Eight Months Later, and the Disappearing Money Act

I had been the tower master for eight months now, and I had just finished going through all the paperwork.

I bet I sent Alexis down the elevator several thousand times to deliver papers to the proper people. Now, the floor managers actually had something to do other than strut around and act important.

The poor girl must've walked across a country just within the tower. I had Elaria make sure she reached Core Condensation and the 8th circle so she could protect Lila and wouldn't get tired from walking.

The other three of us advanced to the peak of Nascent Soul a while ago, and now we just had to take the time to advance again.

I also got a quest from Kitty to advance to Soul Formation, and she'll give me a manual all about the divine sense you can start to develop at that realm. I suspect she'll give me a quest to advance to Soul Transformation with a reward on cultivating soul power when I reach Soul Formation.

The tower's finances were in order, and I was able to figure out the tower was actually making money, but I can't figure out where that surplus is going, which makes me very suspicious.

Elaria has flooded the tower with money laced with tracking spells, so wherever the locations start piling up, we know that's where the money is going.

Thinking of which, I should probably be able to ask her to check that now as she should be finished up with the sales of Youth Retaining Magic for today.

I glanced up from the new financial reports I was reading towards where Lila was laying on the couch with her head on Alexis's lap, getting her hair brushed. The way her eyes were closed, displaying a faint happy expression while her tail slowly moved back and forth, made me feel happy.

There was a time in my life before I died that I never would have thought I'd ever be genuinely happy in such a way.

I zoned out a bit as I thought about my experiences over these years. I also missed Luna and have imagined many times our reunion, I know she's not far since she is staying in the world in my soul and only about 2 month have passed for her, but I still miss her.

I can't wait to take a visit to Earth and see my mom and sister again, though I will probably only be able to see from a distance, as I think my mom would have a heart attack and die if I showed up and told her who I am, not even she would recognize me though since I now look so different.

Maybe I'll find a way to tell my sister, though she'd never believe me.

I yawned and remembered where I was. I pushed my chair back and leaned back before contacting Elaria.

"Are you done for today?"

"Yes, Master, I'm collecting all of your earrings, then I'll be there in a minute. Would you like me to do something first?"

"No, just come to the apartment when you're done. And bring all the mana crystals with you."

"Yes, Master, I'll be there very soon."

I stood up and walked around my desk towards where Alexis was brushing Lila's hair.

I tapped Lila's shoulder, and she turned her face to look up at me with a sweet, slightly expectant smile, her head really is always filled with naughty thoughts...

"Let's go back to the apartment. I think by now we should have enough mana crystals to promote ourselves to the peak of this world."

She just gave me a look as if to say, 'you disturbed me for that? I thought it was something else, something fun. Go away if you don't want to play.'

"Didn't you say you want to burn Beastholm? You need more power to do that."

That got her attention; she got an ugly expression and sat bolt upright.

"Go go." she said trying to hurry me along.

She hurried out of the office and practically ran to the apartment. I chuckled as Alexis hurried after her; she's really done a good job helping me with the tower's affairs and taking care of Lila.

I walked out of the office stretching my arms over my head as the elevator doors opened and my beautiful elf walked out.

She gave a small bow, "Master, I've placed all the mana crystals you have in this storage bag."

She held out a storage bag, which I took before peeking inside.

There were way more crystals than I thought we would have, "Wow, good job. There should be more than enough for all of our promotion."

She looked like a delighted little kid, "Thank you, Master, I'm happy that you are pleased."

"Alright, let's go."

We walked into the apartment where an excited Lila was waiting with Alexis standing patiently behind her.

She held out her hands, and I just gave her the whole bag.

She grabbed it and skipped off to the living room where she started pouring out the high-grade mana crystals inside.

They just kept coming and coming and coming. I stood watching her taking them out and piling them up. There were tens of thousands of crystals inside.

Her and Alexis stood there in shock after she finished.

