As the sun set on the following day Savani finally returned to the Tower. The moment the wagon stopped, Mary got off holding her cloth sack. Looking back at Savani she gives a quick nod before saying, "You have some potential. The Shadow League would enjoy having you among its ranks. Whats more if you are ever interested I am always looking for capable people to join me." Having finished what she wanted to say, Mary turned around and went into the tower.
Walking inside Mary went off to a corner of the first floors main atrium. In the corner was a staircase leading upward to the higher levels of the tower. Walking through the doorway, Mary felt a slight pressure on her skin. This pressure was put into place to stop lower level apprentices from advancing higher in the tower. It was only after they gained enough strength that they could advance.
After walking up one flight of stairs, Mary stepped onto a small flat area. In front of her was another staircase leading to the third floor. To her left was a doorway leading out into the second floor of the tower. Ignoring it she continued forward up the third flight of stairs. Like before a pressure began to press down on her, one far stronger than before. However like before she simply walked through it until she reached the third floor.
Going through the doorway Mary was greeted by the site of the third floors atrium. Unlike the first floor, the third floors atrium was far grander. The walls were made out of marble and the ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky. The floor was covered with a dark red beast skin carpet that covered the entire area. Off to one corner was a raging fireplace with a dark sapphire blue flame surrounded by several luxuriant sitting chairs.
However the biggest difference is that there was no one there. Each floor had a strict requirement before being able to enter. The first floor was for beginner and early adept level apprentices. The second floor was for those who had transgressed to late adept level and early peak level apprentices. The third floor was only for those that had managed to break into the late levels of peak apprentice, along with the few who managed to enter Pseudo-Sage.
While there were hundreds at the beginner and adept level, Sage Lance's tower only had roughly 20 apprentices capable of entering the third floor. This in turn made it rare to see others while wandering the floor. Seeing there was no one else here, Mary walked over to a corner of the atrium where an undead was sitting in an alcove with a table in front of it. Since there were less apprentices Sage Lance simply had one of his undead man their mission counter. Walking up to the undead Mary placed her sack on the table Mary simply stated "I have completed my mission."
Back at the front of the tower, Savani quickly placed his undead into his new Spacial Nook, along with his new travelers Alchemy kit and the various belongings he had brought with him. While he was doing this, he had the undead go inside and get one of the helpers from the first floor missions area to come out and check to make sure that Governor Hordif had indeed managed to get everything required.
During the travel back Savani had tried to use the chips scanning function to see what was inside. Sadly it seems the inside of the crates held some form of inscriptions that stopped others from being able to tell what was inside, along with some form that stopped any smells from leaking out. During his time in the town Savani had learned that the chips scanning function was far less useful than he had originally thought.
While it was true he could scan for magical creatures and plants, Savani had learned that if a person had a higher Spirit than he did, the chip would only be able to tell that they were there. However, if they had a lower Spirit, Savani found he could scan the person and be able to get a basic graph of their abilities.
Luckily this means that the stronger Savanis Spirit grew, the more information he could gather. He also noticed that the range that he could scan and control his undead would grow exponentially with his Spirit. Strangely despite this limitation on other apprentices, Savani could still gather data on the various creatures he came across. Neither he nor the chip had an understanding as to why this was the case, though the chip had a theory it had something to do with the soul of an apprentice.
Noting to try and find more information on the phenomena, Savani was finally given the all clear by the mission helper. After confirming that everything was there Savani was awarded 500 points directly! All the previous missions Savani had done only ended up giving him between 10-30 points. This one mission was worth over 10 of the others! It is no wonder some apprentices would leave the tower, not only were the points more lucrative but the chance of getting other rewards were higher as well.
After recording the points into his badge, Savani first places his horse and wagon in the stables that were nearby the tower. This stable was meant for those traveling merchants as well as common mounts that the apprentices may have. For the more exotic or dangerous mounts, there was a separate stable on the opposite side of the tower.
Once his horse and wagon were taken care of Savani enters into the tower. Looking around, he can't help but raise an eyebrow. Previously there were only ever roughly 200 apprentices wandering around, but now there was closer to 500. As Savani looks over the crowd, Savani sees a couple of people he was acquainted with.
Walking forward Savani smiles as he walks up to a hulking figure covered in green scales with a large pair of bat wings on his back. Waving at the monstrous figure, Savani shouts out "Warren! How have you been?"
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Turning around Warren grins at Savani, showing a row of razor sharp teeth. "Savani welcome back. How was your first foray out into the real world?"
Savani shakes his head. "Honestly it was rather dull. It was simply over to Forest Edge to gather some resources. Still the points were rather lucrative." Seeing a strange expression on Warrens face, Savani can't help but ask "What?"
