Act Seventy-Three: The Mage's Tower

After the demon spirit withdrew from the outer perimeter of the mage tower, the progress of the battle outside slowed down. The battle soon shifted to Nimesis and Lorenna's group, though Brando expected to rotate at least three or four times before the spirits were wiped out.

It's been a bit of a long time, but the good thing is that he's not out of business. The first floor of the Mage Tower is as large as a small square, clinging to the outer wall of the plaza, with a circle of stairs spiraling upwards to the platform on the second floor. This platform is actually suspended between the plaza and the third floor above, the platform is a circular structure, and there are breastworks and battlements built around it, Brando looks like a fortification, its role is self-explanatory, naturally someone broke through the entrance of the mage tower, used to attack the enemy above the first layer of the square.

Presumably, when the mage tower was still in operation, it should have been filled with wizard guards and young apprentices, but now it was empty, and only the lifeless fortifications themselves remained.

Even so, the Wizard's Tower is full of dangers. 'Wizards' things are untouchable', this is a common saying of the Karasu people, and the wizard's tower, as a wizard's most valuable possession, is itself a forbidden area for ordinary people.

Especially in such an abandoned wizard's tower, the wandering magic, the magic traps that are still running, the magic puppets that have lost the restraint of their masters, dangerous creatures, plants, and even the books on the shelves are full of mystery and unknown. For a normal person, the best way to enter this wizarding tower to stay safe is to stay motionless underneath.

But this constraint is only for ordinary people.

Brando knows another secret in this tower. He ordered everyone to rest where they were, and then he alone led Akane, the Little Prince, and Firas up to the third level of the Mage Tower.

There is no physical connection between the third and second floors of the Mage Tower, and instead twelve teleportation arrays transport manpower and supplies. The twelve teleportation arrays were marked by different colors, and Brando chose the red teleportation array without thinking about it.

Traps placed on teleportation arrays are the most vicious and the most common way wizards defend themselves against enemies.

Red is a warning color for most people, but Brando knows it. The colors of the twelve teleportation arrays are more than just warnings. The Wizards of the Black Tower associate them with the twelve months of Eruin and the twelve magical moons. In different months, in different months, there will only be one teleportation array that is a real teleportation array.

Most of the other teleportation circles will teleport you to the icy Mountain of Storm Stop. Or the lava land, or the shallow sea, the home of Malocha, and some corner of the world you can't even name.

While teleportation arrays are mostly not lethal, the effects they produce are more dangerous than deadly. Especially for players. It is said that an unlucky guy in Amber Sword broke into the teleportation array and was sent to a kingdom called Hilma, who spent a whole year in real time and countless posts on the forums before trying to find a way to return to Vaughnde.

It is said that the action to save this player at that time can even be written into an epic poem, and the players have come up with a variety of ways to do this. For a long time after that, players even set off a craze to travel to other worlds.

Brando wasn't personally involved in the event because of the war in Eruin, but he knew that players didn't really find out how many 'otherworlds' there were outside of Vaind.

It's just that these other worlds obviously existed for a long time, and Tracy Man came from one of them. Regarding these worlds, players tend to prefer Martha's Order Fragments scattered throughout the vast dark world. Vaynd is just one of the larger ones.

……

It took Brando a lot of effort to activate the circle, as he discovered that the mana pool of the facilities inside the wizarding tower was not the same as the mana pool of the high-level exorcism circle outside. The mana pool inside had apparently dried up long ago. He had to use the magic crystal he carried with him to finally drive the teleportation array.

There was a flash of light in front of the four of them. The next moment they found that the scenery in front of them had changed. Originally, it was still a rather spectacular fortification. But now it has become a long, narrow and dark aisle - the mana pool in the wizard's tower has long since dried up, and the magic lighting that was originally used is naturally gone. If it weren't for the strange glowing plants in the aisle, they would have seen it pitch black.

However, Brando had already prepared, he took out the magic crystal, and the bright light immediately reflected the corridor in front of him. It seemed to be the first time in a century that the light had revisited the place, and Brando heard a thud, and then they both saw a large vine shyly retreat from the hallway, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone.

Akane was still able to keep her composure, and Firas and the little prince couldn't help but feel a little creepy when they saw this scene, they had seen a lot of things, but they had never seen a plant that could grow legs and run around on its own.

The shape of the corridor is also a bit unsightly, it is supposed to be a walkway paved with marble or obsidian, and the walls on both sides are covered with masonry, and there are torch holders at intervals. Similar walkways can be found in many castles and temples.

But this one in front of me was like this, there were many stout tengmen in the broken masonry, the stone slabs on the ground had long been lifted to the east and west, and the corners of the walls were like tropical jungles overgrown with all kinds of plants. Mostly ferns or some glowing fungi. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, you would have imagined that such a place would become a paradise for plants.

But that's what the wizard's realm is, and it's called the 'miracle of magic'. It's just that this miracle is not necessarily friendly, and folklore is not lacking in examples of things being permanently turned into frogs.

"What is this place?" Firas opened his mouth in surprise and couldn't help but ask.

"This should be the top level of the wizard's tower, and it is where the wizards live." Brando replied. The red teleportation array, on the day when the magic of the harp overflowed in the Moon of Flowing Fire, was the only way to the upper level of the Wizard's Tower.

"Ah......h Then the little prince said with a little curiosity: "It turns out that those below are the Twelve Rounds of Moon Teleportation Array!" ”

"Twelve moons?"

