Orion began moving serenely toward the protected position where the encounter with Selphira would occur if she dared to enter, asured steps communicating confidence instead of any kind of nervous hurry.
While walking, his mind processed aspects of the situation offering considerable satisfaction.
They could never have a real advantage even if they really had managed to reach the Brain in Yino's depths.
Its security was layered.
Layer 1 - Physical access. You had to get to the chamber. That alone had stopped everyone for a while thanks to the abundant and insanely hard corruption crystal roots.
Layer 2 - Activation. Although to communicate with the device you only needed to physically touch it, the interface only reacting to direct contact in a manner not requiring specialized knowledge to activate, it only functioned when the 7 cores were properly connected in their indentations surrounding the Brain's base.
No cores ant no activation. A simple physical lock that couldn't be bypassed through clever techniques or superior power.
And Orion had the only keys.
Layer 3 - Comprehension. This was the layer that gave Orion particular satisfaction.
Even if they sohow recovered the 7 cores, which Orion considered extrely unlikely given his current force deploynts, the information the Brain provided was completely cryptic if you didn't have the necessary ans to decipher it appropriately.
It wasn't a question of simply listening and understanding imdiately. It was a complex translation process requiring keys.
Without the tools the corrupt crystal of Yino created, or a dium capable of interfacing with ancient systems, the data and concepts the Brain used to encode information ant soone could spend years studying output without comprehending the true aning of what they were seeing.
The Brain didn't communicate in modern language. Didn't use current terminology. Didn't organize information according to fraworks contemporary scholars would recognize.
It used the old civilization's systems. Their mathematics, their physics, their understanding of mana that was simultaneously more sophisticated and more alien than anything current academies taught.
It would be like observing advanced mathematical equations without understanding the basic operations composing them.
Without the decryption frawork, without the translation tools, without the conceptual foundations the corrupted crystal had of the old civilization...
The Brain was useless. A beautiful, fascinating, completely useless artifact.
Orion had so of those tools. Had studied them, had spent 3 years learning to use them effectively.
He could extract maybe 40-50% of what the Brain contained now. With the second part, with more ti, he'd reach 90-95%.
That gap, between 10% comprehension and 70% comprehension, was the gap between interesting discovery and civilization-changing advantage.
With tools, papers, and books hidden in locations only he knew, Orion smiled again.
His expression was still serene, his steps confident and his posture of soone completely controlling the situation rather than soone negotiating from a position of weakness.
Selphira would co expecting a trap because she wasn't stupid. Couldn't have survived 4 centuries being stupid. But she couldn't anticipate all the planning layers he'd invested in this mont.
And by the ti she recognized the complete extent of what she faced, it would be too late to withdraw without consequences forcing her to accept exactly what Orion wanted.
The board was prepared. The pieces were positioned… And the ga was about to enter a phase where mistakes couldn't be easily corrected.
He reached the protected position… a chamber underground, accessible through 1 tunnel route.
Victor was there. Alive… Relatively, what was necessary to maintain containnt.
50 guards... All Gold 1 or higher.
And 5 of the purple stones. Not all 7... But 5 was enough.
Enough to ensure that if combat started, the environnt would be hostile in ways Selphira couldn't counter without understanding what she was actually fighting against.
Orion settled into position and waited.
Patience was a virtue he'd cultivated extensively. Waiting years for the right mont taught you patience whether you wanted to learn it or not.
Selphira would arrive within the hour.
And then they'd see which of them had more power.
♢♢♢♢
Arturo couldn't believe he was in this specific situation, traveling toward hostile territory for a rescue operation when he literally had a mountain of work waiting at the castle that grew taller with each hour passing without his direct attention.
It was a strange feeling… a contradictory mix of emotions making him feel like he was being split between two versions of himself wanting fundantally incompatible things.
On one hand, it was good to be coming with Selphira to rescue Victor.
He was his brother… Blood connection transcending politics and administrative responsibilities. When family was in danger, you dropped everything else and responded regardless of what else was demanding your ti.
Victor had been there when Arturo needed him. Multiple tis. Brothers, not just in blood but in trust... In knowing that if you called, the other would co.
So this was right. This was correct.
But simultaneously it was bad… Terrible timing that couldn't have been worse if it had been deliberately intended to maximize his discomfort.
He had too much work accumulating at the castle. Responsibilities that couldn't be postponed indefinitely without creating problems that would eventually convert into crises if ignored for sufficient ti.
Budget proposals requiring approval before the fiscal quarter ended, otherwise certain departnts would run out of authorized funding and simply stop operating.
Military rewards requiring sign-off, otherwise morale would suffer.
Trade agreents requiring final review, otherwise the negotiations would expire and they'd have to restart from the beginning, losing months of work.
Legal disputes between noble families requiring diation, otherwise they'd escalate to private conflicts that would destabilize entire regions. So already approaching violent confrontation.
And many more…
Each item individually was manageable. Together they ford a cascade of urgency that required his personal attention because certain decisions couldn't be delegated without creating worse problems than the delay.
And leaving the secondary family in charge gave him zero confidence because although they were competent in a technical sense, they were much weaker in terms of presence and authority.
They were good at managent, that couldn't be denied. They could handle numbers and logistics with efficiency Arturo genuinely appreciated.
The secondary branch had produced so excellent administrators over the generations. But they didn't have the charisma or power of conviction needed when it ca to effectively leading in the castle facing old stubborn nobles who'd spent decades perfecting the art of bureaucratic obstruction.
Those nobles responded to force. Not physical force, though that helped, but force of personality… Presence. The kind of authority that made people think twice before objecting.
Arturo had that. Julius had it in even greater asure. Victor had it through sheer intimidation factor of his combat capability.
The secondary family... didn't.
They were respected, competent, valued mbers of the administrative structure.
But putting them in a room with an old noble when he decided to be difficult, would simply outlast them through patient obstruction.
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