When Neffie got out of bed that morning the Port city was much more lively than usual. That was actually an accomplishment, because, between the ships, the vendor stalls, and the training of the Dino Cavalry, the Port City was very rarely ever quiet.
Equipping her favorite frilly dress with a shiny golden breastplate for armor and matching boots, the young Demon Queen rushed to the balcony to see what was going on outside. If it wasn't important and just loud, she would go down to breakfast first, but she was not at all willing to miss out on anything that might be new and fun.
Whatever the Lesser Watchers were doing, it seemed to qualify. Both of her Dad's Lieutenants were outside supervising and keeping people away from a construction site so that the summons could work.
Neffie didn't recall hearing about it, much less approving any sort of construction today. Sure, technically her parents signed off on most of the details, but still, they should tell her if a giant tower was going to be built right next to the fields. The thing was like a lighthouse, tall and slender, made of the local gray stone, but highly detailed with carvings up the sides.
It was only half built so far, and it looked like the Watchers were leading the assembly process. That wasn't like them, they usually lived up to their name and only watched whatever she wanted to do, intervening only when they thought she might get hurt.
Did that mean it was a present for her? Or maybe Uncle Cain got a present for the entire city? Neffie was pretty sure she hadn't annoyed the Watchers enough that they were planning on locking her in a tower like some fairytale princess.
Well, fairly sure.
With both of them using all their summons to build and enchant a single building it was going up very fast. It almost looked like they had practiced that before. Was this a slender version of the awesome tower she had heard that Guild Master Cain had built in Long Fang Valley? There were rumors that it was actually a Mythic relic and not a natural building, so Neffie hadn't expected to see another like it anywhere else, but this one looked just like the one her Bear Kin friend En had told her about, only not as wide.
Everyone else had gathered by the foot of the building, trying to get details from the Watchers about what they were building, but the two elusive Ancients had informed them that it was a surprise and that they would be informed once it was complete. Only her dad seemed to know what was going on, judging by the smile on his face.
If it was enough to make Cixelcid smile before his second cup of morning coffee it must be a good thing, Neffie decided, before running downstairs to go see it up close. The closest exit was past the kitchen so Neffie grabbed a breakfast sandwich in each hand from the trays that were being assembled by the Puppet chef and ran towards where her dad was standing in front of the crowd to keep them under control.
"Morning Dad, I brought you a sandwich." Neffie greeted him, offering him one of the two that she grabbed while trying to stuff the other into her mouth whole.
"Eat slowly so you don't choke. They still need to finish the enchantments after the building is up, so it's going to be a few hours yet." Cixelcid instructed his overly excitable daughter.
Watching her grow up was a lot of fun, but she simply grew up too fast. Neffie was a running terror for Lickity, her mother, but the other two children were growing at much more normal rates, only about twice and three times the rate of a regular human child, respectively.
That was normal for Demon children and slower than some species, but Neffie's growth was entirely unprecedented. It had slowed down some once her body got near the size of an eight-year-old though, much to Lickity's relief. If she had been full grown, people would have taken her much more seriously, despite being only a year old. Being child sized helped remind everyone that her ideas might not be fully thought out or logical.
"Is it really what I think it is?" Neffie whispered into Cixelcid's ear after climbing into his arms to get close enough.
The big vampire just nodded, looking at the construction site in awe as the Elementals that were doing the actual construction started on the parapets and carved gargoyles that would top the tower.
The watchers were there, as well as Cixelcid and his whole family, the founding family of Port Nefheim, as far as the residents were concerned, though Cain built a large part of the initial city.
Below them were carvings of the Dino Cavalry in battle, ringing the upper floor of the tower, above rows and rows of statues.
This tower had more elves and Bunny Kin than most of the towers did in the statues, as well as a few random ones that were thrown in to see if anyone noticed. Most of the early Guild Members were represented, possibly all of them, if there were some that Neffie hadn't found yet. Even the pixie Elmira was there, sitting on the shoulder of a statue carved directly above the door.
At first, Neffie thought that was Laura in Pixie form, but she was pictured in dragon form not far away, and Neffie didn't see any other duplicated statues.
