^^ (!!!Humblewood has Cool RPG Inspiration!!!) ^^

Convincing my family not to Level the Tower to get rid of the Possibly-Homicidal Spirit inhabiting it was more difficult than I'd anticipated, but they eventually relented and allowed the tour to continue; after a quick jaunt through the territory and an explanation of how I was using the tower to catch and kill monsters in a secure location, away from civilization, (but not how it operates, as there was some of it I still didn't understand, and most of what I did know I wanted to keep secret,) we went back home to have some dinner before they popped like overfilled wine skins.

A bit of awkward dinner conversation and such later, I was released back to Hightower with Kip and Aster, (who was going to make the town her Base to accommodate my taking her to her various work-sites, apparently under the belief I was incapable or unwilling to go to her previous residence to pick her up, but I didn't mind the easier process,) and immediately I was returning to work.

Fixing the silver lines and covering them in a stone casing to prevent any future attacks was simple, given the fact that the four goblins within were too scared of me to do much other than run away, so that was the first thing that got finished. Next was the Paean problem, which I didn't see much of a solution for other than lowering their population a bit, and so I tried the poisons that I'd mixed from amongst the things given to me by the herbalists in Hightower. None of them had been lethal on their own, but after concentrating them to lethal toxin levels and mixing them to create what I needed, I poured the vial of purple liquid into the water pipe that fed all the various floors, and returned to the control room to watch the ensuing chaos.

"That poison is... not as potent as I had thought it would be? Why is that?" Evander asked, appearing next to me as his illusory self, which I'd demanded after the first day of working in the Tower.

"It's a vomit-and-fever-inducing poison designed to affect the Paeans more violently; if it interacts with the Ogres and Orcs too much, it won't be potent enough to proper influence their stomach acid by the time it reaches their floor." I explained the poison, watching as a good half of the Orcs and Ogres begin to violently vomit, some of them puking blood, then sighed and looked at the Paeans in the floor, along with the Naga I had placed there. One of the Naga was nowhere to be seen, likely eaten by the Peans when they tried to get some water.

"Ahh, yes... the method of consumption is important... if they use their acid to eat it, it's going to fall apart, but if they drink it in the water, it's injected instantly into their bloodstream!" He nodded, taking a holographic seat and watching the water be dumped into the paean's lake.

There was a cloud of blue blood as a few of the Paean simply... Popped, but many others began swimming around in frantic circles as the fever-induced hallucinations began to take hold and drive them crazy, before either popping as well or simply halting their movements; their little hearts had given out by the thousands, according to the numbers on the screen documenting their population and the amount of Mana they had generated.

At first, I was confused by their entire bodies dissolving as they died, but then I realized that their stomachs and digestive systems were empowered by what little Mana they had, and not only was it how they made such potent acid, it also protected them from their own acid, and now that they were dead, the acid tore through them like tissue paper. "Well, that's a curious effect... try absorbing the Mana from the remaining Paeans, about half of the remaining ones?"

"To see if we can control their population automatically?"

"No,-well yes, but no,- it's to see if we can remove Monsters' Magical Abilities, like a Dragon's Fire Breath..." I frowned, building an experiment in my mind to test the theory while he complied, and the number of living Paean's dropped to exactly half of what it had been in just a few seconds.

"Well, that worked!!! And why would you be working towards removing the Magical Abilities of monsters? It would only work within the Tower, right?"

"It only has to work inside the tower... if we're Summoning monsters here to curtail their growths, it necessitates us removing their abilities to escape or destroy the Tower, no? Also, farming them for Mana while they're alive is far more efficient than just collecting Mana and Goods from their Deaths, isn't it?" I shrugged, pulling a book out of the library through a portal and searching for the uses of Mana for a Hobgoblin.

"That does seem more efficient, yes, though obviously more dangerous; your plan to De-Power the monsters, however, would minimize the Risk to a negligible percentile compared to the current method."

"Good. Now, you've got the Golems in the lower floors up and running, yes? Making new chambers, spreading out and down?" I prompted him, knowing he'd momentarily forgotten the purpose behind me restoring the connection below.

"Ah, right! Yes, many many new rooms coming up!!! What shall I turn the rubble into, once it's all above ground?"

"Don't alter any of it, but if you find any metal, let me know! Turn any rocks into bricks and mortar, stack those outside next to the sand, place any sand in the pile outside, and pour any dirt you find into the water supply a little at a time to get eaten by the Paeans; anything else you find, just let me know about it. And remember what I said about the halls, they need to be hidden and collapsible, so that the only reasonable way in or out of these rooms is the Nexus of Gates I'll be building to access them, yes?" I pulled up the blueprints, opening the folder I'd made for the new rooms, and he nodded, sending the orders to the Golems below.

"What about the silver lines that are supposed to connect to the Walls and expand the Tower's Influence to the City?"

