A few months after Rafael returned from the Castle of the Sages and settled back in the Tower of Distortion, Omar and Katya also returned. This time, Natasha and Rafael's clone took over the duty of observing the mine and castle.
She had done everything possible to investigate the inscriptions on the double doors on the top floor of the Tower of Distortion, but nothing had been deciphered so far. No one knew if there was any danger or treasure within that place, but not even Rafael's new system function could translate the inscriptions…
With nothing else to do, searching for the mysterious keys was all they could do…
Over the next few years, after returning to Asshai, Rafael studied his new pet and accompanied him daily within the freezing floor of the Tower. His size was growing at a good pace now that he lived in the wild… Omar and Katya's small cubs were also experiencing accelerated growth in a pond prepared exclusively for them on a different floor of the tower.
Besides studying his new pet, Rafael frequently pestered Jhon for help replicating other earthly items. After the success of the cocoa and the sugarcane-like fruit, his next step was to try to recreate coffee…
Rafael pestered Jhon not because he couldn't do it alone, but because Jhon's physique made the whole process much faster… Despite having given up on becoming a Blood Mage, and not yet a Shadowmancer, Jhon seemed to have found his path to the Master level…
Speaking of Shadowmancers, Zaya ended up becoming one by accident while obsessively studying the anatomy of her Shadowcat for many years.
Before her, Jack was the first to become one, followed by Natasha, who, like her master, had an Ultimate Ability in a form that blended Light and Shadow uniquely and powerfully. With Omar and Katya also officially becoming Blood Mages, the only ones left were Liza and Vitarys.
Liza was on the verge of creating her race, but she still had many flaws she needed to address to achieve perfection. With the help of Rafael's data, she should accomplish this before the turn of the century…
Vitarys, meanwhile, was trying to surpass his master by changing his race to that of Esmer, while further strengthening it and adding improvements and new advantages. It was ambitious, but still considered a worthy challenge for the proud Valyrian Noble…
As for Shadowmancer abilities, Zaya had the simplest of them all… She could shapeshift into any shadow creature, but each new transformation required great effort and study. At the moment, all she could do was transform into a larger version of her pet…
But this gave Rafael some ideas. Since she was Madame Rose's daughter and hadn't yet become a Blood Mage, she could address an old problem he'd created with his journey through Valyria; the Sun Queen… But both he and Zaya postponed this plan until she mastered a more offensive metamorphosis before leaving Asshai along with him…
As for Jack and Natasha's abilities… They were so complex that even they didn't understand them yet… But if there was one thing Rafael could say about them, it was one word: Powerful!
Of course, many apprentices had recently excelled… Aisha, and the brothers Yun Hai and Yun Zhe. They used all the points they had accumulated in over half a century of service to the Order of Sages and advanced to become Half-Demons. The three of them were now high-level apprentices of the Order, second only to the Sages in power and influence within the organization.
The brothers constantly led their shadow caravans on behalf of the Order, trading with the isolated Yi Ti. While Aisha returned to her position as Manager and now guardian of the new and popular Sage Store…
With so many talented masters and apprentices in the surrounding area looking after the Order, siblings Yuri and Laura returned to Pentos and now oversee a new mission to collect soulstones from the battlefields of Essos…
With the support of two masters and many apprentices of the Red Leader race participating in this mission, the group was much more aggressive, collecting much larger quantities of this valuable resource over the past 20 years… And there were still almost another 15-20 years before the conflicts of the Century of Blood finally ended…
***
Inside the Tower of Distortion, there was a certain rather peculiar floor… Not only was it filled with ancient houses and buildings made of black stone, but it also had a gigantic freshwater lake that never dried up. Beside this lake, a huge cocoa plantation, along with a new plantation of a fruit that resembled bamboo, could be seen slowly growing and taking shape…
Initially, all the inhabitants of the Isle of the Sage were brought to live in this small paradise… But the island's population was barely enough to occupy a small fraction of the houses, and soon, with the help of Henry and his fleet, refugee survivors from various places were brought here…
All the people knew before being brought here was that this place was a paradise created and protected by the Red Sage, and also a refuge from war, disease, and famine.
Among these refugees were many former slaves and many descendants of survivors from Valyria. Due to its beautiful features and low population, it was a constant target for many slave traders…
The restrictions for those who would live in this city within the Tower were severe; first, no one knew exactly where they were... Henry, with the help of apprentices from the Order, put everyone to sleep as soon as they got close to Asshai... Therefore, they didn't know where they were living and could never leave the Tower... Only their descendants were allowed to leave the place...
Most of the inhabitants lived a quiet life within this city, paying for everything they consumed with the money they earned working on the plantations, raising animals, or producing products for the Order...
The climate was always summer, with pleasant winds and calm nights. There were no wars, famines, or diseases… Diseases did exist, but whenever one arose, the Order treated everyone at no additional cost…
Money not only bought food, clothing, and various types of entertainment created by Raphael, but also certain comforts and amenities that only wealthy merchants and nobles outside this place could enjoy…
The most eye-catching thing you could buy here was the many miraculous Alterations. Some transformed your race into safe experimental races, which needed only time to calculate their longevity, while others, simpler ones, could even grant them magical affinities and superhuman strength. So all those who lived here worked hard, accumulating wealth to ensure that these powerful benefits would be passed down to their descendants so that when they left this place, they would have the power necessary to live and prosper in Planetos society…
Of course, everything that happened within this floor was also a mass experiment for possible development plans in case the Order ever decides to establish its own Kingdom… What was unexpected about this place was the absence of any church or temple. But even without the Order's influence, a temple was still built by the residents. As for who this "temple" was dedicated to, it was none other than the Red Sage himself…
***
Inside this floor filled with civilians and Order workers, there was a wooden house in the middle of a forest. It had been built as far away from the city as possible, seeking a certain degree of privacy. Outside, Rafael used a primitive grinder to grind various beans, varying in color from brown to black.
John had left him in the middle of the coffee experiments to take care of some personal matters. Despite this, he left many samples for Rafael to try to achieve the flavor and caffeine effect.
Achieving the flavor was easy; now, the right dose of a drug that helped people stay awake non-lethally without becoming addicted was much more difficult.
But while Rafael was testing a new batch of beans, a red crow interrupted him, bringing a message from far away. To be more specific, the message was from Dragonstone. But this time, it wasn't from his father, but from one of the Faceless Men who spied on the Targaryens. It seemed the letter was a report on one of their plans that had finally been completed, but it also brought additional troubling news…
****
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