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Chapter 3118: Building Up (part 2)
Supreme Magus

3118 Building Up (Part 2)

He was the only Awakened in the Organization and the only person who knew the life forces of the hybrids in general and Zoreth's in particular like the back of his hand.

Vastor had met the Shadow Dragon back when she still called herself Xenagrosh the Final Smile. She was the co-founder of the Organization and the first Eldritch to have successfully merged with her clone.

The Master had helped her during that fight and at every step of the way that had brough Xenagrosh closer to resurrecting, giving her back her identity as Zoreth. Even though she was much older and powerful than him, it had been Vastor taking care of Zoreth like a child since she had regained her human body.

Their relationship ran deeper than those he had with the other members of the Organization. Even more after the Master had used Zoreth's tissues to craft his Abomination core and then implanted his tissues inside her body to help her life forces to fuse.

Zoreth was a troll-Eldritch hybrid while Vastor had unlocked Decay and Chaos wings and eyes, making the Master and the Shadow Dragon almost a perfect match.

Once the final drop of the precious liquid was drained, the white crystal lid of the Madness opened up. The members of the Organization called it nutrients fluid, but it was the condensed essence of the life forces of hundreds of people.

The liquid fed the body while the mana crystals fueled Zoreth's fallen cores, ensuring that hunger wouldn't compromise any step of the procedure.

The human form of the Shadow Dragon walked out of the Madness, her appearance no different from when she had entered it yet she felt like a different person.

"Are you alright, Zor? Any pain or discomfort?" Bytra asked as she summoned Vastor via the communication amulet.

"Pain, no. Discomfort, yes, Byt." Xenagrosh performed a light stretching to get a feel of her invigorated muscles and test the flexibility of her renewed body. "But don't worry, it's not a bad feeling."

With each movement she performed, she let her mana flood every fiber of her being and sensed the subtle changes in her physiology.

"How can it not be a bad sign?" The Raiju asked.

"I don't feel like there's something wrong with me, Byt. More like that something is… off." The Shadow Dragon pondered how to express it with words for a bit. "Like I'm standing on the threshold of something.

"That I need just one more step to get in but I can't lift my feet for the life of me. Heck, I can't even let myself fall forward, if you know what I mean."

"I'm sorry, I don't." Bytra shook her head and crossed her fingers for good luck. "There you are, Master. Please, check on Zor. She says she feels off."

"First, don't call me Master. It's just the three of us here." Zogar Vastor was a short man in his mid-sixties barely over 1.55 meters (5'1") tall.

His once bald head was now covered in thick and well-groomed hair arranged in the latest fashion for men of his social stature. The Master's waxed handlebar mustaches had turned black as well, giving him a younger look.

After becoming interim Headmaster and then turning himself into a human-Abomination hybrid, he had slimmed down quite a bit. Vastor still looked more like a loving grandpa than a warrior, but his renewed vitality and hair gave him a fierce look despite his well-fed appearance.

Under his bitter countenance, lay the only Highmaster of Vastor's generation and the unsung god of the battlefield of the Griffon Kingdom.

"Second, put on some clothes, dammit! I'm a healer, not a doctor. I do not need to see you naked." The Master turned around and threw Zoreth her Bookwyrm armor.

"Gods, isn't he cute?" She chuckled while the enchanted metal turned into a silvery liquid and flowed into place. "After all this time, father still thinks I give a damn about modesty. I'm over a millennium old and he probably knows my body better than you, Byt."

"Zoreth Imerith Leegaainborn, don't you dare say that ever again!" Bytra said, her body overflowing with silvery bolts of outrage. "That sounds dirty!"

"Wait what?" Vastor raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Who's Imerith Leegaainborn? Don't tell me…"

"Byt!" The Shadow Dragon turned red from head to toe.

"Yes, Imerith is her middle name." The Raiju ignored the warning with a defiant look on her face. "On top of that, since Leegaain has no last name, his firstborns use his name to make it clear that not any Dragon sired them, but The Dragon."

