2484 Power Rush (Part 2)
The Elder Hydra was wearing the Royal Fortress armor and kept the silver bolts of lightning of the Life Maelstrom it produced ready for use.
"It's not my fault if you've never bothered visiting me before. Faluel chided her mother. Tm a Regional Lord of the Council and I have several apprentices to care for. I don't have the time to travel to the Empire every time 1 want to have a cup of tea and a chat with you.
"You instead are retired and spend your days idly. It wouldn't kill you to keep in touch with your children more often and nag at them less."
"Wow." Fyrwal snorted. "I don't remember all this sass when you asked my help to get your hands on a share of Thrud's spoils. I seem to recall that you were more like: "Please, Mommy, please! The Council is paying me peanuts for my contributions because they are prioritizing the compensation of the families of the Awakened fallen in battle.
"The Royals took half the loot for themselves and as one of the four founding pillars of the Kingdom, you are entitled to a quota. Do this for me and I won't ask your help for a long while." The Elder Hydra made her best Faluel's impression, giving her voice a childish, high-pitched tone.
"I don't sound like that!" Faluel's snake heads hissed in outrage.
"You do whenever you want a favor." Fyrwal replied and she was right.
"Whatever. Now please get ready to do everything you can to keep the Harmonizer from exploding. It's the last one I got and if we lose it, I'll never learn Glemos' secrets Interesting Fyrwal's heads bobbed in the air with a deep-thought expression on their reptilian snouts.
"What are you talking about? I have yet to take it out of my dimensional amulet."
Tve just noticed how the Harmonizer is yours* and you are the one who's going to learn how to mass produce it in case we succeed whereas if we fail it's our problem. Ungrateful much?" The Elder Hydra asked.
"It was my apprentices who risked their lives to recover the Harmonizer. If not for Ajatar and I baiting Glemos into a trap, there would be nothing to study so I've got every right to keep the discovery for myself.
"As for you, what favor would it be if I had to share the prize with you? It would be a partnership." Faluel replied. "Now less bickering and more focusing. We have only one shot at this. On my mark."
Faluel placed the dimensional item in the space between the two Hydras where they had drawn their respective best Forgemastering circles.
Faluel fueled them with the world energy she conjured from the underground mana geyser via the Hands of Menadion so that both she and her mother didn't need to waste one of their heads to use their breathing technique.
This way, they kept their mana cores full and their senses sharp. Between the two of them, it was akin to having two seven-man units of bright violet-cored Forgemasters with perfect teamwork.
Only when Fyrwal cleared her head from every trace of the Dragon greed that an invaluable artifact like the Harmonizer aroused did she nod for her daughter to proceed.
"Now! Faluel took the enchanted collar out of the dimensional amulet and activated the Stasis Field array to keep the self-destruction from triggering
The late Glemos had been meticulous in keeping the fruits of the Tyrant bloodline's research a secret. The Harmonizer had a double imprint mechanism and after his death, it was programmed to implode the moment its wearer took it off or died.
This way, no one could study or experiment on it.
The Stasis Field array was the innermost circle so that it wouldn't interfere with the others which in turn would take effect the moment the stasis was removed.
"Tell me when you are ready." Faluel said.
The runes of the self-destruction enchantment of the Harmonizer were already so overloaded with world energy that Fyrwal could study them via Life Vision despite the Stasis Field.
Regular runes, instead, were invisible to the naked eye and mystical senses couldn't perceive them over the magical aura of the array.
"Glemos was a madman but also a genius." The Elder Hydra said. "Even though you triggered the Stasis Field immediately after your amulet, the Harmonizer is already red-hot and cracked. How did you manage to study it in the past?"
"Grandfather? Faluel sighed in annoyance.
"I see. Fyrwal nodded. "If you asked for my help, it means that he must have withheld part of the information he gained. Yet this doesn't explain why you didn't call me earlier.
"Based on what you told me, you got your hands on the Harmonizer months ago. What made you change your mind?"
"Lots of things" Faluel replied. "You have given sanctuary to Ufyl, the only Hydra to have ever successfully evolved into a Dragon. I hope that by studying his life force and altering the Harmonizer accordingly, our bloodline will find a way to ascend into Divine Beasts without the need for Forbidden Magic.
"I'll be honest with you. I wouldn't mind being the first to succeed or at least to see it happening during my lifetime if I'm lacking. Also, there's the matter of the partially unfallen monsters that Solus fought."
"You mean Elphyn." Fyrwal said.
"I know what I said." Faluel shook her head. "And if unlike Aunt Tessa you care about having a good relationship with her, you'll call her Solus as well. The name Elphyn carries a lot of bad memories and regrets to her.
"Solus is already literally chained to her past due to the tower. The last thing she needs is the constant reminder of how her whole family died and she lost her freedom."
"I will keep that in mind." Fyrwal nodded.
"Also, there is the matter of the monsters upon whom Glemos experimented." Faluel said.
"Before they revealed their existence by attacking the cities of the Kingdom, I could afford to take my sweet time with the Harmonizers because I was just going to use them to accelerate the growth of magic metals and mana crystals in my mines.
Tm confident that in a few centuries, Ajatar and I would have found a solution to the problem. The Harmonizer belongs to us both so we would have shared the expenses and the fruits of our labor."
Fyrwal was about to ask her daughter why they hadn't invited the Drake to join them when her eyes fell on the many Forgemastering circles of the Hydra bloodline the two of them had prepared.
"This Ajatar must be a good guy if Fanny showed him the Hands but she did the right thing keeping him out of the family business. Were he to witness our spells or Domination, we'd have to kill him:
"Now, however, I'm in a rush." Faluel continued. "Without the Harmonizers, the Council will kill all the monsters who don't have one along with those who refuse to surrender.
"In their fallen state monsters spawn at an unsustainable rate and we are still recovering from the famine. You are my only hope to turn an extermination mission into a rescue, Mom.
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P/N - Korelance here. The chapter is provided to you by nemesis. Do consider donating to the original author of the novel.
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