《Dream Tower》11. A Gathering Or A Scam ?
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With how perceptive Stella was, she noticed the change in Axis’s expressions and this piqued her curiosity.
She leaned on the desk with both her hands supporting her chin and asked Axis, “Mr. Axis, seems like you had some harvest from the diary already. Is it something interesting, scandalous, or amusing?”
Axis quickly arranged his thoughts and said, “Miss, how familiar are you with Veddick Ashville?”
Stella a bit surprised by the name replied, “Veddick Ashville was an alchemist during the waning years of the Empire. He was notoriously famous for engaging in cult worship and is also the creator of famous psychedelic drugs. He also wrote a rather famous compendium Ashville Notes.”
While she thought internally with a smirk, “Also he was a rather famous and powerful Tower Master. Not that I’m gonna tell you about it. He was an authority in crazy experimentations and was likely hunted due to being unhinged.”
Axis was looking at Stella’s expressions for the entirety of her answer for some clues but he was disappointed and he said, “Then you must have read the prologue to his notes. What if I tell you that the writer of the prologue is Princess Mariella. She had a certain relation to Veddick, close enough to make a compendium of his notes and write the prologue.”
Stella was shaken by the information, realizing that the princess may also be a Tower Master. But she was also unsure as there were no records left from the secret documents.
Stella being a bit smug about learning two secrets from a single clue felt a childish pleasure and excitedly urged Axis to read more.
Axis thought with ridiculous feeling, “Miss you don’t have to force me to read as I am myself searching for answers.”
Axis then quickly leafed through the diary to search for certain keywords but to his utter disappointment, there was nothing special about the diary other than it following the standard plot of a teenage girl’s thoughts and criticism.
He relayed some of the information to Stella, only to be astonished by her interest in various private affairs. It seemed like even though Miss Stella looked serious and quiet, she was interested in drama and gossip also.
As Stella was enjoying the diary entries while Axis was tired from telling her the tales, one of the workers entered and informed Stella about all the materials reaching the warehouse and fixing the steam outlet.
Axis and Stella then approached the main section and Axis was blown away with the number of available materials. Stella laughed looking at Axis’s reaction and said, “I have something else to show to you.”
Axis followed her to a hidden section in the warehouse and saw an arsenal of weapons present there.
The weapon which attracted his attention was a Blood Hawk Gatling Gun. It was an iron black-colored weapon with a crimson-colored hawk inscribed on both its side. It was a newer generation weapon made in Alfentein. It was a reaper of lives in the wars waged by Alfentein in the Grasslands.
Axis still shocked asked Stella, “Miss, where were you able to get your hands on this weapon? As far as I know, Allfentein strictly regulates its sale and distribution. I also want to know why is this weapon in Ettic.” He asked full of fear and concern.
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Stella stayed silent for a moment and replied, “Mr. Axis, you don’t have to worry about the presence of this weapon here. It was originally ordered by my father through special channels. Godcomb family holds certain shares in the National Munitions Collective. So I will expect a level of secrecy on your part.”
Axis was a bit scared by seeing this side of Stella and gulped a bit and nodded. Stella then continued, “You will be rewarded handsomely for weaponizing Vulcanite and performing maintenance on Blood Hawk. As for what are their uses, I hope you don’t get distracted.”
Axis had nothing left to say and in his mind, he was thinking, “I hope it is something related to infighting between Nobles and the common people are not dragged into this mess. If the situation devolves, I will have to get involved if it threatens people close to me. Bullspit!! I hope it is just some private business and afterward I will keep distance from Miss Stella.”
As Axis was on a clock he got to work. He didn’t know where Stella sneaked off to and he noticed there was no one keeping watch over him. Axis still didn’t dare to practice his skills as he was not sure if there was someone keeping tabs on him.
It was an intelligent decision on Axis’s part as there was a small orb of shadows hidden around him keeping tabs. It was a special creature tamed by Stella called Snavlee.
It was birthed from Stella’s blood and shadows. She had bought its seed from a special gathering. Snavlee were creatures born from shadows and were bound by blood to their owners. They were relatively harmless creatures and had almost no offensive strength, but were in high demand among Tower Masters as they could travel through space-time and were useful for tracking as they could not be detected unless through special means.
But the thing which made them truly attractive was their ability to store non-living objects in them.
The Snavlee was constantly relaying the situation to Stella.
Axis completed a lot of preparation and calculations by 5 in the evening and locked the warehouse and started walking towards his house. Snavlee had returned to Stella when Axis completed his work.
Axis was walking through the warehouse district when his Dream Tendrils started acting crazy as if telling him something. They were tugging him in a certain direction. Axis looked around and seeing no one he activated Spectral Jester and turned himself into an illusory outline and even kept Drill hidden in his coat pocket.
