"Luckily for Solus, between my presence and the mana geyser it shouldn't take long before she regains her strength." Lith said.
"Then you should let your body fade, dear. It's of no use for you as it is." Elina said while pointing at the clothes laying on the floor.
Only then did Solus realize that she was stark naked and that the moment her form stabilized, she wouldn't be just a blurred figure anymore.
She turned into a beet red wisp of light the moment before Salaark Warped in.
"You gave me a scare, Featherling. For a moment I thought that someone had found a way to attack my palace from the inside." She said.
"Grandma, can you help her?" Lith asked after Abyssal Gaze failed to restore both his and Solus's strength.
"No. It's better not to mess with the tower while it's at its weakest. You are in no danger here and Solus just needs a bit of time. Recovering four floors at once put a great burden on the power core and on your mana cores.
"Any external help might make things worse rather than better." The Guardian said.
"Four?" Lith and Solus said in unison.
The adrenaline rush made them feel great for almost one second before the effort to stand up almost made them faint.
"Two above and two below." Salaark evened the sand level that sustained the palace and raised its columns, making space for the tower's third and fourth floor.
"I'd take a nap if I were you. Turning so many common materials into enchanted stone and then rearranging the matter inside the tower's rooms so that they become an extension of the power core will take a while.
"The mana geyser is providing you all the world energy you need, but the process requires finesse more than raw power."
The tower rumbled one more time as if it was agreeing with the Guardian.
"Do you want some company, dear?" Elina asked.
"For a nap? No, thanks. I'll call you as soon as I wake up." Lith replied, losing consciousness the moment he closed his eyes.
When a few hours later he opened them up, Lith noticed that the tower had not only grown taller, but also wider and more powerful.
The lobby was twice as large as he remembered it and each one of the rectangular stones in the walls had such a powerful mana flow that it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
"Solus?" Lith could have used more rest, but curiosity took the better of him.
"I'm right here." Her voice sounded utterly disappointed. "I hoped that once I got a deep blue core, I would also get my real body back, but I was wrong! The tower may have grown stronger but nothing changed for me."
She had now regained her energy body and it was solid enough to wear clothes, yet there was no improvement. She looked the same as before the breakthrough.
"I'm sorry, Solus." Lith would have liked to tell her that maybe she just needed a bit more time.
That maybe her lack of progress was due to the huge strain that her mana core and the tower having a breakthrough at the same time had put on Solus, but he didn't want to give her false hope.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Really." She replied with a deep sigh.
That along with her slouching shoulders didn't make her sound convincing at all.
"The silver lining in this situation is that I have recovered one memory of my father."
"Do you want to show it to me?" Lith asked.
"I'd rather wait for the others. I don't know if I have the strength to watch it more than once." She said with a pained voice before rushing to change the topic. "Also, I have gained full awareness of the purpose of the new floors."
"That's a relief." Lith said, pretending to not have noticed her distress. "After all the problems we are having with mastering the Eyes and the Hands of Menadion, I was starting to worry that your access to the tower's records was incomplete."
"No, recovering a floor and mimicking one of the artifacts of Menadion's set are two completely different matters." Solus shook her head. "I recover a floor as soon as the tower can sustain its effects, hence I also regain all the memories related to their use.
"The artifacts of Menadion, instead, require not only the energy from the mana geyser, but also the information contained in the power core. That means that we are currently using just a fraction of their abilities.
"I don't remember their properties not because there is no data about them, but because until the power core doesn't recover enough to exert their full power, the information about Menadion's artifacts will remain sealed.
"Now let's call the others. This way, I can give you all a tour of the new floors at the same time, without the need to explain the same things over and over again."
While waiting, Lith stepped outside the tower to observe how much it had changed. The last floor still looked collapsed, but now even from the outside the tower had doubled its perimeter and stood over 15 meters (50 feet) tall.
'I wonder if the same will happen when Solus reaches halfway blue or if this time the tower recovered so many floors simply because blue is an important milestone for Solus as it was for me.
'After all, she's a hybrid as well and when I reached the deep blue core, I also gained my wyrmling form.' He thought.
"Are you alright?" Tista's voice was full of worry.
"I'm peachy, thanks for-"
She ignored him and walked in front of Solus, quickly followed by the rest of the family.
"Don't worry, dear. I'm sure that it's just a matter of time before you regain your human body." Raaz said. "The only thing that matters now is that you are back with us."
"Seeing you fade away like that gave me one of the worst scares of my life. Don't you ever do that again, young lady." Elina hugged Solus, touching her face, shoulders, and arms to make sure that she wasn't injured.
"Are you sure you don't want to rest a bit more?" Rena asked. "You look exhausted."
"I'm not tired, I'm just sad. Right before my breakthrough, I regained another of my memories. Please, form a circle so that I can share it with a mind link." Solus took Lith's hand, squeezing it in search of strength.
"Call me when you are done." Salaark moved away, but Solus stopped her.
"You are one of my mom's apprentices. She considered you as a part of her family just like Lith does. That makes you part of my family as well."
The Overlord gave her a small bow of gratitude and joined the circle.
After witnessing the memory, Elina was moved to tears while Raaz just held Solus's tight to console her.
"Your father was a great man." He said.
"He was." Salaark said with a sad smile. "I still remember that day.. Threin had to walk around looking like a clown for over two weeks before Menadion found a way to clean his face."