"Why did you never tell me about this?" The Master asked.

"Because you've never asked and because it's damn embarrassing." The Shadow Dragon replied. "Byt, you had promised me to never tell anyone!"

"And I warned you about testing my patience in public!" The Raiju snarled. "You know that when I'm calling you by your full name, I'm dead serious."

"I'm sorry." Zoreth slouched her shoulders. "My joke wasn't funny and made Father feel awkward."

"It's a start but not enough." The Fourth Ruler of the Flames nodded. "We'll continue this conversation later. Your health comes first."

"Oh, good. I can't wait." The Shadow Dragon rolled her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes on me, you Shadow Jerk!"

"Girls, please, let me do my job." Vastor put himself between them and took Zoreth's hands, activating his breathing technique, Beyonder's Eye.

A huge smile appeared on his face as he discovered that the Eldritch and troll life forces had completely fused. There were no boundaries between them anymore. The Chaos energy was perfectly contained by the troll flesh which had become immune to it.

Decay neutralized Chaos and vice versa, restoring the elemental balance and making the Cursed Elements undetectable from the outside even with Life Vision. Once the Master had examined every nook and cranny of her organs, skin, and bones, and found no anomalies he moved to her mana cores.

Or rather, her mana core.

The troll and black cores were still visible, but half of them was now fused with the other. On the left side there was the white hemisphere remaining of the troll core while on the right there was a black one from the black core.

What lay in the middle was nothing like Vastor had ever seen and needed closer examination.

Unlike a non-Awakened core, the mana wasn't still, but unlike an Awakened core, there was no mana flow to the rest of Zoreth's body. Where the two cores touched, there was a perfect sphere inside which the two Cursed elements swirled together in a vortex.

The white part shone with endless light that strived to expand while the black part collapsed on itself, sucking everything in a bottomless void. One wrapped the other creating an almost perfect symmetry, turning Chaos into darkness and Decay into light.

Almost.

Yet it was in the imperfection that Vastor found the shocking proof of his success. In the empty sacks that formed from time to time in the vortex, the other four elements mixed with light and darkness, forming grey sparks.

Once those sparks reached the eye of the cyclone, they became one with Zoreth's life force and turned into small, emerald bursts of Spirit Magic.

