- 51 -

“Drew, fly ahead and see if anyone needs help. The levels of mana are very unstable.” Damien urged.

Drew shot forwards closing the distance in a matter of minutes.

You have entered a Mana Dense zone, your mana regeneration increases by 30%.

I can feel the energy buzzing in the air. Even the wind is bending towards the tower. If this mess is radioactive how do I warn Damien?

There were aged wagon wheel tracks leading off to the west away from Rottervale. They were so grown over that he doubted anyone had used them in years.

Drew did a lap around the tower, staying 30 meters away. He could not see a functional entrance. Even the upper floor windows were grown over with mana crystals.

Damien caught up to drew and he flew back to report.

“No windows, no doors, no sign of anyone. Feels dangerous.” Drew said.

“Yes indeed, likely quite dangerous.” Damien said as he wrote some calculations down in the margins of a book. “If I’m correct the tower could simply explode any minute.”

“Would the explosion affect the city? What do we do?”

“My first theory involves draining the mana from the tower. We could create an enchantment that expends a lot of mana. To let the pressure off in a sense.” Damien said.

“My second is to rupture the enchantment or spell that is storing all this mana and cause a slow burn where the mana destroys the spell and everything fizzles out.” Damien said. “Although if my math is wrong then it will not fizzle, it will explode.”

“I like your first idea. What are some mana intensive enchantments we can create to draw out some of this pent up mana?” Drew asked.

Damien opened up his folio to a page at the back and Drew read the schematic quickly.

New Enchantment [Crystallize Mana]

“This is the most expensive spell I know. It forms mana crystals. And I expect it to work since they are forming naturally here already.” Damien said. “If we carve it into the stone at the base of the tower it might go a quarter of the way around. We could carve 4. And then see if we have enough room for a 5th.”

“Sounds like plan, let’s do it.” Drew said.

The tower shuddered and the silhouette of a door appeared in the crystal walls. Light came bursting out around the seams and the door flew the rest of the way open.

“That’s an idiotic plan! How dare you try to try to steal my mana! Burn fool! You know not the magnitude of power you offend with your limited understanding.” A clearly insane wizard stepped through the door throwing fire bolts.

Drew and Damien barely had time to move out of the way of the bolts. Damien had his shield up a second later and it absorbed two bolts in quick succession.

Drew flew high and circled behind the tower out of the wizards sight. The man had a wild look in his eyes, his clothes were once fine and expensive were now greasy and disheveled. He was unkempt and had several weeks of scraggly beard on his chin, and could use a bath. His hair was matted and stuck up in two large unbalanced horns on the top of his head.

“It’s is auspicious for you to come, I need an audience for my triumphant finale! They all said I, Thadeus Wainwright was mad, mad I say! But I have established them to be the fools this day!” He punctuated his words with more fireballs.

Damien’s shield was holding up just fine. He threw a couple Mana Drain talismans and they started draining the mad Wizard.

“Fool! I have unlimited mana at my disposal. I’m connected directly to the enchantments inside. I have cracked the code hidden by the gods under our very noses. I have created pure limitless mana. You are trying to siphon a bucket of water out of an ocean.” Thaddeus raved as he threw more fireballs.

Well if draining his mana won’t work let’s drain his stamina.

Drew threw a Drain Stamina talisman at the wizard. It pierced him through the thigh.

Bane x1: (0:10)

“Ahhh! Shit! Who is throwing spears??” He screamed.

oh, sorry man, my mistake.

Drew circled back around the tower and threw another Drain Stamina talisman at the wizard. It pierced him through the other thigh.

Bane x1: (0:05)

“Ahhhhh! Shit! That really hurts!” He screamed. He was gripping both talismans in his hands. Thaddeus tried pulling them out but ended up dancing around in pain. “Why would you spear me with talismans? That’s awful, who does that?”

My bad! What is going on with the cross-breeze here?

Damien pulled a wand from his pocket and lifted a spherical chunk of earth out of the ground. He threw it at the tower trying to knock it down.

“Oh no you don’t! Greater Summon Golem!” Thaddeus yelled.

A spell circle 3 meters tall appeared on the side of the tower and a hand reached out. Followed by a golem twice as tall as a man and completely made of mana crystal.

It swatted Damien’s next boulder out of the air. Damien pulled a second wand out and started launching boulders in double time.

Well time for plan B I guess.

Drew flew into the tower through the open door.

You have entered a Mana Dense zone, your mana regeneration has increased by 55%

The room was circular and there were stairs across the room. The inside was poorly lit and every available inch of the floor was covered in research notes and paper. The only light came from a pair of plinths in the middle of the room. They were paired up like a stalagmite and stalactite with only a hand width separating them. They were covered in overlapping glowing script. A single drop of energy was forming on the bottom plinth and trying to drip up to the plinth on the ceiling.

Oh crap, what the hell is going on in here? Where do I even start to unravel any of this wacky lava lamp insanity? None of these scripts make sense.

Drew landed on a chair near the plinth but couldn’t read much of the script. He checked the closest table but the notes there had nothing to do with the experiment.

