I awoke with a start, my soul scroll flashing red above me. I peered around in the darkness of the tower, but I heard no screaming or fighting. I tested the tethers of my defensive elementals, but they indicated all was well. I mentally tugged at the scroll, allowing it to unroll, the almost-paper of the thing spinning downwards until it stopped.

[Alarm – Tower crystal has detected monster infestation: 3rd floor, Tier-1 secret storage area!]

[137 Monsters detected. Type: Spider Egg Tier: 0]

[Tower Crystal recommends the following options:]

[Elimination]

[Expulsion]

[Convert]

[Stasis]

[Consume]

I blinked as I read through the information on my scroll. It was telling me about the giant spider eggs I had trapped in the alcove? Why would it wake me up to do so? My own alarm spells were constructed to account for them… which could only mean that the tower crystal came with its own alarm spells. The crystal I used at the Arcanum has no such capabilities. In fact, it only monitored the students and types of rooms. Perhaps this crystal was more advanced?

I dismissed the scroll and closed my eyes to lay back down, when not even a handful of minutes later it started flashing again. With a sigh, I realized that I would not likely return to sleep, so better to start my day. My previous plans involved installing the moonstone at the top of the tower. Unfortunately, it would appear that I needed to coordinate with the spellwork on my tower crystal first.

I began the day in the early hours of the morning by going to the basement to set some tea. I must have been too noisy, as Mena awoke and took over shortly after I’d set the water to boil. I made the way up to one of the sitting chairs in my third-floor library and unrolled the scroll until I reached the section for the tower.

[Class A Research Tower – Tier 0] [Alarms: 1]

[Floors: 6]

[Rooms: 0]

[Defenses: Tier 2]

[Energy Use: 2%]

[Occupants: 5]

I thought it was strange that it listed the tower by tier. Why was it tier zero? Zero rooms? Tier 2 defense? I rubbed a hand down my face and through my beard as I thought about it. First, I dismissed the alert again. Then, I focused on the tier 0, but it didn’t provide any further information. When I selected the floors, it did.

[Floors – please identify]

[Subterranean Floor 1]

[Subterranean Floor 2]

[Rising Floor 1]

[Rising Floor 2]

[Rising Floor 3]

[Rising Floor 4]

When I selected the first one, the scroll displayed a tiny image of the basement, complete with a moving image of Mena loading a teacup and a bowl of oatmeal onto a tray. The kitchen had a yellow glow to it, and when I focused on that, the scroll gave me an option.

[Identify Room?]

Kitchen. The name seemed to take, with the glow disappearing. I went through the rooms there, one by one, naming them all. It was when I reached named the small laboratory on the third floor that I was given a new notice.

[Laboratory identified. Tower Tier advancing to Tier 1.]

My scroll flashed a light blue, and then the menu image returned to where I was before it flashed. When I completed the room naming, I returned to the top of the Tower scroll.

[Class A Research Tower – Tier 1] [Alarms: 1]

[Floors: 6]

[Rooms: 13]

[Defenses: Tier 2]

[Energy Use: 4%]

[Occupants: 5]

I took a sip of my tea, as I considered what to do next. There seemed to be several parts that I wasn’t sure I understood. Simply naming the laboratory advanced the tower tier, but also doubled the energy usage. What was it drawing energy from? Ambient mana? The infant dungeon core? The mana crystals? And where was it sending it to? If I created another room and called it a laboratory, would the crystal advance to Tier 2? What exactly did advancing tiers mean for a building?

I considered these questions and the likely answers over my morning meal. I still lamented the lack of a decent breakfast, and hoped that Lilly had purchased better food supplies this trip. I left the cup and bowl on the table for Mena to get as I made my way to the second floor. There, I opened the alcove containing the spider eggs and considered them.

