Lith informed Jadon and Brinja of Hogum's visit and Raaz about the presence of one or more informants among his farmhands.
"The Hogum household is easy to crush for someone of your status. Do you want me to order their execution?" If the Baronet could hear Brinja, he would have regretted his arrogance.
"Without a plausible reason, I would get rid of one enemy just to make ten more." Lith shook his head. "The rest of the nobles of Lustria would consider me a madman and the commoners would resent me even more than they already do.
"On top of that, the Association doesn't like me at all and I've just fixed my shaky standing in the Royal Court. What I'm asking you to do is to dig up all the dirt you can about the Hogum household and see if there's a way to take them down after destroying their reputation.
"I want to send the message that whoever tries to take anything from me must be ready to lose everything they have and I want it delivered in the most painful way."
"I agree with you." Brinja nodded. "I'll inform Jadon and together we'll give Baronet Hogum a taste of his own medicine."
The following day, Lith met Protector, Nalrond, and Friya for the lesson about boneshifting.
"Ryman, it's so good to see you again!" Solus said, hugging her friend.
The Skoll was in his human form, 2.1 meters (7') tall, with long flaming-red hair held in a tress. He wore a white linen shirt over brown leather pants and black boots. His shirt was so big that it could be used as a tablecloth and Lith suspected that he was wearing a whole cowhide.
Ryman's face was rough and savage, with a square jaw and a cleft chin covered by a well-trimmed beard. Despite his huge size and bulging muscles, Protector's emerald eyes were calm and his smile warm.
"I'm glad to see you too, Solus. You are a really pretty and heavy short lady." Ryman said after his back popped in the attempt to lift her from the ground to take a better look at her.
"Thanks and rude! Never ask a tower about her weight." She chuckled.
"Wow." Nalrond said while looking at her petite but shapely body. "Are you free for dinner?"
"No, but thanks for the offer." Solus blushed a little while shaking his hand.
"Just my luck." He groaned. "Don't let Morok see you or he'll never let us hear the end of his theory about Lith's harem."
"What are you guys doing here and what does Morok have to do with us?" Lith asked.
On the one hand, he had hoped that Solus would have accepted to go on a date with the Rezar. It would have helped her to develop her personality and have life experiences of her own.
On the other hand, he had noticed that people complimenting Solus for her looks annoyed him and her refusal had actually made him feel relieved.
"Unlike you, we don't slay Dragons, we have no mines of our own, and getting close to the Kingdom would be a one-way ticket to trouble." Nalrond said. "Bones are the best materials we can hope for."
"Indeed." Protector nodded. "Master Faluel has given me decent equipment for an apprentice, but if I were to face a truly powerful opponent it wouldn't be enough. We both came here to study Faluel's method.
"I'm a Forgemaster so I'll be able to do it on my own while Nalrond is here to observe and learn how not to be scammed."
"Scammed?" Lith asked. "If you ever find the materials, you can ask Faluel, me, or even Protector to craft your equipment for you at production cost."
"Thank you for the offer, but I'm not going to stay in Lutia for long. This place has nothing more to offer me and it's time I get a move on with my life. Using Warp Gates requires money and an ID that I don't have." Nalrond said.
"I can't come back here every time I need something so I'd better learn to recognize a proper Forgemaster from a poser.
"As for Morok, he'll come with us tomorrow." Protector said.
"Who exactly is us?" Lith asked.
"You, me, Solus, Friya, and Nalrond." Protector replied. "This is Faluel's territory and we are her apprentices. It's our duty to help her. Ajatar is sending his apprentice as well because this case seems to be linked to the one that took place on his turf a few months ago."
"Do you mean the unproductive mana geyser filled with reverted monsters?" Lith said.
"Exactly." Faluel nodded. "But this time those fuckers didn't pick an unproductive mana geyser but one of my favorite crystal mines! I need you to go there, retrieve every single mana gemstone, and find whoever I need to slaughter for it."
"Then why haven't you attacked them already by yourself?" Solus asked.
"Because the Plant and the Undead regional Lord of the Distar region have exploited my absence to plunder my mines as well so I'm already busy kicking their asses and seeking reparation!"
The righteous outrage of a Dragon whose treasure has been touched deformed Faluel's lovely visage, covering her skin with scales and turning her teeth into venomous fangs.
"If the Council discovers that even filthy monsters can get their hands on resources exclusive to Awakened, they might revoke my status as a regional Lord. I need you to conduct a stealth mission and leave no witnesses. Am I clear?"
"No witness would be my legal middle name if not for the fact that it would forever ruin my reputation." Lith nodded.
"Great, not now let's move on to the lesson." Faluel said. "The spell necessary for boneshifting is one of the few techniques that still give us Awakened an edge over Royal Forgemasters.
"It's similar to the Infusion spell that I taught you yesterday but there is one crucial difference.
"Infusion requires to temporarily restore the life force of your material in order to coat its mana pathways with enchanted metal whereas Second Life's purpose is to enhance the life force enough to use Body Sculpting on a corpse.
"It's a technique where Forgemastery and Healing magic overlap. With a bit of practice, you could do it yourself, Nalrond."
Since it was just a demonstration, the Hydra used for her spell the bones of a cow that she had had earlier as a morning snack. Faluel conjured once again the two concentric Forgemastering circles with a seven-pointed star within.
This time, however, there were no runes inside the circles, just elemental energy. Water, air, earth, fire, darkness, and light formed a stream that seeped inside the bones, replacing respectively the missing bloodstream, oxygen flow, flesh, heat, and metabolic activity.
Spirit Magic came last, giving the pile of bones the spark that it needed to imitate life. The emerald Spirit Magic moved along the elemental stream until the remains turned green.
"Now it comes the most delicate part." Faluel explained. "You might think that since we are working on a lifeless corpse you can use Body Sculpting more easily, but it's the opposite.
"The artificial life force that I have infused has the purpose to allow me to check on the mana flow of my material and to make sure that while I change its shape, I don't also shut down the mana channels."
