Damien managed to wrestle his hand from Master Grey’s fierce grip. For a man that appears old enough to die from a sudden gust of wind, he sure was energetic. Running at a speed that would surprise even Usain bolt, anyone would believe he is a lunatic escapee from the local nursing home. Damien followed closely behind and to his surprise, Fay had no problems keeping up. Although she looked exhausted, unlike Damien who always looked in pristine condition, no matter the circumstance.

The joyful old man paid no attention to the various greetings from the Apprentice Mages as he passed. Within minutes they arrived at the Mage Towers entrance. Unlike the main gate, outsiders were absolutely forbidden from entering without permission.

“Come come, near me young ones, let this senior lead you.” Master Grey said while waving his hands in an exaggerated manner. Damien and Fay flanked the old man’s sides as he tapped the ring on his finger.

Damien naturally knew the functions of the ring but the old man began to explain anyways, “This here is an artifact you will receive upon joining the Mage Tower.” He said while pointing towards a silver-colored ring inlaid with golden runes, “It has many functions, come I will show you them.”

Fay eyed the beautiful ring with interest. Master Grey tapped the ring upon the Mage Towers closed wooden door. After a second the door began to warp like jelly, “Try to enter the door the usual way and it will eat you up and deposit you into a dungeon below the surface.”

“But with the ring, we can walk straight through…” without warning he grabbed both Damien and Fay’s wrists and dragged them through the wooden door that was wobbling like jelly. Damien had seen this before but Fay was astonished as she passed through a solid door as if it was only an illusion.

Once inside a bubble wrapped around the trio, “This is the next feature of the ring, if you look up you will see…”

Both Damien and Fay looked up. What greeted them was a kilometer-wide, hollowed-out tube inside the tower. Covering the walls were books and diagrams, all meticulously labeled by ‘school of magic’ and organized in alphabetical order.

However, the space in the middle was not empty. The top of the tower was impossible to see due to the hundreds of floating platforms that moved about. Upon these platforms were desks and chairs with the outline of foggy people.

“Welcome to the vertical library, the home of all knowledge and research within the Mage Tower!” Master Grey exclaimed while waving his arms around.

With a simple thought, his silver ring glowed and the trio felt gravity disappear, “Within the tower, gravity can be ignored. However, the tower is split up into different realms.”

As the trio floated past a floating platform with five outlines of foggy people, all discussing over a table that was also covered in fog, obscuring the details of the discussion. Surprisingly, despite floating so close, no sound escaped the foggy people’s mouths.

Fay couldn’t contain her curiosity, “Master Grey, what are all those people made of fog?”

Master Grey chuckled from the comment, “We are one of those foggy people too ya know? The ring comes with an illusion spell that masks the wearer's identity and aura. It even stops sound from escaping. Allowing for total privacy and the ability to discuss important matters without disturbing other people.”

“Hiding identities?” Fay pondered out loud.

“If an Archmage required knowledge that is stored in this lower realm and descended down here, they would be swarmed with both Master and Apprentice Mages hoping to gain some insights into the arcane. Archmages are like celebrities here in the tower.”

“With this artifact, the person studying something right beside you could be a thousand year old Archmage or a 20 year old Apprentice Mage. Without knowing, nobody bothers each other unless they wish to work on projects together.”

Fay then asked, “How do people work on projects together if they can’t see each other?”

“Silly girl, although we spend most of our time here in the tower, sometimes we still leave to eat or sleep. While outside of the tower, the illusion doesn’t function. You saw me being swarmed with apprentice mages earlier right? I had just gone to pick up a sandwich and that happened… sigh. I usually get one of my minion- erm disciples to grab me food, but they were all busy today.”

“Anyway, the point is that mages can meet outside of the tower, if they touch their rings together they are added as ‘friends’ and can see through each other’s illusion spell while in the tower.”

Fay finally nodded in understanding. Damien understood her concerns but he already knew all this information so decided not to speak. It would seem odd if he knew everything so he decided to ask, “Master Grey, what are the differences between the realms?”

“Ah glad you asked, this will be important especially for you. The tower is divided into many invisible sections. The higher one goes the more advanced and secret the knowledge becomes. Everyone is allowed to reach near the top, it's all reliant on your contributions.”

“Basically, the more knowledge you contribute to the tower, the more knowledge you gain access to. This rule was put in place to stop spies or useless people acquiring knowledge they either shouldn’t know or is too dangerous to know.”

Master Grey then turned to look Damien in the eye with a grin, “For example, Blood Magic is kept right next to Necromancy knowledge right at the top. We can’t have new mages experimenting with Blood Magic that uses weeks, if not years of a person’s vitality with every spell cast.”

Master Grey then waved around, “We are currently in the lower realm, as you can see it's very busy and contains a lot of books. These are all common books that could be found in the university or magic stores in the capital.”

Skillfully weaving through the thousands of floating platforms, Master Grey seemed to pass an invisible line and the number of platforms decreased by around 90% and the number of books lining the walls also diminished.

“We are now in the middle realm, here is where I spend some of my retirement- erm work time, yes. This area is usually populated with Master Mages but the occasional apprentice mage with great contributions can also come here. These books contain more advanced topics like B grade spells, alchemy, runes and more.”

Master Grey then grinned, showing his toothy smile, “Usually the tower would suppress you and never allow you here, but since I am a council member I have some added benefits, such as escorting people around the tower.”

