‘I didn’t send them a card because the sudden blow is the one that hurts the most, yet now they are gone. I should have struck earlier.’ Opral thought.
“Is everything to your liking?” The Kingdom’s emissary said.
Lith’s assets had all been seized and in times of war, the country needed all the funds it could get. Count Zint had offered to pay for both buildings more than their market value, making his offer hard to resist.
The Kingdom already had the codes for the arrays of the Verhen Mansion and Orpal had taken a long appreciative visit. He felt like a conqueror counting his spoils of war.
As for the Verhen Household, the array system had yet to be cracked, but the Dead King didn’t mind the wait. It only made things more exciting.
“Liking is an understatement, I love them!” Orpal said with a huge smile on his face. “Life is wonderful even though it has a bit of twisted sense of irony.”
“What do you mean?” The female clerk asked with a puzzled look.
“Nothing, I’m just rambling. Don’t mind me.” The Dead King shrugged it off as a joke.
‘My parents kicked me out of my house and now they are the ones in exile. This will be my house again and everything that Leech has built that I cannot take I will destroy.’ He actually thought.
‘Verhen mines, house, mansion. It’s so funny that there’s not even a need to change their name since they now belong to me, Orpal Verhen!’
***
Blood Desert, Heavenly Plume tribe, a few days later.
Thanks to Salaark’s Rebirth Magic, Lith had completely recovered after a single day of rest but he took a second just to be safe. He spent a lot of time with the kids and his father, soon realizing that they both would take time to recover.
After his condition stabilized, he and Solus contacted Aerth, the Blue Phoenix, to work together on the memory crystals. Now that Lith didn’t have to work for the Kingdom anymore, he had lots of free time and was eager to complete his golems.
Aerth was glad to have Lith back since Solus always came to visit him as well. The Phoenix hoped that by spending some time together a part of her feelings would return along with her memories.
The three of them worked together to figure out a way to create artificial soldiers like those that Ayleen the Lich used. Creatures capable of using tier four spells and above because they were endowed with willpower but no personality of their own.
Ayleen had crafted lesser undead golems that carried her own will, mind, and strategy thanks to the memory crystals embedded in their bodies. It was the only way to have at her service intelligent but expendable creatures without the use of Forbidden Magic.
The white-cored Lich had learned early in her career that taking shortcuts would only end badly whereas Lith couldn’t bear to give life to creatures that would consider him their father just to send them to die on a battlefront.
His past trauma from Earth and the memory of his violent father made him puke even at the idea of raising his hand against his offspring, no matter if biological or magical in origin.
On top of that, he knew that by creating a new life he would also conjure a soul and he couldn’t risk torturing Carl, no matter how insignificant the odds that his soul would answer the call were.
“Very interesting.” Aerth said while examining the lines of power in the Shaman’s crystal via the device that the Master had implanted into it. “Crystals aren’t living beings, yet the more we learn about them, the more I think they might be some kind of prototype.”
“A prototype for what?” Solus asked.
“Mana cores.” The Phoenix replied. “There’s barely any difference between crystals of green purity or above and mana cores. They both can produce an endless amount of energy and can be properly stimulated to produce more.
“Yet while mana crystals can only store and use world energy, a mana core produces its own energy with an individual’s life signature. I think that your project is feasible, Lith. You can imbue bloodline abilities in your golems if you use Spirit Crystals.”
“I feel a but incoming.” Lith grunted.
“But while my research has much simpler purposes, yours is going to take more time, effort, and luck.” Aerth replied. “Mother has tasked me to create simple constructs that can follow simple orders.
“Her purpose is to employ the memory crystals in weapons for her nest and as artificial intelligence for civilians. You, instead, need to find a way to impart your creations more than rudimentary orders and strategies.
“You want them to retain a part of your conscience, of your tactical mind, but none of your ugly personality.”
“Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence.” Lith said while Solus laughed her ass off at his expense.
“You are welcome.” The Phoenix nodded with his deadpan tone that made it impossible to understand whether he was being sarcastic or he was just brutally honest. “Elphyn, I mean Solus, do you have plans for tonight?”
“No. Why?” She asked while looking at Lith and hoping for a reaction.
“I was thinking about bringing you to a couple of your favorite oases. Threin depicted them in his paintings and maybe being there in person might help you regain your memory.
“Worst case scenario, I can annoy you with embarrassing anecdotes from your past while away from prying ears. This way, when you meet certain people, you’ll know why they will react badly to your appearance.”
“Are there more people that I knew back in the days still alive?” She asked in amazement, wondering if they were the holders of the Mouth or the Ears of Menadion.
“Most of them are Beasts. Humans are either really old now or dead.” Aerth shrugged.
“You should go, Solus.” Lith reacted, but not how she was expecting. “I’m going out for the night with Protector and Nalrond. There’s no point staying holed up in the tower. We both need some fresh air.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” The Blue Phoenix nodded. “Honestly, your performance during the last few days has been constantly dropping. You lack focus and are slowing us down.”
“I lost my home!” Lith snarled, bringing the shadows of the lab to life with his fury. “My father was tortured and almost killed. I had to leave everything behind to escape from being branded and trialed as an oath breaker.
“Excuse me if I’m not really at the top of my game.”
“I’m not criticizing you for it, just pointing out a fact.” Aerth used his own bloodline powers to dispel the shadows like smoke.
“And I’m not criticizing you for it, just pointing out that you are an asshole.” Lith flipped the Phoenix off and Warped back to his living quarters.
“Did I say something wrong or is he in a bad mood?” He asked.
“Out of curiosity, were you like this when we dated as well?” Solus said.
“No. Back then I spent much more time with people and less in the lab. Mother says that I should learn to be gentler again, but being gentle is just a dignified way of lying.”
