"Maybe I should try to give my eyes a go. After all, I've got one for each element as well."
"Now that you mention it, how did you use Spirit Magic earlier?" Quylla asked. "I thought that, unlike Lith, you would never develop a green eye."
"It's complicated." He replied while trying to find a way to explain his ability without revealing the secret of Domination and putting his life in danger. "Let's say that I've got my seventh eye as well, but to use it I have to give up on the other six."
"Meaning?"
"As master Ajatar taught me, Spirit Magic is nothing but the six elements perfectly balanced between them and mixed with our life force." Morok said "The Tyrannical Eye works the same way.
"Before achieving my sixth eye, the elements would remain unbalanced and damage my core.. Now, instead, I can blend the energy I absorb from my enemies and turn it into Spirit Magic.
"The downside of this technique is that once formed, the Tyrannical Eye can't absorb anything but Spirit Magic so as long as I keep it open, I'm vulnerable to the other elements like any other guy."
The Tyrant had told them the truth, leaving out solely the fact that absorbing the energy was his bloodline skill whereas using it against his enemies was just Domination.
Also, unlike Lith, Morok couldn't Dominate all elements at once.
"I wish my bloodline had some skill." Protector sighed in envy. "I've put my life on the line countless times, yet I've not discovered a single unique ability."
Truth be told, like most new species, Ryman needed to put time and effort to study his new body. All things that he devoted solely to support his family. Even his practice of magic was lacking due to all the responsibilities that being a father implied.
As the group started exploring, the upper corridors turned out to have been used as a crystal mine, but as Rhona had said, a few months of efforts had produced little results.
They found several small gemstones lying around but, without the Balors, it would take them decades to grow into a proper crystal mine.
"If these things become stable, master Ajatar must thank whoever created these collars. Germination is the slowest step and even a few crystals will save him centuries of wait." Morok said.
"What if they are not?" Nalrond asked.
"Then the moment he removes the Harmonizers, the crystals will blow up in his face, compromising the underground caves."
The deeper the group got, the fewer corridors they met. Also, they found no trace of survivors. What struck them as odd was that the monsters had dug several pantries and that they were filled with everything they might need to increase their numbers.
"Goblins can't go shopping for butchered meat and fruit. These guys must have a backer." Protector said while checking a meat deposit. "If they have reached such a degree of intelligence, maybe there's still a chance for them."
The answer to his hopes arrived an hour later when they reached the middle layer. It was comprised of a single big room, over 100 meters (330 feet) long and wide, filled with monsters belonging to several races chained to the walls.
Each one of them had a metal collar at their neck and had undergone some kind of mutation. Some had regressed back into their unfallen state, like those they had met in the upper levels.
Others had fallen into an even worse state as the world energy flooding through their bodies had turned them into deformed lumps of flesh. All of those chained to the wall, however, had lost their minds.
They were unaware of the power they had gained or of the suffering their bodies were going through. Protector recognized among them Wargs, Orcs, Ogres, and Trolls. The Wargs emitted a scent so similar to that of his fellow Rys that Ryman had a hard time resisting the urge to set them free.
"Is this Forbidden Magic?" Morok asked while using his breathing technique on the prisoners to understand how the collars could affect the monsters' life force in so many different ways.
"No, it isn't." Quylla replied after using her tier five Body Sculpting spell, Mind's Eye. "Their life force has been altered, not stolen. Forbidden Magic by definition is consuming the essence of someone else for your own gain."
"Yet I don't understand how it's possible to inflict such changes without Body Sculpting."
She approached one of the goblins whose limbs were now thrice their regular size. Its organs were overgrown as well, to the point that the mastermind of the lair had broken the ribs of the creature to not let the bones compromise the specimen's life.
The lungs were visible under the stretched skin, dilating and relaxing with each breath it took. The heart beat so fast and bulged out so much that it seemed like it would burst out of the hapless creature's chest at any moment.
Even though the goblin had long lost its mind, the body made the eyes cry non-stop to express the agony it was enduring.
Quylla tried to figure how to reverse such a condition, but with no success.
"It seems that the collars collect the world energy from the outside and inject it into the body of the wearer, forcing it to follow a precise pattern." Protector said while using Invigoration to understand how the artifact worked.
"These are the failed experiments. Wrong pathways that instead of fixing the faulty cores made them worse."
"What if we remove the Harmonizers?" Quylla asked.
"Good question." Protector had acted aloof to not alert his prey, waiting for the right moment to strike.
He moved so quickly that even Morok only saw a blur. When he reappeared, Ryman was holding a perfectly reverted goblin by the collar of her shirt.
"Answer my friend or I'll find out the hard way." He said as his free hand moved near the lock of the monster's collar.
"Please, don't! I don't want to die." Her voice and fear sounded so human that Protector froze in place.
"You can't remove a Harmonizer without killing the patient. It's the safeguard that allows the Lord of the region to ensure our loyalty." The goblin said.
"The Lord?" Morok echoed in shock.
"Yes. He offered us a place to stay and a way for us fallen races to return to our former glory. All he asked in return was a few test subjects." She nodded.
"What do you mean, test subjects?" Quylla was no expert in monsters' physiology, but after taking a second look at the chained creatures, she noticed that they all had small bodies.
"Children. The younger they are, the better. I don't know why, but the Harmonizers work best with them." She pointed at the organs-bloated goblin and to another, which looked like a very short humanoid with light yellow skin.
If not for that and for the short pointy ears, it would have been easily mistaken for a human boy.
"Did you really willingly give your own children away?" Morok felt his stomach churn.
His human mother had kicked him out of the house, unable to stand the idea of having given birth to an Emperor Beast hybrid, but even she had never tried to hurt him.
