MAZE - The Endless Quest

Vulcan was standing in front of a large table filled with various tools and materials. Most of them came from the various parts of the lab, but the alliance members who were already studying the Strength Spirits brought a couple in. In fact, together with Hera and the rest of the court, they had already spent several hours reading through all the data that was present in the lab. Even if the files on the computers were being decrypted, people brought in everything that was still on paper. It would usually take several weeks, if not more, for someone to go through everything.

But Hera, more specifically her court, had a way to cheat that. They could each read something, and then the Empress could order the entire court, or a specific member, to learn everything they read about a topic. This was far from being a pleasant experience, as having memories and knowledge shoved into one's mind felt extremely intrusive. However, it sped up the process considerably. Especially since now, the regular court members who were damaged had recovered.

The biggest issue was to figure out a way to let the floating weapons read the files. That's where Helena stepped in. She used her Shadow Grabbers to flip through the pages once every few seconds after they all agreed on a time frame that was good enough for all of them to read through a page. If anyone needed more time with a specific passage, they could just hold the paper down. The Shadow Grabbers would feel the resistance and stop moving.

Which meant instead of reading only one file at once, they could read 13. And then funnel all that information into Vulcan. Passing the information that way made the kangaroo to have strong headaches. Still, he asked for the Empress to do that once each blade finished a full file. Forge didn't want to waste his time trying to find a good piece of information. He wanted to help the Strength Spirits no matter the cost.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find anything truly helpful after spending the entire day reading. Most of the files were talking about different effects caused by the tattoos or other experiments. Any mention of how to deal with the strength was likely inside the computers. It was very frustrating for everyone, not just Hera and her court, but also the alliance members. And the encryption was proving to be much more complicated than anyone was expecting. It was almost as if there was something changing the configuration of the files every so often, but they were still unable to find out what.

Once night came, Helena grew tired and went to sleep in one of the bedrooms that were being used by the humans. Hera, on the other hand, stayed in the lab Vulcan was using. The Title Blade had no need for sleep, meaning he could be working through the night without any issues. Or at least that was his argument. Vulcan wasn't entirely wrong, as the Titled Blades didn't need to sleep or rest in the regular sense of the word, nor did the rest of the blades. But mental fatigue would affect them if they spent too long without going back to the legacy.

Still, the amount of time the court could spend working on something before needing that break was much longer than what a person could manage. This was one of those things that hammered down the fact that they were not living creatures but Mana constructs.

To let them continue their work through the night, Hera simply asked for some help to bring a mattress to this lab. She set everything up in a small corner, even making a makeshift tent with some extra blankets, and crafted a sleeping mask so they wouldn't need to worry about the lights. The last addition to her 'bedroom' was a soundproof bubble around herself that stopped outside noise from coming in.

With that, the entire court could remain outside and continue their work reading and trying to figure out how to create something that would generate Strength Mana. Before going to sleep, the Empress also changed her order. Instead of waiting for her command, now every 30 minutes, Vulcan would have to receive all the knowledge acquired by the Blades. She even crafted an hourglass for him to know when the information would come. More specifically, when his headaches would start.

The only problem with this new setup was the lack of the Shadow Grabbers to assist the Blades in turning the pages, but this only served to slow their process down. Unfortunately, after working the entire night, they got no closer to figuring something out than they were before they started. Objects that created Mana were already rare. It usually took a living creature to generate Mana naturally, or a Mana crystal.

The problem was that every time you would try to create a Mana crystal that exuded a specific type of Mana, the effect wouldn't work. Mana crystals required a specific spell to pull the Mana from inside them, and they were perfect batteries. Once Mana went inside one, it wouldn't leave or dissipate until it was used.

Vulcan started working with the idea of grafting some plants, creating a new species that could potentially create the Strength Mana. However, that would take too long, even if he managed to make it work on the first try. He considered the idea of using bamboo or a plant that would grow ridiculously fast, but that came with its own set of problems. For one, the time to germinate a seed would usually take much longer. And plants that germinated quickly generally would take a long time to flourish.

In the end, he gave up that idea. They had enough Strength Mana crystals here. Mana stones that generated Strength Mana by themselves. A lot of them were being used by the pipes that pumped the liquid Mana around the facility. But there was a decent stockpile in one of the storage rooms.

Vulcan was a forging hammer, something made to work with metal or magic materials. He wasn't a gardener. Maybe he could try his hand at that on a different date. It was best to work with something he was comfortable with, which meant creating an object that was able to generate Strength Mana. Like a smoke machine or a humidifier, something that would allow that Mana to spread, seep into everything, and eventually help the environment mutate to become better for the Strength Spirits.

