A mage tower was a mage's research institute, the place where he stored his lifetime of research, discoveries, and wealth. It was a symbol of a mage's status; a tower soaring into the clouds demonstrated its owner's standing and level of attainment. A mage tower contained a private library, laboratories, the mage's own residence, and large stores of spellcasting materials. Every mage hoped to have a tower of his own.
Mage towers fell into two main categories: fortress towers and city towers. Fortress mage towers primarily served combat and defensive purposes. They could provide a fortress with tremendous damage output, bolstering its offensive power, and several towers could also be linked to form powerful magical nodes to defend against enemies. City mage towers served both residential and combat purposes. Most ordinarily functioned as mages' residences, research institutes, and the like, while also possessing combat capabilities.
The main facilities inside a mage tower fell into residential and functional categories. Residential facilities mainly included quarters for the mage, attendants, and apprentices, quiet rooms, storerooms, studies, and so on. Functional facilities included alchemy laboratories, libraries, self-study rooms, reception rooms, halls, workbenches, and the like. The spellcasting materials, daily necessities, arcane tomes, and other supplies stored in the tower all formed part of a mage's accumulated resources.
Regardless of how it was classified, Thas'wether's Tower was undoubtedly a top-tier mage tower, keeping track of intelligence, military affairs, civilian life, and other matters east of Silvermoon City. It also monitored the region's defensive magical barriers and the stability of the magical barriers along the coastline. Studying here could greatly improve one's arcane practice.
When Patrick saw Thas'wether's Tower, he froze for a moment. This was not the little tower he had seen before, with only a few tiny floors inside, nor was it a handful of floating connecting staircases. In reality, Thas'wether's Tower resembled a floating five-story building. It had a golden spire, white walls, and red decorations-the standard high elf color scheme-with magical runes swirling over it and threads of arcane energy spilling out. The teleportation orb on the ground was not sitting alone in some crude pavilion, either. The place resembled an administrative office, complete with reception rooms, meeting rooms, lounges, and everything else.
[It was only a floating tower. Back when we relied on the Power of the Well of Eternity, even levitating an entire continent was no problem. Flexible use of arcane magic and mastery of mana were the real benchmarks that mattered for a mage.]
Lady Ellen, who had been silent for a long time, popped up to twist the knife.
[Actually, with me helping you control energy, you could learn arcane magic with half the effort and twice the results. Earlier, when you used arcane mimicry to simulate elemental magic, it would have been impossible for a mere third-circle mage like you without my help.]
Damn it, other people transmigrated with a system or some old mentor and steamrolled everything with their cheats. I transmigrated with this soul, and I still had to put up with his mockery. This was fucking unfair.
Patrick walked up and said, "Please contact Arcanist Thas'wether for me. This is my letter of introduction. I have something to discuss with Lord Thas'wether." Patrick handed the letter his father had given him to the female attendant. Old Phil Cabrolon had written it to Thas'wether, hoping his son could study in his mage tower for a while.
"Certainly. Please wait a moment," the female attendant said.
"Master Thas'wether is waiting for you."
"Master Thas'wether." Patrick lowered his head slightly in respect.
"Mr. Patrick, welcome to my mage tower." Thas'wether closed the book in his hands. "The attendants have made the arrangements. You will study here in my floating tower. Your private quarters are also in the tower, with a separate laboratory, reading room, and bedroom. Welcome aboard."
The long, slender golden eyebrows on Thas'wether's handsome face trembled slightly. High elves lived long lives, and time never left signs of age on their faces. Thas'wether looked like a human in his thirties, full of drive-the sort of handsome man with the polish of accumulated years.
The quarters the attendants had arranged were quite decent, better than expected, with a separate study, laboratory, and bedroom, as well as a small balcony. They still featured the elves' favorite red decorations with gold trim. From the balcony, he could see the entire area around Thas'wether's Tower.
He could also see the Azurebreeze Coast, making it an "ocean-view room" in a sense. Various magical materials and herbs had been prepared in the laboratory. Another purpose of Patrick's visit was to help Master Thas'wether prepare the necessary supplies of alchemical potions. This area saw a dense flow of people, and supplies of potions and enchantments could not keep up. His father could take the opportunity to send him here to study.
After a busy day, he took a short rest on the balcony that evening. Nights in Silvermoon City were always the same. Magical streetlights flickered, and for some elves, nightlife had only just begun.