I need to find his schematics, or his folio. Something that can give me a hint at what these plinths do.

Drew flew to two more tables and took as many notes as he could but he didn't find a clue as to what was going on.

This is all way abstract stuff. And some of these notes are written in a language I can’t read.

Drew peeked outside, Damien was lobbing boulders at two golems now. And Thaddeus had removed one of the talismans. His wound started healing immediately. Drew flew across the room and up towards the second floor.

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“Oh ho ho, you really did it now. Did the academy send you? They can’t stop me, I’m too close to creating crystallized experience points. It will be PERFECT!”

“What? That’s impossible, exp is given to us by the gods. It cannot be created by mortals. The amount of power you would need-“ Damien dodged a fireball.

“GREATER SUMMON GOLEM!”

Thaddeus summoned a third Golem and it lumbered over and joined the fray.

“Can you imagine it? No more grinding low level monsters. Just sit back and make exp out of mana!” Thaddeus cried.

Drew reached the next floor of the tower. The stairs were so cramped his wings touched the stone walls on both sides. The second floor was perfectly clear of any mess. Every inch was covered in enchantments. Ring after ring of the same enchantments.

Oh dang, this guy needs a new hobby. These all say the same thing. He’s compounding the enchantment, multiplying the effect inside each ring of the script.

Drew flew up another flight of stars and came to an identical room full of the same enchantments.

You have entered a Mana dense zone. Your mana regeneration temporarily increases by 100%.

Mana +1

Okay think Drew, think. He’s gathering mana from the whole area. It’s coming here and going through repeated enchantments. Okay these enchantments move mana. They are making it higher the higher up I go. But they aren’t crystallizing it. But it’s similar.

Drew passed a window and could see Damien fending off 4 golems. They all were pounding on his mana shield to no effect.

Thaddeus pulled the second talisman from his leg and threw it on the ground.

Damien’s holding his own, but that crazy wizard is going to be back in the fight soon. These windows are crusted over with mana crystals so I can’t fly out and help him without going all the way back down.

The crystal warbles like old glass on houses. These were liquid before they hardened.

Drew watched as Damien used his wand to pull the ground out from under one golem, knocking it off its feet, and threw that boulder at another golem. The ground around the enchanter was riddled with these holes making approaching him that much harder for the golems.

What if the crystals on the outside are the side effect, like perspiration condensing on a cold drink. Then crystallizing.

Now that he knew what he was looking for, he noticed the word “Condense” appeared in every script around the room repeating itself a hundred times.

Okay here goes nothing.

Drew changed the word for “Condense” to “Crystallize” in the enchantment in the very center of the room. Immediately a mana crystal grew out of the floor. It grew so quickly it speared the ceiling. The whole tower shuddered. The script around the crystal caught fire.

The fire spread very quickly.

Yep. Time to go!

Drew flew down two flights of stairs and out the door to see 5 Mana crystal golems pile onto the mad wizard Thaddeus.

“You fool! Witness my true power!” Thaddeus said.

Five golems interlocked their arms and joints, forming a larger golem with Thaddeus held suspended inside.

“Damien, it’s time to go! Plan B is now plan C!” Drew said as he flew past the old enchanter.

Damien and Drew ran as quickly as they could. Damien pulled out the mana lens to look at the tower and yelped. He immediately summoned wall after wall of stone up out of the ground to cover their escape.

A sixth and final golem seated itself on the shoulders of the fusion golem and unfolded, revealing the head.

“BEHOLD! GIGA GOLEM! I’m iNdEstRucTibLe! I have an unlimited reserve of Mana to- GAHHHHHHH“ Thaddeus was interrupted by a tendril of mana from the tower latching onto him.

The tower behind him burst into flames and then imploded, folding in on itself creating a tiny apple-sized gem that followed the winding tendril of mana into the giga golem and Thaddeus at its heart.

“Not good. Not good at all.” Damien grabbed Drew out of the air and tore a hole in the ground, lifting the stone up above their heads as he jumped into the hole. At the bottom, he wrapped them both up in multiple layers of shields.

He brought the stone back down on top of them just as everything exploded.

- 52 -

Damien and Drew sat in the hole he had dug, wrapped in Mana Shields. The ground shook for nearly a minute. And it got oppressively hot.

“How many shields did you wrap us with?” Drew asked.

“All of them, I can summon 6 at once. This hole we are in is 10 meters deep.” Damien said. “By my calculations in the likely event the tower explodes, we would need to be at least 100 meters away. We managed about 120 meters.”

Okay maybe I was a little too reckless…

“What did you do?” Damien asked.

“He had a series of enchantment building up the mana density within the tower. I changed his enchantment from ‘Condense Mana’ to ‘Crystallize Mana’ and then a big crystal formed and everything caught on fire.”

“Oh yes, that would do it.” Damien replied, and jotted it down in his notes.

“Do you think that mad wizard survived?” Drew asked.