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    3119 Not a Genius (Part 1)
    The presence of the seventh element, the element of life, could only mean one thing.
    The Shadow Dragon or at least part of her was dead no longer. Her troll and Abomination side weren't just coexisting anymore. They had somehow worked together to undo each other's fall.
    Even as the Master looked at the phenomenon, he could see the six elemental forces and the newly formed life force fighting to combine into more than emerald sparks.
    "Great Mother help me. Look at this!" Vastor altered the rhythm of his breathing technique slightly, using a trick that Nelia had taught him to make the readings of Beyonder's Eye visible to non-Awakened.
    Zoreth gasped while looking at her own abdomen, realizing that she hadn't been feeling off.
    What she had experienced since coming out of the Madness were the physical sensations of a living being, something she had long forgotten to cope with her endless hunger.
    Bytra burst into tears, holding her partner and the Master in a heartfelt embrace.
    "You did it, Father. You cured death and reversed the fall of the troll race in a single swoop!" She said amid sobs.
    "I did nothing as such." Vastor shook his head feeling unworthy of such praise. "I simply improved on the design of Arthan and Thrud. Without the help and the knowledge of the members of the Organization, none of this would have been possible."
    "Sure, mister Grumpy." Zoreth rolled her eyes and this time Bytra let it slide. "When you put it like this, it's two plus two kind of easy. Now, what do you think happened to me?"
    "Off the top of my head, adding my living tissues to the remains of your human side created a bridge between your troll and Abomination life forces. It allowed them to merge which in turn brought your cores together. Yet we are still far from success." He replied.
    "What's next?" Zoreth asked. "More experiments? Another run in the Madness."
    "Didn't you listen to me?" Vastor furrowed his brows in an annoyed look. "Your life forces have merged. There's nothing past perfection except maybe for evolution. There's no problem with your body, only with your cores.
    "I believe that you need to harmonize the flow of your mana just like an Awakened does to reach the violet core. In your case, you don't have to create more auxiliary cores so much as strengthening the middle core until it swallows the other two."
    "See what I mean?" The Shadow Dragon puffed her chest out with pride. "Not only has our father cured death and reversed the fall of my troll core, but he also has figured out the missing piece of the puzzle at first glance."
    '"I know!" Bytra swelled with pride as well. "He's brilliant, isn't he?"'
    "No, he's not." Zoreth shook her head, receiving Bytra's frown and Vastor's approval. "He's the most brilliant man I've ever met, like I've always said."
    In less than a split second, the Master and the Raiju switched their expressions.
    "Please, I'm no genius!" He scoffed.
    "So what? Do you have any idea how many progress you made even before meeting me? Of the kind of talent it takes to gather a bunch of unique individuals, study them, and come up with a solution that works for all of them?
    "Eldritches are like white cores. The only members of their own race, forever alone and each forced to face a unique problem only they have. At least the members of the same tribe of a Fallen Race can share their struggles whereas Eldritches can't afford the luxury of companionship.lightsnovel
    "That was before you found us. Before you found me. I made this breakthrough but the success is yours. You studied your life force and found a way to apply it to me. You've modified the Madness times and times again in ways that not even the Mad King could conceive.
    "He was undoubtedly a genius. Despite his crimes Arthan is recognized as the father of Body Sculpting and you have surpassed him. What does this make you?" The Shadow Dragon asked to a speechless Vastor.
    "I don't care what you tell yourself or if you are not a genius. To me you'll always be a brilliant man whose determination allowed him to surpass even geniuses. More importantly, you are my beloved savior.
    "You took me in after even my own blood turned its back on me. Mogar itself had abandoned me, considering me a lost cause yet you accepted me in your home. You gave me food and developed arrays to contain my hunger.
    "You were the first person to listen to me when I talked instead of running away or trying to kill me. Sure, our relationship was born out of common interests but, like me, it has grown a lot during these past years.
    "With each Eldritch we took in, you gave me a community first, a family later, and then a wife. You might not be my father, but you are the best dad I could ask for."
    "Hear, hear to that!" Bytra kissed the Master on the forehead. "I couldn't have said it better."
    "Me neither. Hear, hear!" Kigan walked out of the shadows, carrying with him the rest of the hybrids.
    "That short son of an egg did it!" Tezka's laugh was a low growl of hilarity. "I always knew you had it in you, Grampa."
    "Grampa?" Theseus laughed hard. "Maybe for those as young as me, but you are old enough to be everyone's forefather, old fox."
    "First, I'm ancient, not old." Tezka gripped his own chest in mock pain. "Second, I look like a dashing rogue whereas Zogar looks the part of a grampa."
    After a bit of laughter and playful mockery at the Master's expense, the Fylgja turned serious.
    "Jokes aside, I agree with Xenagrosh." He said. "You have collected Mogar's trash and treated us like your treasure, sparing no effort and resources on us. And now, you have turned us into some of the most powerful creatures this judgemental planet has ever seen.
    lightsnοvεl
    "Even if your research didn't pan out, you'd still have my eternal gratitude. Yet it did, and the word gratitude fails to convey how deep I feel indebted to you, Father."
    Tezka took a pause, letting his words sink in and giving the others the opportunity to chime in in agreement.
    "I feel the same as Tezka, Father." Nandi the Minotaur said. "You gave me back my body, my life, and my freedom. To all us clones, you really are our father. Without you, we wouldn't have been born."
    "Original or not, I'm still myself." Theseus the Bastet said. "Scratch that, I'm better. My former self was deranged beyond what even a Guardian could remedy, yet you did. Before I go back to my life, you have my word that I'll do anything for you.
    "Your enemies are my enemies and I'll fight until my last breath to protect you."
    "And Zin." Nelia the Griffon nodded.
    "And your adoptive children." Cyare the Fenrir said.
    "And the biologi

