Only Lith's exhaustion saved them from a long, awkward silence. Due to the constant fighting and use of Invigoration, he had lost all of his body fat along with part of his bone and muscle density.
Lith fell asleep the moment he closed his eyes to sniff Kamila's hair, giving his metabolism the opportunity to fix all the damages he had sustained.
Thanks to all the nutrients he had ingested during dinner and Lith's ability to assimilate world energy, his body was rebuilt from its foundations, pushing the impurities within it away from the new tissues and closer to his mana core.
***
Lith spent the next two days doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and using Accumulation. His enhanced metabolism sped up his recovery, making him regain weight at an astounding rate, but that came with a price.
Healing and evolving required a huge amount of energy that Lith decided to take only through conventional means. His choice was based not only on the fact that his recovery speed was already unnatural, but also because in his condition, using Invigoration would do him more harm than good.
Despite all of Quylla's and Lith's treatments, his life force was still unstable. Forcefully injecting a strength that his body might not have been able to handle yet was as risky as it was pointless.
Aside from the headaches Lith got by standing so close to Kamila and yet being forced to keep his hands in his pockets, there were no threats in the Ernas household. Also, he had noticed his impurities moving and by using Accumulation instead of Invigoration he could exploit that opportunity.
His entire body was being flooded by world energy, rebuilding itself stronger and denser than before. Using Accumulation allowed him to speed up the natural process of moving the impurities towards his core so that he would experience the next breakthrough the moment his body was ready for it.
It was a win-win situation for him which allowed Lith to strengthen both his body and mana core at once. Also, it gave him the time to assess his loot from Kulah. He still had in his pocket dimension Rizo's Eternal Blade, the bead that activated the God's Will array, but more importantly, the books he had found in the lab's safe.
The Ernas Household was one of the most ancient and powerful magical bloodlines of the Griffon Kingdom. Their library could easily compare with that of any academy, covering almost all topics known to mankind.
It also contained several books about lost languages and all the dictionaries Lith needed to make heads or tails of his possessions. Or better, Solus did and he just reaped the fruits of her endeavor.
They were both overjoyed discovering that one of the books was a detailed explanation of the Body-Swapping technique, of which the Life Merging process was just an incredibly hard and mana expensive variation.
'Building the necessary equipment might take a lot of time and resources since I don't recognize half the ingredients listed in here, but this is a great start!' Solus had devoted her whole time since they had gotten back to checking Lith's condition and translating the book about body swapping.
'Agreed, also, we might not even need all of them. The Odi were stuck with tier three magic in all fields but light magic and forgemastering, whereas we can use all tiers of true magic.' For once Lith shared her enthusiasm.
Not even he could find a sour note in such a discovery. Sure, there was no certainty that it would work, nor that they would manage to understand the underlying mechanism of the process, but it was a start. More than they had ever had.
'I'm so happy to have you back Solus.' Lith was brimming with joy like it didn't happen since the day he had healed Tista from her congenital disease. 'When I thought I had lost you, I almost went insane.
'I'm really sorry that while we are here I can't spend more time with you, but isolating myself would arouse even more suspicions than my recovery speed already does.'
'Don't worry, we have all the time in the world, I'm not going anywhere, you big oaf.' Solus mana enveloped Lith's body, while her mind pushed her feelings of joy to the fringes of his mind, in what was the closest thing to a heartfelt hug she could give him.
'By the way, there's something you need to know.' Solus shared with him all of her memories about her encounter with Mogar, the existence of the Guardians, and Lith's alleged role during the tribulations.
'Fuck me sideways.' Was his first reaction. 'I don't like this at all. Do you think that Mogar has manipulated me so far? That all the bullshit that happens to me depends on some kind of cosmic scheme?'
'Honestly, no. I didn't feel any malice from her, and I consider myself an expert in recognizing cold-hearted manipulators.' Solus replied while looking at Lith first and then to Jirni.
She was teaching Kamila about Royal Constables' protocols and revising with her some of the most controversial cases as simulation exercises.
'Mogar also said that it's you who constantly call upon her, not the other way around. I'm more worried about the Guardians. What if they feel threatened and decide to kill you? We don't stand a chance against such powerful creatures.'
'Please, that's fubar paranoia, even by my standards.' Lith replied. 'I doubt that they care about someone as weak as I am, just like I don't stomp all ants I see because they might evolve into something more powerful.
'We must focus on the good news. Mogar didn't call me a monster or an alien, which means that either even this planet doesn't know what I am or that it doesn't care. Also, your out of body experience has finally given us conclusive proof that I was right all along.
'You are human and have a nice C cup.'
If Solus had a body, she would have blushed from head to toe. She had completely forgotten about having checked her body back then and now she had shared all the knowledge she had acquired about her real form.
'You- How can you focus on my breasts during such a dramatic moment of my life?'
'It's just a memory, we're safe now. Also, cut me some slack. I'm only human, after all.'
"How are you feeling, Lith?" Orion's arrival saved Solus from her predicament. She really didn't want to hear Lith's opinion about her build, especially not in the over-aroused state he was.
"Weak, but aside from that, I feel great. Thanks." Lith was sitting on a bench in the manor's park, located nearby the veranda where Jirni and Kamila where working. After being underground for so many weeks, he really missed the sun.
"I will never be able to thank you enough for saving my little girls, especially Phloria. It was really brave of you to face that monster alone instead of running away once you rescued the rest of the expedition."
"As I already told Jirni, our friendship runs deep. I would never let something happen to them on my watch. By the way, what's the status of the sword?" Lith asked.
"It's coming along nicely, but since I'm really serious about it, it will take some time. I don't think you want something half-baked again."
'What the actual fuck? What kind of monster Orion is if the Gatekeeper was just something he did for fun?' Lith thought.
