Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 346 The Potions Tower
The first expansion was naturally the main camp. Unlike the castle forces' buildings, the towers were built entirely of white brick walls, which were tall and sturdy, and looked full of magical power.

[Town Hall (Tier 2 Main City): The Town Hall increases the base growth rate of creatures by 50%, strengthens the town's defenses, and has a main arrow tower.]

Resources required: 2500 gold coins, 5 gems
Special effect: Adds another inner wall, increases the height of the inner wall, and makes the inner wall's defense 75% of the city wall. Allows the construction of a magic defense array, and increases the range of stationed ranged soldiers by 50%.

It costs an additional 10000 gold coins, 10 raw stones, and 10 logs.

This was a pre-determined plan: to continue focusing on defensive city features and expand the inner walls of Silvertop City.

In this way, Silvertop City has three city walls, can be equipped with gargoyle guards for defense, and can use ranged units to intercept and attack, thus achieving layered resistance.

In terms of the city wall's defensive capabilities, destroying Silvertop City with magic would be equivalent to attacking 2.5 ordinary base camps. Even heroes with advanced earth elemental proficiency would have to consider whether they have enough magic.

As for magic circles, Su Mu had seen them in many fortresses in Elton, but this was the first time he had built one himself, so he was very interested.

Forrest has planned a defensive magic array in the town's military zone, which can both replenish troops as quickly as possible and allow mages to maintain the array and increase its duration.

The main issue is that the specific layout of the magic circle has not yet been determined, and placing it in the military zone is the best location.

After all, there had been several instances before where enemy troops had stormed into the city and led their elite forces to destroy the magic array. Su Mu and his group had done this before, so they had to be on guard.

Arcane Aura (Level 2 Town Defense Magic Circle): When activated, it enhances the power of the garrisoned hero's spells and increases the spell duration by 20%.

Cost: 5000 gold coins, 5 mercury.

[Comment: As long as you are on this magical land, you can extend the duration of your magic.]

[Tower Shield (Level 2 Town Defense Magic Circle): After activation, the selected friendly unit receives 20% less ranged damage and 20% less air elemental magic damage.]

Cost: 5000 gold coins, 5 gems.

Evaluation: This tower, situated in the snowy region, can effectively withstand long-range attacks from enemies and uses its structure to block strong winds and lightning.

This is the defensive magic array mounted on the magic tower's base. To change the array, simply remove the basic setup and replace it with a new magic scroll. The magic array on the tower's base is permanent. However, currently, the main city can only place level 2 magic array scrolls; higher-level scrolls cannot be used.

The kingdom does possess many magic array scrolls, and Su Mu could apply for some high-level scrolls as a precaution, but that's a matter for later.

If you choose between these two options, Arcane Aura can be paired with Hero's Tavern to increase spell duration by 40%. If the enemy doesn't have a hero with Water Elemental Mastery, the buffs and debuffs will reach a terrifying level.

However, Su Mu didn't think that an enemy daring to attack the city would be without the support of a water elemental hero; that condition was too demanding. A 20% duration that increases magic power already provides a deterrent, but investing all resources in this area would be a desperate gamble.

He prefers the effect of the tower shield, which not only reduces ranged damage but also reduces air elemental magic damage, increasing the margin for error, a crucial factor in siege warfare.

With the help of the Atmosphere Shield, the defense against ranged attacks will increase to 70%, which is almost enough to make the defender immune to ranged attacks. Unless it is a Titan with divine power, ranged attacks are generally not very effective against the defender.

With Su Mu's instruction, Forrest used the tower shield as the basic defensive formation. The moment it was activated, the entire tower seemed to be covered by a circular air shield, which then dissipated into nothingness. It could be activated immediately once needed.

Magic circles have time limits and consume a lot of resources. Kuraki is currently very wealthy and has stored up enough for ten uses, which is enough to handle battles.

Sederos stepped forward and mentioned what he had read in the books: "The tower shield is a magic circle unique to the tower, which cannot be used by other forces. Once the magic circle and the magic tower are upgraded, the defensive magic circle will also be improved."

It is said that the most powerful Titan court once used a shield to withstand a meteorite from outer space sent down by an evil god, demonstrating its defensive capabilities.

Even if it's not as miraculous as the legends say, the ability to interfere with flying units after upgrading is something I witnessed firsthand in the Arcane Empire.

He had already spoken with Forrest and suggested choosing the Tower Shield, but unexpectedly, Su Mu and the others were on the same page and chose the same trait. After all, he was the main defender of the city and still had some authority to make decisions, but since the lord shared the same opinion, that was for the best.

The next step is to build the Magic Guild, which requires cooperation with Cedros.