“Only one way to find out.” Damien replied and used his Channel Earth wand to lift a column of dirt and stone off their heads.

They listened for any sign of movement. Hearing nothing, Damien dropped his 6 shield spells.

Drew flew up out of the hole and circled the new crater. From above it was nearly spherical and fell just short of their hiding spot.

Nothing remained of the tower or of the golems.

“It seems my math was not quite as accurate, I’d say we had about 2 meters of extra space... we were really too close to this explosion.” Damien made a few more notes in the margins of his book.

“This much power will likely attract a dragon or something worse. I much prefer to be back in my workshop.” He said.

The walk back to Rottervale was a quiet one, they took a direct route, with Drew scouting from the sky overhead. Damien spent most of the time taking notes in his book while he walked. They avoided a vine monster, which Damien confirmed were feral soft shell spider melons.

After two hours they crossed over the perimeter fence surrounding the city. Dusk was falling and the light enchantments were turning on across the west side. Drew had plenty of time to think about his part in killing Thaddeus.

It was him or us really, he would have killed us both. He attacked Damien with multiple golems. Could he have summoned an army? The guy was crazy.

The town guards were waiting for them. They were ushered into their guard room adjacent to the southern gate. After 10 minutes they were offered some water. Then the captain of the guard opened his office door and they were escorted in.

“Mr. Hornbrush, its been a while since you have moved to Rottervale. I thought your adventuring days were behind you.” The guard captain said.

Drew had sat perched on the back of a chair beside Damien. The guard captain’s office was spartan, with only a desk and three identical wooden chairs. Damien had produced a small cushion for himself before sitting down. Damien and Drew were on one side and the captain paced back and forth behind his desk.

“Now Roland,” Damien began, but was interrupted by a look from the guard captain. “Sir Ironwatch. I am certainly no longer an adventurer, I was simply in the inopportune place at the appropriate time to prevent a major catastrophe.”

“Seems to me a something catastrophic has occurred despite your efforts. I expect a full explanation for my report.” He said. “If I find your story to be false then I will bring an oracle to this city and review your memories directly.”

Damien relayed the story in its entirety, leaving out a few details. As Damien told it, he defended himself after accidentally interrupting a dangerous experiment. He did not mention Drew’s involvement, he did not mention the golems fusing with Thaddeus.

He painted a flawless picture of a mad wizard whose research would have exploded and blown up without his involvement. It took half an hour, the guard captain asked for several parts to be described again, and he recorded everything down.

Refreshments were brought and Drew had time to review his combat logs again while he waited.

Combat rewards: Level 99 Giga Golem - 2045 exp

Combat rewards: Level 49 Mad Wizard - 1085 exp

Trait level up conditions met: [Scholar] level 2

Skill Upgrade: [Enchanting lvl 5]

Skill Upgrade: [Enchanting lvl 6]

Level Upgrade: Level 7 Crow (Juvenile) - (3579/1300)

Level Upgrade: Level 8 Crow (Juvenile) - (2279/1500)

HP: +1

MP: +2

ST: +1

Ranking up twice in a row really does a number on your stats. Nearly all of my stats went up a point or two from the fight and I was able to spend a few points on increasing my health pool to 19.

“Damien, that’s all our questions for now. Do not leave town. If we need your further assistance in this matter we will contact you.” The captain said.

Damien stood up from his chair and gave a polite bow. “Thank you for your time captain. I would be happy to answer any of your questions in the future but an old man like me must rest after an adventure such as this. Good evening.”

Damien and Drew returned to the enchanter’s shop and Damien invited him in but Drew waved him off.

I need some time to sort all this out. And I’ve got to prepare for my rematch with Skyclaw.

“Fine enough, it’s likely going to be an early dinner and bed for me. I’m not cut out for all this excitement. Come find me tomorrow, I believe that we will need to send word to a colleague of mine in the capital about the spell Thaddeus was working in his tower.” Damien said.

-

The next morning, Drew sat in his nest within the rafters of the adventurers guild. He was cleaning off his armor and trying to wrap his head around what to do next.

Yesterday was a busy day. I can count the times I nearly died on one claw.

The guild hall was quiet, most adventurers weren’t even up yet. The few that were awake were on their way out the door without breakfast. And there weren’t any Skurr about since breakfast hadn’t happened yet. He stashed his armor in his storage ring and checked his inventory and quests.

I’ve got these globs of slime from the fight. And have some of these research notes from that crystal tower. I should give them to Damien, they seem right up his alley. I bet there is a quest for slime globs I could cash these in for.

He flew down to the quest board and started perusing.

Gather rabbit horns, slay feral spider melons, investigate unusually large rat sightings in the sewers, slay giant frogs to the south west of town, slay pixens in the northern fields, deliver barrels of ale to the garrison, investigate the old dungeon for signs of activity, the chapel needs wood for a new roof, nothing about gathering slime globs. I could check out a potion shop, that’s usually how this goes right? They make health or mana potions out of slime and-

“So. You are Damien’s familiar then.” Vivian said. She was standing immediately behind Drew. And she was angry.