“Now on top of our turns to keep an eye on the kids while they play with Garrik, we also have to keep Selia company. The only silver lining is that at least I can use Accumulation during a movie so it’s not a complete loss.” Lith said.
“What about me?” Kamila asked.
“You don’t know Light Mastery and you can’t use Accumulation either.” Lith shrugged. “Grandma expressively forbid you to put any more strain on your core and you know it.”
“I meant that you didn’t include me in the list of your activities, smartass. What am I, a hobby for when you have time to spare?”
“Those are the things I have to do.” Lith gave her an “I got you” smirk. “Spending time with you is something I want to do.”
The answer made her squeal with joy, turning her frown upside down.
***
Trawn woods, Lith’s tower, a few days later.
Lith and Solus were working in the Forge, using the Workshop to create from Davross and elemental crystals a setup similar to the one they had witnessed in Glemos’ lab but that worked for his Tiamat’s eyes as well.
“The concept is brilliant. If we manage to replicate it, we’ll be able to tap into the world energy that exceeds the tower’s capacity and greatly reduce the burden on my core while Forgemastering a difficult piece.
“It would be like having a second pair of Hands of Menadion. Not only would it relieve you of part of your burden so that you could take a more active role in the actual enchanting phase, but it would also simplify the procedure of imbuing elemental spells.”
One of the current limits of the tower’s Hands that the corresponding piece of Menadion’s legacy didn’t have was the lack of a full set of elemental crystals.
Solus’ Hands were still incomplete and while they could control the world energy to perfection anyway, when it came to conjuring single elements, things would go awry if the artifact had yet to recover the corresponding crystal.
Sure, they could borrow the complete Hands from Faluel whenever they wanted, but the artifact lacked both a Spirit Crystal and a direct connection with the tower. The former made them useless when crafting Spirit artifacts while the latter meant no support from the power core, requiring greater focus to achieve the same effect.
Glemos’ device instead was capable of fuelling Lith’s Spirit eye and since the world energy was filtered through his body, it answered to his will like his own mana.
“Agreed, but I wouldn’t be so optimist if I were you.” She replied, conjuring and dispelling one prototype after another in quick succession.
As soon as Lith’s eyes failed to establish a connection with the elemental crystals, she would adjust the design based on the readings of the Eyes of Menadion and the intuition she garnered from the Sage Staff.
“What do you mean?” Lith used Demon Grasp, his Accumulation technique, non-stop. This way he split the world energy into its basic components and gave the Eyes of Menadion a baseline that the artifact could compare with the current apparatus’ performance.
Every setup that fell below or slightly above Demon Grasp’s effectiveness was discarded as a failure. Those who showed a better output or at least a strong synergy with the Tiamat’s eyes, instead, were put aside for further studies.
Another advantage of the Workshop coupled with the Eyes of Menadion was that the blueprints of partial successes could be instantly arranged in hybrid devices to test if they could be combined to overcome their respective shortcomings.
“I mean that the reason my mother developed the Hands is to avoid burdening her body. Glemos’ device probably works just as well, but the problem is that it conjures energies that are up to the user to wield.
“Sure, it allows a Tyrant to exceed the mana output of a bright violet core but their life force is still the same. When used at full power, this device puts a huge strain on the Forgemaster.
“I think that Glemos used it mostly to craft artifacts he was already familiar with and whose crafting method didn’t require a prolonged effort.”
“I see.” Lith nodded.
“No, you don’t.” Solus sighed. “Your life force is cracked so whatever Glemos’ limit was, yours will be lower. And that once you reach the bright violet. Until then, even if we create a Tiamat version of this thing, you aren’t allowed to employ more than a fraction of its power. Are we clear?”
“I think you are overreacting.” Lith replied in annoyance. “I’d be still working inside our tower and my body would be enhanced and protected by its enchantments, something that Glemos could only dream about.
“Also, you have developed the Immortal Body array exactly for a situation like-”
Solus slammed her fist against the wall, producing a deafening boom and making a giant ultrasound picture of Elysia appear on the walls.
“I developed it to save your life in case of emergency. To not suffer again the pain of losing the person I love the most. Not to let you be reckless. Or do you want make Elysia an orphan right after she’s born?”
The eyes in the picture were half open, yet Lith could almost feel them staring at him.
“Of course not, but come on.” His tone had gone from argumentative to conciliatory in half a glance. “It shouldn’t be much different from Demon Grasp. My breathing technique also drains massive amounts of world energy and it never had any side effects.
“Quite the contrary, it makes my body stronger and tempers my life force.”
“That’s because the energy is quickly absorbed by your core without being amplified or emitted back. During a Forgemastering process, instead, your body would be burdened both as the power of the elements gets in and when it goes out after being multiplied by your mana core.” Solus countered pointedly.
“So it would be double the strain and less than half the time you usually have before mana abuse kicks in. I have to concede that the tower might protect your life force, but until we figure out all the ups and downs, we are going to further this project in small steps. Okay?”
“Okay.” Lith raised his hands, admitting defeat.
‘Man, I almost miss the days when Solus’ existence was a secret and I was the only one she could talk to. Back then, we would have argued until we found a compromise but now she can rat me out to my parents and Kami.
‘I can take a fierce debate whereas my mother’s tears, my father’s worry, and my wife’s reminding me that I’m going to be a father is way more than I can take.’ He inwardly sighed.
Then his eyes were drawn to the wall again and this time Elysia’s eyes seemed to be filled with grief instead of reproach.
Lith could almost hear himself explaining to a barely five years old lovely little girl that they would never see each other again due to the consequences of the experiments he had conducted before her birth.
“Why, Daddy?” In his vision, Elysia had Kamila’s hair, Elina’s face, and his eyes. “Why do you love magic more than me?”