【2级魔法行会：新增2项2级魔法与1项1级魔法，开启炼金魔药的研究。

Resources required: 2000 gold coins, 5 logs, 5 stones.

Special Effect (Advanced Civil Engineering): Allows you to build a potion tower and spend a certain amount of gold to create alchemical potions.

Additional resources: 2000 gold coins, 5 logs, 5 gems, and 2 of each rare resource.

Speaking of alchemical potions, they are special drinks created using powerful alchemy combined with magic (according to Cedros), which can temporarily enhance a hero's attributes, temporarily increase action or speed, and restore injuries and magic.

Advanced alchemical potions can even help quasi-heroes break through bottlenecks, enhance their comprehension abilities, and designate a special advancement path.

However, these are all lost secret medicines, and even the Arcane Empire has very few left. What's more troublesome is that if a hero's foundation is insufficient, forcibly relying on magic potions to elevate it may produce unexpected and disastrous consequences. At best, it may damage the body and cause loss of attributes; at worst, it may lead to being lost in another world and losing one's life.

Some special potions can open portals to other worlds, providing heroes with the necessary environment and materials for advancement, sometimes even comparable to treasures. Su Mu's understanding of reincarnation and rebirth came about within the environment of multiple dream realms, allowing him to master the secrets of magic; high-level potions have this effect.

"Although I suggest researching potion making, let's start with low-level restorative medicines and establish a potion-making program so that magic apprentices can acquire the relevant knowledge. Perhaps we can train a special potion master, and then we can conduct in-depth research!"

Despite being an alchemical genius, Sedros remained humble in his exploration of magic, believing that everyone has their own area of ​​expertise, and that he was lacking in the field of potion-making. After all, he had been poisoned by a special potion, which had left him in his current state; if not for the lord's rescue, he would already be buried long ago.

He is willing to put in the hard work to study his weaknesses.

[Potion Tower (Level 1, Auxiliary Building of the Magic Guild): Allows potion-making classes to be conducted here, increasing potion research progress. Currently, research progress is 350/1000. Allows the creation of Level 1 potions.]

【Magic Potion (Level 1 Magic Potion): After a hero drinks it, 5 magic points are restored. A maximum of 3 potions can be used per day.】

Cost: 500 gold coins

[Iron Potion (Level 1 Magic Potion): After a hero drinks it, their defense is temporarily increased by 1, lasting for one battle or 3 days.]

Cost: 500 gold coins

Bloodlust Potion (Level 1 Magic Potion): After consumption, the hero's attack is temporarily increased by 1, lasting for one battle or 3 days.

Cost: 500 gold coins

Currently, Sederlos can provide some basic potion formulations, and he alone can elevate the research to a considerably high level. However, he is merely reciting from the text; to truly promote this field of study, a sufficient number of magic apprentices and apothecaries are needed.

Cedrus laid the foundation for this city; the rest will require time to accumulate.

"Let me emphasize again, potion research is a money pit, and the costs will only keep rising. Don't blame me then!"

Su Mu turned to look at Forrest. These words were definitely meant for him. The Chancellor of the Exchequer's face had turned green. What's the use of saying this now that it's already built? Does he expect him to tear it down? And believe it or not, that's a real possibility.

A famous joke circulating in the kingdom goes like this: to save resources, magic scrolls needed to be written on both sides. So, an order was issued to destroy all single-sided magic scrolls and make sure all were double-sided.

It sounds unbelievable, but in reality, this happens all the time. Forrest wants to save money, but only for Kuraki's overall benefit, not as a formal order, so he wouldn't do something so foolish.

Su Mu looked at the bottles of different colors in Cedros's hand and nodded.

This is truly a unique development model hidden by different forces. Not to mention that castles and fortresses cannot build such structures, even ordinary tower cities do not have the resources to develop magic potions.

Previously, we had been fighting against the Barriers and had never truly faced the Arcane Empire's army, so we lacked understanding of this aspect. It seems we need to be careful of their potions in the future, as they are also a great threat.

After completing the Potions Tower, Forrest continued the construction of the combat barracks.

He went all out and built an advanced manufacturing plant, choosing one of the tower's most iconic special effects.

Advanced Manufacturing Plant: Allows you to create Iron Man here.

Basic output: 6/week;
Resources required: 4000 gold coins, 10 logs, 10 raw stones, 5 mercury.

Special Effect (Advanced Civil Engineering): Allows the construction of Alchemy Mastery Factories, granting access to Super-Tier Iron Golems and Advanced Units.

Additional resource cost: 5000 gold, 5 mercury

【Iron Man (Tower Level 3 Tier 2 Unit): Attack 9, Defense 10, Damage 4-5, Health 35, Speed ​​5 (7), Medium Size.

Element: None.

Spell Resistance: Resists 75% of magic damage.

