Lassim stepped into the workshop behind Rlyis and Eno, the threshold of the building’s sleek tal doors giving way to a marvel of engineering and craftsmanship.
Inside, the space was nothing short of extraordinary. Every inch was optimized with an elegant yet utilitarian design, the room humming faintly with the resonance of an expertly arrayed mana-infusion that flowed through the entire structure.
The walls were lined with special cabinets, each housing a magic space filled with their own tools, materials, or even both plain and pre-etched array plates. A centralized chanical arm that held an engraving tool pulsed softly at the ready in the back corner, its runes glowing with a deep crimson hue. The air inside the building was cool but carried a faint tallic tang, the unmistakable scent of Eno’s handy work, spirit-forged alloys mingling with the residual mana circulating through the space.
Lassim paused to take it all in, his eyes scanning the immaculate setup. A drafting table was positioned near the center of the room, illuminated by a cluster of mana-filled lamps that hovered overhead, casting a soft, even light.
It was perfect.
"Impressive, isn’t it?" Rlyis said, noting Lassim’s reaction with a grin. "I’ll admit, it’s one of our better portable designs. Took us years to perfect this setup. It’s smaller than our main workshop, of course,, but it has everything we need to work in the field on even the most complex projects."
Eno crossed his arms, leaning against the doorfra. "I still think we could have optimized the tool racks better instead of relegating most of them to the magic cabinets, but Rlyis insisted on extra space for ’creative flow.’"
"It’s not up for debate anymore," Rlyis shot back, rolling her eyes before turning her attention back to Lassim.
"Now, Lassim, you’ve dragged us all the way here with promises of a revolutionary project. Care to explain what’s so urgent that we had to pack up the workshop and haul ourselves two day travel to the Tempest’s Cradle?"
Lassim nodded, stepping further into the room as he made sure the doors closed behind him. The faint hum of the workshop seed to grow quieter as he stared at both of them, the air around him suddenly growing heavier. Their expectant expressions urging him to begin.
"I asked you here because I need your help with sothing that goes far beyond any ordinary array project or tal forging technique that you might even imagine," Lassim said with deadpan seriousness.
"It’s a project that will reshape Nexaria—our entire way of life and possibly end several careers, but open up many more—if we succeed. But before we talk about that, there’s sothing I need to show you first. Sothing you have to understand about ."
Rlyis arched an eyebrow. "On with it! So much lodrama. Is it a new version of the clock?" She said teasingly.
Lassim exhaled, letting a faint smile cross his lips. "Alright. But don’t say I didn’t warn you."
Without another word, Lassim’s boots faintly glimred with a swirling storm of energy—lightning, wind, and sothing else entirely. The storm obscured his feet as he took a step forward. And then, in the blink of an eye, he vanished.
A sharp, faint distortion that only he could sense rippled through the air, and Lassim reappeared instantly on the far side of the workshop. The motion was seamless, as he’d folded space itself to step across the room.
Both Rlyis and Eno froze, their eyes widening in shock.
"What the…" Eno muttered, his voice trailing off as Lassim disappeared again, reappearing behind them in an instant.
This ti, Lassim took three rapid steps, each one carrying him across the length of the workshop in less than a fraction of a second. To anyone else, it would have looked like unparalleled speed. But to those trained in the subtleties of mana at the level of top tier professional Array Masters, the truth was sothing they caught the faintest glimpse of.
"Wait… How are—," Rlyis said slowly, her voice tinged with disbelief. "You’re… How is that possible?!"
Lassim stopped, turning to face them with a faint smile. "Well, the technique is sothing I call [Storm’s Dance], but the na is just a disguise. My feet appear shrouded by miniature storms of swirling clouds of water and lightning, but it’s all an illusion. The truth is, I posses and I’m using a third elent—sothing entirely different from the two elents you and the world knows to possess."
Rlyis and Eno exchanged glances, their shock shifting to cautious curiosity.
"You’re saying… you have a third elental affinity?" Eno asked timidly.
Lassim nodded. "Yes. It’s the Space elent."
The weight of the revelation hung in the air, the silence that followed broken only by the faint hum of the workshop’s machinery.
"You’re serious," Rlyis finally said, his voice quiet but firm. "Space. As in what… the stars and skies?"
"Yes, to an extent." Lassim said. "And it’s most likely not just . Well, not yet, anyway. The Goddess Khaalseru has only recently reawakened, and as far as I know, she hasn’t yet chosen anyone else to bear this elent. But she will. Soon, there will be others like —cultivators gifted with the power of Space. I was chosen as her Progenitor for the Space elent on Nexaria."
Eno let out a low whistle, running a hand through his hair. "And here I thought you couldn’t surprise anymore, kid. This… this is sothing else. You’re more over powered and ridiculous than I could’ve imagined, but that makes your feats seem a bit more reasonable now."
