“On top of that, I’m not asking the help of the First Queen, but of Tyris, the Guardian who crafted the Saefel set before the Kingdom was even founded. You promised to protect my child and yet you put her father in danger. As I see it, you owe me and her.” Lith said.
“Order and Chaos, you are as sly as you are cocky.” Tyris broke in a peal of silvery laughter that complemented her beauty like a clear sky does the sun. “Sometimes I wish that Valeron was more like you and less like himself.
“More down to Mogar and less righteous.” She sighed in nostalgia as images of her late husband filled her mind, yet there was no grief or pain in her voice.
It had taken the Guardian a long time, but she had finally moved on with her life and accepted the death of Valeron the First.
“Fine, I’ll help you.” Tyris nodded.
“Great. We could use Life Maelstrom to-”
“Don’t push it, kid.” Tyris’ voice turned cold, snuffing the light of greed from Lith’s eyes and cutting him short.
“You misunderstand, I was talking to Solus.” Lith lied through his teeth, making the Guardian laugh again. “The moon is full of Life Maelstrom. Can you tap into it with the tower, Solus?”
“You wish.” She said with a sigh. “I tried and failed countless times. The silver lining is that the moon has a much greater density of world energy than Mogar. It should give us a significant boost in the crafting process.”
“While we are at it, I never visited the tower since its reappearance.” Tyris said. “Do you mind giving me a tour after we are done? I’m curious to see what changes the tower has undergone after bonding with the two of you.”
Lith and Solus exchanged a dubious gaze for a split second before turning around.
“Sure, why not.” They said in unison as her eyes turned black and his became golden, indicating that the decision had not been easy to make.
“That was creepy and rude.” The Guardian said and everyone nodded. “Yet I appreciate your kind gesture. I won’t use my bloodline abilities for you but I won’t hold back either.”
Tyris held the Fury by the end of the grip with her left hand while she passed the index and middle finger of her right over the whole length of the hammer, as if she was caressing it.
Except she wasn’t.
The Fury answered her touch by humming with power and the countless runes that Salaark had engraved on its surface became visible again. The enchantment formed several concentric magic circles around the Fury, both amplifying and holding the energy that crackled along the hammer.
“What the heck did you just do?” Lith asked in amazement.
The Guardian had yet to emit a single spark of mana yet the Fury was bursting with power like never before.
“I Awakened the power core.” She shrugged at the question.
“You can do that?” Solus had to collect her own jaw from the floor.
“Anyone can.” Tyris shrugged again. “I mean, the difference between a mana core and a power core is paper thin. Take a look at my Fury with your Eyes.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Faluel used the tower’s artifact to study the phenomenon.
She discovered that now the Fury had a vigorous mana flow that started from the power core and spread throughout the hammer. Tyris’ Fury was identical to the other copies but the difference between them was the same as that between fake mages and Awakened.
“Judging from your reaction, I guess that Salaark never showed you this.” The Guardian snapped her fingers and the artifact returned to normal.
“No.” Solus shook her head. “Should she?”
“Yes and no.” Tyris’ reply confused them even more. “Yes, because Ripha used this technique. No, because it didn’t belong to her. This is something that Valeron the First discovered after I gifted him the Saefel set.”
Seeing that everyone was staring at her with their mouth open, she chuckled.
“Come on, it’s the natural development of Blade Magic. Once you learn how to use power cores like your own core, what stops you from Awakening them as well?”
“She has a point.” Faluel tormented her lower lip. “Yet I’ve never heard of Awakened weapons, not even from my mother. And she was one of Valeron’s companions. What’s the catch?”
“First, Awakening a weapon requires to have it fully purified from impurities or it would act no different from a living body and explode.” Tyris said. “Second, an Awakened weapon receives a boost in power at the price of shortening the duration of its energy reserves.
“Unlike a real Awakened, an artifact has no breathing technique to recover the power lost by going all-out. That’s why Davross and Elemental Crystals are so important. Even Adamant and white crystals need quite some time to recover, just like you rest to reset Invigoration’s effects.”
“So what you are telling us is that Awakening a weapon is of little use in battle.” Quylla said after pondering the Guardian’s words.
“Exactly.” Tyris nodded. “Awakening your weapon can give you the upper hand, but if your enemy retreats or buys time, you risk reducing your equipment to an empty shell when you need it the most.
“In the Forge, instead, you can take your time between the various preparatory steps to recharge the hammer and Awaken it only during the crucial steps of the Forgemastering process.
“There is only one instance when it’s worthy Awakening your weapon in battle.”
“While casting Blade Tier magic.” Lith said, receiving a gentle smile and a nod of approval in reply. “Because you are going to deplete the energy of your equipment anyway so the final result doesn’t change and Awakening empowers your spell.”
“The question is, how do you do that?” Phloria, Lith, and Solus were capable of using Blade Magic so they tried to Awaken their weapons but to no avail.
“That’s for you to find out. As I said, I’m not going to hold back and you are free to study my technique, but I’m not going to teach you. I’d say that between helping you to reforge your equipment and revealing to you the existence of weapon Awakening, I’m doing enough already.”
Lith cursed his inability to dismantle War and so did everyone whose equipment had been forged by Orion or other means.
Sure, they could ask Salaark to recycle the raw materials with Creation Magic, but to receive Tyris’ help they should also share their respective secrets. Faluel wouldn’t dare compromise the Hydra bloodline legacy and Lith would never show the tower to Orion.
Hence, Lith, Tista, and Solus were the only ones benefitting from the Guardian’s presence.
Lith crafted anew his Golems, the Voidfeather armors, the Sage Staff, Double Edge, and the equipment for Trion and the former members of the Queen’s Corps who resided inside the Void Sigils.
Once they were done with the Forgemastering, Tyris get to visit every floor of the tower. Lith didn’t hide anything from her and explained Tyris how each floor worked based on his limited understanding of Menadion’s legacy.
“This is really nice. Now I get why Salaark has decided to make herself a tower.” The Guardian said at the end of the tour.
