Allanther

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 29

The next morning, whether it was the unknown threat of the Bents, or the lingering feeling of shame I felt from the worried look I saw in Lilly’s tan eyes, I renewed my determination to stop drinking the Astrid Tea.  I knew my body couldn’t handle the repercussions of an immediate stop.  Instead, I enchanted my teacup to glow at the line it was filled at today, and once a week that line would lower just a hair.

As a half-elf, I didn’t have anyone to compare myself to. &n...

Mispost

For those of you who receive posts via email, I apologize.  I accidentally clicked the wrong button and you may have received chapter 31 ahead of chapters 29 and 30.  Sorry!

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 28

I awoke to feel refreshed.  The breakfast and morning tea, I ate without testing myself again.  I had learned my lesson, for now.  Even if I felt disgusted with myself for my reliance on the magical drink.  The next few days were spent in between different tasks. After dinner, I’d sit with Lilly and instruct her on new subjects in the library. I followed this by discussing what Kine learned from his studies while we watched the sunset over my reflection pool from the top...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 27

I erred this morning.  I had dreamed last night, reliving a memory of a battle long past.  Perhaps it was the message from Lady Lark breathing new life into my feelings of war with its warning.  Regardless, the memory was fresh, that of burning slave soldiers alive only to see them smile as they experienced a few moments of freedom in death.  The mages around me continuing to cast, even with reluctance clear on our faces.  A bitter memory of a bitter time.

Which...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 26

The afternoon was spent performing working with Kine on the second basement level.  I erred when I constructed the staircase downward, not taking into account that I would need a flattened landing for future floors, but this was remedied by making the steps following the second basement level shorter and steeper for a quarter-turn of the tower.  I would need to redo the entire stairwell down at some point in the future, but the immediate need was in constructing the second basement ...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 25

My pupils returned today, rushing in on two wagons and with frightened looks on their faces. Evidently, the giant bats from the beast wave infested the forest, and more than a hundred now roosted beneath the bridge I built. That the merchant yesterday didn’t mention the beasts lends more credit to my suspicion that he was a fence, likely with a specialized stealth skill.

Among the wagons were several new faces. A blacksmith’s apprentice, come to measure the gate. An older woman and ...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 24

A light spring rain had curtailed some of my outdoor activities for the day. Certainly, I could have mitigated it to continue, but I was feeling morose. I suspected that without the distraction afforded me by having my pupils present to tutor, I was left more time for self-examination. I also suspected that my tea was losing potency without a constant mana infusion. It was still being prepared properly, so I was able to rule that suspicion out. Instead, today I confined myself to the study in...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 23

Let me know if you think the LITRPG elements in this chapter are too much!  I wasn't sure if I got carried away.  

I awoke with a start, my soul scroll flashing red above me. I peered around in the darkness of the tower, but I heard no screaming or fighting. I tested the tethers of my defensive elementals, but they indicated all was well. I mentally tugged at the scroll, allowing it to unroll, the almost-paper of the thing spinning dow...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 22

The next day, I saw Pyl off. He departed westward with more than two hundred shambling zombie beasts and promises to return for more. It was a little under a fifth of what the moat contained, so I wasn’t concerned in the least. Two hundred quickly made zombies might test a village’s defenses, but certainly no threat to any town.

I experienced three glorious days of uninterrupted experimentation after that. The wolves were doing well with the earth mana infusion. The boar pit I had s...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 21

I found myself too impatient to wait for them to make it down the road. Not even half an hour after they departed, I found myself standing before the beast pits. Oni, I remembered his name now because his nose had been broken, stood a few feet away, scanning the horizon. Tond was positioned on the top of the tower as a lookout. Mena was organizing the kitchen and storeroom, with Meathead’s ‘help’. There were six pits now. Four filled with wolves and one each of the boars and snakes. I�...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 20

It was three days after the [Paladin] departed in the carriage with his nobleborn captive when my assistants and their [Bandit] subordinates finished with the bodies.  In that time, I had sorted the captured beasts so that all the animal types were in different pits.  Unbeknownst to me, when the Giant Boar died, whatever kept the animals from their natural tendencies died with it.  I lost much of what I captured to their infighting.   Still, I came away with more than...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 19

I awoke at dawn, the sound of a teacup clanking onto the barrel nearby as pleasant a sound as the smell of it. The morning meal was another helping of oatmeal, plain and with no sausage this time. I carried it down with me, sipping the tea as I went, to join Walker and Lilly at the table on the first floor.

