Chapter 4050: Mana Injector (Part 1)

"It’s no different from teaching the Woods a breathing technique. If it failed to Awaken despite all that, it means that the spirit of the Trawn Woods is either too weak or too young to grasp the technique. It’s a pity." Lifebringer said.

"If the forest Awakened, a Lord of the forest would have been chosen. It wouldn’t be enough to defeat an entire army of Upyrs, but at least we’d have someone who can outmatch even a Divine Beast."

"Not to mention that plant folk would join our ranks and more magical beasts would Awaken." Sentinel said. "We would have the power to stand our ground and protect our and your people."

’Solus...’

’I’m on it!’ She activated the Mana Injector floor of the tower, returning part of the world energy absorbed from the mana geyser and spreading it across the Trawn Woods. ’Output?’

’Give the Mana Injector full priority.’ Lith replied. ’There is no telling how long the effects of Lotho’s Verdant Host will last.’

’Even at the cost of the Spark and the mines?’ Solus asked.

’Yes. They can wait. The Trawn Woods can’t.’ He inwardly nodded.

"Thanks for everything you did." Lith gripped the Emperor Beasts’ wrists in a warrior salute. "If you need more magical resources or books to train your youths, let me know."

"We could use more magical equipment." Reaper said. "Enchanted metal is rare, and there isn’t a single Forgemaster among us."

"Anything but that." Lith raised his hands in apology. "I’m in desperate need of metal myself, but if I find something, I’ll give it to you."

The kings hoped for a different answer but expected Lith’s denial. He already had to provide for himself, his sister, his companions, his Demons, his younglings, and the companions of the younglings.

Providing enchanted equipment for everyone was a recurring issue even for ancient Awakened bloodlines, let alone a grassroots mage.

Lith Warped away, reaching the control throne of the Watchtower in one step.

’Solus, Ripha, do everything you can with the cloaking arrays we got from the Desert. I’m going to make a lot of fire, and I don’t want to risk someone following it back to the tower.’ Lith said.

’We can do that, but what do you need the fire for?’ Solus asked.

’As I said, the Trawn Woods can’t wait. If we want to have a chance of Awakening it, we need to cheat. Hard.’ Lith used their mind link to share his plan with her and brainstorm any possible issues.

’Try to keep up, Mom.’ In turn, Solus shared everything with Menadion, hoping that her mother’s expertise about the tower could help them.

’And you slow down a bit.’ Menadion replied. ’I’m not used to having people in my head.’

Lith shut down all the floors but the Watchtower and the Mana Injector. He used the Ears of Menadion to track the flow of world energy on every layer of the ground in the clearing and identify the Trawn Woods’ equivalent to its mana circulatory system.

Then, he Tower Warped to the Mansion and performed a second scan. Both locations had a powerful mana geyser, and their world energy flow was enhanced by the Mana Injector, but only the clearing had already been purified by Lith’s Dread Flames.

Lith collected as much data as he could before starting to Warp back and forth from the clearing to the Mansion.

’Same area and same conditions, but with one critical difference!’ Menadion’s eyes widened in understanding. ’He’s looking for the soil equivalent of impurities. That’s smart.’

’It’s also part of the plan, Mom.’ Solus said. ’Why are you surprised?’

’I have yet to get there, dammit! Give me a second.’ Menadion wasn’t used to sorting through Lith’s thoughts or making the logical leaps necessary to connect the dots.

’Take your time. I’m not breathing one puff of fire until I’m sure of what I’m doing.’ Lith said. ’There are many more obstructions to the flow of world energy under the Mansion, but not all of them are impurities.

’Some are due to the fact that the tower has spent much less time there.’

’If it follows the same principle behind human Awakening, we must filter out everything that simply obstructs the flow and focus of what neutralizes it.’ Solus said. ’Impurities are supposed to be mana resistant.’

’I have an idea.’ Menadion took a sample of Darwen out of the pocket dimension and crushed it into a fine powder between her hands. ’Scatter it in the Mansion’s ground and use it as a benchmark for mana suppressors.

’Darwen is the byproduct of the smelting of Davross and is the ultimate magical insulator.’

’Excellent thinking, Ripha.’ Lith spread the motes of Darwen underground the park until they appeared like a thin mist to the Watchtower.

He studied how the mist reacted to the Mana Injector and then looked for anything that exhibited similar properties, no matter if several orders of magnitude weaker.

’One last check.’ Lith Warped back to the clearing in the Woods, using what he had learned from the Darwen to examine the areas that had not been affected by the Dread Flames for anything he might have missed.

’Mom’s idea paid off. We should be able to distinguish the impurities in the ground from the soil constituents that focus the world energy and channel it throughout the Trawn Woods.’ Solus said.

’I’m right here, Solus.’ Menadion said.

’I know, but I’m talking to Lith, Mom!’ Solus replied. ’As I was saying, Lith...’ She stretched the word emphatically. ’Ours is just a theory, though. We’ve never done something like this, and the slightest mistake could wreck the Trawn Woods’ natural mana circulatory system.

’I assume it should heal over time, but just like the damage inflicted by the Wither, it’s likely it would take years if not decades. The best course of action is to cleanse only what we are confident are impurities and leave the rest be.

’The reduced resistance from the cleansing and the increased flow from the Mana Injector will help us gather more data over an acceptable time frame, allowing us to identify the minor impurities left.’

’Then we can observe the development rate of the Trawn Woods and decide whether to wait or give it another push.’ Lith completed the sentence. ’I agree with you. Assuming the Trawn Woods behaves like a living being, removing too many impurities might do more harm than good.

’We need to be careful. Ripha, you take the Eyes. Sharing the burden with one more person will make things easier for us. Solus, join me on the control throne and take control of the Hands. I’ll focus solely on the Dread Flames.’

Menadion split the Eyes into Monocles, taking one and giving the other to Solus. The artifact linked mother and daughter, the black chains the Tiamat and the Demon, and their bond Lith and Solus.

Now, every piece of data and insight that Menadion would grasp during the procedure would also be shared in real time with the others. Solus, instead, used the Hands of Menadion to accumulate world energy, keeping it ready to assist the Mana Injector or steer the Dread Flames in the right direction.

Meanwhile, Lith shapeshifted into his Tiamat form, taking deep, slow breaths.

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