Chapter 2561.1: Counter Offer (Part 1)
"Bring me to the lab, please." Morok felt suffocating and couldn't wait to get out of the accursed place that was at the same time Glemos' house and Garrik's prison.
Ryla nodded and led the way through several corridors until they reached a double door made of heavily enchanted Adamant. The surface of the metal was covered in white and elemental crystal that fueled a powerful set of arrays.
They ran above and under the surface of the doors, walls, floor, and ceiling, forming an inescapable net of tightly packed runes. Morok only had Life Vision but it was enough to perceive dozens if not hundreds of overlapping arrays.
The worst part was that just like those surrounding the city, Glemos' death hadn't diminished their power. Even from a few meters of distance, the Tyrant could feel a colossal tide of Spirit Magic ready to be released at the slightest tampering.
"How is this possible?" He asked.
"The same way as the Harmonizers." Ryla replied. "Double imprint. The trademark of your bloodline. Garrik, be a dear and open the door for us."
"Yes, Mom." A wave of his hand and a squint of his orange eye turned the whole apparatus off.
The double doors opened on their own, revealing a magical lab that was in no way inferior to Ajatar's.
Tall bookshelves up to the five meters (16') high ceiling were lined up against the walls and filled with tomes regarding all known branches of magic.
Morok browsed through the titles, discovering original grimoires belonging to Magi and Rulers of the Flames. Each was written in a different code, and there was no sign of translation or that someone had ever tried to decipher them.
Neat piles of documents and samples were arranged on several different tables cluttered by various analysis devices, each made of magic metals and fueled by violet crystals.
"Good gods." Morok looked around the room, feeling overwhelmed by the raw amount of knowledge accumulated in the room.
Past the tables, there were more bookshelves but their tomes were written in plain language and arranged in alphabetical order, with each bookshelf covering a different topic.
They contained detailed information about the basics of the five tiers of magic and the various magical specializations. There were countless grimoires filled with teaching spells that each generation of Tyrants had developed so that their descendants would have better foundations.
The room was over ten meters (33') long and that was just the entrance. A T juncture led to three doors, each leading to a different wing of the laboratory.
Morok took a quick tour of the three wings, discovering that even though the Tyrant bloodline had invested in researching all branches of magic and had equipped a separate lab each, Body Sculpting and Forgemastering took most of the space.
The light magic laboratory was filled with tissues and organ samples from different species that floated in embalming liquids stored inside stasis fields. The eyes of various creatures occupied an entire wall, even a Dragon's was among them.
The rest of the space was taken by books and metal slabs where Glemos had conducted his experiments on both dead and still-living subjects.
Right in the next room, the Forgemastery lab was equipped with a Davross Forge that was surrounded by permanent arrays. The magical formations were fueled by elemental crystals arranged in a pattern that Morok recognized as identical to the one that the werepeople used in the Fringes to draw Mogar's attention.
In this case, however, their purpose was different.
An internal layer, right around the Forge, served to conjure the world energy and split it into its elemental components. They kept the circle constantly charged akin to an artificial assistant without the need for Glemos to waste his energy or trust someone else for his experiments.
On top of that, he could draw the elemental energy in through his eyes and add a spark of life force to turn the conjured world energy into Spirit Magic and forge a Spirit Artifact.
The external layer, instead, fueled the Forgemaster, doubling Glemos' magical prowess and greatly increasing his mana reserves. Once again, it was a setting useless for someone without the Tyrannical Eye bloodline ability that allowed Tyrants to drain the power of the elements and make it their own.
The study of the life force gave the Tyrants the theoretical knowledge about how to further their evolution and then they put it into practice with Forgemastery.
The arrays and the alchemical tools that had been researched in the respective labs all had the purpose to facilitate the assimilation of world energy and use it to permanently alter the life force of the Tyrants' test subjects.
The vaults were filled with magic metals, mana crystals, and powerful natural treasures, but there was much less than Morok had hoped.
'I guess this explains why even someone as arrogant as Glemos was forced to ask the patronage of the Undead Courts first and Thrud later.' Morok thought. 'Over the centuries, the relentless experiments must have never allowed the Tyrant's bloodline to accumulate resources.
'On top of that, I bet that the moment Glemos thought to be near the finishing line, he spared no expense and consumed everything that wasn't too precious to be wasted on prototypes.'
Morok found several books and pieces of paper holding designs for Harmonizers, but he couldn't tell if they were new or discarded projects. Everything, even the introduction books about the lab's maintenance, was written in code.
"Can either of you read this?" Morok showed Ryla and Garrik a random piece of paper, receiving a shrug in reply. "Do you know where I can find the cipher?"
"What's a cipher?" The boy asked.
"They key to crack a secret language." Morok replied.
"Then no." Garrik lowered his eyes. "The only thing Dad ever told me whenever I looked for him in here was 'get out'."
The Tyrant gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, yet the moment the child looked at him, there was a warm smile on Morok's face.
"It's okay, brother. You've already helped me a lot. Without you, I would have never gotten in here."
"My pleasure." Garrik left Ryla's gown and hugged Morok in joy, yet the Tyrant felt like the boy had driven a stake in his heart.
Morok could tell that even though they had just met, the word "brother" meant the world to the kid because it gave him hope that he wouldn't be alone anymore.
"I need my friends to understand how any of this works." Morok said. "How are we going to play this?"
"Garrik, go to your room, seal the doors, and don't get out until I say otherwise. It's time to play the silence game." Ryla said.
"Already?" The young Fomor stomped his feet, tearing up in frustration. "But you've just gotten here."
"Shush, and remember that Daddy is watching so you have to be a good kid." Ryla admonished him before bringing everyone back to the nursery. "Just follow my lead. Now that the lab is unlocked, I can Warp everyone there directly."
Ryla accompanied the boy away and locked the doors leading to the living quarters before opening a dimensional door that led back to the senate's corridor where everyone was still waiting for them.