Warren looks around before putting an arm around Savanis shoulder. The simple weight of the limb reminded Savani of weight lifters doing squats back on Earth. Just his arm had to weigh roughly 40 lbs. Leaning over, Warren whispers to Savani, "Something is going on with the tower. Not only was there a recall of all traveling apprentices, but any mission that had to deal with either supplies or exploration had a massive increase in rewards. The tower also released a statement that in the next few days Sage Lance is going to have an announcement."
Listening to Warrens information, Savani understands. It isn't that outside missions are more lucrative, he had just been extremely lucky to pick a mission that had its rewards increased for some reason. Going over the rest of the information that Warren told him, Savani can't help but frown.
Just like when Mary came to retrieve him, Savani had a feeling that something big was going to happen. Sadly, it looks like it would still be a few days before everyone found out what was going on. Still with the points Savani now had, he could try and prepare for whatever was going to happen. Worst comes to worst, Savani could simply flee.
Savani spent the next half hour talking with Warren learning all the gossip that had happened the last few weeks he was gone. According to him, the message to recall all apprentices happened just two days after Savani left toward Forest Edge. The tower had sent all apprentices from the peak level as well as all four Pseudo-Sages out to collect the various apprentices. These apprentices had more powerful mounts that would allow them to travel much farther in a shorter amount of time.
Savani spent the next few hours getting some food after a long days travel as well as catching up with a few other apprentices he had more of a relationship with. Like Warren, they all told him of various oddities that were going on. One even told him that all the apprentices were forbidden from killing anything within the forest.
Hearing all of this Savani frowns as he returns to his room. Looking around it was just as he left it. Glad that he paid for the month in advance, Savani starts to gather everything before putting it all into his Spacial Nook. Besides the giant tub he used for refining his body, Savani had a collection of various alchemy ingredients, monster body parts, and books on magic. Thankfully all together, all of Savani's belongings only filled a quarter of the space. Once he finished packing everything that was his and wasn't an original furnishing of the room, Savani got a notification from his chip.
[Undead Assassin project complete. Requirements for higher tier undead with inborn spells generated.]
Hearing that the project was complete Savani quickly had the chip share the requirements it had generated.
[Requirement 1: Body used for undead must be from higher tier creature or humanoid. The subject must have had some affinity with Darkness essence. The higher the affinity with Darkness essence, the lower the decay in status from conversion. Body must also have as little damage as possible both externally and internally in order to get full results.]
[Requirement 2: Any spell used on undead must be known to the host and reach the level of Crystallization. Only then will the rune for the spell be known. Undead must also have affinity matching that for any crystallized rune. Host must then find some way to copy this rune onto undead in some fashion.]
[Requirement 3: User must find some way to have undead either be able to gather or store Spirit or essence in order to activate runes. Body modification before conversion is acceptable but will result in lowered status of undead.]
Reading through the various requirements, Savani frowned. These requirements were rather high, both for the body used and Savani. If he wanted his undead to have a spell, he himself had to master it to the point of getting a spell rune. It had to be known that for a normal apprentice this would be nearly impossible.
The creation of a spell rune meant that the caster mastered it to the point where they not only knew every spell weave and chant needed, but also the very essence of the spell itself. It also required a very high attunement to the spells element making it even harder for those with middling talent.
Most apprentices would have to spend nearly a decade simply to get one rune. The only reason Savani had so many is that he had the chips help. Every cast would be recorded and analyzed before feedback was returned. Anything from finger placement to even the pitch of his voice would be modified in order to perfect the spell. It was only when everything was 100% perfect and resonated with the world that a crystallized rune would form.
Yet the chip had told him that any spell he wanted to place on the undead would need that rune. This meant that Savani had to crystalize practically every spell he had. Then again the benefit of a spell rune was that Savani could cast a spell without any indication of what was going on. Savani sat on one of the chairs that remained in his now bare room and began to think about what to do next.
* * * * * * *
Several days later, Savani finds himself in a large group of apprentices gathered outside the tower. The various factions gathered in their respective groups, with the Earthen Court and Shadow League being at the two ends of the crowd. Most notably was that the large crowd seemed to contain every apprentice of the tower besides the four Pseudo-Sages. In total there seemed to be close to 800 apprentices overall, spread out among the various factions.
Savani could feel the tense atmosphere in the air. Like him the other apprentices realized something strange was going on. The towers movements were simply too bizarre causing them all to understand that something big was about to happen. As they whispered among themselves the doors to the tower opened. Behind it stood Sage Lance, followed by the leaders of both the Earthen Court and the Shadow League.
Sage Lances gaze rakes over all of the towers apprentices callously before he begins to speak. "One of the towers of our Thunder Legion has fallen and its Sage injured. Over the last few days we have tried to negotiate with our attackers and failed. As of this morning, the Thunder Legion is at war, and all of you will be sent to the battlefield. Good luck."