9 Chapter 8

Adams room, the next day

Waking from his first natural sleep in a while, Adam feels reinvigorated. Feeling once again in full control of his mental faculties, he started going over yesterday's conversations. He noticed a few inconsistencies. The first of which is, why was Olivia so forthcoming? There has to be a deeper reason. Until he finds out, he will take everything she says with a grain of salt. While he believes it is beneath her to lie to him, half-truths are just as bad. For one, he will not 'ascend' the same way she did. There has to be a reason no one has ascended using the method ever since the first group. He will try to see if he can add on to it, personalize the method so to speak. He's not arrogant enough to think he can come up with a whole new way. While he believes the group of ascendants themselves are geniuses, Olivia herself is unsure of the details of the process, hinting at luck being a major part of their success. Luck, when it comes to existences at their level is practically a beacon saying 'look something weird is going on'. Clearing his head, he gets out of the bed and heads to the bathroom.

He noticed the owl missing from its perch. Now that his body is attuned to the environmental mana, he should be able to use the runes in his room. Pressing his palm over the rune and willing it to work, hot water starts pouring out the faucet in the bucket-like sink. Once done, he presses the rune on the sink and watches as water silently vanishes. Having read about runes and inscriptions during his temporary manic phase, he was surprised at how versatile they were. Though useless past rank 7, the sheer versatility for the common populace is something to admire. Although it is impossible for non-magi to produce them, that is a minor issue compared to what they provide.

Stepping out of the bathroom, he heads for his bag. He wanted to take stock of his belongings before leaving the tower. Emptying the contents on the bed, he takes count: A hunting knife, with a monomolecular edge, top of the line. Cigarette case with his prerolled joints, an old way of consuming THC but that was his preferred way, smoke damage are irrelevant with his nanomachines. A change of clothes, the highly durable and environmentally resistant ones, not the wool clothes. A few seeds to grow some of his medicinal plant. A few canteens with inbuilt filters as well as a few alcohol flasks. Opening one, he takes a sip 'hmmm, Hennessy, I will miss it.'. Staring at the flask in his hand, he sets it back on the bed and looks at the rest of the stuff, a tent, sleeping bag, climbing gear, and fire starters (flint and the like). He has also enough nutricapsules to last him a few years without any sort of serious injuries. Each capsule has enough nutrients for a whole day.

The last object is something he has not brought with him. It was a tree seed. An ash tree seed to be exact. It was feather-shaped and the size of his hand. Thinking of Odin, he now understands what he meant by planting. The only ash tree related to Odin is Yggdrasil. Thinking of this, he can probably guess what the Allfather wants. Yggdrasil, known as the world tree, would, via the seed, connect to the world in which it was planted, granting Odin access to said world as an escape route. Chuckling to himself, he resolves himself to study the seed, or have someone more qualified do it for him. If he remembers his Norse mythology properly, Odin and Yggdrasil are two separate entities. What one wants may not necessarily be what the other wishes for. If he can manage to get in contact with the World Tree, he can probably cut a deal on the side, cutting the Allfather out, assuming he can communicate with it.

Satisfied, he packs his bag and gets ready to head out. Stepping out of the room, he finds someone standing guard at his door. Surprised for a second, he then remembers the attendant Fay assigned to him. Giving her a closer look, he recognizes her as the one who brought him to the Tower. The blonde lady, seeing step him, greets him with her right fist to the chest "Greetings sir Adam. I am the attendant assigned to you by Lady Fay, you may call me Sylvia.''

"Nice to meet you, Sylvia. I'm heading out, you can follow. If you feel there's anything I might need to know at any time, you can tell me." Nodding, Adam starts walking toward the elevator while Sylvia steps in line behind him. Once on the elevator, Sylvia hands him a card and ring, both made out of some sort of see-through crystal or glass. "Sir, this is your identifications. They also serve as a means of communication and a wallet for your credits. Once you inject them with mana, they will automatically lock themselves to your mental waves." Nodding, he takes the items from her, giving them a quick look, he's unsure of the material they're made of. He's inclined to say that it's made of the Ascendants crystallized thoughts, but the material feels similar to what the tower is made of. If it is indeed made of the same material, he will have to reevaluate the degree of involvement of the Ascendants in the current society. If they're peak-tier existences, supposedly seeing anything lower as cattle, for what reason do they involve themselves in society that much? Staying at the helm of The Council, which runs the world can be understood as them deciding the direction of the world. It seems reasonable to an extent, but providing materials for the magi to use? That's a whole different level of involvement.