“Master,” they both greeted me. The tension I saw from yesterday was gone, so the fear of the beastwave must have been the cause.

“Good morning,” I returned the greetin...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 18

As I stepped out onto the top of my tower, I immediately noticed Walker holding his arms high as his mana reinforced a magical shield. The shield he cast was a weaker spell, one that created a translucent blue bubble that radiated with dim light. Though, for a second-tier mage, it was a common one. The [Bandits], cowered inside it, pressing their bodies against the hip-high stone wall at the edge.

I looked beyond but didn’t see anything but grey clouds hanging low in the sky. The beas...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 17

“Boss! Boss! Uh, lord wizard! Boss!” the upset voice of Mena cut through my pleasant dreams.

I rose from my bed, not with panic or urgency, but alertness. I felt I’d only gotten a few hours of sleep, and seeing both Lilly and Walker sitting up with half-opened eyes confirmed it. I waved them back to sleep, and they didn’t need any further convincing to go. Tossing the sheets and blanket aside, I slipped my feet into my shoes and rose.

Perhaps the beast wave was here? I cou...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 16

A groggy Lilly came down shortly after I had finished the oven. Her blonde hair a tangled mess, and her hands still wiping sleep from her eyes. A large yawn announced her presence. I just waved her at the door and instructed her to fetch her brother.

While she did that, I pulled out my bag of holding and started to pull fistfuls of gems out onto the dining table. I ignored the shocked and greedy looks on the faces of the [Bandits] nearby. Intentionally scattering some beyond my range of...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 15

I had the [Wagoneers] begin unloading my furniture and taking it upstairs. The potted flowers carried around and set at the base of my tower, to be planted later. No sense in those men sitting around. I tasked Walker and Kine and with pulling up stones and molding it into a wall at the edge of the new clearing around the tower. I would like to say that I tasked Lilly with ensuring my furniture was placed correctly on the second floor, but she took that task on of her own volition. I stretched...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 14

To say I was upset was an understatement. The [Adminstrator] that led me out kept giving me fearful looks, but I ignored her. I did not want to be appointed an Alderman. What made her think she could place herself above me? Was she purposely looking down on me or simply ignorant?

Just the idea that I would be part of the political structure disturbed me. Greatly. That I could be called on in times of war? That the Baroness could summon me to court whenever she felt like it? Who knew how...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 13

I noticed that the warmth of spring had come. I couldn’t tell in the wetlands or the darkness of the forest, but on the walk towards Lark it was evident. There was still a cool mountain breeze the blew from the west, but the sun felt good on my shoulders. The path here was wide and flat enough for the wagons, thanks to the earlier spellcraft. With the monsters’ levels reducing, I allowed a hypervigilant Lilly to walk before us, armed with a hefty stick. She seemed to enjoy herself, making...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 12

We made good time traveling towards Woodhoot. I set Walker on monster-duty, with Lilly acting as a secondary spotter. None of us wanted one of the leeches to drop on our head. Filthy things. While they walked and talked ahead of me, I followed behind to focus on expanding the previous work done to the path. Even though I felt a little worn from my other work this morning, the road we walked didn’t require as thorough a job because I didn’t need to consider strengthening anything beyond wh...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 11

I used rubble to block the access to the third floor as we descended. It wasn’t that I didn’t want anyone else to get a chance to enjoy the view, but rather that I wanted to make sure that no monsters were able to enter when unattended. I followed Kine all the way to the first floor, mildly impressed with the cleaning they accomplished. The leader’s alcove had been cleared out, and the stolen goods were stacked neatly in place. The shoddy door had been remounted, and new stone brackets ...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 10

I was so eager that I half-jogged ahead of the others. What saved my life was a century-old defensive spellwork. The Nightstalker was a second-tier Giant Spider. Its brown-and-black haired body lay hidden, clinging to the wall above the doorway. It leapt at me unnoticed against the night sky, only to be struck down by a stream of lightning. An ice spell quickly followed, forming a crystalline cocoon to keep me safe.