    3120 Not a Genius (Part 2)
    "There's still a lot of vigor in you and Zin. We must just fix your staff!"
    "Don't you talk about me like th-"
    "To your future children. To our siblings-to-be!" The Eldritches chanted in unison, cutting Vastor short and forcing a chalice of wine in his hand for the toast.
    ***
    Ernas Region, Ernas country house in the countryside of the city of Unama.
    After Orion's Awakening, he and Jirni had moved to one of the many mansions the Ernas family owned throughout the region they ruled. They had chosen Unama because it had a Warp Gate, allowing them to run away or call for reinforcements with ease.
    Orion had spent the past few weeks training body casting, Spirit Magic, adjusting his Blade Spell, Elemental Sonata, for the seventh element, and growing a beard.
    The rejuvenating effects of his Awakening had yet to fade and he could only hide his face for so long before people started to suspect he was a body double and that something had happened to the real Orion Ernas.
    The chaos that the "disappearance" of the Lord of the Region would cause and the necessary explanations quelling it would require would ruin Jirni's work to build their strength in secret.
    So they had moved to the country house where they had spent many summers with their children back when they were still young. The place was "small" enough to not require many servants, allowing Jirni to bring along only her most trusted helpers like Dyta.
    The official cover story was that they were celebrating the anniversary of Phloria's death in her beloved summer house. The place was filled with good memories of the late lady Ernas going for horse rides, training with her father, and playing in the mud with her dog, Lucky.
    It gave everyone bittersweet emotions and pushed them to train relentlessly, even the small Ry. Gone was his flabby belly and naïve attitude. Now Lucky was fit and muscular enough to vent his rage and grief on anyone stupid enough to cross him.
    He still slept on Phloria's clothes, rotating them and keeping them sealed in dimensional amulets to save her smell for as long as he could.
    Due to her advanced pregnancy, Jirni could only perform light exercises, focusing her training on magic. The magical boost she received from the baby allowed her to wield much more mana than natural and even to dabble in dimensional magic.
    The strain such powerful spells put on her body made up for the lack of physical training and helped her to build muscles while also tempering every fiber of her being.
    'Just like Orion, she spent the time when she was forced to rest practicing Accumulation non-stop. He had a long way to go before reaching the bright violet core again and with her deep yellow core, she had many years of practice ahead of her.'
    Unlike Orion, however, Jirni was often forced to take breaks to give her body the time to adapt to the changes without endangering the baby. Orion, instead, worked relentlessly, resting only once sleep deprivation and mana abuse compromised his focus.
    Invigoration would keep him up and running for days until it lost too much effectiveness to support his training regime. The Eldritches fought, not sparred, with him, pushing Orion's technique, body, and equipment to the limit.
    They were careful not to kill him, but that was all the mercy they granted him. More than once one of his limbs flew off, his body was pierced from side to side, and his weapon and armor broke almost to the point of non-recovery.
    Grimlock, his blade, raged after every defeat. Its crystals shed tears of mana and the hums of its pseudo cores sounded like wails, sending chills down Orion's spine.lightsnovel
    'In the gods' names, what have I done?' The weapons borne from the War series all scared him. 'Skywarp is also growing… violent for lack of a better term. It feels the baby and Jirni's desire to protect her, becoming aggressive for it.
    'More than once Jirni's needles assembled themselves into Skywarp without her command. The needles react to her stress as if Skywarp understands what people say and feel!' Orion feared to have somehow created cursed objects.
    That it was only a matter of time before the weapons of the War series turned against their owners. Yet until he was sure they posed a threat, he couldn't afford to lose their help.
    Grimlock grew more attuned to Orion's mana with time, making the Blade Tier spell more powerful and faster to cast. The curved blade seemed to learn the spell, casting it on its own and drawing the power cores from the rest of the equipment.
    It took part of Orion's burden on itself and supported him in weaving Elemental Sonata's runes instead of opposing resistance like inanimated metal was supposed to.
    The constant fights to the death tempered Orion's body and helped him master his new physical prowess. Vastor would come only when he could and spent the whole time teaching Jirni and Orion about Spirit Magic.
    He was the only Awakened in the Organization capable of using the seventh element hence he could give practical demonstrations and not just theoretical lessons like the Eldritches.
    "Make me one of those and I might consider fighting the Myrok by your side." The Master pointed at Grimlock and Skywarp.
    "Do you really need my help?" Orion furrowed his brows and pointed at Grimbark and the Dominator armor. "I've never seen anything like that and I doubt I could do better even ten years from now."
    "Make it one hundred years." Vastor grinned with fatherly pride at Bytra's work. "But it doesn't change the fact that I can't use Blade Spells with them. Meln is coming back, and the bastard can. He has a gods-damn tower at that.
    "Even if you survive the Myrok, we all know that sooner or later Meln is going to come after us." Vastor threw his Past card in front of his accomplices. "He has tried to kill Zin and Jirni once. He'll do it again."
    Orion opened his mouth to reply but Jirni clenched his hand to stop him.
    "We'll think about your offer." She said. "Let's take things one step at a time, though. Please, continue the lesson."
    Quylla and Friya often received calls from their mother, respectively to have news about the twins and the preparations for her marriage.
    lightsnοvεl
    The two women missed their parents, but with the whirlwind of activities in which they were involved, they barely had the time to notice Jirni's and Orion's disappearance.
    It was the reason when Friya and Quylla were invited to visit their parents at the summer house, they didn't suspect a thing.
    "Can you believe it has been more than a month since the last time we've seen Mom and Dad in person?" Quylla sighed.
    "Yeah, and now that I think about it, it feels off." Friya bit her lower lip in deep focus. "I would have expected Dad to hover around you like a vulture, spoiling the babies while they are still in your womb.
    "As for Mom, not having her bossing me around and trying to teach me the right way to organize my own wedding feels weird

