The problem was that the quality of an amplifier depended solely on the level of body refinement of the mage himself.
A Dragon scale 100 years old would be nothing compared to a Dragon scale from a Divine Beast almost 10,000 years old.
“Wow!” Kamila said.
“You can say that.” Solus nodded. “Thanks to the Spark, Lith’s equipment can be refined endlessly, turning our downtime into a net profit. The only problem is that without the Hands, this room is useless.”
“Let me guess, another one of the new rooms needs the Hands to work as well.” Lith said.
“Yep.” Solus sighed. “There’s always a catch. Next stop, the Thievery!”
“The what?” Lith and Kamila said while looking at each other.
The Thievery also required the maximum level of clearance and had a solid metal door. The inside was even weirder than the Spark, having lots and lots of display cases and another stone pedestal in the middle.
Solus put the Eyes on Menadion there before explaining how the Thievery worked.
“First of all, do you remember how Grandma has her honor code of which she’s so proud? That she’s unwilling to steal the secrets of her friends and colleagues and only takes from her enemies?” Solus asked, obtaining nods in reply.
“Wel, uhm, my mother clearly shared none of that, considering honor among Forgemasters a blatant lie we tell each other just to avoid fighting to the death on a daily basis. From a memory I regained, Menadion used to say:
“Once you put your spells on the market, they are on the market. If I can afford them and I have the brains to crack your code, I deserve to know your secrets as well. Talent borrows; genius steals.”
“That’s a quote that resonates deep with my heart.” Lith nodded.
“Same here.” Solus said with a little blushing, embarrassed to admit it. “My Mom believed to be doing a favor to the whole Mogar by stealing everyone’s secrets and incorporating them into her Forgemastering technique.
“She considered it her right since she was the First Ruler of the Flames who had shared and kept sharing a lot of her work with Garlen. Bottom line, if you put the Eyes there and an enchanted item in one or more display cases, the Thievery can work its magic.
“It’s an automated process that works to break down the cloaking runes and in time crack every single pseudo core of the artifact, even discovering what kind of ingredients are needed to make a perfect copy of it.”
“That’s stealing!” Kamila said.
“That’s awesome!” Lith said. “Why didn’t we have access to this earlier? It would have saved us time and headaches. Not to mention countless failures to reproduce pseudo cores and the wasted materials.”
“I’m sorry, Kami, but it’s called the Thievery for a reason. The same reason for which only Menadion and I were allowed into this room. Mom couldn’t afford her reputation to be destroyed.
“As for your question, Lith, it’s because as Grandma predicted, the tower is coming back in layers. First, it has regained the foundation needed for the tower itself to exist, then the basic functions, and then the more complex devices that need more than one enchantment to work.
“For example, the Spark needs the Crucible, the Mines, the Hands, and a function that allowed the tower to extract a spark of life force from Menadion. It was necessary to give organic matter the semblance of life, but we don’t need it anymore because our Hands have the Spirit Crystal as well.
“The Thievery, instead, needs the Eyes, the Library to have access to a database about runes and another about ingredients’ effects, the Workshop to conjure materials, and the Factory to attempt to replicate the artifacts stored in the display cases.
“Things like ingredients can’t be manufactured without the Workshop and to make sure that the sequence of pseudo cores is in the right order, one needs to make a test. Without the Workshop, only truly powerful artifacts would be worth our while.
“With the Thievery, instead, even if we find a trinket with a single interesting function, we can break it down and learn how to apply it to our own creations. Again, genius steals!”
“I agree.” Lith nodded. “Your mother was a damn genius. It’s no wonder that no one ever managed to reach her level even a millennium after her death.”
“I know, right?” Solus puffed her chest out with pride.
Every time she spoke about one of her mother’s achievements, she seemed to act as if it was her own and treasured it dearly. Yet Lith knew it wasn’t a matter of ego, but love.
Solus didn’t remember much of the First Ruler of the Flames but she loved the shadow of Menadion that lived in her heart very much. Ripha had spent her final years to find a way to save her daughter and she had succeeded.
Menadion had given her life for Elphyn and had left her the greatest mage tower in Mogar’s history. It was Menadion’s opus, her legacy, and more importantly, her heart.
“So, if Kami puts her Voidfeather armor in the display case, we could learn about Grandma’s workings?” Lith asked, looking at his wife with a serious expression on his face.
“In theory, yes. But only if Kami agrees and, again, the Eyes need to be here for the Thievery to work. Also, isn’t that your perverted face?” Solus replied.
“Do you really want the secrets of the Voidfeather armor or are you just looking for an excuse to see me naked?” Kamila tapped her foot in mock annoyance.
Lith remained lost in deep thought for a while before saying.
“Both. Both are good.”
“Pervert!” Kamila laughed. “Seriously, do you want me to…”
“Get naked? Gods, yes!”
“No, submit the armor to study.” She slapped his shoulder playfully.
“No.” Lith sighed without bothering to hide his disappointment. “It would be rude toward Grandma. That’s our wedding gift and after her lessons about Creation Magic and helping us to save Ragnarök, I would be the greatest piece of shit on Mogar if I did that.”
“Also, please, not in front of me.” Solus pouted. “Come one. There’s still a lot to see.”
“Wait. No other function?” Lith asked.
“What? Do you want more?” Solus clicked her tongue.
The Factory had grown bigger and had more Forges than before. It could now craft multiple pieces at the same time and, according to Solus, thanks to the support of the new floors, the Factory could Forgemaster on its own artifacts up to the deep violet.
The Workshop was just bigger but also juicier. It wasn’t limited to the amount of materials stored inside the tower anymore but could replicate up to 50% more than what they actually owned.
This way, even if they had a single piece of ingredient left, two experiments could be performed at the same time.
The Forge and the Alchemical labs were identical since the owner of the tower was in charge of procuring the necessary tools.
The living quarters were bigger, more luminous, and Solus could add a small inner garden to Raaz’s and the children’s delight.
