Chapter 4140: Right but Wrong (Part 1)

Solus weaved one spell for each tier of Light Mastery, going from mere holograms to heat rays and lastly to constructs. She had her fun with them, shapeshifting the hard light in the form of the people she loved.

Menadion had to hold back a tear when she saw her image and Threin’s, and a frown when she saw the constructs of Elina and Raaz.

Solus quickly moved on to basic Forgemastering spells that grew in complexity until they evolved into Creation Magic. She kept Spirit Magic for last, using it to conjure emerald rays that one moment destroyed and the next could heal the most grievous wounds.

Solus used her mana to shape defensive walls and deadly weapons, seeking the thin balance between strength and violence. Her breathing grew heavier with every spell she cast until fatigue made it impossible for her to continue.

"Why didn’t you stop me?" Solus panted like a bellows. "My mana core is almost empty."

"Because you looked like someone who was having fun." Lith replied as he handed the Ears to her. "Also, because I collected all the data we need."

"I forgive you only because you’re right." She reviewed the footage and jotted down the subtle changes in her mana flow as she conjured the different elements.

"I wouldn’t have been able to let myself go so much if I also had to suffer the burden of the Ears. Thank you, Lith."

"Don’t mention it. Just focus on recovering your strength." He shrugged, extending his hand to have the artifact back. "Also, think about the enchantments we’re going to use while I search for the best configuration for the Balor eyes and runes."

Solus returned the Ears to him, and Lith had it form new connections with the six Balor eyes.

Even while disconnected from the Yggdrasill wood, the Ears of Menadion perceived the individual mana flow of every eye and how it would affect the staff based on where each one of them would be positioned and in what order.

"Do you need a hand?" Menadion noticed a deep frown appear on Lith’s face as he gave up on bonding the eyes to the staff one at a time and paired them up in all the possible combinations.

"Thanks, but as Grandma said, there are mistakes we must make on our own." He replied. "We’ll gladly accept your help if we can’t find a solution even after doing our best."

"We?" Menadion echoed.

"I’m using our bond to study the interaction between Yggdrasill staff and Balor’s eyes via Lith’s mind." Solus replied. "I get all the data and none of the stress, so that I can recover faster. It’s definitive. No combination works."

"No combination works as it is." Lith conjured his personal spell, Harmony, to alter the world energy surrounding each Balor eye.

Harmony filtered out their respective elements and let the other five seep into the eyes until they reached a balance, becoming no different from a biological mana crystal.

A Balor’s eyes naturally drew in and amplified their corresponding element, leaving little space for the rest. Without the spell, the black eye would have made the Yggdrasill wood rot, the red eye would have burned it to ashes, and so on.

Once Lith found the proper order to bond the eyes safely to the staff, he conjured a white crystal from the Workshop. He turned it into a Spirit Crystal and connected it to the Ears as well.

"Damn, the configuration you devised is very powerful, Mom." Solus had a hard time believing the Ears’ readings that were appearing in her mind. "Maybe too much. I’m afraid the Yggdrasill staff is going to blow."

"Don’t be silly, Epphy." Menadion replied. "Wait until Lith applies the runes and the second set of mana crystals before talking."

Lith and Solus tried to apply up to six different rune patterns on the staff, but no matter how carefully they positioned them, the Ears’ warnings about the critical energy overload never stopped.

"I guess that’s why the Kingdom only has one staff like Vorgh’s." Solus grunted. "They must have crafted it out of pure luck."

"I doubt it." Salaark replied. "Yggdrasill wood is rare, but not that rare. The Kingdom had enough to Forgemaster three different staves, and they all came out perfect. You are just missing the full picture, Featherling."

Lith took the hint and conjured seven more crystals from the workshop, turning them into elemental crystals one at a time. The moment he placed them above the staff, the excess energy that until a moment ago would have overloaded the Yggdrasill wood into bits found its way to the crystals.

The pressure the Balor eyes exerted on the staff dropped immediately, and the seven gemstones received such a vigorous flow of elemental energy that it would keep them stable even from a great distance from the artifact once enchanted.

"Grandma is right." Lith whistled in admiration. "You have underestimated your mother’s disciples among the Royal Forgemasters, Solus. They know what they are doing."

"And we didn’t." Solus sighed in relief. "I don’t want to think about how many times the Sage Staff would have blown up in our faces without the Ears. Sure, we would have wasted no materials thanks to the Workshop, but it would have taken us countless hours of hard work, tears, blood, and sweat."

"Solus, what do we always say about jinxing the task at hand?" Under the Ears of Menadion, elemental crystals and Balor eyes formed a robust circuit that could withstand powerful attacks without breaking, yet fluid enough to change its shape and size at will.

"The configuration we have just found only solves the issues we’ve encountered in the preparatory phase. We have yet to harmonize the staff’s mana flow with yours, and then we have to do the same with the power core."

"Let’s get to work, then." She sighed. "You take care of the mana flow. I’ll look into the most suitable pseudo cores for me and how to arrange them in a power core."

Lith nodded and focused on his task.

He and Solus worked for hours, alternating in the use of the Ears when one of them couldn’t progress further without the artifact’s help or when they needed a break.

Even with the boost from the tower, the Ears took a great toll on the user, which became even greater when Lith and Solus also needed to employ the Eyes.

The Ears of Menadion could only read the flow and rhythm of the prototype’s mana. They couldn’t tell Lith how strong the final result would be, or if there was a flaw in his current design.

He needed the Eyes of Menadion for that. Solus faced a similar situation, but she also had to conjure ingredients from the Workshop and refine them into pseudo cores to see if her theories worked or if she had missed something.

Solus couldn’t tap into the Elemental Storage without consuming precious energy that they would have to replenish after every failed experiment, so she had to rely on her own mana.

Lith and Solus asked Ripha for help only when they faced a wall they couldn’t overcome, and only after trying everything they could come up with. Each question stung Lith’s and Solus’ pride as Forgemasters, but it saved them many hours.

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