Supreme Magus

"I already tried storing a Spirit Crystal inside my pocket dimension and using it at a later time. The moment you take the Spirit Crystal out, the sudden flood of world energy turns it back into a white crystal, ruining your work." Lith replied.

"What?" The Skoll said in amazement.

"He's right." Faluel said. "To create a Spirit Crystal, you have to use your mana to perfectly insulate it from the world energy. The power of our cores is abysmal compared to the world energy surrounding us.

"While a Spirit Crystal is inside a dimensional amulet, the void keeps it stable, but once outside, the world energy enters it faster than you can insulate it."

"Why not create the Spirit Crystal, turn it into a memory crystal, store it, and then imbue it with Spirit Magic again?" Tista asked. "With your Spirit Eye it wouldn't take you long and you could rest."

"Because I've learned from experience that if the energy of the Spirit Crystal is the same used to imbue it with spells, the final result is much better." Lith replied. "It creates a synergy that allows the Spirit Magic to recharge the spells without my help.

"I think it depends on the fact that the willpower currently in the Spirit Crystal is aware of the nature of the magic I stored and 'knows' how it works."

"Lucky bastard." Faluel grumbled. "I bet that you would have never discovered all this without Salaark's Creation Magic."

"You bet." Lith nodded. "I could afford countless experiments on the complexity of the power cores for my Golems and how they interacted with memory crystals crafted with different methods solely thanks to Grandma's help.

"Otherwise I would have run out of materials before discovering anything worthwhile and it would have taken me years to achieve so much. Even the tower takes a long time to turn violet crystals into white."

Lith put the Spirit Memory Crystal in the cavity in the Vagrash's abdomen where once his mana core had been. The metal closed itself around the crystal, letting their respective energy mix and flow into each other.

Lith's insulating layer was broken but thanks to the imprint, Raptor turned the world energy it absorbed into his mana.

Lith kept checking on the gemstone with Demon Grasp until he was sure that its Spirit Magic wouldn't dissipate and that the knowledge stored inside the crystal was spreading throughout the mana circulatory system.

"Oh, shit!" Suddenly, the massive figure of the golem lost its balance, collapsing to the ground and forcing Lith to dodge.

The limbs of the construct moved in a frenzy, lacking coordination. The head turned left and right, opening its maw at unnatural angles while producing a screeching metal sound that resembled a cry of agony.

"I thought you said this was different from creating life!" Tista felt her heart tighten at the sight of the creature's distress.

"I can assure you that it's not alive." Lith said.

"Then why is it in so much pain and wiggles around like a toppled insect?" Protector asked as the scene reminded him of his prey right before he dealt them the killing blow. "Are you sure this isn't Forbidden Magic and you just got yourself a child?"

"Oh, gods." Lith sighed in frustration. "Think about this rationally. The crystal holds part of my memories and habits. I have little experience walking on all fours and I've never inhabited a metal body.

"You can consider the crystal as a brain that has been transplanted into a new body and is getting accustomed to it. As simple as that."

After a few seconds, the Vagrash stopped shaking on its back and turned on its side. Then, it put the four legs on the floor, trying and failing to keep its balance several times.

The golem behaved like a baby learning how to crawl but its learning rate was much faster. It took it less than a minute to stand up properly and just a bit more to move around without faltering.

"What's your name?" Lith asked and the golem turned toward him, opening its mouth to answer.

Yet no sound came out but a metallic growl. Following its master's habits, the creature had attempted to modulate the air through the vocal cords, but the Emperor Beast's body lacked the ability to form words.

"Ra-" The emerald energy of the memory crystal spread throughout the Adamant body, triggering the white crystals etched on its surface in order to weave a tier zero air magic spell.

"Ra! Rahp." The golem stuttered, his voice going from loud to a whisper as it learned how to both produce sounds and regulate the output.

"Raptor. My name is Raptor." It said while looking at Lith and ignoring everyone else. "What are my orders?"

"Get accustomed to this body. You need to learn how to run, fly, and use every single enchantment I've imbued you with." Lith said and the golem nodded. "Go to the training grounds and make sure you hurt no one.

"Return to your recharge pod the moment your energy goes reaches 10%. Once you are fully charged, resume training until you gain full mastery over your abilities."

"Acknowledged." Raptor flexed its tail on the way out, its movements more lithe and less awkward with each step it took.

"Is it me or is that thing creepy as fuck?" Phloria said. "It shows no expression and no emotion. Even its voice is flat."

"It's intentional." Lith said. "This way it's clear that Raptor is no living being and arises no sympathy."

"That might work if you only plan on using them on the battlefield, but if you keep the Golems at home, they will scare the children to death. We know what a construct is whereas Aran and Leria will only see a huge kitty." Tista said.

"We'll think about that later." Solus replied. "I'm exhausted and tomorrow we have to work on Trouble. We'd better go get some rest."

The group groaned, but with the War of the Griffons ongoing, time was of the essence. Also, even though Lith hadn't disclosed all the details of his procedure, had Faluel still learned a few things by watching him work.

Her hope was to find a way to do with her heads what Lith did with his eyes. As for the others, they had never even dreamed of such a high-level Forgemastering procedure.

What Lith had shared with them would strengthen their magical foundations in the months to come

  On top of that, the invigorating effects of the tower coupled with the practice of crafting partial cores had allowed them to put their skills to the test and discover their current limits.

The procedure required them to keep a constant powerful output of mana and a fine control over the runes while never losing their focus. Those were the three key aspects of magic that people with a bright blue core needed to master in order to reach the violet.

They already knew about body casting but they had no idea how to perform it. The Forgemastering process held no clue about the secret of the violet core but it stressed out the branches of magic they were lacking in.