The mana that tars manipulated. The physical reality of beasts and their existence. Laws governing how elents interacted.
All of it depended on the Crystal functioning appropriately in ways most people didn't even know existed.
It wasn't a taphor. It wasn't religion or philosophy or ancient belief systems preserved through tradition.
It was a world wide infrastructure.
Like water pipes beneath a city, invisible to residents going about their daily lives but absolutely essential to everything functioning. Remove the pipes and the city dies within days. Most residents never think about the pipes, never see them and never consider their existence until sothing goes wrong.
The Crystal was the pipes, the mana was the water and tars were, at best, people who'd learned to adjust individual valves without understanding the larger network.
It was a system much more complex and powerful than most tars understood or needed to understand to operate effectively within their limitations.
Gold-rank tars could manipulate elents with extraordinary skill and never need to think about what made those elents exist in the first place.
But Orion had seen enough of what the corrupted Brain revealed to recognize that the Crystal was the underlying infrastructure of the runes, the fundantal code of reality expressed in physical form that could be manipulated if you knew how to access it appropriately.
The runes weren't just to make magical artifacts. They were interfaces, access points to a system.
And everything Orion had been building toward, was aid at becoming soone who could actually operate that system consciously rather than stumbling through it blind.
'That's why that boy Patinder who managed to repair a damaged crystal with his own hands is so dangerous and must be...'
"So then what do we do about Julius investigating that 'Brain' in the ruins and about Selphira and the group that Arturo is sending to the location?" Seiya interrupted, pulling Orion from thoughts that were about to beco dark in ways his nephew didn't need to witness yet.
The thoughts darkened indeed... Orion caught it, examined it, set it aside.
Not yet. That problem would be addressed when the ti was appropriate. Rushing conclusions on matters like that had destroyed better plans than his.
But the implication was clear… A child who could repair the fundantal infrastructure of reality with his bare hands wasn't just a talented tar.
He was sothing else entirely. Sothing that may be as dangerous as corruption or worse.
Orion ca back to the Seiya's query…
It was a practical question requiring imdiate answer considering that reports indicated Selphira had already begun preparations for the expedition toward this Goldcrest territory where Victor was being maintained as hostage.
Orion took a mont to organize an explanation that would clarify the situation in a way Seiya understood why there was no need for excessive worry about intervention from forces that were effectively nonexistent.
"The city's situation makes an aggressive response limited in ways that favor our position," he began with the tone of an instructor explaining military logistics to a student. "They can't co with anything that could be called an army or even a significant fraction of their available forces."
Seiya frowned, confusion evident. "Why not? They're many more than us and..."
"Because Yano's army is completely occupied, distributed in the underground and the wall surrounding the city," Orion interrupted, fast explanation cutting any erroneous speculation before it could develop.
He moved to the map spread across the adjacent table, finger tracing the periter lines that marked Yano's defensive responsibilities.
"The mutants are on the prowl constantly. They can attack from any side without prior warning. That requires forces to be spread thin across the complete periter without possibility of being concentrated in a single location."
He tapped three different points on the map.
"Despite what official reports say to keep common people working peacefully, we know the reality of the troops because we manage a part of them in this very zone and the surrounding ones. Even part of Yino and Starweaver territory."
It was the tactical reality Yano faced constantly, a threat not permitting relaxation or force consolidation without creating dangerous vulnerabilities that the mutants would exploit imdiately. And that sa reality ant no army was available for Arturo to send toward Goldcrest territory without creating breaches in defense that would put the city at unacceptable risk.
Pulling 5000 soldiers from the periter to handle a hostage situation ant 50,000 ters of defensive line gone. Those 50,000 ters are an invitation for mutant incursion that could cascade into sothing much larger.
Arturo knew this, Selphira knew this… Everyone with strategic understanding knew this.
Which ant Selphira would co alone, or with maybe 20-50 individuals at most. Not an army. Not even a significant force.
"In fact," Orion continued with satisfaction that was almost palpable, "the small army we have stationed here in Goldcrest territory is many tis larger than what Selphira and Arturo can bring. Because their forces are distributed not only across all of Yano but also across the half of Yino that still functions appropriately."
It was a nurical advantage many wouldn't appreciate without understanding the complete logistics of the situation.
Rebel forces could concentrate resources in a single location because they didn't respect their responsibility to defend the massive periter against external threats. They could operate with efficiency that a dispersed army would never match.
Against maybe 25 people coming from Yano's side.
The numbers weren't even close.
"But wait," Seiya objected, processing implications, "if our forces are here instead of caring for the half of Yino you ntioned and our surroundings... won't that cause problems? The mutants attacking that region could end up not only with infrastructure but also eventually reach us too if the city's complete situation deteriorates enough."
It was a logical concern demonstrating Seiya had been paying attention to the threat mutants represented and how they propagated when left without control.
Good. Aldric's son understood threat dynamics even if he didn't yet understand what controlled those dynamics.
Orion laughed, sound carrying genuine amusent rged with sothing darker.
"Your father Aldric seems to have kept you too much in the dark about certain aspects of our operation," he observed with a tone suggesting gentle criticism of Aldric's decision to limit information shared even with his close family.
Compartntalization had its uses. But there ca a point where incomplete understanding created fear that was both unnecessary and counterproductive.
"The mutants won't attack us," Orion declared with absolute certainty not permitting doubt. "Not us specifically, and not as long as we have what we have."
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