The Asshai's Bloodmage

 This book was incredible. I finally discovered a lot of information I didn't know about this world. It not only told a little about the history of the Shadow Men, but also a small part of the history of the Rhoynar. The dates are confusing, but the goal was just to tell the story of the calamities. The first calamity is the most suspicious of all, along with the second.

The appearance of the demons was never mentioned. I know that there are creatures that people call demons in the Shadowlands. Could they be some remnants? Or is it the result of some experiment by a Bloodmage or Shadowmancer? How do the gods fit into all this? Were they the demons? Did they come out of some tower? Did they cause the first or second calamity? Did they just take advantage of them? If possible, I should investigate this subject further.

But now I understand the dangers of the Dungeons much better. I decide to meditate and train my spells before going to sleep. Tomorrow I plan to do the two new tower missions...

Today is Saturday and we don't have class. I stop by the store and use the Separation skill to make drinking water using salt water. This method is proving to be our most profitable item at practically no cost. Separation also ensures that only the excess salt is separated without removing the many nutrients from the water.

After the skill improved, separating liquids in large quantities has improved a lot. In addition, the separated salt remains in its refined and very pure form, another material that we are selling and accumulating for export.

After that, I stopped by the tower that used to belong to the Faceless Men. I left all the remaining fertile soil that I brought from Valyria, as well as half of the seeds. Of course, the soil and seeds were not enough for all 4 lower floors, since I had left half of everything on Aisha's island. Since it was just simple cultivation, I left the task to the store's regular employees and just activated the tower's protections to prevent losses.

There wasn't much time to study or experiment in that first month, and we had to make the most of all the classes and then choose the two free ones. I thought it was very mercenary of them to make students spend precious points on classes. But the idea was good to introduce into the Order of the Sages. I could add some of these classes on the weekends, teachers earn some extra points while new students spend everything.

With that, I can make the Order even more attractive. And ease the burden on students who will have to spend points on simple classes like languages, basic anatomy, martial arts and alchemy. After checking out the store and making planting arrangements in the tower, I went ahead and got the barrels to start the mission.

***

 Meanwhile in the tower, Genesis received a report with several questions from Old Daran's students. He should take the questions to his master, but he decided to try to answer some of them. Until after a while he started to sweat, there were 10 questions and he barely knew how to answer 1 of them. He had been studying at the tower for over 40 years and most of these students were newbies.

It was then that he noticed that most of the 10 questions were asked by that group. It made sense, the master always said that Valyria was very well developed. Only then did he get up and go towards his master's laboratory, when he saw that he was busy he left the notes on the table and left.

Not long after Genesis left, the Master of Beasts saw the papers on the table and sat down to answer. Some of the questions were complicated, but since all the knowledge of the tower came from himself he knew how to answer everything masterfully. Only one question left him thoughtful for a long time... The differences between a skinchanger, a Dragon Lord and a tamer? He turned the pages to see which student asked that and smiled when he saw that it was the Red Sage. Only then did he write his answer:

"One is born with talent, one is artificially created, and the last is forged through hard work. The tamer's greatest weakness would be his lack of deep connection with his animals, and the many magical methods that can break those bonds. For a skinchanger and dragon lord, this would never happen. Furthermore, just as artifacts and magic have limits because of the souls of their users, the tamer also faces a limit on how many beasts he can have…"

***

 Still on the upper floors of the tower, inside Madame Zirya's laboratory. Jhon was sitting on a stretcher next to a table, while the green-eyed lady looked at some blood samples he had just provided a few minutes ago. Madame Zirya then stood up and led him to another part of the laboratory. When he got there, he saw a room made entirely of glass, inside this room there was an icy blue mist that covered a smaller glass container. Jhon, still following his new master, entered the room, which was extremely cold. Approaching the container, he finally saw what was being kept inside this icy place. It seemed to be a child's arm. It was brown/green in color, and its nails were long and black. Jhon was surprised, not knowing which non-human creature the arm belonged to. His master didn't wait for him to ask and explained:

"This arm belongs to one of the children of the forest. Have you heard of them? Everyone thinks they're extinct, but I managed to find one 120 years ago... Although very few of them remain, they are still alive and live hidden in inhospitable forests. I tried to capture it alive, but unfortunately the child still escaped me, and this arm was all I could get. Just like you, I was also born with the plant-type affinity, but unlike you, I didn't have any other affinity besides it."

Making a dramatic pause, letting Jhon digest the information, Madame Zirya continued:

"So, dozens of years ago, while studying this arm, I discovered that this creature had an affinity for plants and poison. Was it a coincidence? Was that the element of this specific child? Or was that the reason the children of the forest were so special when it came to using innate magic? When I made the discovery, I finally took the crucial step that was missing for me. I used Alteration to give myself a second element, and so I gained the affinity for poison. I became much stronger after that. But I still couldn't have a special physique, that part was expected of course, but I continued my research trying to find the method of innate magic that the children of the forest used. But everything was in vain, and all I found were dead ends. But now with your arrival, I can finally compare the three of us and find out what is missing for me to be like you, and what is missing for you to be like them. This is a big step for both of us to become even stronger..."

John was surprised that she revealed so much about herself so he asked: "It's been almost a week since we started, have you managed to find out anything?"

"Yes, that's why I brought you here. In 7 days I've made more progress than in the last 80 years. But nothing that we can use yet. More tests will be needed and I'll need a lot of guinea pigs too. The samples I collected this week will be enough for now, so you're free from your duties in the lab, since there's nothing your current self can help me with, since your knowledge of Blood Magic is still very low. Take the time to rest and prepare for the test in 3 weeks. You mustn't fail or you'll embarrass me."

