Axis’s first plan of action was to get hold of some Trumpetback Mushrooms. He left his house again and searched for damp places near the canal. After 10 or so minutes he saw a group of Trumpetbacks growing near an outcrop.

Trumpetbacks were of a light yellow color with a hollow opening at the top. Their name was derived from the fact that they looked like small trumpets. Axis picked all 5 mushrooms there as he thought to keep them handy.

Axis then returned home and prepared to visit the Market. Axis had remembered the warning from the Eye that the market will be filled with other Tower Masters, so he decided to weave a weapon for himself.

Axis’s initial thought was to weave a sword or a blade as he was quite proficient with bladed weapons after years of training, but he also realized their impracticality against other abilities.

Axis finally decided to weave a revolver for himself.

Axis first brought out a canvas from his drawer and started drawing the specifications and parts of the revolver. Axis decided to weave Drill as that was a weapon Axis was relatively familiar with.

Axis then brought both his arms out and allowed the tendrils to flow outwards. Then as if weaving a cloth started creating a barrel from the tendrils. Then he started increasing the density of the tendril and started forming torsion springs inside the revolver.

Then came the cylinder for the revolver. The Drill had a unique cylinder in that it had steam augmented tubes on its outer side. These were fine tubes that could be loaded with bullets. As Axis didn’t require live bullets for his revolver, he made the cylinder entirely of steam and air compressors. The only downside to such a mechanism was that it will take him some time to reload the weapon.

He also added a compressed burst mechanism to the cylinder which could shot all 6 shots into one compressed rotating bullet for extremely high damage.

He then finished its creation by forming the firing pin, trigger, and grip.

It was his own weapon and with its creation, he had already broken various laws.

Then Axis activated Spectral Jester and the Gun could appear and disappear around him.

But Axis realized how tired he was from a single weapon. He dispelled it and to recover he chose to sleep for some time.

Axis woke up around 8:30 pm feeling refreshed. He looked outside and both his parents in the hallway. Axis was wearing a black-colored sweater over his shirt which also had a hood and chose to wear his training trousers which were also black.

He then went into the hall and told his parents that he was going for a nightly run. His father seemed happy that Axis was not complacent with his fitness while his mother reminded him not to spend too much time out.

Axis then brought a mushroom out and burned it with a lighter. The trumpetback instantly burned into ash which he started blowing in the wind. The ash reacted to his energy and pointed in the direction of the Trader’s Market in the Eastern District itself.

Axis kept following the ash, apparently only visible to him, and stopped outside a Textile shop. Axis thought for a moment and willed his Spectral Jester to make a mask. The ability then formed a plain white mask on his face. Axis then wore his hood and entered the store.

At the store, the front was a pot-bellied man with shift eyes and a scraggly beard. He was dressed in a simple business suit and was smoking.

Axis went to the counter and knocked twice on the wood. The man looked up and without any hint of surprise asked Axis, “Whatchu lukin for Mister.”

Axis was about to reply when he thought of something and simply brought another mushroom out of his pocket and showed it to the man. The man said, “Ahh, I unnerstand. 10 Aur please, as a sign of sincerity.”

Axis mumbled under his breath and cursed the man’s ancestors, “BullSpit, this is highway robbery.” While handing him a 10 Aur note. The man smiled and told Axis to follow him.

He brought Axis to the corner of the shop and opened a door. Axis was a bit taken aback by seeing a whole marketplace beyond the door. As if expecting Axis’s reaction the shopkeeper looked smug and bragged, “Veiled Market’s owner is a Magic Tower Master of 4th domain. It’s his handiwork.”

Axis had a question about what domains meant but he held himself back and entered the market.

Axis was utterly spellbound as there were quite a lot of people in the market.

Almost everyone had hidden masks, cloaks, or maybe spells.

Axis saw a group of 5-6 people standing near a bulletin board. He heard hushed whispers when he approached them,

“I heard Mxam was caught by Watch Tower outside Ettic.”

“It’s all Obsidian Order bastards fault. The Watch Tower is too alert nowadays.”

“Hmph, as if you can call those fanatics bastards to their face. They are in the market still.”

“Why are they even allowed here?” “It’s neutral ground. Watch Tower is not allowed here.”

Axis took in all the information and understood a few key points. Watch Tower seemed like an official organization that regulated Tower Masters. He made a mental note to steer clear of them. Obsidian Order sounded like some terrorist cult. He decided to steer away from them too.

Axis wandered around from stall to stall to find Ashville’s book. He saw stalls selling talisman, charms, and weapons. He also saw people dealing cautiously with each other when it came to certain materials. Axis was lost as he had no idea what those materials were.

From the different talks around him, Axis also understood certain basic information. There are 4 types of towers.

Magic Tower Bone Tower Mind Tower Dream Tower

And their abilities were per their names. Magic towers spell. Bone towers, physical augmentations, and physical skills. Mind Tower, Mind control, illusions, etc. Dream towers, Dreams.

He also found a strange occurrence among the people. No one seemed to be talking about Dream towers. While asking around for the book he met a scholarly gentleman. He was wearing a scholar’s robe and glasses. He also seemed really young.