Haruzer seemed to have just reacted to his fuss, which was a bit too rude. Blushing. Whispered explained, "...... My sister and I had heard some rumors about wizards from my father. The Wizards of the Black Tower have some unique means of defense, and the Twelve Rounds of the Moon Teleportation Array is one of the most famous, and the wizards have designed this complex system of magic circles based on the seasons and the waxing and waning of the moon on the Vahnd Continent. Legend has it that after the blueprint of this circle was destroyed in an accident, no one was able to unravel it. ”

"Even the wizards of Buga have felt sorry for this, and it is said that the proud people of silver despise this crude magic circle technique. But he admits that it contains the most exquisite astronomical and calendar calculations. ”

Haruzer's tone was a little agitated: "It can even be praised by the people of silver, it is undoubtedly the pride of Eruin." ”

Firas pouted, "Didn't Mr. Brando untie it?" ”

The little prince thought about it for a long time before he thought of this question, and he couldn't help but look at Brando with some admiration: "That's because the teacher is very knowledgeable, and even my sister admires the Earl." My sister has always been a proud person, and Master Lewoods himself says she knows as much as he does. ”

When he said this, he couldn't help but look at Brando a little cautiously.

Brando's words were a little awkward, and he could clearly hear the little prince's tone of flattering him. What's more, the complex calculation method of these teleportation array 'passwords' is certainly not something he instigated, nor is it that the players are wise, in fact, the way players decipher this set of 'passwords' can be regarded as a model of brute force cracking. He remembered that it was a great guild that had been filled out with human life.

He didn't remember the name of the guild, but he was rewarded with a lot of money. They sold the mystery to the Wizard of the Black Tower, along with the circle itself, and supposedly paid the price of a city.

Wizards have always been the most money-hungry people on the Vaynder continent. Although few people see them spending lavishly.

"But then again. This is where wizards live, and there must be something of great value left in it, right? Firas seemed to suddenly remember the legend: "I have heard that every thing of wizards is a rare treasure. ”

He was about to rush inside. But Brando hurriedly grabbed him and reminded him angrily: "It's okay, the wizards just have more magical items in their hands." Trust me, you've got quite a few in you, Mr. Firas. Not every magic item is worth a fortune, and even if there is, it's for ordinary people, not for youβ€”"

Firas was stunned for a moment, and then he reacted: "That's right." So what are we doing here? ”

"You'll find out in a moment," Brando breathed a sigh of relief, but reminded anyway, "Be careful, it's a big labyrinth." It's not the kind in your garden, some people can't get out of the wizard's labyrinth for a lifetime, not to mention the minotaur inside, you must not have seen those monsters raised by wizards, they can eat you to the bone. ”

Firas was about to walk forward, but was startled when he said this, and hurriedly retreated: "This tower has been here for at least a few centuries. Won't they starve to death? ”

"Have you ever seen a monster starving to death?"

Filas blinked, as if he hadn't seen it before.

Brando then lifted the illumination crystal and walked forward, although the surrounding plants were all strangely shaped, he took a look at the plants that were basically harmless. The aggressive pitcher plants and serpentine vines that wizards like to plant are nowhere to be seen, but presumably because both plants are carnivorous vegetation and probably don't live long without food.

He followed the instructions in his memory, crossed five closed doors, turned left, and then walked forward about a hundred paces. Under his reminder, Firas, Akane and the little prince all tried not to look at those doors, in fact, even if Brando did not say that they had heard similar stories, doors were a mysterious word for wizards, and most of their doors led to mysterious other dimensions, and once mortals entered, they should not think of coming back. It's hard to tell if these stories are true or false, but it's best not to take them as a joke.

After walking about a hundred steps, Brando stopped. Sure enough, he saw a corpse in the grass in front of him.

It wasn't the sorcerer's bones, as they were still wearing conspicuous armor. It was in this location when the first player in the game found it, and the player thought that the skeleton should be an adventurer who entered here later, as for how they found the wizard tower, it is unknown, but according to his analysis, the owner of the skeleton should be a warrior-type character in the group of adventurers.

As for the cause of his death?

Brando turned his head and looked carefully into the grass. At this time, he noticed that Haruzer beside him had a strange face, so he stopped and asked, "Did you find anything?" ”

"Who is he?" The little prince asked curiously.

"A warrior, or a knight, is certainly not a wizard."

"He's a guard of wizards, how could he die here?" Filas also asked.

"Because of thisβ€”" Brando finally found what he was looking for in the grass, and the Sword of Earth was already in his hands. He stabbed it down with his sword, and instantly pinned the thing to the ground.

With a squeak, there was a sharp scream, and a black mass struggled under Brando's sword for a moment, then died. When the others looked closely, they realized that it was a weasel-like creature.

"What is this?" Firas was slightly stunned.

"This is the ferret."

"You said a ferret killed this guy?" The young knight from Cruz stared exaggeratedly: "Then won't I be bitten to death by my hunting dog in the future?" ”

Brando was a little speechless about this analogy, and besides, he thought that with this guy's IQ, if he wasn't lucky enough to go against the sky, he might really be bitten to death by a dog. Anyway, it wasn't a strange thing to be bitten to death by a dog in Vainde, even if it was the twilight dog they were going to face for a while, it was a serious canine.

"It's a magic pet." He replied.

"Demon pet?" Only then did Firas react: "You mean that it was a wizard who killed him, and there are wizards in this tower?" He suddenly felt a little creepy.

The little prince also immediately looked left and right.

Akane didn't answer, just silently held the Azure Spear.