Supreme Magus

Chapter 3831: Starting Point (Part 2)

"It’s actually simple, child." Salaark stepped forward with two sock puppets on her hands that had a striking resemblance to Friya and Nalrond. "You see, when a Harbinger and an Agni really love each other, they share a special hug..."

The children listened attentively to the "magic" lesson while the adults laughed hard at Friya’s expense.

’This is all my fault.’ She inwardly sighed. ’I forgot I live with the gods and walked into that one.’

***

The next day, after another round of misdirection and deception with masks and body gloves, Quylla and the others returned to the Infirmary.

"Before reviewing the footage of the fight, there is one more person who needs to take a scan." She stared at Solus, who looked around in confusion.

"Me? Why?" She asked.

"You developed hair wings and your eyes... shone." Quylla replied while using a mind link.

’Your bond with Lith, Solus. We know you were fully human as Elphyn Menadion, but that might no longer be the case. Based on what you told me yesterday, you felt the resonance no less than Ryla.’

’What difference does that make?’ Solus asked.

’A big one.’ Quylla replied. ’Remember that the tower is linked to both you and Lith, but the only life force it cares about is yours. There is the possibility that the resonance between Lith and Ryla spread to the tower through you.

’If I’m right, the effect that Ryla’s eyes had on Lith’s also tapped into your dormant abilities, and that’s what pushed the tower to intervene. How it did it, however, is beyond me.’

’You make a good point.’ Solus thought, before cutting the mind link off. ’And if she’s right, I think I know how the tower did it.’

"No more surprises, Solus, okay?" Friya said, making her friend blush up to her fingertips.

"I’m- I... I drank alcohol, and Grandma didn’t stop me!" Solus clung to that certainty yet put her hands on the crystal tank with her fingers crossed.

"Mana core: Awakened and... intact." Solus sighed in relief when no warning resounded and rushed to doctor the parts she couldn’t share with Ryla and Garrik before they appeared on the screens.

"Life force: uncategorized. Life force composition: 70% unknown rank human, 15% Dragon, 15% Phoenix. Probability of bloodline awakening: fluctuating. No... life force defect detected. No wound detected. Perfect health. No further action is recommended."

"Why is my life force uncategorized?" Solus asked.

"Unknown rank human?" Menadion pondered. "Does it mean you are just above rank 0 or that you surpass rank 3?"

"Why is the probability of her bloodline awakening fluctuating?" Morok said. "Is that even possible?"

"Why does the Infirmary stutter? It never did it before." Garrik asked.

"The presence of so many unknown variables must have thrown off the diagnostic pseudo core." Lith said. "Let me show you."

He touched the crystal next and obtained exactly what he expected.

"Mana core: Awakened and intact. Life force: 100% Tiamat. Life force composition: 25% rank 3 human, 25% uncategorized Eldritch, 25% Dragon, 25% Phoenix. Several cracks in the life force detected. No wound detected. Perfect health.

"Warning: condition is permanent. Intervention required. No treatment available. Insufficient data. It’s advised to avoid straining the life force, or the condition will deteriorate." The light of the room turned yellow, but that surprised no one.

"See? No stutter." Lith smiled while inwardly thanking the gods for not getting bad news.

’Morok is right. I can’t believe I never took my own scan before.’

"And now, let’s revise the data." Quylla operated the Infirmary’s interface with ease.

She was listed in the tower’s mainframe as a trusted apprentice, and she could control the entire room with her thoughts. Quylla pressed buttons and typed commands only to keep the existence of the Eyes and Ears of Menadion a secret.

She pretended to connect the Infirmary to her communication amulet to access the recording of the fight against Ruugat. Then, she pulled up the data acquired by the various scans and made it look as if the Infirmary had to combine the data instead of immediately displaying the results.

"This was expected, but it’s weird nonetheless." Quylla pensively tapped her lips with her fingers. "According to the Infirmary, there was indeed resonance between your eyes and Ryla’s, Lith, but the phenomenon’s starting point is actually your wings."

"My wings?" Lith echoed in disbelief.

"No, your wings." Quylla shook her head. "Ryla’s wings resonated with your own, and once the phenomenon became strong enough, it spread to your eyes. Then, the resonance effect spiked to the point that it affected the other humans in the area.

"The higher their human rank and the closer they were to you, the higher the changes they underwent. Ryla and Solus first, then the Fomors, the Balors, and lastly the regular humans who experienced only an increase in their elemental affinities."

"What about me?" Tista asked. "I was close to Lith, and I’m a rank 3 human. Yet my scales didn’t turn emerald, and my energy wings faded quickly."

"Look at the data again, please." Quylla pointed at the screens. "As I said, the resonance starts with the wings. The weird feeling you experienced was your body trying to tap into its human potential and failing because your wings failed to keep up with Lith’s."

"Okay, but why?" Tista asked.

"I don’t know, and we are here to understand that." Quylla turned toward Ryla and then Lith. "What do your wings have in common that Tista’s don’t?"

"Nothing." The Fomor said after mulling over the question for a bit. "We all have feathers, and she even has four of them, while Lith just has one set of feathered wings."

"Ask me!" After reviewing the data several times and long minutes of silence, Morok raised his hand. "I know the answer!"

"This is no classroom, dear." Quylla chuckled. "There’s no need to raise your hand. You can just share your hypothesis with us."

"I thought you liked playing the mean professor-"

"Not in front of the children!" Quylla blushed so hard that even her toes reddened.

"Back when you worked at the White Griffon Academy." The Tyrant clicked his tongue, making it clear that she had rushed to conclusions and embarrassed them in front of their friends.

"Well, yes." Quylla cleared her throat. "After being bullied so much, I like to make those arrogant punks sweat and squirm a bit. Please, continue."

No one said anything in front of Garrik and the babies, but her friends’ stares were more than enough for Quylla to understand she would never hear the end of it.

"I think that Tista experienced my same problem." Morok had the reverse-V-shaped bones pop out of his back. "As you know, I use my wings only to fly, and to do that, I have to release world energy just like Tista releases her Origin Flames."

He gave a short demonstration by emitting a short, prismatic burst of power that lifted him from the ground for a split second.

"Yet when the resonance started, my wings shorted out." The Tyrant moved in front of the control panel and zoomed in on the images of the battle where he appeared. "Things got so bad that I lost control and almost crashed to the ground."

A few more clicks and he found the frames where the elemental streaks in his wings were visible.