Despite my initial, somewhat hubristic, ambition, building a tower higher than the local mountains just wasn't in the cards. The crevice containing the Nexus was in a saddle between two peaks, both easily visible on either side, but the sense of scale threw me far off. My towers had all been quite large, sure, reaching some fifty to eighty metres into the sky but compared to the mountains reaching a few hundred metres from my position, that wasn't all that much. Additionally, if I genuinely wanted my tower to be the highest point in the land, I would have to make it higher than the tallest mountain here, meaning I would need to build it some five hundred metres tall. That just wasn't happening with my current methods. Sure, Hard Ice was a wonderful material to work with if you had the appropriate affinity to Ice and enough Astral Power, but there were some physical limits. Building a tower that high was beyond those limits.

The idea also overlooked some practical aspects. Unless I was planning to step through the shadows to get anywhere within my tower, a five-hundred metre tower also meant five-hundred metre high stairs. Just imagining climbing the thousands of steps needed for a stair that high made my thighs ache. Plus, there was just no need to build that high; I didn't need that much space, it would be nothing but hubris. The need, or rather the desire, to elevate my tower beyond all practical considerations. It was nothing but foolish arrogance.

If I wanted to have a view from the highest point in the land, climbing up the nearby mountain could be done in a day. Building some nice observatory there shouldn't be a problem, as long as that peak wasn't already occupied.

It also solved a small dilemma I had been wrestling with. Namely, the question of whether I wanted to have the best possible view or if I wanted to block out as much Sun as possible by shrouding my tower in some form of environmental barrier. There already were clouds hanging around these mountains on a near-constant basis, simply due to the Ice Astral Power flowing out of the Nexus. It would be trivial to weave a runic formation centred around the Mist-rune to draw some of them down and have them be a permanent fixture above and around the saddle my tower was now being built in.

While I was still working on the shell, the outer walls and the structurally significant pillars, I was considering the inner layout as well. Some parts of my work on Jademoon Tower had worked out exceedingly well, while others hadn't been so great, only giving us headaches while we lived there. Drawing upon those lessons, while leaving a great deal of room for future expansions, projects and additions, I quite literally grew my tower.

Conjuring Hard Ice was trivially easy while connected to the Nexus through my throne. To an outside observer, it must have looked almost like some incredibly elaborate Ice sculpture melting away, just in reverse. Centimetre after centimetre of wall took shape, before they got filled out and inscribed with Runes. Those runes added a myriad of protections, increasing the Ice's durability to the point that it was a lot harder than the average stone while making sure that only I would be able to magically influence the tower's walls and structure. Granted, somebody with a great deal of power and experience would probably be able to circumvent these protections, but I was planning to improve upon them as time went on, keeping me ahead of the curve. Hopefully.

I might have to travel occasionally, just to learn what others use to keep their lairs safe and incorporate their ideas, just to make sure I don't miss anything. If I happened to come across some fascinating lore to pilfer, well, that would be just a small but highly appreciated bonus.

While there were no humans or humanoid beings around to witness my tower rising into the sky, the local Rocs took notice. While it looked like they had avoided the valley I was building in, likely due to the Nexus's presence and its effects on the local climate, they had obviously known of its existence. Now, with the Nexus being largely tamed, the power overflowing from it channelled into my throne, they took an increased interest. Not that they were trying to attack the tower, they could easily see that it wasn't food, but just to find out what was going on here.

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While I mostly worked during the night, during all other times, I could see at least one of them circle slowly in the area. Granted, they might simply be looking for food in the lower valleys, using the high elevation we were at to give themselves the best possible vantage point, but I had a feeling they were also studying what I was doing here. Which shouldn't be a surprise; to them, I was a strange intruder in their domain. I couldn't imagine birds of that size were anything but protective of their realm. Still, they could understand scale and trying to assault a tower would be about as successful as assaulting a mountain. Unless you brought heavy equipment, you wouldn't get very far without an insane amount of perseverance.

Eventually, after a little over two weeks of constant and slow construction, the tower was completed. Stretching a hundred and twenty metres into the sky, higher than my previous constructions, it was a nice mixture between monument, defensive installation and research facility.

It had all the parapets and walkways one might expect from a tower designed to withstand siege, and I was planning to add a few walls around the valley, just to make sure nobody would be able to intrude into my domain without invitation. Not that I thought anyone was liable to try for quite some time, but one could never be cautious enough. Additionally, I wanted to create several statues on the walkways and on various perches, taking the form of dragons and giants, enchanted to animate and defend my tower when there was a need. The idea was the same I had used in the Frozen Valley on Mundus, only there I had the lost spirits to take over the animation; here, I would have to figure out how to do that with nothing but my arcane magic. It would likely follow an idea similar to the one I had used for the training statutes in Jademoon Tower, just with very different limitations.

The monumental part wasn't just in the tower's size. I also made sure to add decorations, most of them flowing around and reinforcing the various runic formations carved into the outside of my tower, adding a magnificent shine to the building. It wasn't bright, and it didn't need to be. The sheer, arcane power inherent to the magical formations was enough to overshadow anything mere light could have accomplished.

The parts of the tower that were a research facility were separated into two distinct areas. One held the secure parts, hidden deep underground near the Nexus. The entrance was behind concealed and reinforced walls, only accessible if you knew where to go and how to circumvent the magical protections I had woven into these walls. Those areas might just be the most secure areas of the base, simply because I was able to add concealment to their protections, something I just couldn't do with my throne. The connection to the Nexus made it stand out like a beacon, impossible to hide.

The secure laboratories were destined to house some of the more delicate work, accessible to only us, which was a little paranoid, as the entire tower was only open to my family, but I was future-proofing. If we had guests, or maybe even children one day, they wouldn't be able to stumble into trouble by walking into those areas. For now, the laboratory was empty, but both Luna and Lia had already announced they had some ideas to try in there. And, for that matter, I had a few things I wanted to do myself, now that I had the space and the security for it.

The open laboratories, as open as anything built into a reinforced structure deep within a forbidding mountain range could be, were at the base of the tower. Similar to the setup at Jademoon, they also held the shrine to Lady Hecate and some lessons to be shared with all those who made the journey. As of now, the lessons were only basic, but, as with numerous other things, I was planning to expand upon them. It wasn't like there was a hurry; I doubted pilgrims would visit us for quite some time.

But, no matter what, the tower's structure was completed and now, I could begin to work on the details. That was, after all, where the devil was hiding.

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