Chapter 4275: Tower Force (Part 1)

"Sure. There won’t be more accidents on my watch. I promise." The Guardian replied.

"Here I go." Solus took a deep breath and prayed for the best.

The transformation in her Divine Beast form was as seamless as Lith’s, and all the scales were in their place, making her sigh in relief.

"What are the oddities you mentioned?" Kamila asked.

"Those weird crystals and scales, for starters." Lith pointed at the magical gemstones scattered across Solus’ skin and the light reflecting on the metal scales. "There is also the issue of her lack of Indech wings.

"I know that her human mana organs may just be as atrophied as mine were when I first became a Tiamat, but Solus experienced two Demon Dirges and did her best to apply what we learned during my training with Ryla.

"I expected her to show at least a sign of her budding Indech powers."

"You are right." Morok pointed at Solus’ seven crystal eyes. "Whatever those things are, they don’t belong to any known evolved human species."

"That much I can explain." Salaark replied. "Solus started with no Divine Beast blood, but just like Lith, she was always a hybrid. A human-tower hybrid, to be precise.

"Her scales are coated with real metal, just like her eyes and part of her feathers are real crystals because that’s the manifestation of her tower side.

"The tower didn’t use only Lith’s parts to fix Solus, but also itself." The Guardian asked Solus to stand up and turn around, revealing two white crystals protruding from her back right between the other two sets of wings.

"See? Indech wings are made of elemental energy, and mana gemstones are the perfect conduit for world energy. In its own way, the tower improved on Mogar’s design."

Many gasped at the realization, and all jaws fell to the floor.

"Damn, Solus, you are a literal metallic Dragon." Lith chuckled, and Protector joined him, yet everyone else turned around in confusion. "Here’s my technique to activate my Indech wings. Let’s see if it works for you as well."

"I’d like to try and learn things my own way, but this will have to do. Thanks." Solus accepted the hand and the mind link it carried, reviewing the details of Lith’s breathing method.

She took several deep breaths, drawing in the surrounding world energy and splitting it into its elemental components with her eyes. Then, she absorbed the elemental energy all at once.

The crystals on her back lit up, and arches of pure elemental energy arched from the crystals to her physical sets of wings and back. Two pristine energy wings appeared for half a second, then flickered for another second, and disappeared as soon as Solus ran out of enriched world energy.

"Wow!" The kids said in unison, even Lenart. "That was so cool, Auntie Solus."

"Thanks." She half said and half panted from effort. "My Indech side is definitely out of shape. I barely manifested my wings for a couple of seconds, yet I feel like I’ve run a marathon."

"What are the other crystals on her body for, and will they improve with her tower, or will they remain violet?" Morok asked.

"I’m sorry, but I have no clue." Salaark shrugged. "I’ve kept an eye on Solus, and my talent as a Forgemaster allows me to understand the basic workings of her new form, but that’s it. She’s a new life form. Only time will tell what she can do.

"Meanwhile, I suggest you always wear armor and disguise the crystals studded on your body as part of it when you shapeshift into your Divine Beast form, Solus. Eyes and wings can be justified as unique traits of your bloodline, but the rest can’t."

"I will, Grandma." Solus sighed. "As soon as I get the materials for one. Gods, I’m in Tista’s same shoes, and we’ve already lent her all our Adamant. I’m in big trouble."

"Do you want me to return it now?" Tista asked. "I took it only because you guys didn’t need it. I’m no thief."

"Thanks, but without a Divine Beast’s corpse to use as a framework, the Adamant wouldn’t be enough for an armor." Solus replied. "We’ll talk about this again after we find one."

"Can you show us your other forms, Auntie Solus?" Aran asked. "Like the Dragon or Phoenix?"

"Not now." Lith replied. "Solus has just gained her form, and the tower is still growing. If any of her new bloodline abilities trigger, and it requires the tower’s assistance, it might backfire and hurt her."

"What I can do, kids, is show you my life force." Solus said. "Faluel, do you mind doing the honors?"

"With pleasure." The Hydra stood up and walked up to Solus.

Faluel put the index and middle fingers of her right hand on Solus’ forehead, while the left hand rested on the gemstone in the middle of Solus’ chest. The Hydra activated her breathing technique, Lifestream, and Solus’ life force became visible to the entire room.

It looked like a galaxy comprised of several flaming stars of different colors, connected by colored threads and orbiting around a giant violet star. A red, blue, and emerald fog surrounded the entire star system, keeping its single parts from straying.

"It looks a lot like Lith’s life force." Aran said, a bit disappointed. "The main difference is that instead of that black thing, Auntie Solus has funny lights."

"It’s not that simple, and those are not funny lights." Salaark shook her head. "Take a closer look, Featherlings."

The many flaming stars orbiting around the giant violet indeed carried the power of the elements like Lith’s, but with two major differences. Solus’ life force held no trace of cursed elements, stable and not.

Moreover, the stars were not comprised solely of elemental energy. Small and large portions of each elemental star were covered by matching elemental crystals that sealed the deep craters on the stars’ surface and kept them stable.

The human threads in Solus’ life force were damaged as well, and only the presence of shiny metal supports held them together.

The silver and gold transmitted the energy from one star to the next, while also absorbing the heat and mana they produced without letting an iota of life force go to waste.

Yet the giant violet at the center of the galaxy showed much more extensive damage. Several patches of crystals coated its surface, yet they left one gaping hole open.

When Faluel moved closer to the wound in Solus’ life force, the shock broke her breathing rhythm.

If not for Salaark holding Lifestream for her, the images would have faded before the others could take a look at the cause of her disconcert. Complex strings of countless emerald runes flowed right below the fire of the giant violet instead of life force.

They held the core of the life force together, keeping it from dispersing as it slowly healed. Even more astonishing was the fact that the flow of energy went both ways.

Red and blue runes entered the open wound, and emerald ones came out, joining the cocoon that engulfed Solus’ life force.

"The blue runes are regular Forgemastering enchantments, the red ones are dimensional enchantments, and the emerald runes are Spirit enchantments!" Friya said in amazement.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.