Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Hill looked up at the three tall Main Towers in the distance, and slightly furrowed his brow.

Ruth, Kamente Tower, and Nicholson, with their various preparations from a while ago, clearly showed that they felt there was still a little bit of time.

Although Ruth’s attitude was still somewhat tense, Hill estimated his various preparations and it was clear they were calculated for a year’s time.

Hill had some understanding of this Archmage; according to his cautious and step-by-step approach, he surely believed that the Tower of Dark Enigma had at least a year, likely more.

Therefore, the sudden advance of Sia Tower caught him off guard.

Though Ruth was a bit stunned, compared to Gilbert’s panicked senior students, his bewilderment looked more like... a blow he had long anticipated.

It seemed as if something he had always suspected was finally confirmed by this event... and this truth was a destabilizing blow to him.

But Ruth quickly masked his vulnerability with his fiery, yelling attitude, urging everyone to quickly pack up and go back.

If Hill hadn’t been closely observing the changes in his emotions, it would have been tough to spot that flicker of hesitation disguised in less than 10 seconds.

Of course, this was also why Hill wasn’t surprised by the sudden news Ruth announced... he had already heard about it.

The Soul Legacy Book in Felis’ hands helped him a bit, allowing Hill to gain some access through the close link between that book and the Tower of Dark Enigma.

Of course, because of Rommel’s presence, Hill was very cautious, merely hitching a ride on the signal a bit.

It was like connecting someone else’s radio signal to his own receiver; he couldn’t talk, but he could listen.

Thus, during this period, Hill’s information channels became significantly clearer.

If he had been like the others... even if he didn’t lose his calm because of the sudden news, he would certainly have been surprised... how could he have captured such a small and brief change in Ruth’s emotions?

Ruth was truly a puzzling figure to Hill.

He obviously knew many things, whether it was the commotion at Sia Tower or the hidden undercurrents within the Tower of Dark Enigma.

Logically, given his apparent importance on the Tower of Dark Enigma, he should be acting more cautiously.

Similar to the neighboring Nicholson.

Despite being always tangled up by thoughts of revenge, that Archmage truly wanted the Tower of Dark Enigma to survive this chaos.

However, his personality indeed matched the name of his magic tower... it’s uncertain whether it’s because the moon waxes and wanes, making the hazy moon harder to predict, but Nicholson was always ambivalent.

Hill never understood the point of building that family.

Though, in some ways, the large number of Mage Apprentices that the Tower of Dark Enigma has maintained amidst its century of decline, was indeed reliant on the expansion of this family... Nicholson’s descendants and his disciples very much liked creating one small family after another.

Despite the higher number of children lacking talents, they persisted... not having newborns every year was because the girl apprentices that the Tower of Dark Enigma could acquire were limited.

But recently, as his perception finally reached those three Main Towers, Hill started to understand a bit... Nicholson was a little like the Chaos System.

He somewhat relied on intuition for decisions, yet not entirely based on intuition.

After impulsively making a decision, when rationality returned, he would want to retract his choice.

However, he was unwilling to withdraw his decision... so he would straightforwardly use other means to replace the former choice.

Such actions left many people at a loss, unable to comprehend his true intention.

Hill couldn’t help but think of Nanali’s lover, who, upon discovering the truth and unable to gain Nicholson’s approval, chose to scout alone to Sia Tower and subsequently lost her life.

How to say this... could the meaning of the Hazy Moon be associated with the Tower of Prophecy?

Their way of doing things truly resembled those Prophecy Mages who become engrossed in their prophecies, then use various means to negate or affirm them... and ultimately turn themselves into part of the prophecy.

Many of the bizarre and frenzied affairs in Toril were instigated by their self-afflicting style of action.

The tower’s name also matched the attributes of the Prophecy Mages.

Really, if that’s the case, it does make sense: under the control of the Soul Main Tower, ’prophecy’ and ’riddles’.

And the Mystery of Darkness under Kamente Tower’s control, should be the Guard Tower, right?

In the world of mages, guards are both important and insignificant... important because mages always need protection.

Insignificant because the guards a mage trusts are always ones they can control; no matter how powerful the guard is, the real flaw must lie within the mage’s grasp.

Therefore, the tower was handed over to the problematic yet unstoppable Kamente Tower.

Hill also speculated on the meaning behind the connection of these three towers: in the night, the rising mist can secure the secrets of the soul pondering the mysteries of fate.

So, the Soul Legacy Book in Felis’ hands could very well be the true source of power for this Magic Tower.

Now, this gets interesting... Ruth is clearly not a Soul Mage, yet he inherited this Main Tower.

And it was an undisputed inheritance.

Over the years, the Tower of Dark Enigma has always had undercurrents, yet regardless of the disturbances from the other two, Ruth remained unmoved.

He clearly cannot control the Soul Legacy Book... how could he guard it so perfectly?

So, is Ruth himself the real leader of the Tower of Dark Enigma?

No, that can’t be said, Ruth’s power and status are indisputable.

Then, could there secretly be a Soul Department Shadow Tower Master behind the scenes at the Tower of Dark Enigma?

As for why that person can only hide in the shadow... if the Tower of Dark Enigma is mainly comprised of Soul Department mages, even including some Prophecy Mages, why now, does it only have Kamente Tower, a mere half blade?

Kamente Tower probably knows he has prophetic talents, but he clearly hasn’t learned that special spell to glimpse destiny, only relying on a smattering of intuition.

Including Nanali’s lover as well: if it truly was foretold, he wouldn’t act himself.

That’s what makes Prophecy Mages so frustrating; they find a small role in the prophecy, then try everything to set them on that prophetic path... even if they want to change the prophecy, they merely attempt to alter the fate of their unwillingly targeted victim.

For instance, making someone intending to climb a mountain instead leap into the sea.

So, the line of the Hazy Moon could merely be attribute harmony without having learned their legacy spells: the so-called prophecy spells disseminated outside are entirely worthless.

Prophecy Mages require many Strange Objects for assistance, and their methods of controlling these objects, along with the meditation to achieve resonance, are essential for each Prophecy Mage in making a legitimate ’prophecy’.

So, without needing to observe each of them, Hill could feel the reality of the silent Hazy Moon Magic Tower: even Nicholson hasn’t truly unified with this tower.

Likewise, the Main Tower controlled by Ruth has clearly not been truly activated.

If it’s indeed the Soul Tower, how could it be unaware of the true nature of the Soul Elixir?

Felis probably could guess a little.

Ruth surely does not know, otherwise, he wouldn’t have such excessive curiosity about the Soul Elixir... Hill certainly could see that.

How could he not be capable of controlling the extensive use of the Soul Elixir by the outskirts mages?

Even some ignorant fellows within his own faction secretly bought two bottles without any reaction from him, merely marking those people as surveillance targets.

Hill sensed that he actually wanted a wide range of experimental subjects.

If before he wasn’t too aware of Ruth’s real goal, now Hill had a conjecture: Was the near obliteration of Soul Mages in the Tower of Dark Enigma related to the Soul Elixir?

And the Soul Mage possibly aiding Ruth in controlling the Tower of Dark Enigma, did he genuinely want to be a shadow, or was he forced to be one?

However, Hill couldn’t even be sure if this shadow was merely his wild imagination or a flash of insight.

He couldn’t help but sigh; the Tower of Dark Enigma held one too many secrets.