"Those things are the apex of enchanted automated weaponry, with no weak points nor vitals that one might exploit. Usually it takes a squad of well-trained people to take one down and Kulah was all made of metal, making it impossible to employ the standard anti-construct strategies.
"Consider that even though I destroyed as many Golems as he did…" Morok allowed himself some poetic license to keep their secrets safe. "… I still had my weapons, whereas he lost his blade at the beginning of the mission.
"That's the bit of good news. The bad news is that I don't think that you will be able to keep him in the military. He's too good for you. I've seen his Forgemastered creations at work and they are masterpieces."
"I believe that Captain and Mage Ernas wouldn't be alive without the enchanted armor that he gave them and his glove weapon is simply amazing. The Professors bickered like children to recruit him, so I doubt that the measly pay of an officer can be of any interest to him." Morok said.
"We're aware of his talents as a Forgemaster, but normally soldiers exchange their merits for enchanted weapons. The army is the only organization that can provide high level equipment to its members based on their performance." Berion said.
"Well, there's nothing 'normal' about people like him or me." Morok shook his head.
"Your items have no allure for him. Even Royal Forgemasters admire his pieces. Money is pointless since he can just sell a couple of his prototypes and make more in one hour than you pay him in a year.
"Remember my words, if you don't feed the bird, then don't cry when it spreads its wings and leaves the nest. One last thing, I highly recommend Quylla Ernas for whatever position she applies to.
"She has opened Kulah's door, killed more Golems than anyone else, besides Lith of course, and if she didn't deactivate the Reactor, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"Do you really hold her in such high regard?" Berion asked. It was uncharacteristic of Ranger Eari to think about the best interest of the Kingdom rather than his own. It was one of the reasons why they weren't fighting to keep him in their ranks.
He created almost as many problems as he resolved.
"I sure do. She's a small but fiery woman. I think I'm in love." He said before leaving the Commander's office, who quickly alerted Lady Ernas of the calamity that could reach her home at any moment.
***
Ernas Mansion
While hearing the story of their adventure in Kulah, Friya didn't miss how things seemed to be kind of awkward between Lith and Quylla, whereas Phloria seemed to be a little too relaxed for someone who had just experienced the first major failure of her career.
All the Professors and some of their Assistants had died under her command. Odi or not, the six great academies were bound to not let it slide, with the risk of Phloria being punished or even demoted.
Even at the end of the story, after they told her how they had combined their strength to wipe the Odi off the face of Mogar, Quylla seemed to be more embarrassed than relieved to have survived such dramatic events.
Quylla had never lied to Friya before, so keeping Lith's secret was already a burden to her. Plus, she had yet to make up her mind about their relationship. Being together in the same room forced her to confront her conflicting feelings, making her only wish to be out of there as soon as possible.
"I'm sorry, but I've to say this. Quylla, why are you squirming on your seat like that? Did you make another pass on Lith and he rejected you or did you catch them making out?" Friya said while pointing at Lith and Phloria.
"What? No! Why do you think I am the one who got rejected? Couldn't it be the other way around?" Quylla became beet red from embarrassment, while Lith and Phloria just chuckled at the idea.
"Because you haven't looked so nervous since you had the hots for him, while Lith seems to be worried about you. So I thought that maybe, after spending so much time together in a life or death situation, something spicy might have happened."
Quylla's reaction was interesting, but since the other two didn't show a shred of guilt, especially Phloria, Friya understood that her guesses were way off the mark. Since no one seemed to be willing to talk about the elephant in the room, she decided to not pry further.
"So, what are you going to do now? I suppose that you two will ask for a leave, while you, Quylla, will apply for some time off."
"Yes, I hope so." Lith replied. "I have plans with Kamila to make up for the lost time and talk about some important matters. Also, I have a lot of studying to do." Lith couldn't wait to start practicing Runesmithing and continue his translation of the Body Swapping book.
Joining the army was finally paying off. He had found both a way to increase the prowess of his creations and maybe the clues for a definitive solution to his reincarnation process.
From the little he had managed to understand, body-swapping was as hard as achieving Lichhood, but the process had been standardized, making things much less risky compared to undeath.
The key differences were that Lith had to build the apparatus and find a replacement body.
Its biggest downside was that he would lose his mana core, his body, and even his muscle memory. Yet since he would retain all of his artifacts and knowledge, plus having an Awakened human a very long life, he wouldn't be forced to repeat the process often.
'Who knows, maybe I'll find a way to transplant the rest as well. After all, the Odi weren't Awakened and I can rely on modern magic, not their ancient crap. If I can get my hands on real Runesmithing, the sky's the limit.' He thought.
"I honestly don't know what will happen to my career." Phloria sighed. "So I think I'll use this time to get serious about Forgemastering and maybe start learning a bit of Warden magic. I don't want to ever feel so helpless just because of one goddamn array."
"And I'm going to study Battle Mage spells first and then work on War Mage. I'm tired of being completely useless in combat." Quylla said.
"Boring!" Friya replied. "All you can think about is studying. It feels like we're back at the academy. I'm currently unemployed, so if the three of you have nothing better to do, then we could do something together."
She had expected for her proposal to be enthusiastically accepted, yet its reception was lukewarm at best. Lith had a lot on his plate between Kamila, Selia, and Faluel the Hydra.
Quylla didn't feel like spending more time with Lith until she had sorted out her feelings whereas Phloria really needed a break. She had never believed the rumors about Lith being bad luck, but she really wanted some peace and quiet.
"Okay, fine, oh grumpy ones! Let's ruin our reunion by moping around and holing ourselves up in our respective labs. After all, we just have to wait another four years for the stars to align again and have some spare time together."
Lith remembered Yondra's dying words about her regrets for always having put her work first, leaving her no time to truly appreciate everything she had.