"Sylvia, can you tell me if the material used for the card, tower, and the glass I've seen the houses outside use are one and the same?" She gives him an odd look "What do you mean sir? Glass is just glass. The card and tower are made of specialized materials. Unfortunately, my clearance isn't high enough to know what. I've heard rumors that the material is provided by the council heads. Whether that is true or not is not something I can confirm." Adam acknowledges her answer while mentally chastising himself 'Just glass, of course. Not everything is mystical and mysterious. You have got to stop overthinking things...'

Stepping out of the tower, Adam heads to one of the two teleportation platforms. Paying more attention to the materials than the runes, he spots a small crystal in the middle of the platform. It looked to be of the same material as the tower and the items Sylvia has given him. With this, he confirmed that the Ascendants have a vested interest in this world. With the way they spread their bodies, their active involvement, and his status as someone under the sponsorship of Fay, an Ascendant's daughter, he's almost guaranteed to once more interact with them. He'll see if he can figure out what's going on.

Hearing Sylvia speak to him, he asks her

"What's that? sorry I wasn't paying attention."

"No problem sir, where do you wish to go, the business or residential district?"

"Take me to the business district."

"Yes sir." She hovers her hand over the part where the crystal was and closes her eyes. A moment later, the runes on the platform shine and they disappear only to reappear in a luxurious room. It almost looked like the decorator was afraid of people not knowing how rich the owners were. Everything was either silver gilded with gold or gold gilded with silver. Even the couch cushions had gold and silver trimmings. The sight alone was enough to give Adam a headache. He, like any hot-blooded male, liked to show off, but everyone had their own way of doing so, some discreetly, with maybe a fancy unassuming watch or fancy car with tame colors; others, like the owner of this room, wanted the whole world to know that they had the biggest b*lls. Probably gold plated too.

Adam, with a hint of distaste, asked Sylvia "Who's the owner of this room?". Sylvia, unaware of his thoughts answers "Lady Fay, although she never uses the room. She prefers to travel her own way." Stunned with the answer, Adam decides to blame whoever chose the decoration.

In a tavern, not far from the city gates, an old lady suddenly feels insulted. Knowing everything happens for a reason, she uses her mastery over the concept of karma to see which ignorant whelp deserves a spanking. Spotting Adam, looking distastefully at the room she decorated, for her lovely daughter by the way, she laughs out loud. "Ahh if only Fay ever used the room. She would know the depths of my love. Anyways, the kid is arrogant enough to dismiss my proof of love. I'll have to spank him next time I see him."

Shivering all of sudden, Adam looks around to see if there's an open window or something similar. Spotting nothing, he asks zero 'Zero anything abnormal with my body?' 'Negative sir.' Finding nothing abnormal, he places his concerns aside and steps out of the gaudy room, with Sylvia in tow. He finds himself facing a hall with stairs leading to a lower level. Once outside of the room, he notices the building itself seemed to be made of wood. Even the floor peeking out from the carpets was made of wood. Remembering to ask, he mentally commands Zero, 'Zero tell me what's special about this wood. The whole city seemed to be built using it.'

'Yes sir. This wood, or tree, is called the immortal tree. It was acquired in a dying elven world. The world of Aurora invaded their world as it was dying. They were able to acquire most of the world's resources without fighting in exchange for asylum. This immortal tree was what the elves used as a basis for everything. From housing to city foundations, to food production. The tree, with sufficient mana, can grow itself from a shard. With earth-attuned mana and proper control, it is possible to shape the tree in various shapes. Without mana, this tree will grow normally, with the help of regular soil, water and photosynthesis. It does not produce any seeds or fruits. Using mana, it is possible to introduce different seeds to the tree, with which it will grow the seed using its body as a carrier; the seeds produced from such growth will always belong to the original species and not the tree. Due to the lack of seed production, the tree has a hard time spreading itself without outside help.' Adam, stunned by the existence of such an organism, asks Zero 'So this whole city, is considered one tree?'

'Yes sir, The immortal tree, when surrounded by others of their kind, will slowly intertwine its roots with the others and in time, merge to become one. It is believed to be a safety mechanism, used to ensure their safety. The world of Aurora decided to use this tree as a foundation for all cities, tier 4 and above.'

