After several hours spent studying the tower’s control system, Lith and Solus had indeed found how to limit the flow of information to her brain so that she could use her Eyes form without frying her brain.
The problem was that such an option was only available when Solus assumed her tower form. Hence, she and Lith had worked hard to find a way that would make him shoulder half of her burden via their mind link.
It allowed Solus to double her brainpower and halve the side effects of the Eyes of Menadion. On top of that, now that Lith had finally developed a breathing technique that made use of his auxiliary cores, the stronger his deep violet core became, the faster the tower’s power core regained its form and functions.
Soon after the events in Lightkeep, Lith had discovered that Accumulation provided to his mana core a negligible amount of world energy compared to what he needed to refine it further.
‘Dammit. That’s why Scarlett managed to reach the bright violet so quickly. She had an excellent technique at the ready the moment she achieved the violet whereas I’m starting from scratch.’ Lith thought.
“Do you mind keeping me in the loop?” Phloria sighed. “Faluel is right. Now that I know when you speak with Solus, leaving me out of the conversation is both rude and creepy.”
“Sorry, bad habits die hard.” Lith said.
The Warp Array led them to a small plateau surrounded by dunes. The air was cold and dry while a slight wind bent the thin vegetation that grew from the fertile ground hidden below a thin layer of sand.
Phloria whistled in surprise, noticing that they had moved to the west so much that it was still night and that there were lots of people from every race there. Plants, undead, humans, and beasts were waiting for instructions while looking around with a serious face as if the mission had already started.
A few small groups comprised of people of the same race had already been formed, but most of the Awakened kept to themselves. Judging from the sea of glowing eyes, everyone was using Life Vision to gauge the competition and pick their teammates.
“Remind me to not shake hands to not get inspected with Invigoration.” Phloria didn’t bother whispering since everyone had enhanced senses and using the Hush spell would have been as rude as a mind link.
“Yeah, damn Awakened traditions.” Lith nodded.
He could feel such a growing hostility in his surroundings that it made the Royal gala look like a friendly reunion. The only time Lith had been the target of such ill-conceived rage had been during the academy, after Nalear had spread her slave items.
“Maybe you should avoid using words that can be easily mistaken for mockery.” A feminine voice said, forcing them to turn around and meet a familiar face.
Athung Soranot was a woman in her mid-twenties, about 1.75 (5’9″) meters tall with raven-black hair that reached the small of her back. She had replaced her usual golden mage robe with a comfortable adventurer set made comprised of a jacket, a shirt, pants, and boots.
The heavily enchanted clothes were loose enough to not impede her movements, but could do very little to hide her soft curves. Just like Lith, she was a self-Awakened yet she still had a bright blue core and had yet to learn how to overcome its boundaries.
Lith had a barrage of questions for her but for once he remembered his manners.
“Lord Athung, this is an unexpected surprise.” He said while giving her a small bow. “I thought this event was for apprentices only. What do you mean mockery and what are you doing here?”
“I was close enough to hear your partner talking about handshakes, but everyone else probably just ignored her and focused on you cussing our traditions.” Athung said.
“Such words coming from a self-Awakened who isn’t a full-fledged disciple and yet has reached the violet on his own are irritating even for me. Many of us are past one hundred years old and are still stuck at blue.
“On top of that, you’re not an elder but the Council granted you the privilege of bringing your own disciple along.”
“Oh.” Lith said.
“Oh, indeed. As for your other question, Raagu has temporarily reinstated me as her disciple so that I could participate in this mission. Just like anyone else with a blue core, I hope to find clues that will help me reach enlightenment.
“No one cares if a legacy is old or new as long as it gets us past the bottleneck.” Athung said. “Mind if I join you? We’ll probably go separate ways inside, but right now, you need to lay low.”
The presence of a regional Lord who was also the apprentice of the Council’s human representative at that made many stop snarling at Lith.
“Shit. I hang around the Council members so rarely that I almost forgot how competitive you guys are.” He said.
“You can’t really blame them.” Phloria shrugged. “You have been listed among the cream of the crop after training with Faluel for a couple of years while everyone else here worked their ass off for decades to be recognized by their respective mentors.”
Phloria would have joked about him having the privilege of bringing a lovely companion with him, but in the Awakened community where Tista would just be considered beautiful and Lith a no-looker, she felt like an ugly duckling even more than usual.
Once everyone arrived, Lotho the Treant, the plant representative, appeared in the middle of the crowd.
“Since our undead colleagues are on the clock because of the sunrise, I won’t waste time with formalities. Follow me. I’ll explain the situation to you while we move.” The creature looked like a giant humanoid oak.
He waved his hand, making a huge cave raise from the sand like some sort of stone snake charmed by the sound of a flute.
“We’re not going to fly to our destination because you need to take a mental note of your coordinates in the case you need to Warp away or you decide to abandon the mission.”
At a flick of his wrists, the ground turned into a conveyor belt that allowed the Awakened to move quickly while focusing solely on the path ahead.
“The situation is simple. We’ve already breached the external defenses of Urgamakka, leaving to you only the task to explore and search its buildings. The mission has no time limit and isn’t mandatory.
“Yet you are here on behalf of your respective masters and of the Council so your actions will be judged based on your results.” Lotho stopped the belt from time to time, to allow people to memorize their surroundings and use them to Warp their way out.
“The tunnel is straightforward so that even in the case something or someone is chasing you, it will quickly lead you outside. Any question?” The trip had lasted barely a few minutes, yet Lith could almost feel the pressure from the thousands of tons of stone above his head.
“Yes. How do we know when we have completely cleared Urgamakka?” A Sprite asked.
The Fae looked like a thin birch three turned into a handsome man with butterfly wings coming from his back.
“You don’t and neither do I.” Lotho replied in annoyance.
