"My blood carries a spark of my life force and mana which along with the Spirt Crystal in the fuller, will allow him to have better control over my bloodline abilities."
The Overlord didn't like Lith calling the blade like a person. The next troubling step would have been trying to give it a full personality.
nulli'I must be overthinking. Lith has experienced too many bad things through his Demons to be so stupid that he would attempt Forbidden Magic.' She inwardly shrugged. nulli'His blood needs more work, but there's no harm in humoring him.
nulli'Worst case scenario, Ragnarök won't get any better and Lith will have just thrown away a bit of blood.'
Salaark guided Lith and Solus during the Phoenix's Forge with only a few differences from the previous lesson. This time she didn't need Lith's essence to make the Davross accept Ragnarök's spell matrix since the enchantments were the same.
She just had to create openings in the mana pathways to let more energy in and increase the strength of the already existing runes and power core. Also, she took the sample of Lith's blood from the ampoule and converted it into a new pseudo core.
Just like it happened for magical ingredients, the pseudo core wasn't made of runes but of pure energy that seeped inside the spell matrix. This way, the blood merged with the power core as a whole instead of making it more complex by adding one more pseudo core.
The difficulty of the process lay in refining the blood so that the matter was converted into energy without significant losses, retaining most of Lith's energy signature, mana, and life force.
Lith's role was to use the darkness element to pierce through the various layers of the power core in order to allow Solus' light element to pour the energized blood. The amplifier was comprised of a unique kind of energy and it interacted in a different way with each different enchantment.
The various pseudo core that comprised the spell matrix of the power core carried the same energy signature and mana of the blood but they weren't meant to host life force. n./OIn
The different enchantments mixed slowly with the amplifier and it was necessary to damage them with darkness and then repair them with light to speed up the merging.
Lith created a fissure in the pseudo cores that Solus fixed by adding a bit of the blood so that once the damage was patched up, the life force was evenly spread throughout the renewed spell matrix, allowing it to flow freely in the rest of the pseudo core and from there into the power core.
Once the process was over, Lith and Solus were exhausted. Salaark had provided the energy for the missing seven people by herself but Lith and Solus had been forced to go all-out like during a normal Forgemastering experiment.
"Are we done now?" The Overlord was both impressed by the fruits of her work and pissed off because she couldn't check on the final result directly without Ragnarök trying to bite her face off.
"Not really." Solus said amid pants, handing Salaark both the Fury and another ampule containing a long strand of her refined hair.
"Are you kidding me?" She asked. "You guys are nowhere near the level necessary to craft a piece like Solus' Fury, let alone upgrade it with Creation Magic. I'm sorry, but I'll have to do this alone."
"Thank the gods. It's what I was hoping you would say." Solus split the Eyes into the Monocles, giving one to Lith and keeping the other for herself.
Then she conjured two more massaging chairs and plenty of food so that they could take some rest while admiring a master craftsman at work.
***
After Solus received her improved Fury, Lith conjured the helpers for the actual reforging since Salaark had no intention of helping them further.
He even moved the tower to the moon so that there would be plenty of energy for both pairs of the Hands of Menadion as well.
"Good gods, there is really life in space." Ajatar the Drake stepped into the silvery grass covering the clearing that surrounded the tower, feeling his whole being rejuvenated by the world energy in the air and the Life Maelstrom in the ground.
"And here I thought that Morok was either drunk or pulling my leg when he told me about this place. I can't believe you were telling the truth."
"Thanks for your vote of confidence." The Tyrant replied with a snarl.
"Sightseeing can wait." Lith pulled the Drake back inside. "Keeping the ingredients stable is a pain in the ass and it weighs on our focus so let's try to make this quick."
Bonding mana crystals and applying rune patterns was part of the preparatory phase of a Forgemastering process so Lith had already done it on his own right after finishing to Dismantle his equipment with Salaark.
Memory crystals came first, followed by Spirit Crystals. Elemental crystals were relatively easier to make so Lith had let them return to white crystals and then enhanced their elemental aspects strong of his newfound knowledge and prowess.
What was left to do was the actual Forgemastering and creating the power cores necessary for the various artifacts. Lith and Solus already knew how to cast Blade Tier spells and the more powerful the power core of their equipment, the more powerful the resulting spell would be.
It was the reason they needed to tap into the full power of the tower, of the set of Menadion that was part of the tower, and of the other pieces of Menadion that they had recovered and gifted to their friends.
On top of that, the Fury could produce eight copies of itself and turn the energy signature of any wielder into that of its master. It was how back in the day the First Ruler of the Flames had crafted her best pieces and taught her techniques to her apprentices.
The mystical hammer bore Solus' imprint but since she in turn bore Lith's, the products of the Forgemastering would ultimately carry his energy signature. To help them in their endeavor, Lith and Solus had assembled Tista, Protector, Faluel, Friya, and Quylla.
With five helpers plus Lith and Solus, seven hammers were taken, leaving two to spare. Ajatar the Drake had been summoned to take the place of the late Phloria Ernas since he had learned about Solus' secret and the tower during their trip to the Fringe.
The Drake had proved to be a good friend, without ever prying or asking questions until Lith had felt comfortable opening up with Ajatar and offered him a limited tour of the tower.
The cat was already out of the bag, but Lith preferred to keep the most powerful floors a secret to avoid arousing the greed typical of the Dragon species. It brought the total of Forgemasters to eight and filling the ninth spot had been quite difficult.
Orion was a non-Awakened and showing him the tower would have opened a can of worms Lith wasn't willing to deal with. Tyris had no intention of helping him this time and neither would Salaark or Leegaain.