I just wasn’t sure what the best use of the things were. When I first saw them, I considered them to be material for experimentation. Then, when the beastwave occurred, I gathered a large number of experimental subjects. I couldn’t use these in a pit like the others because they doubtlessly would be able to climb out. I could enchant a barrier to keep them in, but then I ran into the problem of food. Unlike the other animals, I doubted spiders would eat anything that wasn’t live prey. The more I considered it, the more keeping them seemed to be a more time-intensive prospect.

I mentally tugged on the alarm again, looking through the options it presented.

[Alarm – Tower crystal has detected monster infestation: 3rd floor, Tier-1 secret storage area!]

[137 Monsters detected. Type: Spider Egg Tier: 0]

[Tower Crystal recommends the following options:]

[Elimination]

[Expulsion]

[Convert]

[Taming]

[Stasis]

[Consume]

This time, I started with the bottom option. I believed I understood what the first two entailed, though I was curious about the various options here.

[Consume: Analysis shows that this monster is edible. Identify as food source?]

No. That wasn’t what I wanted at all. I shuddered at the thought. I could see tiny spiders inside the orbs, the legs quivering occasionally. They might be edible, but I was far from that hungry.

[Stasis: Analysis shows that this monster egg may be placed into stasis for future use. Engage stasis?]

That was interesting. How were they kept alive during stasis? If the crystal used ancient elven magics, I might be able to dissect the spellwork and use it to advance my own research. I mentally confirmed the option, hoping that I would see something new. My hopes were quickly dashed.

[Area prepared to maintain Stasis enchantment. Please cast spell.]

With a quick curse at the seagods, no luck there. I went back to the options.

[Taming: Analysis shows that this monster may be tamed. Engage taming?]

I considered it. Likely, I would receive another message like the last. I didn’t have any taming skills, and I wasn’t about to offer an egg to any of my guards as a companion animal. It was one thing to kill a giant spider or experiment on it. But to allow one to travel freely around me? I wasn’t interested in that at all.

[Convert: Analysis shows that this monster egg may be converted to energy source or defense through absorption. Engage Absorption?]

This was entirely new to me. Never had I even heard of either of these options when I used the building crystal at my academy. In fact, I don't recall getting options at all beyond connecting additional buildings. I pushed an affirmative thought through.

[Absorb as energy or defense?]

I wasn’t sure what either meant, not really. I might regret this in hindsight, but I decided on sending the eggs to energy. All except one. A yellow glow filled the alcove and the eggs began melting into the floor. It took nearly a quarter-hour to complete, but I was watching in my [Mana Sight] as the melting eggs were converted directly into mana that flowed in lines across the tower. When it was done, I chose defense for it, and the egg glowed blue for a moment and then stopped. After waiting a while, I closed the alcove back up.

This was excellent. I couldn’t help but marvel at how different this was compared to the building crystal I used at the Arcanum. With different capabilities, it made me wonder if I could do the same with all the frozen beast corpses in the moat. While my assistants and the [Guards] had done an admirable job, there was still a faint odor of rot. I stopped for lunch, a few tasteless biscuits reheated in the oven, and then stepped outside.

I readily opened my scroll and searched until I found it.

[Defense – Water Trench]

[Water]

[Tier 1 Fire Elementals x7]

[Tier 1 Water Elementals x 9]

[Tier 2 Water Elementals x 2]

[Beast Corpses x 916]

That was… a lot of dead animals. Seeing the number was a little perturbing. It didn’t seem at all like that many when they were attacking, and I knew I caught a good amount. Still, that just makes me want to remove them all the more. When I focused on the corpses, I was given similar options as with the spider eggs.

[Absorb as energy or defense?]

I pushed forward the thought to absorb seven hundred of the corpses as energy. That would leave some left for weak-stomached adventurers or the Llal’s pet necromancer. I watched as a deep yellow light began glowing from inside the bobbing ice. So much so that the color of the water beneath the mist seemed to change. When it was done, this time taking much longer than the spider eggs, the smell was significantly reduced. A good thing.

Looking up, I could see the sun was starting to set, and I wanted to watch it from the rooftop.