Aozaki Aoko [559-561] (Patreon)

Chapter 559: Returning to Youth

The concept of the Fountain of Youth, a mythological legend, originated in Greek historical records from the 3rd century AD on Earth. Over time, this legend was passed to the indigenous societies of the Caribbean, where people believed such a magical spring existed on a mysterious land in the Bimini Islands.

Legend has it that this wondrous spring, known as the Fountain of Youth, can restore youth and health to those who drink from it and grant them immortality.

But regardless of how the legend of the Fountain of Youth goes on Earth, the Fountain of Youth in the Forgotten Realms is definitely not the same. Aoko had already sensed the difference.

"I..." Edgin’s gaze grew dazed. He unconsciously reached out his hand, seemingly wanting to dip it into the Fountain of Youth. "Ed, be careful!" Holga suddenly grabbed Edgin’s outstretched arm, gripping it like iron tongs so he couldn’t move, snapping him back to his senses. "Look over there!"

Edgin turned his head in confusion, following Holga’s gesture to look further into the Fountain of Youth. He was instantly stunned on the spot.

There was a large pit piled with countless bones.

These bones belonged to various races. If Aoko wasn’t mistaken, she could even spot some Githyanki bones among them.

Moreover, the bones varied in size—a significant number clearly belonged to children or infants. The depth of this mass grave was astonishing, hinting at the countless lives buried here.

"This can’t be anything good, Ed. We...let’s just get out of here!" Holga tried to persuade Edgin to leave this so-called Fountain of Youth. She’d seen too many stories where teammates ended up dead or worse. She might be a bit slow, but she wasn’t stupid!

"You’re right, this thing is way too creepy. Let’s—" Edgin was just halfway through his sentence when he saw Aoko conjure a cup out of thin air, scoop up some water from the Fountain, sniff it briefly, and then down it in one gulp, even smacking her lips afterward.

"Aoko, how could you just drink it like that?!" Holga instantly became alert, her hand reaching for the handle of her axe. Edgin was equally shocked and worried, exclaiming, "What if you’re poisoned? How would we save you?"

"Don’t panic," Aoko said, carefully sensing the taste and effect of the water while calming Edgin and the others. "I can guarantee there’s no harm in this—it really is a Fountain of Youth. But the effect isn’t as great as the legends say—at most, it’ll extend your life by about fifty years."

Seeing Aoko drink the water without any change, even the most suspicious Holga widened her eyes and turned to look at the spring.

"But then, why are there signs of sacrificial rituals over there?" Simon frowned as he looked again at the mass grave. "Shouldn’t a proper Fountain of Youth be different?"

"And how do you think a Fountain of Youth comes to be? What is a proper Fountain of Youth?" Aoko countered, "Born from nature? A gift from the gods?"

"Neither," Aoko denied herself. "I read in the Karsas Chronicle that the Fountain of Youth is a miracle of life. In other words, it’s something that only has a tiny chance of appearing after war, disaster, massacre, or large-scale intentional sacrifice."

"Massive loss of life, numerous souls dissipating—the power they bring converges in one place, and is then returned by the world—that’s how a Fountain of Youth forms."

Hearing this explanation, everyone fell silent and swallowed nervously. Although the Fountain of Youth was a good thing, based on Aoko’s words, it might not be such a good thing after all.

"I get what you’re all thinking," Aoko shrugged. "But the evil sacrificial rituals were done by the Night Hag, not us. We actually avenged these innocent souls, so there’s no reason to waste the spring water, is there?"

"Yeah, Aoko makes sense," Doric chimed in. "It’s like taking treasure from an evil dragon—we’re not going to return that gold to the original owners, are we?"

"Sigh, fine, you’ve convinced me," Holga sighed, relaxing. "I don’t really care about drinking it or not, as long as none of you get poisoned and start killing each other."

With Holga reassured, Edgin finally relaxed too. Ever since the spring’s aura made him dizzy, he’d been tense.

"So, should we just drink it now?" Edgin joked, "Should we have some snacks with it?"

"Well...the Fountain of Youth only works once per person," Aoko mused as she looked at the spring. "That is, when someone drinks enough to reach the effective dose, drinking more doesn’t do anything."

"That amount is about—" Aoko produced a graduated glass beaker and indicated a specific mark. "About this much."

She explained to the others, who, while unfamiliar with such delicate beakers, understood their purpose—after all, they’d seen plenty of lab equipment from wizards.

"Understood," Edgin nodded, then emptied his canteen and handed it over. "Give me a shot!"

Aoko didn’t hesitate; she filled a cup from the spring and carefully poured it into Edgin’s canteen before handing it back.

"To health and long life," Edgin said in a toasting tone, then drank it all in one go.

The Fountain of Youth tasted slightly sweet, neither hot nor cold, and didn’t seem particularly special.

But just as Edgin wondered, "Is that it?" his body began to tremble violently. Holga, beside him, stared wide-eyed.

Moments later, Edgin’s trembling ceased. He looked at his hands and feet in disbelief, stroked his now-smooth and taut skin, and felt all his longstanding minor ailments disappear—he was at a loss.

