1880 Only Idiots Never Share (Part 2)

"As you already know, the current magic holding rings have terrible limitations. They cannot store a spell of a different tier from their own and they cannot be used by anyone who isn't their owner." Balkor said.

"On paper, there's nothing wrong with it, but look at the issue from another perspective. Every mage has something they excel at and something they suck at. For example, I can't match Orion's defense as a Mage Knight just like he can't match the destructive power of my spells.

"If I could charge his rings and him mine, we would cover our respective weaknesses. We would also always have at the ready spells that we are only able to cast slowly and with sub-par effects."

"On top of that, it would allow even a non-mage to use powerful spells." Vastor chimed in. "This research started because Jirni wanted to get rid of Deirus, but after Manohar got ahold of the Spell Hoarding Cube, he saw a fix to all of our problems.

"Jirni and I arranged this lab because her wits can only bring her so far against overwhelming power. The purpose of our proto cubes is to store each at least one spell of any tier and make them accessible to anyone who imprints them."

"Tier one to five?" Solus asked.

"No. Any tier." Orion shook his head. "Our current problem is that we have failed to find a way to avoid the conflict between the willpower of the owner of the spell and that of the owner of the cube."

"You- no, we are indeed very lucky." Lith smiled as another piece of the puzzle fell into place. "I think I have exactly what you need and you have what I've been missing all along."

Lith took the flask for the Origin Flames and the Orc Shaman's crystal out of his pocket dimension. Everyone was shocked at the sight of the gemstone, but Vastor more than the others.

The violet crystal had become much bigger than he remembered and had turned into a pristine white. It now held more power than any of the Archmages in the room.

"Professor, do we have your permission to share the spell for the tracking device?" Solus had always dreamed of attending an academy and acted no different from one of Vastor's students.

"Sure, lass." He found himself patting her head as if she was a first year who had given a correct answer.

Solus squirmed in joy and passed along two spells. One to study the memory function of the shaman's crystal and the other to study the flask's ability to hold two imprints at the same time.

Knowing that they would work with fake mages and with no desire to use Invigoration in front of people like Balkor, they had prepared a fake spell that would give them the same information but only about the flask.

"Good gods." Orion said after trying them both. "I had the answer, no, dozens of answers in my very lab and I never noticed."

Then, the god of Forgemastery turned towards the god of the battlefield.

"If this is the Orc Crystal that Lith stole and it contains your tracking device, then it means that you planned to steal it as well. Even worse, you threw an entire tribe of powerful monsters against a bunch of kids!" His voice was full of reproach, but Vastor just shrugged.

"The Kingdom taught me how to dirty my hands and never feel guilty about it. I don't see why I should use my skills only to benefit a bunch of ungrateful bastards. Mark my words, if it wasn't for Manohar, I would've sat out of this war.

"I'm tired of being used and then forgotten once my services are no longer required."

Orion opened his mouth to reply but Balkor stopped him.

"If we turn this into a debate about the Kingdom, things are going to get ugly." Balkor pointed at himself and Lith. "I'm sorry for your father, kid. Yet I also envy you, because you managed to save him."

Orion looked at Lith and saw the deep sadness in his eyes. He couldn't even think what would he do if such a thing had happened to his wife or his little Flower instead of Raaz.

"Thanks." Lith nodded. "Before we start, I still have to show you something. As my master Faluel the Hydra always says, only an idiot never shares."

He made Trouble and Raptor appear, their bodies a shining mass of Adamant. Embedded in their chests, right where the heart once had been, there was an emerald mana crystal, the most recent of Lith's prototypes.

"I'll help you with your research only if you help me with mine." Lith said. "The Demons I conjure have a fatal weakness. They take me too much time and energy to conjure, leaving me weakened."

Lith could use Invigoration to recover his strength, but with each consecutive use, it would lose effectiveness. Using his breathing technique to charge up the Demons would leave it severely weakened once the real battle started.

"On top of that, while a living being has mana and stamina and can alternate using them to recover their strength, my Demons have only one source of energy and no recovery ability.

"Every hit they take, every spell they cast makes them weaker and the only way they can regain their strength is that I give them more of my energy. Such a strategy can work against a few powerful opponents if I have the time to prepare, but they are pointless otherwise.

"My golems will allow me to overcome these weaknesses. The mana crystals will fuel them and by harnessing my very same bloodline abilities, they will be capable of refueling my Demons when necessary.

"Also, by keeping part of my personality they will also be able to lead the Demons into battle and use their energy wisely. Countless birds with one stone. Yet no matter how many times I try, I always fail." Lith said.

"If this gives me the opportunity to study Awakened magic, count me in." Orion and Balkor nodded.

"I'm going to leave you my magical legacy so helping you is a duty for this old fart." Vastor said. "Also, I'm very curious about your Demons. Helping your research may be the key to cracking my own."

"One last thing." Solus said. "Everything that's shared in here stays in here. We don't want our techniques to be spread, especially in the Kingdom."

She said while looking at Orion.

"Of course." He nodded. "I'll add it to the Ernas legacy but the Royal Forgemasters will never hear about it from me."

"Your constant use of 'we' is a bit creepy, but I give you my word I won't share your secrets." Balkor said, making Solus turn pale.

She still had problems remembering that she only had to speak for herself to not betray her bond with Lith.

"Agreed." Vastor said. "Now let's get to work. Our time is limited and we've wasted enough chatting. The war waits for no one."

***

Thanks to the powerful mana geysers below Salaark's palace, Aerth's, and Jirni's lab, Solus' core became stronger by the day. Spending most of her time with Lith only made her progress faster.

They worked with both the Archmages team and the Blue Phoenix on different aspects of the problem, using the answer they got from one to help the other.