Is it that I haven't fed it enough meat?
Or does this creature really love eating vegetables that much?
Levi was truly left speechless by Little Pink's peculiar dietary preferences.
Never mind, since it loved eating grass so much, let it eat then. As long as it wasn't starving, that was perfectly fine. Besides, grass wasn't anything harmful. Maybe it was even quite nutritious for the dragon's unique constitution.
Shaking his head with resignation, Levi pushed open the tower's imposing main door and stood on the entrance steps without advancing further.
Because there was absolutely nothing ahead.
At this moment, this tower was just an empty shell with only the outer walls completed. The interior was completely hollow. There really was nothing inside, not even floors for people to walk on, like an enormous empty cardboard box.
Only the outermost layer was built, with pitch darkness inside.
Normal buildings certainly wouldn't be constructed like this, but who told it to be built by Levi? Since it wouldn't collapse anyway due to his abilities, he could build whichever part he wanted first.
Levi had never seen Sauron's legendary Barad-dûr tower and didn't know what it specifically looked like or how massive it was.
But the scale of the tower before him definitely didn't fall short of Saruman's tower of Orthanc and even exceeded it considerably in height.
In any case, from now on there was one more magnificent giant tower worthy of a name in this world. He just... hadn't thought of one yet.
Setting aside the naming matter for now, Levi sent Little Pink away to play somewhere else, then returned to the warehouse, retrieved another substantial pile of materials, and began interior architectural planning on the tower's bottom floor.
The floor definitely had to be laid first, then lighting, the library, the reception hall, the stairs to the upper levels...
Several days later, the tower's first floor was divided into several large functional areas.
Most places remained empty, with only a library serving as Levi's research facility being furnished and put into immediate use.
Here, Levi crafted his first Iron Capped Wooden Wand, then made his first Research Table beside the bookshelf, and his first Arcane Workbench.
This was the essential first step of mysticism and would be indispensable for all future research.
The Arcane Workbench was used to synthesize magical items, while the Research Table was for researching and unlocking various new knowledge and recipes.
Researching new knowledge required 'elemental' knowledge points, the same type of thing he had gained when researching 'water' at Orthanc.
The same object could only yield knowledge points once, and these points would be consumed during research. If there weren't enough points, research couldn't continue.
Therefore, to advance mystical studies, one was destined to travel many places, using lenses to analyze everything visible in this world.
Pop.
Levi pointed with his wand, and a square bookshelf transformed into a book floating in midair.
Thaumonomicon
This recorded some unknown mystical research that needed to be gradually revealed and deciphered...
After feeding Little Pink some meat, Levi sat at the table, picked up pen and ink, and began playing elemental connect-the-dots.
"The world's first life was born from minerals and water."
Earth + Water = Life.
"Human civilization first discovered, controlled (made orderly), and used fire, and this orderly flame's released energy illuminated civilization's path."
Fire + Order = Energy.
"When liquid becomes chaotic, it becomes poison."
Water + Chaos = Poison.
As new elements were revealed one by one on the research table, the basic elemental knowledge points Levi had accumulated while scanning with his lens during tower construction were gradually consumed.
Only after all elements from basic to seventh-tier in his memory were revealed did Levi stop researching.
By this time, knowledge points were basically exhausted.
This definitely wouldn't allow for the next step of research. Now he needed to go out and find some new materials.
Mystical research was always inseparable from travel.
Time to go out and explore.
"Perfect timing. After so long, I should see how that other project is progressing."
Taking the Thaumometer lens, under the residents' awed and worshipful gazes, Levi stepped through the Nether portal and sped toward Dale.
But after traveling only a short distance, Levi stopped and looked at a transparent light point floating in mid-air by the roadside.
An aura node.
In the Age of Mystery, to utilize magical elements at the Arcane Workbench to create various items or cast spells, one needed to work through a wand, and the magic power in the wand didn't appear from thin air. It needed charging.
There were many ways to charge a wand, but in the early development stage when one had nothing, most thaumaturges (those who studied mysticism) would choose two methods to charge their wands.
The first was relying on naturally generated 'aura nodes'. Stable collections of magical elements that usually contained multiple types of magical elements internally and could slowly recover after being absorbed.
Under normal circumstances, aura nodes were very difficult to discover. With the naked eye, one could only see a vague transparent outline. A Thaumometer was needed to make them obvious.
Their advantage was almost no cost and recyclable use.
It just took some time.
Compared to absorbing magical elements from aura nodes, the second method of obtaining magic power was simpler and more straightforward.
That was killing.
After life died, the vis essence contained within would dissipate and could be directly absorbed and utilized by wands.
However, this method was quite brutal. Under normal circumstances, thaumaturges preferred non-violent ways of obtaining magical elements.
Speaking of which, there were six types of elements that could be directly utilized by wands: Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Order, and Chaos.
The node before him contained two basic elements: Fire and Earth.
Levi noted this location, placing some blocks on the ground as markers.
Due to different world rules, aura nodes couldn't be found anywhere in Middle-earth. Only some could be found in the Nether. They seemed to dynamically update with changes in Levi himself.
Middle-earth's magic basically came from the user's own powerful soul, an extension of will from inside out.
The magic revealed by the Age of Mystery came from external objects, an application of 'aura' and 'vis essence.'
While many effects seemed the same, their inner nature and logic couldn't be discussed together at all.
After marking the spot, Levi held up the Thaumometer before his eyes and continued his journey.
When he saw bright things along the way, he would stop to mark them, then charge his Iron Capped Wooden Wand.
Traveling with these stops and starts, it took most of the day to reach Dale, and his backpack was stuffed with magic-filled wands.
This would definitely last for a while.
When he emerged from the Nether portal, evening had fallen. Twilight light leaked through mountain gaps, reflecting on the small path and illuminating the floor tiles bright red.
Even at sunset, Dale didn't seem particularly quiet. The streets remained bustling with people coming and going, and children running around showed no intention of going home to rest and sleep.
Having not visited for some time, this place had become even more prosperous. The city now had not only humans but also many dwarves walking around the streets.
The most obvious impact this brought was that one had to pay more attention when walking to look around for the shorter figures.