2923 Copies and Originals (Part 1)

"Don't worry. I have the same trouble with magical beasts." Solus replied. "Why did you request for our presence, Faluel?"

"To update you about our progress and pick your brains about the issues that we are currently facing." The Hydra replied. "We could use a fresh set of Eyes."

Faluel and Fyrwal winked, both aware of Solus' real nature and her link with Menadion's masterpiece.

"Lord Verhen." Ufyl snapped out of his reverie and fell to his knees. "I know that this is still too little and too late, but I want to renew my apologies for my actions. Ever since I rejoined my tribe, I've realized how blinded I was by vengeance.

"In my hatred for the parents who abandoned me and the master who sold me to Xedros, I've hurt countless innocent people. Phloria may be just one of the many, but her death weighs on me the most.

"Without her, I would have never understood the error of my ways and I would have ended up dead like the rest of my battle-siblings. Every morsel of food I enjoy and every moment of happiness I can still experience, I owe it to Phloria."

"I'll relay your message to her parents." Lith nodded, feeling a sting at Ufyl's words.

'In this, we are similar. Without Phloria, I would have given up on my humanity a long time ago.' The two Divine Beasts shared a moment of silence, that the Hydras respected.

Only a few of them had met the late Phloria Ernas, but everyone knew she had been precious to Faluel and the grief of one of their own was the grief of them all.

"So, what's the status on the Harmonizer?" Lith asked.magic

"Well, I have good news and I have bad news." Faluel sighed. "The good news is that we have finished reverse-engineering the schematics of the Harmonizers."

"Really?" Solus asked in amazement."Yes. We can Forgemaster them in bulk if we want to, but there are several catches."

"Several?" Lith groaned.

"Yes." Faluel nodded. "The Harmonizers Glemos used to accelerate the growth of mana crystals and magic metals are the easiest to make since they affect only the surrounding world energy, not a life force."

"That's fantastic news!" Solus tried to say more but Faluel waved her hand stopping her.

"No, it's not. If you remember Ajatar's mine that Glemos occupied, there was one Harmonizer focused on a specific mana crystal and used it as a template." Lith and Solus nodded for her to continue.

"The other Harmonizers, instead, collected the surrounding world energy and focused it, accelerating the growth process of new crystals. The problem is that you can only obtain copies of the template."

"So what?" Lith said understanding the issue one second too late. "Fuck me sideways! This means…"

"Correct." Faluel nodded. "You can't employ the Harmonizers on already existing crystals and the same applies to magic metal veins. You need to harvest everything but one to use it as a template, and then you can place the rest of the Harmonizers on the clean crystal vein.

"Since the germination phase is the slowest one, however, and you are starting from scratch…"

"It would take a long time anyway and you'd have to sacrifice the crystals that were already growing naturally. That's why Glemos needed the Balors. To force feed the Harmonizers with world energy and speed up the process." Solus completed the phrase for her.

"Can't we do the same thing with Invigoration? We are Awakened, after all."

"In theory, yes, but who would want to spend months, if not years, pumping world energy into one Harmonizer at a time?" Fyrwal replied while handing Lith the blueprints for Glemos' version of the Harmonizer.

"Our current goal is to keep the world energy focusing ability and eliminate the need for the template."

Lith wore the Eyes of Menadion, sharing their burden with Solus and Faluel while the Sage Staff further amplified their intellectual abilities.

'Easier said than done.' Solus' feet resting on his shoulder and Lith's membranous wing touching one of Faluel's necks allowed them to use a mind link without anyone noticing.

'The purpose of the template is to guide the energy coursing through the Harmonizer toward a final, stable form that can be cut with Crystalsmithing. Forcing a mana crystal to grow at that speed at random can cause a build-up of world energy.

'It would lead to a detonation that would affect the nearby crystals and cause a chain reaction. Best case scenario, you lose the entire crystal harvest. Worst case scenario, the mine collapses and you lose access to the crystal vein.'

'Everything you just said is correct, but you are forgetting one thing. The tower's mine operates in a similar manner but the crystals we grow are stable so there must be a solution.' Solus said.

'It's not the same thing.' Faluel replied. 'The tower focuses and amplifies the energy from the mana geyser throughout the entire mine so the crystals are free to grow in every direction at an accelerated rate.

'With the Harmonizer, instead, the crystal's growth is limited to the space inside the metal ring. If the growth starts near the edge, there will be part of the crystal forming at a normal rate while the rest grows faster…'

'And boom.' Solus nodded. 'I understand, yet I don't agree with you. The tower's crystal mine is also capable of using any crystal of superior quality, even those already cut, as a template to accelerate the growth of the weaker ones.

'I don't see why the Harmonizers shouldn't be able to do the same with the proper tuning.'

'Point taken, but I can't exactly borrow your tower and bring it here for everyone to study your mines.' Faluel replied. 'Why do you think I entrusted the Hands of Menadion to Friya?

'As long as I have to work here, I have no use for them. I trust the members of my family, but not so much to risk internal strife. Hydras are still Dragons and our greed mustn't be underestimated.

'The Harmonizers and the potential evolution are for everyone so there's no conflict in sharing them, but a single powerful artifact would do more harm than good.'

"Can I keep the blueprints?" Lith asked Anata. "I need time and quiet to study them. If we want to make this work, the runes about the template have to be either safely removed or completely rewritten.

"It's not something I can do off the top of my head." Or rather, the Eyes of Menadion needed time to process the information acquired and identify the role that each set or runes played.

"Help yourself." The lead Forgemaster said. "We have plenty of copies. We also have crafted a few Harmonizers for crystals, if you are interested."

"Thanks, but I prefer to build my own after tinkering with the runes a bit." Lith said. "What about the Harmonizers Glemos used to alter the life force and your research to turn Hydras into Dragons?"

"We have finished studying them too and the problem is the same as the crystals." Faluel sighed. "The Harmonizer needs a template to work, in this case, a life force."