Supreme Magus

"No need to thank me. I know what you feel." Menadion inwardly sighed with envy, knowing that her life as a mother was over and done for seven hundred years. "Also, before continuing the explanation, I'd like to send the children away.

"This room has a dark story and they are too young to hear it."

"What about the other three pieces?" Leria asked, trying to change the topic.

"The Hands serves as an additional power source in case the tower core isn't enough." Menadion replied. "The Mouth can access the Library and conjure the best healing spell on Mogar. Or at least, it could back then.

"As for the Fury, it allows the Healer to reroute energy and materials from the other floors at will. I didn't have Solus' deep connection with the tower nor could I waste time and focus accessing the control panel during a life-or-death procedure.

"Now leave, please."

"Do we have to?" Aran asked Raaz.

"Yes." He replied after exchanging a glance with Menadion. "Be a good uncle and keep an eye on your niblings for me."

"Okay, Dad." Aran nodded. "You heard the man. I'm in charge."

A slew of groans and complaints had just started when a series of small Warps moved the kids into the kitchen, where bowls of cold ice cream and plates filled with steaming cookies waited for them.

Soon the quarrel about hierarchy died down and the issue with the Infirmary was forgotten.

"Thank you." Menadion nodded. "This room is both my greatest success and failure. It's thanks to the Infirmary that I had enough time to bond Solus with the tower but I was forced to do it solely because everything I had prepared proved to be for naught.

"Just as I couldn't save Threin, I went this close to losing Epphy. Not even the best facility built by the First Ruler of the Flames with the help of the legendary Red Mother can't put together a broken core. It's impossible."

"Are you saying that you hadn't the bonding procedure at the ready the night Bytra attacked?" Solus was flabbergasted.

"Of course not." Ripha shook her head. "I built the Infirmary for the purpose of saving your life from all kinds of injuries. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be an utter failure. This room bought me a few days, barely the time to put together a last-ditch plan and give it the best shot I had.

"It's the reason my mana core and life force were compromised at the end of the procedure. I couldn't rest nor could I stop working while I ate because with each passing second your life came closer to its end and no Creation Magic could reset you.

"I had to keep going and put together the best Horseman technology I could from what Baba Yaga taught me. I worked until I almost lost consciousness and only then did I use Invigoration just to start the cycle anew.

"By the time I succeeded, I was so weak that I fainted the moment the Infirmary confirmed to me that your vitals had stopped deteriorating and were slowly improving.

"When I woke up and hugged you, we cried together." Menadion sighed, a warm smile formed on her face yet her eyes were filled with regret. "That's when I let myself go and made the last mistake of my life.

"I let my emotions run wild, experiencing both the immense joy of saving my daughter and the burning rage from Bytra's betrayal. Not only had she killed my apprentices and come close to killing you as well, but she had also stolen my Fury.

"Without my hammer, operating the Infirmary was much harder and so was the bonding procedure. I failed many times more than it was necessary. I almost lost you more times than I can count because of that thieving bitch!"

Fury twisted Menadion's face as the events of that day flashed in front of her eyes.

"As soon as you fell asleep and your vitals steadily recovered, I lost it. Revenge was all I could think about and the idea of Bytra somehow learning Creation Magic and removing my imprint from the Fury was unbearable.

"I tried one more time to call Lochra for help and look for Yaga's hut and when that failed, I went on the hunt alone. You know the rest." A mournful silence befell the room.

Lith waited for Menadion to compose herself before asking:

"You said this is also your greatest success. That somehow, it kept Solus alive for days despite her broken mana core. How is that possible? Once the mana starts leaking, it's a matter of minutes, an hour tops, before the core dissipates."

"Do you know how dimensional amulets work?" Menadion asked.

"Of course, I learned about them during the fourth year of academy." Lith nodded.

"What about stasis field arrays?"

"I saw them at work at the academy and in Ajatar's lab but I've never learned them." He replied.

"Long story short, dimensional amulets create a dimensional pocket whose internal space is compressed so much that time is almost still. Atomic bonds are held still while ensuring the stored object is not broken or damaged." Menadion explained.

"Living beings are rejected because life requires motion and change. The pocket dimension simply can't make them fit.

"For this reason, even though a dimensional amulet can't host a living being, it can still store a corpse or body parts. A stasis field array is the closest thing to a dimensional pocket that can also accept living beings.

"It requires an enormous amount of power that only an academy, a tower, or the lab of a powerful Awakened can provide. A stasis field array creates a counter-flow to all sorts of movements down to the molecular level.

"A living being enters a state of suspended animation because their heartbeat, mana flow, and cellular decay are slowed down while the dimensional forces hold every part of them still.

"You can imagine it as if the magic of the array staunches not only the bleeding from your open wounds, but also everything else. Inorganic materials, instead, can be frozen in time since they can endure a much greater spatial pressure without breaking down.

"I fused both this concepts to create the Infirmary." A wave of Menadion's hand generated a featureless feminine hologram in the middle of the crystal tank that reminded Lith of a mannequin.

"The basic idea is that there is no point to fight to save non-vital organs since they can be regrown or regenerated. The moment the blood flow in a limb stops, the dimensional array stores it away."

A flick of her finger and the arms and legs of the hologram disappeared.

"You mean they get amputated?" Solus went pale, her imagination gave the mannequin long hair and a puncture wound piercing through its chest.

"No, stored." Menadion shook her head. "The Infirmary uses its dimensional pocket to separate the useless parts of the body from the rest without severing the connection.

"Without the limbs, the strain on the mana core lessens and your body saves precious energy. On top of that, the healing arrays can focus their full power on the deadly wound."