Remembering the metal walls 'What about the metal walls, why don't they use the tree for their defenses?' 'The metal wall is made of an alloy called vibranium. It is an alloy discovered by the Council Heads (the Ascended), during their travels. Once discovered, they created mines to produce the alloy. The alloy is able to absorb and deflect a large amount of kinetic force, while also being lighter than steel. It is used as a defense by all cities tier 5 and above.'

As for the air defenses, he can already guess. With the mix of 'thought-crystal' produced by the ascendants, the giant tower, and Fay being a tier 7 with a domain, she can probably use the giant tower as a concentration point, with the four smaller towers to help cover the city with her domain, ensuring that whatever enters the city by air falls under her control.

Down the stairs was a wooden door. Opening the door led to a spacious room, with various open spaces with teleportation portals on them. The door he used is the only one of its kind, gathering attention on him as soon as he stepped out of it.

The people, Adam noticed, are made of multiple races. Something he knew already from the information available to him. But reading and seeing are two different things, while the people were observing him, he was observing them back. Elves, dwarves, Orcs, Humans, and beastmen. Disregarding the elves, the dwarves, and weirdly enough, the females of the other races, the beastmen looked as if someone took a catalog of various animals and decided they should walk on two feet and have opposable thumbs. The elves looked like slim humans with more angular faces, not ugly or beautiful, just different. The male dwarves were short, burly, and hairy while their females were only short and well-built. As for the beastmen, their females looked like human women of varying skin colors, with animalistic features spread throughout their bodies. Fur here, scales there, ears on top, tails at the bottom. A furries wet dream. The males on the other side, animal heads on top of a human body. Their hands may be claws or their feet may be digitigrade but they had the same thing every humanoid had; Four limbs, a torso, and a head on top. The orcs were basically bigger, muscular humans, with green skin and tusks jutting out from their lower jaws. Despite their ferocious appearance, the orcs were known to be tree-eaters, as in literally eating trees. They use their tusks to break the hard tree bark. Meat consumption on the other hand turned them into lustful berserkers. Small consumption did not affect them much, but regular consumption will make them lose their mind. They and the elves consider each other enemies, due to the orcs eating trees as a staple food and the elves worshiping the world tree as their creator.

The Council, on the other hand, did not bother calling them elves, orcs, and such, they simply bunched anything not human under one umbrella term: Humanoid variants. It was not out of spite but simply to make integration more seamless and prepare for any future race that may also join. Accepting a few of their quirks was okay, but accepting their culture was something the council refused. They did not want to give the populace a reason to fight each other. All of them being refugees forced them to begrudgingly accept and adapt to their circumstances. The people present were a mix of travelers, guards, and attendants. The attendants wore magi robes, indicating their status as magi. The old ones seemed lackadaisical, almost falling asleep while the young ones were full of energy, moving here and there assisting those who need it.

Something else he noticed was the lack of any kind of insectoid. While the information mentioned the Magi destroying a few of their worlds, there was no mention of what happened to their denizens. He would have to look into it.

Finished with his observations, he ignores the lingering stares and steps out of the building, aptly called: the teleportation hall. Looking at his surroundings, he finds the building built at the crossroads of four major roads. Those roads were filled with various stores at the sides. The buildings were oddly shaped. Everything was square or rectangular shaped with flat roofs. He's guessing that with everything made of wood, rain doesn't need to be funneled, it probably gets absorbed by the building itself, and it doesn't snow in this part of the world. The only thing that differentiates them from each other would be what the building owners added to them. Signboards, various trimmings, crystals flashing in different lights for the fancy-looking ones. Like everything else, the roads were made of wood as well.

He spots a line of carriages waiting by the side of the teleportation hall. Walking to a carriage pulled with some kind of scaled horses, he calls out to the dwarven driver "Take me to the council headquarter". ''Aye sir, It will cost you 10 coppers". Fishing his Identification Card, he shows it to the driver. "A magus? no problem sir, just hop on.''. Official magi don't need to pay for common utilities, the council takes care of that. They don't usually carry currency on them, their attendants do, so they don't often utilize that right. The dwarf will get paid by the headquarters once he drops off Adam. He will get twice his fare, this is to ensure that people will willingly serve a Magus, not out of fear, but greed. Turning them from an object of fear to one where people will want to serve them with a smile on their face.

Nodding back, Adam steps inside while Sylvia was heading to the front, by the dwarf's side. Stopping her, he calls out "Sylvia, come join me, I have questions I need answered".

