Supreme Magus

Chapter 4569: Lifting the Seal (Part 1)

"Explain." Canthusa rested his chin on his pincers.

"There’s no doubt the Horseman of Night is incompetent, and the Vurdalak isn’t worth calling a Divine Beast, but look at this." Pelhost conjured a hologram of one of the prisoner’s life force, and zoomed in on the empty spaces where mana organs were supposed to be.

"What am I supposed to look at?" The Great Patriarch asked.

"A life force is a very complex, delicate thing." Pelhost said. "Imagine it like a tapestry made of precious threads of different sizes and materials. Unravel it a bit, and if you don’t weave all those threads into a new pattern, you get a mess.

"With Body Sculpting, one mistake and the Lesser Ishara dies instead of becoming a full-blooded Divine Beast. Night, instead, recognized how lacking her skills were and found a way around it.

"Whenever she met threads she didn’t know how to weave, she cut them into a form and size she knew how to handle, reattached them, and wove them together. It left a hole and destroyed a good mana organ, but the Vurdalak’s life force is relatively stable.

"If we learn to do the same, we can use this method to sacrifice problematic mana organs or sections of a life force that might take too long to decipher with our actual knowledge and still turn a Lesser into a full Ishara.

"Of course, we’d keep members of the original bloodline as Lessers to preserve their potential while we look for a perfect solution and wouldn’t use this technique more than thrice on the same subject, but it’s still useful."

"It’s certainly better than extinction, and if a war with Rathi Council breaks out, we’ll have access to expendable powerful soldiers." Canthusa nodded. "Elaborate on the Vurdalak having a relatively stable life force."

"To help team leader Marnora and his troops in their endeavor, Great Patriarch, once we’ve finished studying the specimens’ life force, we worked on the development of their mana organs and evolutionary potential.

"The Dead King still misses the darkness and earth flames, and we tried to understand what Marnora can expect from them."

"A wise choice." Canthusa replied. "What did you find?"

"Well, one specimen died the moment the fifth flame ignited." Pelhost replied. "We don’t know if the subject being a dull violet contributed, but we are sure that his life force collapsed under its own weight.

"The sudden development of so many flames combined with the many empty spaces in the Vurdalak’s life force killed him. We hypothesize that to develop the full scope of his powers, the Dead King must either reach the bright violet or somehow fill the blanks left by his missing bloodline abilities.

"If we are right, then a Vurdalak with a complete life force and the bright violet might reach a different form depending on the combination and nature of the mana organs they acquired."

"Acquire? Don’t you mean develop?" The Great Patriarch asked. "Bloodline abilities aren’t something you can buy."

"Indeed, but based on Verhen’s warning to the women carrying the Dead King’s children, the results of our observations, and the hostility the two subjects displayed when put in the same room, it’s safe to assume the light-based bloodline ability allows the Dead King to do more than feed on other Vurdalaks." The researcher said.

"Yet this is just a hypothesis. To verify it, we need more test subjects, and they must belong to races who, unlike humans, possess bloodline abilities."

"Denied." Canthusa replied. "No one cares about such a wretched race. The blood of Selkis must exterminate those vile monsters before they become a threat to Rathi. I will only capture more Vurdalaks if you need them to uncover something that can benefit us."

"Then any Vurdalak will do." Pelhost clicked his mandibles to express his annoyance. "We need more test subjects to understand how to ensure the survival of a maimed life force. Keeping our only specimen alive limits our... options."

"What the blood of Selkis needs, our troops from Garlen shall deliver." The Great Patriarch said. "Anything else?"

"I require permission to interrogate the remaining subject, Great Patriarch." The researcher replied. "If we discover the Dead King’s hideout, getting more test subjects would be easier. Also, we could wipe them out once we’re finished studying the Vurdalak’s potential."

"There’s no point in doing that." Canthusa shook his head. "If we raid the Dead King’s base for specimens, he’d relocate. If we don’t, he might relocate later and make the information obsolete.

"Besides, we need the Dead King alive as a common enemy with the Garlen Council and an excuse to keep our forces deployed. With a bit of work, we can frame him for Verhen’s disappearance once we get our hands on him and Valeron the Second."

***

Garlen Continent, Griffon Kingdom, Verhen Mansion, at the same time.

"Not that one more guest makes much of a difference at this point, especially a paying one, but why are you still here, Ajatar?" Lith asked.

"I’m hiding from those damn gold diggers. Everyone in the Awakened Council knows where I live, and I need a place to stay until the dust settles." The Sapphire Dragon replied. "Also, I’m catching up with my adorable godchildren. Is that a crime?"

Orikan and Jirya loved their scaly godfather and played with him all day, giving their stressed parents the break they so desperately needed. Ajatar quickly became one of the children’s favorite uncles when he used his sapphire energy form to run safely through the house in silly forms.

"No, it’s not. You can stay here for as long as you need." Lith groaned, having walked more than one mile in Ajatar’s shoes. "How does it feel knowing you are one of the missing links between the violet and the white core?"

"Excited and stressed out in equal measure." Ajatar had shared everything he had learned about his nature with Lith and Morok, considering their bond of trust deep and solid.

Moreover, he used the Infirmary and Lith’s and Solus’ expertise as Healers to double-check the data collected by the Fire Dragons about his mana organs and ensure they hadn’t hidden anything from him.

"I’m excited because it means I might discover the secret of the white as I practice my spells and abilities. I’m stressed because it’s a lot of work, and I’m terrified that someone I don’t like might learn my secret.

"Awakened from all over Mogar would hunt me down, and I’d have to live watching over my shoulder, just like the Hordes."

"I hear you." Solus nodded. "Your secret is on par with mine."

"Since we are at it, I have no clue how my Sapphire Fusion or the Hordes’ life force are linked to the white core." Ajatar said. "Do you have any ideas?"

"None." Quylla replied. "But I could really use your help with my research, Ajatar. You can study my treatments for the people of Zelex with your Dragon Eyes and tell me-"

"Ajatar, darling! How are you doing?" The Sapphire Dragon had also shared everything with Faluel, and regretted it ever since.

"Have you practiced a lot with Lith recently? You look ripped." Fyrwal stared at him with ravenous eyes.