Supreme Magus

Chapter 4269: Same Principles (Part 1)

"You are correct, Morok." Salaark nodded. "What you are witnessing is only the final result of a complex process, though. Lith shares the burden of the Eyes and Ears not only with Solus and Ripha like usual, but also with the tower itself."

"How is that possible?" Aran took out his Grimoire and ink, ready to take notes. "I mean, my Big Brother always used the different floors of the tower to surpass his limits and Forgemaster wonders, but it never worked so well."

"In the past, Lith simply used the tower as the magical tool it is." The Overlord replied. "Each floor controls multiple enchantments, and Lith had to operate them one by one, just like you are doing with your ink and Grimoire, Aran.

"Now, instead, he is using the tower like an extension of himself." She used her breathing technique, Mother Sun, to make the invisible visible and brought the deep breath that Lith took before every blow to their attention.

"For a brief moment, Lith merges with the power cores of the artifacts stored in the Armory, those of the Menadion Set, and even with the tower core. He no longer needs to command the various enchantments. Lith thinks, and they follow.

"On top of that, the mana stored in the tower and the artifacts he controls is temporarily shared with the other Forgemasters. For a heartbeat, they are stronger than they ever were and ever will be.

"The energy Lith gives them fills their bodies and cores to the brims and then fades. You can consider the process akin to Invigoration, and its effects are quite similar. That single breath overcharges your aunts and uncles, and the energy it leaves behind is used by their bodies to restore part of the lost energy and relieve their fatigue.

"Moreover, everyone spends little mana since the energy that Lith shares with them is consumed first. This technique is less effective than Invigoration, but it causes no mana abuse.

"When anyone needs to replenish their strength, they’ll discover that their breathing technique retains its full potency."

"What about the Dread Flames?" Nalrond asked. "I’ve never seen Lith use them to Forgemaster something or heard of any technique that employs any kind of mystical flames."

"The Dread Flames are another main factor of Lith’s new technique." Salaark replied. "He releases only a sliver of Dread Flames at a time, and he uses them to burn away the wild surges that plague every Forgemastering process.

"No matter if the world energy coming from the geyser suddenly fluctuates, the hand of someone slips, or if an unforeseen interaction between the core and the glaive arises.

"The Dread Flames burn away everything unneeded, tipping the balance whenever it shifts in the wrong direction and reducing the number of imperfections that form with each blow to a minimum."

"Lith is doing all this? Alone?" Elina had always been proud of her son, but now she felt as if even her motherly love had wildly underestimated his talent.

"No." The Overlord shook her head. "Not alone. It’s Ripha who guides everyone’s hand here. She uses the readings of the Eyes and Ears to study everything and everyone inside the Forge, helping them tap into their full potential.

"She tells them how, when, and where to strike, learning and adapting to the various Forgemastering approaches as the process goes on. She teaches Solus through her body, Lith through the black chains, and everyone else through the Demons.

"Without her help, there would be too much information for Lith to process in so little time. His brain would have overloaded after the first strike, and he could never exert such surgical control over the Dread Flames."

"Even with the help of the tower and the Menadion Set?" Leria asked.

"Yes, even with that." The Overlord didn’t like to lie to her Featherlings, but like every competent Forgemaster, she knew how to keep a secret, especially those of her apprentices.

’No artifact is helping Lith and Solus, only Ripha. They are doing everything by themselves.’ She inwardly smiled. ’I can’t believe Lith finally did it. He understood how to apply the principles of Blade Spells to the tower, and with it, to his Forgemastering technique.

’He didn’t ask the help of Yaga and Dawn because he needed the power of their towers, but to use them as exhaust ports. Lith first fills Dawn and Yaga with mana since they can safely discharge what they don’t need through Bloodhaven, Sunrise, and Acala.

’Then, he uses what he learns from them to send to his weaker and not immortal friends what mana their bodies can safely tolerate.’

’I can’t believe that I’ve practiced magic for over 300 years, I’ve reached the pinnacle of Forgemastery, and crafted dozens of Blade Weapons, yet I’ve never thought about doing something like this.’ Menadion thought.

’I know that I was no warrior and that I only practiced Blade Magic enough to master the intricacies of Forgemastering Blade Weapons, but this is no excuse. If I hadn’t dismissed everything I didn’t need for my craft as irrelevant, my tower would be much stronger now.

’I would have been much stronger back in the day as well, and Bytra would have never managed to kill me if I had mastered Blade Spells.’

The First Ruler of the Flame was filled with regret for her past conceit and excitement about the role she was allowed to play in a new, revolutionary crafting method that her daughter had contributed to designing.

Menadion was a Forgemaster and an artisan to her core, so even though she had paid for her mistake with her life, the passion she had for the Forgemastering arts eclipsed every other emotion.

She was happy to see the next step of her work come to be hundreds of years after her death, and proud of what Solus and Lith achieved without any bloodline legacy to guide them along the right path.

Menadion gave her all with every breath she shared with Solus and every hammer blow that resounded through the Forge.

’So far so good.’ Lith thought. ’As long as I don’t let the power go to my head, we will succeed.’

What he had understood during his experiments with the glaive’s power core was that it was just a weaker, smaller version of the tower core. Lith could freely manipulate the energy of the power core because it was made of his own mana, but so was the tower core.

It was just much more complex and in a form he couldn’t change, but it worked according to the same principles. Lith had already learned how to connect with multiple power cores and fuse them with his mana core when he had learned Blade Magic.

All he had to do was expand his senses and apply the same technique to Solus’ tower to control its dozens of powerful enchantments with the same ease as he controlled chore magic.

’The only difference between this and using the Prime Engine is the lack of the command throne.’ Lith thought. ’The five pieces of the Menadion Set connect me to the floors of the tower and allow me to wield a power that not even the body of a Divine Beast can contain.’