Chapter 64 – Building the Tall Tower

For a mage at Punk’s level, building a dwelling on level ground wasn’t particularly difficult. First, he used the “Level Ground” spell to smooth out the uneven terrain, then encouraged plant growth to form the framework of the structure. Wooden frames enhanced with toughness enchantments possessed hardness and flexibility far surpassing steel reinforcement.

Next, he employed Mage Hand to apply thick layers of earth onto the walls, followed by casting “Fossil to Mud” to transform the soft earthen walls into solid stone barriers.

However, even with these steps completed, this six-meter-tall tower remained merely an ordinary structure (in Faerûn, any stone tower exceeding five meters could be termed a “tower,” though five meters wasn’t particularly impressive). While perfectly adequate for residential purposes, it still required additional enhancements to serve as a properly defensible experimental base.

Punk held a small yellow gem in his hand. Over ninety percent of gems in the multiverse possessed corresponding elemental affinities, as their formation involved participation from different elemental attributes. Furthermore, in the multiverse, high temperature and pressure alone couldn’t produce gems – strong molecular forces could only be generated through ether elements!

Punk produced this gem intending to summon an earth elemental. However, this was his first attempt at such elemental summoning magic. Constructing an elemental model within one’s soul proved challenging, and the intricate nature of Formal-Level spells made this particular model exceptionally complex. Even with the gem serving as auxiliary casting material, the elemental Punk summoned emerged somewhat malformed. It vaguely resembled Popeye from Earth animations – an overly massive upper body supported by stunted, undersized lower limbs that appeared underdeveloped. The bizarre, wobbling creature looked downright comical.

Observing this unsteady earth elemental he’d conjured, Punk couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Though he recognized that for a newly advanced Formal Mage attempting a completely unfamiliar Formal-Level spell without prior practice, achieving this level of success already qualified as genius-level performance, Punk remained deeply unsatisfied. This pathetic creation would be knocked over with one blow on the battlefield, possessing no combat effectiveness whatsoever!

“Never mind, I anticipated Formal-Level spells would be far more challenging than Apprentice-Level tricks. At least this thing can still serve as construction equipment.”

While he could no longer experience the instant mastery and rapid perfection he’d enjoyed when learning lower-level spells during his apprentice days… repeated spell practice, though tedious, would help him analyze spell structures. From a long-term development perspective, he wasn’t actually at a disadvantage. He just wondered how incredibly difficult Legendary-Level spells must be…

Having reasoned this through, Punk decided to set aside future concerns and focus on completing his dwelling. At the very least, he needed to ensure he wouldn’t be spending another night in the carriage!Commanding the somewhat clumsy and dull earth elemental to gently embrace the tower, Punk intended to have it convert all the tower’s stone into high-quality granite. Not only was granite more durable and sturdy, but it was also easier for him to enchant. Moreover, the white veining of granite was far more aesthetically pleasing than the dull yellow of ordinary stone. After all, this was where he would live for the next century—why not make the environment more beautiful and pleasing to the eye?

However, the earth elemental was incredibly clumsy. Though Punk’s command was merely to make slight contact with the tower, its simulated soul seemed incapable of understanding such a “sophisticated” instruction. It pressed its entire body against the tower, immediately causing fine cracks to form in a fragile section of the wall.

Suppressing the urge to blast it with a fireball, Punk carefully issued simpler commands, doing his best to prevent the tower from collapsing under the weight of his own summoned earth elemental before the conversion was complete!

He had to admit that while summoning magic could create absolutely obedient helpers, its flaws were glaringly obvious. After all, true earth elementals from the Earth Plane possessed high intelligence—nothing like this “Popeye” he had summoned, whose intellect was inferior even to a gorilla’s!

It made sense, though. If summoning magic could truly solve all labor problems, why would mages bother with alchemical constructs or spend money on slaves? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just summon whatever was needed at will?

The only thing Punk was grateful for was that this “Popeye” earth elemental hadn’t skimped on its innate spells—its use of “Stone Conversion” was quite commendable.

As the earth elemental “embraced” the tower, the brownish-yellow stone began gradually transforming into solid white granite. Like ink dispersing in clear water, the pristine veined stone quickly spread across the entire structure. All the earthen-colored rock turned into pure granite blocks, and since the conversion was seamless, the entire tower now appeared as if carved from a single piece of granite. Under the sunlight, it emitted a soft white glow, with intricate patterns making the whole edifice breathtakingly beautiful!

Next came the minor details of “renovation”—such as demarcating a 250-square-meter area outside the White Tower as a courtyard, then cultivating two-meter-tall thorny bushes to serve as a fence. He also placed the more advanced experimental tools he’d newly purchased from the Mage Guild inside the tower’s empty living quarters. Finally, he couldn’t forget to set up various magical traps at the entrance to prevent thieves from breaking in…

After a full day of work, large quantities of rare materials had been exhausted, and Punk’s mana regeneration struggled to keep up with the consumption of so many low-level spells. Yet regardless of whether the process was smooth and enjoyable or tedious and exhausting, the tower was finally complete.

Unnoticed, dusk quietly arrived. Chikasa and Mila had finished another day of travel and were about to temporarily bid farewell to Fearun’s surface world. The laboring townsfolk returned home, discussing the day’s various “major events” while enjoying their hard-earned relaxation.On the hillside that no one dared approach anymore. Seeing the tower’s construction was complete, Punk quickly dismissed the “embarrassing” earth elemental and used magic to clear away the grass and soil from the ground. Now, bathed in the glow of the setting sun, a pristine white tower came into view. Faintly visible mystical runes adorned the tower’s surface, with multiple spell formations overlapping and intertwining in every corner of the structure. The entire building now possessed not only the strength to withstand missile attacks but also incorporated various alarm functions blending multiple warning arrays. It even stored some mobile counterattack spells. Finally, after consuming vast amounts of Punk’s time and money, this tower began to resemble a proper base!

“Let’s call it… the ‘White Tower’.”

Punk, who had little enthusiasm for naming things, simply added a descriptive word before the structure and considered it named.

Next came the tense and fascinating experimental phase. Punk took out the “Walkerway’s Flesh Golem Notes” that Lotalan had offered, flipping through the pages as he approached the completely dark White Tower. Truth be told, having carried this book for so long without being able to study it, Punk was now growing impatient.

(End of Chapter)