As he followed his tendrils towards a remote section of the district he saw a small shop and there were many rich young scions were entering. He could tell of their economic standing as they were all not disguising themselves properly.
Axis monitored the situation and to his surprise, he found that he could distinguish normal people from Tower Masters by feeling them with tendrils.
All of these young scions were normal people but his senses were telling him that there was one Tower Master inside the shop.
Axis appeared a distance away from the shop and used Spectral Jester again to form an ornate-looking mask and started walking towards the shop.
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At the entrance, a burly man was standing as a guard and was verifying everyone entering the shop. When Axis came in front of him, he looked him up and down and said, “Sir, Do you have an invitation?”
Axis instantly replied exaggeratedly, “I was never informed about any invitation. They told me there was an interesting place here, seems like I should return.”
The burly guard panicked a little and said, “Sir, you can pay a visiting fee of 100 Aur and you may later apply for membership. The only rule is you keep this gathering confidential.”
Axis almost cursed him, but he still kept his composure, “How can I be sure you people are not scheming to dupe me.”
The guard replied, “Sir, there are other people here also of a prestigious background. The stuff inside is worth it.”
Axis sneered inside, “Hmph, seems like you are trying to increase my interest. Don’t blame me for tricking you.”
Axis handed him a 1 Aur note but he made it appear as a 100 Aur one with his skill. Axis entered and saw around 12-15 people sitting inside the shop. There were mostly gents but there were also some ladies. Everyone was hiding their identities with either hoods or masks.
The people inside gave Axis a cursory glance and started guessing his identity. Then a person entered from the other side of the shop.
He was a rather bulky and rotund middle-aged guy with the majority of his hair turning silver. He seemed to have a dignified expression on his face which in contrast to his body was rather skinny.
Eric Baer was a Magic Tower Master and had recently become a tower master. He had been a tower master for a few months now and was operating this shop to obtain funds for his 1st domain.
The moment he entered the room his attention was attracted towards Axis. He could sense Drill on Axis and he thought that Axis had a rather impressive mystical object on him despite being a normal human. Dream tower masters were difficult to detect unless they were using their skills.
Eric was a Magic Tower Master and had obtained his Magic Tower through unscrupulous means. He used to be a trader on the eastern coast when he came across an injured Tower Master. He tricked him to teach him his ways and later killed him off.
Eric’s main skill was called Ravaged Forge. It allowed him to convert materials with minor spirituality into impressive mystical types of equipment. His second skill was called Persuasive Speech. It allowed him to influence people if properly used.
At his current level though he could only make minor objects out of it and it took him six to seven hours to make one. When he sensed Drill he thought of making his move on this item and maybe snatch it from this mortal.
Axis could feel Eric’s penetrating gaze on him and was worried that he was found out. He tried to brush the gaze off when his tendril gave him feedback that the person on the Dias was of a similar level.
To Axis’s astonishment, his tendril even located the Magic Tower, which was in the form of a pocket watch on the person. It was then Axis understood the Law of Inverse.
His Tower was hidden in his dreams whereas he had already sensed the other person’s source of power. He had a form of advantage over the other person now while sacrificing total offensive potential or output.
Axis grew a bit confident due to this but he didn’t relax his guard a bit.
Eric greeted everyone sitting there and said, “Young masters and ladies. I am happy that many of you returned here and I even see some new faces also. I welcome you all. You can call me Master Trader and like previous occasions, I have certain objects of interest to trade with you.”
As he was about to say something else when a person who was wearing a hood interrupted and said, “Master Trader, you should already know about the latest news. Wilken and Jeryi were both caught by the police in the mass killing scandal. Through special channels, the news was they were found in possession of an evil item. A knife that could siphon off vitality from its target. That knife, you sold it to them.”
This news shocked Axis as he had read about this scandal in the papers but he was unaware that a mystical item was involved.
Eric smiled as if already prepared for this moment and said, “Respected Sir, I am only responsible for selling the items. What you do with them does not matter to me. They were already informed about the item and it was their responsibility. I hope you don’t judge me for this.”
The person shut his mouth and sat a bit dejected and irritated.
This time a lady raised her hand and in a soft voice asked, “Master Trader, You had promised to find us some legacy to become like you. Were you able to find it yet?”
Eric sneered inside his heart and said, “This rich whore looks pretty good but do you think I am willing to share my secrets with you. All of you elites are only good enough to fund my plans, and if you are desperate enough...” while licking his lips and looking at the lady with a lust-filled gaze.
He replied, “Miss, I hope you will remain patient as finding secret legacies is not an easy task. It requires a lot of time and money and I hope you all will continue patronizing this endeavor.”
Axis almost laughed at the scam Eric was running. He knew that it had nothing to do with secret legacies. The only reason Axis was still in the gathering was that he wanted to know the reason his tendril got crazy around it.
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