Chapter 53: The Tower

"Who are you?"
Lin Wei searched his memory but found no information about the voluptuous woman before him.
"My name is Anbis. I’m your senior," she replied.
Anbis’s pupils reflected Lin Wei’s image, and a look of satisfaction flickered across her face.
Suddenly, Lin Wei recalled that Mentor Seles had told him yesterday a senior would guide him around the Shadow Forest.
"Senior," Lin Wei greeted her with a slight bow.
Anbis seemed naturally friendly. She leaned in close, blinking as she studied Lin Wei’s features. "You seem even more handsome than Mentor Seles, though you look a bit tired... Were you up late last night, perhaps overexerting yourself?"
As she spoke, Anbis pinched Lin Wei’s cheek.
Her banter wasn’t entirely in jest. Most students at the Academy of Sorcery were drawn from the nobility, and in this world, bonds between young noblemen and women often formed early.
Lin Wei simply smiled and didn’t explain further. Having spent over a year in the Tulip Territories, he was well aware of the decadent ways of the nobility.
"Come on, let me show you around the academy. There are some places where even a careless step could cost you your life."
Anbis’s expression suddenly grew serious.
"A price paid in life..."
Lin Wei nodded gently.
...
"Senior Anbis!"
"Is that the new junior behind you?"
"Would you mind lending me your little junior for a night?"
...
With Lin Wei following behind, Anbis greeted the passing students, both men and women.
Lin Wei observed the colourful crowd, his face still adorned with a calm, unflustered smile.

He mused inwardly, "I expected sorcerers to be scholars in search of truth and knowledge—how disappointing. It seems the vices of the nobility have spread here as well..." His eyes revealed a glimmer of contemplation. "Is this what people mean by black sorcerers? Impossible... Or perhaps I just haven't entered the circle of official sorcerers yet?"
Anbis displayed great patience, explaining every corner of the academy to Lin Wei in detail.
With the help of his intelligent orb core, Lin Wei constructed a three-dimensional model of the entire academy. Every place they passed was thoroughly recorded by the orb.
"Here..."
Suddenly, Anbis stopped.
Lin Wei looked up.
"The ruined tower engraved on the back of the sorcerer's token..."
He instantly recognized the scene before him.
The ruined tower rose hundreds of meters high, the only place in the Shadow Forest touched by sunlight. Its lower half, like the other buildings, was shrouded in the endless shadow of giant trees. Even the sunlit upper half exuded a sense of eerie solitude.
The brighter the sunlight, the more profound the stillness.
Encircling the ruined tower was a ring of fractured black stones, irregularly arranged to seal the tower within.
Curious, Lin Wei moved towards the black stones to investigate.
"Wait." Anbis grabbed his arm. "Don’t go any further. This is the most dangerous forbidden ground in the Shadow Forest."
"Hmm?" Lin Wei halted at her words.
The playful glint in Anbis’s eyes was replaced by wariness. "Touch those black stones, and you’ll rest here forever. They’re the wards that protect the ‘Tower.’"
Lin Wei’s pupils contracted as he gazed upwards. "'Tower'?"
"That’s its name. No one has explained its origin to us, and we know almost nothing about it... Only that any student who’s tried to learn its secrets has never returned."
Anbis seemed to recall something from the past.
"If it stands in the academy, it must serve a purpose, right?" Lin Wei looked at her.
"Certainly. Though students are forbidden, it’s rumored that the Headmaster and other high-ranking sorcerers occasionally visit the ‘Tower.’" Anbis spoke without reservation, her eyes shining with admiration. "The Headmaster... even among official sorcerers, is a figure at the pinnacle."

"Let’s go," Anbis said, as though unwilling to linger.
Lin Wei nodded and followed.
But as he turned, an inexplicable shock reverberated through his heart.
In that instant, Lin Wei felt as if the ‘Tower’ was calling him.
He spun around, but the sensation vanished as quickly as it had come.
"Was it just an illusion?" Sweat beaded on his brow. "That feeling... it wasn’t a summons so much as a... longing?!"
"What’s wrong, Lin Wei?" Anbis noticed his unease.
Lin Wei discreetly wiped away the sweat and forced a smile. "It’s nothing. Let’s move on."
Anbis gave him a curious glance but didn’t press further.
"How could the ‘Tower’ be drawn to me?" Lin Wei suddenly considered a possibility. "Is it because of my pure Shadow Talent?"
That seemed the most likely answer. There was little chance his intelligent orb core had been exposed—he’d already read the general rules and basics of the sorcerer world, which stated that research on souls was almost nonexistent, just like in the world he came from. That had been a relief.
If not the orb core, then the only things that could attract the ‘Tower’ were the Sacred Light Shadow and his pure Shadow Talent. Instinctively, Lin Wei concluded it was the latter.
He didn’t believe it was a mere illusion. Ever since he had begun cultivating the Sacred Light Shadow—especially after seizing a fragment of the future world yesterday—he had come to trust his premonitions completely.
Although Lin Wei had only ordinary third-class talent, the existence of the pure Shadow Talent had afforded him privileges and resources surpassing even those with fourth-class talent, and this had always puzzled him.
Vaguely, he sensed he had fallen into an invisible web, treading a path set long before by unseen hands. Perhaps he was but an insignificant piece, but Lin Wei loathed the feeling of being controlled.
His expression darkened, and what troubled him even more was the realization that he couldn’t escape this game—could not become its player.
"I can only grope my way forward slowly... For now, the most urgent task is to grow stronger." Lin Wei felt a weight on his chest as his thoughts churned.