One prototype was a tower made of Darwen, coated inside and out with Davross.
The former would grant the tower nigh-immunity to magic while the latter would provide the artifact with magical conductivity and protection from physical blows since Darwen was brittle by nature.
The second prototype was made of a single white crystal and was shaped like a Raiju, reminding Vastor of the Horseman’s steeds.
“Let me guess. This one is the standard tower that can’t move from a mana geyser, like Menadion’s.” Vastor pointed at the Darwen miniature.
“Correction. It can’t function without a geyser but it can move.” Bytra said. “Menadion had crafted devices similar to Home Stones that she used to mark mana geysers and Warp the tower from one to another.
“After the first visit, the tower recorded the coordinates of the geyser and the Home Stone was no longer necessary, leaving no trace of her passage.”
“Brilliant! Warping a building of that size at will must have been a work of pure genius.” The Master’s eyes sparkled like those of a kid listening to his favorite fairy tale.
“More like sheer necessity.” Bytra dismissed his enthusiasm with a scoff. “A tower in a fixed position is a security nightmare. Those who want to steal it from you can lay in an ambush while those you want to kill will never come near it the tower would have no offensive value.
“On top of that, it’s not like you can shrink a building of that size and put it in your pocket.” Bytra said, unaware of how wrong she was. “Without the Warp, the tower would be a sitting duck the moment its location is exposed.
“This is why Baba Yaga made her tower and those of her Horsemen capable of moving freely.” She touched the crystal Raiju with a finger. “They still need a geyser to reach their full power but unlike Menadion’s, you can use them anywhere.
“In my opinion, Menadion’s tower was more powerful but Baba Yaga’s is way more practical. If I had to pick, I’d choose hers.”
“If you’ve already made up your mind, then why are you researching both?” Vastor took the two models in his hands and studied them with his breathing technique, Beyonder’s Eye.
The two miniature towers were both imprinted by Bytra and utter failures. The different pseudo cores that were supposed to merge into a powerful power core overlapped badly and their mana flows were out of synch.
“Because I think that Baba Yaga’s tower is more suited to warriors like me who have to travel around and can’t afford to settle on a geyser. Menadion’s tower, instead, is perfect for times of peace or people like you, Dad.
“A mobile fortress from which to conduct your experiments and avoid pointless conflicts. It’s how I hope to spend my days after we are done with our current projects.” Bytra looked at Zoreth with a thin smile that the Shadow Dragon returned.
“Thank you, Bytra.” The Master nodded. “I promise that I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure you a peaceful retirement. That said, what are the key elements you are missing?”
“First off, to make a tower one needs to conjure too many pseudo cores.” The Raiju replied. “Even splitting the Absolution into nine hammers and having everyone helping doesn’t make the cut.
“We end up exhausted before completing even half the work and from that moment, everything is lost.” She pointed at the prototypes. “Rushing things doesn’t work and lowering the number of pseudo cores makes the final product a powerful artifact, but it’s far from a tower.”
Even with Nandi feeding the other Eldritch-hybrids with world energy to keep their cores at full power, the mental strain from weaving so many powerful spells in a row wore them out.
They had to stop the process multiple times to make sure that the various pieces would fit between themselves and once they were done with a pseudo core, move on to the other.
“After gaining endless mana and stamina, I’ve concluded that the original Bytra never managed to craft her own tower because the foundations of her project were flawed.
“We need to find a way to move the crafting of the single pseudo cores to the preparatory phase so that when we assemble them during the Forgemastery phase they are perfect and we are well rested.
“That’s the critical moment of the tower-crafting procedure. Each pseudo core must be perfectly aligned and unlike regular Forgemastering techniques, the order in which they are assembled matter.”
Bytra conjured a small Forgemastering circle in the palm of her hand and then several small incomplete pseudo cores. She showed Vastor how the sequence they were put together could make their power merely stack, amplify with each pseudo core added, or weaken.
“The smallest mistake and…” Once enough mana had built up and a pseudo core failed to sinch with the others, the whole structure exploded in a burst of light and fire.
The Fourth Ruler of the Flames had conjured sparks of mana for her demonstration so the defensive enchantments of Vastor’s office contained the detonation with ease. Yet the Master could imagine what would have happened if those sparks were pseudo cores fueled by the might of his Hybrids.
The Vastor Mansion would have turned into a crater.
Even the failed prototypes standing on his desk were a testament to Bytra’s genius. She had managed to keep them stable, but they still held the destructive power of several tier five spells.
Unbeknownst to the Fourth Ruler of the Flames, she was just one step behind Lochra Silverwing in building a tower with modern magic.
“Any idea how to achieve that?” Vastor asked.
“I have several theories but no concrete leads.” Bytra sighed. “I need more time and materials.”
“I’ll make sure you get everything you need. Dismissed. I’ll see you at dinner.” Vastor put away the documents belonging to the Organization and pulled the paperwork of the White Griffon out of his dimensional amulet.
The first trimester would soon finish and he had to pitch ideas for the exams, allocate funds to the various researchers of the Light Department, and write the report cards of the students attending the Healer specialization.
He was barely done arranging everything he needed when he raised his eyes and noticed that the hybrids were still standing in front of him.
“What?”
“What about your report?” Zoreth asked, taking one step forward and out of line. “How is the process of merging your cores going?”
“I’ve made no progress.” The Master sighed. “I can now make them overlap at will, but I failed to conjure any element but Decay and Chaos.”
He made his eyes light with mana and his wings pop out of his back.
“The black core made it easy to stabilize the Decay, but I think that the other Cursed Elements are going to be-”
“Who cares about that?” Zoreth cut him short. “I want to know if we can hope for a little brother.”
Vastor’s face became flushed and his eyes widened from embarrassment but it lasted a second. Then, color left him and he went back staring at the paperwork like it was a matter of life and death.