It seemed this bard had been restored to his 25-year-old self—even the silver in his hair had vanished.

"The Fountain of Youth restores the drinker to their physical prime," Aoko explained, "and adds fifty years to your post-restoration lifespan. As for why I didn’t change after drinking it, it’s because I’m already at my peak—and I have other life-extending methods anyway."

With Edgin as an example, the others didn’t hesitate and each drank a cup. Simon and Doric didn’t change, but Holga was restored to her youthful, wild, beautiful self—making Edgin feel incredibly awkward.

"By the way, can we take some of this spring water with us?" Edgin asked Aoko expectantly. "I want to bring some for my family."

"Shouldn’t be a problem," Aoko estimated the magical effect. "But for your daughter, I’d recommend she wait until adulthood—otherwise, she might not grow up for a long time."

Chapter 560: The Shame of the Transmutation School

"...Who would’ve thought you looked like that when you were young, Holga?" Edgin couldn’t help but tease his old partner. "How did you end up the way you are now?"

"What’s wrong with how I looked before?" Holga shot Edgin a glare. "Anyone who wants a barbarian’s strength, after the toughest training, will end up like I was before. There are some even more extreme than me."

Edgin meant Holga in her twenties did look a bit like a noble lady—still athletic, with perfect feminine muscle lines, but her skin was much smoother and her tattoos had vanished.

"I get what Edgin means," Simon grinned. "Compared to now, young Holga looked a lot more reliable."

"You brat, want to test how reliable my strength is now?" Holga menacingly walked over and picked Simon up like a chick.

"Mercy, Holga~"

"Hahahaha~"

Everyone joked and laughed, loosening up. Aoko, meanwhile, squatted to the side, took out a pile of glass bottles from her imaginary space, and started bottling up the spring water. "Come help, don’t mess around," she reminded. "Let’s bottle this up—leaving it here is a waste. Once it’s packed, we’ll split it evenly; you can use your share however you want."

At Aoko’s words, everyone hurried over, grabbing bottles to fill from the spring. In no time, they’d emptied it.

The last bit was extracted by Aoko using water manipulation and sealed in the final glass bottle.

Everyone got about ten bottles, with Aoko taking two extra after discussion—since she had provided all the key information, otherwise, no one would have known what the spring was.

Since coming to Faerûn, Aoko had aged a bit—but very slowly. This cup of Fountain of Youth brought her back to her youthful, radiant seventeen-year-old appearance.

In the Type-Moon world, she and Touko didn’t even need the Fountain’s effect. With Alice as a fairy tale witch, as long as she didn’t have kids, she could live a long time. So it was really the younger ones at home who needed it.

Like Kohaku, Hisui, Illya, Karen, and the others close to her—they’d all get a share. The biggest beneficiaries would probably be the Aozaki sisters’ parents.

As for grandpa, he didn’t even want a physical body anymore—what would he need the Fountain of Youth for?

The greatest value of this extra-dimensional lair wasn’t actually the Fountain, but the fixed passage to the Aether dimension. Aoko confirmed the passage and temporarily closed it off to prevent anything weird from sneaking through.

Besides that, the alchemical potions in the Night Hag’s lair were barely useful. Aoko and her teammates picked out a few decent magic potions, but the bottles were filthy, so she swapped them for her own glass bottles.

As for the hag’s other cursed items, Aoko burned them all. The remains were cleansed of negative energy with divine magic, then buried for peace.

After leaving this demi-plane, Aoko snapped up the miniature model of the Conjuration Tower from the sandbox—after all, no reason to leave a free demi-plane behind.

The eightfold arcane ritual was carved on the top room’s wall, in Draconic: "Summon flame to your palm."

It was easy to understand: at a certain spot, summon a magical fire in your hand. But Aoko noticed another detail—the rituals had a priority order.

After careful comparison, she found the Nether Oak wand ritual was highest priority, summoning fire in hand second, and revealing secrets to others third.

She wasn’t sure if the remaining two ritual steps would change the order, but this was important—if the rituals were done out of order, they might not be able to open the path to the central tower.

Aoko stayed one more night in the Conjuration Tower, using Mansion spell at the top. After discussion, they set their next goal as the Tower of Evocation in Area 20 and the Tower of Enchantment in Area 24.

Once they found the last two ritual steps in those towers, Aoko could enter the central area to explore the final towers—Illusion and Necromancy.

That’s right, the Tower of Illusion.

Aoko had previously misunderstood the Nether Spire on the tundra, thinking that phasing between real and unreal could only be an Illusion tower specialty. While it did use some illusion magic, it was actually the work of a Transmutation Star Mage.

As for the final Necromancy Tower—Larloch’s Tower—it was the largest of the eight Star Towers, with the mythallar at its deepest level.

Besides the mythallar, Mystra was vague about whether a Nether Scroll was inside—anything hidden by Jergal’s power couldn’t be seen, so Aoko had to search herself.

To prepare, Aoko had already made four simulacra to split up and search the Necromancy Tower together, for maximum efficiency.

