Ideas were exchanged, conclusions were reached, and soon everyone had their roles.
Kayelin would return to the apothecary to refine new recipes.
Rosia would head back to Terra and organize a group of warriors willing to migrate.
Tessa would begin contacting the local authorities, laying the groundwork for Earth's future faction advancent.
Annara and Nyx were assigned to survey the planet Ery had chosen, gather intelligence, and discreetly prepare the first branch of Nyx's establishnt there.
Just as Ery was about to dismiss the group, Gwen stepped forward.
"I'd like to contribute as well... let go with them."
Her voice was steady, but Ery hesitated. Gwen had experience managing a fief and dealing with peoples, but she had yet to break into the magus realm- and her health was concerning.
"It's a dangerous place, Ery said quietly.
"You need soone like ," she insisted. "A non-magus can blend in. I can help."
Ery saw the resolve in her expression-the sa stubborn spark she had always possessed. After a mont, he nodded and assigned Livi to shadow her as protection.
One by one, the won dispersed to begin their preparations, leaving Ery with a rare mont of quiet. He took a deep breath, stepped out of the warm lounge, and made his way around the long marble corridor toward the back of the estate.
Snow drifted lazily from the gray skies above, settling gently over a warehouse. Spread across the chamber were heaps of tal crates and piles of shimring raw materials. Ores, crystals, spirit-infused tals, arrays of broken constructs. This was Ery's share from Randhall's tomb: twenty-five percent of the treasure-six hundred million spirit stones' worth of materials.
And in the center of it all, bent over a half-disassembled bronze golem, was a slim young man working with the intensity of soone defusing a bomb.
Vic's hands moved quickly and with surprising confidence, guiding delicate tools inside the rib-like plates of the construct. He didn't notice Ery's approach until the latter's shadow fell over the tal parts.
"Ah! Sir Ery-my apologies! I didn't see you coming."
Vic scrambled to his feet, nearly dropping his tools. His face was sared with grease and dust, his eyes slightly bloodshot from lack of sleep-but his excitent was unmistakable.
Ery's gaze swept across the scattered constructs. More than three dozens bronze golems lay in various states of disrepair; so missing limbs, others cracked or warped. Nearby, four silver-tier golems-Randhall's elite models- sat like silent giants, their chests open and their cores exposed. These had been part of Ery's personal share. But judging by their condition, the expedition had nearly destroyed them before they could be retrieved.
"How is the work progressing?" Ery asked.
Vic brightened imdiately-he had been waiting for this question.
"Very well, sir! Thanks to the schematics you provided, I was able to repair several of the bronze units." He paused, glancing at the silver constructs behind him. His enthusiasm dimd slightly. "But the silver ones... those are another story."
He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly hesitant.
"They're extrely complicated, far beyond anything I've handled before. Their spirit channels are fractured, and so internal formation plates are completely missing. I-well..." He swallowed. "I'll need additional parts. Rare ones. And expensive."
He bowed his head, almost ashad.
"If you can provide them, Sir Ery, I believe I can fix at least three of them. It will take a month or two... but I can do it."
Ery walked past him, running his fingers along the cold tal of one silver golem's arm. Even broken, the craftsmanship was extraordinary-flexible alloys, dense core channels, micro-runes hidden beneath plating.
"Very well. Ask Nyx for the parts you need. She will procure them."
Vic's face brightened up instantly. "Yes, Sir!"
Ery studied the young man for a mont before speaking."I haven't properly rewarded you for your contribution. Tell what do you want?"
Vic froze, eyes widening in panic. "N-No, sir. I dare not inquire for anything. I'm already grateful you allowed to study Randhall's notes. That alone is more than I deserve. I... I should be the one thanking you for the experience."
Ery let out a long, silent sigh.
This boy... why does my daughter like soone this naïve?
Vic's earnestness bordered on foolishness, yet Ery couldn't deny the young magus's dedication and talent.
Still, Ery refused to owe anyone-especially soone who was close to his daughter.
"When you're done repairing the golems," Ery said, his voice firm, "you may
take half of them."
Vic's jaw dropped. "H-Half?! Sir, I can't- I an-those are-"
"That is my reward to you." Ery insisted.
Only then did Vic allow himself a shy, almost childlike smile, excitent flashing in his eyes at the thought of having such powerful constructs. Ery
almost regretted giving him toys that might get him killed.
"There is sothing else I need your assistance with," Ery added.
Vic straightened imdiately. "Yes, sir. Anything"
With a subtle wave of his hand, Ery pulled out another piles of items; parts and pieces of puppets. Vic took only a mont before he recognized them.
"These... these are Vashka's puppets!"
"What's left of them," Ery corrected.
Most of Vashka's puppets had disintegrated after defeat, but Ery had salvaged several prototypes from within her aperture domain. Along with them ca dozens of docunts-Vashka's diagrams, rune matrices, and schematics -together with her most fearso inheritance: the Thousand Strings Technique, the secret law that allowed her to manipulate an army of puppets as if they were one body.
Ery tossed him a storage ring. "There are more materials inside-spare parts, cores, threads, and dozens of items I don't recognize... Inspect them. See if any
can be used to refine them."
Vic swallowed hard. "Y-yes, sir"
Ery left him with the pile and allowed the young magus to study them. Both the golems and the puppets would occupy him for weeks-more than enough to keep the young man busy until Ery's daughter returned to fetch him.
Only then did Ery finally have the ti to turn his focus on his personal matters. He activated his domain and the world around him folded, shadows pulling him inward and arrived at the heart of the dark mountain.
A vast chamber opened before him, lit by soft ethereal flas. Rows of pedestals, display stands, and reinforced vault shelves filled the room. Dozens of artifacts shimred in different colors-so humming with formation light, others releasing waves of dormant power.
The majestic winged artifact, [Icarus Wing], rested proudly on its own platform, its tallic feathers gleaming with a faint golden sheen. The defensive treasure [Fourfold Mirror] and spirit weapon, the [Chromacircle Ring] emitted a soft rhythmic pulse from its stand, while the mysterious [Seven Myriad Mountains Paintings] hung along the back wall, its brushstrokes shifting subtly as though the mountains themselves were breathing. This chamber was Ery's private treasure room.
Today, his attention was for the newest additions;
Resting on a pedestal of polished obsidian was a set of dark armor, its surface
etched with faint violet runes that flickered like embers. Beside it, suspended by a formation circle, was a pendant of midnight-black tal. Interconnected runes crawled along its edges, pulsing softly like a sluggish heartbeat. The two legacy of Randhall the Machinist.
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