Chapter 2913 Price of Failure (Part 1)

Chapter 2913 Price of Failure (Part 1)

The border between the two continents was guarded night and day by the Guardians of Zima, to make sure that none of Jiera's problems became their own.

Zagran's turf was in the south, and it was off-limits. According to Tezka, the Garuda was a force to be reckoned with and she had several disciples that patrolled the area, keeping track of the monster tides and lost cities.

She was the only Guardian at her full strength, and the Master preferred to not mess with her unless it was necessary. Last, but not least, according to the Kingdom's report, Salaark was still in a good relationship with Zagran, since they were on a moniker basis.

Vastor painted the south part of Jiera with a blood-red color that marked it as a recon-only area reserved for Abomination that specialized in stealth. After sharing the map and the good news with the members of the Organizations, he summoned his seconds in command into his office.

"What's the status of our current operations?"

"Pretty good." Nelia the Griffon said. "We have gained control over the vast majority of Garlen's black markets. The influence of the Undead Courts is at its weakest and we are uprooting what's left of their local branches with little effort.

"I've also taken care of opening several stores on Verendi.

"With the elders of the local Council dead and one Guardian critically wounded, the entire continent is in chaos. There are more ongoing wars than countries and every one of them is willing to pay any price for the weapons they need to win.

"This alone provides us with a flow of cash and magical resources that can keep our research departments operating at full capacity without breaks or tapping into your personal resources."

"Excellent." Vastor nodded and then turned to Zoreth. "Speaking of Ileza, what did you learn from her examination?"

"Not much." The Shadow Dragon shrugged. "She wasn't very cooperative or open to communication. Her weakened state, however, has allowed us to study both her physiology and the way a Guardian interacts with the world energy.

"Physically, she isn't much different from Theseus. Just bigger and stronger, but that was expected. Her vitality, however, was off the charts. Even in her crippled state, she could heal wounds without becoming weaker and regrowing entire limbs out of thin air.

The Minotaur pointed at the Fourth Ruler of the Flames that was standing between him and Zoreth.

"Before talking about that, how did Theseus react to our experiments? Ileza it's still his mother. For a lack of a better term." Theseus the Bastet was actually a clone who had devoured his original, giving him a blank slate at life.

Those like him retained the same personality their originals had before becoming Abominations and were free from the burden of millennia of madness and slaughter. Those memories, however, were still part of them, making the clones remorseful for actions they had never committed and vulnerable to a condition called the Blood Madness.

"Not very well." Nandi sighed. "He refused to take part in the fight, insisted that we released Ileza as soon as we were done with our research, and threatened to turn on us if we attempted to kill her."

"That was to be expected." The Master nodded. "How is he now?"

"Still moping." Nandi shrugged. "Theseus understood what we were doing and why, he just didn't agree with our methods."

"Bytra?" Vastor turned to the Raiju, noticing how uncomfortable the topic made her feel.

She was a clone as well and one of Theseus' closest confidants after he had reluctantly joined the Organization.

"He won't betray us if that's what you are asking me." Then, before the Master could answer, she resumed talking. "As for the tower project, I made several breakthroughs but I'm still lacking a few key elements.

"I've learned from Nandi how to bend mana crystals to my will and from you, Dad, how to turn them into memory crystals. This is more than enough to Forgemaster something that can withstand the multiple layers of enchantments that a tower core requires, the problem is that regular crafting techniques aren't enough ."

At a wave of Bytra's hand, two different prototypes appeared on the Master's desk. There was no one in the Organization capable of using Creation Magic and building a mage tower was beyond expensive.

The Raiju worked on scaled down models the size of a toy to avoid wasting resources but even this way each failed attempt was a paperweight worthy of the treasure of a king.