Assessment: These creations, crafted from iron plates and alchemical techniques, possess extremely high magic resistance.

【Alchemy Workshop (Manufacturing Factory Auxiliary Building, Tier 2): Increases the speed of the Iron Golem, expands its size, and places a Rune Core. Rune Cores can be researched in the Magic Guild (the more mages stationed there, the higher the research efficiency). Current progress: 5/100.

Next Tier: Advance to Bronze Warrior, attack power increased, gains higher magic immunity and lower magic counter. [Additional building costs 10000 gold, 10 mercury, and 10 crystals]

Within the Tower faction, Iron Golems can reliably advance in rank; this is no secret. Cities with advanced alchemy can even customize their own dedicated units. For example, the Mystic Diamond Golem that Su Mu encountered was a super-ranked unit in this regard, capable of resisting almost all magical damage.

Forrest unusually did not choose a defensive special effect, because for the manufacturing plant, nothing was more valuable than fusing advanced alchemy.

Of course, other city lords can also do the same thing as ordinary city lords. The special effect created by his advanced civil engineering technique is the special bonus of the Alchemy Mystic Factory. After each upgrade, in addition to the advancement of troop type, he can obtain special skills, which are somewhat similar to the strongest swordsman.

However, unlike the Sword of Devotion which accumulates experience, the Tower's specialty is research. The important task of upgrading can only be entrusted to mages and magic apprentices. As long as the number of mages increases, the construction progress of the factory can be improved.

For this reason, Forrest had already devised a special effect for the Mage Tower that could be linked with multiple buildings.

Mage Tower: Allows you to recruit mages here.

Basic output: 4/week;
Resources required: 2500 gold coins, 5 logs, 5 stones, and 5 rare resources of various types.

Special Effect (Advanced Civil Engineering): Enhances the mage's research ability, increases the speed of all research projects by 100%, and allows the construction of spell defense towers.

Additional resource costs: 10000 gold coins, 10 logs, 10 raw stones, and 10 different rare resources.

[Mage (Tower Tier 4, Tier 1 Unit): Attack 11, Defense 8, Ammo 24, Damage 7-9, Health 25, Speed ​​5, Small Size.]

Element: None, Ranged Unit

Battle Mage: Melee damage remains undiminished;
Mage Support: Reduces the mana cost of allied heroes by 2.

Evaluation: Mages are apprentice wizards trained by warlocks. When they and archmages appear on the battlefield, they channel magical energy, reducing the mana cost of each spell cast by allied heroes by 2.

Due to the lack of a library, only mage towers can be built for the time being. However, there is no special upgrade for archmages. In fact, having a mage is already the essence of the tower.

These mages wielding wooden wands can not only launch ranged attacks, but also provide heroes with the ability to reduce mana consumption, which is a great boon for heroes with magical or elemental specializations.

With Forrest's enhancements, mages can also increase the speed of their research projects. Potions and rune cores are projects that can receive bonuses, truly giving it a feel of a great academy.

Cedrus seemed very happy; he had the highest expectations for the Mage Tower. Many legendary tower heroes emerged from the Mage Tower, progressing from apprentice wizards and magic students to researchers, gradually becoming powerful heroes.

He was determined to build a legendary tower city where all sorcerers could share academic resources, exchange alchemy techniques, and improve themselves in this temple of wisdom.

Now, an important step has been taken.

Of course, dreams are built on a foundation of reality. Silvercap City must first have sufficient defenses in order to establish itself in the North.

[Spell Defense Tower (Level 2 Defense Tower): With the same attack level as the Archer Tower in the Town Hall, it allows Wizards to enter and can increase their attack power by up to 100%, and its attribute is magic attack.]

Element: Water.

The frost attack has a low chance of freezing the enemy in place, after which they will regain their mobility.

Maximum number of buildings: 5
Advanced requirements: Related to main city level and magic guild; allows magic research, but only power enhancement and elemental alteration.

In summary, while the Spell Defense Tower is a special effect of the Mage Tower, it relies on the main city and requires a higher-level main city to upgrade. The Magic Guild, on the other hand, can alter the characteristics of magic; for example, it is currently clearly related to the level 2 water elemental magic, Thunder and Ice.

If magical research continues, the power of the defensive towers can be increased, and elemental attacks can be altered.

This is a long-term project, and there are no shortcuts at the moment; we can only improve step by step.

In general, the city's development direction is to focus on extreme defense and research into magical power. Judging from the current choices, this is already a decent improvement.

Just as Forrest was preparing to continue construction, he received an unexpected message.

Led by the council, the second round of negotiations with the Arcane Empire has concluded. The Empire has agreed to form an alliance and will pay a large amount of resources to purchase Winterhold, and will soon take over the North.

(End of this chapter)