Secret of Learning (Part 1)

"Are you sure you want to do this by yourself?" Farg asked in surprise. "You have plenty of allies and thanks to the recent peace, the Kingdom has plenty of available troops that can join you in storming the Undead Courts."

"Thank you for your offer, but it's not like I want to, I need to do this alone." Lith replied. "I have to check my new powers, put my equipment to the test, and most of all, I want to teach my enemies a lesson.

"As Leegaain said, I must send a message to all those who might think this is a good moment to get back at me. A message so loud and bloody that whoever is next in line will think twice before making their move.

"To achieve that, I must be the one writing the message. I want them to be afraid of me, to know what *I* can do. Not the Kingdom."

***

Blood Desert, Salaark's Palace, at the same time.

It was daytime in the Desert and the Overlord was fully absorbed by the mountain of paperwork that kept coming from the four corners of her dominion. Single-handedly dealing with most of the bureaucracy of the largest of the three Great Countries was an impossible task for a human but just a long, boring one for a Guardian.

'I swear on my Nest, I'm going to make a Menadion tower with my own spin! She thought. 'Soluspedia would be enough to cut the time I need to deal with this to one-tenth and that on top of all the stuff that Ripha hid from me.

'If only the tower was already restored, Tyris, Leegaain, and I could already work on that, but since it's still missing a lot of floors, too many pieces of the tower core are missing. Using the old blueprints in Leegaain's possession would be a waste of time.

'Now that Lith has reached the bright violet core it's only a matter of time until Solus too-' Her train of thought and flow of ink was interrupted when she perceived a slight tug on her consciousness.

It wasn't her communication amulet, Elysia, nor one of her fellow Guardians from Garlen. It was something much feebler that came from far away.

"Fenagar, if you have a death wish, just call Tyris. I'm pretty sure that she would love to finish what she started a couple of years ago." She said without even lifting her eyes from the pile of paper as she manipulated the ink with water magic.

Countless documents were drafted, others amended, and all of them were signed with elegant penmanship followed by Salaark's mystical seal.

"Very funny." The Leviathan replied. "Also, if I really had a death wish, I'd just follow Zagran around to fight those damned cursed cities. Ah, if only I remembered where I put my notes on those pesky contraptions..."

"What do you want, then? I'm busy." The Overlord cut him short, already tired of Leegaain's rambling and unwilling to stomach those of someone she didn't like.

"Nothing. I just need you to open the Gate from your side." Fenagar said. "It's time."

"Already?" Salaark inwardly cursed while reviewing her schedule and deciding what she was going to sacrifice in the name of duty. "Yes. I'm done with my part and we can use one more full-fledged Guardian. Scarlett has learned from Leegaain how to control the voices and her bond with Mogar. From Zagran how to fight and move like a Guardian.

"Roghar has taught her how to tap into and master her bloodline abilities while I took care of discovering with Scarlett how to apply them to her mystical senses in order to further her magical research.

"She needs your guidance to learn how to Forgemaster like a Guardian and how to kill like a Guardian. Please, be quick. After the first batch of reinforcements from Garlen arrived, things on Jiera are going better, but it's still crap.

"Scarlett doesn't seem to be the kind of Guardian bound to a specific turf and having a fourth would drastically increase our odds of succe- Are you listening to me?"

"No." Salaark replied while noticing she was in a bind.

If she took care of Scarlett, either she had to abandon the Desert or she would have to give up on lots of her free time with Shargein and Elysia. Useless to say, she wasn't willing to do any of it.

"Send her here. We'll figure out something." A wave of the Overlord's hand made the space in Jiera overlap with her private quarters in the Desert, allowing the Sekhmet to reach her destination in a single step.

"Let's start with the basics. How do I have to call you?" Scarlett was in her human form, that of a blonde woman in her mid-thirties wearing a gold-rimmed pince-nez.

She had entrusted the real Eyes of Menadion to Kalla, but after wearing them for over one century, she felt naked without them. She always carried a perfect yet powerless replica with her.

"Leegaain and Zagran were okay with being on a first-name basis whereas Roghar was an ass and demanded I called him master. Fenagar, instead, didn't care much about titles since he did most of the talking and I couldn't get a word in edgewise."

Salaark raised her eyes from the pile of paperwork, looking at the Sekhmet with Soul Vision and the fellow Guardian didn't attempt to stop her despite the pin-prickling sensation that the Phoenix's gaze caused her.

The Overlord could see that even after becoming a Guardian and in turn one with Mogar, Scarlett still carried part of the old resentment toward Salaark for hiding and protecting Ilyum Balkor, the god of death, from Scarlett's fury.

Under Soul Vision, the Sekhmet was in her true form, that of a titan with a height at the withers of 45 meters (148'), bigger than any white-cored Divine Beast but still far from the might of a full- fledged Guardian.

The Sekhmet in the vision was in a battle stance, her hind legs clawing the ground and compressed like springs, ready to pounce at any moment. Her forelegs ended with long claws that scraped at the ground in aggression and her open mouth was filled with mystical bolts of lightning.

"That's up to you." Salaark replied with a grunt. "I don't care how you call me as long as you respect me. Remember this, if I am to teach you anything, you must consider me your better and receive my knowledge without questioning me or my methods every step of the way.

"There will be a time for doubts and questions, but only once a specific lesson is over. Anything you say after I'm done explaining means you're trying to fully understand what I taught you and maybe even expanding further with your own talent.

"Anything you say while you still have no idea of what we are talking about just means that you don't trust me and that you are challenging my authority. So, think carefully before making up your mind about how to call me.

"I'm not Leegaain who has the patience to take you kids by the hand and wait for you to quit throwing a tantrum."