Jhon thanked his master and told her not to worry, before leaving the room with several thoughts running through his mind.

***

 That's 50 barrels! Rafael said, breathing a little heavily, after delivering the last barrel with water from the Cinzas River. The disciple in charge of receiving the water used in the plantation was speechless. This disciple had brought 50 barrels in a few hours. These weren't small barrels of liquor, they were large and wide enough for someone to wrap their arms around. Of course, the man used shadow bags to carry everything on a few trips, but how many bags would he need?

At the moment, he could only be jealous that he could finish such a large mission alone. He applied a chemical inside the barrels to make the water safe for the plants, and finally gave Rafael the signature of completion. After going down and collecting the mission points, Rafael tried to search again for more missions like this, but had no luck. Having no choice, he left the mission hall and went to lunch, after which he began to prepare to enter the dungeon.

There were 3 types of dungeons where even after complete clearing they would still spawn monsters. The first type was similar to the Calamity of the Dead, where a curse constantly spawned new dead indefinitely. The second type was when some artifact linked to the tower constantly summoned mutant creatures through the energy that the tower passively collected even in an inactive state. And the last type of dungeon was where he would do the tower's task.

Any tower that remained too long without proper management would lose most of its energy and the protections placed on it. Consequently, creatures, animals, monsters and various abominations would escape their cages and restrictions. With this, a unique ecosystem would be created within the depths of the tower. In these ecosystems there would always be a kind of balance and a food chain. This meant that there would be plants, herbivorous monsters and carnivores.

And this was the type of dungeon he was going to now, it was called the Home of the Drowned.

All the masters of the city kept a few of these dungeons under control to constantly generate magical materials and new specimens for experiments. The Drowned Home was a low-level tower. It had several low-level herbivorous creatures and the drowned being the predators at the top of the food chain. The item he sought in this dungeon was a moss that grew around the lakes inside the dungeon.

It wasn't necessary to go very deep, and on the first underground floor it would be possible to find such an ingredient. The only danger was that the lakes were the habitat of the drowned. Similar to humans in height, the appearance of the drowned was that of a type of aquatic zombie. And not much was known about their origins or how they kept appearing inside the tower. He needed to collect 3 portions of the moss to complete his task and would collect some extras for his personal stock. Since this was one of the ingredients of the new Alteration potion he obtained using his only chance to obtain private knowledge.

Arriving at the tower, there was one of the 120 new students standing in front of the gate. They were spread out all over the Garden of Beasts doing tasks and now they were also back to doing tasks outside the tower as well. I greeted him and showed him my authorization to explore the dungeon and he signed. Exploring this place was only allowed for members of the Garden of Beasts. As soon as I entered, the door closed behind me and I felt a change in the humidity in the air.

Asshai, as a seaside city with the Ash River running through all the streets similar to Venice, was a very humid place. But this dungeon managed to surpass the humidity outside at least twice. I felt a little difficulty breathing, but it wasn't much affected thanks to my powerful lungs, and my clothes started to get damp even though I was still on the ground floor. With my raven on my shoulder, and my fireworm still sleeping in my pocket, I drew my Valyrian Steel sword and went down the stairs to the first underground floor.

My vision changed completely. As soon as I stepped onto the first floor, I felt my feet sink a little into the muddy ground and within my vision I could see two lakes. There was some dark vegetation and the whole environment resembled a swamp. It was easy to find the moss, it had a color similar to ghost grass glowing in the dark. I approached it and with my left hand I put it in my inventory while holding the sword with my right.

I was lucky, because nothing came out of the lake and I soon collected the second one without any problems. But after walking through the huge space of the first floor and circling the lakes twice, I didn't find any more moss. I would have to go down another floor if I wanted to complete the task. So I moved on. The second underground floor was 20% larger than the first and had 3 lakes. From afar I could already see half a dozen glowing mosses and I knew there would be danger here. Far from the lakes, I saw a huge rat similar to a capybara eating the black vegetation. These rats were also hunted by students to provide meat for the tower. I saw the quest, but ignored it because it would be too inconvenient and time-consuming to do so, due to them burrowing into the ground.

I approached the lake and collected the third moss easily. But I still wanted a few more for my own use and went ahead to get the next one that wasn't too far away. At that moment, as I waved my hand, putting the moss in my inventory, the water exploded at an enormous speed. But I had already expected such a move. As soon as the creature put its hideous, swollen head out of the water along with its abdomen and arms, I cut off its head with a clean cut of the magic sword.

I waved my hand, putting the body and head away and walked away from the lake, waiting for another one to appear. After confirming that it was the only one, I took it out of my inventory again and saw that it was a male. The creature looked identical to a corpse that had been decomposing in the river for a few days. It was swollen and smelled a lot. I still decided to take it to the Tower of the Sages to study it. I had learned a lot by studying the corpses of the fishmen we found in the sea.

Afterwards, I collected 3 more mosses and killed two more creatures. I decided to call it a day since I had enough of the new material for some potions and had completed the task. When I reached the first underground floor and was about to return to the ground floor, an interesting event happened. It started to rain inside the tower. This was something rare in the Home of the Drowned, but I had read about it before. Some masters would connect a canal from the Ash River to their towers as a form of natural irrigation. And some older towers even had this system incorporated into them. I saw the lakes begin to increase in size and several rodents come out of their burrows looking for shelter. If this floor was like this, I didn't even want to imagine how flooded the others were... I quickly went up to the ground floor and ended my first expedition inside a dungeon.

***

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