“Okay. But please, guys, do not judge. You are our family and friends and we trust you deeply. Otherwise we wouldn’t share this with you. Keep an open mind please.”
Once again, Solus’ raw talent with words made everyone think of a sex dungeon or something along those lines.
Contrary to their expectations, it was just the Thievery.
“That’s it?” Elina took a deep breath in relief. “What does this even do?”
She had been expecting straps, chains, beds, mirrors, and maybe the contraption that had helped Solus take part in Elysia’s conception.
‘I should have known that Morok’s words were just crap. Why did I let him sway me?’ She inwardly thought.
Once Solus explained to them how it worked, her words finally made sense in an even more unpleasant way than her guests had expected.
“Damn, Ripha, this explains a lot!” Salaark snarled. “A Forgemaster’s pride my a- ant! That’s why you kept borrowing stuff from me. Were you still alive, I would never let you hear the end of this!”
“Thank the gods I never let Valeron lend her the Saefel set.” Even Tyris was mildly annoyed.
A scowl was an unusual appearance on her usually smiling face.
“By the way, old lizard, did you know?” She turned toward Leegaain.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You said you have the full schematics in your brain. Was the Thievery a part of it?” Tyris asked.
“No. Ripha kept it redacted but I won’t lie to you. I had my suspicions. All those questions about my Eyes and the energy she poured into creating her own was suspicious at best.” Leegaain replied.
“Wait a second.” Solus interrupted the flow of family-friendly proto-swear words. “How could Mom craft the Eyes before the tower? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Easy.” Leegaain shrugged. “First, she built the tower’s basic levels, just like you guys did. Then, she used its powers to craft the various pieces of Menadion’s set. Then she used them to achieve a greater degree of mastery and understanding of magic.
“At that point, she brought the tower to Baba Yaga, she reset it with Creation Magic, Ripha rebuilt it strong with her newfound knowledge and the help of the set. Then, she had the set disassembled as well and she rebuilt it with the power of her new tower.
“Rinse and repeat. She devised the tower and the set together, but she crafted them separately until her power and mastery reached the level necessary to fuse them into one single artifact.” Leegaain pointed at the tower.
“The pieces of the set that Menadion gifted to her apprentices were just a copy of the originals that she modified to make sure that they could never threaten the tower nor match its power even if all four of them were combined.
“There’s a reason she kept the Fury for herself and never gifted anything like that to anyone. It was to keep the set incomplete for everyone but her.”
“This is amazing!” Solus said with her mouth agape. “So Malyshka is behind Mom’s success.”
“Obviously.” Leegaain shrugged. “She’s not on the level of sweetie pie here…”
He pointed at Salaark who blushed at the moniker a bit and cooed like a girl at her first crush instead of like the God of Forgemastery.
“But she’s the next best thing. Also, your mother never hesitated to ask for Lochra’s and my help. Your mother didn’t let pride blind her and that’s why this tower was and is the most powerful mage tower on Mogar.
“She also knew no shame.” Salaark looked at the Thievery in disgust. “At some point, I helped her without my knowing. Am I also helping you?”
“No.” Lith raised his hands to calm her down. “I was tempted to put your Voidfeather armor in here but I didn’t. It’s your gift and I treasure your friendship way more than any trinket, no matter how powerful.”
“Da!” Elysia nodded, extending her little arms to the Overlord whose doubts melted like snow under the spring’s sun.
“How can you be so beautiful, my little Featherling?” She took the child. “Grandma loves you so much that she’s thinking of kidnapping you.”
Everyone looked at her weirdly, even Elysia.
“It was just a passing thought.” Salaark blushed and gave the baby to Kamila. “What’s on the next floor?”
As they visited the rest of the tower, Leegaain pointed out to everyone the changes from the original design and the improvements since the past breakthrough. Lith found it helpful to understand the hidden potential of the tower.
Solus loved it because as the Guardian spoke, countless memories came to the surface of her mind. They were just echoes and blurred faces, but it made her hope that one day her memory would return as well.
“And this is the Prime Engine!” Lith said with pride.
“What’s a Prime Engine? What’s even supposed to mean?” Even after hearing how it worked, none of the Guardians expressed one bit of enthusiasm.
A tower having a battle form was a given and even Menadion’s only brought them only memories of their past fights with arrogant mages who had believed themselves invincible because they had a white core, a mage tower, or both.
“This is a Prime Engine. It doesn’t mean anything. It just sounds cool.” It was Lith’s time to blush a little, feeling childish.
“That’s childish of you.” Leegaain said. “The name should be self-explanatory, not some ego trip.”
“Hey, let him have his fun!” Kamila said. “Lith is already too serious because of his complicated childhood. Kill what’s left of his inner child and I swear to Grandma that I’ll find a way to beat the carp out of you.”
“Well said, dear.” Salaark nodded.
Lith was on cloud nine for his wife having his back and caring for his inner nerd even though she didn’t understand it much. Yet.
Raaz and Elina, however, took it as a stab. Lith’s childhood on Mogar hadn’t been easy, but still nothing compared to the one on Earth. They had no idea of what Kamila was talking about and felt responsible for his hardships.
“I’m sorry, Lith.” Elina said. “I wish I could go back in time and offer you more.”
“Don’t apologize, Mom/Elina. She/I didn’t mean it like that.” Lith and Kamila said in unison.
“Okay.” Elina still considered it a poor lie and held Surin tight, swearing that her daughter would know no hunger nor cold.
“Cool!” Aran and Leria couldn’t agree more with Lith’s naming sense and tried to pull the pieces of Menadion’s set out of the rocks. “How does it work? Can we fuse together like you and Aunt Solus?”
“No.” Lith replied, conjuring several groans from both children and adults.
Friya, Quylla, Tista, and Morok seemed interested in the idea.
“Allegedly.” Leegaain added, making everyone’s heads turn toward him. “The old tower couldn’t. That’s for sure. This one, however, already allows for one fusion. Only time will tell if more are possible.”
“The question is, how do we call ourselves and who picks what?” Friya said with such a serious tone that it seemed she was discussing a matter of life and death. “Like every decent elite unit, we need a cool name.”
