Chapter 4593: Greed and Resentment (Part 1)

"Please, tell me." Friya sighed once Morok put her down, and she could go back to wallowing in self-pity. "I can use a piece of good news in this mess."

"I’ll have someone who can relate to the mess my life is, and so will you." Quylla replied as Orikan and Jirya flew through the room like small human rockets propelled by their energy wings. "You won’t have to face things like this alone."

She pointed at her twins firing elemental beams at each other in their mock aerial battle. Orikan’s and Jirya’s mana cores were still too weak to emit more than mere light, and flying tired them quickly, but that would change as they grew up.

"This is not good news. It’s a prophecy of doom!" Friya said.

"First, my life isn’t so bad. Second, I was pranking you." Quylla laughed hard. "You’ll have it much easier than me. You’re in hot water now only because of the Hydra blood that flows in your veins and your twins temporarily share.

"Once they are born, they’ll be human-Agni hybrids. Unless Nalrond’s species is as intelligent as a Divine Beast, your children shouldn’t act much differently from human babies."

"Now that’s what I call good news." Friya sighed in relief, irking her sister to no end.

"Here’s another one, then." Lith shrugged. "Dimensional magic requires a lot of mana. Your boys shouldn’t be able to use it until they are old enough to receive proper magical education. Emphasis on should."

"And why is that?" Friya asked.

"Because, unlike you, I’ve learned from experience to phrase certain things vaguely enough not to tempt fate in proving me wrong." Lith replied. "That said, do you mind repeating your exercise inside the Watchtower?"

"Sure. I mean, it’s not like it can get any worse than this." She said.

"Friya, no!" Lith, Solus, and Nalrond screamed in unison.

"Come on, guys. Don’t tell me that you believe this superstitious nonsense?" She asked, activating the Warp Mirror to bring everyone to the Watchtower. "What’s this supposed to achieve?"

"We are not dimensional mages, but while inside the tower and wearing the Ears of Menadion, we’re the next best thing." Solus replied. "Your idea of conjuring a dimensional field is very interesting, and we’d like to apply it to the tower."

"It would be great for you guys and terrible for me." Friya sat cross-legged and resumed her practice spell. "Fair warning: if you succeed and then I fail to strangle you out of envy, Master Faluel might try next and have better luck."

"I’ll take that chance." Lith put on the Eyes, focusing them on the space around Friya rather than on her spell. "Why don’t you wear the Ears?"

"Good idea. I..." As soon as Friya sat on the control throne and wore the artifact, her perceptions reached deep into the elemental flows channeled by the Rune Stores and quickly expanded to the entire area encompassed by the Watchtower.

Friya could now feel the swirling pool of world energy coming from the mana geyser on her skin. She could see the most efficient paths to connect Dimensional Ruler’s shards into a stable dimensional field.

She could hear the song of the elements as she wove them together and the discordant notes her mistakes produced. Dimensional Ruler formed a stable golden dome that grew larger and larger until it matched the boundaries of the tower’s defensive arrays surrounding the Verhen Mansion.

"This is amazing!" Friya let the elements flow through her body, fixing her mistakes one by one until the melody of her spell echoed throughout the world energy’s without encountering any resistance.

"Yeah, too amazing." Solus recorded how the tower collected the world energy, filtered it through the Rune Stores, and injected it into the mana crystals on either side of the Ears down to the smallest detail. "You’d better stop. We’ve already gotten what we wanted."

"What do you mean, too amazing?" Friya asked, annoyed by the interruption. "What if I was on the brink of enlightenment?"

"That’s exactly what I’m worried about." Solus replied. "You’ve always been great at dimensional magic, Friya, but this is too much and too quickly. The question you should ask yourself is, how much of that was you and how much was your babies?"

"Good point." Friya could think of a few answers, but she didn’t like any of them.

"Also, what if our children share your enlightenment?" Nalrond asked. "Even worse, what is going to happen once they are born? Have you forgotten how depressed Kamila was from losing her baby-boosted mana core and talent?"

"He’s right, sis." Quylla nodded. "You have twins, so you are bound to have it twice as bad as Kamila. That’s why I was so careful during my pregnancy. You, instead, are pushing your abilities to their limits and beyond."

"I get it." Friya raised her hands in surrender. "I think I had enough training for today. Maybe even for the rest of the week. I’ll go downstairs, take notes of my findings, and dumb them down as much as I can."

"Remember to disconnect from the Armory once you are done." Solus pointed out. "Otherwise, you’ll still be under the mind-focusing effects of my Sage Staff and your notes will become gibberish once you give birth."

"Wait a second." Friya froze in shock. "Are you telling me I just gave my twins a full ride through a very powerful dimensional spell with the assistance of the Rune Stores, the Ears, and Yggdrasil wood?"

"Yeah, but it’s not a big deal." Solus shrugged. "You connected to the tower only for the duration of our little experiment, right?"

"Wrong." Friya replied. "I used the Ears only for the duration of the experiment. I forgot about the Armory and kept my connection with the tower for all this time!"

***

Friya was still crying in her room when Lith’s communication amulet drew his consciousness.

’This must be one of those days.’ He thought. ’First Friya, and now the Royals and the Awakened Council contact me together. Let’s hope-’

’Didn’t you learn anything from Friya’s blunder? Don’t jinx it!’ Solus cut him short.

’You’re right, I’m sorry. Things can always get worse.’ Lith replied as he pressed the blinking runes.

"Your Majesties, Representative Raagu, and... Aalejah?" Lith asked in confusion.

"Supreme Magus Verhen." The Royals spoke first, followed by Raagu, and then the elf, establishing a hierarchy in the meeting. "We’re sorry to bother you, but unexpected complications arose in Jiera that require your attention."

"Did the establishment of Merfolk communities in the Blood Desert exacerbate their relationship with the rest of the Jierans?" Lith considered himself responsible for the fate of the humanoids who had entrusted their safety to him on Garlen, and feared conflicts with the three races on Jiera might have broken out.

"No, quite the contrary." The King’s expression tensed up, and his hands clenched for a split second. "The free Merfolk settlements in the Desert demonstrated to the Jierans that communication and support are a two-way street.

"It improved the diplomatic and trade relationships between the Overlord’s settlers and Jiera’s Beast Empire and Verdant Kingdom. If anything, the Crown may have to ask your assistance in the near future to mediate with the Merfolk to establish their communities in the Kingdom as well."