I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but it was true, and it was damn funny as hell.
"So you're telling me, that you made it seem as if this Cornelius dude was successful in kidnapping me, and that he was playing Adein by telling him the kidnapping failed, and he was keeping me for his own agenda."
"Yeah, though she did it with a lot more acting that we all fell for it. To be honest my lord, I've never seen a more diabolical mind in all of my days. And to be honest, I'm glad we're not enemies with the mistress." Asare explained with an amused smile on his face.
"She's a smart woman." Teluna suddenly said. And to be honest that set me off.
"Seriously? Is that the only thing you're going to say." I asked
"What more is there to say. My words properly sums her abilities in the most logical way possible. She's a smart woman." He replied.
"Will a day come that I would get more than one sentence out of you in response to everything I ask."
Teluna looked at me, then he blinked, he blinked again turned to look at Nisi who was standing with the rest of the vampire children, then he turned to me and answered.
"It won't." Then he turned and marched off to do what it is he always did, leaving me fuming with an urge to squeeze his pale little neck.
"He just a kid husband. You shouldn't let him rattle you like that, it makes him more confident." Asha warned with a smile.
I didn't answer, but there was no way in hell I was going to agree that Teluna rattled me. To be honest I was worried about him, no matter what I did I couldn't get through to him. That boy was a fortress when it came to his emotions, apart from Nisi he was not letting anybody else in. Times like this when he actually endeavors to make a joke or try to fit in with everybody is so rare, that I somehow feel the need to cherish it. He's a good kid, just Emo.
Now though I had to take a good look at the tower and see how I can improve its functions. Right now, I felt as if our survival depended greatly on the capabilities and advantage the tower would be able to give. I pulled down the system menu to take a look at its current state.
[ELITE POISON STONE RAT, AND STONE RATS BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS DETECTED...…ABSORB]
[MATERIALS ABSROBED...… GAINED 270 BIOLOGICAL ENERGY]
• ORIGIN EARTH TOWER
• NAME:????
• MASTER: KAEL COR/??????
• LEVEL: 1 (12/200)
• AWAKENING: 23/100
• CURRENT TASKS: NONE
• CREATION ENERGY: 19/ 100
• SOUL ENERGY: 600/600
• BIOLOGICAL ENERGY: 330%
• EARTH ELEMENT ENERGY: 7900%
• WATER ELEMENT ENERGY: 1057%
• WIND ELEMENT ENERGY: 0%
• FIRE ELEMENT ENERGY: 0%
• METAL ELEMENT ENERGY: 345%
• WOOD ELEMENT ENERGY: 777%
• DARK ELEMENT ENERGY: 0%
• LIGHT ELEMENT ENERGY: 0%
• CRYSTAL SKILLS:[CREATE EARTH LEVEL 1/CREATE WATER LEVEL 1/CREATE WOOD LEVEL 1/ CREATE METAL LEVEL 1] [ENERGY CONVERSION LEVEL 1/ENERGY GATHERING LEVEL 1]
Both soul energy, and earth energy had experienced a qualitative increase. There was also an increase of the biological energy, and with that I should be able to create more creatures and focus on other aspects of the tower. For now everything that the tower had to offer was what I could only call the basic necessities, I was hoping that at a higher level, it would be possible for the tower to have a sort of defense or attacking system in it's matrix. But before I could continue, I received a prompt.
[LARGE AMOUNTS OF METAL ESSENCE DISCOVERED...…ABSORB.]
I turned my head, and noticed an enormous heap of ores placed by he entrance of the tower. The heal was three meters tall, and six wide, and it still covered a circumference of eight meters. This was way much ore than I expected, there had to be thousands of pieces of individual ores of varying sizes in that heap.
"Um Asare, all this ores, are we using them for something, and why are they so much." I asked in surprise.
"My lord, that's what's left after everybody here submitted their weekly quota, and since you mentioned you needed a lot of metal essences for the tower, we brought this back." Asare explained.
But I was not really happy about this explanation, were they not forgetting something.
