Lith had to tend to all villages and cities that didn't have a Gate, forcing him to travel non-stop. Leaves and discharges had been suspended until the situation was stabilized, preventing him from returning to the lost academy of Huryole or spending quality time with anyone but Solus.
Not even the recent Royal decree that assigned three Rangers to each region had helped to relieve the burden on the law enforcers.
"Central command was hoping it was just a hoax, but a witness of the attack on the caravan is certain that the assailants had red eyes and long fangs. If not for him, we would still be looking for normal bandits.
"After all, the Kusha Route is one of the most trafficked and the undead were smart enough to never leave survivors after their robberies…"
'Well, well, well, this mission must be a phone, because damn if I called it.' Lith thought, making Solus laugh.
'Stop being a smartass and listen to Kamila.' Solus replied. 'Mission assignments and daily reports are the only moments you share with each other for months now.'
Lith's and Kamila's work schedules kept not aligning, making their calls scarce and short. They were both forced to work overtime on a daily basis, to the point that to have dinner together one of them had to defect.
Lith actually had a free day from time to time. He pretended to move from one place to another with conventional means while he actually used his tower Warp, but he had no way to share those moments with Kamila without revealing Solus's existence to her.
'Please, I could do this blindfolded and with one hand tied behind my back. At this point, I've slain enough bloodsuckers that I could have my own spin-off series.' He replied.
"I'll be there in a couple of days tops. How are things on your end?"
"It could go way better." Kamila sighed. "I haven't seen Zinya in months and Archon Ernas is more on edge by the day. Her daughter has resumed service only due to the national emergency, but Phloria's trial is still ongoing, and her career frozen, which makes the Archon cranky."
Lith was aware that it didn't bode well for Phloria. Her trial was supposed to be just a formality, at least according to Tyris, yet it seemed to be still far from a conclusion.
Usually the army would have been unforgiving about discussing personal matters during work hours, but soldiers were people first. Also, until the undead migration was solved, working hours meant whenever they weren't eating or sleeping, so the army gave them some leeway.
After a bit of chit-chat, Lith consulted the map of the Griffon Kingdom, being pleasantly surprised by the discovery of the Kusha route being close to the city of Zantia.
'Sweet. I can get there quickly via the local mana geyser or I could report normally and use the extra time to seek an audience with the local ruler, Xedros the Wyvern. He's a good friend of Faluel and this could be a great opportunity to learn how to control my Origin Flames.' Lith thought.
He could allow himself short breaks only in-between missions, which had led Lith to not being able to help Selia giving birth, let alone to make any breakthrough in the magical field.
The communication amulet was the only link he had with his family and friends.
'Do we have to? I hoped we could take some time to visit Protector.' Solus sighed. 'We've yet to see the baby and you know that due to their forced isolation Selia could use all the help she can get.'
'I'm sorry, but a courtesy visit would get us nowhere, whereas deepening our relationship with Xedros can help us in the long run. If we want to get the Awakened runts off our back, we need the beasts' Council's support.
'Also, improving our Forgemastering skills is an opportunity that I can't turn down easily. Faluel showed us that, even though we can use spirit magic and Origin Flames, we are still stuck with cantrips.
'I have the gut feeling that both disciplines can greatly improve the success rate of the body-swapping procedure we have learned from the Odi. After all, spirit magic is pure mana, while Origin Flames are made from my life force.
'If I learn how to control both of them at will, I will become able to Forgemaster artifacts capable of doing the same. They would replace the pieces of technology that I'm unable to replicate and make the procedure feasible even with my limited resources.'
Solus sighed again and surrendered to Lith's logic. There wasn't much they could do in one day anyway, and learning advanced Forgemastery was one of their higher priority.
Without the ability of engraving runes, things like the Adamant Forge, the natural treasures he had received from the dryads, and even the Balor's body were all useless.
Thanks to his visits to the Kingdom's magical libraries, Lith had discovered that a Balor's eyes were powerful ingredients, that if properly treated could bestow the artifact they were embedded into both the power of their corresponding elements and effects similar to Dominance.
Unfortunately, being they made of organic material, to properly preserve the eyes' potency it was necessary a mix of Necromancy and Runesmithing. Lith had already self-studied the former with great success, but the latter required a teacher.
Faluel had told them that she would teach him and, more importantly, that she was willing to exchange knowledge for Lith's flames. After talking with Athung, he had learned that all Awakened were willing to perform such trade.
Obtaining Xedros's help would mean obtaining the key to the secrets that magical bloodlines usually kept for themselves, saving Lith years, if not decades of research just to re-invent the wheel.
On top of that, once he mastered Origin Flames, Lith would have the opportunity to experiment on the Adamant Forge and maybe even craft a powerful artifact. After all, thanks to the Flames, he would be able to cleanse the enchantments from the metal and use it anew to craft a superior version every time his knowledge about magic improved.
Many birds with one stone.
Lith flew to the closest mana geyser and had Solus assume her tower form. Since there was no end to the assignments he would receive, being fast was pointless. Lith had taken the habit to reset Invigoration's effect between missions so that the rest of his assignments he could use his alleged sleep hours to practice Accumulation.
In a way, he was glad that his current working frenzy didn't leave him much time to think. His birthday was nearing and with it the end of his military service and his second anniversary with Kamila.
Too many things were supposed to change abruptly after his discharge and for the first time in his life, Lith was afraid of commitment.
Commitment to Faluel, who was supposed to become his mentor in the advanced disciplines of true magic, commitment to his family, that ever since he had enrolled in the academy had been forced to make do with the crumbs of his free time.
Most of all, he was worried about his commitment to Kamila. After having gone through thick and thin during the last two years, it was time to man up or break up.
