Chapter 231: Purchasing Blueprints

After enjoying a novel meal at the Forest Home Hotel, the two outsiders, satisfied and full, set out once again for the streets of Dusk Town. This time they went to the park, where they saw benches set up outside but didn’t know their purpose until people who came to the park sat on them, revealing that they were meant for those who were tired from walking.
So the two of them simply sat on an empty bench, observing the passersby and listening to the conversations of nearby people about the hottest topics in Dalaran at the moment.
Before long, they heard something interesting.
“It seems there really are elven tribes in Dalaran, and they’re quite powerful!”
Another cloaked figure nodded and said, “Seeing is believing. Let’s listen more to what they say about where the elves live. Once we find out, we’ll report back.”
While the two outsiders, based on information they’d gathered from Dalaran residents, sneaked toward the Green Cloak Forest, Lord Donald was completely unaware of it.
It wasn’t surprising that his intelligence agents were negligent—these days, there were too many outsiders dressed like them, most of whom were nobles from other places or spies sent by various factions to observe Dalaran’s strength and situation. Since these spies merely wanted to observe and posed no threat to Dalaran, the intelligence agents simply sent people to keep an eye on them and monitor their movements without delving deeper.
Meanwhile, Donald was busy preparing for his next major project—the plan to build a mage tower, which he had mentioned earlier, was about to be put into action.
He had promised the three mages—Chris, Malf, and the others—to build a mage tower, and now that the conditions were met, he shared his ideas with his mentor, Maelthor.
After listening, the old mage pondered for a while before nodding and saying, “It’s time. While other factions are still observing our situation, we might as well build the mage tower first. With a mage tower in Dalaran and legendary dragons in the Emerald Dream Isles, we won’t have to worry about security in either territory!”
“Good! I’ve gathered most of the magical materials I need, especially moonsilver.plus what we obtained from the Underworld last time, we should have more than enough to build two high-level mage towers. All that’s left now is a set of blueprints!”
A mage tower wasn’t something that could be built casually—it was far more than just a simple building constructed by mages.

A true mage tower must be designed and constructed using arcane blueprints. It is a massive, complex structure composed of various functional arcane arrays, capable of drawing power from different elemental planes. Even cosmic radiation, magical turbulence, and other mysterious forces can be utilized by the mage tower.

Although his school had an ancient heritage, Messel did not possess the blueprints for building a mage tower. To his knowledge, the only set of blueprints for a high-level mage tower in Celt was kept in the tower of the Kingdom Mage Association, and obtaining it required an exorbitant price.

The old mage had long desired a mage tower as well. He immediately stood up and said, “I’ll go to the capital right away to negotiate with the Mage Association. If everything goes well, I can get the blueprints and start construction within a few days!”

Donald stopped his teacher from leaving. “Teacher, you’d better take a airship! It’s fast and saves magic energy. Meanwhile, it can deliver the three airships ordered by the royal family. I’ve prepared a list for you. If the Mage Association agrees to the terms, we can finalize the deal. If they try to demand too much, just ignore them—there’s more than one place in the world that sells mage tower blueprints!”

The old mage nodded understandingly, took the list from Donald, and prepared to head to Kosovo in the capital.

The mages of the North County were located on the edge of the kingdom’s territory and had never been able to build a mage tower. Even masters like Messel, combined with all the mages of the North County, lacked the ability and resources to do so. In entire Celt, only the capital had a high-level mage tower; the others were all low-level ones, with much weaker power.

It was said that the Mage Kingdom of Vylin was nicknamed the “Land of a Thousand Towers” precisely because of the numerous mage towers there. Even baron-level noble territories could usually build a low-level mage tower, and some powerful mage lords had more than one. There were hundreds to nearly a thousand mage towers of various sizes throughout the kingdom. It was said that hundreds of years ago, during a magical disaster, a legendary powerful demon led tens of thousands of demons but failed to enter Vylin even a hundred miles away, suffering heavy losses itself.

Thanks to the powerful defensive capabilities of mage towers, these mages served as sturdy fortresses for their masters but were like spiny turtles to invaders—truly detestable. In the end, those demons had no choice but to turn to other human territories.