Axis asked him, “Sir, have you any clue about Methods on Madness by Ashville.” The man looked at Axis surprisingly and said, “Young man, you seemed to be interested in really old books. That book is outdated in the current world. There are better and more comprehensive ones.”

Axis lied to him by saying, “I have heard of his name a lot and wanted to learn about his thoughts.”

The man laughed a bit and said, “Ashville was a crazy man way ahead of his time. He was already established in the world when I started my journey.”

Axis thought, “He looks so young, but it seems like he himself is a few centuries old.”

The scholar continued, “It was when the Empire was crumbling and Ashville was on the run. Every organization was after him for various reasons, but no one could catch him.”

Axis listened with interest and asked, “Then what happened to him?”

The scholar sighed and as if remembering a long-lost memory said, “He was besieged by many powerful masters. He tried to escape but fell in battle. It was rumored that he also killed some of his pursuers. For the next century or so people searched for his laboratory to find his treasures, but to no avail.”

Then as if a bit sad, the scholar continued, “With his death, all Dream Tower Masters went into hiding, they were already fewer than the rest of us and many people stopped walking on this path.”

Axis then asked the scholar curiously as if he himself was not a Dream Tower Master. “Why did they do that?”

The man funnily looked at Axis and said, “Seems like you are still an Apprentice. Your master didn’t teach you about the Inverse Law.”

Axis nodded in affirmative but the scholar looked sinisterly and said, “You don’t expect me to offer you information for free. I can deduce you are unaffiliated. You must have found some notes and decided to become a Tower Master. You are still a long way off.”

Axis then steeled his heart for an attack when the man smiled again and said, “Hand me 500 Aur, and not only I will give you the information, I will give you my old copy of Methods On Madness.”

Axis felt surprised as it was close to the amount he had on him. It was all his savings from the commissions. Axis begrudgingly handed him the money and the scholar said, “Always keep the information about yourself secret young man. Also here is the book. As for the Law, it is simple. The more exposed your tower is to danger, the stronger your abilities will be. Magic tower is outside the user's body to Dream towers, hidden in the dreams. It also acts in reverse as Dream Towers have terrifying survival abilities to Magic towers having terrifying offense and defense.”

Axis thanked the man and asked his name. The man replied, “ I am Monk Ingeram, also known as Wine Monk.”

Axis thanked him again and started looking around the market. He then out of the corner of his eyes saw a man following him. The man was very short, almost like a dwarf, and was wearing a beaked black mask.

Axis decided not to linger around the market any longer and left the market towards his home.

It was already around 11 and Axis decided to take the shorter route.

He was passing through an alley when he felt the wind blowing from his side. Just out of instincts he raised his arm on the side as a block and the next second he felt as if he was struck by a carriage.

Axis fell back into the alley when he realized he could not raise his left arm. His left arm was almost smashed and there was a piece of his bone jutting out. Axis started coughing and realized that he would have been in a far worse shape if not for a timely block.

Axis then analyzed the situation and saw himself surrounded by 3 people. All three of them were wearing the same mask with beaks. To his front, there was a single person and to his back 2 people. One of them was the dwarf guy.

The biggest guy said, “Sir, he is the one. He has his scent on him.”

The person who was the leader then said, “Mr, you seem to be acquainted with an ally of ours. He has betrayed us to follow his own plans. If you can tell us about his location, you can leave here unscathed.

Axis was already in pain but his father’s training allowed him to focus on his surroundings.

Axis replied while stalling for time, “I don’t know anybody like that. For that matter, I don’t know any other Tower Master.”

The shorter guy looked at Axis in contempt and started chanting and a bunch of Dark chains appeared around him. As he began chanting, Axis took the opportunity to conjure Drill and used the concentrated shot on him.

Everybody was surprised by the sudden shot. The castings failed and he was almost shot when the bigger guy took the brunt of the attack. The attack was powerful enough to push him back a few meters. To Axis’s horror, the damage was not that serious to him.

Axis suddenly shot a stone towards the caster . The stone was wrapped by a dream tendril from his foot and flew towards the caster.

Just as he was shooting the stone, the leader was also preparing his move, he seemed like a Mind Tower Master as the surroundings had started to distort. Without looking back at the stone Axis sprinted towards the Leader.

The Leader had a smirk across his face. Back there the caster was grazed by the stone as he had to stop his casting and dodge. Axis gained a few precious seconds and threw Drill towards the Leader.

The Leader, taken aback by Axis’s crazy decision attempted to catch the gun. The moment it appeared to the leader that he had caught the gun, Axis activated Spectral Jester.

The gun suddenly disappeared leaving the Leader’s guard open. Axis didn’t stop and slammed a flying knee flush on his head.

Luckily, the Leader was not a Bone Tower Master and was hurt from the knee.

Axis kept Spectral Jester activated and seemingly disappeared.

Axis appeared ragged and bleeding a few alleys away. He had not disappeared, rather he had given an illusion of vanishing and had jumped upwards. Spectral Jester had consumed most of his energy.

Axis took a moment to catch his breath and got ready to move.

Suddenly he heard a shout, “Stay where you are, else we will be forced to make a move.”

As he turned back, he was surrounded by men from the Watch Tower.