The beams were very thin, and the magical energy they radiated was pitiful. Yet, strangely enough, they ultimately passed through Sofia's defensive forcefield without any resistance and made contact with her body.
Pu. A soft sound echoed in the room.
The green mist dispersed and Sofia vanished. A cute pink pig with a red bowtie and a curly tail stood in her place.
Alice, Greem, and Snowlotus felt uncomfortable shivers run through their bodies when they saw what happened to Sofia. The pink pig even raised her snout at the three of them, sneezed, and wagged her little tail.
"Dammit! It's magic penetration!"
The three of them immediately understood the nature of the magic fairies' powers.
If spells were an ability the adepts had gained through the accumulation of knowledge, then magic fairies would be natural spellcasters.
They were nature spirits born of magical energies. Their control over magical energies wasn't like an adept's. It wasn't a means of manipulating and borrowing the strength of magical power. Instead, it was second nature and intuition carved right into their soul. They needed absolutely no chants or handsigns when they used magic. The fairies only had to will it to happen, and magic would move as they wanted it.
Moreover, what was even more terrifying about them was the fact that each one of their spells possessed magic penetration. Magic like this was too much to endure, even for Sofia, who had a basic magic resistance. Their spells had instantly struck her.
Sofia, who had as much muscle as the most muscular of human men, had been turned into a pink honking pig without any ability to resist. The humiliation of being reduced to livestock made the three other adepts gulp. They couldn't help but slowly back away.
If even Sofia couldn't defend against the spell, the rest of them probably couldn't as well. No amount of magical defenses could block that frightening magic penetration effect. It was better to play it safe to avoid being reduced to a joke!
"Scared now?" A magic fairy proudly beat her wings and flew about in the air. She waved her hands in delight, "It was me. Me. It was my magic that worked!"
The other three fairies immediately became dejected. Even their wings started drooping.
All four magic beams had hit Sofia at the same time. Yet, in the end, the spell that took effect was this fairy's who had cast Polymorph: Pig.
In truth, the magic fairies looked almost identical to each other. When they flew in unison, even Greem couldn't distinguish them with his mundane sight alone.
"Okay, outsiders. We won't be pursuing your offense of trespassing into our home any longer," The slightly more mature magic fairy once again flew before them, "Now please leave and return peace to our home!"
Greem and Alice looked at each other. Alice then smiled and walked forward.
"As my companion said, this is our place, not your home. As the outsiders, shouldn't you people be the ones to leave?"
"Liar."
"This big one is lying."
"Big guy is so mean. Let's turn her into a green frog."
The magic fairies immediately started scolding Alice. They pouted and put their hands on their hips. Some even raised their wands and charged at her.
"Hmph! Little people still want to be stubborn even after taking advantage of my tower for such a long time. Let me show you who's the real owner of this place!" Alice might have returned to her original body, but her habits from her child-form were hard to change quickly. She also placed her hand on her hips like the fairies were doing and snapped her fingers.
A rune flashed on the control crystal floating in front of her. The unique flux of a magical array change came from deep within the crystal cluster.
A short moment later, a magic fairy anxiously flew out from within it. She yelled as she flew, "This isn't good... it's bad. The magic fountain source has been cut."
The magic fairies immediately started panicking. They couldn't care less about Alice and the rest. All of them dashed back into the depths of the crystal mountain.
"Talk to them!" Greem nodded at Alice, "They seem innocent. If discussions go well, you might find yourself with some useful helpers!"
Alice smiled sweetly back at Greem.
Snowlotus looked at the two of them in confusion. She really couldn't quite understand their real relationship.
A short while later, the magic fairies once again flew out in a rage. They surrounded Alice.
"Speak, evil bad guy!" The leader of the magic fairies waved her fist and threatened, "What evil magic did you use to cut off the magic fountain source. Quick, cancel it."
"Little fellows, you stay here, and you don't know where this is? This place is the energy room of my adept's tower. It's my home and my territory. If you want to stay here, you will have to get my permission. And if you don't agree, don't blame me for forcefully evicting you!" Alice seemed to be even better than them at being an unreasonable kid.
The magic fairies gathered together and started a discussion.
As powerful nature spirits, their intelligence wasn't low. It was only the isolationist lifestyle they had led that caused them to be a little too innocent. They could tell the truth behind Alice's words.
Thus, an intense debate happened before the eyes of the three adepts. Meanwhile, Sofia was still sadly walking in circles on the ground. Even though she was trying her best to roar and intimidate the fairies, it just wasn't working. Greem had to force himself to stay calm to not laugh at the pig's small body and its cute face.
The magic fairies were pragmatic beings as well. They soon pushed their dejected leader forward and started a careful negotiation with Alice.
Chapter 381 Putting Things Back into Order
The magic fairies were at a distinct disadvantage in this negotiation!
