Chapter 924 Specialized Lab

"Finally!" Qiren exclaimed, unable to help herself. The reason, success, naturally.

Ever since managing to make a device to measure the relative density of mana, the ANW branch had shifted their focus onto making a device capable of gathering said mana. However, with no one able to use magic, and Zaphreal only offering advice, they had been stumped.

The other groups within the company all had someone capable of wielding mana, most only through their bloodline powers, but still. Yet, it was important that they continued to strive forward on their own. And finally, Qiren and her team got the results they wanted.

"It's still not much." Constantin commented. Following Eldrian's advice, he had created a new character in ANW and tried to learn magic without the system.

He had made great strides and managed to reach Tier 4 even. However, taking what he learned in ANW back to Earth was still beyond him. Still, he could now at least sense the flow of mana around him. And that flow was weak... extremely so.

"But it's something!" Joren countered.

"Now, to test if we can guide the flow." Qiren said, moving onto the next part of their experiment.

What they had made was, in simple terms, a magical magnet. In opposite to the approach the others were taking, some of whom were quite extreme and dangerous, the group followed a more material path. Naturally, there was a possibility of things escalating, but as a whole they felt their approach was far safer than the group working on 'elementals'.

"Sadly, it appears it is only gathering around the device. It has absorbed some mana, but hardly enough to even consider it a magical metal. Won't even be considered a celestial ore in ANW." Constantin offered.

Sadly, mana also didn't flow into any of the other materials they had in the room. None of the metals; not iron, silver, gold, platinum, nor tungsten. Nor was it flowing into any of the crystals; jade, ruby, sapphire, diamond, and dozens more.

"But we managed something, at least. We know mana reacts easiest to silver. Let's process what we have as we did with the mana magnet." And with that, they set about the phase of their plans. Naturally, supported by a host of scientists, many of whom also acted as developers.

After relaying her orders, Qiren turned to Joren. "How are things in ANW? Have you managed to reach out to Eldrian?"

"I have, though for now he only commented that he won't interfere unless he believes he must." Joren replied, recalling the latest report he had gotten regarding Eldrian.

Now Tier 6, he was sure to change the entire situation of the kingdom of Taurus soon. Though, shockingly, and in complete opposite of expectations, Eldrian had not rushed to battle after reaching Tier 6.

—

Ultimately, Eldrian tried to let the Orthrus pup go. To tame it, he needed to buy a taming contract from the Adventurers' Guild. And that required a trip to Kynigo, seeing as the fort had none. While the contract was expensive to normal players, at 10 golds, that was a relative change to Eldrian.

The problem was taking the trip when he still had the artificial crystal in an unstable phase. Yet, each time he let the pup go, it would make its way back. Adamant in getting the crystal.

Eldrian had nearly reached a point to simply hand it the crystal, but he did not have the store or mana crystals to make another. Besides, Ceph had warned him about evolution. The reason he had turned down the crystal was simple. Evolving before reaching adulthood was detrimental. It could affect their future growth, unhinge their minds, or even kill them. Naturally, this also held for the Orthrus.

Worse, Eldrian couldn't even hand the pup to the soldiers to manage. While it was completely unable to do anything to Eldrian, even a Tier 5 soldier would have difficulties handling it. Even the two Tier gap wasn't much, given that it  was a Mythical creature.

Sure, such a soldier, likely a captain, would be able to overwhelm and kill the pup, but that wasn't what Eldrian was looking for. He was looking for a caretaker for the wolf, someone who could handle its tantrums without relying on lethal force.

"Stay." Eldrian said, his voice stern. Surrounding the pup in a barrier of air, which he reinforced with runic casting. Lest the crystal steal all the mana in just a few minutes. Unhappy, the little Orthrus clawed at the barrier, but was completely unable to escape. Though... it did cause more mana to be needed.

"What a pain..." Eldrian grumbled, yet a smile played on his face. The pup was absolutely adorable. Watching it claw at the air was super cute. Its little yelps and barks just so fun.

On a side note, Eldrian had asked the pup about its parents. They were no longer in the picture, Eldrian didn't know the reason, and he felt guilty thinking it might be because of him.

"Back to you." Eldrian mumbled, turning to the crystal. By now, it contained a total of 150k mana. After a slight break, where Ceph had managed the pup, Eldrian was now back to finish what he had started.

For this, he had expended the last of his funds and mana crystals to use the city-building functions that had been added recently. With it, he had made a specialized floor in the magic tower. One that was empowered via the Magic Crystal in its basement.

This room was made of Mithril (Adamantine was too expensive to afford) and was enchanted with the strongest reinforcement formation Eldrian had available to him. Which meant that he should be safe to explore his options without worrying about collateral.

Naturally, with the pup here, he couldn't go wild. That would come later. For now, Eldrian was using the other functions to bring a steady flow of mana into the room. Which he was using to feed the crystal. Some spots of purple were slowly appearing. But it was slow.

After a fifteen minutes, Eldrian decided to go for a walk. As he did, the pup naturally complained. Clawing and biting at Eldrian as he carried him outside of the room. To prevent any damage to himself, Eldrian was using his prosthetic to carry the pup. Some of its more adamant clawing would produce some sparks, but nothing much more happened.

Naturally, as Eldrian walked through the fort, the few soldiers present stared at the Eldrian in utter astonishment.

—

A few days later, the pup had finally settled down. After a lot of broken communication, Eldrian had promised to make it a crystal when it came of age. While it was hard to convey the message, hearing 'own crystal' had settled it down.

Once Eldrian had managed to get the pup to calm down, Eldrian had finally had time to spend experimenting with Tier 6 spells. With most things stable in the war, he used this time to prepare for when that would inevitably change.

And so, today he was standing before a crystal. The size of his hand, a dark near black purple. It reminded him of a Mov Crystal 100%. However, he knew this was more than that.

[Artificial Magic Crystal]

[Rank 4]

[Mana: 376k/??]

[...Currently, the crystal has reached its stable form. As such, its rate of mana absorption has slowed. Given enough time, and a mana dense location, it will slowly evolve into an Artificial Magic Crystal. Though artificial, it will be capable of nearly all the same feats as normal Magic Crystals.]

In the past few days, Eldrian had also met with Ziraili, and learned a massive bombshell. Creation wasn't limited to just the elemental aspect of magic.