Chapter 4261: A Strong Deterrent (Part 1)

"I know that we said we’d give the triplets a magical beast on their fourth birthday, but I think they could use one right now." Senton said.

Lenart’s eyes widened in surprise, but he said nothing, feeling unworthy of any reward.

"Me?" Kusho said, wolfing down the meat nonstop. "I’m sorry, but I’m not a cub. I have duties and a family. I can’t abandon my children to take care of yours."

"Oh." Leran said. "Uncle Lith?"

"We’ll see about that too." He sighed. "Thanks, Kusho. And thanks to you all. The Byk clan has my gratitude."

Snorts, roars, and munching answered Lith’s words as the Byks fought for the final slabs of meat.

***

"Uncle Lith says that maybe we can have a magical beast early." Lenart said during lunch.

He was still gloomy and silent, but his siblings cheered at the top of their lungs. They were happy about the news and thrilled at their brother’s timid attempt to rejoin the trio.

"That’s not fair!" Aran grunted, trying to act like usual. "Leria and I had to wait until we were four."

"Aran is right. It’s just a few months until the triplets’ birthday, Mom! They can wait a bit longer." Leria said, yet her voice lacked any genuine outrage.

"You just say that because you’re envious of us, old lady!" Falco said.

"Old lady?" Leria found herself in Tista’s shoes for one step, and she didn’t like it one bit.

"For old you’re old. Also, you’re afraid we’ll become better mages than you." Falco nodded, turning to Lenart with an expectant look.

"Yeah." He nodded, obtaining from his siblings the same reaction as if he had just come up with the greatest burn in Mogar’s history.

It was just one word, but in the void left by his absence in the trio, it echoed like thunder.

Elina smiled as Leria complained about being called old and looked at Surin.

"Mama?" The baby girl asked, wondering why food had stopped being delivered to her mouth.

"It’s alright, sweetie." Elina replied. "Everything is alright."

Surin had all but forgotten about the kidnapping attempt, but Elina wasn’t so lucky.

Lith looked around the table, noticing the lingering tension that each member of his family tried to repress. Aran blamed himself for not being ruthless, whereas Leria still struggled to accept the need for violence.

As for the grownups, they were torn between the desire to embrace magic to gain the power they needed to feel safe again and the sacrifices that such a choice would demand from them.

’We can’t make that choice for them, but we can at least ease their burden.’ Lith sighed, and Solus inwardly nodded as they discussed what to do next.

After the end of the meal, Lith made two calls. The first was to ask Faluel to come to the Mansion at her earliest convenience, and the second was to Salaark to let her know he was coming and ask for her help.

The Hydra had spent the whole time since she had returned home experimenting with her newfound dimensional awareness.

Faluel hoped that her mother was wrong and that by mastering dimensional magic as she had already done with the other elements, she would have gained an eighth head. Alas, so far, she had gained nothing but headaches.

"If this isn’t important, you two are going to get an earful from me." She grumbled due to her bad mood after countless failures. "I’m a busy woman, you know?"

"Someone is cranky today." Solus replied. "Did the hero treatment of yesterday go to your heads or what?"

Faluel’s eyes narrowed in annoyance until she remembered that Lith and Solus knew nothing of her newfound prowess. They had been busy dealing with their family’s traumas, and bragging about the power she had gained from their misfortune would have been in bad taste.

"Or what." She exhaled sharply. "Give me your hands, please."

A quick mind link brought them up to speed.

"So, the Harbinger bond is a two-way street." Lith pondered.

"And your scales turned violet like a dimensional crystal?" Solus asked. "Did you tell Friya? Maybe this is a clue."

"Yes, to everything, but even after spending an all-nighter and putting our 14 heads together, we got nothing." Faluel groaned.

"Why not ask Fyrwal or the other elders? You can’t be the first dimensional Hydra in your clan." Solus said.

"My mother has no dimensional awareness." Faluel replied. "Explaining our struggles to her is like trying to talk about colors to a blind person. As for my clan, yeah, there have been dimensional Hydras before me, but guess what?

"None of them ever succeeded in crafting a dimensional crystal, so I have no study material. Having dimensional awareness is not enough to make one. It’s the bare minimum.

"Otherwise, Friya or that Rudd guy would have crafted a dimensional crystal years ago. Now, back to the main topic. Why am I here? Is Surin alright? Does Elina need a break?"

"Oh my. It seems that Ral isn’t the only heartbreaker here." Lith chuckled, making her blush. "Jokes aside, I intend to make good on my promise. Back when those bastards tried to kidnap my mother, I swore that I’d Frogemaster a Blade Weapon for anyone who brought those responsible to me.

"You’ve saved my little sister and contributed to the rescue of my nephews and nieces, Faluel. If you are interested, I’m willing to put the full power of our mage tower into the making of your weapon."

"Do you really need to ask?" Faluel replied. "I didn’t do what I did to get a reward, but I’d kill to have a Blade Weapon. Why should I turn down your offer?"

"For a simple reason." Solus explained. "Forgemastering your new weapon means dismantling Strife and then letting us enchant its materials with our methods, losing any special property the Hydra’s bloodline legacy gave it.

"Unless you share those secrets with us, you have to choose between a probably inferior weapon that allows you to use Blade Spells and a better weapon that can’t."

"Good point." Faluel clicked her tongue as her greed battled against itself.

She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Strife, but giving up on a Blade Weapon was unacceptable as well. Having two weapons wasn’t an option either. Faluel couldn’t juggle between them in the middle of a fight, and mastering two combat styles would have been a colossal waste of time.

"Can’t we perform the Forgemastery procedure for me as you did for Solus’ Sage Staff? I could prepare the runes and the power core, and you could infuse them in my glaive. This way, I’d keep my secrets, and you could use your tower." She asked.

"And how would that work, exactly?" Lith replied.

"Easy. You bond the mana crystals, and then I carry the glaive to my lab for the runes." Faluel said. "Then, I prepare the power core and carry it to you with my Hands, so that it arrives to you in perfect condition and you complete the process."

"It sounds good, but we are no experts at this. Mom?" Solus turned to the empty space at her right.

Menadion appeared there a heartbeat later, carrying Raldarak in her hands.

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