Chapter 4555: Lost and Found (Part 1)

For Royal Forgemastery spells, instead, the unique energy signature couldn’t be removed. It let the Royals identify and track every piece crafted with Royal Forgemastery techniques and expose traitorous Royal Forgemasters without a doubt.

No artifact could be made without the Crown’s approval, and the Burden of Guilt spell allowed anyone with a Forgemaster wand to check any suspiciously powerful weapon a Royal Forgemaster crafted for themselves.

It was another piece of the legacy of the First Royal Forgemaster, and made up for the fake mages’ lack of Life Vision.

The Ernas family, like most ancient magical bloodlines, had learned the underlying principles of Menadion’s crafting techniques through practice and used them as a foundation for their own.

The Ernas’ new spells used different runes and diverged further from the originals as the Ernas bloodline legacy progressed until no trace of the runes forming Menadion’s safeguard remained.

"Too bad that Burden of Guilt is the least of my worries." Orion sighed. "Once I’m cleared of all doubts, people might think I can craft Blade Weapons at will and mistake me for a potential Ruler of the Flames. That kind of attention and the trouble it entails are what I’m afraid of."

"Speaking of all that, Father, what about my new hammers?" Morok asked. "Are they semi-sentient? Are they Blade Weapons?"

"I don’t think so, and I don’t know." Orion replied. "You should ask your lizard master. I didn’t craft them. He did. I only gave Ajatar a hand."

He was still salty for being outclassed by the Drake legacy, and the Tyrant using a family moniker irked Orion even more.

"What about Shadowbane, Orion?" Nalrond asked. "Have we learned enough about mana crystals to craft a definitive version?"

"I’m not that good, I’m sorry." He shook his head. "Before you ask, I can’t guarantee anything about your future weapon either. There is no Ernas technique that ensures a successful Blade Weapon. Sometimes it happens, but we always considered it a fluke."

"Semi-sentient weapons also happen to be Blade Weapons because they willingly harmonize their mana flow with their users. They are a fluke wrapped in a fluke."

"Thank you anyway." Nalrond nodded. "By the way, what happened to Ajatar?"

"He returned to the Fire Dragons soon after he was done with my hammers." Morok replied. "Master Ajatar won’t be back unless a crisis happens or he finishes his training, which shouldn’t take long. He’s working night and day to get out of there fast."

"Are the Fire Dragons that bad?" Quylla asked.

"No, but the more they discover about Master Ajatar, the more they try to convince him to stay with them forever." The Tyrant said. "Imagine if Lith were single and a guest of a family of Awakened that was helping him master his powers. Same thing."

"Poor Ajatar." Friya shuddered at the idea.

"There you are." Jirni entered the room, drawing all eyes on her. "Was the reforging process successful, and how is Grimlock?"

"Everything went fine, and it should be okay." Orion replied. "I’m not using Grimlock to practice for at least a full day. I’ll treat it like a patient after a major surgery and give it some time to rest and recover."

"It’s a good idea. I’m doing the same." Jirni said. "Skywarp is hurt, but the longer I keep it on me, the more the backlash from the reforging lessens."

"Gods, we forgot to tell you in the rush." Quylla slapped her forehead. "Removing your imprint had serious consequences on Skywarp. You’d better not use it for at least three days. Consider it a patient who suffered damage to their life force."

"I didn’t use Skywarp, and I won’t until your father tells me it’s safe, or the Gernoffs don’t leave me any other choice." Jirni replied.

***

Jiera Continent, Iljeru Region, Langharn Plains at the same time.

Tezka the Suneater flew at low altitude and speed as he tried to orient himself on the map. Being a dimensional mage was of no help when you hadn’t visited a place in millennia and everywhere you looked was the same.

"Where in Mogar’s name am I?" He turned around, finding no trace of the landmarks he was supposed to use to orient himself.

As the three great countries progressed in reclaiming and colonizing Jiera, the Organization’s operations had to move further away from the scouts to avoid detection by the members of both Awakened Councils.

Jiera’s natives resented the Garleners for claiming a few regions already as their own, but they couldn’t complain about the results. The joint efforts of the three great countries, the elves, the undead, and the people of Zelex, had greatly reduced the threat of the monster tides.

Even better, the allied forces from Garlen had also recaptured a few lost cities with the help of the Jierans. Death was no longer a daily occurrence for the survivors of the plague, and all the four races could finally thrive again.

The Beast Empire was a great supporter of the colonization efforts. The Garleners rebuilt human cities and roads, and offered the refugees new places to live.

After taking the human survivors in, the beasts had forced them to learn Tyris’ universal language, making communication easy for everyone.

The humans from Jiera didn’t like following the laws and customs of those they considered invaders much, but they preferred the Garleners’ open cities to the beasts’ underground complexes and their swift, merciless justice system.

Now that the Jieran Council didn’t live in a state of eternal crisis, the Awakened finally had time to check the abandoned magical mines and reclaim what they could before their Garlen counterparts did.

The Master wanted to avoid pointless conflicts, so he had his workforce migrate to wild and dangerous territories where the Awakened Councils wouldn’t dare venture for a long while.

The presence of the Eldritches and Auros the Bringer of Unity was more than enough to ensure the safety of the miners and the death of any bold explorer in an unfortunate "accident".

Yet the Master liked to play it safe, so he had sent Tezka to scout future sites of his mining operations.

The Suneater was tasked with culling the local monster population, studying potentially dangerous mutated monsters, and crafting the Home Stones that let the Organization relocate its miners, prospectors, and tons of equipment thousands of kilometers away in a few hours instead of months.

Such long-distance devices required a dimensional crystal and pinpoint-accurate coordinates, something only the Suneater could achieve. The task was boring and time-consuming, but it saved the Organization countless resources and was safe for someone of Tezka’s skill.

Hoping it would help the Suneater finish his mission faster, Filia and Frey had given him a full set of Rune Stores. The kids couldn’t even multi cast, and the remaining set was enough for them and their mother to train their powers.

Tezka kept the six foam constructs floating over his tails at all times, even when he split into multiple bodies to explore his surroundings and find his way. Being able to be in nine places at the same time was another reason the Suneater had been chosen as scout.

He couldn’t fly as fast as Zoreth, but he could explore a much wider area in a brief time and then return to the main base in a heartbeat with dimensional magic.