After they were done checking the mines, Solus Blinked them to the second floor of the tower to continued their work. Just like its underground twin, the new floor was as powerful as it was demanding.
Lith and Solus called it the Heart, and they had spent quite some time deciding how to use the room to its fullest.
The Heart was the tower's control panel for its arrays. Being part of Solus's innate abilities, both Lith and she could switch the magical formations on and off with a thought, giving them a powerful tool against whoever tried to attack them inside their home.
The problem was that because of Solus's regression due to spending centuries without an owner, all the arrays Menadion had imprinted into the tower were gone. Moreover, the tower was far from being completely restored, which limited the number of arrays that could be stored inside the Heart.
Activating a magical formation already imprinted required but a split-second, whereas replacing one array with another more suitable with the task at hand required to cast it from scratch.
"Luckily, your ability to turn the tower invisible and to hide underground are not related to arrays so we have all four slots open." Lith said. "Since arrays don't discriminate between friends or foes, we have to choose carefully.
"I'd set both Silverwing's Hexagram and the Darkness Blocking arrays for defense."
"Agreed." Solus nodded as her Skinwalker armor kept shapeshifting between her favorite day dresses. "The Hexagram is mana expensive, but it's the only array we have full control over, allowing us to hinder only our enemies.
"The only issue with it is that the Hexagram requires our focus and will drain most of the energy from the mana geyser whenever we face a powerful opponent, making it impossible for us to Warp or use it in combination with other arrays.
"As for the Darkness blocking array, it will also block dimensional magic and protect us from Chaos magic. If we meet again one of those monster-Abomination hybrids, we can't risk them destroying with a couple of spells the years of hard work we spent restoring the tower.
"That said, we can't win any battle just by defending, and running away from an enemy who discovered my real nature must be a last resort. We need arrays capable of attacking without turning us into a crisp."
The Heart could even store impossible arrays, but none of those Lith knew were suitable for their purpose. The Mirror Hall already revealed all kinds of magical devices and formations better than any array could, while the tower Warp made all mass transportation arrays obsolete.
"Will you stop that? You're giving me a headache." Lith grumbled as Solus changed her dress once again.
"You wear your Skinwalker armor ever since you graduated from the academy, but this is my very first personal relic and one you made for me at that. I can only wear the armor while we are inside the tower, so can't you cut me some slack?" Solus replied.
Now that they were off duty, Lith and Solus spent a lot of time inside the tower, where she could take her physical form. No longer limited by time and space, Solus was developing her personality while experiencing what life had to offer her.
Even the smallest things filled her with joy and wonder. Unfortunately, her naïve enthusiasm annoyed Lith who considered any delay on his timetable like a personal offense.
The prolonged cohabitation and conflicting personalities made them bicker quite a lot.
"Look, I get that you're happy, but we still have to complete the Heart before being able to relax. Becoming an Archmage forced our non-Awakened enemies to take one step back, but the Council doesn't care about fancy titles.
"Until our apprenticeship begins, we're just a rogue Awakened who royally pissed off a lot of people by killing several potential heirs and causing their masters' downfall." Lith snarled.
"Fine! Then since we lack any decent means of offense we'll use the remaining two slots for the Immortal Body array and the Air Blocking array. The former will allow me to heal you and replenish your life force akin to Invigoration even during battle while the latter will prevent our enemies from flying in or out." Solus snarled back.
"Now that we're done, will you please calm down? I'm sick and tired of your grumbling. It's been years since we enjoyed such a long peace and were able to spend time with our friends."
Lith sighed, making his favorite armchair appear behind him before plunging rather than sitting on it.
"You don't understand how serious this is." Lith pinched his nose and closed his eyes as he tried to keep the edge out of his voice. "Our apprenticeship should have already started, which means that something went wrong.
"To make matters worse, Phloria is about to Awaken and our studies about how to make someone who is this close to a blue mana core survive the process are inconclusive at best.
"I'm tired of watching my back all the time and being forced to wait for the damn moment when I can finally exchange notes with Faluel about every topic. Yet until the damn Council stands in my way, I'll be stuck here in Lutia."
There was no point in traveling around just to be forced to drop everything and come back the moment the Hydra contacted him.
"Stop worrying and think about the bright side." Solus embraced him, trying to cheer Lith up. "During this time, we taught Tista a lot of things, you practiced with your Origin Flames, and Nalrond is teaching us the basics of Light Mastery."
Lith groaned at her words. Now that he was unemployed, he had expected to have a lot of free time, whereas he had never been so busy.
Teaching about advanced true magic to Tista and the three Kings of the Trawn woods was a full-time job while Origin Flames drained a lot of strength that not even Invigoration could restore.
Moreover, between taking care of the kids and helping Protector with the new house, Nalrond could give Lith only the crumbs of his time.
Last, but not least, his parents expected him to have lunch with them while Kamila to find him home when she returned from work. Not having to worry about Lith risking his life on a daily basis and being able to spend time with him every day made her happier than she had ever been.
"Why are you groaning? We would've worked more only if you went into seclusion. We've studied the tower mines, discovering things that probably even Menadion ignored.
"We've reforged our Skinwalker armor using our Twin Forge technique, strengthened your house's arrays, and I'm the one who teaches our disciples while your practice Origin Flames until you are forced to rest to not injure your life force.
"Don't get me started with all our Runesmithing experiments and I could go on for hours!" Solus said.
"Fine, I stand corrected. Let's take a walk, I need your help picking something nice for Kamila's birthday." Lith got up from his chair and walked out of the tower.
The building was now over 30 meters (100 feet) high, yet it took it a second to shrink to the size of a marble before slipping on Lith's finger.
