Chapter 122: Can’t Get Much Poorer Than This
Intellect Devourer Larva are born from egg sacs, each egg sac containing thousands of eggs, placed on the surface of the brain pool liquid by adult Mind Flayers.
After hatching, the young appear as purplish-red tadpole-like creatures, about 3 inches long, breathing with gills, feeding on brain paste, possessing primitive telepathy abilities, able to conduct simple mental communication with the elder brain and their kin.
Therefore, carrying this thing around is extremely dangerous, easily attracting other Mind Flayers or Mind Flayers.
Anse recalled the underground prison in the Black Tower; if he found a few death row inmates for Mind Flayer tadpoles to parasitize, raised them into Mind Flayers, then killed them, leveling up would be simple.
However, newborn Mind Flayers are relatively weak, needing to devour brains and with the elder brain’s help to quickly enter complete form state; the experience provided might be far less than expected.
As for the idea of enslaving a Mind Flayer, it was discarded as soon as it emerged; that wasn’t courting death, it was seeking death.
Actively allowing a Mind Flayer tadpole to parasitize is the same; although psionic abilities can be gained, the living creature is no longer you!
‘Seal it in the Black Tower Prison first, hopefully it won’t starve to death for now.’
The Black Tower is in an otherworldly space; the Young Mind Flayer could scream its throat raw but couldn’t possibly contact kin or the elder brain.
He took out the Scepter of Sanctuary, used the projection to check the internal situation, and found that Treant Guta had awakened, now commanding the kobolds in Brat’s place to repair the plaza and clean the island.
Treants live long enough, not necessarily with high wisdom, but they know much, proficient in Dragon Speech, Elvish, Faerun Common Tongue, and more.
It also animated two trees as overseers; though the trees have no brains, they can serve as extensions of its limbs to discipline and guide the kobolds.
After use, the animated trees can root again in suitable places; over time, the woodlands on the island will become orderly.
“Not bad.” Anse nodded in satisfaction.
With a treant in charge, no one dares rebel; Hollewen’s safety is not a concern.
He used the Paradise Seal to notify Brat, and after waiting dozens of seconds, summoned him out.
Brat staggered, steadied himself, scanned around, and upon seeing the bustling streets, his eyes widened:
“This is Dulag, right? Then how about a big procurement spree?”
Hollewen now is really too monotonous, lacking everything.
“That’s what I’m thinking too.” Anse removed the bag of holding from his waist and tossed it to Brat. “There’s less than two thousand gold coins and some gemstones inside; if money runs out, put it on credit, I’ll borrow more from someone.
Besides food, tools, seeds, and daily items, try to buy some live things, like fish and shrimp, small animals, etc., to perfect the ecosystem as much as possible; I’ll pick up the goods in the evening.”
The island is so large, with woodlands, river, lake, and ocean; not raising some things would be too wasteful. As long as a perfect ecosystem is built, food will be endless, no need to rely on external supplies.
“Don’t worry, I get it.” Brat didn’t understand the term ecosystem, but he knew what Anse meant.
Brat took Giant Tail and Finn and excitedly left, ready for a big haul.
Anse rode into an alley, saw no one around, and quietly teleported into Hollewen.
Treant Guta saw Anse and lumbered over with heavy steps, crushing more tiles.
“Stop—” Anse quickly stopped it, rode to its side, pointed to the woodland, and said, “You’re too heavy; from now on, stay on the island, help command the kobolds during the day…”
“I know.” Guta spread its hands, as if it were obvious. “This is broken, so it definitely needs rebuilding.”
Anse’s expression stiffened; Guta surely didn’t think all mages were as rich as the Black Tower’s master.
“Can’t rebuild for now, we have no money, can only do minor repairs; take it easy.” He patiently instructed.
“Oh… You can copy magic scrolls or brew some magic potions to sell, then you’ll have money.” The treant said naturally.
Anse felt struck by lightning, sighed weakly, waved his hand: “Carry on.”
He dismounted, signaled Nolnos to roam freely, and silently walked toward the Black Tower.
‘Should I learn some alchemy or something?’
Truth be told, he preferred using spells to solve problems; alchemy, scrolls, etc., require lots of time to learn and practice, not mastered in days.
‘We’ll talk after things stabilize.’
He entered the Black Tower and took the stairs to the second underground level.
This is the Black Tower Prison, with dozens of cells, each with different layouts, presumably for different purposes.
The bones inside had been cleared, looking very clean, without any odor or eerie feeling.
Anse placed the brain fluid jar in a sealed black stone cell, closed the door; the magic lock is integrated with the Black Tower, openable only with corresponding Paradise Seal permissions.
He set the door lock permission to the highest, only he could open it, to prevent others from accidentally entering.
‘This will do for now.’
With the dangerous item handled, he felt much more relaxed and went upstairs to inspect the Black Tower.
The animal carcasses teleported yesterday were portioned and stored in another ice cellar, just low on ice; he added a few rays of frost to cool it down.
The Black Tower was cleaned spotless, mainly by those animated brooms.
If relying only on Brat and the others, they’d work to death and not finish; each floor of the Black Tower is two thousand square meters, inner diameter over 45 meters, not ordinary large.
Anse reached the top floor; few rooms, each very large, with an outer ring corridor overlooking the entire island.
From the layout, this should be the tower master’s private space, for resting, reading, meditation, viewing scenery…
In the center is a five-meter diameter round platform, protruding half a meter from the ground, covered in various patterns, possibly some magic array, but with no mana reaction.
According to Guta, the Black Tower’s upper half was destroyed, so this is at most an array base.
‘This is the sorrow of illiteracy; later borrow some books from Illyas to study.’ He sat on the stone platform’s edge, looking up at the Black Tower’s spire.
It too was covered in various patterns, strange and bizarre; staring long made him dizzy.
In a daze, a cat meow sounded by his ear; he abruptly stood, turned, and saw a purple gold-patterned magic book floating behind him, with a black cat squatting on it, its big shiny eyes full of curiosity.
“Book of Castella!” Anse narrowed his eyes, surprised. “You can come out?”
This meant the book was intelligent and had permissions not weaker than his, otherwise impossible to enter the Black Tower top floor freely.
The black cat didn’t hide this time, instead nodding seriously, and raised a small paw to pat the magic book beneath.
“You want me to pick up this magic book?” Anse asked tentatively.
“Meow…” The black cat nodded again.
“What is this, is it dangerous?” Anse didn’t dare touch; the original tower master might have been a legendary wizard, his things surely not simple.
The black cat hesitated, then surprisingly nodded again.
Anse froze, quickly backed several steps, pointed at the floor solemnly: “Then please go back; I think I’m not ready.”
The black cat tilted its head, eyed him for a moment, then shrank into the magic book; the next second, the magic book vanished into thin air, as if never there.
‘It can teleport? I climbed stairs up, who is really the tower master!’ Anse was secretly shocked.
That magic book was the highest quality magical item he’d seen, at least legendary quality; unknown if the danger came from the item itself or some attached curse.
Dice appraisal couldn’t detect it, he was helpless.
But the dice’s abilities were tied to his own strength; as he steadily leveled up, he’d eventually see through everything.
Thinking of this, he sat on the stone platform, sinking his mind into his thoughts.
Before checking the character card, he noticed the sixth symbol on the silver twenty-sided die had lit up.
‘Huh, that’s not right?’
He checked the dice and character card every night; last night this symbol was still missing a small corner, feeling like it needed a major battle to activate.
Today’s battle wasn’t intense, only gaining a few hundred combat experience.
‘Maybe… major influence!’ he speculated.
