Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth kept watching as if they were enacting a play for him. He didn't want to disturb their performance. The Vampire had acknowledged his existence, but he stayed silent. He wanted to see where this was going.

"I know this might seem very confusing to you now. You probably found the tower on accident and touched the orb. That is okay. We just-"

"I don't accept it! Uncle! He's not a family member, he has no right to inherit the legacy of the Willis family." a young intelligent-looking man with jet black hair spoke up. He looked calm and collected with his glasses and the black cool coat. His temperament on the other hand seemed rather explosive.

Others at the table were nodding silently in agreement. His uncle answered him with a lenient smile.

"The fact that he has the Mark of the Tower master means that he was already accepted. There is no changing that. All we can do is try and deal with this. I'm sorry my young friend. This might be a lot now, so let me explain from the beginning."

"But Uncle!"

"Oh, shut up, Harold. It's not like YOU ever had a chance." the girl commented sarcastically.

"The only one who never stood a chance was you, Ly-di-a!" he over-pronounced every syllable of her name.

"I never even wanted to," she argued.

"Haha, there is a difference between not being able to and not wanting to. We all know you never-!"

"Enough. Harold. Sit down."

What followed was the explanation of the history of the tower. Their ancestor was a powerful magician who had built the tower to prolong his life. He built the tower in a solidified magma chamber right above a knot in the dragon veins. With the stored mana in the tower, he had lived for a long time even after all magic had vanished and the world was plunged into the dark ages.

He had actually managed to persevere until 20 years ago. He had just barely missed the resurgence of magic by two decades. In the hundreds of years of his life he had kept teaching his children about magic in the hope to prepare them for a possible return of the mana.

The family also managed to mass quite the fortune over the time of its existence. They were already in Delta before it was Delta. Before the districts were founded. The vampire was the grandson of this magician.

He wanted to accompany his grandfather in his longevity, but the only possibility was becoming a Vampire. Using the little bit of mana in a living being blood to sustain his life was his only option. But as a vampire, he was not eligible to become a magician and inherit the tower.

"When he felt his powers finally waning my grandfather decided to seal the tower and prepare it for a possible heir. A talented magician would have been able to open the door to the elevator and inherit the magic tower and its powers. It seems you have found a backdoor. But I am sure we can find a solution."

~ So that's why all of them have a caster class. Haha, they must be really pissed. They tried hard only to have the prize stolen by an outsider. ~

Lyddie was rolling her eyes while even the grumpy-looking fellas seemed annoyed by the vampire monologue.

"By the way, what is your name young friend?"

"Oh, are you done? This was a nice history lesson, but could you get to the point? I didn't really get what you want from me. And you should introduce yourself first, before asking for my name." Seth answered seriously.

The vampire looked surprised for a moment but went back to smiling amicably. It seemed he had realized that it was best to speak directly with the new Tower master.

"Sorry, that was my fault. My name is Valen Willis. And what we want is joint ownership of the tower or at least access to it."

"You can call me Seth. Why should I grant you access to my Tower?"

"YOUR tower?!" a middle-aged man with an aged face and long oily black hair jumped up. Explosive temperament was a family trait.

"Calm down," Valen said calm and quiet, but an invisible force pushed the man back in his seat and he was unable to resist. His face was twisted in anger, but he could do nothing but sit there silently. He turned to Seth.

"It is our inheritance after all. Isn't it normal to wish to get regain access? I'm sure we can find a solution."

"Is it the massive source of magic it can collect, the facilities or the vault's contents? What are you really after? Or is there a secret I didn't find yet?"

"You are really direct."

"And not nearly as clueless as you might think. You won't be able to make even one step into the tower if I don't know what you want there."

"ke ke" the cybergoth laughed at the side. She had a thief class and probably not the best relationship with her family.

The vampire's eyes glowed up red in anger, but he immediately reigned in his emotions.

"We are mostly interested in the facilities and the power supply. Grandfather had spent most of his riches at the time of his death anyway," he said with a sigh. All facades had fallen, and the vampire wanted to make a deal.

The fact that he had not tried violence convinced Seth that there was a problem if the tower master died. At no second did he believe this guy tried to do this peacefully out of his own volition.

~ Al what do you think. Could there be something more? ~

~ Hmm. if they have the knowledge then the power supply and facilities could be more than enough to make a fortune. The revenue could be comparable to the kind of big corporations in your world. ~

~Are you serious? ~

~ It's pretty hard to collect mana on this kind of scale. ~

"Hmm, do you have the technology to commercialize the mana?"

Valen was surprised while the rest of the clowns sitting around the table looked as if a bug had flown down their windpipe. The eloquent vampire was speechless for the first time which made Seth grin a little.

~What's with that smug face?" another one exploded. This time it was an old guy with almost no hair left. He looked like he would die of a heart attack any moment. The women beside him looked not much happier but tried to calm him down.

"So, you know. Good. Then this will be a lot easier. We can provide the infrastructure if you agree to supply the energy." all cordiality had fallen, and he spoke like an ice-cold businessman.

~Looks like he is serious now. What's reasonable, Al? How much is the infrastructure worth? ~

~30% 35% maybe. But I bet you could push them to 20%. It's not like you need the money. They on the other hand seem to be almost desperate. ~

"15/85. 15% for you, 85% for me." he threw out there and the room exploded.

"You little shit!"

"Tower master or not, I will end you right now!"

All kinds of spells and magic lights started gathering in the room. Every person in the room was 20 levels higher than him and their pressure was nothing to laugh at. But Seth was relatively sure they couldn't touch him and if they really tried, he had an Endboss up his sleeve.

Considering this, Seth simply watched them putting on airs. When they finally realized their bluff wasn't working and the situation became awkward, the Vampire stepped in with a sigh.

"Enough already. I'm sorry about them. You can't blame them, it was worth a try, right? Who would have thought you were this hard to crack."

"No offense taken; can we talk seriously now?"

"Not today. It would be better to do this at a later time. I will have to convene with the elders first. Would you like to stay here as our guest?"

Seth looked at the faces at the table.

"No, I'm good. I will just return to the tower. I will return tomorrow." he said with a smile. He used the little gavel in front of the high seat.

"Conference closed," he said with a cheeky smile and let the room. He had learned a lot today and most of it was rather useless stuff. Only one thing made him happy from deep down within him. The tower was officially his and nobody could take it from him.

He had an awesome, super-safe secret base. Once he settled in, he could probably call Fin and the others to follow.