Lila broke the silence, "I once got a peek inside the royal treasury; there wasn't even close to this much inside."

Alexis replied to her, "There's so many you could almost build a mansion out of them."

That gives me an idea, "Maybe some day I should. Well anyway, let's get started. Everyone advance 1 cultivation realm and get to the peak of the 9th circle but don't form the 10th, there's something else that is much better than getting a 10th circle, and I'll explain when you get there."

After ensuring they understood, we sat down around the small mountain in my living room to start absorbing the crystals.

I had gone over the manual Kitty gave me on condensing my circles into my core many times and now am confident I have a good understanding and can put it into practice.

I devoured a chunk of the crystals and immersed myself in the condensation of my circles.

Snap!

An hour later, my core made an audible snap as a transformation took place. I felt my connection to mana increase, and my recovery of spent mana became faster, which I didn't even know was possible. This was definitely way better than simply forming a tenth circle.

I looked around my core and saw the phantom circles that were left after I finished; I wondered if I could start making the circles more solid, but when I tried, it didn't work. The mana I put in came right back out as if it were filled to the brim already. I guess this world level simply can't support it.

After examining my new core a bit longer, I made a breakthrough in my cultivation and heard the system chime of the notification that the rewards were in my inventory. Then a second chime notifying me of a new quest, sure enough, just as I predicted.

I took out my new manual and began reading it while waiting for the girls to finish.

The divine sense is really a wonderful thing; it can be used to observe and scan things, read and inscribe information on jade slips, directly transfer knowledge to another, or if the other party is much weaker, it can even take knowledge by force, and many more uses.

It's another sense also and can even help detect incoming attacks and such.

The more I read, the more I was excited about it. I had been wondering how I was going to teach the girls English, but I realized this makes it easy. I can simply inscribe it on a jade slip or transfer it directly.

Once they finished, I passed out a copy of the book on condensing their circles onto the core. With the book in hand and my explanations on my experience, they were able to do it in no time and were also surprised at just how much better it was. I had to thank whoever discovered this method as I'm very satisfied with it.

We still had plenty of crystals left, and Alexis scooped them up handfuls at a time and placing them back in the storage bag.

I estimated we had enough to reach the peak of Soul Transformation, and I was no longer interested in staying in this world for longer. I missed some people I was excited to see again but still wanted to finish what I had started here.

I still couldn't figure out where the money from the tower was going, and I was curious as to how it kept going missing so perfectly. Also, if I figure this out, no one will be able to pull this stunt in front of me again.

"Elaria, did you find out where the tower's money is going?"

"Yes, Master, much of it flows through a mansion a few blocks from the palace, then it seems to get spent on stuff like normal. They are not one of the merchants who sell to us, so there is no reason for them to have so much of the tower's money."

"Alright, let's all go. I want to ask this guy how he's getting the tower's money."

We didn't bother with the elevator and directly stepped off the balcony off the back of my apartment. Flight was an 8th circle spell, and we had all mastered it long ago.

We flew above the city, and I remembered a dream I once had of flying through the Miami skyline, and weaving between the skyscrapers, I decided I was definitely going to do that someday.

The four of us were now each more powerful than a 10th circle mage, and I'd looked through records and could find no living 10th circle mages in the world other than the elf king. His eldest son was probably also close as he'd reached the 9th circle about 10 years ago.

I wouldn't be particularly surprised if there were a couple more 10th circle mages hidden in the elf race, but there should be no more than one belonging to the other races, probably even none. I used to think there weren't any in the world but now I think there are probably a few, though only a few.

As such, I wasn't worried about people throwing a fit if we smashed a place next to the palace. What are they gonna do about it? Fight with 4 mages more powerful than the 10th circle? Yeah right.

As long as we don't start steamrolling the city, they'll just act as though nothing happened and let the tower handle its own business.

We reached the place where Elaria said the money was flowing through and dropped down into the back and front yard, cutting off their escape.