"Ah, yes, we'll need to make some silver for that, won't we? Luckily that's a secondary objective, so we can take our time and do that with the proper levels of precaution." The walls of the city were in relatively good shape, considering they'd been abandoned for sixty years, but they'd need some repairs before this could be considered a 'protected' area. "Then again... there's sunlight down below, yes?"

"Indeed, a type of Illusion magic enchanted into the Crystals in the ceilings? Why?"

"Why don't we farm below, in a series of chambers that are within your sphere of influence, but separate from the Monster Chambers? Then we won't need to expose ourselves to possible attacks on the surface!" I grinned happily at yet another problem having a solution that was within my power to impart, opening the blueprints and crafting a ring-shaped cavern around the tower, filling out to the edge of the City and supported by way of a series of pillars and Conjuration Runes that would support the roof in the event of a cave-in.

"What will you do with the land on top, then?"

"Well, we'll need a real City eventually, no?" I shrugged, and sent the order to the Golems below to prioritize the Cavern instead of the Monster Rooms; my plan for farming was more plausible, currently, than the one for summoning monsters and lowering their numbers in the wild.

"True, less surface farmland gives us more room for actual buildings; we only have 2 square kilometers within the walls, after all." The illusory mage nodded seriously, and we watched as the golems changed course, and began carving their way up towards the surface, where the Cavern would be one the same level as the goblin floor.

"Good... now for the Runes for this Summoning System..." I sighed, stepping through a portal to my rooms and opening the pages of my journal where I was trying to make the system for the Tower to summon the bodies of the deceased monsters. I already had the part which transmuted the bodies into their usable ingredients, but the summoning was difficult. "The hard part seems to be summoning a corpse... directly summoning a dead creature is apparently quite beyond my abilities currently..."

"If it's within a controlled area, you can always open portals underneath the corpses that you've tagged with your Familiar Cage, like your portals to summon your bow, no?" Kip spoke from the doorway, smirking at my flinching out of my chair.

I frowned up at her from the ground, and noticed Aster next to her. "Why must I always be on the ground when I meet you, Lady Regalia?" I sighed long-sufferingly.

"I do not know, but it is as amusing as it is flattering!" She giggled, extending a hand to help me up.

I accepted with another sigh, standing up and dusting myself off. "Yes, yes, but that one wasn't due to your beauty, so don't get a big head about it just yet..." I grumbled at her as I collected my journal and charcoal pencil off the ground, then paused and looked at Kip. "Wait, what did you say? What's this about Tagging?"

Kip smirked and replied while Aster blushed and rubbed her cheeks off to the side, apparently embarrassed about something or other. "If you tagged items to summon them, like your Bow and Sword, then you can easily tag monsters as you summon them into your Tower; then when they're dead, you can simply summon the tagged 'Object' instead of summoning the 'Being'. Then... well, I don't know, transmutation isn't my strong suit; I've always preferred Summoning." She shrugged casually, leaning against the doorframe.

I rushed to make the changes to my notes, instantly summoning a goblin at my side with a wave of my hand. "That's quite ingenious, Miss Kip... I'm only sorry I was too blind to see it!!! So close to my own method, I would have eventually thought of it, but if could have taken months!!!" I grinned and tagged the creature with the same mark that was on my bow, and then summoned him a second time through the familiar cage, causing him to fall through a portal and onto the ground.

"Hmph... maybe I should've made you wait, then? Might give you the wrong idea if I make it too easy..." she frowned thoughtfully, then glanced at the Goblin. "Now what?"

"Now, I let the System work, and hope it succeeds..." I dropped him through a portal to the Goblin Floor, and watched all four of the hobgoblin females perk up and stare at him intensely. "I'll either get results or I won't, in the next few weeks... or however long it takes, really... I just realized I dropped a male goblin into a room full of four female hobgoblins... he might die of Snu-Snu before anything else..." I sighed, shaking my head tiredly.

"What is... Snu-Snu?" Aster asked slowly, raising an eyebrow at my immediate frozen expression.

Kip snorted inelegantly, then brayed with laughter like a rather loud donkey at my panicked expression. "Oh yes, lord Fontaine, by all means explain to us what Snu-Snu is!!!" She snickered, failing you get her laughter under control.

"I-... please, forget my use of such a crude term... and please stop antagonizing the situation, Kip..." I sighed, rubbing my face dejectedly.

She grinned casually, unaffected by my stress. "I dunno what you're talking about, kid!"

"Ah, my apologies; I must've overestimated your intellect..." I smirked and turned back to my journal, addressing Aster. "Now, Lady Aster, I was under the impression you were not working today, but I am amicable to transporting you wherever you wish to go, nevertheless."

"Ah, no... I came to help you with your Rune Project, as I promised? I just need to get to your tower and start work on the Farmland you wanted?" She frowned, still looking curious about what I'd been referring to.

