Chapter 233: Glimpses from Afar
A mage tower is a highly useful asset for mages. First and foremost, it boasts strong defensive capabilities; during times of danger, it serves as a paradise for mages to take refuge, offering the most reliable shelter from powerful enemies or chaotic situations. Mages often need to create magical items, research new spells, or conduct other experiments, and a mage tower functions as a laboratory where a large amount of arcane and alchemical equipment can be stored. All mages surely possess spellbooks, magical items, or other treasures, and a mage tower provides an excellent place to keep them. Moreover, the speed and effectiveness of meditation practices within a mage tower far exceed those outside, making it a sacred place for cultivation.
In essence, a mage tower is an all-in-one dwelling that accompanies its master throughout life—it is his home, his sanctuary, his research center, and his fortress. An ancient mage tower serves as a haven for mages and apprentices other than its builder, passing on arcane knowledge from generation to generation. The construction of each mage tower is a major event in the mage community. It is said that in Elwynn, whenever a mage tower is completed, mages from nearby areas spontaneously gather to celebrate.
Although Thelos is part of the Banai Empire alongside Elwynn and Gardrel, this kingdom does not possess much inherited mage power. Even the Mage Association, a major force of mages, was initially formed by recruiting members from other places. As a result, aside from one high-level mage tower, Thelos has only a few low-level ones. In contrast, the kingdom has a strong tradition of swordsmen and knights, with elite forces such as the Ansel Sacred Sword Legion and the Honor Knights.
If a mage tower could be built in Dalaran, it would undoubtedly be a major event, greatly enhancing Thelos’s mage power and boosting its overall strength! After consulting with several silver mages in the realm and taking their advice into account, Donald located Dalaran—the first mage tower in the Northlands—as the heart of the Twilight Forest.
Firstly, a mage tower needs to be far from populated areas, so an environment with abundant natural elements is ideal. Moonlight Wood and Moonlight Lake are the areas with the richest elemental energies in the realm. However, the former is an elven settlement, and the latter is a public space, making them unsuitable for building a mage tower. Thus, they had to settle for the Twilight Forest, an undeveloped area where humans have not yet made much impact.
Secondly, the Twilight Forest is relatively secluded with little disturbance. Aside from a few logging camps on its outskirts, there is only one wild path carved out by adventurers and hunters leading toward the City of Giants. Due to its remote and difficult terrain, even now, aside from hunters who occasionally come here to hunt for prey, few adventurers visit this place. After all, most magical beasts live in the Green Cloak Forest, and such outer forests near human territories are not suitable habitats.
Mages who build mage towers must be proficient in engineering, arcane geometry, and skilled in designing magic circles, as well as possess extensive knowledge of elements, space, and planes. Additionally, the builder must have at least a fourth-level casting ability, meaning they must be a mage at the beginning of the Bronze tier or above. In other words, even mages at the Dark Iron tier cannot fully master the operation of a mage tower if they lack other necessary conditions.
With the ability to deduce from the Book of Truth, the complex runes and formations of mage towers were not a challenge for Donald. The real difficulty lay in the materials required to build them! However, this problem had already been solved by Donald.
It took nearly a decade and almost a million gold sols to complete Celt’s first high-level mage tower, mainly due to a lack of rare magical materials such as palladium. The construction of the high-level mage tower in the royal capital left the Mage Association with massive debts, forcing them to sign an agreement whereby every mage born to the association had to serve the royal family unpaid for three years, as repayment for a debt that would last for two thousand years.
It is said that King Celt I spent the entire ten-year tax revenue of his kingdom to build this mage tower, and it took decades for the kingdom to recover, which greatly hindered the powerful Celt family’s progress in conquering the barren lands to the north. Otherwise, the kingdom’s territory might have been at least one-fifth larger than it is now.
Yet, the successful construction of mage towers brought great benefits. With a mage tower standing in the royal capital, the city became virtually impregnable. Moreover, the kingdom’s magical power grew rapidly, producing many outstanding mages.
The successors after Celt I lacked the strategy and vision of their founding monarch. For various reasons, they confined themselves to their existing lands and made little effort to expand for two hundred years, until the great restorer, the seventh king, Celt VII, appeared, and the kingdom rose again. Within just ten years, they conquered the Northlands, a vast region previously occupied by foreigners that accounted for a quarter of the kingdom’s original territory.
The Merlin family also caught the wave of the times and rose to become full-fledged nobles during that period.
As for the structure and layout of a mage tower, they are crucial factors in determining its effectiveness once built. Although Donald was not a professional architect, he could still offer some sound suggestions regarding the design. When constructing a mage tower, one is essentially creating a unique magical realm that relies not solely on the mage’s spells. In essence, it’s about turning the mage tower into a magical artifact, using mysterious architectural structures, magical runes, and arcane energy to artificially create a magical effect zone. Once completed, depending on its capacity, it can bring an area within a certain range under the tower’s protection.
