“Lith would take the Fury. That much is obvious.” Quylla said.
“Hey!” Solus said. “I mean, it makes sense, but still, hey!”
“Shush, short one.” Friya said. “Now that the angry one is fixed, you should definitely take the Eyes due to your observation abilities and your shady past.”
Solus wanted to argue at both her title and the insult, but she was too embarrassed to speak. Everyone knew how she had spectated at Lith’s private life in the past and how she still did via the fusions.
“I’m going to take the Hands for obvious reasons as well.” Friya pointed at her multi-colored streaks that matched in kind the gems on the artifact. “Also, it’s only natural since Master Faluel is the inheritor of the other Hands.”
“I was going to suggest myself but, fair enough.” The Hydra chuckled. “I guess that you can take my spot when I’m not available.”
“And I take the Mouth.” Tista stepped in. “I own the other Mouth, I’m Lith’s sister, Solus’ best friend, and a member of the Tiamat species. Cut me out of this and I’ll do the same with your heads!”
“Well, none of that truly matters.” Quylla said. “We still lack the Ears and anyway, I’m more suited than you for a fusion. Unless we want to dazzle the enemy with your beauty, you don’t have much to offer.”
“Hey!” Tista replied in outrage, starting to list her known bloodline abilities.
As everyone quarreled for the last open position, Lith walked out of the room and guided everyone to the Grimoire. It garnered lots of questions and interest, especially from the Guardians.
“Damn, Ripha. First the Thievery and now this? You were a true genius.” Leegaain said, his voice filled with admiration. “You managed to outmatch even my children’s Dragon Eyes.”
“Really?” Lith and Solus asked.
“Yeah. I mean, sure, basically the functions are the same. Nothing stops a Dragon from studying an artifact they’ve conquered or practicing a spell they’ve witnessed but that takes time.
“Time that a Dragon can’t dedicate to refining his body or to his magical research. These rooms are automated, meaning that you can delegate the research and just collect the fruits.
“Something like this could help even me in finding a cure for Zoreth.” Leegaain sighed.
“It would also save me a lot of experiments to improve my Forgemastering spells.” Salaark nodded. “Maybe making a mage tower for ourselves wouldn’t be the waste of time and materials I’ve always believed.”
“Agreed.” Tyris checked the crystals on the walls, trying to understand how they worked.
The tour of the tower ended with the Greenhouse that not only had become bigger and its soil more enriched in world energy. The ceiling that acted as a fake sky now also collected the light element released by the sun and made it seep inside the plants.
It both hastened their growth and enhanced their metabolism, making them more resistant to diseases, mutations, and countering the destructive effects of a vigorous flow of world energy, allowing the tower to send more to the Greenhouse.
The abundant light element helped the plants to fix any damage as soon as it appeared. By balancing world energy and light element, the damage and healing cycles made the mystical ingredients grow more resilient.
A property that their seeds inherited and that would tolerate an even stronger flow of world energy. The future generations would either possess stronger magical properties or be subject to mutations that might turn them into new and unknown natural treasures.
“Farm me sideways! That’s why the Greenhouse is on the top floor.” Lith said after checking the new specs of the floor on the tower’s interface. “It’s just like Grandpa said.
“The delicate seeds and plants need to be protected by the world energy and being closer to the sky keeps the Greenhouse filled with light element.”
“Indeed.” Nalrond said while trying a few of his spells. “This is also a great place to practice Light Mastery. Both experts and beginners can use the abundant light element to respectively try spells above their level and reduce the stress on their mana reserves while practicing.”
“Can I come here, please?” Quylla asked. “I still can’t make a decent construct for the life of me.”
“Same here.” Nalrond raised his hand.
“Me too.” While in the Greenhouse, Kamila could feel the light element flow through her body almost as strongly as when she was pregnant with Elysia.
“Sure.” Solus said while trying her own Light Mastery and discovering that Nalrond was right.
She could easily add three elements to her tier five spells there.
“I could use the company.”
“Me too.” Raaz was checking on the crops while the rest of the group babbled what was nonsense to him. “Just stay away from the fields or I’ll sic a stingy Tiamat on you.”
“What he said.” Lith clicked his tongue. “We haven’t gotten a single harvest yet. Dad had to grow our magical plants from scratch and getting the cultivation conditions right took a lot of tries and effort.
“Don’t disrespect his job just to make your own easier.”
“Thanks, son.” Raaz was moved from Lith being more worried about his father’s hardships than about his own magical vaults.
Knowing what a scrooge Lith was, it meant the world to Raaz.
“Don’t worry, Dad.” Solus nodded. “We’ll be careful.”
Once the tour of the tower was over, Solus decided to celebrate the event and her newfound knowledge about her mother with an improvised ice cream party.
***
Faluel’s lair, a few days later.
Neither the monsters of Zelex nor the citizens of Setraliie had remained idle during the months before Elysia’s birth. The members of the fallen races had used that time to restore their numbers and practice with the magical artifacts with which the Council equipped them.
The elves, instead, had received from Aalejah the books about the first three tiers of fake magic. They couldn’t increase their numbers easily so they had worked hard to make up for quantity with quality.
Lith murdering their High Chancellor and slaughtering over one hundred of their kinsmen had put a huge dent in the negotiations with the Kingdom, but only until the World Tree and their Chronicler had stepped forward to reveal the truth.
The Elvish Clans’ Heads had inwardly sighed in relief and thanked publicly the Dragon Lord for cleaning up their houses from traitorous scum for them. They had mourned the loss of their soldiers only in terms of military power.
The moment the betrayal of M’Rael’s accomplices had been exposed, they had been disowned by their respective Clans even in death and no funeral service had been administered to their corpses.
The traitors’ remains had been stripped of everything that could still be useful to their respective Clans of origin and their bodies used to fertilize the cultivated fields.
The elves of Setraliie had also sent ambassadors to other Fringes, garnering the alliance of more vine cities. Most of the Elvish colonies, however, preferred to bide their time and watch how their cousins fared on Jiera before making up their minds about rejecting the Yggdrasill’s offer.
Those months had been frenetic for the commoners of Setraliie and not only them.
