From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 570 Breaking the Oath and Atonement

"That red-haired fool is dead. I crushed his head like a rotten tomato." Inside the Ramages Tower, the light emanating from the daughter of Selenne gradually dimmed.

Ms. Eileen stared at Lorokan's body, lost in a strange emotion: "Yet looking at his body, I felt—sadness. Why?"

“Sadness?” Ivy, who had accepted Roland and the Ramages Tower, looked at Irene. As a child of a true god, she had been imprisoned in the dark and sunless Underworld for a hundred years by ambitious people, and her life force had been extracted for the use of others. The negative emotions accumulated during those hundred years were absolutely incomprehensible to ordinary people.

Ivy never believed he could truly empathize with Irene's plight, but the progenitor before him was an important asset, and even if he was somewhat unstable, he had to try his best to win him over: "What kind of sorrow is it? The sorrow of losing something? Or..."

“Yes, you’re right.” Eileen pressed her hand to her breastplate, puzzled. “It feels like something is gripping my chest tightly. It’s like I’ve lost something, someone…”

“No… absolutely not.” Eileen quickly shook her head again. “Lorokan is just an ambitious mage… without a doubt, this is just the weariness that a paladin often experiences.”

She took a deep breath, trying to make her expression look normal: "Your magic is as amazing as ever, beyond my imagination. It's an honor to fight alongside you, Ivy."

“And you, Tiftlin, Ivy’s new apprentice, you haven’t disgraced your own conscience, nor your teacher.” Irene flapped her wings and walked out of the tower, having flown in through the openwork window of the Ramages Tower.

"I need to get some fresh air, then I'll drag this armor back to the base. May the Moon Maiden be with you."

The noble daughter of Serene flapped her wings and left, leaving Ivy and his young apprentice to clean up the mess.

There are indeed many collectible items in the Tower of Ramages. The place where the sorcery general store is used to store the Almanac of Karthus and several other advanced magical books is the secret underground warehouse hidden within the Tower of Ramages.

Since Lorokan itself was not a proper tower master, the tower was neglected for more than a hundred years, and not only did it grow many spider webs, but its own defense measures were also as rigid as an idiot.

Ivy planned to take over and manage things properly, but first she had to pack up and take away everything that had once belonged to Ramages but that Lorokan was unable to handle. This included the books that Ivy had left in the vault, which could provide expertise and new spells, as well as the staffs and robes that had been locked inside the mage tower with an isolation spell.

“Master Doom, according to the book, Ramages set up an invisible path in his mage tower for people to travel between the different floors, instead of artificially creating a path by fixing furniture in the air like Lorokan did.” After Ivy waved his hand and made Lorokan’s corpse disappear into thin air, Roland immediately rushed over and presented a not-so-thick booklet as if it were a treasure. It was the operation manual he had found in the tower.

“Lamagis does indeed have some talent.” Ivy activated her arcane vision, surveying the various traps and life magic set up inside the tower. Most of them were inactive, but many others were active.

However, compared to the wizard tower that Ivy built at Hogwarts, Ramages Tower can only be described as quite traditional. Ramages himself didn't seem to be very proficient in conjuration magic; apart from the underground vault, there was little alteration to the space within the tower. Therefore, even though it had all sorts of facilities, the interior space of the wizard tower actually felt somewhat cramped, with the walls piled high with books. It was far inferior to Ivy's White Tower, which had been expanded using the Unseen Extension Charm and could even accommodate several different themed dungeons.

Ivy extended a finger toward the tangled magic threads in his field of vision, which resembled seaweed, and with a gentle touch, he solved the problem that had troubled Lorokan for many years. He didn't even need to open the mage tower operation manual that Roland had presented; the force field staircase that Ramages had set up inside the tower automatically appeared.

Roland stared wide-eyed, straining to see into the void. As a mage apprentice with some talent, he could sense that the chaotic magic network within the mage tower was rapidly becoming smoother. However, limited by the constraints of his sensory organs, Roland could only occasionally glimpse sparks of exploding magic when the most tangled, almost indestructible magic network was straightened out.

"Watch closely." Ivy spoke up to attract Roland's attention, then deliberately slowed down and made a few gestures, chanting a series of incantations. A spell was then cast on the persistent mage apprentice.

It's like having a bucket of ice water poured over your head at the hottest time of the day in summer.

Roland shuddered and stared wide-eyed at the void before him.

The previously indistinct scene came to life, like a vast, dancing net, or a musical score ready to play its melodies. The very tools upon which mages relied to cast their spells had never been so clearly revealed to Roland.

“This is…” Tifflin, who came from El Toril, was almost suffocating. Overwhelmed by joy and shock, he involuntarily uttered the name that was incredibly sacred to all Faerûn mages, “The Magic Web?”

“Not entirely.” Ivy added another measure to the melody floating before her eyes. The force field staircase, which had previously only shown a faint outline and only lit up due to stress when stepped on, suddenly revealed its full appearance. It radiated a pearly white, lustrous glow, as if it were a ladder to heaven made entirely of light.

“Lamagis managed to make the magic in the tower more structured and tangible; he must be a very logical guy.” Ivy stepped onto the force field staircase leading downwards. “But magic is never static, and the magic net is never a concrete net. It’s just here, materialized by the magic of me and Lamagis as it appears before you.”

"Come on," Ivy reminded Roland when he saw Roland still standing there in a daze.

"Ah!" Tieflin seemed to wake from a dream, quickening his pace to catch up with Ivy. "Master Doom..."

“You can call me Professor.” Ivy gestured for Roland to use a different title, as he still preferred the title “Professor” due to his experience teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

“Professor Doom…” Roland reorganized his thoughts. Unlike the suppression and secrecy of Lorokan, Ivy’s instruction began almost immediately, which made him feel a little unreal. “What was that magic just now? Can I learn it?”

