Supreme Magus

Chapter 3832: Buried Secrets (Part 1)

"I had great difficulty harnessing my new powers as well, and managed to do it in time only because my life was at stake. My survival instinct allowed me to understand that I had to start absorbing the world energy through my wings, not my eyes." Morok said.

"Just like you taught me, Mom." Garrik said.

"Exactly." Morok nodded. "That lesson saved my life, Ryla."

"A lesson I missed!" Tista inwardly cursed. "Still, this doesn’t make sense. Lith’s wings emitted power during the fight against Ruugat. They didn’t absorb it. I don’t think he can even do that."

"I actually can." Lith’s eyes narrowed as the mystery started to unravel. "I always draw the world energy in through my wings when I need to produce Dread Flames. It’s my feathered wings that split the world energy into its elemental components."

"That’s exactly what a Fomor’s wings do!" Ryla said in amazement. "Yet Tista is right, this doesn’t make sense. Back then, your wings burst with power."

"That’s because I had already conjured a lot of elemental energy with my spells." Everybody knew he had used the Elemental Storage, not spells. "What you see in the images is the energy that exceeded my body’s capacity."

"That’s also something a Fomor’s wings do." Ryla’s words made Menadion’s and Solus’ eyes widen in understanding. "There is a limit to the power we can safely harness. Past that point, our wings release the excess world energy before it harms us.

"In a way, you can say that Balors and Fomors breathe world energy through their wings just like Awakened do with their breathing techniques. Our eyes, instead, are used to store and release the elements.

"According to Glemos, the evolutionary path of the Balors is supposed to combine the effects of our eyes and wings to gain six elemental cores in addition to the mana core.

"He also believed that once a Balor gains the Spirit eye, the seven elemental cores would form a second mana core that would more than double the abilities of an Awakened. Yet none of his experiments ever succeeded.

"No Balor, not even after evolving into a Fomor, developed a seventh eye. Tyrants could get the Spirit eye, but never developed wings. It’s the reason he... was so happy when Garrik was born. Our baby boy is a small miracle."

Ryla smiled softly, not wanting to badmouth Glemos in front of Garrik or let him know that Glemos had never considered his son more than another experiment.

"It’s also the reason father was so happy when he witnessed the results of my Awakening." Morok pointed at his prismatic scales.

His face and voice sounded full of sadness and longing. Even Lith would have never suspected it was all a lie to cover the spite the Tyrant felt for his father if he didn’t know better.

"It’s an interesting theory." Lith said, changing the topic to something less painful for Morok and Ryla. "Too bad it’s only partly correct.

"The eyes of a Fomor can indeed form auxiliary cores, but the part about forming a second mana core? That’s just a pipe dream."

"How can you be so sure?" Morok asked, happy to follow Lith’s lead and distract Garrik before he might wonder about where his father had gone.

"Because I’ve witnessed both such things." Lith replied. "The man you know as the Master has developed a black and a white eye and obtained a black and a white core, but they are both unstable."

It was a blatant lie for Garrik’s and Ryla’s sake, but no one contradicted him.

"According to the Master, he needs to open four more eyes, develop four more cores, and then he will be able to fuse them into one. On top of that, we know first-hand that not even an Awakened body can withstand the power of two cores.

"And with ’we’, I’m not talking about Solus and I, but all of us. Think about it. How did we save Nalrond’s life?"

"You’re right!" Quylla turned to the Agni. "He had two bodies, yet they couldn’t harness the mana flow of two cores when you reached the deep violet upon Awakening. There’s no way a single body could contain two bright violet cores."

"Bottom line, Glemos was partly right and the secret of human evolution lies in both wings and eyes." Solus pondered.

"Can you teach me, little brother?" Tista asked. "Maybe, I too can conjure Dread Flames and develop the same bloodline abilities of a Fomor as you did."

"I can try." Lith replied. "Maybe, Ryla can teach us all. I know how to draw the world energy in only to conjure the Dread Flames. Selecting a single element and discharging the others is beyond me."

"Lucky you." Morok replied. "I tried the absorbing the world energy thing through my wings ever since we got back home and I have yet to succeed once. During the battle there was a weird melody in the world energy that guided me. Without it, I’m clueless."

"Same." Tista sighed. "I succeeded only after listening long and hard to the melody and letting it take over my body. I had no idea what I was doing."

"Don’t worry. That’s how we all felt." Lith, Ryla, and Solus nodded.

"I’d love to teach you all." The Fomor said. "We can learn from each other. Maybe, Lith and Morok can use my teachings to improve on the breathing technique and hasten the stabilization of Garrik’s life force further."

"And maybe, we can trigger the resonance again and help Quylla to fix your life force, Ryla." Morok said.

"Let’s not be too greedy." The Fomor’s mouth curled in a thin smile. "I’ve already gained enough. You guys gave me so much, and I’m happy to be able to do something to repay you for your kindness."

"The lessons can wait." Quylla kept replaying the video, focusing on one kind of evolved human at a time. "There are still quite a few things that we need to clear up before we can move on.

"It is boring Healer talk and could take a long while. Lith, do you mind bringing Ryla and Garrik back to the Mansion?"

"Sure thing." Lith handed them the mask and the body glove. "Remember, not a word to anyone."

"Pinkie promise!" Garrik offered his finger to empty air, but Lith moved in front of the young boy to shake it with his own.

"My lips are sealed." Ryla said. "I swear it on my blood."

The tower Warped back to Garlen, Lith used the Warp Mirror to bring the Fomors to their quarters, and then Warped back to a safe location.

"Okay, now that it’s just us, you can stop lying, Lith." Quylla said. "We all know that the Master has not a white and a black core, just a black core and a partly corrupted human core.

"Just like we know that during the battle against Ruugat, you didn’t conjure any world energy, the tower did."

"So what?" Lith asked.

"Then how can you be so sure about the parts Glemos got wrong? How did the tower do what it did? It’s supposed to guard solely Solus’ life force, yet it adapted to you. It supported your powers, not hers. Also, explain this."