--
"Okay, let me just..."
Cedric pursed his lips as his tools came and went out of his hands. Under his ministrations, the small Demon Soul Purifying Altar changed just a little bit.
It's general design didn't change a lot; there just seem to be additional symbols here and there. But the overall mechanics of the altar changed greatly because of the addition of new arrays. That said, the core function of the altar remained the same: it still purifies demon souls.
"Okay, let's see if this works," Cedric muttered.
He then took out ten Tier 9 Essence Souls and injected them into the altar. Once the Essence Souls were secured, he pressed his palms on the new array he installed and watched as the Essence Souls fused together into a single entity.
Cedric focused on and analyzed the process. Every minute change that's happening to the essence soul was reflected on his mind. Time even seemingly slowed down, allowing him to keep up and record everything in his memories.
In reality, the fusion process only took a minute to be over. It was quick, silent, and efficient. Cedric could probably reduce the time needed for the fusion, but it's really not that necessary right now. What's important is that it succeeded.
"System, analyze the material, please," Cedric ordered.
**
[Analyzing...]
[Beep!]
[Unnamed Energy Source (Bronze Rank)]
This material has striking similarities with the recently discovered Essence Soul, but this one has greater energy signatures compared to Tier 9 Essence Soul.
This material was created as an alternative for Demon Lord Souls, and like Essence Souls, it is 20% more effective than an ordinary Demon Lord Soul.
**
"Awesome!" Cedric exclaimed. Then, his expression changed into pondering: "But... bronze rank? What does that represent?"
"It represents that this material is suitable for planar travelers to use." Charles' voice sounded behind him, prompting Cedric to look at him. "More specifically, it's suited for 1st to 3rd Change Planar Travelers."
"Next is the Silver Rank for 4th to 6th Change, and then the Gold Rank for 7th to 9th Change Planar Travelers," Charles added to fill the gaps in Cedric's database.
Cedric emitted a hum of understanding as he went back to his craft; this time, he's going to try to create a silver-ranked essence soul.
"Hmm, I see. Okay, we'll go with that then," Charles replied. "What are you calling the upgraded version of Essence Souls? You created it, so you name it."
"Greater Essence Soul. Let's keep it simple like that," Cedric replied. "Oh right, I actually want to request something from you since we're on the subject of energy production."
"Shoot," Charles replied without tearing his gaze away from his notes.
"Can you make something that could also harness the excess energy on the Misdirection Formation they installed?" Cedric asked.
His request made Charles look at him. "What do you mean?"
"The Misdirection Formation was upscaled by you and your guild, no?" Charles nodded at that. "When I made it, I considered the size of the area it's supposed to cover. The mist it produced at that scale is just enough to focus on the purpose of'misdirection'."
"When you guys upscaled it, I think you overlooked that part. Because of that, we're draining too much corruption from the environment. And while that's generally good, that will also alarm the demons since, you know, they're the ones producing it."
"Simply put, this formation was draining too much corruption and producing too much mist. Before long, the entire continent will be affected. We could use that to our advantage, yes. But it will also increase the wariness of our enemies towards us."
"I'm just saying that we could tone it down," Cedric suggested. "We can reduce the production of the misdirected mist and turn the excess energy into something else we could use to increase our strength. We don't need to disappear from their sight just yet."
Charles gaped at him for a bit before releasing a defeated sigh. He slumped and grumbled.
"Alright! Yeah, sure. Give me more work, why don't you? Awesome, great, fantastic."
The sarcasm in his voice was evident, and it made Gabriel and Lissandra chuckle at him.
"Sorry," Cedric apologized, thinking that he's overstepping his bounds. "I can help if you want."
"No, no. It's fine." Charles sighed. "Really, it's fine. This is my fault anyway. Thank you for pointing it out. Don't worry, me and my guild can handle this just fine.
You should focus on maintaining your image while steadily increasing your strength. The stronger you are, the better."
"Thanks for your concern; I'll do just that."
"Alright, I'll go back to my lab now. You've given me a lot to think about. I'll see you later."
As soon as he said that, Charles promptly disappeared from Cedric's room, despite the isolation runes still active. Cedric didn't mind it, of course; Charles is, after all, a star traveler. He never thought that he'd be able to keep him here, even if he dared to.
Cedric then looked at Gabriel and asked:
"How's the preparation of the Sun Disc, by the way?"