As for the legendary lich she’d soon face, Aoko felt confident now. After drinking the Fountain of Youth, her spiritual sense was strong enough to upgrade her Metamagic Master level to 9 (i.e., caster level 19).

With that decided, Aoko stayed one more day in the Conjuration Tower, meditating alone in her room to allocate her spiritual sense and familiarize herself with her new abilities.

It had been a long time since she last increased her Intelligence—it had been at 26, and now it increased by two, to 28.

In the forgotten realms, personal attributes may seem few, but once above average, each point brings exponential power.

From Aoko’s perspective, these two points of Intelligence felt like a bigger boost than her previous jump from 20 to 26. She now had a brand-new understanding of all her spells—she could even instantly cast any 5th-level or lower spell without metamagic.

Chapter 561: Nether Kitsch, The Tower of Evocation

After a day of meditation and adjustment, Aoko’s caster level officially reached 19—just a step away from the legendary 20th level.

First, spell slots—at 19th level, Aoko gained a third 9th-level slot. Combined with her "Midnight Dirge" arcane charge feature, she effectively had almost unlimited 9th-level spells per day.

This required her to change her battle style—she could now open with a 9th-level spell and didn’t need to save resources anymore.

Ninth-level Metamagic Master didn’t give her new feats, but did increase her daily quicken metamagic uses by two—proof of her improved mastery.

Normally, before reaching legendary level, the last ability a Metamagic Master gets is "Enhanced Metamagic," which reduces spell slot costs for metamagic. Aoko had already gained part of this, showing the difference between "class design" and "reality."

In addition, during meditation, she dredged up a 9th-level Enchantment spell from the Weave—though not matching her preferences, it was "Dominate Monster," similar to Dominate Person but usable on high-level monsters—much more versatile.

With so many monsters in Ythryn, it might come in handy. At least it was better than nothing—Aoko comforted herself.

On the third day, Aoko’s team set out again, this time for the Tower of Evocation in Area 20.

Aoko had high hopes for this tower, searching for Delayed Blast Fireball for ages. Any 9th-level mage without it was incomplete, and the gap with those who had it was huge.

If she could learn it before the final battle in Ythryn, her chances of victory would greatly improve.

Area 20 was north of the central towers—among all the outer Star Towers, it was closest to the center, right against the force wall.

Besides the tower, the Evocation Mage had built many related facilities nearby—the most obvious being a black obelisk in Area 21.

The Abjuration Library records say the obelisk was actually a damaged Netherese artifact, entrusted to the Evocation Mage by Larloch for safekeeping and research—showing his trust.

But what puzzled Aoko was that the books were vague about the obelisk’s function—just that Larloch had always tried to repair it.

She decided not to approach it until she figured out its function. Artifacts in Faerûn are dangerous enough—one that’s damaged and mysterious is even more so. Otherwise, the lord of Ythryn wouldn’t have left a whole plaza just to store it.

"This arcanist is definitely a bit off," Holga commented on the tower’s appearance. "But I like his style—putting a giant axe on top, huh?"

"I think it’s probably a school-related magic device... Okay, it really does look like an axe," Aoko tried to explain, but after some thought, she had to admit it looked just like a big axe.

The Tower of Evocation looked extremely "shabby"—its surface was covered in burn, lightning, and acid marks. But unlike other ruined buildings in Ythryn, these marks seemed to have accumulated over ages, not from one huge disaster.

"I suddenly have a bad feeling about our haul in this tower," Simon joked. "It looks way too sketchy."

"Well, nothing to be done," Aoko sighed. "Even if we get nothing extra, we at least need to find one of the eight ritual steps in here."

Moments later, they entered the tower.

As expected, the inside was just as ruined as the outside. The first three floors were so wrecked that the team had to fly straight to the top.

At the top, Aoko was blinded by garish lights, shielding her eyes.

Dozens of red glowing orbs flew about like weird fireflies, making the most important room in the tower look like a tacky nightclub.

An unlit brazier sat in the center. On the far wall were eight 10-foot-square alcoves, each holding a giant cube of ice.

Inside each ice cube was a corpse—the most central one dressed the most lavishly, with a spellbook at its waist.

"Whoa, looks like we’re in luck today," Aoko said happily, approaching the central cube to examine it. "This guy’s spellbook is still on him—if we can melt this ice, it’s ours!"

"Wait," Doric suddenly stopped her. "These...aren’t ice cubes!"

"Hmm?" Aoko was confused. "They’re magically frozen—what else would they be?"

"Look closely here," Doric pointed to a spot on the left side of a cube. "See that?"

Aoko frowned and looked closer. Through the fuzzy ice, she saw some abnormal gel-like patterns.

"...Could these be frozen gelatinous cubes?" Simon realized, "What is wrong with these wizards? Stuffing their own corpses in gelatinous cubes, then freezing them?"

"See? If we defrost these recklessly, we might be swarmed by cubes," Doric said, pointing to the brazier. "And I bet, if we light that brazier, these cubes will thaw."