2957 Lost Secrets (Part 1)

Also, the Spark enriched with mana the blood and tissue samples that Lith and the others would use as amplifiers for the artifacts they would Forgemaster in the future.

"Okay. Here goes everything." Friya pressed the six elemental gems of her Hands of Menadion against those of the tower's Hands.

A notification in the tower's interface announced to Solus that the synch had been successful, but nothing happened.

"Farm, nothing happened! I knew it was too good to be-" The tower shook below their feet and cracks opened on the stone pedestal in the middle of the Spark. "By my Mom, I think we are putting too much stress on the tower.

"Either it needs to recover more floors in order to handle both artifacts or we did something we weren't supposed to. We need to reverse the process!"

While Solus and Friya tried to deactivate the synch between the two pairs of Hands, the cracks expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Or maybe not. Look!" Tista pointed at the fissures in the stone pedestal that were taking a precise circular form instead of spreading. "We were all wrong. It's no damage. The tower has just created a second slot for the other Hands."

"Correction, we were partly wrong." Solus checked the tower's interface and the status of the core. "I think this wasn't supposed to be possible, at least according to the old tower's schematics and the process is indeed straining the tower."

"What do you mean?" Lith asked. "Aren't identical pieces of the Sets of Menadion naturally capable of working like a single unit?"

"Yes, but the pieces that my mother gifted to her apprentices weren't supposed to link with the tower. It became possible because the tower is incomplete and once synched, the tower core mistook Friya's Hands for another missing piece.

"It's like when we become one, Lith. When it happens, the power core is no longer capable of distinguishing between us and fixes your life force as well. In the case of the Hands, it created an extra slot where there was none.

"The issue is that to do that, the tower core is rewriting itself to accommodate another artifact and deal with its foreign energy signature."

"I see." Lith pondered the issue for a while. "This means that as soon as the tower recovers from the changes, we need to go to the Thievery and the Grimoire to make room for the second set of Eyes.

"If we wait for too long, whatever new function the tower can gain by doubling the artifacts it is connected with will be lost. For once, the tower being in an incomplete state is not a handicap but a limited opportunity to gain an advantage."

"What about the Mouth?" Tista pointed out.

"We have no floor that works with the Mouth." Solus shrugged. "There's no rush for that."

"Gods, how can you guys be so calm? Aren't you curious?" Friya was quivering with curiosity.

She stood in front of the stone pedestal while holding the Hands but she didn't dare insert them without permission. A mage tower was the most sacred treasure a mage could have and Friya would never risk damaging such a priceless artifact.

"Yes!" Lith and Solus replied in frustration. "But this is new for us as well. Better be safe than sorry."

After a while, the tremors stopped and the stone pedestal was whole again. No cracks remained. The slot for the second pair of Hands was so cleanly cut that it seemed to have been chiseled by an artist with a scalpel.

Even then, Solus waited until the tower interface detected no more power fluctuations for ten minutes straight.

"Do it, but be ready to pull them out on my signal." Solus said and Friya nodded.

The moment she got close to the pedestal, the Hands escaped her grip and positioned themselves so that the right glove of one set was in front of the left of the other. This way, the Apprentice Hands could cup around the Master Hands.

The elemental crystals on the fingertips of the silver gloves touched those of the same color on the knuckles of the black gloves, leaving only the darkness gemstones on their backhands disconnected.

At least until a small blade came out from under both the magic crystals, bringing them forward until they touched, completing the circuit. At that moment, the tower's efficiency in handling the world energy skyrocketed.

It was still a long way from taking control of the entire output of the geyser but enough for the Spark to upgrade itself to make the best of the improved flow of energy.

New cables sprouted from the walls, seeping inside the artifacts that needed refinement and hastening the maturing of the biological samples.

"A weapon?" Lith had expected the changes in the Spark whereas the blade was a surprise, piquing his curiosity. "I thought the Hands were just a Forgemastering and teaching tool."

"Me too." Solus nodded. "I would think that it's just another upgrade caused by our bond, but that would be possible only for the Master's Hands. The Apprentice set was Forgemastered by my mother centuries ago and has never been modified."

"Sweet!" Faluel said from the communication amulet. As a good apprentice, Friya had called the Hydra to give her the good news. "I'll be there as soon as possible."

Once the Spark stabilized, it was the turn of the Thievery and the Grimoire. Both times the tower trembled and needed a while to adapt to the unexpected second artifact and its foreign energy signature.

Luckily, all the pieces of Menadion's set could be used by anyone as long as they received permission from the owner, creating a temporary secondary imprint that solved the energy signature problem.

For the Thievery, the stone pedestal split into two halves that positioned themselves at the opposite ends of the room. This way, the artifacts under scan would be reflected in the lenses of both sets of Eyes which in turn mirrored the reflected images endlessly.

Instead of deciphering one enchantment at a time, once coupled this way the Eyes studied the overall mana flow and the runes generating it. It was akin to go from deciphering a coded book to solving a jigsaw puzzle.

The more pieces the Eyes put together, the clearer the picture became and the easier finding the next matching piece.

In the Grimoire, instead, the pedestal remained the same and the Eyes sat next to each other, parallel processing the information acquired by both of them and working on multiple spells at the same time without affecting the speed of the single process.

"Well, this is nice. The only downside is that now the tower also has to rest." Lith sighed. "Even if the interface says that everything is okay, I'm not going to take risks. The tower is part of Solus and has become a living being.

"After so many changes, it needs to stabilize and recover. If anything happens during Nalrond's procedure, we can't afford to split our focus. I don't want to force anyone to choose between Solus' well-being and Nalrond's."

"Well, since we seem to have some free time, what do you say if I teach you how to use the Mouth properly, Tista?" Solus asked.