Supreme Magus

Chapter 4552: Masters and Giants (Part 2)

Friya inwardly chuckled, and her doubts faded. The dimensional crystal in her hand stabilized immediately, shifting from a dirty violet swirling vortex to a clear bright violet.

Orion performed the Bonding spell between the elemental crystals and the Davross blade, following a precise order. Orange, yellow, blue, violet, red, black, and silver. Water, air, and earth magic were the basic elements to open a Warp Steps and fueled the violet crystal with their energy.

Fire magic boosted the conjured dimensional energies, letting a mage cast quick spells like Blink, while light and darkness granted fine control over dimensional spells and made it possible to alter the shape, size, and number of their entry and exit points.

Spells like Switch or Nightmaze were impossible without the fire, darkness, and light elements. It was the reason the three elemental crystals studded above the dimensional gemstone amplified and supported the enchantments it produced.

Together with the three at the base, they would allow Skywarp to conjure powerful dimensional spells through the violet crystals without draining their mana reserves.

Tezka’s configuration maximized the efficiency and duration of a dimensional crystal at the cost of reducing the prowess of all the non-dimensional enchantments, but he didn’t care about that, and neither did Friya.

Orion and the others applied the crystals’ sequence on either side of Skywarp, and then added two powerful white crystals, one at the base of each blade, for a total of eighteen crystals.

The floating spell matrix had never stopped wailing for a single second, and everyone had to do their best to ignore it.

’I wish I could Hush it, but I can’t risk adding an extra spell and messing up with the delicate balance of the Mana Spring array.’ Orion thought as he moved on to the next preparatory phase of the Forgemastery process, Runesmithing.

He picked the Davross sheets on top of the pile, freeing the runes trapped on their surface with a wave of his hand. He knew Skywarp like the back of his hand and knew where every single rune had to be positioned down to the millimeter.

The Overlord gritted her teeth in annoyance when the first of her predictions turned out to be correct. Each metal sheet held one runic pattern, saving Orion the time and focus to cast it.

All he had to do was free the runes from their metal prison and arrange them over their new vessel. Orion repeated the process ten times, waiting for the mana circulatory system to adapt to the newcomers and his assistants to regain their strength.

Once he was done with the Runesmithing phase, he checked with Invigoration that there were no imperfections in his work before moving on to the final phase of the Forgemastery process.

He focused on the still-cloaked spell matrix floating over his Forge, erasing all the unnecessary or redundant runes that formed the multiple layers of pseudo cores. Then he arranged the remaining Davross sheets in a circle around him.

’I knew it!’ Salaark clenched her fists in annoyance and awe in equal measure. ’Those weird artifacts can hold all kinds of runes, including those necessary to form a pseudo core.

’Orion used them to craft the new cores for Skywarp as a step of the preparatory phase. He isn’t spending a single iota of mana or focus to conjure them; he just needs to align and arrange the rune strings of the single pseudo cores. With the mana he receives from the array, that’s child’s play.’

Orion altered the shape and size of the spell matrix, turning the many pseudo cores into a single power core. Skywarp no longer had multiple enchantments that would produce a single effect.

Its semi-sentience was now in control of a great number of magical runes that would conjure many different enchantments based on the order in which they were activated. While the old Skywarp could combine its enchantments into a limited number of powerful spells, the new Skywarp had a limited grimoire of its own.

The number and kind of pseudo cores didn’t limit the glaive’s combat abilities anymore. Skywarp and its future master now had access to all the runes that formed its power core and could combine them freely to conjure any effect they could think of.

’Focus your power. It’s time for the final ordeal.’ Orion said, and everyone took their Forgemastering hammer.

In the original Ernas’ crafting method, the assistants would have placed their hands on their respective anvils, using them to amplify their mana and cleanse it of their energy signatures.

The enchanted Adamant wasn’t limited to world energy and worked on mana just as well, but the process needed time. Orion had updated the Ernas’ crafting method to include Menadion’s Mana Well technique, further boosting its capabilities.

The five Forgemasters charged their hammers with their mana and passed it on their respective Forges for the enchanted tool to amplify their mana and cleanse it of their energy signature.

They never retrieved it, focusing solely on charging their hammers to the brim again. Only Orion rhythmically struck his Davross Forge, collecting the mana received from his assistants and ensuring his energy signature was the only one remaining.

The Davross of his anvil had the best mana-amplification and -absorption abilities, and was placed at the heart of the mana geyser. Even one against four, it tamed the energy flow coming from the lesser anvils like an alpha wolf with his pack.

Orion brought the spell matrix closer and closer to the lifeless Davross glaive until Skywarp’s quasi-mind recognized its body. The mana contained in the power core generated arcs of energy that bridged matter and energy, forming a weak connection with the mana circulatory system.

’Now!’ At Orion’s signal, his assistants activated the main enchantment of their anvils, and the metal blocks fired a beam of pure mana from the mana crystals studded on their side facing the Davross Forge.

Orion combined his mana core with the Mana Spring array, the anvils, and the Davross-encased white crystals to harness a power that far exceeded what any bright violet-cored mage could ever dream of conjuring.

He spent a fraction of the accumulated energy to coat the spell matrix, and the rest to strike at it from above like the energy hammer of an angry god. The mana layer didn’t weaken the blow; it only dispersed the aftershock and limited the number of imperfections that arose from the clash of energy and metal.

Orion proceeded to restore the power core to its original shape, while his assistants struck their anvils again and the artifacts started the cleansing process anew. Before delivering the next blow, Orion twisted his right hand and the Davross-encased crystals turned 90 degrees.

A new Forgemastery array replaced the old one in a seamless flow of energy that didn’t disrupt the process’s delicate balance.

’I see.’ The Overlord’s eyes widened in wonder. ’Those crystals have more than one purpose. By switching a few runes, the array can now better transmit Orion’s mana from him to the power core and from the power core into the future artifact.

’The temporary connection will flood the Davross with his mana and reduce the resistance it will offer to the power core.’