An Anti-Hero's Origin

The Study of Runes

^^ (!!!Humblewood has Cool RPG Inspiration!!!) ^^

Convincing my family not to Level the Tower to get rid of the Possibly-Homicidal Spirit inhabiting it was more difficult than I'd anticipated, but they eventually relented and allowed the tour to continue; after a quick jaunt through the territory and an explanation of how I was using the tower to catch and kill monsters in a secure location, away from civilization, (but not how it operates, as there was some of it I still didn't understand, and most of what I did know I wanted to keep secret,) we went back home to have some dinner before they popped like overfilled wine skins.

A bit of awkward dinner conversation and such later, I was released back to Hightower with Kip and Aster, (who was going to make the town her Base to accommodate my taking her to her various work-sites, apparently under the belief I was incapable or unwilling to go to her previous residence to pick her up, but I didn't mind the easier process,) and immediately I was returning to work.

Fixing the silver lines and covering them in a stone casing to prevent any future attacks was simple, given the fact that the four goblins within were too scared of me to do much other than run away, so that was the first thing that got finished. Next was the Paean problem, which I didn't see much of a solution for other than lowering their population a bit, and so I tried the poisons that I'd mixed from amongst the things given to me by the herbalists in Hightower. None of them had been lethal on their own, but after concentrating them to lethal toxin levels and mixing them to create what I needed, I poured the vial of purple liquid into the water pipe that fed all the various floors, and returned to the control room to watch the ensuing chaos.

"That poison is... not as potent as I had thought it would be? Why is that?" Evander asked, appearing next to me as his illusory self, which I'd demanded after the first day of working in the Tower.

"It's a vomit-and-fever-inducing poison designed to affect the Paeans more violently; if it interacts with the Ogres and Orcs too much, it won't be potent enough to proper influence their stomach acid by the time it reaches their floor." I explained the poison, watching as a good half of the Orcs and Ogres begin to violently vomit, some of them puking blood, then sighed and looked at the Paeans in the floor, along with the Naga I had placed there. One of the Naga was nowhere to be seen, likely eaten by the Peans when they tried to get some water.

"Ahh, yes... the method of consumption is important... if they use their acid to eat it, it's going to fall apart, but if they drink it in the water, it's injected instantly into their bloodstream!" He nodded, taking a holographic seat and watching the water be dumped into the paean's lake.

There was a cloud of blue blood as a few of the Paean simply... Popped, but many others began swimming around in frantic circles as the fever-induced hallucinations began to take hold and drive them crazy, before either popping as well or simply halting their movements; their little hearts had given out by the thousands, according to the numbers on the screen documenting their population and the amount of Mana they had generated.

At first, I was confused by their entire bodies dissolving as they died, but then I realized that their stomachs and digestive systems were empowered by what little Mana they had, and not only was it how they made such potent acid, it also protected them from their own acid, and now that they were dead, the acid tore through them like tissue paper. "Well, that's a curious effect... try absorbing the Mana from the remaining Paeans, about half of the remaining ones?"

"To see if we can control their population automatically?"

"No,-well yes, but no,- it's to see if we can remove Monsters' Magical Abilities, like a Dragon's Fire Breath..." I frowned, building an experiment in my mind to test the theory while he complied, and the number of living Paean's dropped to exactly half of what it had been in just a few seconds.