Yaleriga has confirmed some unusual habits of Jing Huang more than once, which seem to imply that he comes from an extremely weird cultural environment. He has a certain understanding of mechanical equipment and can quickly understand even unfamiliar objects, and he will ask some typical questions that only users with some underlying framework awareness would ask. That is relatively rare in ancient covenants like his. She didn't need to explain to him what a creative agent was, or that there wasn't a band hidden in the speakers. But when she mentioned the White Tower, Jing Huang's reaction caught her attention.
He did not clearly express his views on the largest group of mages in the alliance. However, Yaleriga noticed his sensitivity to the word "White Tower". Although it was not easy to find evidence, she only found that Jing Huang had a subtle and special reaction to the "Tower". When they first set foot in Sugar Land, he was not like other newcomers who stared blankly at the street or at the chairs at their feet, or kept spinning in circles, trying to take in every novelty. When Yaleriga tried to encourage him to participate, she saw Jing Huang's eyes looking past the biscuit roof and pointing directly at the rock candy tower. He asked Yalayligata what was in it.
"Nothing." Yaleriga replied. The Rock Candy Tower is a symbolic decoration, just as the red algae lake represents the origin of Sugar City, and the high tower is the hometown of the cat people, a common building in Lepanting. Their soaring window eaves are exquisite, but interior space is extremely limited. Even the cat people don't live in it for long, they only use the tower to play and watch.
It's hard to describe Jing Huang's expression after hearing this answer. He didn't look happy, nor did he express his intention to go sightseeing at the top of the tower. He just stared at the towers silently. After Yaleriga turned around, she heard him whisper: "White."
She had to suspect that there was some connection between Jing Huang and Baita.
The White Tower - although it is presented to the public under this name, it is not actually presented in the shape of a tower. While "that snow-white, lonely tower with a mysterious shimmer" appeared repeatedly in various legends and stories, Yaleriga saw something more majestic and magnificent from the maze of her memory. It was a grotesque palace composed of complex latitudes, a collection of all kinds of counterintuitive geometric objects; a huge copper beast lurking in the depths of the scorching sea of fire. Only those who also covered their bodies with secret stones could open its huge mouth. ; The dark core spinning deep in the icy dust of the comet's tail, following the trajectory of the stars, touring and preaching in the void... Among the ancient or alternative factions, Yaleriga is most concerned about the Tower of Silver Glory.
People call it the Silver Staff - the legendary mage who defeated her ancestor, the second daughter Melendra, but did not leave his true appearance in this long inheritance. In the memory of what Yaleriga saw, the Silver Staff was such a simple and ordinary Homo sapiens skeleton, occasionally wrapped in a white robe or dark dress, and even worse, running around naked. The appearance as shabby as an apprentice, and the equally mediocre, dim and ancient stone tower made Yaleriga convinced that this was a tampered memory. All the most important information was undoubtedly erased before Melendra's descendants were released from Silverglow's tower. Perhaps the Silver Staff didn't want his address to be known to the world. She heard that he rarely showed up at school or Camarilla meetings.
In view of the important position of the Silver Staff in the legend of mages, Yaleriga has no doubt that the stories of the "White Tower" and even the naming of the White Tower organization are related to it. She doesn't intend to avenge Melendra, but she also doesn't want to get in touch with the most secretive and difficult factions hidden under the story. When Jing Huang showed his special concern for the White Tower, Yaleriga briefly worried that he might be involved with the most dangerous enemy, but quickly put aside this concern. She found that Jing Huang knew very little about the White Tower, and seemed to regard it as some kind of highly disciplined and unified academic group. This cannot be said to be completely wrong, but when Jing Huang asked her about the location of the core tower group, and While expressing surprise at the complicated battles between mages, Yaleriga felt that the "discipline" that Jing Huang was referring to was not limited to simple apprenticeship etiquette.
She wants Jing Huang to know the real White Tower, a dangerous and huge enemy, but also a convenient assistant and contributor. As a family whose ancestors had deep entanglements with mages, Yaleriga maintained contacts with two or three White Tower mages. She thought this was very beneficial, and it would be best for Jing Huang to have one or two like this. But she was not in a hurry to introduce a truly powerful mage. What she wanted first was to eliminate Jing Huang's strange hostility, so she deliberately took him into the White Tower's shop.
That can be confusing to people who are not familiar with the situation. The shriveled fruit on a walnut tree may be the palace of mages, and those white towers that are clearly located in a populated area and fully conform to the public impression can only be found in Zhisi City where the backbone of the school lives. . The mages succumb to the public to a certain extent, trying to satisfy the imagination of outsiders, and at the same time, they also cunningly earn huge research funds in this way.
