Supreme Magus novel Chapter 4008

Chapter 4008: Hidden Game (Part 1)

"It seems I fare no better than your friend Jirni." This time, however, Salaark’s desk was covered in old documents and reports that she was compiling in the light of the new evidence Lith had brought back from the Yellow Wind tribe.

"Is something wrong, Grandma?" Lith noticed her frown and knew it couldn’t mean anything good.

"Yes, but before that, I want to thank you for returning the stolen resources and sharing the cloaking and light-distorting arrays with me. I’m in no shortage of magic crystals and metals, but no one likes being robbed.

"The magical formations, instead, are an amazing discovery that will increase the security of my domain. I just need to study them a bit to develop an artifact that will stop the criminal outlaw tribes from eluding the patrols of my children.

"Aside from that, their magical legacy is nothing much." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The library of the Yellow Wind tribe contained the basic knowledge of all the magical specializations and a few selected, powerful tier four and five spells for each discipline.

It was a treasure hoard for a single tribe, but nothing compared to what the Overlord entrusted to each one of her Feathers. Salaark spared no effort to ensure her envoys had everything they needed to protect their people and nurture the new generations of mages.

"With your permission, we are thinking about adding the light-distorting and the cloaking arrays to the tower." Solus said. "They would make us nigh-invisible to all detection means and protect our secrets from prying eyes."

"They are so good that under normal circumstances I’d break down the tower with Creation Magic and add them to its power core permanently." Ripha looked at her daughter in worry. "As things are, however, the Heart will have to do."

Dismantling the tower would have meant breaking its bond with Solus, and there was no telling if it would be reestablished after the modifications, or even if the tower would resume rebuilding the missing floors after being dismantled and put back together in its still-incomplete state.

Whatever the answer was, discovering it entailed too many risks that Menadion had no interest in taking.

"First, you don’t need my permission. You are free to keep every piece of magical knowledge and all artifacts you found during the rescue mission. The Yellow Wind tribe was outside my law, and so are their possessions." Salaark replied.

"Still, I appreciate the thought, and I’m going to reward you and your friends with one-tenth of the reclaimed magical resources. Divide them among yourselves as you see fit.

"Second, I wouldn’t waste the precious few slots of the Heart on something like that, Ripha."

"I know that the light-distorting array has no defensive or offensive value, but ’waste’ is a big word, Sally." Menadion furrowed her brows. "The Annihilation and the Bastion are indeed more effective, but not having to use them at all is worth the risk.

"Lith can always switch them back in the Heart whenever he knows he must go to battle."

"And that’s my issue with that." Salaark stood up from her seat. "My Featherlings can’t always know when danger approaches and can’t afford to be caught unarmed. Not when there is a much simpler solution."

She handed Lith a sphere-shaped white crystal encased in an Adamant frame.

"Put this inside the Armory, and the tower will have access to the light-distorting and the cloaking arrays."

"Now that this is out of the way, I need to talk to you about the reason I’ve summoned you here." The Overlord said. "I’ve thought long and hard about what Meln said to the chieftain of the Yellow Wind tribe, and I can’t afford to underestimate the threat he poses to my turf."

"Threat?" Lith asked. "What threat?"

"The same one that almost killed Nalrond and Friya." Salaark replied. "The ability of Meln and his Upyrs to go unnoticed even by a Guardian. I’ve checked all the recent records and reports for inconsistencies, and what I’ve found is alarming at best.

"Until this moment, I had dismissed the increase in successful raids of the outlaw tribe on merchant caravans and attacks against my border patrols due to bad luck, but in light of your discovery, the picture changes dramatically.

"I believe that the intensification of criminal outlaw tribe’s activities across the Blood Desert isn’t just a coincidence. Meln must have visited many of them and offered his blood to their chieftains as he did for Hassar Fellhand.

"Whatever their deal is, the criminal outlaw tribes used their Divine Beast form to overpower my soldiers and escape my detection by leaving no witnesses alive. My pieces on the chessboard have been attacked in a game I didn’t even know I was playing."

"But Grandma, Hassar and that female mage were just thralls." Solus said. "They had received no training and little blood. They were no threat to us and mere ants to you."

"Indeed, yet they almost killed your friends." Salaark pointed out. "Never underestimate the effect of surprise, especially when combined with sheer numbers. Meln would need much more than a few thralls to aim for my throne, but I doubt that’s his goal."

"It’s not." Lith shook his head. "Meln made no mystery of his intentions from the beginning. He wants to take revenge on me and everyone he thinks treated him unfairly."