Chapter 1620 - Life And Death (Part 2)

Lith used the Spirit Eye to sever Mogar's energy signature from the world energy and replaced it with his own. The crystal was now filled with mana that offered no resistance to him.

Then, Lith used his yellow eye to isolate and amplify the air element, turning the crystal into a muddy ochre. He had no natural affinity toward air and if not for the Spirit eye, his level of mastery would have been too low to succeed.

Yet by combining his skill with Spirit Magic, Crystalsmithing, and Dominance he had carved a path toward success that very few could use.

"Good gods!" Tista said in amazement, seeing how Lith refined the crystal much more smoothly and quickly than Solus. "I have no idea what he is doing with his eyes, but can I do the same thing?"

"Sure. Once you have seven eyes and a violet core." Lith snarled in frustration.

Even with a core much stronger than Solus's and Spirit Dominance, creating an altered crystal was still a mammoth task. He now understood why Solus had reacted so harshly back when he had disturbed her focus.

"Can you do that?" Tista asked Friya who shook her head in reply.

"It's called cheating. Deal with it and shut up!" Lith said.

One final burst of Dominance and willpower turned the ochre into a radiant yellow air crystal that he added to the staff as well.

The moment the mana circulatory system accepted the third energy flow without any hitch, Lith fell to the ground panting and covered in sweat.

"You can talk now." Solus said. "Sorry if we forbid you to use mind links, but even the presence of the feeblest of spells can screw a Forgemastering process."

"Can you teach me how to do the thing with the eyes?" Tista said while making her irises change from red to silver at will. She had understood that her eyes and elemental affinities were somehow linked, but she had no idea of its significance.

"Maybe." Solus said while Lith gulped down a tonic. "Right now, he is forbidden to, but if you manage to open a third eye Faluel might give her permission."

"That's not fair! It will be years before…" While Tista rambled, the other three discussed the procedure via a mind link.

'This sure explains why Menadion had such troubles mastering the white crystals.' Friya said. 'Unless someone taught her Dominance, having a natural affinity to all elements could only bring her that far.'

'Dominance isn't really necessary to get the job done.' Solus said since Lith's thoughts amounted to a bunch of swear words. 'It's like a crutch that helps the mage.'

'A crutch my sweet ass! It's more like a road map.' Friya replied. 'I've gotten natural affinity to all elements, a blue core, and I practiced with the crystals as much as you did yet I'm still stuck at singling out the elemental flows.

'Why didn't you share this method with me? It would have given me the opportunity to practice Domination as well, killing two birds with one stone.'

Her thoughts didn't sound angry or envious, just hurt. Friya knew that Lith had no obligation to teach her, but throwing his technique in her face like that felt like a mix of bragging and lack of trust.

'Because I didn't want to affect your growth as a mage.' Lith replied. 'I discovered this method only thanks to my seventh eye and Solus managed to pull it off only thanks to her natural affinities.

'As you can see, using Domination like this is very demanding. It drains both energy and focus in a matter of minutes whereas we can practice the regular method for hours.

'On top of that, I never used this technique during regular practice because forcing my way into the world energy is a shortcut that allows me to exceed my limits but it doesn't help me deepen my understanding of Crystalsmithing.

'If I shared it with you, you would have wasted time trying to learn it as well. Consider that without the empowering effect that the tower has on us, we would lack the necessary strength to overpower even a crystal that small.'

'Point taken. Thanks for your honesty.' Friya said.

After resting for a few minutes, it was time to add the Balor's Eyes. One of the good things about the preparatory phase was that the mage could take their time with each step without compromising the final result.

It was akin to assembling a space shuttle. Only once the Forgemaster turned on the engine/power core would they see their creation soar through the sky or blow up.

The process that Lith had devices was the polar opposite that he had just used for the crystals and involved the use of Necromancy. First, he used his personal spell, Harmony, to conjure a gentle flow of world energy that surrounded the black eye.

Harmony filtered out the darkness element, discharging it outside the tower and leaving the rest to seep into the eye to restore the balance. At the same time, Lith used Dominance on both the black eye and the filtered world energy to make their energy signatures match.

His goal was to make the organic matter work akin to a mana crystal. It would not only facilitate the assimilation of the eye, but it would also protect the staff from side effects.

The darkness energy that the eye conjured non-stop was harmless to a living Balor whereas it would either erode an inorganic host or turn a corpse into an undead. Lith had no idea if the same would happen to the Yggdrasill branch and had no desire to find out.

'The last thing I need is to unleash an undead World Tree upon Mogar.' Lith thought as he used the Necromancy spell, Lingering Soul.

He had to spill a bit of his blood to provide the spell with the vitality it needed. For a brief moment, the branch came back to life and its wood fibers seeped inside the eye, replacing the blood in its vessels with lymph.

At the same time, the silver energy from the altered crystal neutralized the eye's dark energy the moment it tried to feed off the staff. The two elements fought for a while until their intensity matched and they became one.

"This is going to be tricky because I need to insert the last two eyes at the same time. Without their counterpart, one will freeze the staff while the other will burn it." He said while activating both Harmony and a six-elemental Dominance at the same time.

'Did you incorporate Dominance in all of your Forgemastering techniques or is this a special case?' Friya asked via a mind link before Lith started the process.

'Dominance is not something just meant for battle.' He replied. 'It's a tool meant to achieve control over someone else's power and perfect mastery over your own. I use Dominance every time I need a degree of finesse that my current abilities don't reach.

'I bet that the reason why Hydras are renowned as both Healers and Forgemasters is that their seven heads allow them to control all kinds of energies, even life forces.'

Lith had to be careful, casting each spell twice and keeping the eyes close so that they would constantly neutralize each other.