Michael stayed silent and thought it through.
"The HammerStone company wants to make Angora City to be a part of its Golden Road?" he asked quietly.
"Not just that," Trakius sighed. "I have a feeling that if we side with the HammerStone company, we will be caught up in their fight as well. And as unfortunate as it may sound, this Golden Road war will have to shed some blood."
Michael pursed his lips. He disliked violence, but acknowledged the need for it in certain circumstances. Ideally, he wanted everything to be solved amicably, but not everyone was going to think the same.
"Then you should just refuse them," he said matter-of-factly.
"That is the problem. There is reason to believe that if we don't side with them now, then eventually some other company is going to want to force us to side with them.
Companies are trying to get their hands on as many territories as possible, becoming the dominant monopoly in their market. And by influencing the leaders of those territories, they can ensure that no other company could build their business within it.
Our City may not feel it yet, but we are going to get involved one way or another. It's just a matter of who we side with or who we make enemies with."
Michael could see the dilemma facing the Tower Master. He could understand how he may feel trapped between a boulder and a hard place.
If they side with the HammerStone company, then they may be forced onto a fight they never asked for. And if they don't side with the HammerStone company, then they may not have any allies if some other company comes knocking in the future.
"But…now that I know that you're planning on building the Golden Road here, then my decision is easy. I will cast my vote onto Reborn."
Michael's face lit up. "Really? Thank you," he said genuinely.
Trakius couldn't help but chuckle after seeing Michael's response.
"You still quite underestimate yourself. Anyone would gladly side with you if they knew that you were the only one that can produce Mithril Artifacts in the world. Not only that, but those…automobiles…that you showed off a couple of days ago were something that anyone with a decent mind could see as a revolutionary product.
In my mind, even if your company hasn't entered the Golden 500 ranking, it is already at the top of the list purely for potential."
Michael laughed awkwardly and looked at the Tower Master. "So, I'm guessing that's your request to get a Mithril Artifact for yourself."
"Hohoho, was I that obvious?"
Michael nodded, promising to give him a gift. "Since you are a friend of Seberus, I will gladly procure a specialized Mithril wand for you. Your speciality is Water mana, right?"
Trakius nodded with a little bit of surprise. "I didn't think that you could sense my mastery over Water mana so easily, but I guess that's why they call you a genius. Thank you."
With their conversation done, Michael moved his Queen towards the very corner of the board, away from all the action.
"By the way, I have just one tiny request from you," he asked the Tower Master.
"What is it?" Trakius half-heartedly answered, as he was still trying to figure out the reason for Michael's move.
"I want to visit your Magic Library."
Only now did Trakius realize the magnitude of Michael's previous move. It was a discovery check, with Michael's bishop having line of sight towards his King after the removal of the Queen.
From there one, there was no other move left.
"Checkmate," Michael said with a smile. "You'll let me see the Magic Library, right? Thank you."
Trakius slumped back to his chair, laughing in despair as he was completely bested without him even knowing about it.
…
…
…
After the game, Trakius led Michael to the very top floor of the Magic Tower. Just like the one back in Kingsbridge City, this was where the Tower Master lived for the majority of the day.
He saw books and magic scrolls neatly placed in floating shelves. There were also magic circles inscribed on blackboards using white powder. And most eye-catching of them all was the giant sphere of floating lights in the middle of the room.
This was the Magic Library, where all the magic in this tower was stored.
"This contained both basic and unique spells," Trakius said. "Basic spells are those that are readily available to the public and can be obtained by buying our magic scrolls. Unique spells, on the other hand, are more rare as they can only be found here or on other Magic Towers."
Trakius explained that all the studying and experimentations done by the mages and wizards of this tower were getting stored in this very room itself. All their hard work in creating, formulating, and testing new spells were condensed in each node floating in a circular orbit in the sphere.
In other words, asking to access or even just see this Magic Library could be considered as an invasion of privacy.
"I appreciate it," was all Michael could say.
Trakius laughed. Since Seberus already asked him a favor to accommodate Michael, Trakius already planned on letting him see the Magic Library. It was also good to let an amazing mystic genius like Michael to learn as much as he could so that it could benefit the community in the future.
And since Michael was planning on giving him a Mithril Artifact as a gift, it would be extremely greedy for him not to let him take a glimpse at the Magic Library. After all, even a tiny piece of Mithril sold for a whole lot more.
Of course, he didn't know that just a single touch was all ChatJK3.5 needed to completely devour all the knowledge hidden inside the library.
"I will be down in the tower practising my chess skills, so take your time," Trakius said, teleporting out of the room to give Michael some privacy.
Michael didn't waste any more time and approached the giant globe of floating lights.
He raised his hand and touched one of the lights, creating a ripple effect among the interconnected lines.
[Accessing Magic Library…]
[Downloading all its contents…]
[Progress to next update: 50.64%]
[Progress to next update: 65.32%]
[Progress to next update: 73.09%]
Michael closed his eyes as a flood of information washed over his mind. It felt like physical books and magical scrolls were zooming towards him and crashing into his head at fast speeds.
With how fast they were going, he could barely see a glimpse of what was inside, but as soon as it entered his head, he learned all its contents as if it was there in the first place and it was only now did he remember it.
As he consumed knowledge, the Magic Library sphere shimmered for a brief second as it couldn't handle the hungry devourer called ChatJK3.5.
[Progress to next update: 84.81%]
[Progress to next update: 91.42%]
The progress continued to increase until finally, it reached the maximum.
[Progress to next update: 100%]
[Initiating software update…]