"Yes sir", stepping in the carriage and sitting opposite him, she waits for him to speak. In the meantime, while the carriage is rolling, Adam is observing it. 'Even the carriage is made using immortal tree? can it be considered a living carriage? what about the wheels?'. Tilting his head out of the curtain-covered opening, he looks at the carriage wheels, only to find out it is similarly made of wood. Paying attention to the axel, he finds out it is also made of wood. He's puzzled as to how it turns, is the wheel part of the body or separate? He will need to acquire one to find out. Stumped by his discovery, he can only attribute their extensive usage of the wood to a mix of convenience and laziness. Being able to shape the wood at will ensures that whatever repairs the carriage may need can be fixed using just a bit of mana.

"Sir?", startled, he looks at Sylvia, giving him a wry smile. "Ehm, sorry Sylvia, I was lost in thought. So tell me what to expect at the headquarters. If I'm not mistaken, that's where magi go once they finish their training at one of the elemental spires (the ones at the four corners of the city) is that correct?" Nodding at his statement Sylvia picks up "You are correct sir, The Council headquarters is where a magus will go for advanced training, which starts once a magus reaches rank 4. It is also the place in the city where Magi above rank 4 go to get look for missions set in this region. During the occasional world excursion, portals will be opened in each different headquarter that will allow one to step into the target world." She pauses for a second as if unsure then continues "Sir, while Lady Fay sponsored you, which is a testament to your potential, I recommend you instead head to the proper elemental tower to get a firm foundation.''

Agreeing with her, Adam nods ''You are right, the reason I am heading there is to receive my official factional badge, something Lady Fay has either forgotten or did not have on her person. The other reason is while satisfied with our short time together, I will need more subordinates. I am hoping to use Lady Fay's status as the daughter of a Head councilor to recruit some. And lastly, if I'm not mistaken, for a magus to acquire a residence, they need the approval of the Headquarters, especially if they wish to turn a business estate into a residential one. I will be building an underground lab. I don't want my subordinates running back and forth from the residential area to the business district." Sylvia accepting his answer adds "I see, but sir, while recruiting using Lady Fay's name will be easy, you will have to ensure their needs are satisfied. Lady Fay's resources are to be used for your development. If you use it to pay for subordinates, she might reduce them or outright rescind your status."

"Don't worry, if I meet the right people, I might not even need to pay them anything other than the minimum for their basic needs. Anyways it looks like we're about to arrive." Noticing the carriage slowing down, Sylvia swallows back what she was about to say. The dwarf calls out "Sir magus, we've arrived!"

Stepping out, Adam is once again stumped by the Council's minimalistic mentality. The headquarters is basically a giant cube made from the same alloy used for the walls, vibranium. Thinking again, it makes sense if the portals used for world excursions are opened inside. If an excursion goes wrong, it is better for the enemy force to be stuck inside a durable metal block, it makes it easier to retaliate in case of a counter-invasion. Simply block the entrance and your enemies are stuck inside until reinforcements arrive.

Walking towards the guards stationed at a fence surrounding the building, Adam shows them his ID and proceeds to the metallic monstrosity's entrance. A giant open door, made from the same material, large enough to allow six men shoulder to shoulder to step through. Stepping inside, he is greeted by a hubbub of activity. The entire building had only one floor with counters at the left and right sides of the walls, relative to the door. There were five tellers on each side, for a total of ten. There was a wall at the opposite end of the room, with 3 doors. Two seemed to lead to the same room, a teleportation hall, while the last was almost as big as the one from the entrance. It was unused, with two guards at either side. The last thing of note, other than the chairs, tables, and couches littering the room chaotically, was the giant crystal pillar in the middle, with extensions at the top, almost like tentacles, drooping on either side towards six tellers, three from each side. Exhaling slightly, Adam walks in, taking his first official step in this new world.

Author's note: Here you go peeps. Adam finds out he's living in a hipster's wet dream, vegetarian orcs, and a giant wooden city. I didn't leave the furries out too....lol. Just picturing a muscular man, walking on land, with an orca head inside a fishbowl makes me lol...Anyway, vibranium gets introduced, that is not to say that the Ascended have traveled to the MCU, no they have contact with other peak-tier lifeforms who have regular contact with different fictional verses. You know them very well *wink wink*. You may see different products from different verses available. Nothing too world-breaking yet. I like to blueball. He who has suffered them has the right to dish them. Hope you guys enjoyed.

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Lazy...OUT!