Damien then noticed on a small floating platform that was made of stone and had a small fish pond, a man was meditating on a cushion. Unlike all the other foggy people masked by illusions, this man could be seen as normal.

“Oh that's my friend Dave, we are working on a project at the moment so we are friends, since you are in my ring’s sphere you will naturally be able to see my friends as well. Anyways, that's not important. He's an old fool who liked painting instead of studying.”

“I heard that old man!” Dave’s ancient eyes slowly opened and he roared out.

“Such an awful morning person, tut tut.” Master Grey responded with a light laugh and hastily began to ascend towards the peak of the tower.

After a few minutes of flying, the basic looking floating platforms of the middle and lower realm vanished into the darkness below, and instead, massive fancy mansions appeared. They were all presented upon floating islands of white rock. “This is where the Archmages, Council Members, and trusted Master Mages live.”

Within this upper realm, the walls were no longer large bookshelves but instead, beautiful waterfalls flanked with floating gardens containing many mystical and rare flora life.

Master Grey floated over towards one of the small mansions and landed in its courtyard, the mansions were all constructed in various styles and Master Greys happened to look like a chinese pavilion from ancient times.

Damien had to admit the pavilion, mystical surroundings and Master Grey’s appearance almost made him believe he was in an eastern cultivation novel. Luckily the other floating islands had castles with a more European style and there were no shocking genesis or jade like beauties walking around.

Master Grey then showed them inside his home and sat them down. He tapped a communication stone that was placed on a table with a label below it; “Archmage Amaltheia Magigrace”.

After a moment a ranging aura of power engulfed the building, a very angry fairy with a tiny towel wrapped around her pink hair appeared at the entrance, “Old Grey if this matter isn’t important I am assigning you twenty more disciples, do you think you can summon me for every trivial matter!”

Despite being so small her voice practically exploded Damiens eardrums and he rubbed them in annoyance.

Master Grey ignored the fact he had summoned an Archmage while they were having a relaxing bath and quickly began ranting, “Archmage Amaltheia I have discovered a very promising new addition to our tower!” he waved towards Damien who sat at a table with an annoyed expression.

“Who is this brat?” the little fairy said without a hint of respect.

“Now now, I understand you are angry-”

“NO YOU DON’T” Amaltheria shouted while pouting heavily.

“Shh listen to me, stop interrupting. Erm as I was saying his name is Damien Nightshade, B grade or above in-” he turned towards Damien, “What school of magic was it?”

Damien replied, “Psychic mag-”

Amaltheia interrupted again, “Wait Nightshade? Is he a descendant of that Nightshade?”

“Can you please stop interrupting me? As I was saying Damien here is a vampire with a B grade in Psychic magic… wait Psychic magic? Can vampires even use Psychic magic?”

Damien just put his head in his hands in disbelief, he knew both of these Mages were over a hundred years old yet they acted like little kids. Where was that aloof aura of indifference he had witnessed when the fairy fought off the pack of Wyverns only two days ago?

Standing up he decided someone with some social intelligence should lead the conversation.

“Stop, quiet, both of you.”

Master Grey stopped rambling into thin air and Amaltheria shot him a death glare but shut her mouth.

“Thank you, let me introduce myself again. I am Damien Nightshade, yes that Nightshade. As a Vampire, I can naturally use some Blood Magic. But beyond that, I can use Psychic and Spatial magic.”

Damien saw both of their mouths open about to speak but he shot them a knowing glance and they clamped their mouths shut.

“I was offered the position of Head Professor at the university but I wish to pursue the arcane and develop my own strength in the safety of the Mage Tower. I will naturally teach some Apprentice Mages and fulfill other duties expected of me but I will not be staying here forever, I have matters to attend to in the mortal world.”

Amaltheia finally couldn’t keep silent and said, “Although you are a Vampire and a Noble one at that, what evidence do you have in your ability to teach? Not just any B grade mage can become a Master Mage here. You have to have some contributions towards the tower for the suppression to not keep you to the lower realm.”

Damien grinned, “How about I grant enlightenment to three random Apprentice Mages?” Although Damien knew with certainty that he could accomplish this, he expected them to shout at him for being arrogant and to get out of their sight.

Much to his surprise their eyes sparkled, “Does the school of magic they study matter?” Master Grey exclaimed.

Damien thought for a moment and replied, “So long as it’s one of the basic elements then it should be fine. However, I have some conditions. The three mages I awaken to B grade must become my disciples and I will not perform this action again. At least not for free.”

Master Grey nodded with understanding, “I will go and retrieve some of my disciples that are useless and gift them for this experiment hehe.” He said with an evil grin and with a snap of his fingers, the man vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Amaltheia suddenly panicked and flew away, “I will be back! Just need to change clothes.”

Damien just stood there dumbfounded. These crazy people don’t give a damn if I'm spouting nonsense since that's all they do all day! He thought they would be less willing and it would take some more convincing but alas he was the foolish one to assume they followed normal ways of thinking. Anyone who studies magic all day for hundreds of years would likely be insane.

With the pavilion empty, Fay turned to Damien and asked in a quiet voice, “Master, can I learn magic here too?”

Damien turned around and with a warm smile said, “Of course, I didn’t just bring you here to be my lunchbox.”

Fay’s eyes lit up and her previously depressed aura vanished, “Can I also be enlightened, Master?”

Damien chuckled, “Sure thing, let me check your magic affinity first.”

Damien placed his gloved hand on Fay’s forehead and closed his eyes in concentration, after a second his eyes opened wide in shock.