Tower of Azora

Building the Golem Factory cost 100 wood, 100 stone, and 100 iron. Shawn already had enough wood and stone. As for iron, he'd collected a large amount of iron goods during the battle at Murloc Shoal, and yesterday he'd converted them all into iron resources. He had more than enough.

So Shawn could build the Golem Factory right away.

Although all four fixed garrison buildings seemed pretty good, what Shawn needed most right now was a building that could immediately boost his combat strength. The Golem Factory fit the bill. The Pet Menagerie could also help, but it seemed to require raising and training its occupants, so Shawn decided to ignore it for the time being.

He hurriedly selected the Golem Factory for construction.

All level 1 small buildings took one day to build, so Shawn had no choice but to wait.

Apart from the ever-present ultimate quest, no new quests had appeared in the quest interface. But the newly unlocked garrison-building quests came with quite a bit of information.

As the name suggested, garrison-building quests were related to garrison buildings. Their ratings depended on how well they were completed, and the rewards—garrison building blueprints, garrison upgrade blueprints, garrison acceleration blueprints, and the like—also came in different qualities.

For example, an A-rated completion might earn an epic-quality garrison building blueprint, while a C-rated one might earn a rare-quality blueprint. Shawn had no idea what difference the various blueprint qualities made.

The Followers interface was another newly unlocked feature.

It displayed information about followers.

As the Space Garrison continued to grow, Shawn would be able to recruit followers of different levels and with different roles. The way he acquired them was unusual, too.

Shawn had to recruit these followers himself from the real world. Once he decided to recruit someone, a contract would be formed between the two of them. After it took effect, the follower would gain certain privileges within the Space Garrison, while also being bound by its restrictions. They would never be able to reveal anything about the Space Garrison—not even through their soul.

Shawn could recruit a total of twenty-five followers.

Those twenty-five followers would be assigned different positions. Their levels were capped by the Space Garrison.

For example, the current level 1 Space Garrison restricted followers to the lower ranks, meaning they could be no higher than level 5 in their profession. If someone was level 6, Shawn couldn't recruit them.

So Shawn was already considering who to recruit...

Old Saldean was still busy with his business. Gryan Stoutmantle and his men were either urging the blacksmiths at the Argus Blacksmith Shop to hurry up with the Guard Sets, or meeting with Marshal Dughan at the Goldshire Town Hall to discuss reinforcements for Westfall and the purchase of military equipment.

Paul and Heller were always with Old Saldean, and the level 4 Warrior Thornas never left his side. Only Rick, the middle-aged rogue, spent all day loafing around, wandering from place to place.

Shawn's eyes shifted as he went looking for Rick.

"Rick, it's about time you came through on what we agreed, isn't it?"

Shawn leaned against the wall, idly playing with a finely made dagger. It was a white-quality item he'd gotten from the Novice Chest, and aside from being sharp, it had nothing going for it.

On the little finger of his right hand was a ring glowing with a faint blue light: the Ring of the Arcane Saint. And pinned to the chest of his shirt was a golden medallion: the Azora Gold Medal.

Though he was confident in his judgment, Shawn had considered another possibility: Rick might be planning to deceive him and had no intention of taking him to meet the mage he knew.

If that really was the case, Shawn wouldn't mind teaching Rick a lesson before going to the Tower of Azora alone to meet the famous mage, Theocritus.

Yes, in fact, Shawn had already figured out some of the details.

The most famous gathering place for mages in all of Elwynn Forest was the Tower of Azora, in the eastern part of the forest, south of Eastvale Logging Camp and Stonecairn Lake, and bordering Redridge Mountains, Duskwood, and Deadwind Pass.

This ancient mage tower had drawn a large number of free mages hoping to escape Stormwind City's rule. Their leader was Theocritus.

Unfortunately, under Theocritus's orders, the Tower of Azora refused all visitors from outside, even other mages—unless they were already known to them or had someone to vouch for them.

If Rick really knew a mage who lived in Elwynn Forest, then it was almost certain that the mage belonged to the Tower of Azora—or might even be Theocritus himself.

Rick was exactly the person Shawn hoped could get him in.

And Rick, it seemed, had no intention of refusing Shawn's offer of friendship.

Rick stubbed out his cigarette and blew a smoke ring. He studied Shawn for a good while, and when he noticed the medallion on Shawn's chest and the ring on his finger, a greedy glint flashed in the sharp-eyed wanderer's gaze.

But it vanished almost as soon as it appeared. He'd immediately realized there was a problem.

Who was this boy, not even fifteen, and what was he hiding? How did he have such high-level accessories and a ring, both clearly imbued with considerable magic? He wanted to make friends with a mage, so could he himself be some unknown mage?

More importantly, how powerful was a mage who kept his abilities so well hidden? Could I take him? Could I steal the ring and medallion from him? And where was his staff?

Then Rick's eyes narrowed.

He suddenly realized that the Fine Iron Dagger had disappeared from Shawn's hand. Even as a level 4 rogue with sharp eyes, he hadn't noticed where Shawn had put it.

Could this boy, who'd seemed so clumsy with a dagger, really be faster than his eyes?

A flicker of fear passed through Rick, and he quickly squashed his greedy thoughts.

Rick tossed away his cigarette butt and gave Shawn a sheepish smile. "Haha, Shawn, I've kept what you asked me to do in mind! I've confirmed that the mage is at the Tower of Azora, in the eastern part of Elwynn Forest. I can take you to meet him right now. But it's a long way from here to the tower. It'll take at least two or three days..."

Shawn thought, Just as I expected—it's the Tower of Azora. That's exactly where I wanted to go. Then he said, "Sure, no problem. Old Saldean will be staying in Goldshire for a while anyway. We can go there and back in time. Shall we leave now?"

Rick chuckled. "Sure. Let's set out right now."

Rick really did have a way of getting things done. He managed to find two horses, and no one knew whether he'd stolen them or borrowed them. Either way, there was no chance he'd bought them.

A horse cost at least ten gold, and Rick wouldn't have been willing to spend that much.

At any rate, early that morning, Shawn and Rick rode out of Goldshire and headed toward the Tower of Azora along the main road.