"Oh! Yes, that was part of our deal, wasn't it?!? Sorry, I'm a very busy person, so I forget things quite often!!!" I laughed at my carelessness while opening a portal to the tower, or more accurately, to the small experimental Garden that was out front of it; a plot of land that was one-hundred meters wide, where the central square of the city had been previously, and now all the stones and rubble turned to dirt ready for tilling. A grid of perforated copper pipes laid underneath and above it to provide the nutrient-laden water and heat, while the grid on top, (some twenty meters in the air to allow for fruit trees, our current seedling project,) was also covered in crystals that would exude Daylight down into the garden all year long, including on rainy and stormy days; these were all connected to eight square plates of silver for the Runes, and then the Tower itself via a hidden silver cord buried under about ten feet of dirt and stone.

Aster hummed, examining the set-up for a moment while Kip walked around the perimeter. "Curious... but the use of Silver and Copper will make it more efficient, so that makes my job easier. And it uses the Magic Crystal in the Tower to absorb and redirect Mana, correct?"

"That is correct, Lady Regalia."

"Hmm... alright, then I'll get to work and see what I can do... you need it to regulate the temperature of the air, water, and soil, transfer the nutrients from the water and soil into the plants, monitor and control the moistness of the earth in the plot, shine sunlight on a day-night cycle, shield the plot from wind and intrusion, and accelerate the Trees' fruit growth, yes? That'll be a long series of complicated Runes separated into eight Sigils, (which means your silver plates are actually perfectly placed, nice,) and it'll be quite taxing, but it's nothing I haven't done before, to be fair. The only new part is the silver, which is actually going to make this easier! It'll take me about ten hours of hard work, I'd say, so I could finish by the end of the day, if I take a break for lunch! Is that alright?" She turned to me and smiled charmingly.

"I would be remiss to refuse after all your hard work so far, Lady Regalia." I bowed properly, and then sat down next to her to watch her work. "Do you mind if I watch, though? I've never carved runes that aren't from my own class of Magic before."

"I have no complaints!" She nodded seriously, and drew a piece of charcoal and a silver engraving tool from her pockets, beginning her work by drawing the Sigil in Charcoal, likely to avoid irrevocable mistakes. "It's important to make a draft, first, to ensure you have everything worked out properly; the charcoal Rune will burn after its used once, so if it goes wrong, I can start over, see?" She commented helpfully, proving me right.

"Oooh, interesting..." I nodded for the sake of not appearing rude, despite having already understood the process as it was so far.

She glanced at me, and hummed, before returning to the work. "I'd forgotten you were a High-Elf, my apologies. Stating the obvious is something I generally try to reserve for untaught humans, to spare other Elves from the inane chatter of normal work."

"I thank you for your concern, but it is unnecessary; your conversation is riveting, as always." I returned the proper phrase, the politesse we'd both been taught since we were young.

She sighed, shaking her head at me as she returned to her work. "You really are a High-Born Elf, aren't you? All those Manners, and yet none of the real Empathy that people gain from being raised by a loving family..."

"You are mistaken. I have Empathy, and it is because of Empathy that I attempt to spare your feelings; had I no Empathy, I would simply tell you that I had already guessed the purpose of the Drafting Chalk before you spoke, but, knowing that to be rude and hurtful, I did not. You are referring to Sympathy, which is a deeper understanding of emotions, and that is something I am deficient in, as are most sheltered individuals." I corrected her with a raised eyebrow, sure this was a test of some sort, though I couldn't tell why. 'Perhaps she still wonders if I am interested in her? I had thought that I was clear, but perhaps my words came off as platitudes? Perhaps she is the one interested in me?!? No, no, that's ridiculous, look at yourself! Twenty-Seven-year-old Intermediate Mage of Conjuration, the most Useless of the Schools of Magic, according to the commonly-held societally-perceived rankings... you are only a catch if she is A: Interested in me Personally, -not likely,- B: if she wishes a connection with my Parents, -Possible, but improbable,- or C: if my Parents already paid her a Dowry, -Unlikely in the Extreme; Mother would burn down a city first,- and thus she is clearly testing me for some reason... but what is it???'

She grinned slowly, and nodded happily. "I suppose you're right! That's good to know, yes indeed!" With that she went back to her work, smiling and giggling to herself the whole while.

I remained silent and watching for the rest of the time she worked, examining every Rune as she placed it into the Sigils; I was seeing Destruction Runes so far, and I was curious as to how she would make Restoration and Illusion Runes, given she wasn't a Restoration or Illusion Mage.

"You may want to step back..." she warned me as she finished the first Sigil, and I swiftly stepped a good ten meters away, unsure of the possible cataclysmic side-effects of such a Sigil. She giggled softly at my movement, shaking her head at me. "Not that far... but that's alright, this one won't have much to see." She turned back to the Sigil, and then touched a hand to the silver plate, sending out a pulse of Magic; instantly, the snow in the air liquified, and I dove for cover.