Damian continued, "It’s better if you are well prepared before activating it; you will have only ten minutes every day for the new batch to send in and the old batch to co back. Understood?"
"Yes," Lazrin said, her eyes already calculating how best to utilize that. "Mana gathering functions on such huge runic devices with complicated spells—ten of those at that, and made in a day. Indeed, your ’Runebreaker’ na is well deserving."
Damian continued speaking without giving any reaction to the flattery. "Only you can pull this lever using your mana to activate the waygates. For others, it will only be a simple lever doing no function. Try one."
Damian activated his sacrium mana cubes and powered the waygate fully. Lazrin stared at the hovering sacrium cubes like they were ghosts. The demons had known about his mana generators since the ti he was in the academy—Lazrin asking no questions was enough to convey his mana cubes were sothing very well known even in the land of demons.
Especially third-rank mages who drooled at the thought of having unlimited mana at hand took special interest in Damian’s mana generators.
The demon queen pulled on the lever using her mana, and the waygate flared to life. They stepped into a blue, shimring portal and ca out in the middle of the ocean.
"Woah.." Lazrin said, surprised. Then added, "What is that? Decorations?"
It was the monster locked in a steel cage whose ID he had used to connect the waygates.
"The monster is the connection that the waygate uses to bring us here. If that guy dies, the waygate won’t work, and whoever remains on this ocean base won’t be able to co back—not until we find them ourselves," Damian explained.
"I will make sure no one dares to touch it," Lazrin said, suddenly very worried for the health of the poor half-fish, half-man-like monster.
"My people will remain here and look after it. Don’t worry. I can reach this place through them too."
Lazrin nodded, relieved that one monster was not the only thing they had to rely on. Damian showed her the basent from where to activate the wormhole and reach the dungeon. The rooms had tables and beds in which people could stay, sit, and sleep while waiting for the daily waygate portal to take them back ho.
Once the tour ended and Damian spoke to the two units of soldiers who would stay the night there, he left through the waygate back to Jacob. The golem and the old attendant were still checking the lift he had built.
"Any problems?" Damian asked.
"No, Lord Keeper. None at all—it works perfectly. Before, the upper floors weren’t much used because of the stairs. With this, we can make full use of all the floors and rooms," the attendant said.
Damian simply nodded, relieved the two from the testing, and returned back to the seventh floor where his office was.
The office was huge, so Damian had divided it into two parts: an office and a private room. He had even installed the experintal air conditioner runic device in it for better sleep. His things were still in the smaller stone keep room he and Lucian shared though—he would have to get those soon.
It was already quite late in the evening. The old attendant asked if Damian wanted to have his dinner brought up, but he refused and let the guy retire for the day—the man deserved a well-earned day off tomorrow.
Damian flew down to the entrance of the stone keep and entered. The guards bowed down, so did many of the knights, soldiers, and nobles he t in the large hall and in the dining hall.
He often ate with Einar, Sam, Evrin, and Grace, who had another smaller, more private place to eat. It was for the Keeper, Einar had told him, but Damian didn’t want to eat there alone. The ti was around 10 or even later—the dinner ti was 8:30. Lucian was in the city too with her family. Damian could sense where every single person in the city was. If he focused a little, he could even conclude from the way their mana was shifting places what exactly they were doing.
Damian kept his mana sense at the very minimum while he was in the Sanctuary though. He did not want to know what others were doing at all. He could make a runic device to completely shut down the mana sense, but he refrained from doing such things. It was better to know which transcendants were where in the city.
Not that his friends might cause trouble, but third-rankers were like powerful nuke missiles—having a sense of where they were was just better.
Very few knights and nobles were still in the dining hall. All nobles and high-ranking knights had already bought a ho for themselves outside the Sanctum land. Those with wives and family would not remain in the stone keep without need. But the singles, and ones who liked to et and talk, lingered here.
The keep was ho for Einar and Evrin too, but they were also planning on moving out. Souldealer had a family too. Damian had heard Sam and Grace talking about buying their own house as well. All land in the Sanctuary belonged to the Sanctum, but people could buy it from them. It was one of the ways Einar and Evrin had rewarded the nobles and others who gave their personal money to help in the Sanctuary’s day-to-day operations and war efforts.
The maids and serving boys were still present, and seeing him, they brought out all the food they had made for the night. Damian ate in peace. So soldiers and knights, seeing him eating alone in the public hall, ca to talk with him and drank alcohol with him while chatting.
Damian did not mind such interactions at all—it felt natural to him. He did not put on any airs of being a Keeper, but he also did not let anyone forget what his status was. But all knights and nobles were usually very glib and knew what to say and what not to say without offending anyone.
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