Hera woke up early the next morning. But because of the presence of her Court, she ended up sleeping late. The comforting presence helped her rest. People had already come by and dropped off breakfast, simple toast with jam. Once the humans left the lab, they torched the food supplies. It was so obvious that it wouldn't be enough to make the alliance leave, but it would be a hassle for a little while until more supplies were delivered. In other words, the humans were petty.

"Did you figure anything out?" Hera asked while eating the meal left by the other members of the alliance. Helena had yet to show up. She was gathering some materials around the lab, ready to start working on a few ideas.

Vulcan shook his head, "Not yet. I have ideas, but nothing I can actually start working with."

"Anything I can help with? Even if you just need a soundboard to bounce off," Hera suggested.

"I don't know if there's anything to bounce off. I need to figure out a way to make a Mana crystal let the mana out. Not a spell, just the magic. Not just that. It also has to work with some other object and do that in a sustainable way. If whatever final product we come up with has a cooldown between emissions, then that brings a whole slew of problems."

"How so? Wouldn't the Mana stay in the area until the cooldown was over? You would only have to worry about synchronizing the items," Hera said.

"That's not the case. The Mana won’t stay in the greenhouse. Not forever. And we need to consider the environment. Rain, wind, heat, everything will affect the Mana in a different way. If we make something that doesn't give off a constant emission, then the Strength Spirits won't have a place where they can be safe. An area that they can hunker down in if the overall environment is fighting off the Mana."

Hera nodded, "I didn't think about that. But what if we make birdhouses, then? Small places with some Strength Mana that can help them last until whatever is going on outside is over?"

"Maybe. But I think we will be playing with the line of what they consider a home. There's a good chance they won't like it and just go outside. If that happens, then they can give up the room entirely."

"I see. Yeah, that’s not so great. Do you think we should keep trying to find something in these reports or go for another angle?"

Vulcan frowned, looking at the various pieces of paper in front of him. "I'll continue this for a little while. If nothing shows up after lunch, then we can try something else."

"Okay then. By the way, all of you are going back to the palace while I'm eating lunch."

"What? Why?" Forge gasped.

"That's not up for debate. You all spent the entire night reading data-heavy reports. Even if you don't get tired, your mind is exhausted. I can feel it from here. So you're all taking the equivalent of a nap," Hera commanded. It wasn't an order, just a stern talking-to.

For the next few hours, they continued reading, using the same setup they had during the night. Yet no useful information came about. At least nothing that could help the Strength Spirits. There were various statements about what the soldiers of strength could possess and tests to make their skills better. In addition, there were also a few graphs talking about the power of a soldier of strength related to their level. It seemed like level 40 was the sweet spot. If someone at level 40 received the right tattoos, they would be able to face off against someone at level 55 to 60, an increase of almost 20 levels. If they were weaker, their power wouldn't grow as much. And for those who were stronger, the difference between levels became too stark, resulting in diminishing returns.

Was this something they could use to save the Strength Spirits? No.

Was this something the alliance would be very interested in having? Absolutely.

Eventually, lunchtime came around and Hera called back her blades while joining the rest of the alliance team in the cafeteria. A couple of people had left to hunt and were able to gather a decent spread of meats. Mostly a version of chicken and a couple of small critters that looked like spiders but tasted like rabbit.

The Empress was at the same table as Helena, talking to her friend about the possibilities and what they discovered during the night. "… And that's basically it. Nothing that can help with what we are trying to do, but something that can help the alliance. How about you?"

The mage opened a big smile, "We got a few very interesting things. Basically, the humans, it's so weird saying this. Anyway, the humans figured out a few ways to create Strength Mana. That's how they created the Mana crystals."

"That's great! Do you think you can use the process to emanate the Mana? Using other types of crystals?"

"I'm afraid not. It falls on the same problem. Mana stones and crystals want to be used by something, not just let the Mana leak out," Helena sighed.

"Yeah. As Forge even said, covering weapons with the energy from the crystals would be too stable. The amount of Mana they would leak out wouldn't be enough to sustain the Strength Spirits."

"It's really annoying that when we don't want the Mana to leak out, it does, and when we do want it, we can't make it work," Marion shook his head.

"You were able to make the Mana leak?" Hera asked.

"Yeah. When I was studying, that happened all the time," the Triton nodded.

"Do you know how?" Helena turned to the man.

"Not exactly. It'd always happen when I made some sort of mistake in a spell circle. There were a bunch of different small things that could happen. A bad connection, making the circle in a way that wouldn't cycle things properly, stuff like that."

Hera and Helena turned to each other with wide eyes, "It's not wrong. That happens," the Empress remembered the times her spell circles failed.

"Call Vulcan! I'll go get some Mana crystals," Helena said with a smile.

"What happened?" Marion looked at the two, his eyes filled with confusion.

Hera quickly took one of the bowls of chicken soup and started walking out, "You might have just solved our problem. If it works, I'll buy you a coffee!"