The crow could read... And it could read English of all languages. Either the disjointed consciousness had been even more omniscient than I was, or it had been human at some point in its past.
However, there was one important fact to remember. I was very sure that magic didn't exist on earth, and yet this english reading crow could already manipulate its magic as well as the humans it had traveled with. If it had been human, how could it manipulate magic like the local people—who couldn't read the english explanations of the runes—and speak English, like someone from earth who didn't know magic was a thing.
Only explanation I could come up with was that it was like me, a human from earth reborn as a ball of space and magic, just so small that I never paid any attention to it, all the while it had been learning to manipulate magic. But all that didn't matter, as the only thing of any importance was one single fact. The crow could speak english, or at least understand it. I never really cared for human contact, but after what probably was years, I felt a slight desire for someone I could talk with. And that someone was a crow, not a human, which made it completely different.
Just one problem. The moment I realized there was someone who could understand me, and who I wanted to make friends with, I became nervous. I could imagine discussions on how I should expand my tower, new runes I could make, and new methods of making animals and humans want to give their magic to me. Two minds were better than one after all. Just that I could also imagine myself casually mentioning how I maybe brought the crow back from the dead, I didn't want it worshipping me... Or maybe I did. I wasn't entirely sure, as it might be fun, or it might just be extremely awkward. I decided to go with the non-awkward choice for now, and introduce myself. After that, I could ask it questions of its origins and whatnot.
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'Sorry about pulling you away from combat so suddenly, and don't worry, the humans are fine. It's just that, I realized you could probably speak english, and I got curious. We could ask questions from each other. Oh, and I'm Tim by the way. Your friendly ball (maybe more of an elipsoid) of space and magic, like what you were a while back before I turned you to a crow. Anyways, welcome to the Tower Of Tim. I hope we could talk, and become friends, or at least acquaintances.' Oliver read, as the text appeared in the barely lit room he was in.
Never had Oliver expected for a seemingly incorporeal being to write to him via floating text and claim to be magic of all things. Though for someone, or something, to turn him into an animal, and to do so after his death, it might just as well be magic. Oliver wanted to ask this 'Tim' some questions, like 'why?' only to realize he had nothing to write with. He started imitating writing letters with his left claw.
'Right, I forgot to give you writing utensils, but what you're doing works fine' Tim wrote.
It was good enough for him, so Oliver asked his question, 'Why bring me to life, and why make me a crow?' Tim's answer wasn't one Oliver had expected. Tim explained his grand plan, the way he planned to give humans and animals magic, make it so that anyone could preform great feats only comparable to stories of the mightiest sorcerers and the people of the old, all the while expanding his domain to cover the entire planet, and more. It sounded something Oliver could truly get behind at. He could make sure nobody would die from hunger, cold, or lack of educated sorcerers the same way Oliver himself had.
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It didn't take long for the group to reach outside of the tower. But when they stepped outside, they almost decided to immediately go back in. Outside the entrance, there was a large amount of people setting up tents, and arguing with a second large group of people. Evelyn recognized Priest Thomas and the helpers guild symbol—a hand and four stones levitating above it—on clothes of the people setting up the tents.
Evelyn's first thought was that they were preparing to kill the god of the tower since Thomas was there, but that didn't explain the arguing. Priest Thomas was arguing with a rather wide man, facing away from Evelyn, so she decided to ask him what the problem was.
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"Excuse me, but might I be of any help?" Evelyn asked.
Priest Thomas paused for a moment, staring at her for a moment before recognition lit his eyes. "Good evening, Evelyn. I am glad to see you here. You see, after the incident a while back, I've been tasked with destroying the demon of the tower. I've already gathered a sufficiently skilled group, but when we made it here, these madmen wouldn't let us do our task."
"Madmen? You're the one so pitiful that you can't let a god exist just because it's close to your city and its weak god. This tower here could be beneficial to literally everyone outside of cities, but noo, Valeria is in danger, so it must be killed." The other man, a member of the helpers guild as shown by his badge, said.
"As I said, madmen. The demon killed two prestigious members of their guild, and now they want more to die. Maybe you might get some sense in their heads, Evelyn?"
Evelyn already regretted joining in the conversation, but she couldn't exactly get away from it now. She sighed. "Thomas, I'm sure you're doing what you imagine is the best for everyone, but killing this spirit definitely isn't that. I've discovered a few new things about it since we last met, and I can tell you, I am sure the spirit is definitely not a demon, or even evil."
Evelyn was about to show Thomas what the god of the tower had to offer, but Michelle interrupted her, by pulling her away. "I've already shown him, no point in repeating the same arguments. If you wanted to convince him now, you'd need to show him something even Valeria can't do, or at least something her clerics can't. And they won't kill the god while the helpers are here. So no point in wasting our time." Evelyn nodded in response before following Audrey and Michelle to the village. They needed to rest for now, and in a few days, they'd enter the tower once again. Though they would need someone else to sell the magic powder to, since the helpers would be getting it themselves in the probable future.
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I had been enjoying a rather wonderful discussion with a crow named Oliver. We'd mostly discussed ideas for new runes and what they could be used for... Mostly as an apology to Oliver. Since he was alive and conscious, with his own tiny supply of magic, I couldn't manipulate his body however I wanted.
Thus, I couldn't give him a human body without killing him or forcefully taking all his magic, or mana as Oliver called it, so that I could change his body without resistance. It might be possible if Oliver just gave all his magic to me, at least I couldn't come up with reasons why it wouldn't be possible, but Oliver didn't want to do it, even if he could figure out how. To him, magic was a integral part of his body and soul, giving all of it up was a definite no. Oliver would stay a crow for the foreseeable future, so in the meantime I'd create him all the runes he wanted to exist.
Oliver did have a bunch of great ideas, one of which was his ideas on rune combination mechanics. Drawing lines between runes to connect them was something I'd already thought of, but only for the sensory and logic runes. Oliver mentioned how it would be cool if he could just draw a line from the ice/coldness rune to the water rune, and it would make cold water, or work as a proper ice rune. One could even make the line thicker at one end to get more of one effect than the other, like a lot of cool water, or a bit of very cold ice, completely determined by the user. And if someone decided to combine new runes together, I could just come up with the effect on the spot. Just so long that I remembered what the effect was, which shouldn't be a problem.
The second of Oliver's great ideas, was to make more magic items. After I mentioned the Ice shield I had made to protect against the second floor flamethrowers—which had been completely unnecessary, and pretty much forgotten—Oliver said I should make more. Useful tools and weapons that used the dust and runes that could be sold, used and passed down from generation to generation. It was something I'd already thought of, and yet the way Oliver talked about it made me realize just how much more potential it had than I thought. I could give them finished and ready to use, instead of only giving more dust and precious materials.
And finally, there was the idea of giving parts of the animals bodies properties that didn't use the runes. Like the scales of the now once again living snake that the crow had fought against, could become harder when mana is pushed through them. In other words, I could make magic loot for my tower, objects that could only be aquired by people who climb up it. Make the things in the higher floors more complex, versatile and harder to duplicate the effects of with the use of my runes.
There would be people who come to visit just so they can find more animals with magic properties that they could use, or to get unique items. And in the process, they would give me tons of their mana. This got me and Oliver to brainstorm ideas on magic objects, odd monsters and ideas for higher floors. Or at least we did, until Oliver came up with something peculiar. An idea so wrong, that I wasn't sure if I even wanted to try. Who was I kidding, of course I wanted to try. After all, what could go wrong with a sword that had a human mind in it?