    3121 Family Schemes (Part 1)
    "You call that weird? What about inviting me to come along without even a single passive-aggressive remark?" Morok pointed out. "I'm not mister golden boy, here." He jabbed his thumb at Nalrond.
    "Your parents can't stand me, yet when Quylla told them she was coming alone, they insisted I should accompany her."
    "That's indeed weird." The Agni nodded. "What did you do? I mean, recently."
    "I did nothing! Wrong I mean." Morok rushed to add once he noticed a mean glare. "I'm helping Quylla manage the household in your parents' absence, taking administration classes, and working with Lith, Ryla, and Tista to study our eyes."
    "He's telling the truth." Quylla nodded. "Sure, he made a few social blunders here and there, but nothing worth a scolding in person. Morok has come a long way since he was a haggard, unkempt, foul-mouthed Ranger who only wanted to laze around."
    "Hey!" He said in outrage.
    "What? I was giving you credit where credit is due." Quylla chuckled.
    "Then why did it sound like an insult?" He asked with a snort.
    Morok didn't feel disrespected because she would always defend him in public and point out his mistakes only behind closed doors. Or, like in this case, in the presence of their family.
    "Guilty conscience?" She straightened the lapels of his shirt while looking for food stains, failing to find them only due to the self-cleaning properties of the enchanted clothes.
    "It's not funny!"
    "But it's true." Quylla shrugged. "You have to clean your act better. If not for me, do it for the babies. Or when they grow up, they'll be the laughing stock of their peers."
    '"Over my dead body!" The Tyrant snarled in fury at the hypothetical bullying. "Damn, being a noble is no way as fun as I dreamed."'
    "I hear you, brother." Nalrond groaned, fist-bumping the Tyrant.
    The two men took most of the lessons about nobility together, including geography, history, etiquette, and law. The only silver lining was that as men they weren't expected to play an instrument but to be able to fight, something they both needed no basic training about.
    "Mom! Dad!" Quylla said, waving her hand.
    The four of them had traveled from Unama to the country house with Warp Steps, reaching their destination just in time to finish their conversation.
    "Hi, sweetie!" Jirni waved back and smiled at her guests, creeping everyone out.
    "It smiles! It must be a trap. Run for your lives!" Morok tried to bolt but Quylla nailed him to the ground.
    "Don't be an idiot!" She grunted. "My mother would never make a trap so obvious."
    "Are you sure?" He asked.
    "Damn sure." She nodded. "Hide behind me and keep a Spirit Steps at the ready, just in case."
    "Right, the old hag would never endanger her grandchildren."
    "Yeah, but don't call her an old hag. She's my m-"
    "Dear, the kids have arrived. Come to meet them!" Jirni waddled to them, hugging them one at the time and freezing Quylla in horror.
    "Is everything alright, Mom? You look and act… different." Friya asked.
    Jirni wore no makeup, making her newfound youthful appearance stand out as much as her unusual cheery mood.
    "Because I am, silly, but let's continue this conversation after your father arrives." Jirni replied, happy of her findings with Invigoration.lightsnovel
