Supreme Magus

Chapter 4361: Bleak Future (Part 1)

’You, however, would expose your treachery to Orpal and make an enemy out of Salaark.’ The Black Throne said.

’Do you want her eye to scour Garlen for us more than she already does? Can we succeed in the most basic task if she deploys her Nest against us the moment her network of spies spots our presence?’

Uragar lowered his gaze in humiliation, shaking his head.

’That’s not all.’ Jorl crossed his arms. ’Verhen hasn’t exposed our treachery, nor did he spread a word about the Black Throne, not out of the goodness of his heart, but because we share the same goal.

’He wants Orpal dead and so do we. If we threaten the secret of his power, he’ll return the favor. Just revealing that the Black Throne exists and we know how to find him would make us the most wanted creatures on Mogar.

’Everyone would believe Verhen and start hunting the Black Throne down to uncover the secret of tower crafting. He is a cursed object, and no one would hesitate for one second to examine him with any means necessary.

’Learning about Solus Verhen’s alleged tower helps us plan our next moves around him, but that’s it. We have nothing to gain from exposing her secret and everything to lose. From now on, we’ll avoid her and Verhen.

’If we can’t avoid them, we’ll run. Fighting is not an option, especially above a mana geyser. If she really possesses the tower of Menadion, I can’t hold a candle to its battle form.

’Tell no one about this, Uragar. There’s no telling how many idiots like you we have in our ranks. I’ll inform Akhton because I can’t afford one of my generals not to see the bigger picture and I trust him to do the right thing.’

The Book of Knowledge thought long and hard, looking for a way to earn more than a painful death from blackmailing Lith if he truly had access to the legendary tower of Menadion.

He found none.

***

Verhen Mansion, the morning after.

"I can’t believe we have so much Adamant that I could craft an entire armor set for myself!" Solus performed the Verhen dance of joy accompanied by Aran, Leran, and the triplets.

"Enough to make equipment for everyone!" Aran said.

"Everyone!" The triplets echoed.

"For the last time, I’ll only make you Wyrmling-sized equipment on my dime." Lith snorted. "If you awaken your bloodline and become Demons, the materials for your Divine Beast equipment are on you."

"Please, Uncle/Big Brother Lith, don’t be so stingy!" The children attacked with a barrage of cute voices and puppy eyes, but Lith countered fire with fire.

He shoved Elysia and Raldarak in the kids’ faces, who were drowned in much cuter noise and the innocent eyes that only a baby could have.

"Awa!" Elysia hugged her uncle, making him feel like the scum of Mogar.

"Mama!" Raldarak nuzzled at the triplets, bringing them to their knees in guilt.

"What about my children, then?" Lith asked. "Would you have them go out in the world helpless because I had to put you first?"

"No." Leria whimpered. Elysia calling her "Lelia" almost broke her heart. "You are their dad, and we’d never get between you."

"What about Cousin Val?" Falco asked. "Aren’t you worried about him?"

"No, because he has a full set of equipment waiting for him already." Lith shook his head. "As for you, Solus, we can Forgemaster you an armor, but then we wouldn’t have enough for a weapon.

"You need your own version of Double Edge, or the moment an opponent goes beyond the size of a human, you’d be as good as unarmed."

"I’m already as good as unarmed." She sighed. "Just look at what happened when I fought Jorl. My Fury is an unparalleled masterpiece, but it couldn’t take a single blow from his Divine Beast-sized maces.

"Thank Mom I had the Fury’s copies to block. I don’t want to even think what would have happened if I had to use the real Fury or my poor Staff."

"Please, don’t." The Sage Staff quivered at the idea. "Me no like. No like!"

"Don’t worry, I won’t." Solus patted the Staff’s head.

"Say what you want, but the Verhen dance of greed is even creepier than a talking piece of wood with human eyes for decoration." Menadion snorted.

"Mom!" Solus grunted in anger. "The Sage Staff is not creepy, and that was the dance of joy!"

"Joy for a bunch of magic metal." Menadion replied. "That sounds like greed to me. What about you, Kami?"

"Definitely greed." Kamila sighed. "Dragon Greed, if you ask me."

"You too, Kami?" Solus and the children felt betrayed. "Then what about Friya? She’s been walking on air since Tezka promised her to teach her how to craft dimensional crystals. Is she greedy too?"

"No, she’s just a weirdo." Kamila shrugged.

"Hey, I resent that!" Friya said. "I am a weird- I mean, a dimensional mage who has the opportunity to perfect her craft under the guidance of the inventor of dimensional magic himself. How else am I supposed to react?"

"You’re right, and I’m sorry." Kamila raised her hands. "You’re not just a weirdo, you are a dimensional magic fanatic weirdo."

"Thanks, I- Hey!"

"She has a point, dear." Nalrond sighed. "You have not stopped talking about dimensional magic ever since Tezka left the Mansion."

"Because he showed me Infinity Magic and explained Eternity Magic to me!" Friya replied in outrage. "Just the-"

"Discovery of the existence of the apex forms of dimensional and gravity magic opens countless possibilities. Anyone who could understand the theory behind Infinity and Eternity Magic would be hailed as a new Magus!

"All the textbooks of the six great academies would need to be rewritten from scratch!" Nalrond said with the squeaky, high-pitched voice that was his best impression of Friya.

"I know, dammit! I understood that the first one hundred times you said it. The other one thousand only made my ears bleed."

"You’re being dramatic!" Friya blushed in embarrassment. "Be honest with me, guys. Was I really-"

"Yes!" Everyone said, even Ragnarök.

The angry blade always kept to itself, rarely speaking unless spoken to or possessed by the frenzy of the battle. Hearing Ragnarök’s voice shocked everyone and was the final nail in the coffin of Friya’s denial.

"Fine, I’m sorry. I’ll limit my enthusiastic rants about dimensional magic to twice per day." She whined.

"And we appreciate you for it." Nalrond massaged his sore ears. "By the way, how did Faluel take Tezka’s demands?"

"She didn’t like them much, but she got over it quickly." Friya swallowed a long speech about how hard studying Infinity Magic would be with just her and the Hydra. "After all, she gets to attend Tezka’s lessons.

"She’ll be the first Hydra ever to craft dimensional crystals, and that will increase both her reputation as a mage and how much she charges for her Forgemastering works.

"Fyrwal, on the other hand, took it as a personal offense. She hoped to add you-know-what to her feats as the new leader of the Hydra clan, but she knows that Tezka isn’t someone she can take lightly."

"She’s still in a corner of her lair, crying at the idea of how much she lost in potential profits."