower.
The core room was also located right above the reactor cluster. As most of the systems of the tower were mechanical, enhanced by magic of course, and powered by electricity, the tower had a need for a huge amount of energy production, and the reactors were for that purpose. As Karna had visited many high-tech universes, she could shamelessly steal the best ideas, although she didn’t quite have the tools or the materials for the very best. That would have to wait until later. Still, the tower’s systems would not lose to anyone when supported by magic.
As was her intention, Gem and the child-like tower spirit appeared right inside the core. “Masteeeer!” The spirit that looked like a little girl shouted and dove to give Karna a hug.
“Zuellni. It’s been a while." Tower spirits were a very specific subset of spirits. Unlike most, they didn't change much and evolve when they were contracted. However, they got better at what they did and could handle more complicated structures with experience. Zuellni was already capable of managing entire worlds but preferred to stick with her master.
“Is this my new home?” The small spirit said while looking around at the core. “As usual, you are the best when it comes to creating cores. Most people think some kind of magical crystal is the epitome of development. The idiots. You can’t evolve and improve a crystal.” The little spirit complained while making contact with the core. Her senses were already flowing through the tower and the magical formations.
“How do you like it?” Karna asked with a smile.
“It’s a bit small, but as usual, we can improve on things later. I’ll make you a list of materials at some point, though you already know most of it. You’ve always been good at doing great things with access to limited resources.” Zuellni commended her master. She could sense Karna was only at the sixth rank, so it was already a small miracle she could make something like this.
“Small might be good for now. While we’re going to be drawing some attention anyway, we should limit our exposure for now.” Karna pointed out.
“Master, you’ve never been very good at the whole lay-low thing. Even when you stay as a mortal, you tend to draw attention.” Zuellni stated firmly, and even Gem was forced to agree as she too nodded along with her ‘rival’.
"I resent that accusation, and firmly deny it," Karna said with a completely serious face. "Now let's take it for a spin. You can start making adjustments and improvement once you get a feel for it."
“Master, there’s a dragon outside.” Zuellni pointed out.
“That’s a friendly dragon. He helped keep watch while I built the tower.” Karna explained.
“Are we inviting him inside?” Zuellni asked.
“Not for now. He doesn’t need to be aware of our capabilities. Connect me to him.” Karna decided.
A quick illusory hologram of Karna appeared in front of Llethunaxx. “Tiny Titan. I assume everything is working?”
“The tower is now operational. You can head home while we go to perform some tests. We’ll swing by your nest in the near future to finish things.” Karna confirmed.
Llethunaxx could sense when he was not wanted and could understand Karna would want to keep the specifics of her tower a secret. Most wizards that built a tower did, and Karna’s was definitely among the weirdest. “Alright. I’ll head back then. Next time you bring business to me though, try to make it a little less boring.”
"Will do," Karna replied with a laugh.
"Let's head to the bridge," Karna told Gem, and the two made their way through the pyramid and all the way near the top. There they found a sight that would not be out of place on any spaceship. Several consoles were arrayed along the walls, surrounding a central dais where a large crystal orb was placed in a stone holder that looked like a dragon's claws locking around the orb, and the orb was placed in front of a pillow placed on a similar pedestal. The pillow radiated Divine Power, and Karna took a diving leap right into the soft fluffiness of the pillow that immediately adapted to accommodate her size and shape. There she could comfortably keep an eye on the other stations as well as use the control orb used to fly the tower.
Most of the time Zuellni could actually control the tower’s flight, and Karna knew from experience that the spirit was almost as good at navigating as she was. However, sometimes her skills and especially her spatial abilities from the Tressym bloodline would be needed, which was why the manual control option was there. Zuellni could also control all the other systems, but the other stations allowed for the presence of a crew as well as manual control over the various systems.
“Alright, take us for a spin Zuellni. I’ll leave the choice of destination up to you. I already uploaded the map data, as well as historical archives into the database.” Karna simply lounged on the pillow as the walls around them turned transparent, as if they were all a large window surrounding this entire room, and by extension the entire floor. That was incorrect of course as windows would’ve been an enormous structural weakness. The walls were simply displaying the view from the outside, and you could actually alter the view and the angle freely.
“Do you want to use the charted paths or try something new?” Zuellni inquired.
“Going along the beaten path would be boring. Let’s do something new. Just use the normal path when we return. We don’t want to spook the defensive units of the Magocracy when we show up.” Karna knew her arrival would create a stir anyway, but at least this way she would show she wasn’t a threat.
“Alright then. Calculating the best path and method of reaching the chosen target. Completed. initiating drives.” Space seemed to fold around the pyramidal vessel as it suddenly disappeared from above the deserted island. The way the tower vanished was decidedly odd compared to most as it combined both the magical travel methods necessary in this universe with the speed of faster than light ships from other universes. Karna knew that you’d always achieve the best results by combining magic and technology, so of course her tower would make use of the combination.