"And is there anything stopping you guys from laying this to the warden to spare your children, even though they're still safe, it's only a matter of time before those guards come asking. You could have paid them more, or extra, which should have kept you children safe until you all could pay completely and freed them." I shouted at the surrounding vampires.
" what end my lord? No matters how much we've suffered, we refuse to buy our children. The moment we do that, then we might as well have sold them away, giving our enemies not just power over our present lives, but our future. We can't do that, it's not fair."
What could I say to that, it was true. Even if you had to bow your head to avoid troubles due to your lack of strength, there's only so much strength left in your neck to hold that position. Sometimes regardless of whatever the consequences might be, you just had to stick your chest out and hold your head high. Regardless of how painful it might turn out, or even if you're going to die, never let go of your pride, of your hope for your future. The moment you let go, then you loose every essence of yourself.
I brought my head down, and nodded to them to show that I agreed with them. They would probably be going back for more ores tomorrow, which meant that in the end I had to make use of what was here. The runed pick had increased their efficiency with mining by about a hundred percent, and the feedback from the mountain has tempered their immortal bodies for so many years, they were capable of handling the pressure of the mountain if they mined smartly.
I gave a mental acceptance, and the tower absorbed the ores swiftly, by the time it was done, just like the biological materials, all that was left was a huge pile of silver grey dust.
"Increase tower level by one!" I called out.
I definitely startled everyone around me whine I said that, but I really wanted to see if the tower responded to verbal commands than just mental ones.
Suddenly the tower began to vibrate, it was like we were in the middle of a massive earthquake. Everyone except me gathered together to hunker down and cover their heads. I looked up at the ceiling of the first floor which was about ten feet above my head, there was no dust being dislodged from it. An earthquake this might be, but it was incredibly controlled as there was nothing like debris or random objects flying or falling about.
It took the tower ten minutes of shaking for it to get to a higher level. When it stopped, it still looked the same, completely unchanged in any form, shape or size. But I could feel the change, from the walls, to the basement below my feet, there was a kind of energy flowing, slow and smooth like a river, but solid and unrelenting like the earth. I wanted a to check the stat page of the tower again, but I wanted to see which tasks were available and get the tower to work.
CURRENT TASKS: NONE
AVAILABLE TASKS:
• ALTER FIRST FLOOR OF TOWER(CREATE APARTMENTS): 0.00% COMPLETED [COST 30 SE, AND 700% EE, 2 SE]
• CONSTRUCT INDOOR POND: 0.00% COMPLETED [COST 20 SE, 110% WE, 10% EE]
• EXPAND BASEMENT 1ST FLOOR: 0.00% COMPLETED [COST 200% EE, 30 SE]
• IMPROVE BASEMENT FARM GRADE: 0.00% COMPLETED [COST 300% EE, 2 CE]
• CREATE METAL MAIN DOOR AND WINDOWS: 0.00% COMPLETED [COST 25 SE, 200% ME, 1 CE]
• CONSTRUCT SECOND FLOOR OF TOWER: 0.00% COMPLETED[ COST 25 SE, 400% EE]
• CONSTRUCT TOWER PLUMBING SYSTEM FOR FIRST FLOOR AND BASEMENT {ALTER FIRST FLOOR FIRST}: 0.00% COMPLETED[ COST 400% ME, 200% WE, 100% EE, 50% FE]
Well that was a lot, most of the previous task were still there, with The first one changing from constructing the first floor to altering it. That last option gave me a definite idea of what to expect as it said something about creating flats. Which meant it would make specific apartments, with rooms, and in door plumbing. So far I discovered I did not have a need to pee, or use the toilet, but the lack of hot water or a place to have a good bath has left me less than happy about the current state of my body.
I also noticed however that the cost of almost everything had been reduced, which meant it was possible to complete more than two tasks now. But the last option had me stumped, it needed fire energy, and that was something I did not have at the moment, which meant I had to tackle what I could first.
• ALTER FIRST FLOOR OF TOWER(CREATE APARTMENTS): 0.02% COMPLETED [COST 30 SE, AND 700% EE, 2 SE]
• CREATE METAL MAIN DOOR AND WINDOWS: 0.02% COMPLETED [COST 25 SE, 200% ME, 1 CE]