1982 New Floors (Part 4)
"None of you had any reason to stay behind and follow me right after your demise. Even though you haven't given me your full loyalty, you haven't betrayed my trust either.
"When I conjured you in front of the Royals, you could have exposed my tower and Solus. The Kingdom would have greatly benefitted from such knowledge and the Crown would have asked much more from me.
"Yet you didn't, Locrias. You guarded my secrets just like you protected my family whenever I asked you to. You guys may be dead, but you still feel pain when you are hurt and you suffer from your condition as Demons.
"The cycle of dreams and nightmares would have broken lesser people, yet you three endure them on a daily basis without complaining. You always answer my call and are willing to fight for my sake even when it's not the safety of the Kingdom at stake but my interests.
"For that I'm grateful to you, and you deserve more than the living space of a feather from me. Locrias, Valia, you have my word that I'll make sure that the Crown rewards you for your valor and that your prizes go to your families."
"Thanks, my liege." Trion was the first to kneel, creeping Tista a bit.
Even though there was little love between them, he was still her older brother. Comparing his old attitude with the current deference toward Lith made her think that either Trion had truly changed or that a slave spell had to be involved.
"Thanks." The other two kneeled as well, bringing his hand to their forehead as they had done to Kamila. "You have our solemn oath that we'll defend your household like our own.
"We'll protect your secrets with our lives and we'll never use anything you are gifting upon us against you, no matter our orders."
Lith nodded and let them go back to their training.
Those who hadn't met Lith since he was still struggling with the bottleneck of the deep violet core remained shocked by the change in his attitude.
He hadn't threatened to dispel their souls the moment they attempted to betray him, nor had he mocked them for their blind loyalty to a Kingdom that had already forgotten about them.
There was now a confidence in him that made those words pointless. Lith was now at peace with himself and that allowed him to stop seeing threats where there were none and to treat people right.
He trusted none of his Demons, but he respected them and their beliefs. The feeling was returned in kind and the more they learned about him, the more simple resignation to their condition turned into trust and loyalty.
"How does the Factory work, exactly?" Salaark asked once the prolonged gawking stopped amusing her.
"It's actually the result of the combination of several different floors working in unison." Lith replied. "I have to store the production method in the Library and the necessary Forgemastery arrays in the Heart.
"Then, I have to decide if to craft something for real, in which case the materials come from the Crucible, the Mine, and the pocket dimension, or just to make a mock-up. If it's the latter, the Workshop provides the Factory with the test materials.
"In either case, the smithy then smelts the metals and gives them the proper shape before the enchantment process starts. My skills as a blacksmith are still lacking, but I can easily purify anything with Origin Flames and I need but a rough sketch for the tower to create a proper mold.
"Once everything is set, the Factory can produce both alchemical and enchanted items without any supervision from either me or Solus.
"Thanks to this new floor, we are freely experimenting with wands, Thundercrash, and even on how our old enchantments interact with the various parts of Syrook's body.
"Also, my Demons can try out countless weapons and enchantments until they found one suitable for their own mana flow and learn Blade Magic."
"Can we use it as well?" Quylla asked, eager to increase her battle prowess.
"Sure." Lith shrugged. "As long as you stay in the tower and work on your own manufacturing methods. I don't have the time to focus on more people. I've a lot on my plate already."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Tista pouted. "I could use learning Blade Magic and I spent most of my free time with Solus when she wasn't with you."
"That's actually on me, Tista." Solus replied. "You were hurt and lonely. You needed a friend and some time to come to terms with the consequences of your actions in the Hogum mansion.
"I kept it a secret from you because I thought that rather than bury yourself in training, you needed to confront your inner demons."
Tista's eyes narrowed in annoyance and she pursed her lips to hold back harsh words about Solus' interference with her personal life. Then, she realized that Solus had done it only out of concern and her expression softened.
"Thanks, Solus. I don't know if resting was the right thing to do with the War of the Griffons still ravaging the Kingdom, but it definitely helped me."
"You are welcome." Solus said with a warm smile.
"Let's move to the upper floors. There are still two new levels you need to see." Lith snapped his fingers, Warping them all straight to the floor that had appeared between the Greenhouse and the Heart of the tower.
The circular room was empty, looking exactly like the Workshop. After having underestimated Menadion's creativity already, everyone kept their mouth shut, waiting for the explanation.
"This is the Firing Range." Solus said. "Unlike the Workshop, it's just as you see it. Empty. The purpose of this room is to put to the test the weapons we craft, their enchantments, and our new spells."
A choir of furrowed brows and puzzled looks welcomed her words.
"To what end?" Faluel said, expressing the words in everyone's mind.
"One of the biggest issues when learning Blade Magic is to find a place where to practice without causing pointless destruction or drawing attention." Solus replied. "The same stands for powerful tier five spells.
"A mage needs to test out their creations, but at the same time, they don't want them to be witnessed. A Dragon might learn it, stealing in seconds months of hard work while a simple passerby might witness the quirks of the spell and spread the tale.
"If it happens, the surprise effect would be lost. On top of that, every time we crafted a new piece of equipment for ourselves, we had to wait for a worthy opponent to test it out.
"We couldn't go all out against a friend nor could we risk getting seriously hurt just to test the durability of an armor. The Firing Range solves such problems. Look."
Solus weaved a tier five spell, Final Eclipse, and unleashed it against the wall in front of her. The Firing Range shone with white light, filtering the world energy unnecessary elements until only fire and darkness remained.
A second Final Eclipse burst from the wall, countering Solus' with the same strength so that not a single tongue of fire reached its target nor any of those present.
