The blue water reached his ankles. Angor could see the ripples on the surface of the water. However, he did not feel anything wet. Instead, he felt like he was floating in the void. Fire Rune? ranen`
Angor could see the swaying seaweed at the bottom of the lake, but he could not see his own feet. The surface of the lake was like a mirror that separated the two worlds.
When Angor opened his eyes again, he found himself standing at the foot of a magnificent mountain.
Behind him was a door that led to the void, while in front of him was a mountain path.
He stood at the foot of the mountain, took out his record card, and injected some mana into the hole in the center of the card. The next moment, a red beam of light shot straight into the sky from the hole.
Vice told Angor that as long as he injected mana into the card, the red light would be the signal to summon the Iron Fortress.
Vice did not tell Angor what the Iron Fortress was or where his otherworldly laboratory was. He only said, "You'll know when you get there."
What a trick. Angor remembered his answer. Now that he saw the red light, he had the same idea.
The red light pierced through the sky. Angor stood in front of the door for less than ten seconds before he heard clanking noises coming from the side of the mountain range.
The clanking noises were getting closer, accompanied by the sound of a train's whistle.
"Is that a train? But that's way too fast, "Angor muttered in his mind. He looked around but did not see any tracks left behind.
As he frowned, a cloud of grayish-blue smoke suddenly rose from the lush mountain side.
Then, a metal house with legs jumped out from the side of the mountain. Every time the house moved, the patched-up metal sheets outside the house would let out a series of clanking noises.
The iron house rushed toward Angor from the mountainside with its long, thin legs.
Angor also noticed that the train whistle was coming from the chimney of the tin house.
The house only took a few steps before it flew down like a kite and landed in front of Angor.
The iron frame bent down and the door of the house was pushed open. An old woman in a blue and white dress walked out. She had a hunched back and a head full of silver hair.
The silver-haired old lady moved slowly but nimbly. She quickly jumped down from the roof and landed in front of Angor.
"And you are?" Angor asked politely.
"You must be Angor, right? Come, come, let granny take a good look at you." The old woman spoke with a kind face.
The silver-haired old lady looked at Angor up and down carefully. Angor felt a little awkward and did not know if he should move.
"You are indeed a good child. You are handsome and have a gentle personality. It's a shame to leave it to Sunders. Wallace is more suitable for you. " "Vice already told me that you can use your record card to enter The Tributary for the next five years."
When the old woman climbed up the iron wall, she looked back and saw that Angor was not on the Iron Fortress.
"Come on up!" the old lady urged.
Angor stood under the iron wall and asked with a puzzled look, "Granny, may I know your name?"
The silver-haired boss let out an "aiya" and patted his silver hair. "Look at me. How could I forget to introduce myself? I'm the caretaker of The Iron Fortress, and the watchman of The Tributary. " She patted the wall of the iron wall. "This is the Iron Fortress. If you need to go to your lab, just call me, and the fortress will take you there.
As for me, you can call me Iron Granny. I've long forgotten my name. "
Iron Granny gestured for Angor to enter the Iron Fortress again. This time, Angor did not refuse. He followed the old lady's advice.
"Since it's your first time here, I'll take you slowly. I'll also tell you about the rules of The Tributary." Iron Granny asked Angor to sit down.
The iron wall building had three floors. Angor was on the first floor, which was filled with all kinds of things. There were machine parts, flowers, and bread. In the middle of the room was a square wooden table covered with a blue and white checkered tablecloth. Two cups of hot tea were still smoking.
"Here, have some tea." Iron Granny pushed a cup of tea to Angor.
Angor smelled the rose scent of the tea. He hesitated and waved a hand. "Thank you, Granny. I'm not thirsty."
Iron Granny didn't try to persuade him. She took a sip of her tea and sighed. "The Tributary has 138 xenogeneic labs in total. Currently, only 36 of them are open to the public. You're one of them."
