After Lith's performance, the red haired girl did the best she could, going above and beyond in her efforts, but failed nonetheless. Lith stayed behind, while the others marched out of the classroom in silence.
From their gloomy expressions, one could have thought they were going to a memorial service.
After Professor Wanemyre instructed the academy's clerks to clean the Forgemastering lab and repair the broken equipment, she finally noticed his presence.
"What can I do for you?" She was back to being all smiles and niceties. Lith didn't know if it was because the class was over or because she was still overjoyed from his success.
Whatever the reason, he found her creepy.
"I have a few questions for you."
"Shoot."
"Today Professor Nalear showed us your latest creation. I was wondering how many enchantments it possesses and what is its market value." Lith was actually only interested in checking if it had a weight reducing spell, but he couldn't ask it directly.
If Nalear was an Awakened one, by exposing her he was likely to expose himself too.
"You really are the greedy type." Wanemyre clicked her tongue in disapproval.
"What we do is a perfect mix of art and magical science. It's not about how much you earn, it's the journey that matters. Money is just a pleasant side effect of our line of work."
– "How can she say that with a straight face after keeping the Frost Dews for herself? She's shameless." Lith thought.
"The pot calling the kettle black?" Solus sneered. –
"As for your questions, here. You can keep it." She gave him a small booklet, containing drawings and descriptions of all the magical items Wanemyre had for sale. The pricing of most of them was enough to make him weep blood.
– "I wish I had it earlier. Maybe I can still ask the Crown to give me a few of these things. The reward I asked for would barely cover for the cheapest items."–
When he found the sword's description, the weight reducing spell was listed among many others. Lith felt like a burden had been lifted from his chest, yet another was added when he checked out the price.
– "Maybe if I reveal to the Crown how much I contributed to finding a cure for the plague, they will gift me half a sword. I need at least another two plagues to be able to afford this thing." –
"Another thing, how does the dagger work? You never explained that part."
Wanemyre slapped her own forehead with her palm, realizing her mistake.
"Sorry, I never thought someone would succeed. I didn't want to get your hopes up just to be disappointed as it happened to your classmates. It's actually very simple. Once you imprint it, activating the enchantment will make the blade turn hot enough to melt stone.
It can easily cut through most conventional protections and weapons. It doesn't cause bleeding, but makes the wound unbearably painful and harder to heal. The effect lasts a couple of minutes per activation. With the Frost Dew I gave you, I doubt it can be activated more than thrice per day. Sorry."
Her apologies sounded fake like a three dollar bill, but Lith had to let it slide.
"The last question is a personal one, so I apologize in advance for being nosy. I couldn't help but notice that you changed quite a bit from the last trimester."
"Changed how?" She tilted her head, seeming more flattered than annoyed by his curiosity.
"You look even prettier than before, you now wear makeup and jewels." Lith pointed at the gold necklace with several embedded gemstones she wore around her neck and the small silver bracelet around her wrist. "You also smile a lot more."
"Well, thank you for noticing it." She giggled like a little girl.
"I admit I was a bit too stern before, but you know, love changes everything. I am betrothed now."
"Betrothed?" Lith was dazed.
"Yes, I know it may seem rushed to a twelve year old with his whole life ahead of him, but for a woman of my age there is no time to lose. We want to have children, so we'll get married after the end of the trimester."
– "Told you so. Again!" Solus laughed her heart out, mocking his paranoia.
"Don't think I have forgotten about our bet."–
Lith ignored her remark, noticing instead the contrast between the two accessories.
"It's a wonderful betrothal gift." He said pointing at the necklace. In the new world there was no such thing as engagement rings. The one proposing could provide any kind of jewelry or commodity as a sign of good faith.
"That's my protective necklace, page twenty-three of the catalog." Wanemyre snorted, quite offended by his remark.
"I wear it only because of Linjos' paranoia. He wants us to be ready in case another sabotage happens. It's too flashy for my taste, but it was the most useful if something went wrong during today's lesson. This is his betrothal gift."
She extended her slim wrist, showing him the silver bracelet.
– "And you say I'm the stingy one, Solus. On Earth this trinket is barely better than those you would find in an Easter egg. Judging from the numerous runes and magic crystals, it should at least be powerfully enchanted.
"Even I would have bought something better." –
Solus was tempted to say "It's the thought that counts", but she was too afraid Lith would use it against her the next time he had to buy presents.
"It's simply lovely." Lith lied through his teeth.
"Sorry for my rudeness before. It's just that your masterpiece drew all my attention." He added flattery to make sure she wouldn't resent him for his blunder.
"I forgive you. Now go to your room and prepare for tomorrow's lessons."
Lith didn't make her say it twice, he had already wasted too much time indulging his paranoia, now he had to rush.
If only he had spent a few more minutes with the Professor, he would have seen that despite her smiling and the joy on her face, her right eye twitched uncontrollably, shedding a single tear before returning to normal.
***
Blood Desert, the day before.
