Moulin's brows furrowed, and his heartbeat quickened significantly. He did not dare to speak lest Calanthe could predict his excuses. Under her strangely oppressing gaze, he realized that she would drill the answers out of him if she must.
Moulin shifted and decided to face her without lies. His silver eyes lowered, "Deep in the ancient mountains of Corhan, lies a black gemstone in deep slumber. Awakened only when its fate has co to take it, holding the power of moon deities and the strength of giants. For eons, it has lain dormant, dreaming of its ascent back to the heavens. Like a butterfly within its chrysalis, it patiently awaits to take its true form."
Moulin hesitantly continued, "... No evil can touch it. It sears malevolence to its deepest core and vanquishes miasma. A rare crystal that thrived in regions where light and shadow t. Legends spoke of its dual nature, able to absorb darkness without succumbing to it while radiating energy in return."
Lady Calanthe listened silently, putting her stuff away. The familiar aura of her mana swept around the two of them protectively. "Why has this ancient stone caught your attention?"
Silver eyes sharpened, "I have been secretly working on sothing for several days. And it is missing one crucial piece..."
"And I believe it is related to the cursed scroll I had given to you?"
The youth blinked. "Yes..."
Lady Calanthe tries to discern his expression. "I gave that scroll to you, knowing that you might use it to align with your goals. But how far have you thought it through?"
Moulin hesitated, clenching his hidden fists. Nodding, the sorceress sighed. "It seems not far enough."
"But I have been progressing well, "I've crafted a magic formation using the scroll's primary runes and pieced together information from the fragnts I could find. Yes, my resources are limited, but I've worked with what I had, building theories where gaps remained. It's imperfect, but there is promise. What I need now is assistance to test it—and a powerful magical relic to prove its worth."
Perhaps it was the mounting frustration with the spell or the fact that another had pointed out his sluggish progress, but Moulin felt helpless yet driven. Helpless that he could not quicken his pace fast enough yet fiercely driven to do whatever it took to complete this sudden goal. With a weary sigh, the youth leaned on the table with a hand on his forehead.
To Lady Calanthe, it was a rare sight to witness releasing his frustrations openly and boldly. It brought a smile to her lips. This was the usual youthful act she was expecting.
"Tell of your findings..." She spoke softly as though in comfort.
Moulin raised his gaze and locked eyes with her for a few seconds. After hesitating, he began to describe how he reversed the spell of the scroll and the ideas that ca and used to develop a rare magic formation. The words flowed freely from his mouth, all while wearing a serious expression.
When Moulin felt his words weren't enough, he led Lady Calanthe to his secret study in his bedroom and showed her the intricacies of his plan. They cramped into the old study without hurry and the old sorceress listened silently and seriously. Her wrinkly hands carefully traced the lattice patterns scrawled all over the parchnt. Smudges of ink decorated it making it look as though the person who wrote it was in much conflict with ti and with himself.
Although the process seed abrupt and ssy, one could easily understand it. The goal seed simple, however, to achieve it, much preparation had to be done. It appears the young man was determined to see the end of his findings. But first, it must be tested.
"Have you tried it?" She asked.
A crease appeared between the youth's slender brows. Silver eyes glanced at the small box of broken relics he stashed in the far corner of the desk.
"I have. But it needed a more potent miasma to succeed. I manage to extract remnants from myself that have clung hidden within my artificial arm." He touches his arm, embellished with golden marks. "The process succeeded. However, every relic that housed the transfusion broke within re seconds and the process took longer than expected. Furthermore the pure energy I extracted, held wisps of maisma left."
Calanthe stared at him and assessed each corner of the room. Her silent gaze made Moulin a bit nervous. He was far from the talented seers and mage that she had crossed paths with throughout her life. A novice artificer forced to master hundreds of techniques in each session, wherein each one always began sloppy and reckless.
After a long minute, she finally opened her mouth. "Fascinating."
Moulin's eyes widened in surprise.
The sorceress took a piece of shattered relic from the box, turning it in her fingers. Her deep gaze looked curious and impressed. "I had thought it would take weeks or even months for one to decipher the forbidden scroll. My first apprentice nearly perished when she tried to unravel it. It devoured her mana and spiritual essence and almost used her body to gain a physical vessel. I had so hopes for you given how special you are, but I never expected to be welcod with so promising results. Well done."
Her words flowed into Moulin's ears. Confusion clouded his thoughts, and he shook his head to clear it. "I have yet to truly uncover a successful result, My Lady. I need more ti and resources but it seems I lacked both. "
"The Chrysolite will perhaps help you break through. But finding it is another problem. It is a fairytale. No one has ever heard of it for years and at these tis, it will be a hundredfold more challenging to find. How sure are you that it exists?"
"I can only trust it does. The book of Orchaedia not only conveyed to its location but the process of how to lure it into mortal hands." Moulin inford with resolute eyes. "I have already reached out to Lord Hercullio for aid."
"Oh?" Lady Calanthe did not expect him to move quickly. "Then while we wait for a response. It seems we need to quickly smoothen the transfusion process and cleanse every fault."
Moulin nodded then stopped midway. Did he hear it right?
"We?" He blinked.
A soft smile graced the sorceress's face. There was a strange enthusiasm in her eyes that had never existed there for decades. "If the young master does not mind my intrusion?"
Moulin smiled and shook his head. Of course not!
Calanthe softly gazed at the youth. The boy's determination contrasted greatly with Falowright's gloomy atmosphere. Sigh. If only the n were as enthusiastic as the boy before her. Thoughtfully glancing at the box of 'broken' relics, the sorceress's gaze deepened.