The residents of Port Nefheim slowly fell silent, taking in the building as the Elementals moved away and gave a clear view of the structure while the Enchanters worked to reinforce it and add enchantments.
This new tower had one feature that the original did not. Everyone who entered would be granted a number, that would appear on the back of their hand. It would also appear on the statue outside, letting everyone know who was doing well if you could get them to admit to their number that was.
The rest of the structure was deemed sufficient, except the healing spells for the main floor that were upgraded, and the training spells had been altered so that they could be updated as Cain and the Watchers gained more and more power. Cain's body was still adapting to being Mythic in this new high mana environment, so his level was slowly growing higher every day, even without factoring in all the extra experience he was getting from his Summons activities.
There was a discussion growing in the crowd as the finishing touches were put on the building, and Cixelcid called the leaders of the conversation forward, so he could join them without having to move away from the tower.
"Ah, young Miss Neffie, Commander Cid, it's good to see you again. We were discussing the formalities of using the tower. The Good Book that Miss Cyrene sent out said that we should strive to do good work and help the community with everything that we do, but what does the tower need? Should we set up a group to keep it clean? Does it need mana to function? We hope you can tell us." The Dockmaster asked politely.
"That's a fine question, but only the Watchers know that for now. This is all being done on Guild Master Cain's orders." Cid shrugged, waiting to catch one of the ancient's attention.
They had a while to wait since the enchanting needed the actual intervention of the Watchers or an additional Mythic Summon. They had advanced to level 425 over the last week, and the amount of Mana needed to activate the higher level spells was now over a hundred and thirty thousand, nearly the entire Mana Pool of both Watchers combined. They had called a number of Arcane Elementals to help with the work, at Mythic Quality, but it was still slow going since they all had to wait for mana to recover after every group of activations.
Finally, they were done and the tower glowed with a soft purple light before fading back to plain gray stone. It wasn't flashy, but very detailed, blending in well with the rest of the city's structures. From a distance, you really could mistake it for a lighthouse. Neffie intended to ask the Watchers to add a light to the top later, so it could serve the dual purpose of guiding ships and warning them of land from a further distance than the city lights were visible.
[We know you all have questions. Our Master has instructed that these towers be built at every stronghold of the Darklight Host, for the betterment of the population. They are self-sustaining and self-cleaning, so there is no need to do anything but train and improve yourselves.
We have spoken with the Lamia, Cyrene, and she asks only that you do what you know is right, and not price gouge or horde resources gained from the Quests in the tower. If you don't need them or can't use them, sell them at a fair price or give them to those you favor. The Laughing God has favored this tower, as well as the others with a perpetual quest to complete the levels.
A reward may be gained once a day for challenging the tower, and we are informed that the reward will increase for beating your previous record.
The challenge in the tower will start with enemies at your level and increase in difficulty as you go. There is no advantage to hollow levels here, you will be tested against those at your own level, so the highest accomplishments are the most outstanding of contestants. The current record of the Long Fang Valley Tower is level twenty of fifty. We wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors.
Please enter in a single file, and the tower can accept up to fifty challenges at one time.]
The declaration of the Watchers sent a surge of joy through the crowd. They had all heard about the other tower, though they mostly hadn't gone to see it yet. If they could do just as well here at home, it was even better, because they could just challenge once daily after their shifts at work, gaining power every day, even if there were no attacks, or they had a non-combat job.
The first one to the tower door was Cid, carrying Neffie, who took a large silver vase from her inventory and set it by the door. Many of the locals liked to donate to things that were provided for free by the city, to the point that they hadn't actually needed to collect any taxes, other than the port fee for visiting merchants. They would want to do the same here, so the sturdy metal jar that was nearly as tall as she was would make a perfect collection jar.
The Watchers had split up now, one heading into the city, doing his usual rounds, while the other stood by the door of the tower, using his presence to keep order.
Each contestant dropped a few coins into the jar as they entered, and everyone that left came out with a smile on their face, encouraging, even more, to wait in line to see what it was going to be like.