While waiting for Salaark's return, Leegaain and Tyris kept singing, rejuvenating the heaven and earth from the damages that the prolonged experiments performed by the Abominations had caused.
The barren land had turned into a flourishing oasis. The two Guardians could already perceive many animals migrating toward the newborn haven guided by their innate mana sense.
Salaark came out of the caverns with her talon-ending hands covered by bits and chunks of a black matter that were quickly turning into smoke.
"How did it go?" Tyris asked, worried by the phoenix's frown. She wasn't the kind to mull over a victory, more likely to banter about it and demand a celebratory feast.
"While you lovebirds were singing about peace and love, I risked my feathers. This b*stard…" She took out Pazul's head, handing it to Leegaain before it could disappear.
"…was very well prepared for our arrival. If it wasn't for the fact that I never underestimate any opponent and brought you along as a contingency plan, the Garlen continent would now have only two Guardians."
"If this is a joke, it's not funny Salaark. We have killed Eldritchs for millennia and each of them had less power than a single one of your feathers." Tyris scoffed at the idea of a Guardian dying at the hands of an overgrown tick.
"A single Eldritch is indeed irrelevant," Leegaain said after having stabilized Pazul's remains and studied them for a bit.
"…but this thing is so much more. The other artificial Abominations we encountered earlier were harmless despite their humongous power because they were utterly insane. So many minds could not coexist, so the whole was less than the sum of its parts.
"This time they used an Eldritch as a base, fusing it with countless artificial Abominations. An Eldritch has enough power and experience to beat the other minds into submission.
That's why it was able to retain its personality and harness all their powers at once."
"How bad is it?" Salaark had just finished cleaning herself.
"Quite bad, if you ask me. It's still a rough product. It had to spend most of its energies just to keep all the other minds in check, but it's a huge step forward. They have already solved the madness issue.
"Even as it is, if they put up a squad of these things, even a Guardian may not be enough. What did it say to you before dying?"
"Not much." Salaark shrugged.
"I had no idea his mind was so fragile. I was quite pissed off, so things turned ugly fast. Torturing its soul made his mind collapse and melt in the psychic maelstrom. There is a full lab down there, and it's still in almost mint condition though."
"Make way, please." Leegaain asked with a stern expression, making Tyris grow even more worried.
In all the time they had spent together, she had never seen the dragon completing so many sentences without cracking even one joke.
***
It took Leegaain a few hours to check and catalog everything. When he finished, the dragon was pleased with his results.
"Excellent work in preserving the lab Salaark. Now we know everything but the identity of our enemies."
"We do?" Tyris and Salaark asked in unison. Since they couldn't make heads or tails of the equipment, they had spent their time playing Lith's game. Chess had become renowned as the "Queen of the games" and "the game of the Queens".
"Yes. Do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"Whatever. I'm sure that no matter what I pick, you'll tell us both anyway." Salaark snorted in exasperation.
"You are right my fair lady, but this time I will do it because it's vital for you to understand how serious our crisis is, rather than for the simple pleasure of annoying you." His mocking tone told a different story, though.
"The first thing I ascertained by examining the lab, is that whoever is behind this, they are not Awakened ones. Their method to mass produce Abominations is brilliant but too crude.
An Awakened one wouldn't need all this equipment nor to sacrifice so many lives for so little result." Leegaain pointed at the mountains of corpses.
"They would just use Invigoration to call upon the world energy and forcefully feed it to their test subjects. Our culprit is sapping the life force of countless living beings to produce a single Abomination, instead.
Clearly they have no idea of what a mana core is or how to sense the world energy."
"How can you be so sure?" Tyris asked. "Most Abominations were once Awakened ones, can't they have taught to others the secret behind the awakening?"
Leegaain sneered in response.
"Even if they wanted to, they can't. Abominations lose all their connections with the world energy after the transformation. Would you be able to Awaken someone by using mere words? The answer is no." He didn't give them the time to reply.
"Sure, Abominations can explain what a mana core is or how the world energy affects magic, but knowing and doing are two different things. Also, I'm certain of my assumptions because I'm very familiar with the blueprints of those tanks…"
"Since you made them yourself?" Salaark interrupted him, shocked by her intuition.
"Why would I do that? Just like you, I can create artificial Awakened as well as true ones. I'm the father of all dragons, if I wanted to take over the world, I would just need to call all of my offspring and take down a Guardian at a time.
No, I know them because they belong to the Griffon Kingdom. They are the upgraded version of Arthan Griffon's immortality project."
Tyris had done her best to forget that name. King Arthan Griffon, the Kinslayer. The Soul Eater. The biggest mistake she had ever made.
Unlike natural Awakened ones, those Salaark and Tyris made were incapable of using techniques like Invigoration and Accumulation, their sensitivity toward the world energy was purposely sealed during the process.
Having a stronger mana core than the one they were born with, made them age more slowly, but they aged nonetheless. Arthan had been a genius mage, that during his final years had focused on studying the limitations of the gift he had received and how to overcome them.
His experiments had sacrificed countless lives and almost led to the Griffon Kingdom's destruction.
