Chapter 2003 Partial Cores (Part 1) Lith planned on tapping into the full potential of the corpses and based on what he had learned from Xenagrosh during his trip in Verendi, the Balor should have been a better vessel for his powers. 'After all, my seven eyes come from my evolved human side and Balors are a fallen race of evolved humans.' Lith thought while holding a chunk of Syrook's pupil. 'Even though it's a faint connection, our common origin might allow Trouble's Golem to channel at least three of my elemental masteries, if not even Domination.' The mana organ that fueled the Dragon Eyes' bloodline ability had disappeared with the Syrook's death, but the physical organ was still a powerful medium to focus eye-related bloodline abilities. After each one of the eight Awakened had taken their position and conjured their respective Forge, they received their copy of the Fury from Solus. During the first part of the crafting process, the Forgemastering tools would be used as energy sources, converting the world energy into mana. Phloria and Quylla had borrowed a block of purified Adamant from Orion while Faluel had provided Friya and Protector with their own. 'Thank you, Lith. You have no idea how much this means to me.' Solus said via their mind link while giving him a loving smile from behind the Mouth. Her Forge was smaller than the others but also way more powerful. Faluel wasn't the only one who had gifted him Davross for his wedding. Sinmara and Surtr had contributed with a couple of ingots each. Tyris hadn't been invited to the wedding but she still had sent him two more Davross ingots as a thank you for helping her son, Dolgus. Lith had purified the gifts with his Origin Flames and added them to the Davross he already had, fusing the ingots into a small anvil that Solus was about to use as her Forge. 'No, thank you, Solus.' He replied. 'You have dedicated your whole life to me, following me at every step of my journey, no matter the sacrifices and pain it brought you. 'Even after recovering your human body, you always put me first, worrying more about my life than about making one of your own. As I told you yesterday, we are in this together. That Davross is as much mine as yours.' The anvil greatly increased both Solus' magical and mental strength. The purified Adamant Forges that the other members of the group used drew and focused the flow of the surrounding world energy, creating a mass of energy similar to a mana core. Only Solus and Faluel had one made of purified Davross and its effects went beyond Lith's wildest expectations. The metal drew, focused, and amplified the flow of world energy, sucking in more until the Davross shone like a star even to the naked eye. Unlike the Adamant, the Davross was also capable of splitting the world energy into its seven components, making it easy even for a beginner Forgemaster to amplify the effects of a specific element during their crafts. Many Forgemasters had studied the phenomenon, drawing comparisons between the purified Davross and the elemental crystals but only a few had understood its link with the white core. What made the magical metal so outstanding was not only its nigh-zero mana resistance but also its ability to switch between matter and energy just like an Awakened needed to do in order to achieve the white core. Solus hammered the anvil, producing a silvery sound that resembled more the tinkling of crystal glasses than the clash between hard metals. The delicate clang was music to Solus' ears. It triggered countless memories of the time she had spent with her mother, Ripha Menadion. They were just shards, single images frozen in time without context. In some of them, the First Ruler of the Flames had a stern expression, probably while explaining a Forgemastering technique to her daughter. In others, Ripha seemed happy while in a few she was furious. Solus had no idea what any of those images meant, yet she loved them all, even those where Elphyn and Ripha seemed ready to jump at each other's throat. 'No matter what happened back then, now this is the only way I have to see my mother's face.' Solus thought while small tears streamed down her eyes. 'I can see how she looked like when she was happy, sad, or angry. 'I can see how similar yet different we were. Most of all, I can remember how much she loved and cared for me.' At the same time, Solus' mana flowed inside the Davross that amplified it tenfold, making up for her weak core. Thanks to the combined effect of the anvil, the tower, the pieces of Menadion's set that she had recovered, Solus' magical prowess reached a level between the bright blue and the deep violet. Once everyone's Forge and Fury were nearly overloaded, Solus activated the first Forgemastering circle she had prepared. It channeled the power of the mana geyser below the tower, focusing on Raptor's Adamant body as much world energy as it could handle and sending the rest into the Forges. Lith, Friya, and Faluel each refined their respective ingredient before weaving their portion of the power core. They flooded the piece of the Black Dragon's body with their mana, reigniting and amplifying its magical properties. The chunks of flesh quickly turned into ash that was carefully collected while their mystical essence coalesced into a pseudo core that the Forgemaster would use as a scaffold for the outer layers of runes. The key phase to creating a complex power core required the mage to remove specific runes from every pseudo core so that the incomplete cores would fill each other's empty spots akin to the pieces of a puzzle. Sharing the same runes created a bond between the otherwise incompatible pseudo cores and allowed their energy to become highly compressed, stabilizing the resulting partial core. The final product would still have several missing runes, otherwise assembling the partial cores into a power core would have been impossible. Lith and those who had learned Awakened Forgemastery from him used his Necro Forge technique. It consisted in crafting one whole pseudo core at a time and then removing the runes needed to create the bond with the next pseudo core. It was quite a complex procedure because it required the mage to break down the sphere of mana into runes, destabilize it on purpose, conjure another pseudo core, rinse and repeat. Keeping the partial core stable became increasingly harder the more layers it had. The bond between pseudo cores created by the shared runes only reduced the repulsive effect between the different kinds of energy while the still empty slots were like holes in a damn. With each pseudo core they added, the internal pressure built up, forcing the Forgemasters to increase the external pressure with their mana in order to keep the partial core from falling apart. Solus, instead, due to her weak core preferred to use Lith's Bloom Forge technique She had weaved her partial core whole in one go instead of one pseudo core at a time. To do that, Solus had focused solely on the number and position of runes that each pseudo core needed in order to merge with the others.