As a silver-ranked mage skilled in both alchemy and elements, although not yet on par with the gold-ranked powerhouses who had grasped the laws of the universe, Messel was already surpassing most silver-ranked mages. Being an alchemy master of such importance, his contribution to the development of the kingdom’s forces was comparable to that of ordinary gold-ranked powerhouses.

Donald originally thought that with his teacher’s involvement, the Mage Association would show some leniency. After all, the five giants of the Mage Association were not united, and he had only offended a few mages, among whom there must have been some truly legitimate mages.

Yet he had underestimated the greed of the Mage Association. To obtain the blueprints for a mage tower, he had claimed to have discovered some ancient mage relics and offered as rewards hard-to-find mage items such as teleportation scrolls and golem puppets. He even prepared the highly attractive horned eagle beast as a pet, worth no less than 100,000 gold sols. Still, the Mage Association was not satisfied.

Even with his teacher Messel mediating and the high-ranking members of the Mage Association lowering their demands, the cost required was still unacceptable to Donald.

Those money-obsessed mages demanded the core technology for building an alchemy airship and five young dragons as payment before agreeing to give him the blueprints for a mage tower.

“These greedy old worms will one day have to face a powerful mage organization that surpasses them!”

After the old mage returned, Donald learned about the specifics of the negotiations and couldn’t help but curse angrily.

Since dealing with the Mage Association wasn’t working, the only option was for his teacher to travel to the southern part of the continent and purchase the blueprints from either the Kingdom of Nyl or the Kingdom of Gadré. Both were descendants of the Banai Empire, and they would likely welcome another growing mage force in the human kingdoms.

Just as the old mage Messel was preparing to set off again by airship to Port Leighton and then sail at sea, Edwina, the current lady of the Ansel family and the Princess of Kalt, suddenly came to pay a visit.

Ferdinand and his siblings had left just a few days ago. Donald didn’t know why this lady had come. After inviting her into the lord’s manor, before he could ask anything, she revealed her purpose.

“I heard you, Donald, want to build a mage tower?”

The news that Donald intended to build a mage tower for his teacher had already reached the upper circles of the capital through those mages. The Ansel family had learned from the royal court that Donald was negotiating with the Mage Association to obtain the blueprints for building a mage tower.

Donald wasn’t surprised to hear that the Ansel family had the information. He nodded naturally and said, “Yes, madam. Now that the conditions for a domain are met and I’ve also reached the Gold rank, it’s time to build a mage tower to enhance our defenses!”
Edwina stared at Donald with eager eyes. This young mage had grown under her watchful eye, and now he had already reached the rank of Gold Archmage, while she herself remained at the mid-Silver level with little progress. She had long aspired to reach the rank of Gold Archmage, so naturally, she wanted to take the opportunity to ask Donald about his experience in breaking through to that rank.
But for now, they needed to focus on matters at hand.
“Our Ansel family also possesses blueprints for building a mage tower, which are on par with those from the Mage Association. Of course, the cost of construction materials is much higher as well. If you only plan to build an ordinary high-level mage tower, you’ll need to go to the Female Forest or Gardrel to purchase them!”
“Really?”
“Of course not lying to you. Our family’s version is the original blueprint for an arcane tower, not a modified version later on!”
Hearing this, Donald was overjoyed.
You see, the mage towers of later generations were merely basic control devices from the Sky City, the greatest achievement of the ancient Arcane Empire. They were used to manipulate arcane arrays to stabilize elements, amplify the power of spells, and defend against attacks.
Apart from the core of the Sky City, each Sky City had at least dozens of such structures.
Later generations of mages found the original designs and blueprints for mage towers in the fallen Sky Cities and other ancient arcane ruins, making some adjustments where the magic levels of that time wouldn’t allow. Thus, the mage towers, exclusive to mages, came into existence.
The Ansel family also preserved these blueprints for building mage towers. Unlike the modified versions that existed today, these were the original blueprints from the era of the ancient Arcane Empire. Although not the highest-grade, their value and significance were immense.
Back then, these things were prepared for the high-ranking archmages in the family. As a family that followed a great Arcane Lord, the Ansel family was renowned for its powerful Sword Saint lineage. Yet, there were always a few members in the family with archmagical talent. The great Arcane Lord was generous with rewards for his loyal followers, and these preserved rewards became one of the foundations of the Ansel family’s strength after thousands of years.