Chapter 12: Main Energy Pool
"Allow."
[…]
"I said, allow."
[Is player sure?]
"Yes"
[Is player completely certain?]
"Yup."
[Is player absolutely positive?]
"Well yes, yes I am." Dane was just grinning.
[In case of the death of the spirit the player will lose the system permanently, which results in the extraction of all the benefits the system has provided. Including but not limited to Origin items, levels, stats, and items. Is the player really, really sure?]
Now Dane thought about it twice. This system was really thick skinned, but it didn't really matter for now. The important part was the loss that he would have if he ever lost the system. The Thunder Tower is an Origin class item, but it still is an item. The possibility of someone breaching the core room and destroying the core crystal, although minuscule, still existed. Even though Dane really wanted to get rid of the system, the risks outweighed the benefits. Just as Dane was about to answer with a negative, the system talked again.
[The player can also choose to combine the spiritual imprint with the system. The spirit body will be an auxiliary input for the player, and the system will handle the most important tasks. For example, the system will handle accepting quests, distributing points and the like. The spirit will receive commands and answer questions. Of course, both of those instances will be basically executed by the system, but the spirit body will relay the information and results. You can think of the spirit body as a kind of customer service. Of course, the player will mostly lose contact with the system for menial tasks, so it is not recommended for…]
"COMBINE! God damn, combine right now." Dane was ecstatic. This was the best possible outcome with no risks.
[Combining system with the spirit body… Processing speed increased. Data storage capacity increased. Energy range increased. Task finalized.]
Dane stopped hearing that voice. Of course, it would not be the last he heard of it, but it was nice knowing that Shera's voice would mostly replace it.
"It's done, master" Shera took her hand of Dane's chest and blinked a couple of times. Her expressions should be very mechanical, but what was in front of Dane was the complete opposite. Maybe it was an illusion, a way his brain was relating Shera to his mother, so she was more lifelike. Perhaps it was a result of programming, even though he didn't remember everything to the detail. Or maybe it was a result of Zeryann being an actual world. A place where what was virtual has somehow gained life, real life.
"Master, from now on you have complete power and authority over the tower. The basic runes amplify your energy fivefold, and the attack formations can be activated to amplify it by another tenfold. Although the energy consumption in this last one is overwhelming."
This was the main appeals of a Wizard tower were the energy amplification for attack, the rune defences for defence, and the tower spirit for research. If owned by a very powerful magician, a wizard tower would be an almost absolute defence.
If a city or kingdom was invaded, the most logical course of action for the attackers would be weakening the defender's military power. The most important targets would be castles, palaces, guilds, barracks and most important of all, wizard towers. But, it was really, really difficult to topple a wizard tower if one wasn't strong enough.
For example, if a rank 2 wizard had a spell that inflicted 50 damage points for 50 mana, he would never be able to defend himself alone, even if he were against rank 1 or rank 0 professionals, he would run out of mana before that. It did not matter if there were 50 or 500 enemies, his mana would run out. Here is where the amplification of the tower kicks in. He would be able to amplify his spell's damage points and reduce the mana cost. Of course, how much depended on the quality of the tower, the quality of the tower spirit, and the power of the magician. The smallest amplification would be of 50%, and there was no limit to the biggest.
Imagine the same rank 2 wizard in a tower of his own, however unlikely this might be. He would only spend 5 mana to cast a spall that inflicted 500 points. And when he ran out of mana, he could just rest while the tower's defences took hits. This was the most common way for magicians to fend off invasions. And as the tower spirit could figure out the enemy based just on the attack patterns, it was able to devise the most effective strategy, thus annihilating the attackers.
Actually, unless there was another magician that had anti-spirit spells, or a mana-barrier formation, the invaders would just leave the tower alone and wait for the magician to come out at a safe distance. Of course, building one of these was ridiculously expensive.
The usual magician only built a tower by the time he reached the high ranks, be it from 7 to 9, but the quality of both of the above were leagues below an origin item. Still, Dane's own lack of power greatly limited what the tower could do. This was an origin item, meaning it could, theoretically, increase it's power and amplifications up to the player level cap. The thing is, Zeryann did not have one of those. It was just that from a certain level onwards, it got ridiculously hard to gain enough exp to level up. Still, Dane was optimistic this time around. He basically lived in the game and had no more programming to do.
"Ten times a fivefold amplification of power, huh… Shera, can I share authority of attack?"
"Yes, master. It is possible, but it requires master to place a spiritual imprint in the authorized magician and the most authority that can be shared is the attack and defence measures. The other systems are not shareable."
"Will the systems adapt to the rank of a magician that has enough authority?"
"No, master. Unless you give your ownership of the tower to them, all of the systems will keep functioning according to your rank."
"Yeah, I thought so too."
"Master, I did not mention this earlier because the automatic systems did not recognize him as an enemy, but there is a very powerful wizard inside of the tower. Who is he?" Dane had nearly forgotten about Randwen, but since Shera brought him up…
"Yes, he is Randwen. He is one of the vassals of the tower. He is an ally. Shera, can you create metal puppets? There should be at least 2 tons of black silver in the storage units."
"Yes, master. I can create 10 puppets for each energy crystal, so ten puppets for each year of energy. Would you like me to create some?"
Metal puppets were the equivalent of servants and maids of a wizard tower. They cleaned up the messes, organized everything in the tower, they could even cook and act as chefs and waiters if taught. Any magician would call them a total necessity.
