The second chamber in Yano had been converted into an improvised research center.
Ren found himself surrounded by a carefully selected team: high-value tars for their knowledge and analysis beast skills, plus so he had allowed to enter with his relative authority.
The space humd with urgent activity as tars worked to understand their enemy’s capabilities.
Wei worked intensely with one of the chamber’s minor artifacts, a frequency crystal that could detect certain types of corruption within a tar.
His obsession with technical details finally found practical purpose in analyzing Han’s corrupt mana flow. The device, ancient but functional, responded to Wei’s careful adjustnts with precise readings. Yet...
"The readings are fluctuating erratically," Wei murmured, examining the young man. "As if sothing is interfering with the normal patterns."
Han maintained a careful distance from the chamber’s central pillar, aware that his corrupt beast made him vulnerable to the pure energies flowing through it.
Still, his experience as a double agent made him valuable not just as a corrupt test subject... but as an observer, noticing patterns others might overlook. His position between two worlds gave him unique insights.
"There’s sothing different about my second beast," Han observed, his voice loaded with the tension of soone who had learned to trust his instincts. "Like sothing is calling it from very far away... It’s very subtle, maybe too distant... but still strange."
The sensation was unsettling in ways he couldn’t fully articulate. It wasn’t painful or threatening, but it carried sothing that made his skin crawl with unspoken dread.
Klein’s situation also continued making noise in Ren’s mind.
The young noble had developed that strange ability to see corruption threads even without being corrupt himself, a capacity that could be invaluable to give to many other tars if they managed to completely understand how it worked.
But at this mont, his fungus had other priorities.
It liked maintaining contact with the golden crystal to analyze enemy movents, and that’s exactly what it was doing now.
Ren leaned against the golden crystal, feeling how his beast extended analysis filants toward the connections that spread throughout the tower.
It was like connecting with the nerves of a gigantic organism. Information flowed through the network in patterns too complex for human minds to process directly, but his fungus could translate the data streams into comprehensible insights.
"Larissa," he murmured, "what could it an if the enemy started accumulating energy in a strange way?"
Larissa, who had been studying so scrolls, looked up with interest.
"Strange how?"
Before Ren could respond, his fungus whispered urgently: ’Strange like... The crystal’s connections are becoming stronger on Yino’s side of the tower.’
Ren frowned, processing the information.
"My fungus says it seems like on that side the crystal is directing too much energy to the tower system," he explained aloud.
"I don’t understand why it’s happening," he admitted, looking toward where he knew enemy territory was, "but..."
"It must be so tactic," Larissa imdiately suggested, her mind jumping to strategic conclusions. "If it’s redistributing energy, it must have a specific plan."
Her response was imdiate and confident. In her world, everything had a strategic purpose...
The fungus erged physically from Ren’s head, its small form glowing with concern.
"It’s too strange," it declared with its squeaky voice, "because directing so much energy to the tower would weaken the exterior crystal, which is its main body. If they destroy it, it would lose much of what it has gained..."
The logic was sound but troubling. Why would an intelligent entity deliberately weaken its primary asset unless it had alternatives they didn’t understand?
Larissa imdiately got so ideas.
"Main body... Can the crystal change location?" she asked directly to the fungus.
The small being pulsed once, "yes, but it’s an energy expense normally unnecessary..."
"Can it be in more than one place at once?" Larissa continued, her voice acquiring that intensity she showed when solving a puzzle.
The fungus pulsed again, but this ti with more hesitation.
"Again yes," it reported, "but there are important cons. In each place it would be weaker than if it were in just one so..."
Larissa stood up, beginning to pace in circles.
"What would it do if it was sure they could destroy it?" she asked, addressing both Ren and the fungus. "In the crystal’s shoes, would they risk everything in one place or hide in several different ones?"
The question cut to the heart of fear induced thinking. How does an intelligent entity like that preserve itself when facing existential threats?
The fungus stayed still for a mont, clearly considering the question.
Then it began extending filants more deeply into the golden crystal, analyzing the energetic connections with renewed urgency.
Ren felt how his beast’s perception expanded, following power flows that extended for kiloters underground.
Then the fungus opened its small eyes completely.
Imdiately it sank back into Ren to sense again, but using its more innermost connection for deeper analysis.
"Yes!" the fungus exclaid after a mont of intense concentration. "If the crystal uses its side of the tower, it could store most of its energy and distribute it widely through its roots without much loss. Letting it stay there too long is giving it the perfect chance to escape."
The realization hit Ren like lightning.
"Wait, so," he murmured with growing horror, "if the King has little ti and spends all his energy breaking the big crystal, the crystal in the tower will have all the ti to accumulate energy and hide... We have to break the chamber one... very soon after the big one too..."
They may had been maneuvered into attacking the wrong target, expending their most powerful asset against a decoy while the real threat prepared to escape.
Wei looked up from his artifact, having caught enough of the conversation to understand the implications.
"Are you saying they might have tricked our King into spending his energy?" he asked with a tense voice.
"Maybe they already tricked him," Ren replied, "and he won’t have enough energy to finish the job."
Ren thought frantically about the options.
The variables were overwhelming. Distance, energy requirents, the physical limitations of channeling dragon power... every factor worked against them.
"I could try to recharge him, but carrying the energy to him alone would be impossible to resist for alone at that distance. Making him carry more energy would also be dangerous not just for him but for the charger himself..."
"There’s no option... From what I understand you can recharge anyone right?" Larissa interrupted with iron determination. "I can carry so power, but we have to warn him to go to the chamber before the crystal escapes."
Her voice carried absolute conviction. The risks were obvious, but the alternative was worse.
Ren considered her words, but knew it wouldn’t be so simple.
"Your father could..."
Larissa looked at Ren with eyes shining with absolute confidence.
"My father isn’t just anyone. He’s the strongest in the world, and carrying another bit of power will be nothing for him. He’ll complete his mission."
Ren understood her determination.
"Alright, we’re going to take it to him," he finally declared, "but we need more help. Several must carry so of the power, but they must be pure and fast tars."
Larissa imdiately turned toward one of the guards.
"Send ssages with fast beasts," she ordered with authority that brooked no discussion. "We need to warn my father about what you heard and more reinforcents here, now."
She turned toward Ren.
"Will any of those who are here work?"
Ren quickly evaluated those present.
His enhanced perception could read their mana systems, assess their capacity to handle dragon essence without being destroyed by it.
"Wei and so good-level guards who are here can work," he decided. "Not Han, because he has a corrupt beast and the energy would kill him."
Han audibly swallowed and moved even farther from the central structure, new fear evident in his eyes.
"Understood," he murmured, retreating toward the chamber’s periphery.
While they waited for the ssage to fly and bring more power carriers, Ren approached the group of tars who had been selected.
"This is going to be intense even though it’s very little," he warned them, placing his hands on the central crystal to begin the process.
Wei approached first, with that obstinate determination to learn that characterized him.
"If it’s to save the kingdom," he declared, "I’m willing to learn that sensation too."
Ren began injecting small fragnts of draconic energy into the present tars, carefully observing their reactions to ensure their systems could handle the load.
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