"You're always as greedy as a Dragon, lil bro." Tista said. "If I didn't know you better, I'd worry that keeping your hybrid form for so long is influencing your judgment. Stop thinking with your wallet and use your head.
"In the memory, Menadion taught Solus that a Forgemastered artifact is nothing but a perfect combination of spells. It means that by studying a pseudo core, it's possible to learn all the abilities that the Forgemaster imbued it with.
"This piece of information might help us to understand secret disciplines like Runesmithing, Light Mastery, and even Spirit Magic."
"Yeah, maybe that was true centuries ago. Nowadays Runesmithing applies cloaking runes that make it impossible to study a pseudo core. On top of that, Nalrond is teaching me Light Mastery and Faluel will teach us Spirit Magic when the moment comes." Lith replied.
"Well, you might be okay with things as they are because of Nalrond, but Solus's dream still gives me and Tista a shot at Light Mastery. On top of that, there are no cloaking runes on ancient relics like your gravity ring or those written in Huryole's Forgemastering book." Phloria said.
"Think about it. Gravity magic is as powerful as it's elusive and maybe from your double magic holding ring, we might learn how to cast two copies of the same spell at the same time.
"All we have to do is to find a way to craft their pseudo cores, break them down into the runes they are comprised of, and then convert them into spells that don't require an artifact to work."
Phloria's words opened countless possibilities to them. Now that they knew about runes and about how they could be woven to reproduce complex skills, even teaching props became relevant.
The effects they produced were worthless for an artifact but they could still teach them ways of manipulating the elements that only ancient bloodlines had mastered.
They spent so much time discussing where it was better to start from that they completely forgot about their duty as teachers until a magical beast knocked on their door.
Lith had Solus quickly go back to her ring form while the upper floors of the building slid down to give the impression that they had yet to finish working on their apartments.
"Seriously? A whole building for three people?" A yellow-furred Xogh (fox-type magical beast) said with disbelief.
"We quarrel a lot and we need our personal space." Lith's ability to make up bullshit at a moment's notice never failed to impress his companions, making also them wonder how often he did the same with them.
"Then maybe you shouldn't keep two females. One is more than enough and once the cubs start coming, things will only get worse." The Xogh said with a tone that implied he spoke from experience.
"I'm just their mentor and that's my sister!" Lith said in outrage while pointing at Tista.
"Right, sure. I wonder how I failed to notice the resemblance. Maybe you are my Dad as well." The Xogh poked at Lith's scales with enough sarcasm to fill the building.
"Listen, kid, I'm not interested in your personal life. Aren sent me here to remind you that humans aren't going to learn Tyris's language on their own. If you want to get a share of our resources, you have to contribute to the daily activities.
"Otherwise you are on your own, even for small stuff like food. Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Lith replied.
"Good. Then I suggest you send your girlfriends to do the job while you do something else. Most of those humans hate us and if they see you, things are going to get ugly. For them, of course."
"Just one question." Lith stopped the Xogh who was already turning around after delivering the message.
"As far as I know, the humans who reside here are those saved by Awakened Beasts and you don't hold them prisoners. Why in Mogar's name do they hate you?"
"Because they think that their saviors didn't do enough. All those who are here had befriended an Emperor Beast or an Awakened, but that doesn't mean that the fairy godparent cared for the human's entire family." The Xogh replied.
"Some had bad parents, siblings, or children that their Beast friend choose to not heal from the plague, considering them a liability that would only be put down later. Humans don't understand our logic and resent us for that.
"On top of that, we put together people from different countries and they don't like that either. They are still trying to find someone to blame for the plague and hate each other's guts almost as much as they hate us."
"Thanks for the advice." Lith shapeshifted into his human form, making the Xogh raise his tail in curiosity.
"Hey, now I see the resemblance. Sorry for doubting you earlier. These days there is more trouble in this place than fur on my back. Remember to use the alarm and count up to five before starting to pummel a human."
The magical beast then went to the Garden of Knowledge next door, to study the language of the Garlen continent on his own.
The group locked the building and the arrays before leaving. They had left nothing valuable inside, but the makeshift furniture wouldn't fool more than a casual look and they had no intention to explain where they really planned to sleep.
'I guess we'll need to split up.' Solus had linked them all with Spirit Magic, to take part in the conversation. 'Even though Leegaain's pins translate all languages for us, I doubt that they also work the other way around.'
'Meaning?' Phloria asked.
'That whenever you talk to each other you probably speak the language of Garlen whereas the pin activates only when you listen to another idiom.'
'It makes sense and also our job easier. A smaller class means a faster learning rate.' Tista said.
'I doubt that.' Lith said. 'Months have passed since the plague outbreak, yet those guys have still to get over their losses or even learn the basics of each other's language. In my book, it means that they not only are grief-stricken, but also unwilling to cooperate.'
'It's understandable. They lost everything and probably have issues adjusting to a new lifestyle. Beasts don't seem big on empathy.' Phloria said.
The city of Reghia reminded her of a military camp, tidy and filled solely with everything that was necessary to survive but devoid of what made life worth living. As a soldier, she appreciated such an environment because it was practical and helped her to remember what she fought for.
Yet it would remind a refugee of everything they had lost and slow the healing process.
Or so she thought until they reached the human district. Except for the streets, it looked like a meadow. The ceiling provided plenty of sunlight and a spring coming out of a wall formed a small lake where small furry rodents lived.
The animals nuzzled against the visitors' legs, staring at them with their big round eyes in the hope to receive cuddles, food, or both.
The combined effect of light and water generated a perennial rainbow above the lake, giving it a fairy tale look.
