Angor also saw several buildings dozens of meters high among all the shops. The tallest one was a silver-colored metallic tower near the center of the place. The tower had 15 floors. A number of steel cables came out of each floor, with each cable extended into a corner of the underground cave several kilometers away. All the cables formed up a giant network in the air.
There was such a cable under Angor’s position which was connected to the tower.
“These are cableways. See those metal boxes up there? Those are carriages, and they can take you to the Sky Tower quickly,” Dave explained.
“Sky Tower?” Angor looked at the silver tower and recalled hearing a similar name from somewhere.
“Yup, Sky Tower,” said Dave. His expression showed both admiration and fear. “The Sky Towers are battle towers established in various places by Floating Mech City.”
“Battle towers?” Angor remembered when Abelle introduced a formal wizard, she mentioned such a place. “The Tower of Infinity in Floating Mech City?”
“You know about Tower of Infinity?” asked Dave. He was surprised. That was not something a new recruit would know. Dave only heard it from a pair of Level-3 apprentices by chance after he had worked in Prome’s Alchemy Shop for two years.
Angor explained Abelle’s words.
“Abelle, huh? She’s weak, but she has some fast information sources. I heard that she always goes to the Cloud Library to spend her merit points. Abelle should totally know about the tower.”
“Why? Is Abelle famous here?” asked Angor. He tried finding random things to talk about along their way.
“She is. But not in a good way. We’re from the same term. When Mister Tree Spirit tested her, she proved to be a rare Occult talent. And many people were pretty jealous. However, she was just too weak. She would drag people down in every single group activity, so people just call her the biggest disappointment during that term.”
“Abelle is an Occult?”
“Yes, she’s an Occult Summoner. The triple-colored deer she usually rode on was summoned by her,” said Dave. He curled his lips as he continued, “The deer has no strength at all. It’s just a vehicle. Enough about Abelle, let’s talk about the Sky Tower.”
Dave pointed to the tall structure and he explained, “There are 15 floors on the tower, and every floor had several dozen arenas. You get three points by winning a match and lose four points by losing, and nothing happens if it’s a draw. If you earn enough points on each floor or place yourself within the top ten people with the most points in each season, you can advance to the next floor. Being admitted into a floor means you can ride the cableway on that floor to go directly into the Sky Tower too. It also shows one’s strength to others.
“If you get past the fifth floor, you win a ticket to challenge the Tower of Infinity. In other words, the Tower of Infinity is a sequel to the Sky Tower.”
Dave looked as if he was yearning for something as he continued, “The strongest talent from my year has entered the thirteenth floor now.”
“What about you?”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yeah, which floor are you on?”
Dave revealed an embarrassed look as he said, “Oh uh, I’m not interested in fighting, so…”
Not interested? Angor chuckled in his mind. He did not forget Dave’s look of admiration when he was looking at the Sky Tower.
Dave was definitely interested. He just could not fight.
Angor was now quite curious about the Sky Tower. It could be a good place to train his skills. However… considering that he would fight in the center of audiences, Angor preferred not trying it out.
Prome’s Alchemy Shop sat in a remote place. It was a single building near the edge of the cave and was hidden behind a tall structure. People had to walk around the tall building to notice this small shop.
“The location isn’t ideal, but we have good business! The shopkeeper is an Intermediate Apprentice Alchemist, so he’s an important figure in the entire Brute Cavern. Many people from the other apprentice towns come here to this shop because of him,” Dave explained proudly.
So apprentice alchemists are considered important here? Angor thought to himself.
The shop’s door was shut tight. Still, a number of people had gathered in front of it. They all went up to Dave when they saw him, and Dave tried pretty hard to persuade them away.
“The people are here for Master Prome, but he’s not here,” said Dave. He then sighed. “Or should I say, he’s not here 90% of all times throughout the year. Alchemists are always busy, it can’t be helped.”
While explaining, Dave took Angor into the shop.
It was a small place. The shelves were full of all kinds of strange objects, most of which were made of metal.
“Master Prome’s masterpieces. He doesn’t come here often, but he always places his new products into his warehouse. I collect them every half a month. You look around. I’ll go get your spirit meter. It’s pretty cheap. If you ask for something else, I’m afraid I can’t just give you without Master’s permission,” Dave mumbled. He lifted a wooden cover on the floor and ducked in.
Angor and his bird stood alone inside the small shop.
He slowly looked at the shelves around him. The products all looked pretty well-made, but they were actually of little use. The products described in the first pages of Encyclopaedia: Basic Alchemy were already better than these.
And given the apprentice alchemist who made such products was called a “Master”… this further proved how scarce skilled alchemists were.
Angor decided that once he finished his third step in his meditation, he would try studying alchemy when he had time. The books were such great treasures, it would be a waste if he did not put them to use.
[Killer Music Box. It creates a sharp sound wave by mixing high and low frequencies and can be used to assault one’s mind. Limited to three uses. Item breaks upon reaching this limit. Price: 5,000 merit points.]
Angor picked up a beautiful, heart-shaped metal casket. If he did not read the description label affixed on it, he would have thought this was a jewelry case.
“Only three times? Either its creator did something wrong while making it, or there’s a flaw in its interior mechanism,” said Angor as he put the case down. A flawed product that cost 5,000 points. Alchemists could really earn easy money. Angor believed the materials for making this thing would barely cost two magic crystals.
He heard chirping coming from behind him. When he turned around, he saw Toby acting all restless in front of a pale violet morning glory flower.
Angor walked to Toby to see what was special about the flower when the flower suddenly released some chirps back out.
“That’s… Toby’s voice?” Angor looked at Toby in another spot, who was equally puzzled.
“That’s… Toby’s voice?” The morning glory sounded again.
In Angor’s voice.
“Amazing. A flower that records your voice?” Angor was surprised.
“Amazing. A flower that records your voice?”
Dave climbed out of the underground storage and saw Angor and Toby’s silly reaction. He smiled and explained, “That’s an Echo Flower. Hey, Toby, don’t step on its root.”
Toby flew away from the flower pot.
“It’ll not do it if you don’t press its root. The flower is a material used in sound-related alchemy items. Here, Angor,” said Dave. He tossed a meter to Angor and said, “A spirit meter, as my apology for you.”
Angor took the meter and told himself “Jackpot!” in his mind. Although he showed an “Okay, I accept this humble gift” on his face.
Angor prepared to leave. He got what he wanted already, so there was no point in staying further.