There were two moons in Azeroth's sky: the larger white moon, the White Lady, and the smaller blue moon, Blue Child. When Blue Child and the White Lady aligned, the blue moon obscured the white one, making it look as though the White Lady was embracing Blue Child from behind. This astronomical phenomenon was known on Azeroth as the "Embrace of the Two Moons."
The "Embrace of the Two Moons" produced a special energy, and through a ritual, Kalecgos gained the power of the Dragon Aspects, formally replacing the deceased Malygos as a Dragon Aspect.
But if things followed the story's setting, Elune was the world-soul of the planet Azeroth, a high-ranking Titan, and her body was still gestating within Azeroth. How could she possibly be the so-called "moon goddess"?
Moreover, Shandris Feathermoon's Prayer to the Moonlight Goddess-the lunar orbital cannon-also dealt arcane damage, which contradicted the Night Elves' prohibition against Arcane Magic.
Perhaps Azeroth's moon goddess was some other unknown deity, and Elune was merely a Titan. This also explained why, when Aman'Thul first discovered that Azeroth was a planet nurturing a world-soul, the Titans descended to create their so-called order for her: the Well of Eternity, the ley line system, and so on.
The Well of Eternity. Ten thousand years before war broke out between humans and Orcs, the world of Azeroth had only one vast landmass surrounded by endless oceans-Kalimdor. Many different races and creatures lived on this land, struggling against its harsh natural environment.
At the center of this dark continent lay a lake filled with mysterious energy. This lake, known as the Well of Eternity, was the source of the entire world's arcane and natural energies. While drawing energy from the boundless darkness beyond this world, the Well of Eternity continuously released energy throughout the world, nourishing its myriad creatures.
The Well of Eternity supplied Elune with energy while nourishing her as a Titan, allowing her to evolve into that kind of life-form sooner. Judging from the available data, Elune might have been a high-ranking Titan who commanded three powers: souls, purity, and arcane energy. Aman'Thul, king of the Pantheon, was likewise a high-ranking Titan who commanded time, fate, and space. Thus, Aman'Thul believed Elune could bring a new power of order to the Pantheon and the entire universe, maintaining the Pantheon's rule over the cosmos.
Meanwhile, natural energy nourished Azeroth, this nurturing bed. The Well of Eternity's energy cycled endlessly, ensuring that everything became ordered as the Titans desired, giving this planet vitality and providing it with more life and souls, all the way until Elune broke out of her shell.
The ley line system played an even greater role. Its first function was as the planet Azeroth's greatest defensive weapon. Any living being wishing to pass through the ley line system had to abandon all its power. When Sargeras forced his way through the ley lines, he gave up what could be called 99% of his power. After entering Azeroth, he had no choice but to hunt dragons to recover, before ultimately being killed by Aegwynn.
Without the ley line system protecting this planet, Archimonde and Kil'jaeden could have destroyed Azeroth directly from the Twisting Nether. (The original work described Archimonde destroying a planet outright: standing in the Twisting Nether, he scattered a handful of energy toward the planet, and it became cosmic dust.)
Its second function was probably the blueprint system, jointly controlled by the Dragon Aspects Malygos, Ysera, and the others. The Focusing Iris was a key that supplied the blueprint system with arcane energy. The blueprint contained the Titans' original order. In other words, the Titans' keepers could reset everything on Azeroth to its initial state.
The Titans had also left behind three laboratories. Ulduar was the largest of the three they had built on Azeroth, intended to develop perfect life-forms. Biological evolution took time, however, and since the Titans would not remain on the same planet for too long, they checked its progress through periodic visits and observations.
The high-ranking servants created by the Titans watched over this place, with Loken as its highest administrator. In addition, the Titans installed an automatic defense mechanism in their main laboratory on each planet: when the site's highest administrator died, the laboratory would send a distress signal to the Titans' Pantheon.
At that point, the Pantheon would dispatch Algalon the Observer to inspect the planet. Depending on the situation there, Algalon would make one of two decisions. One was Code Alpha, indicating that the planet had no particularly serious problems. Its highest administrator might merely have died in an accident, while the planet was still evolving according to the Titans' will;
The other was Code Omega, indicating that the entire planet had developed serious problems and deviated from the Titans' plan. It had to be "re-originated"-planetary reshaping-which meant completely destroying all life on the planet and starting over.
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