novelraw Chapter 1554 - 1553 - Forge Maesters
Chapter 1554 - 1553 - Forge Maesters
Lind awoke with a foggy brain and a body that felt like crap but he was glad he awoke. He saw he was in a different set of quarters and he felt a weight on his left arm. He looked down to see 2 small sleeping heads on his arm.
He quickly scanned the room and the bright white flames told him where he was. He should have been recovering in a secured hall but he seemed to be in one of Bori's courtyards.
Whose idea was that and why had Jur not killed them yet? The twins he had met seemed awfully comfortable sleeping on him despite only meeting him a short–
His eyes went wide as he felt his vitality had dropped dramatically!
He refrained from shooting up but his harmony responded. It flared briefly and the twins snapped awake.
"Hoos ther?!" The mumbled inquiry snapped Lind out of his panic. The drool still fresh on the boy's face while the girls had some hair in her mouth made him smile.
"I apologize, I did not mea–" Lind was trying to calm them down when both eyes went wide. He was tackled instantly and a nostalgic feeling flowed over his heart.
""GRANDPA!"" The pair called out in unison and Lind froze. They had not called him that before. Something had changed and he needed to understand it.
His confusion seemed to make the girl grasp it as she smiled up at him and grasped his hand.
"Father and Mother talked. They want us to know you." Lind confirmed from those words alone that a LOT of time had passed.
He sat up and began to talk to them.
He learned about them.
The boy's name made him sigh internally. Kuro was clearly named by Chu or influenced by her. Jur likely did not know that it meant black in a language from his old world.
The girl, on the other hand, was named Saki. She seemed more intellectual than her brawny brother on the surface but he was no slouch.
His intelligence simply leaned to combat more than philosophy.
They demonstrated various Arts, techniques, and their cultivation without hiding anything. He frowned at a few things and instructed them to modify a few aspects. They were not flawed but very inefficient.
He could not demonstrate anything but his Talents and his harmony allowed him to correct them enough for them to figure it out. He noticed someone watching but did not react until both of them were cultivating once more.
"You are still a good teacher, Lind Frey." Jur stood in the doorway but he did not know what to say. Healing was easy as it was his forte but he was now in her house and he felt–awkward.
His reluctance seemed to satisfy something but she frowned not long after.
"Did you really go that far to save us all? You put yourself at that much risk?" Lind shrugged as he had no defense. He had not entirely understood what he was doing but it did not change the fact he had to do it.
The Great Bastard would not stop. She seemed to understand that much. She then sighed before tossing several jade slips at him.
He caught them but looked up at her in confusion.
"What am I supposed to do with these? I can't use my aura." Her dark eyes went wide as she blushed in embarrassment.
"Sigh, Bori realized the Soul Cleansing Ritual would not be able to work as is. Refiners are not going to be able to modify the existing artifacts in any acceptable time table but Forgers might be able to tweak them. We need your input." Lind sighed as he doubted any convenient scrolls existed.
The left the children to their cultivation as he was brought to a room where an argument was in process.
Lind paused as he listened. He frowned as he heard conflicting views and sighed.
His harmony flared as he smashed the doors aside. Jur rolled her eyes but did not stop him as he barged into the room.
He saw several races frozen in place but he recognized what they were. Forge Maesters. They had robust figures and he felt a resonance with his own senses.
They all bowed low but he focused on 3 of them.
A phoenix, a human, and what he thought might be a qilin. The last was not sure because of his reduced detection abilities but their reverence for him made damn sure they were from a dragon bloodline.
"So, you all are here as Maesters but argue what is good for me? Did no one even consult a single 6 elemental Forger?" The group in front of him did include a few but they were not from the Frey Clan at all.
He could tell at a glance they were not from his Clan.
He also knew they were arguing over things that would not help him.
"If the issue was that the artifacts were built with the old elemental foundation, then you all are more than qualified to fix them but the issue is me." It was the fundamental issue they were not understanding.
A normal 6 elemental was one thing, but Lind was a True Lord, a Divine Progenitor, and now a dragon as well. All of that had to be accounted for, not just an update to the existing artifacts.
"Tru–" Lind may not have his aura but his bloodline worked just fine.
A Divine Dragon Progenitor was damned powerful no matter what race he was facing. The 3 leaders blanched at his power.
"Time is not on my side. The Frey Clan has the most knowledge about me as well as the Harmonic Dragons. Summon them and we will start from there." Some seemed to want to object but a dark shadow spread in the room.
"For 6 months, you have argued about how to modify the artifacts but that is all. You just talked! The subject is now here and has far more experience than all of you combined. You will comply!" Lind felt a little guilt as all the Immortals wilted under her gaze.
Only a little though.
"You need people who know me inside and out. I have told you where to find them, so do it." He then turned and left the room without giving them a chance to argue. Pride was making them unable to progress and his vitality kept dropping.
The Great Bastard knew! He was trying to kill Lind!
Time was not on his side and they needed experts on him personally rather than a general Maester.
Lind was almost back to the room he had awoken in when a presence made itself known to him. Jur extended her claws but he held up his hand as a slim man was heaving having run after them.
It was the one that he suspected of being a qilin.
"True Lord, I know I do not deserve any recognition from you but I think this ritual is a dangerous risk. Modifying artifacts meant for phoenixes is not enough. I think you need draconic artifacts from the ground up." The man had slicked back white hair and pale features but Lind acknowledged his concern.
"Normally, you might be right but it is not a question of race but souls. Souls are not so dissimilar. Trust me, I know." It was the current issue he had come upon in that room. They had been arguing about compatibility with his race and ignoring the focus of the ritual.
Soul Cleansing Ritual was all about the soul, obviously, but many cultivators did not understand what that actually meant. Lind did acknowledge the artifacts needed modification but it was not as bad as many thought it would be.
The slim man seemed confused but Lind merely touched him. In that moment, his harmony flared! He felt it!
The man screamed as vile Fiend Qi ravaged his body. A damned thrall but that was not what made Lind flinch. It was the fact he had to touch his target to sense them at all!
Jur and he watched as the slim man withered to nothing as emerald flames consumed him. There was nothing he could do either as his harmony was no longer totally under his control!
"How?!" Jur's shock was justified as a Throne was very difficult to infiltrate but Lind suspected the truth. The Forger had not been anything more than a contact. It was his harmony that pulled out the truth.
Lind's advancement with his harmony apparently had another effect he had not realized. No thrall could hide from him any longer!
It also meant the defenses he had orchestrated for the various powers still had weaknesses the Fiends could exploit. He returned to the room of Maesters and found 3 more thralls hiding amongst them.
No wonder the conversation had not advanced! The damned Fiends had sent agents to keep it in a stalemate!
The revelation shook not only the room but Helsgath and the council demanded an explanation.
Lind spent several days helping them understand how agents could still sneak in and accepted that nothing was foolproof.
Still, it made it clear that the Fiends were getting desperate. To risk entering a Throne showed how much of a threat Lind was.
Other powers also were contacted and now they too took steps to investigate their own members once more. The Fiends were a risk none could overlook anymore and the chance Lind gave them to purge their residents was not to be missed!