By the time I’d made it down to the entrance to the dungeon, I was fuming again. I had been going over in my head the number of times I had bent my neck to nobility. How often I listened to a kingdom representative because I wanted to be seen as a good and upstanding citizen of the kingdom. A proper son of Sena that did his part. The smiles on their faces meant something entirely different in my mind now. As if the entirety of the noble caste were laughing at my expense. It wasn’t true. Logically, I knew that most of them also drank the same tea I did. I bet few, if any, knew they were giving part of themselves away with each sip. They were as much a victim of the charade as I was. That fact, that cold logic, did nothing to abate my anger. And looking at the plants now, many in broken pots, I struggled not to burn them away. But I knew I shouldn’t. I wanted—no. Needed. I needed to see just how far in my back this dagger stabbed. With my mind focused more on containing my rage than anything else, I worked. I moved each plant into the dungeon room. The ones in broken pots, I replanted. Spells and wards contained the things. Allowing some mana in to feed the plants, but only a trickle. Then I cast more wards. I didn’t think that my tower could be affected by loyalty plants, but I couldn’t be certain. I wasn’t in the proper state of mind to begin experimenting on the flowers. My emotions were unchecked. I felt almost as unbalanced as when I started drinking the tea in the first place. So, instead of experimenting immediately, I began the construction of a proper laboratory. In between the cellar and the dungeon, I created a room. It was as big as any other floor in the tower. Next, I moved my equipment down from the third floor. The tiny laboratory I had created on that floor simply wouldn’t do. Not if compared to this one. Here, I devoted an entire floor to my passion. Testing equipment for the elemental compositions took up the entire right wall. Cells with containment fields were placed along the back. On the left side, I had stone tables and shelves I loaded with my records. For three days I worked, stopping only to eat. At least three days. It was likely more, but after three I stopped counting. I knew I was gripped by my own obsession, but I was powerless to stop myself. When I finally had completed the floor, I rested. The sweet comforts of my bed were a blessing that I had missed. When I awoke, I felt my fingers and toes curled with pain, and only the cold cup of tea on the table beside my bed would cure it. But I hesitated. That tea was no longer a welcome friend, but an enemy I despised. I couldn’t help but scowl as I sipped. The breakfast was much better. Cold rolls and sliced pork with spiced cabbage. Even lukewarm, the spiced cabbage was incredible. After I changed my robes and cast a quick cleaning spell on myself, I went downstairs to see about my pupils. I knew I had ignored them during my period of… intense focus. I wasn’t going to apologize for that, but I could spend some time ensuring that they had continued their studies. If so, I could provide them the next steps. Surprisingly, all three were sitting at the table on the first floor. Their heads huddled together as they whispered. I could see them in the reflection of my new bronze door. It seemed thick and sturdy, polished to a near mirror shine. “…Do you think we should wake him now? It’s almost midday,” Walker was asking. “I think so! He’s slept for four days already. It should be…” Lilly’s voice trailed away as she noticed me. Kine, though, had his back to me, “If master wants to sleep, I say we let him sleep. We talked about this yesterday. Am I not the senior disciple here?” When he didn’t get a response other than for Walker and Lilly to stare past him at me, he turned to look as well. It seems my pupils don’t know how to greet their master. I gave a polite cough and an expectant look. The three jumped from the table and gave quick bows, “Master!” “Please sit. I believe that you all were discussing something of import to be whispering about it, yes?” I wasn’t going to give away how well elven ears could hear. Some secrets were worth keeping. The three gave each other awkward looks as if they had been caught stealing. Then they slowly sat back down. I joined them at the table, sitting in my chair, “Please, do continue.” Lilly seemed the least chagrined. She softly whispered, “Master, we were just discussing when to wake you. You wouldn’t wake when we tried earlier, and we were scared to touch your shoulder.” Both the other two nodded. I briefly wondered about the bravery of my assistants if a young girl was more willing to speak than they were. I gave her a soft smile, “Thank you for your concern, young lady. In the future, you need not worry. One does not live as long as I have without learning to sleep for days on end when needed.” I patted her shoulder, “Tell me, have you been continuing your studies in this time?” “They are going well, master. I’ve continued my readings and tutoring of Rolf. I’ve also been studying the mushrooms and the crawling things from the dungeon. I think I understand why you wanted me to do that.” “Oh?” I asked. “Yup! I’ve been noticing a lot of things I hadn’t before. Like how the trees grow and how Eni’s owl behaves. It’s like I wasn’t seeing the world before!” Her voice grew more excited as she spoke. That wasn’t what I had expected. Not that I let my mild surprise show on my face. I simply wanted her to exercise her writing skills. Record keeping is such a chore. If she came here after she graduated from the Arcanum then I could get her to do it in my stead. I hope I didn’t accidentally put her on the path of the druid, that would be an annoyance. “Good,” I commented with a smile. Then I turned my attention to Walker. “And you, young man? I see that you have returned." He looked embarrassed for a moment, “Yes, master. I—I had some difficulties looking after Mena as you ordered. But I was successful and we have returned.” I wasn’t sure what he was expecting. He held himself as if he thought I was about to slap him. Instead, I nodded, “And what did you learn?” “I learned that I shouldn’t