"What about the other 102?" Angor was puzzled.
Iron Granny chuckled. "Do you know how many wizards there are in Brute Cavern?"
When he first came to Brute Cavern, Abelle mentioned something like, "118 people?"
Iron Granny shook her head. "There were 118 people when you first joined Brute Cavern. However, in the past year, 11 wizards from Brute Cavern had died, 3 defected, 3 left voluntarily, and one advanced to the next level. So, there are now 102 wizards in Brute Cavern. "
When Iron Granny finished, Angor realized that the 102 labs must belong to the 102 wizards. However, compared to that, he was more concerned about the seemingly simple but potentially bloody data behind it.
Within a year, 11 official Magi had died, but only one had advanced. Angor felt a chill down his spine. The number of wizards was growing at a negative rate.
No wonder the wizarding world was so big that mortals did not know about it.
There were too few wizards in the world. And judging from the current ratio, there would be fewer and fewer wizards in the future.
"Are the 102 labs for wizards?" Angor asked in a low voice.
Iron Granny shook her head. "Of course not. The 102 labs are a gift from the organization to all wizards.
Every time a wizard dies, you apprentices will get one more lab space. That's for you. " Iron Granny took out a map and pointed out the locations of the 102 labs one by one. "There are less than five people in the 102 labs, but you should never enter them. Many wizards will set up traps outside the labs. You can't handle them now. "
Angor nodded.
"You can use the labs as you wish. But you must pay for them if they explode." Iron Granny sipped her fragrant rose tea and explained the rules of The Tributary.
"… Apart from that, The Tributary has no other rules to follow. Oh, and one more thing. If you want to bring your friends here, they have to follow you at all times. Otherwise, no one will come to your rescue if you run into danger. "Iron Granny pointed at Angor's chest with a smile.
Inside the inner lining of his robe, Toby was sleeping soundly on all fours.
"Got it." Angor chuckled.
"Alright, we're here. You can ask the Iron Fortress to pick you up whenever you want to leave or come in. " Iron Granny slowly walked to the second floor. "I won't be seeing you off. There's no one within a hundred kilometers around here. Don't worry, no one will see what kind of omen you want to create. "
Iron Granny said "kindly" and disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
Angor scratched the back of his head awkwardly. It seemed that the omen he caused in Apprentice Town had spread far and wide. Even Iron Granny had heard about it, even though she was a recluse.
Still, Iron Granny's reminder made Angor feel better. If nothing went wrong, his space storage item would reach the intermediate tier as well. If the omen appeared again, he would be in big trouble.
Alchemy omens were not master-level alchemy omens, but they were still rare. Brute Cavern only saw such omens twice or thrice a year. With Angor's alchemy speed and high completion rate of enchantment, the omens would appear every once in a while, and each time, different omens would appear.
Angor was extremely grateful to Vice. Now he could do his alchemy in The Tributary without any worries.
Even if there were, no one would dare to enter someone's lab without permission. This was the basic rule of The Tributary.
…
The lab marked No. 13 was about ten meters tall. It was a compound, three-story castle-like building. Just like the Iron Fortress, it was also made of iron sheets.
Apart from its magnificent exterior, the interior design was also ingenious.
The first three floors were used for daily living. Angor took a look around and saw that the place had all the basic furnishings and decorations. The basement was designed as a lab. It covered a large area and was divided into dozens of sections for different professions. Even tailoring tools could be found here.
Angor found the alchemy section, which was ten times the size of his own lab. The tools were also more advanced than Angor's. Angor could not put down the carving pen that could speed up carving.
He cast Dust Removal and checked the mana settings in the room to make sure there were no traps. Then, he woke Toby up.
Toby took out all the materials stored in Snowy Feather, and Angor moved them to the material section one by one. There were several different greenhouses and gardens in the area, as well as facilities that could gather sunlight from the outside and incubation chambers that could be used for observation. Angor felt that he had earned a lot from this.
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