"Well, it's not really alive. It has a mana flow but almost no life force. Even if it was alive, my family raises animals just to turn them into money and food. I hunt and kill for a living. It's no big deal as long as you don't hurt others for no reason."¨C
This time Lith was careful not to be too fast. Not because he was afraid to show his skills but rather to take his time and carefully study the procedure to better be able to repeat it in the future.
Once again Wanemyre was an enthusiast of his results.
"Marvelous! You managed to develop the rest of the petals at the same rate as the one I cleansed."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Lith blurted out.
"Of course it is. You remind me of my days as a student."
"Yeah, too bad you were really twelve at the time and only used your talent, while I have many years of experience in cleansing impurities much smaller than these ones."
"Quit whining and take the compliment." Solus scolded him.
"She acknowledged the results of your hard work. Being hardworking is a talent too!"
"Now you are talking like a shounen manga."¨C
They would have kept bickering, but Wanemyre had drawn on a stone table a magic circle like Lith had never seen before. It consisted of two concentric circles, with runes in-between, and a six pointed star resembling Silverwing's Hexagram enclosed in the smaller circle.
"Since everyone is about to finish the second step, let's all take a break so I can give you a demonstration of today's spell." Wanemyre took Lith's Frost Dew, placing it in the middle of the magic circle alongside a longsword of excellent quality.
Wanemyre ordered Lith and the red haired girl to charge the magic circle, so they took place on the opposite sides of the desk and chanted the Forgemaster spell in unison.
To fill the space within the circle with pure non elemental mana they had to repeat it several times. Wanemyre allowed them to stop only when the runes turned from blue to white hot, marking the circle reaching its maximum capacity.
The energy inside clashed with the magical boundaries, triggering several sparks that grew in intensity until they resembled lightning bolts.
Only then Wanemyre stepped forward, casting in succession the several Forgemaster spells the procedure required. Despite her being just a fake mage, Lith would always be awed by her ability to weave so many enchantments together.
Whenever he saw Wanemyre at work, bending mana and matter at her will, he could not help but wonder if that was how a goddess would appear while creating new worlds.
One by one, the runes between the circles rose in the air, revolving at increasing speed while the sword and the Frost Dew floated in the middle of the circle. The runes absorbed the surrounding mana, forming a flaming energy sphere.
The blazing mana scorched the flower, that left behind a bright blue sphere. Like twin suns, the two energy masses started revolving one around the other, with the sword as their fulcrum.
Wanemyre kept chanting, bringing them closer and closer, until with a final spell she made them become one and fused them with the sword. The blade fell on the table, hot enough to cut through the stone like it was butter.
A second later a blue glow radiated around the sword, allowing Wanemyre to pick it up without risks.
"That wasn't supposed to happen." She sighed while pointing at the destroyed table.
"The silver lining is that it means that Lith's flower's purity was outstanding. This sword will fetch me enough to cover for the table and this lesson's Frost Dew flowers."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click for visiting.
"Can I touch it?" Lith was eager to check how the pseudo core of such item looked like.
"Sure, but do not imprint it. Otherwise you'll have to pay."
Lith used Invigoration, looking at the pseudo core with eyes filled with marvel. While the mana pathways weren't much different from the ones he was able to create, the pseudo core was a revelation.
There were actually two of them, overlapping each other almost perfectly.
"They got it all wrong!" Lith was flabbergasted.
"The ingredients don't restore the balance by simply countering the elemental energies during the enchanting process, they actually pass their pseudo cores. This means that multiple enchantments require multiple pseudo cores coexisting in the same item."¨C
Lith was still studying the phenomenon, pondering if a living body could hold multiple cores too, when Invigoration suddenly stopped working. Wanemyre had taken the sword back.
"You must really love swords to get so lost in thought by simply holding one."
"You are right, sorry." Lith realized he had spaced out for over a minute.
"Go back to your seat and rest. You'll need all your strength before attempting the spell on your own." She ruffled his hair, making him feel like a dog again.
"You used my Frost Dew." Lith was confused.
"How am I supposed to perform the spell without one?"
"Don't worry, I got it covered." She handed him a Frost Dew emitting such a faint glow to seem just a cheap knock off of the one Wanemyre had consumed.
"Why do you give me that funny look?" She scolded Lith.
"It would have been a crime against magic to let such a perfectly purified natural treasure go to waste during a test run. No one will miss this one, instead."
Lith had many things to say, but was smart enough to keep them for himself. Wanemyre was an excellent Professor and their relationship was good. There was no reason to ruin everything over a single ingredient.
After a few minutes, the students completed the second step and were ready to try out the new magic circle. Wanemyre took away properly cleansed Frost Dews from a few other students too, assigning them points accordingly to the purity level reached, before replacing them with mediocre counterparts.
The ones that did a poor job could keep their flowers, making them grit their teeth with frustration.
Wanemyre handed out to each student an unremarkable iron dagger that couldn't be worth more than a silver coin. Clearly, she wasn't expecting them to succeed.
For a good reason, though.
"Don't worry if you fail. In my experience, infusing elemental properties is much harder than Forgemastering a neutral item. It takes a few tries to handle so many spells and two kinds of energies at once. Only special talents, like me, succeed at the first try."
She puffed her chest with pride, making her ample bosom stand out even more.
"Thank heavens with her personality she has zero charm, otherwise I would have a new crush already."¨C Lith thought.
One after the other, his classmates tried and failed. Most botched the procedure during the last steps, making the dagger shatter like glass. Only a few managed to screw up during the initial steps, losing their chanting rhythm and receiving extra homework as punishment.
Having helped the Professor earlier, Lith and the red headed girl were last, to give them time to rest.
Remembering so many magic words and hand signs was hard. Even if he had them stored in Soluspedia, his hands couldn't afford to stumble, his tongue to stutter or miss even a single accent.
That was why every time a student performed their experiment, Lith would chant alongside them, using that time to practice rather than to relax. When Lith's turn came, he was ready. He had even used Invigoration to be at peak condition.
The words rolled off Lith's tongue, his hands moved non stop forming signs and magic seals. Controlling the energy flows was definitely the easiest part for him. With true magic he was used to weaving even six elements at a time, manipulating just two of them was child play, allowing him to focus on the rest of the incantation.
During the last spell, the red and blue sphere clashed violently compared to Wanemyre's execution, emitting a blinding light when they attempted to fuse with the dagger.
"Another failure." Wanemyre sighed. "Too bad, that was really close. Twenty points for an
excellent first attempt."
Then the dagger fell on the table, piercing through it until only the hilt was visible.
"Good gods, I was wrong. It's a success!" Wanemyre hugged Lith too close for his comfort, kissing his forehead with excitement.
"Finally a promising rival!"
"I did it." Was all that Lith managed to say. He was so used to failure that success was the most shocking thing that could happen to him.
"I told you so! You do have talent."¨C Solus rejoiced.
Wanemyre took the dagger out of the stone table, holding it like it was a treasure.
"Who cares about the sword, this is much more important." Wanemyre took out from her dimensional amulet a golden liquid, inscribing on the surface of the blade Lith's name, the date, and her name before handing it to him.
"Raise that twenty points to fifty. It's no attempt, it's a success." She screamed almost deafening the clerk on the other side of the communication amulet.
Chapter 201 Good News, Bad News
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. ¨C
"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."¨C
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."¨C
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 contingen
cy 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."
Guilt and Punishmen Page 14