"What other things?" Lith never cared much for rankings, only about survival and loot. Yet he was curious to understand in what way the regional Lord had bested him.
"Athung moved back to the convened spot faster than you did. She planned her strategy so to save and help as many people as she could while you fought the Hordes. You, instead, just charged ahead and played it solo." Sinmara replied.
"You led the undead by example, true, but you didn't issue any order nor did you care for those who remained injured."
"Damn, you are right. It was supposed to be a team effort, yet once again I took everything upon myself." Lith had to admit that the Council's judgment was fair.
He had suspected everything being a test since the beginning, yet when the battle had gotten too real his natural instincts had kicked in, making him treat everyone else as an expendable tool instead of an ally..
"Don't be too hard on yourself. All Phoenixes are like you. I ranked second overall as well back in my time." Sinmara patted his head, making him feel once again like a kid.
"Who ranked first?" Xenagrosh gave up on stealing the Phoenix's magical secrets at the same time as Solus did. Both had only gained a blinding headache for their efforts.
"My brother, and he still rubs it in my face." Sinmara laughed.
"Well, since you know all about me already, let's talk about you." Lith said. "If you and your brother went along well to the point of sharing between you the secrets of the violet and the white core, how come you two split up?"
"Different life choices and the need to have our own resources." She replied. "Do you know why a mana geyser under a volcano is the best possible location for a home?"
"No. Enlighten me."
"While the rich mana flow turns the common metals molten in the lava into their magical equivalents, the natural heat tempers them over time and purifies them of most impurities.
"The process not only improves the quality of the metal, but it also speeds up the refining process. On top of that, I don't have to mine or look for my Adamant simply because as soon as it's ready, it starts floating atop the magma in the form of a thin layer of liquid metal.
"I then have to decide whether to pick it up or let it simmer until it becomes Davross. Either way, the metal will have a degree of purity and magical properties better than average, saving me a lot of time and energy in the processing steps."
'Do you think we can do the same in the tower?' Lith asked. 'If the heat really helps the Adamant turning into Davross, it could save us a lot of time.'
'Until we get the metal mine, assuming that the tower has one, there's no way to tell.' Solus replied.
"My brother and I split up so that we could each have their own volcano, doubling our resources and getting personal space. As you can see, I like my work very much and so does my brother." Sinmara said.
"A single lab can only contain so much magical energy before overloading and two white cores are too much for any array. To make matters worse, the bastard decided to start a family at some point."
"Surtr is happily married and he rubs it in my face whenever he can, sending me pictures of his kids, grandkids, and even grand-grandkids. Every time we talk, he mocks me by asking me to give a hug to my hammers for him." She snarled. "That's why he's not here."
"I beg your pardon?" Lith asked.
"He would have loved meeting you so I didn't invite him. It will teach Surtr a lesson about not being an insufferable prick. Besides, I would have never split my food with him, there was barely enough for me."
Sinmara had eaten more than Lith and Xenagrosh combined, yet she could have gone for seconds.
"You know, my brother has been keeping an eye on you since he learned about your astounding growth speed. He says that you remind him of us. Too bad you don't have a twin." The Phoenix winked at Lith the moment Xenagrosh was distracted, making it clear that she knew about Solus.
'Either Sinmara has found out on her own or Salaark told her, it doesn't matter. Yet she just gave me an idea about how to improve my Origin Flames training.' Lith thought.
"I bet that Surtr will be much more interested in me and angry with you once he learns about this." Lith shapeshifted into his Voidfeather Dragon form to take the final bite of meat before turning into a lesser Abomination for a few seconds.
"I don't take losing bets. My brother is going to kill me." Sinmara had a worried look on her beak as she touched the soft red-veined black feathers that covered the back of Lith's beast form.
"Really?" Xenagrosh asked.
"Yeah. The last time I angered him, Surtr dropped his kids on me and went on a long vacation with his missus. I barely survived the experience." The Phoenix shivered at the memory of the horde of children using her home as a playfield.
"Big sis, do you think I can try and learn Chaos magic since I still have my Abomination side?" Lith asked.
"Absolutely not. It's too dangerous." Both women replied.
"Why?"
"It's easier to show than to tell. Examine my life forces and cores." Xenagrosh said.
Lith touched her scaly shoulder and activated his breathing technique, Abyssal Gaze, witnessing what an Abomination-hybrid really looked like.
Xenagrosh was completely different from any other hybrid Lith had studied before. Her life forces were partially fused, with the black hole of the Abomination near the white hole of the troll.
One never stopped sucking in the energy and matter that the other produced. As for her cores, instead, they worked akin to how Lith's life forces did when he was still a Wyrmling.
The troll core sealed the black one, keeping a perfect balance that allowed the Shadow Dragon to retain the best of both worlds.
"Now look what happens when I try to use darkness magic." Xenagrosh said.
The moment her black core produced the mana necessary to link with the world energy, it also robbed the darkness element of its light counterpart, turning it into Chaos.
To use normal darkness magic, the Shadow Dragon needed to consume more mana from her troll core to return the light element to the Chaos.
"Gods! That's why Abominations can safely use Chaos magic." Lith blurted out in surprise while Solus showered him with a montage of the times that people had told him to forget about such a dangerous branch of magic.
She ended the montage with a short "I told you so" song of her own making.
"Exactly." Xenagrosh sighed. "It's not that we can, but more that we don't have any other choice. Just like the undead, using light magic drains lots of our energy. For an Abomination, however, even using darkness magic requires us to consume light element."
"I know that I can't stop you from trying, but know that you'll die the first time you make a mistake controlling the cursed elements." Sinmara said.
