The Tower and the Dwarf

Following a brilliant bowling exhibition match came the immensely satisfying harvest time, as these Gnoll-folk, who had likely ambushed traveling merchants or passersby, still had some wealth on them, yielding a total of two gold and four silver coins alongside several pieces of jewelry, which the group simply split evenly.

An even split meant: a certain mage and two summoned monsters counted as three people, while the remaining half was divided equally among the three teammates.

The two fleeing Gnolls also failed to escape their doomed fate, dispatched directly by Zhang Yuan's sword while conveniently recharging his energy pool.

Energy points were the greatest harvest of this battle, as the monsters squashed flat by Little Stone were all credited to the mage, bringing his total to 46 energy points including the 4 remaining from before.

This was a windfall, and the person in question chuckled secretly to himself, finally seeing a glimmer of dawn for his Auto Chess team.

It was too hard, truly too hard, as only monsters personally killed by him or his summons counted as energy points, leaving him with a mere four chess pieces accumulated all the way until now.

Now suddenly wealthy, he could entertain more thoughts and ideas.

Entering the Auto Chess panel, he cast a picky eye over the few pieces refreshed that day; having no rank progression whatsoever, the spells available to a certain someone were limited to Summon Monster I, and correspondingly, only tier-one chess pieces could be rolled.

"Little Stone, Goblin Tinkerer, Clockwork, Dryad, Crystal Maiden."

Why is it always you? Zhang Yuan felt a surge of irritation at the sight of Little Stone yet again, completely ignoring the fact that the little guy had just rendered great service.

Without hesitation, our man purchased a second Crystal Maiden, still hoping to catch sight of those long white legs sooner.

After a brief thought, he then snapped up the Tinkerer and the Dryad, of which the former could launch missiles and the latter possessed healing spells, which, when paired with Crystal Maiden's Arcane Aura, allowed them to both heal and strike, forming a self-sufficient system.

"Clockwork mode."

"I am certain to charm you."

Accompanied by two opening lines, the Void Chessboard announced the arrival of new members.

A thoroughly satisfied Zhang Yuan exited the panel and pressed onward, only to look up and encounter his teammates' odd expressions.

"Why are you lot staring at me? Did I grow tentacles on my face?"

"If tentacles really grew, then you—no, our trouble would be massive, so don't joke about those squid heads," Kagan retorted disdainfully.

A certain someone nodded politely to express his gratitude, then casually had Little Stone stand beside Kagan.

Bard stepped up to explain instead: "Your behavior just now was very strange. First you were dazed, then you suddenly started laughing, and the expression on your face was very, very—"

Grotesque? Even though Bard didn't have the heart to finish, Zhang Yuan guessed those two words.

Our man put on a serious face: "My covert joy just now wasn't because I thought of anything lewd, but rather because I suddenly gained a realization and improved my summoning spell."

Since their own mage stated it so earnestly, the teammates had no choice but to take it seriously; after all, with him being their only mage, this sort of random, rambling bullshit that could drive other mages hopping mad actually managed to pass muster.

Disregarding Kagan, who was having a blast playing cat-and-mouse with Little Stone, the party finally arrived at High Hedge Castle.

Only when Zhang Yuan truly stood before this magnificent wizard tower did he realize that his knowledge of High Hedge Castle from his past-life game was merely a glimpse of a leopard through a tube.

The wizard tower before his eyes presented as a tall structure with a regular octagonal cross-section, boasting a broad footprint. Unlike Ramazith's pagoda-like structure, High Hedge Castle was nearly identical in width at the top and bottom, rising straight up with a flat-sided profile.

For reasons unknown, every corner of the tower's eight sides was replaced by a cylindrical watchtower, giving the entire wizard tower a somewhat 17th-century European bastion style from the previous life.

The tower stood roughly twenty meters tall and was divided into five stories. Leaving aside whether the interior contained spatial expansion spells, High Hedge Castle itself was already massive enough. The grey exterior walls of the high tower looked entirely unremarkable, yet the electrical arcs and arcane light flashing through the outer windows prevented anyone from daring to treat it with disrespect.