Donald chose the standard arcane tower from the blueprints. Its cost was at least 30% higher than that of an urban-type tower, but quality does come at a price, and its functions were more powerful. Once built, it is estimated that half of Dalaran’s territory, including Twilight Town, would fall within the tower’s domain.
Standard arcane towers usually have seven or nine floors. Due to limited materials like white stone, Donald opted for a seven-story structure; after all, he didn’t need any extra auxiliary buildings. From the design drawings, each floor is 20 feet high, meaning a height of about 6 meters from floor to ceiling. A regular mage tower has 10 feet per floor, and for every additional 5 feet, the total cost increases by 25%. But Donald didn’t mind the extra expense. Having lived in cramped spaces in his past life, he deserved a bit of luxury in this one.
Additionally, airlocks are essential basic facilities. An airlock is a structure on the outer wall of a mage tower that uses a magical field to keep pollutants, toxic substances, and liquids outside, allowing only air, living beings, and objects to pass through. It may seem magical, but it’s actually just the application of a small arcane spell array, not much different from a mage’s barrier.
As for other simple structures and devices such as corridors, door panels, secret doors, traps, and side passages, they were entrusted to craftsmen and several bronze mages. Donald and a few silver mages worked together to construct special floors and rooms. These special rooms were the most important components of the mage tower, including the Element Pools, Arcane Gardens, Binding Chambers, Training Rooms, Libraries, and Exploration Rooms. These were just the most basic setups for a mage tower; there were also more extraordinary ones, such as observatories and magic portals. Donald built a magic portal within the tower and left space reserved for future use, so that interdimensional travel could be possible once the conditions were met. Constructing a portal required gold, silver, platinum, and various other expensive materials. Portals could be one-way or two-way. One-way portals were easier to create—only a magical entrance needed to be built inside the tower—while two-way portals required identical entrances on both sides. Donald planned to establish portals to the Blue Vein Magic Gold Mines in the Orc Valley and the Emerald Dream Main Island in Starfall Bay to facilitate communication between the two territories, so naturally, expensive two-way portals were chosen. Similar portals could also be created using the Book of Truth, but their structure differed from those in the blueprints, so it was better to let the mages build them themselves to avoid arousing suspicion. With the manpower and resources from one of the territories, the construction of the mage tower progressed rapidly, and the main structure was completed soon after. What remained was to refine the internal layout. However, just as construction had begun, Elyia, the elder of the druid tribe who had been focusing on cultivation under the Tree of Life, came to see Donald. “Elder Elyia, what brings you here today? Weren’t you supposed to focus on preparing for your promotion to Grand Druid? Are you also interested in the construction of the mage tower?” Elyia gave a faint wry smile and said solemnly, “There’s a troublesome issue that has distracted me from my cultivation. Our tribe is now integrated with your territory, Elder Donald, so I need your advice on this matter!” “Oh? What issue is troubling you so much, Elder Elyia?” Elyia immediately told Donald about the two elves who had secretly approached him.
After hearing this, Donald realized the situation was complicated. He listened as Elyia continued, “Most importantly, as soon as those two Sun Elves entered the Moonlight Forest, they sensed the existence of the Tree of Life. Since the World Tree disappeared, its descendant, the Tree of Life, has become the most vital part of the elves, a sacred object upon which we depend for survival and reproduction. In the main world, aside from ours, there is only one Tree of Life each on Sun Island and among the Forest Elves. Moreover, the Forest Elves’ Tree of Life is a descendant of the one on Sun Island. That’s why our Tree of Life is especially precious in the eyes of other elves!”
“And if news of it gets out, other powerful races in the main world might also covet it. Even legendary warriors might not be able to protect this Tree of Life. So, the Sun Elves and Forest Elves will surely want to move it to their territories to protect it and breed more powerful elves! But our Druid tribe is living well here. Elder Donald, you surely don’t want them to take away the Tree of Life, right?”
After hearing Elyia’s analysis, Donald frowned and said, “Sun Island is located far to the south, across several continents. Even for a Golden-tier warrior, traveling back and forth would take at least two months. This matter can’t be rushed. We must first build a mage tower and accumulate strength as much as possible to prove that we have the ability to protect the Tree of Life. Hopefully, those elves will consider our kinship and not be too unreasonable. Otherwise, I’m not without my own trump cards—I’ll make sure they leave in shame!”
“Since Elder Donald has made up his mind, I’ll also strive to reach the Golden tier as soon as possible and protect the Tree of Life with all my might!” Hearing this, Donald smiled and said, “Elder Elyia, don’t be so pessimistic. At worst, we can just give up this Tree of Life. To be honest, I still have a seed of another Tree of Life. Even if we lose this one, we can grow another. Besides, we have no grudges against Sun Island, so I doubt those elves will go too far!”
Elyia left, relieved and smiling, while Donald put away his smile and carefully considered his own trump cards before making a decision to devote himself fully to building the mage tower.