trust—” He declared before he held back his words. In a calmer voice, he continued, “Master, I learned that I should be more cautious in how I evaluate others.” I smiled and nodded at his answer. It was always such a shame to see youthful naivete start to crumble. Better that happened here than later when it could mean a knife in his back. Still, it was a bittersweet feeling, “Good. I will be turning over some of the monitoring of my experiments to you and Kine shortly. I have another task that will require me to devote myself to it exclusively.” Kine leaned forward a little, his posture indicating he wanted to say something. I motioned with my hand for him to speak. “Master, I had hoped to take the Baroness up on her offer. You said you would grant me a month to do so.” I did remember saying that. If Kine left, my only assistant remaining would be Walker. Kine was the more competent at the moment, but if I held him back Walker would never have the room to grow. Foisting the day-to-day responsibilities of the tower on Walker’s shoulders would either be disastrous or beneficial for the lad. Still, my most valuable things were well warded. “Granted. You may depart tomorrow. I will write you a message for the Baroness,” I was feeling a little guilty that I had ignored my pupils for more than a week. This conversation had gone some of the way towards alleviating that feeling. “Walker, attend me,” I said as I rose from my seat. “Master, can I come too? Please?” Lilly asked, stretching the word please and batting her eyes. “No, you may not. In fact, the behavior you demonstrated just now tells me you would not be ready for such duties. You are no longer a child. You have two hours to compose a page-length essay addressing the matter,” I spoke firmly as I shook my finger to demonstrate how serious I was. “Yes, master,” she answered with a pout. I ignored the pout, of course. Instead, I took a closer look at my new door. It was four inches thick and held on massive hinges. The polish and shine were excellent. I could see some minor creases, likely from the forging. No one would be able to tell unless they paid attention to their reflection, but once I knew it was there, it bothered me. A simple application of [Earth Manipulation] caused the bronze to even out to a perfect smoothness. As we walked towards the pit, I gave Walker instructions on how to manage the tower while I would be busy experimenting. Most of which he was already doing. Patrols would stop until Kine’s return. It was at the pits I ran into another surprise. Tond, the [Ranger] guard with the straight nose, was struggling to drag a netted swamp bear into my ice fox pit. “What do you think you’re doing?” I inquired. “Uh, master,” Walker began, “We weren’t sure how to tell you, but the ice foxes didn’t last. We thought if we caught swamp bears that they might work as a replacement.” I raised an eyebrow, “The ice foxes didn’t last?” “We, or Eni and Tond, tried to feed them. They tried every different animal part from the feed pit, but the foxes wouldn’t eat. When they came to get me and Kine, we tried as well. They wouldn’t even take a bite when we tried food from the pantry.” That was surprising. Did they require live food? “They didn’t eat at all?” Walker shook his head. “No, they ate… rocks. They scratched at the wall until it chipped rocks away and ate those. Vomited and then ate it again. They kept doing that until they passed.” That was unusual. If they required live food, maybe it needed to be stone beetles? Perhaps that’s why they started on the walls. I was considering that and other possibilities when Walker continued. “Master, we tried everything. We even caught several fish, squirrels, Redrot beetles from the forest. They would only eat rocks,” he was starting to sound like he was coming up with excuses. Again, the penchant for weakness. I hoped the month without Kine would let him come more into his own. Still, the foxes were a mystery. Why couldn’t I breed them? Did the element affect their intelligence? Slow the blood to the brain? I hesitated to think that. I patted him on the shoulder, “That’s fine. It sounds as if it was outside of your control. I don’t need swamp bears, however. You can use them to feed the other animals. When the pit is depleted, we shall obtain some normal foxes to work with. I would be interested in seeing how their behavior changes after inducing elemental adaptations. For now, here is what I would like you to track on these pits.” I started giving him a brief overview of what to look for without going into the details. I didn’t need anyone to know I was working on a longevity spell. Simply tracking the changes I was looking for was sufficient. The only hesitation I saw was when we came to his duties regarding terminating the beasts. “Master, what do you mean when you say that I should watch for excessive growths?” he asked nervously. “I mean, that if they began showing strange growths, then you should execute the beasts before they turn into [Abominations]. Those are much more difficult to kill, and would likely devour my other subjects.” Walker looked horrified briefly before he gulped, “Yes, master.” By the time we returned inside, lunch was ready. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I started to eat. I had three servings of thick chicken and pork stew. When I finished, Lilly presented me with her essay. She fidgeted while I read. “The Detriments of Being Cute?” I asked, looking between her and the title of the paper. Part of me wanted to crumble it up and toss it in the fireplace. Another part wanted to proudly frame it. A third part of me realized that in just thirty or forty years, I’d likely be writing about this in my Book of the Dead. But I smiled and shook my head a little. “Thank you, young lady. I trust you have learned your lesson?” She gave me a curtsey, “Yes, master.” I dismissed her and carefully placed the essay in a spot near my bed. It was time to begin experimenting on the flowers. I was calm enough now to do so. I had arranged for the tower and its residents to be cared for. I had a new large laboratory ready for use. There were no tasks of greater need. It was time.