After just a brief experience, Roland was captivated by the convenience of Arcane Vision. As a detection spell, Arcane Vision proved effective in many ways; after all, among the senses of intelligent beings, vision conveys the most information. Therefore, Arcane Vision could be considered arguably the most helpful spell for magic researchers.

"Didn't you remember?" Ivy raised an eyebrow. Among his former students was a talent who could master cross-system magic using only other people's notes. If Roland hadn't memorized the deliberately slowed-down casting steps, then Ivy would have to doubt his own judgment. "No! Of course I remembered..." Roland even demonstrated the casting steps to prove it. "I just feel that this spell seems to have been intentionally simplified?"

“You do have some talent.” Ivy nodded. “That was the final simplified version without abandoning the language and gesture components, and it’s also a spell model that can be applied to actual combat. The next version will omit either the gesture component or the language component, and then it will be completely silent and fixed-cast. As for its complete spell model and precautions, I’ll compile a copy for you.”

Silent spellcasting and fixed spellcasting are both advanced magical techniques that refer to completely omitting the gestures or words associated with casting spells. These techniques typically require an additional expenditure of magic power or the use of higher spell slots. However, certain modified versions of magic inherently possess the characteristic of ignoring gestures or words.

"You can learn the simple spells on your own, and I'll teach you the more important ones. As for your research direction, we'll talk about that once you're in Strathaven." Ivy laid out the course of his new apprentice's learning with just a few words. He certainly hoped to recruit some fully automated research talent from across the multiverse to contribute to the magical cause, but appropriate guidance was also very important.

However, whether Roland is a research-oriented talent or a practical talent will only become clear after he spends a few years of college life in Streihaven.

Climbing the peak of magic is never an easy task; it requires a great deal of time and resources, and witnessing it blossom also demands unimaginable patience.

The plan to recruit talent in Forgotten Realms and help Stryhaven open an admissions office was the first step Ivy took towards this goal.

Makoheshki, a legendary staff locked deep within the tower by Ramages and never touched by Lorokan.

The design of this staff seems to have originated from dragons, specifically from a dragon goddess named Kressa.

In the distant past, dragons once ruled over all of Faerûn, their influence extending across mountains and seas. The gods worshipped by the dragons were not only the well-known Bahamut and Tiamat, but also many other dragon gods who governed other realms.

However, as times change and the world transforms, the dragons, with their extremely long average lifespans, gradually abandoned the gods they once worshipped. Only the gods of benevolent and malevolent dragons remain well-known to mortals, while most of the other dragon gods have been gradually forgotten in history.

As the goddess of knowledge among dragons, Kressa possesses magical knowledge unimaginable to ordinary people. She has pulled giants from their towering thrones and destroyed the kingdoms of other small, intelligent beings on numerous occasions.

This staff can cast Kressa's Grace three times a day, granting the target resistance to one of the following attributes: fire, frost, lightning, thunder, acid, and poison, as well as additional spell damage. It also grants the target one third-level and one fourth-level attack spell of the corresponding attribute during the spell's duration.

This single feature grants the caster six additional spells without requiring extra cost. Not to mention, this legendary staff also covers the cost of one arbitrary spell slot per day for the caster.

Therefore, the pure gold staff with the dragon head coiled around it immediately caught Ivy's attention.

Along with Makoheshki, a lady's robe was also collected. Although the magical aura shimmering on it was not as impressive as that of the golden staff, it was still quite remarkable.

However, Ivy doesn't actually have a penchant for wearing women's clothing, so she doesn't plan to get it to wear.

After acquiring all the valuable items from the Lamagus Tower, all that remained was the mage tower itself. As an arcane energy concentrator, the Lamagus Tower was situated on a small magical nexus node within Baldur's Gate; otherwise, even with the combined abilities of Archmages Ivy and Lamagus, it would have been impossible to materialize the magical nexus there.

This tower can be used as an arcane cannon, channeling excess magic to strike targets; the effect and range should be quite good. Even if it can't fire in rapid succession, Ivy believes it still possesses excellent strategic value.

After careful consideration, Ivy decided to temporarily put Roland in charge of the tower so that he could provide artillery support in future battles.

After briefly deploying a few invisible servants to clean up and activating all the defensive magic on the Lamagis Tower, Ivy set off back to her stronghold, which was also located in the Upper City.

The day of the final battle is drawing ever closer. All that is needed is to complete the necromancy staff that can wield the Iron Guardians, and the adventurers can launch a full-scale attack on Gotash and his Bane Order, as planned by Ivy.

Now that he has obtained the golden staff from Ramages' collection, Ivy has a new inspiration to apply to that necromancy staff.

When he arrived at the Tourmaline Abyss in high spirits to work with his sorcerer advisor, Carrion, to develop a new scepter, Ms. Irene, who had left before him, stopped him at the entrance of the necromancy laboratory.

This is highly unusual, because the Moon Maiden Serene harbors a deep hatred for undead creatures. Therefore, Irene would never appear in the same space as the Mummy Lord Carion unless absolutely necessary.

“I broke my vow…” These were the first words Eileen spoke.

"What? How could this be?" Even now, Ivy still couldn't quite understand how the power of the paladin's oath worked. Even though Minsara had betrayed the drow goddess Lolth, she could still use the holy power of the paladin's oath. Moreover, she had done a lot of bad things and made all sorts of strange statements. She hadn't broken her oath, so how could Serene's daughter have suddenly broken her oath?

“To restore our lost glory, I must atone.” The golden cracks on Eileen’s body seemed to dim. “The Moon Maiden has issued her decree, and I must obey. I will always protect her and Shar’s chosen people until you bear children…”

Ivy was taken aback. Why did this sound like he was involved?
(End of this chapter)