Nicholas grew up within the Jade Tower during his youth.
However,
The Jade Tower had strict restrictions on identity.
This was initially to prevent all the alchemical tablets from being lost—because these thirteen tablets were just ordinary slabs of stone. They could even be damaged with a small knife, without the need for a fireball.
As long as one tablet remained in the Jade Tower, even if the others were stolen or damaged, it was possible to recreate a whole block of jade to make new tablets.
Once a stolen tablet left the Jade Tower, it would lose all its functions and would just become an antique engraved with alchemical symbols... a heavy gemstone tablet weighing about two pounds.
For this reason, only the Tower Master could access the thirteenth tablet within the Jade Tower.