"Yes, but the number is up to you. Listen, on that bookshelf are the records of all the sealed vassals and every other aspect of the tower. You might already know this, but there was a spirit before you. Of course, he was inferior." Dane smiled "Read them very quickly and then go help Randwen with the task I entrusted to him. Logistics should be enough for the two of you to excel. I also need you to create enough puppets to organize everything. The library, storage units, everything should be a mess. I need you to organize and label everything. Then head to the treasury and make an inventory of everything there and it's condition. This is very important. After you finish seal the treasury until further notice. No one, not even you are allowed to enter. Also raise a mana barrier and a spatial lock, I don't care the energy consumption as long as we can keep them up for two years. Got it?"
"Yes, master. It shall be done immediately."
"Great. Tell Randwen I will be in the main energy pool room. Get it ready before I get there."
"Yes, master."
After saying that, Shera's spirit body disappeared, most likely went to find Randwen. "Did I not tell her to read the tower logs before?" Dane was thinking she might have forgotten, but quickly dismissed that idea. A tower spirit was the most loyal being in existence for the magician who owns the tower, even more so than a soul slave. Dane had no idea how spirit bodies actually worked now, as in the game they just needed to touch a book to know its contents. And such a heaven-defying spirit must operate differently. Still, he did not like not knowing. It would be very difficult to work efficiently in order to stop the catastrophe that way.
Dane sighed and was walking towards the portal until he suddenly stopped. Now that he was the owner, he could teleport anywhere inside the tower, so he just did that. He gave a mental command to Sheraffina, and he was transported to the main energy pool room.
Everything in Zeryann derives from the base six elements. Light, fire, water, darkness, earth and wind. All other elements were a combination of one or more of these. Some were even combinations of combinations. So, as a top-grade wizard tower, the main energy pool had six pools, one for each of the elements. Of course, there were six additional pool rooms, again one for each element. These were built in order for the magician npcs to train there, because they wouldn't be allowed to do it in the main pool.
Of course, this was a bit ¬¬¬¬—a huge bit— of a luxury. The most basic towers had a generic pool, which included all 6 elements. Specialized towers included 1 pool, for a single element. Of course, the reason for this was the cost of every pool. It was very expensive. Only the highest grade of wizard towers had a pool for every element, and there were not more than five of them around. As for towers that had two pools for each element? That was just ridiculous and considered a waste. Of course, this was Zeryann before players arrived. A guild once built a tower with 10 pools for every element. They almost went bankrupt because pf this. But, most magicians thought it was unnecessary to build even one specialized pool, so they kept their generic pool for all their lives. This was the mindset of a magician that did not want or could not advance further in his rank.
As for towers without any sort of energy pool, they existed, but could not be considered wizard towers, they were at best very expensive, unpractical and big magic wands.
The energy pool harnesses the energy of the element in the pool and converts it to pure energy, allowing the tower to function properly and increase it's power to a certain extent. The pool was also useful for experiments, as it absorbed the energy released by a spell in case it failed, so it could not harm the caster. There were a ton of uses for energy pools, but these were the most important.
When Dane arrived to the main pool room, he was once again assaulted by the real feel of everything. He could see it in the game in pretty high definition, higher than what the eyes could do in real life, but he could not feel as much. He was standing in a round platform with an elevation of about one meter. There were six stairs leading to the ground level, each facing one of the pools. Dane got off the platform and approached the pools. This was to accustom himself to the energy, so he wouldn't reject it involuntarily. Of course, he was thinking too much. A Rank 0 without a class could not get a clear feel of the pools, but he still tried.
The earth pool was the closest one. It was yellow in colour, giving him a sense of cold sturdiness. It was the unforgiving element.
He then walked to the red fire pool. It was, obviously, scorching hot, but you could also feel the destruction. It was the element of destruction.
The darkness pool was next. It had no colour at all. It was not black, but colourless, as inconceivable as that may sound. Dane felt nothing. Not the absence of a feeling, but the nothingness instead. Darkness was the most mysterious of elements, as well as a hard one to study, but it was the strongest basic element.
Then, the most normal looking energy pool, water. It was blue, but not due to the floor and walls of the pool, it's content itself was blue. It gave a feeling of adaptability and wisdom, as an old sage that conquered the ages. It was the origin element.
Next was the wind pool. It was green, and it moved like a stormy ocean. It wanted to be freed of its confinement. Just looking at it was looking at the definition of the word "wild". It was the element of untethered freedom.
The last pool was the most beautiful. It looked almost holy. As Dane approached it, he could feel a warm sensation all over his body, invigorating every single one of his cells. He felt at peace, like a newborn. This was the element of life, light.
After feeling all of these sensations for the first time outside of the game, Dane felt confused and happy. He could see it, what the future had in store for him. Although he created Zeryann, this was so much more than that. It was like the difference of the feelings you have towards your newborn daughter and the day you see her dressed in white for her wedding. It was the feeling of creating something that exceeded your original expectations. Dane was feeling all of this and couldn't help but shed a single tear.
Yeah, he died, but it didn't matter for him that much anymore. Instead of a task, this was the opportunity for a new life.
This was heaven, his heaven.
For the first time since he died, Dane looked at the world around him with an opened mind.
This was a beautiful world full of people that were happy and peaceful.
This was a world that needed his protection.
He understood this was, now, his world.
This was real, not a game.
This was Zeryann.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Crimson_Rogue
Crimson_Rogue Hello guys! Thanks for reading! I hope you like this chapter. As always, let me know in the comments about any mistake you may find and feel free to write suggestions about the story! What would you like to understand better? What would you like to see? I'll be reading you!
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