It was unavoidable. These magical energies were merely one of the ways by which the adepts maintained the daily functions of the tower. Even if the magic altar was shut down and the adept's tower deactivated, the adepts wouldn't suffer. The only real harm to the adepts was the lack of an energy reserve that they could draw upon in times of crisis.
However, the magic fairies had no other choice.
After all, they were nature spirits that had been born in environments of high magical energy concentration. The magical energy was extremely crucial to fairies like the air was for humans. It was not an element that they could do without. They would be severely affected if the magical energies in the energy hall fell below critical levels.
An ordinary energy room didn't produce the conditions to allow for magic fairies to come into existence.
That was because of the nature of energy pools and their function within an adept's tower. Every so often, the crystals formed from the dense concentration of magical energy would be drawn from the pools and used to fill the treasuries of the adepts. It was an important economic source for an adept's tower!
It was rare for an adept's tower to be abandoned and sealed for 1,700 years like the Tower of Fate.
The closed environment and the extended period of time allowed magical energy to accumulate and reach dense concentrations. It was this unique environment that allowed the energies to compress into not just crystals, but crystal clusters that continuously grew to this enormous size.
Even with the unique conditions of this room, it took a thousand years for the first magic fairy to be born. From then onwards, a new magic fairy was born every hundred years.
That was why there were only seven magic fairies in this energy hall at the moment.
Alice received excellent news from her discussions with the leader of the magic fairies.
The magical crystals stored in this place had reached an astounding total of nine million!
Before they could even start rejoicing, the magic fairy put forth their conditions for serving Alice.
First, the total amount of magical crystals in the hall was never to go below nine million.
After all, the magic fairies relied on the magical energi
es to live. If the magic concentration in the room were too low, it would be hard for any new magic fairies to be born. However, this meant that Alice could only use a small number of magical crystals. A total of approximately three hundred thousand.
Second, Alice could only take half of the magical crystals that formed in this room from now on.
Of course, Alice couldn't agree to this condition. It was way too harsh.
Thus, after arduous negotiations, the magic fairies had no choice but to lower their standards. They would only take one-third of the total amount of crystals formed each day.
The number of crystals that formed on a daily basis numbered around twenty-three. Once the Tower of Fate was fully activated, a significant amount of energy would be drawn away to maintain its daily functions. This diverted power meant that only a total of twelve magical crystals would form every day. Eight of them would be taken away by Alice, and four would be left behind for the magic fairies.
Third, the terms of service.
Alice and Snowlotus were each allowed to conscript one of the magic fairies as their magical companion. The fairies would be responsible for the managing of the witch's rooms as well as their labs. However, their service was limited to the Tower of Fate. The magic fairies refused to ever step out of the tower.
On the other hand, the fairies didn't very much like Greem or Sofia, so they were excluded from the list of potential masters.
They came to an agreement. Alice and Snowlotus then picked one of the magic fairies each as their companions and signed a contract of equal treatment. With the contract in place, the two of them had to pay the fairies two crystals per day as their wage. Moreover, they couldn't force the fairies to do anything without their consent.
A cute and petite magic fairy crouched upon Alice's shoulder after they signed the contract. The fairy leaned on Alice's shoulder and started talking with her.
Greem also managed to get some basic understanding of the magic fairies from the information Alice provided him.
Magic Fairies. Magic spirits that had been born of nature. They were sexless and possessed a body of pure elementium. Their primary powers were approximately equal to that of a First Grade adept. They possessed many innate magics, including Magic-Interference Barrier, Enhance Magic Regeneration, Deep Meditation, and Replenish Stamina. Most of their spells were support spells.
These spells could be used on themselves, but they could also cast them on others. They had strong abilities like being able to double magic regeneration rates, replenishing stamina, and allowing their allies to enter profound meditations. The magic fairies were, undoubtedly, an exceptional servant for experienced adepts.
Not to mention that their racial trait of extreme longevity made them the perfect servants. They could serve an entire clan for thousands of years. For these reasons, they were considered one of the best magical companions.
However, the requirements for their birth were too strict. Their discrimination when picking partners also made it difficult for adepts to turn them into companions of their own. They were proud creatures. They would rather kill themselves than be bound by outsiders if they couldn't reach an agreement.
Uncouth witches like Sofia fell way out of their beauty standards. The fairies also rejected Greem on account of him being a male. No one knew how the fairies made up their minds when deciding on these arbitrary factors!
Alice had essentially rented the energy room from these magic fairies upon signing the contract. If she wanted to visit the hall in the future, she would first have to gain the fairies' consent.
These conditions were still a little harsh on someone as seemingly powerful as the Witch of Fate, but Alice had no choice but to accept them. After all, these fairies could be a great help to the Fate branch in the future!
The magic fairies were sexless and also lacked a concept of identity. That was why they often didn't have names of their own.