I immediately understood what happened. With quick, urgent motions I re...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 9

The next morning, we rented a mule to carry our tents and purchased food supplies before setting out. What the city called their western gate was just a heavily barred doorway. The road to Woodhoot was more of a well-traveled path than an actual road. Barely wide enough for a small wagon. Frequently, the path itself seemed eroded away. In those places, when they weren’t muddy puddles, the erosion uncovered tricky gnarled roots or embedded stones. Other parts of the path were overgrown with ...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 8

We emerged from between two particularly forested hills to see the City of Lark. Lark would be more accurately described as a large, poor town. A thirty-foot-tall wooden palisade surrounded the city, the tops of the timbers sharpened to points. Much like the palisade, most of the buildings in town were either made from logs, with the few nicer buildings constructed from timber boards. The guards, even though they waved us through without inspection, seemed more attentive and wary than the one...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 7

The following day, I discovered that the City of Eisten was known for its bathhouses. I ordered Walker and Lilly to join me there for the afternoon and turned in early that evening to enjoy as much time on a decent mattress as possible before our travel the next day.

The following morning, we met the [Wagoneers] by the westernmost gates, as well as a party of four adventurers. The party consisted of two second tiers, a [Mage] and [Rogue], and two third tiers [Ranger] and a [Paladin]. Wh...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 6

The next morning, I awoke feeling refreshed. While still lumpy compared to my own mattress, the bed felt a great deal better than the sleeping roll I used in my tent. After a quick casting of a cleaning spell, I donned a fresh robe. I chose a plain robe of sky-blue with white clouds and streaks of red lightning stitched into the fabric. This outfit was something I hesitated to wear among the light blue buildings in Sena City. After putting it on, I realized just how heavy my traveling robe mu...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 5

On the eastern approach to the City of Eiston, the road slowly curved down a slight slope from the plains. The city itself nestled in a valley, though buildings spread out beyond its central walls like fleas from a dog. The other hills around the valley seemed covered in terraced farms, with vast orchards to the north hiding in the shadows between hills. Our path allowed us to have a grand view over the top of the city as a whole. The walls and buildings we could see were constructed from a h...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 4

The morning brought with it the unpleasant noises of a busy inn. Despite being on the third floor, I clearly heard the loud chatter of talkative scribes. The aptly named Scholar’s Delight Inn was a desirable inn often filled with traveling merchants, administrators, scribes, and, of course, wizards due to the many walls lined with bookcases and shelves showcasing a haphazard and random assortment of literature. I hoped that would make for a quieter stay, but the opposite held true this morn...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 3

I startled awake to the sounds and smells of Nisto cooking breakfast. My back ached from having fallen asleep at my table yesterday, face pressed into a book. I furtively closed it and tucked it away. Of all the literature I own, this one was more precious to me than any others by far. I have written many tomes, from research journals to instructional guides, but only one like this one. I’ve noticed that many powerful humans engage in the practice of writing their own biography to detail th...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 2

I awoke with a parched mouth and a pounding headache. I wasn’t one to drink often, rarely more than a cup or two a year and those were usually at social functions. Last night, though, I felt inspired by a false hope that I could perhaps postpone the emotional pain of losing my friend by drinking myself into oblivion.

With a groan, I sat up and reached for the table beside my bed. On it, my servants had placed a platter with an herbal concoction for a hangover, my usual cup of Asrid Fl...

Wizard's Tower - Chapter 1

Sena City, the capital of the human Kingdom of Sena, has stood for close to a thousand years. A population that surpassed eight hundred thousand all lived within five concentric walled rings, each one expanding beyond the last. The first ring, called the King’s Seat, holds the greatest castle in the kingdom along with the monarch King Sena the Ninth. The castle's three high towers can be seen more than a hundred leagues away. The second ring, called the Upper Ring or the Nobles' Ring, surro...