In the white tower managed by expatriate tower keepers, they will not only sell harmless sleeping potions and lucky charms, but also receive cursed items thrown in by outsiders for free - naturally, the tower keepers have to take responsibility. Identify them and determine whether they are superficial and boring tricks for fools to entertain, or whether they are secret art weapons with real great power. They are not only responsible for this kind of business work, but also purchase and prepare magic materials, and Go out to run errands when necessary and solve tasks that the apprentices are unable to cope with. Before they ascend to the true palace, their mentors will ponder them countless times and claim that this is a necessary accumulation of experience. Only a few smart or lucky apprentices do not have to undergo this training after becoming tower keepers, and can participate in more important research with the mentor who selects them. Yaleriga was not clear about the selection criteria for such special students. In the current situation, she felt that a mediocre tower guard guarding the fake tower was enough. She doesn't need an overly shrewd and careful person to investigate her origins.
Naturally, not all the items that mages are willing to sell can be purchased in such a tower. Baita has always been very careful about controlling his achievements. For a long time, Yaleriga wanted to know whether the "Possibility Department Store Catalog" really existed, but her loyal mage friends kept silent about it, as if they had never heard of this legendary great spell. Yes, you can't buy these in the bright white tower, but if you are willing to spend money, or decide not to buy anything, those novel gadgets are enough to please you.
In this way, Yaleriga took Jing Huang into the tower. She used Zhisi coins to buy tickets for the tower keeper, and soon received a warm welcome from the other party. This tower keeper also looks very interesting, like a toad with hair all over his body, and speaks with a wart on the top of his head, which sounds a bit loud. While receiving them, the tower keeper introduced himself as "Ming Yang Tongshi"
His loud name was in stark contrast to his strangeness, causing Jing Huang to reveal some uneasiness in his calm overall performance. Yaleriga looked at her traveling companion sitting side by side with her on a high armchair, with her toes far away from the ground. She seemed to want to sit cross-legged on the chair several times, but she held it back as if nothing had happened. She remembered how Jing Huang called her when they first met, and she couldn't help but find it interesting, but she still pretended not to see it.
The tower keeper greeted them politely but mysteriously, perhaps imitating his mentor's accent. He also noticed Jing Huang's disability and briefly showed caution. Yaleriga knew the reason why this happened. Some parents would try to abandon their unwanted children in front of the white tower, or send them to the tower when they were a little older, praying for adoption by the mysterious and powerful mage. Most of these children lacked knowledge and were unable to learn the secrets of magic. Moreover, they were unable to sign apprenticeship agreements voluntarily. The tower keepers had no choice but to painstakingly search for their parents using bloodline detection techniques, or send them to their parents when there was no other option. A parenting agency established by the Alliance. That was very unpopular with the pressured Workers' and Communist Party system. If they sent too many people, they would inevitably be fined for mismanagement of the mage tower.
The misunderstanding was quickly resolved. When Yaleriga explained to him the purpose of her visit, she saw him using his short fingers to quietly move the triangle of exploration in the air. She knew that Tong Shi had noticed Jing Huang's identity as an ancient man. That made him happy all of a sudden, and he kept asking what kind of arms they needed.
"Mysterious techniques can resurrect dead limbs, yes," he rubbed his hands and said in his deep, majestic voice, "even for a being like your child, who cannot regenerate limbs as you claim, we can't Being able to use other strategies to help him become stronger and make his life easier is no different than having a real arm. Don't be surprised, madam, this is a trivial thing that we seekers are good at..."
Yaleriga almost smiled. She had no problem with the tower guard's remarks to maintain the mage's reserve, but when she heard the other party's misunderstanding about her and Jing Huang, and noticed that Jing Huang was writhing in his chair, it was hard to complain. She didn't want to tease the tower keeper. He probably thought that since Jing Huang hid behind her from entering the door to going upstairs and refused to say a word to outsiders, and Yaleriga was willing to spend a huge sum of money to give him an unnecessary arm, they Most likely it was some kind of adoption or mentor-disciple relationship. She planned to follow this man's words and kill her as a grieving mother. But at this moment, a vague sound of wind chimes echoed in the tower, which meant that there was a visitor at the door.
The tower guard immediately showed a vigilant look. He apologized hastily to both of them and ran down to see who the new visitor was. After a while he let out a cry of annoyance, and some kind of childlike cry came out.
"Seriously?" She heard him shouting to the street, "Mencheng, this is Mencheng! Not some damn barren mountain! Don't throw your children around! That's enough, you damn bastard, Just send one here and there! Everyone is sick! If you can't take care of them, don't give birth! Are you eavesdropping? I know what you dirty people are up to, you don't care about these little brats They live and die, just hoping that others will raise them up, it is best to develop a great mage, and then you will jump out and let it work for you! You filthy vampires want a slave, do you want a mage family? ? There’s no door! I’m telling you there’s no door!”
