The Tower

In the morning, light from the sea shone upon Silvermoon City. From Sun Sail Harbor, one could see the tower gleaming gold in the sunlight, the dwelling place of the masters.

Silvermoon City had eight towers in total, standing in eight directions around the city. Shane left his home and passed along the seaside promenade, just as golden light fell over him. Looking up, he saw three points of light, one belonging to his mentor. The eight towers represented eight masters and also formed Silvermoon City's defensive system.

After sending Taigo, the puppet, to the factory for repairs, Shane walked into the city. Today, the streets were being filled with chairs, and colorful banners had been strung between the buildings. "Is there a festival celebration?" Shane had not celebrated a festival in a long time and could not remember what holiday it was.

As he reached the foot of the mage tower, he encountered several apprentices, all dressed festively as well.

"Mage Shane." The few of them greeted Shane first when they saw him, and Shane nodded in return.

"Could you tell us the secret to advancing?"

As Shane passed them, he heard a trembling voice ask from behind. He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the apprentices' faces one by one. Hope and timidity coexisted in their eyes.

"Practice for more than twelve hours every day, constantly think about how to refine your spells, and fight a few battles with everything you have. Then you'll advance quickly as well."

"Wouldn't that make life far too boring—" The apprentice who spoke was glared at by his companions and hurriedly apologized to Shane. "I'm sorry. Please forgive my companion's rudeness. We still have a festival party to attend, so we won't disturb you any longer. Farewell."

Shane turned away and ignored the apprentices. Before entering the mage tower, he vaguely heard them muttering, "We could never learn Mage Shane's method."

At that, a smile was enough.

After reporting to the construct at the base of the tower and swiping his apprentice credential over a magic orb, Shane was teleported to the seventh floor of the tower. His mentor was not there. Books lay everywhere in the room, the magic lamp on the desk burned constantly, and documents were scattered across the floor. From the window at this height, Silvermoon City's entire panorama lay before him.

Mentor is busy, Shane thought. Behind the desk, space above the chair twisted. He sensed arcane energy forming a singularity and opening a passage. His mentor crossed through in a glow of arcane light and sat down in the chair.

"Greetings, Mentor." Shane bowed.

"Shane, every bit of your growth is a pleasant surprise. Fifth Circle."

"Yes."

The arcane radiance still drifted down from his mentor's hair, and a bright white remnant of arcane energy remained in his eyes. "You possess talents other elves lack: diligence and ambition. How sad, isn't it? Diligence has actually become a rare talent among elves."

His mentor had complained to Shane more than once that comfort, wealth, and long lives had caused elves—especially high elves born after the Troll Wars—to lose their drive. What he said now was no different from his previous complaints, and Shane listened quietly.

"Even more rare is your exceptional sensitivity to the arcane. Some elves at your rank can only learn Icy Veins. If they tried to learn Multicast like you did, they would only blow their own brains apart."

"It is all thanks to your guidance, Mentor."

"That's right! Guidance! Elves can be divided into those who can be taught and those who cannot. Our task is to extract the teachable portion from among the elves, impart the most advanced knowledge to them, and let them stand out, gain power and status, and become a strong force for the high elves, safeguarding the survival of all our people."

From his words, Shane inferred what his mentor meant: Shane, I think highly of you. Learn magic well, and you'll have everything.

"Do you know what day it is today?" His mentor looked out the window.

"Some kind of festival?" Shane replied.

"Come, let's watch together."

His mentor took Shane's hand. Arcane energy tore open space and tugged at his body. It was as though they took a single step, and the two of them teleported to the rooftop terrace.

"It's about to begin."

The sun reached its highest point, and booming ceremonial cannons sounded throughout the city. Petals and ribbons soared into the sky under the influence of magic, spanning east to west as a rainbow appeared. Across the city, every fountain stopped at that moment, then suddenly sprayed purplish-red liquid more than ten meters into the air, showering everyone below. The wind carried the rich scent of wine mixed with fruit fragrance.

Looking down from the tower, Shane clearly saw three couples on a street not far from the mage tower, their bodies entwined as they raised their heads to catch the wine in their mouths, then kissed and fed it to one another. Their faces wore expressions of abandon and intoxication. Their lust heated up, and they embraced as they headed for rooms to the side. On another street, countless men and women danced while stripping. Once they were down to their last layer, they rubbed against one another. Their wine-soaked skin alternated between coolness and heat, their body temperatures rose, and their breathing quickened. Some even rolled beneath tables and got to work on the spot.

"What do you think of that kind of life?" his mentor asked Shane beside him.

"It's terrible. I don't like it at all," Shane answered.

"But they like it." His mentor's tone held a trace of regret and disgust. "After the Troll Wars, comfort, wealth, extravagance, and debauchery became the theme. Their long lives left them lacking in ambition. But for us, the greatest benefit of being a high elf is that, at least far in the future, we won't have to turn ourselves into undead creatures in order to continue our research."

"I will always remember your teachings, Mentor," Shane said.

"That isn't what I meant. Once a habit forms, it is difficult to change. If I made you live like them now, you would find it uncomfortable instead. Hehehe." His mentor rarely laughed.

There were further lessons behind those words, and Shane listened attentively.

"Do you know? Silvermoon City has eight spires. The tallest belongs to the king, and the one beside it belongs to the prince. He is in Dalaran now. The two in the west belong to the Dawnstriders and Sunfury respectively. Of the remaining four, one is mine. As for the other three, they are not worth mentioning."

Shane roughly guessed what his mentor was about to say.

"After Fifth Circle comes Sixth Circle. Cross from Sixth Circle to Seventh Circle, then make the contributions expected of an arcane caster, and Silvermoon City will erect a ninth tower."

His mentor took Shane's hand again, and they teleported back to the seventh floor. In a good mood, his mentor asked him to talk about his experiences in the Ghostlands. Shane chose what to tell him, filtering out anything that could not be revealed and focusing on his observation that trolls used living creatures to sacrifice to their gods. After listening, his mentor thought for a few seconds and told him to leave a written report for discussion at the council.

Before Shane left, his mentor gave him a set of books: Magic Craftsmanship: Creating Magical Weapons and Armor.

After leaving the tower, Shane intended to ask where Vereesa was. But as he turned the street corner, he saw Vereesa waiting for him. They had not seen each other in a long time and should have had much to say, yet when the words reached their lips, there were only two brief lines.

"You're back?"

"I'm back."

Vereesa accompanied Shane through the city wall and back to Sun Sail Harbor by the seaside path.

"Why aren't you celebrating with them?" Shane asked along the way.

"Because they're too noisy. What about you?"

"Same as you."

The sea breeze tousled Vereesa's hair, and the elven woman used her fingers to smooth it back behind her ears.

In the market, all the elves had gone off to revel, and no vendors could be found. However, signs hung from the stalls saying that customers could take what they wished. They selected several fresh ingredients and returned to his little house.

Vereesa stood beside Shane as they cooked dinner together. In her hands, the pie dough was kneaded into all kinds of shapes, one of them resembling Shane. Holding up her creation, her eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled.

"I'm going to eat all of this." She pointed at the pie shaped like Shane.