Rlyis took a step closer, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied Lassim. "You’re not making this up. The way you moved just now—it’s not sothing that could be faked. But this raises more questions than it answers. How did you get this elent? Why hasn’t anyone else heard about it?"
Lassim hesitated for a mont, considering how much to reveal. "The how is a long story," he said. "But the short version is that I saved the Goddess Khaalseru and helped her reawaken. In return, she blessed with this elent, making the first of her chosen and the Progenitor of the elent. As for why no one else knows… I’ve been keeping it quiet. At the mont, only the Sect Master knows, plus a few select others, and that’s part of why he chose as his disciple."
"So, the project you ntioned…" Rlyis said, connecting the thread of his introduction to where this was going, her eyes gleaming with understanding.
Lassim nodded. "Exactly. I’ve been working on a device—a teleportation device that will allow anyone to travel across vast distances instantly. Imagine the possibilities! We could connect cities, outposts, continents and even so day—possibly—even planets. The entire world could be linked in ways we’ve never dread of. And with the Abyssal threat and their portals, it could an the difference in a drastically increased response ti and survival. Imagine, any portal pops up and then armies, willing fighters ready to defend the planet, can appear just as quickly as soon as a warning system goes off!"
The room fell silent again for several minutes as the weight of Lassim’s words settled over them.
"Well, you’re not joking when you said it’d be revolutionary. You’re really not aiming small, I’ll give you that," Eno said after a mont, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "But sothing like this… is it even possible?"
"Of course, I think it is," Lassim said firmly. "That’s why I need both of you. Master Eno, your expertise with spirit-forged alloys is essential. The frawork of the device needs to be strong enough to withstand the strain of folding space, but flexible enough to adapt to the energy fluctuations that it will inevitably require. I can’t even imagine where to begin on how to find and test tals that could work in conjunction with the spatial elent. Will it even require anything special or can common tals manage? That’s where you co in. And Master Rlyis, I’ve done a lot of the groundwork, but I’m not arrogant enough to think I can finish this with the basic knowledge you’ve taught . It’s even involved creating an entirely new runic language with the spatial elent, but there’s probably additional concepts you can think would help that I could create runes for if you see the need for them."
Rlyis crossed her arms, "You’ve got guts, Lassim. I’ll give you that. If we do this, there’s no going back. You’ll have to deal with an even crazier amount of fa than what you escorted us out of a few minutes ago. Sure, we’re in a city filled with Array Apprentices and array nerds that would recognize people like Eno and I, but this would be an entirely different level. Everyone would know who you are and there’d be many unexpected and unintended dangers with connecting the world like this. Are you sure you’re ready for that?"
Lassim t her gaze without hesitation. "I am. And I’m asking you both to take that leap with ."
The two ntors exchanged a long look, a silent conversation passing between them. Finally, Rlyis nodded.
"Alright," she said. "We’re in."
Eno chuckled, shaking his head. "First it was your help that made the first Spirit Mystic construct we’ve ever created and now you plan to drag us into sothing even crazier. But fine. Let’s see where this goes."
Lassim’s expression softened, a genuine smile breaking through the tension. "Thank you. Both of you. I promise, this will be worth it."
Rlyis grinned, clapping a hand on Lassim’s shoulder. "Don’t thank us yet, kid. You’ve still got a lot to prove. Now, let’s see these designs of yours."
Lassim moved to the drafting table at the center of the room with one more flashy [Storm’s Dance] step.
"Show off," Rlyis said with a shake of her head.
From his storage pouch, he responded by withdrawing the ticulously organized stack of sketches and notes he’d worked on over the past months and compiled the last few days just for their arrival.
Each page was a testant to his thoughtful obsession that consud every morning of his for these past six months. The spatial runes alphabet sheet had been rewritten into an organized set of lines on one paper by itself as a reference while glowing faintly with the special ink he had infused and written them with.
He spread the sheets across the table carefully, aligning the pages in a way that told the story of his progress.
Rlyis and Eno stepped closer, their expressions shifting from curiosity to intrigue as they took in the sheer scope of what Lassim had created. They occasionally lifted up various pages and studied them.
While they were busy reading through everything, Lassim began, "These," gesturing to the runes sketched on the pages in Eno’s hands, "are what I call the spatial alphabet. They’re the foundation of everything I’ve done so far and the key to hopefully making this project a reality."
Lassim admitted, "It took months of trial and error, dozens of failed experints, and more than a few tis I ripped open the void, causing damage to my work desks and even walls, to create these concepts and fit them together. But this is the result." He gestured to the other pages, where the designs for the modular teleportation device were laid out in painstaking detail.
Eno set the rune sheet down and turned his attention to the main schematic for the prototype of the device. His eyes narrowed as he took in the intricate array lines, instantly recognizing and slightly praising the modular components with a nod before continuing to read the annotations scrawled in Lassim’s handwriting. "Alright, walk us through this. Start with the basics."
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