However, Alice still gave the magic fairy she had recruited a name to distinguish her from the others. She named her Helen. Snowlotus, on the other hand, name her fairy Hannah.
The two fairies were like little girls that had just gotten a new favorite toy. They quickly ran to their companions and started bragging about their new names. All the magic fairies soon went into a frenzy. They all flew towards Alice and harassed her for a name of their own.
Alice was utterly overwhelmed by the passionate fairies. She had no choice but to start randomly calling out names. Anna. Allie. Eve. There was no rest until she had satisfied all of the fairies.
Surprisingly, this won her the approval of a favor by the magic fairies. They all volunteered to help Alice clean up this tower that had been neglected for an entire millennium.
The moment Alice nodded, all the magic fairies formed a group and flew into the tower as if it was their own home. Only one fairy was left behind to watch over the reactivated magic altar.
Six magic fairies weaved and zipped across the air like six sweet angels that had descended from heaven. They left behind trails of stardust as they dashed through the dark corridors.
They casually waved their wands at anything they didn't like while they flew.
With a wave of the wand, illuminating crystals that had lost their lights once again lit up.
With a ripple of stardust, the dust on the floor was blown away, swept into a corner with all the magical vines and cobwebs that had grown all over the place.
The magic fairies even miraculously repaired the damaged doors and structures when they flew past them.
Alice and the other three left the energy room and found their way back above.
All the corridors were brightly lit now. The floors were as clean as if they were new, and all the doors and facilities were in perfect working condition. These little fairies seemed to have the magical ability to transmute even stone to gold. A thousand years of dust and waste were all blown out of the tower wherever they went. Even the areas covered in magical vines and thorns were cleared up and returned to how they had looked before.
Even the shelves and racks collapsing from old age reverted to their original state under the effect of the fairies' mysterious and wonderful powers. A library open to all apprentice witches had been restored in the blink of an eye.
The squad of magic fairies quickly flew out of the library once they had finished there. They immediately flew towards the magical labs next.
Alice and the others looked on in shock.
The most skilled at their work were specialists after all!
The magic fairies were famed as the greatest magical butlers and companions in the entire universe. This skill was thoroughly demonstrated by all they had done in the mere minutes since they had left the energy room. Even though the fairies had locked up nine million magical crystals worth of assets for their services, all four adepts believed this to be a good trade!
At least three of them were smiling. As for Sofia? Her face was turning even darker by the second. The fires of anger in her heart were stoked whenever she saw these midgets dashing all around her!
Her! A berserker witch with a magic-resistant Physique, reduced to a… Sofia wanted to go berserk every time she thought of the events that had transpired in the energy room. She wished to smash everything to pieces.
Alice pulled Snowlotus and Sofia to a side and had a heart-to-heart talk while the fairies were busy cleaning up the tower.
"You have clans and relatives behind you. I can understand that!" Alice patiently started, "However, right now, you are part of our Witches of Fate. As sisters, I won't ever force you into an awkward position or make you do things you are unwilling to. However, you two must also manage your relations with the various clans well."
Snowlotus and Sofia naturally knew what to do now that Alice had brought the matter before them.
As vice leaders of the Witches of Fate, they shared the burden and mission of restoring the glory of the Witches of Fate.
Alice gave them part of the tower's cont
rol authority, and the three gathered together to discuss their future plans. Soon, the three witches had already divided the most pressing tasks between them.
Alice was going to focus on understanding the structure and secrets of the Tower. She was also going to do a count of all the damaged and destroyed facilities, and check if she could recover them. Snowlotus was responsible for clearing out the storeroom and the treasuries in search of any materials and resources that they could still use. The probability was low, but the stones and metals used for repairing the tower might not have been wholly corroded away by time.
These resources were all things that they desperately and urgently required!
Naturally, as an 'ally' of Alice, Greem had to help however he could.
The knowledge of statue constructs that he had mastered over the past few years immediately came into use. The magic fairies placed the shattered pieces of the statue constructs they had collected from all over the tower in a large hall. Greem worked there day and night as he tried to put together some functional golems to help with the work.
The magic fairies were only clearing up and tidying the tower after all. Their magical tricks might be useful for fixing up some of the more ordinary objects, but they weren't very useful when applied to the magical objects and facilities.
Each golem that Greem managed to repair was additional free labor. The clearing up of the massive ruins upstairs couldn't be accomplished without their help.
Sofia, on the other hand, collected a hundred thousand magical crystals from the energy room and rapidly left the Tower.
A large group of apprentices would arrive at the Tower of Fate in two days. Their arrival meant that the Tower needed to be in working condition. It needed to be able to fulfill the daily activities and needs of a hundred people. Their meals, studies, training, and their lives.
The adepts could directly consume elementium water drawn from the water elementium plane, but the apprentice witches had no such ability. Drinking elementium water on a regular basis was very likely to upset the balance of elementium in their bodies.
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