Salaark threw a dagger and conjured a tier one spell that the Red Demon instinctively tried to block with her newly crafted arm protector while imbuing it with the water element.
The violent flow of mana that the Davross had accumulated inside the artifact created a magnetic field that deflected the dagger and separated the world energy from Salaark's mana, making the spell fade away.
"Wait a second!" Friya had already understood what was happening, coating her mace in flames like Lith first and then with a powerful barrier akin to Tista. "This is exactly what Quylla told me happened with the Balor."
"What are you talking about?" The others said in unison.
She told them everything that Quylla had witnessed during the mission in Ajatar's turf and about her sister's theory about the real nature of the Guardian bloodlines' abilities.
"Your sister is truly brilliant if she managed to guess so much from just a glimpse of an imperfect power." Salaark said while also telepathically ordering Sinmara to investigate Quylla as well.
"Are you telling us that she's right?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"I wouldn't go that far." The Overlord chuckled. "Quylla has simply understood that the difference between the world energy and Spirit Magic is paper thin. Think about it.
"You already know about how to manifest elemental aspects in your mana and in white crystals. Davross is the apex of metal so why should it be any different?"
Lith experimented with his dagger, noticing that once infused with the water aspect, it worked exactly like Thrud's Arthan's Armor. It deflected physical attacks and disrupted incoming enemy spells.
Yet due to its small surface, the chaotic mana flow it produced was so little that the slightest mistake would make the conjured barrier pointless. On top of that, using a weapon to block a spell meant being incapable of both dodging and stopping physical attacks.
"Let me get this straight." Solus said after pacing around the lab while holding the Yggdrasill branch. "Any enchanted piece of purified Davross not only has an almost inexhaustible flow of world energy, but it can also manifest the power of all elements and produce a lesser version of Guardian bloodlines' skills?"
"Almost correct." Salaark disarmed Friya, using the stolen mace to attack Lith.
He instinctively blocked with the dagger, but the heavier and bulkier mace broke the thin blade.
"Why did you do that?" Lith asked while looking at the Guardian as if she had gone crazy.
Then, the broken blade turned into a liquid metal that reattached itself to the dagger, restoring its form without losing the enchantment.
"What the fuck?" Everyone but Salaark blurted out in surprise.
"That's why, Featherling. Davross is not sentient, but it comes incredibly close to it. Like crystals, it has a memory, and once enchanted, it remembers its shape. Yet everything comes to a price. Examine your dagger with Abyssal Gaze and you'll see the tag." She said.
Lith cursed again, sounding like a broken record. After using the elemental aspects several times, activating the enchantment, and now the metal self-repairing ability, the Davross had lost part of its energy flow.
On top of that, Lith could feel that the metal had become more brittle, degrading almost to purified Adamant.
"Is this effect permanent?" He asked.
"Of course not." Salaark shook her head. "It works exactly like your body. Each time you use Invigoration, it loses part of its effectiveness. In the Davross' case, it also weakens it until it becomes no better than glass.
"Give it some time and the dagger will recover its strength."
"But we used barely a few spells and only of a low tier at that." Tista said.
"Indeed, just like you made crude objects with no runes nor magic crystals." The Guardian replied. "Without them, the Davross has to withstand the full strain of such powerful abilities by itself.
"Magic is no miracle. Even when a house is built with the best materials, if the supporting pillars are badly placed the building will collapse. Didn't you wonder why the Sword of Saefel has so many runes and so many white gemstones?
"It's because without them it would take but a couple of swings to turn a Guardian artifact into scrap metal. Davross is powerful, not all-powerful."
"Grandma, something is off. In one of Solus's memories of her mother, Menadion said that bringing an elemental aspect out of a white crystal was a difficult task even for her yet we all managed to do it on the first try with the Davross.
"Is it because of our modern Forgemastering techniques?" Lith asked.
"You are dead wrong." Salaark replied. "The answer is much simpler. You didn't enhance the elemental aspect of the Davross, but of your own spell. It was easy because the enchantment was tier one and thanks to your imprint.
"White crystals cannot be imprinted, which makes them harder to manipulate, just like high tiered enchantments. Give one of those things a power core and manipulating a white crystal will be child's play in comparison."
"Which means that the real power of the purified Davross is to allow its master to draw upon the elemental aspects of the spells it is enchanted with by manipulating the flow of world energy it provides!" Solus said.
"Correct, but only one at a time. Davross is not Spirit Magic nor does it use your own mana. The resistance that the world energy offer is so great that, just like white crystals, the Davross can enhance only one element at a time.
"Unlike the white crystals, however, you can switch the element at will." Salaark threw to each one of them a white gemstone the size of an apple.
"Grandma, you shouldn't have. This is a wonderful gift." Lith said while looking at it with the greed of a true Dragon.
"I know, that's why I didn't. That's no gift, I'm just lending them to you." A snap of the Overlord's fingers reverted the magical items into Davross ingots, also cleansing them from the magical imprint.
Lith's smile turned upside down while his eyes became watery from the pain that such cruel words inflicted upon his wallet.
"This way, you don't have to cut the Eye of Kolga until you are ready. Also, your personal crystal mine will keep growing at top speed until you decide to craft something worth your while. I'm helping you big time, you ungrateful runt." Salaark poked his chest in outrage.
"I'm sorry, Grandma. Thanks for your kindness." His sour face and constant sighing didn't match his words at all. "What am I supposed to do with a borrowed crystal?"
"You guys have to use them to practice bringing out the elemental aspects. If you don't master all six of them, you'll never be able to create a Spirit Crystal for your golems.
"Also, you can't craft the Sage Staff or anything from the Davross you have unless you learn how to create Elemental Crystals, correct?" The Guardian said.
"Correct." Lith had to admit that she was right.
All of his big projects involved the use of Elemental Crystals, yet he was still at square one.
"My advice is to practice with the white crystals until you are sick of them.. After that, start studying the Forgemastering techniques you found back in Urgamakka."