    Orion stepped through a dimensional door, covered in sweat. His armor and blade were full of cracks, his hair caked with dirt and blood.
    "Dad!" Quylla rushed to him but he kept her hands away. "Are you alright? Talk to me."
    "I'm fine." He took a deep breath and activated a healing spell to heal his wounds and a darkness spell to clean himself.
    Healing magic would hasten his body recovery and build muscles whereas Invigoration would restore his energy but also throw the results of his training in the gutter.
    "I was just sparring with a friend and we got carried away. Please, follow us inside the house." Orion opened another Steps that led to the dining room.
    Once everyone was in, the dimensional opening faded and countless arrays sealed the room and compressed space, ensuring their privacy even against Spirit Spells.
    lightsΝοvεl ƈοm
    "What's going on?" Friya looked at Jirni with Life Vision, to make sure it was really her.
    "Standard security protocols, as you should know." Lady Ernas' voice lost its cheerfulness as she sat on the nearest couch. "Before I explain you why I've called you here, there's something you should see."
    Orion leaned to her and she shaved him air magic, demonstrating great skill and tenderness.
    "Where's Dad and why did you kept the existence of our younger brother a secret from us until now?" Friya said in shock.
    Orion now looked just a bit older than Friya and Quylla and the "resemblance" with their father was undeniable just like the idea that one of their parents had cheated on the other was preposterous.
    "Thanks, Little Rainbow, but it's really me. I am your father." Orion said with a somber expression and tone that would have made Lith regret missing the scene, were he to know about it. "Use Life Vision if you don't believe me."
    Everyone followed his advice, confirming Orion's identity and more.
    "Wait a second! The old man has a bright violet core whereas this guy is barely above violet." Morok said while unsheathing his twin battle hammers.
    "And that's not all." Jirni took off her cloaking ring and released a deep yellow aura, quickly followed by Orion.
    "You are not my parents!" Quylla snarled, conjuring hard-light constructs whose destructive power exceeded the bright violet core. "They are not Awakened. You are impostors."
    "Really?" The non-Jirni rolled her eyes in a very Jirni-like way. "And pray tell, why would impostors be dumb enough to reveal themselves without springing their trap and neutralizing you first?"
    "Uhm." Quylla replied.
    "We are both pregnant and that's undeniable as well." Jirni continued. "Take my hands and use Invigoration. Unless you think I've eaten a baby for this façade."
    Quylla could see her little sister's energy signature and core from a distance with Life Vision. On top of that, the two mana flows from mother and daughter were too intertwined for the baby to be just carried in a secret pouch.
    "Fine." She nodded. "Guys, stay on your toes."
    "I resent that, Little One." Orion threw away his equipment, revealing that he was shirtless and a physique that made the two younger men feel like couch potatoes in comparison. "There. Happy now?"
    "Please, keep your pants on. Please, keep your pants on. Please, keep your pants on." Morok begged, incapable of averting his eyes from the raw, savage splendor of Orion's body.
    "What the he
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