Chapter 3936: Moving Array (Part 1)

"That’s how a good child behaves with their mother." Menadion looked Solus in the eyes, making it clear she wasn’t talking about Lith anymore. "But enough with semantics.

"When we left the tower in the Trawn Woods, I noticed that Lith activated the Thievery. Are you ripping off Sally, or did you get your hands on a powerful new artifact while I was asleep?"

"Neither." Solus snorted at the allegation. "We decided to test the improvements in the tower caused by the Skull of Bytra by studying an old ring we found a long time ago."

"You mean the gravity field ring Lith received from the Horde?" Menadion asked.

"How do you- Never mind." Sometimes Solus forgot that her mother had been a silent spectator of her life for the past seven hundred years. "Yes, that one. We never worked on it because, despite its old design, the ring’s pseudo cores are very complex.

"According to Faluel, it might take decades to deconstruct the ring, and that only if we allow other Awakened to participate in our research. We had more pressing things to do back then, and we still do.

"Yet after the Thievery cracked the Spyglasses, we decided to give the ring a go as well."

"Decades." Menadion mumbled. "Sounds like a proper estimate to me."

"While we are at it, what’s so special about that ring?" Solus asked. "Inxialot, the undead Representative, is very interested in it too. If he still remembers about the ring, of course."

"Are you seriously asking me this?" Menadion said, and Solus nodded. "I can understand you missed the ring’s importance back when you had yet to finish your apprenticeship under Faluel, Solus, but now-"

"Hold that thought." Solus cut her short and lifted the Hush spell surrounding them.

It made it impossible for others to overhear Solus’ conversation with her mother and for her to place her order.

"Good morning, Vexal." Solus waved at the baker. "I’ve come for my usual- What’s this delicious smell?"

She sniffed the air like a hunting dog on a blood trail.

"Glad you asked." Vexal handed her what looked like a thin, dark breadstick. "I call this ’chocolate wand’. It’s a crunchy cookie dipped in chocolate. Give it a try. It’s on the house."

"Delicious!" Solus wolfed it down and took another. "Do you have more?"

"Sure." Vexal nodded. "I have different kinds of cookies coated in different kinds of chocolate if you want to try them."

"I’ll take one each. Do you want some too, Big Sis?" Solus turned around, meeting her mother’s scowl. "You’re right. How rude of me. Here, take this."

She handed Menadion a cup of hot tea and shoved a cookie in her mouth the moment she tried to speak, shutting her up. Vexal served Solus her usual supply of jam bread and a bag filled with edible chocolate wands.

The moment they walked out, the crowd in front of the counter erupted with orders for the chocolate wands. Even the clients who had already paid for their purchase turned around and refused to leave.

’Magic themed sweets. I’m on to something.’ Vexal thought, and he was right.

***

"I’m sorry, Mom. What were you saying?" Solus asked after restoring the Hush zone.

"That if you keep eating so much sugar, you’ll never lose weight." Menadion grunted.

"Not that!" Solus blushed hard, but didn’t stop munching the cookies. "I mean about the ring."

"Fine." Ripha sighed, and she took a white chocolate wand from the bag. She had to admit they tasted good. "Solus, now that you have mastered many branches of magic, you should have realized how amazing that Odi ring is."

"Amazing how?" She tilted her head to the side. "It’s just a gravity field. Sure, Gravity Magic is hard, but that’s what Forgemastery is for. Given the right blueprints, anyone can craft an artifact that produces holograms even without knowing the first thing about Light Mastery.

"Besides, gravity fields are common. Most noble households employ them as defensive measures."

"Everything you said is correct, but you are still missing the point." Menadion shook her head. "Yes, Forgemastery allows access to complex disciplines to the untrained, but the Odi ring does much more.

"The gravity field it produces is a moving array, Solus. A moving array!"

Solus opened her mouth to answer, but no word came out as her eyes widened in understanding.

"Also, normal magical formations affect everyone." Menadion continued. "If you activate a darkness-sealing array, you can’t use darkness magic as well while under its effects. The ring, instead, affects only what you want.

"Even better, you can alter the shape of the magical formation to coat something or someone, focusing the effects of the ring on a specific target. No array I know can do anything like that.

"The shape and position of a magical formation are supposed to be fixed at the moment you conjure it. Imagine what you could do if the defensive arrays of the tower or the Verhen Mansion worked like that."

"By my mom, you are right." Solus gasped. "We could also craft a portable device for our best arrays that anyone can use. They would be a great tool for the kids and the members of our family with no magical powers."

"Among other things, yes." Menadion nodded.

"This is absurd." Solus moved toward the nearest park to get some fresh air. "The ring is old, and the Odi were a bunch of murderous assholes. How could they realize something like that, and how could such a technology get lost in time?"

"It’s not that hard if you think about it." Menadion led her daughter to an empty bench. "For a while, the Odi were the masters of Garlen. They conquered the entire continent and pillaged the magical knowledge of those they defeated.

"Maybe they came across the work of someone with the talent to become a Ruler of the Flames, or maybe they give birth to one. What matters is that they had the right idea and the resources to put it into practice."

"The Odi were indeed genius Forgemasters, but why do you think they used something so powerful for such a silly purpose?" Solus pondered. "If turned into a weapon, rings like that could have turned the tide of the war against the other races."

"For the same reason those rings got lost to time." Menadion replied. "Their magic was limited to tier three spells, and to produce anything stronger, the Odi needed to tap into the power of a mana geyser.

"The ancient Odi couldn’t conceive what is normal for us today, and neither did their enemies. Our ancestors must have focused on the more powerful artifacts locked behind the Odi’s energy signature and ignored what they considered a trinket."

"Even the Awakened?" Solus asked.

"Especially the Awakened." Menadion shrugged. "I bet gold coins against cookies that in its arrogance, the Council of the time dismissed everything the Odi achieved as a crude form of Forbidden Magic.

"Remember that only the Odi’s slaves carried those rings. No one bothers checking the measly possessions of the serfs after conquering the palace of their masters."

"How long do you think the Thievery will need to crack the ring’s pseudo cores?" Solus said.

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