Standing at the wizard tower's entrance, looking at the gateway that resembled a castle door, our man had only one thought in mind: What a bloody waste!

According to the intelligence he gathered in town, Master Tylanthyr was immensely powerful in magic, yet reclusive and accustomed to solitude, showing a poor complexion even to guests who came to purchase magic items.

Other mages would more or less take on a couple of apprentices, whether as heirs to their legacy, cheap assistants, or even backup experimental subjects.

As for this one, he reportedly hadn't taken a single apprentice, lingering all alone inside his tall tower. Just listen—was this something a person would do? To live all by oneself in a building with a footprint nearly the size of three apartment blocks and an actual usable area even larger was far too extravagant and wasteful.

Shouldn't he consider taking on a talented, extraordinarily gifted apprentice, such as myself, as his closing disciple? And by the way, allocate a couple of floors of the wizard tower before me as my perk?

A certain someone daydreamed until his drool was almost ready to flow out.

At the entrance, the group spotted a hand bell, presumably meant to alert the tower master to guests' arrivals. Out of caution, Zhang Yuan first dismissed the Crystal Maiden chess piece, as humanoid summons were indeed rather conspicuous.

Regardless of how distraught Minsc was at the sudden loss of his guardian witch, Zhang Yuan strode up to lift the hand bell and gave it a gentle shake. The ring was crisp yet soft, and just as the others doubted whether the sound could reach inside the tower, Zhang Yuan had already put the bell down, waiting quietly for the tower master's summons.

Within a fleeting moment, heavy footsteps echoed from behind the door. Clack—creak—the gate of the tower swung open wide.

The newcomer was not human, but rather a two-meter-tall golem that walked toward them with somewhat sluggish paces.

Once everyone had a chance to observe it up close, they realized that this golem's material was quite peculiar, neither metal like iron or mithril, nor the texture of mud, stone, or sand, but instead resembling stitched-together bodies of different animals.

"Flesh Golem!" A strange cry leaped out of Kagan's mouth: "I know this. This is the most evil creation of necromancers, pieced together from the corpses of victims they slaughtered."

The Tweedledee and Tweedledum duo, lacking an understanding of the situation, listened in utter bewilderment, feeling only that what Kagan said sounded entirely reasonable.

Gaining momentum, Kagan grew even more passionate and righteous: "The one living in this High Hedge Castle is not the magical master we imagined at all, but an evil necromancer, and the only outcome of our entering will be ending up on a laboratory dissection table."

Zhang Yuan couldn't even be bothered to entertain this fellow; running his mouth right outside a grand mage's door without even understanding the difference between a flesh golem and a Flesh Golem? His guts were plenty big.

He simply crossed his arms and watched Kagan make a fool of himself, knowing full well that Tylanthyr was thoroughly aware of everything happening around the entire wizard tower, and there was a nasty surprise waiting for Kagan.

Sure enough, right as Kagan was expounding endlessly, denouncing the grave stakes, and leaving the two simpletons hesitating between leaving or staying, the golem that had been parked before them grabbed Kagan.

Suspended in the grip of a two-meter-tall flesh golem, Kagan looked precisely like Tom the foolish cat caught red-handed doing bad deeds by his mistress, swallowing hard and shaking without daring to move an inch.

Before Kagan could even start begging for mercy, the golem grabbed the pitiful dwarf and spun him like a windmill. The clumsy golem rotated faster and faster, ultimately giving the impression of a legendary bladestorm.

And Kagan, unfortunately, was the blade.

Luckily, after applying only a mild punishment, the golem put him down. Hitting the ground, Kagan wobbled like a drunkard, looking as though he might lose consciousness at any second.

Suddenly, blech—at that moment, Kagan truly resembled a cask of ale, except that ordinary casks spewed out drink, whereas this fellow...

Perhaps Grand Mage Tylanthyr hadn't expected this sort of development either, as the flesh golem kicked Kagan down the front steps with a single boot. From within its torso came a raspy, deep, and forceful voice: "Let that idiot wait at the entrance and not defile my wizard tower. The rest of you, follow the golem."

Thus, the group walked down the stairs and patted the foolish dwarf to show their sympathy before following the golem up the wizard tower.