Perhaps, it was because of the excitent of receiving help from a renowned sorceress in Corhan that Moulin began to address even the most minor details openly. anwhile, in the calming gardens of the realm, a certain elven oracle opened his eyes after two long hours of ditation. Nael's gaze drifted elsewhere in curiosity.
Walls were about to break...
The weeks that followed seed to blur as Moulin busied himself with his spell formation and juggling his sessions with his three guides. His artificing skills grew prominent under Lady Calanthe's strict guidance. All the while the growing tension within Falowright began to reach its peak. The lords and council had received various reports from all over distant bases. The Kron has grown more cruel producing more malibreeds and infecting more lives. Hope seed too far from reach the mont when the last Purifying tree of Corhan, protected in Ralor, sheltering countless residents from corruption and malevolence with its heavenly air began to deteriorate due to the Kron's infection.
When the news reached Falowright, Lady Klaria slamd her fist on the table in frustration. Her eyes glowed in fury and misery. Despite the High Lords' strong rivalry, they couldn't feel even a hint of victory. Several bases were already on the brink of collapse, holding on and praying that the heavens would relieve them from their suffering. The dreary atmosphere within the stronghold only grew each day.
Within the vast training grounds of Falowright, the warriors trained long and hard but their minds were occupied with the miserable news from other bases. If the malevolence continued to grow, what hope would they have against the shifting landscape, mana limitations, terrifying monstrous horrors, and flesh-ripping demons that awaited them?
The thought only made them want to surrender.
Thud!
Crash!
"Hey! Watch where you're headed!" A sentinel shouted with fuming eyes, looking back to the young female mage who bumped into him, making him drop the crate of blades in his arms.
In a hurry, the girl only turned back shouting an apology before running off quickly. She had a bright enthusiastic smile on her face, making the knight stop in a trance. The girl joined the group who waited for her and they ran off to who knows where.
"What's got them so cheery?" Another sentinel snorted as he helped his friend gather the spilled material from the ground.
"Don't ask . The mage wing seed more lively these days."
"No matter what wonders they got cooking in there, it wouldn't help the ss we currently have. Should do sothing useful instead of prancing around."
The sentinel silently glanced at the place where the girl left. What are they up to?
While the warriors pondered seriously, the group of mages arrived just in ti to et with the others within the Mage Wing. They are bright and determined as they chattered towards the testing rooms seeing seers crowding around the door, hoping to get a glimpse inside.
"I heard the Lord Colahn has colluded with the high priestess Lady Celeste and Spiritual mage Lady Calanthe to brainstorm and gather materials for the relics."
"Doesn't Lord Colahn served the Fraunces Manorial years before? Perhaps, they are acquainted with the Lynari"
"Speaking of which, does the aura of the relics feel so pure and untainted?"
"I agree. The mont it was brought it. It felt soothing and cool. Nothing I had ever felt from a relic for years."
"For sure, it must be the work of the Lynari!"
The chattering grew louder when this was ntioned but oblivious to the events beyond the doors, blocked by sound barriers, the few within the room wore serious expressions while assessing the relics laid before them on the marble table.
Colahn wore a loose robe and his usual conservative light garnts that made him look intellectually distant. Ever since he was summoned by Lord Hercullio to oversee his internal health, he had also been assigned to aid the Mage Wing and Lady Calanthe herself.
He appraised the strangely diocre-looking relics personally handed to him by the famous sorceress. Honored by the act, he forgot to ask where they were from and who the artificer was. But the mont he touched them, he perceived an extrely familiar essence. Lady Calanthe only smiled before she left.
There was no doubt the essence belonged none other than to Lord Moulin Sill Fraunces, the Lynari.
'The young lord began practicing artificing? How and when?' Surprise and shock filled him. His heart pounded.
"My Lord..." One of the two chief mages spoke, bringing his attention back from the clouds. He approached and presented a flat monoclinic stone about the size of one's foot. It is light and was embellished with strange unfamiliar runes. The formation seed seamless yet ssy at the sa ti. One would wonder what its forger had been feeling during its formation.
"Her Ladyship had requested we test it with the demon the pathfinders they had captured a week ago."
Colahn nodded. He grew up learning of Lady Calanthe's works and honored her every word. Yet, he couldn't shake the doubt—did she place too much trust in him to carry out an unfamiliar experint, especially considering they had only t a week ago?
Nevertheless, he and the chief mages left to travel into a secret passage to the disappointnt of the crowd behind the door. They arrived at a small underground arena and stationed themselves outside the protective barrier before the open ground. Just as they were going to argue about who would test the relic, Colahn volunteered. Taking the object and stepping into the testing area, his actions unclouded by doubt. Welcoming his intrusion, the barrier glowed sending ripples throughout its surface.
The dungeon gates opened and out slithered a snake demon. The demon's eyes were as deep red as mortal blood looked and possessed a snake tail for alower half. With black veins pulsing on his slender limbs and a mouth gaping and drooling with black liquid. When he zeroed in on the seer, Colahn, the only living thing he had seen for days, hunger overtook. He snarled and lunged in a starving frenzy.
Colahn ducked to evade its sharp embrace, simultaneously activating the thin relic in his grasp. All of a sudden, ti slowed and a faint whisper filled his ear. His eyes widened, oblivious to his mouth moving along with the whispered chant.
The seer's eyes flashed and he sent the sharp end of the relic into the demon's chest.
A shrill scream erupted and blood splattered.
The runes burned, glowing from blue to red.
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