Chapter 4479: Semi Sentience (Part 1)

"Also, try a bite of Ishara meat buns before you judge me. I can assure you that not one of my subjects will turn this boon down, no matter their race."

"I’m... I mean, sure." Lith nodded. "Time sure flies when you have fun. Thanks for everything, Grandma. I prepared this for you, but I recommend consuming it at night to better appreciate it."

He handed her a Phoenix-sized molten chocolate cake with three cows’ worth of fresh cream, making her squirm with joy.

"Thanks, Featherling. Much appreciated." Salaark stored the colossal dessert in her pocket dimension. "See you tomorrow. It’s my turn with the kids."

***

After returning to the Vehren Mansion, Lith swapped the contents of the Crucibles and studied a new design for Thundercrash with Solus’ and Friya’s help. As for Tista, she now had a literal big problem.

"Farm me sideways, where am I supposed to store all this stuff? I don’t have a farming pocket dimension!" She groaned in frustration. "I will need dozens of dimensional rings just for the metal, but there is no dimensional item with enough space to contain a single plate of the Isharas’ exoskeleton!"

"I hear you. It’s the reason all noble households and the Royals have a treasury." Quylla pointed out. "Dimensional items are great, but they can be stolen after your death, and only one person can access them at any time.

"Also, once you accumulate enough wealth and resources, no number of dimensional amulets is enough. The only solution is a treasury. The more you own, the bigger it must be."

"Or a pocket dimension." Menadion said. "That’s why I equipped my tower with one. The more powerful you are, the bigger the dimensional space, and a tower is the artifact-equivalent of a white core.

"Its pocket dimension is the size of this Mansion. And I mean including the external walls, the park, and everything else."

"How could I forget about you, Ripha?" Tista said with the tone of a drowning woman seeing a lifeboat approaching. "The only thing that surpasses your peerless beauty is the immense kindness of your heart.

"Otherwise you wouldn’t need a chest so large to contain it."

"Whoa, girl!" The First Ruler of the Flames stepped back, her right hand raised. "I can tell when someone is hitting on me and when they are just buttering me up. You belong to the second kind, and based on how desperate you sound, I wouldn’t be surprised if you shoved me in an oven with plenty of potatoes!"

"How can you say that, Ripha? I’m not buttering you up." Tista lied through her teeth. "I was just about to ask you to craft a pocket dimension for me. I mean, I’m like a sister to Solus, which makes you like a second mother to me.

"You wouldn’t say no to your step-daughter in her time of need, would you?"

"Riiiight." Menadion stretched the word to better spread sarcasm all over it. "You are not buttering me up. You are just asking for one of the most precious, elusive, and sought-after artifacts on Mogar."

"Exactly. A trifling matter for a Magus of your talent and a pillar of the Verhen family, Mommy." Tista nodded.

"You know what? I’ll do it." Menadion replied snidely. "Just bring me everything on this list, and I’ll whip you up a pocket dimension. If you want it crafted with modern magic, however, it will take me a few weeks.

"I never had a reason to update the original design, but I can do it for you."

"Thank you, thank you, thank-" The joy died on Tista’s lips as she read an exhaustive list of some of the most precious, elusive, and sought-after magical ingredients on Mogar. "Are you serious?"

"Why do you think omni pockets are so rare?" Menadion scoffed. "It’s not just a matter of finding someone with the right skill and knowledge. That’s just the final hurdle. First you have to collect a lot of priceless materials.

"It took me about 200 years and Lochra’s and Yaga’s help to do it. Take your time. I’ll wait for you here."

"You collected all this stuff?" Tista went pale.

"Actually, no. I could skip a few of them because the tower worked as an energy source. In your case, without a tower, I need something that can produce enough juice to remain connected with you at all times, no matter the distance."

"What if I wanted a tower?" Tista asked, aware she was likely digging herself an even deeper grave.

"Then I’m going to need a bit more items." Menadion gave her a second list that Tista read, crumpled, and swallowed in fury.

"It’s worse! So much worse!" She whined.

"And that’s why towers are even more precious, elusive, and sought-after than pocket dimensions." Menadion shrugged. "Finding the necessary ingredients is torture, and if you don’t have a working blueprint or Creation Magic, even someone like Lochra would go broke in a few tries.

"Even Guardians don’t craft their own mage towers because of this."

"The irony." Tista slouched. "I’m broke, yet I need a treasury."

"Oh, you poor thing!" Faluel Warped to the Mansion to take her share of the loot. "You can donate everything to the poor, or maybe just entrust your cut to me. I already have a treasury, and storing a few tons of magical ingredients isn’t a big problem for me."

"How could I forget about you, Master Faluel?" Tista replied. "You are like a star of hope that rises on the horizon to illuminate our darkest-"

"Yeah, and I heard what you said to Ripha earlier." The Hydra cut her short with a curt gesture. "I’m not into women nor am I interested in flattery, so spare me the poetry."

"And consider me offended, Tista!" Menadion said in mock outrage. "You dumped my large chest the moment Faluel offered you her secret vault."

Tista became beet red, while everyone else had a good laugh at her expense.

"Jokes aside, I can use an extra set of hands and tails." Faluel said, wiping her tears of hilarity. "Carrying all this stuff into my home will be a sweet pain in my even sweeter ass, but a pain nonetheless."

"Worry not. I have the solution!" Tista rushed into the tower, dragging Lith and Solus out to repeat the trick with their pocket dimension.

"Well, if this isn’t gods-damn cheating!" Faluel said as her and Tista’s share of the loot flew straight into the enchanted blast door of her treasury.

"I thought that by now you would have gotten used to it." Lith said with a smug grin.

"I am used to it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it or not envy you." Faluel grunted. "Is that it, Tista? You got nothing else on your name?"

"No." She sighed. "My Orichalcum is already in the Crucible and Lith has taken my Adamant, so the Ishara corpses are all I have. I have no need for them now, and I don’t think I will in the near future either."

"Can you put my share of the Orichalcum in the Crucible too, Lith?" Faluel fluttered her eyelashes seductively. "It shouldn’t take long to turn it into Adamant, and its value would be on another level."