Under the astonished gaze of everyone, Erik sat on a throne of Myst he had summoned in front of the pile of items Frank had gathered, holding an elegant notebook in his hands and a pricey-looking pen. As dozens of hands made of solidified Myst sorted through the items in what seemed to be an automatic process, Erik wrote in his notebook at a terrifying speed.
But that relaxed and efficient demeanor somehow brought great calmness to everyone, especially to Elara and Zoe, who, almost unconsciously, ended up approaching Erik and stood silently by his sides. Meanwhile, Christine, who had been pushed aside by Zoe, stared at Erik on his crystal throne with deep eyes, though her gaze kept drifting to the right armrest of the throne over and over again.
"Mostly mana crystals, potions, and a few of my notebooks came out, nothing I needed…"
Without stopping the sorting process with the Myst hands, Erik commented in a calm voice, which prompted Elara to speak with a hint of curiosity.
"What are you looking for?"
"Mostly ingredients, but also a small project I've been working on. They're basically sentinel probes that function without wisdom runes, something that would be very useful in our current situation."
"You managed to create something like that without wisdom runes?! How did you establish the connections and process the data?" Upon hearing Erik, Christine snapped out of her reverie and asked, full of surprise, to which Erik replied in a calm tone.
"With complex rune arrays. It was a bit tricky at first, but it was just a matter of figuring out the knack. Rune arrays have a lot of potential, but wisdom runes make things so much easier that no one bothers to explore alternatives."
"It's not that simple… Structuring complex mathematical models into rune arrays is complicated, expensive, and quite inefficient. Wisdom runes are used so much because it's cheaper to rely on them than to develop arrays to replace their functionalities." Christine retorted with an annoyed pout, to which Erik responded casually.
"Actually, it's the opposite. Rune arrays can be several times cheaper; you just have to get a bit creative with their application."
"…"
Christine fell silent as her pout worsened, her expression almost screaming, 'I don't believe a word you're saying.' But just at that moment, the solidified Myst hands in the air all stopped at once, and Erik lifted his gaze to see what one of them was holding, a huge smile spreading across his face.
"Eureka."
Hearing Erik, everyone followed his gaze, spotting a 'crystal' hand holding a tablet of pure Chantinolite, its surface covered with countless tiny runes engraved all over. As Erik reached out his right hand to take the tablet, Elara asked with visible curiosity while subtly sitting on Erik's right armrest—a move that caused Christine's brow to furrow deeply.
"What is that?"
"The control system for my Sentinel Probes."
Erik replied calmly as he channeled his mana into the tablet, activating it. Once activated, the tablet projected a holographic screen with various controls, which Erik quickly manipulated with confidence. Shortly after Erik operated the controls, several small piles of items that had come out of the ring began to move, and soon three spheres of true copper floated into the air.
As the copper orbs rose, a three-dimensional map of the hallway formed on the holographic screen, surprising everyone present. But the most shocked of all was Christine, who rushed toward Erik and asked, staring at the holographic screen in disbelief.
"You really achieved this with just rune arrays…?"
"Yes."
Erik replied casually while manipulating the controls. Christine looked at Erik's calm face and asked, filled with shock, choosing to ignore the mocking smiles of Elara and Zoe.
"How…?"
"With a lot of effort."
Erik answered nonchalantly, then offered the tablet to Zoe, who was barely containing her laughter at the expression Erik's response had caused on Christine's face. He added in a calm tone.
"Zoe, although there are only three probes now, this tablet can support up to 300 probes simultaneously. They're fairly easy to create, and we don't need much more than what we already have in the inventory, so this will be our safe way to explore the tunnels. Therefore, you'll be in charge of managing it. Be careful—while the spheres are easily replaceable, the control hub is a pain and expensive to make. In other words, we only have one."
"Leave it to me, Erik. I'll guard it with my life." Zoe said seriously as she took the tablet and hugged it to her chest. Erik shook his head and replied calmly.
"No need to go to such extremes. Just be a bit careful."
"Understood."
Zoe responded with seriousness. Erik nodded, then turned to Elara on his right and handed her a large stack of loose papers he tore from the notebook he had been writing in while speaking.
"Elara, here's the distribution of the items that were in the ring and what came out, along with an estimate of the distribution in the second ring. I need you to refine the model I sketched out and calculate the probabilities of safely obtaining the shelter, as well as the most critical variables."
"Got it. Leave it to me. I'll gather a team and have it ready as soon as possible."
"Perfect." Erik nodded, then tore out more pages and offered them to Christine while explaining.
"Christine, here are some improvements for the refinement circle that I need you to implement. Additionally, there are some minor points I need you to perfect on your own. I'm counting on you for this."
Hearing Erik, Christine took a deep breath, then flashed her usual soft smile and commented in a melodious, sensual voice.
"You can always count on me, Erik~"
Erik nodded without paying much attention to the beautiful blue-haired woman's demeanor, quickly tore out more pages, and offered them to a pair of formation specialists before speaking.
"Ethan, Chen, I'm not sure how feasible it is with the limited resources we have, but I noticed several points during the ring's opening and have some suggestions for improving the formations—both the two concealment ones and the ones used to shield us during the opening." Erik casually pointed to a golem below and commented in a serious tone.
"We can't allow another one of those."
Following Erik's finger, everyone spotted a golem staring at them, then walking away, only to look back again, almost as if it were searching for something. Ethan's eyes widened, and he asked in surprise, as he hadn't noticed until Erik pointed it out.
"Did they detect us?"
"Unlikely, or we'd already be dead. But during the ring's opening, the formations were slightly affected, and they might have detected something, though they can't identify it. So, we need to be cautious." Erik turned to look at Tomás and continued seriously.
"That's where you come in. I need you to destroy that golem somehow, Tomás. There's a chance this place could reactivate, and that golem might send data to some kind of central command with better processing power or even human oversight. If that happens, they'll find us, so we need to get rid of that golem to avoid trouble."
Erik made a Myst hand approach Tomás with three different crystal potion vials and one of clay, then commented in a calm tone.
"Also, although the concealment potions I made here didn't turn out to be very effective against the golems when this place is active, I'd like you to run some tests with these potions. It's good to know if concealment potions have any use in this situation."
"Excellent idea. Leave it to me. I'll write down my experience and ideas from the ring's opening and get on it. I think they might be useful to you." Tomás said calmly as he took the potions. Erik nodded, satisfied, and replied.
"I was just about to ask you for that. I'll be counting on you." After Tomás nodded and started writing, Erik looked at everyone else and said seriously.
"For now, let's move as quickly as we can. At best, I have about 30 minutes in this state if I don't use mana, so that ring needs to be opened before then."
"Understood!!"
Everyone replied in unison, then got to work. At the same time, Erik conjured tables and chairs of Myst for the others. He also summoned a table for himself, where he placed a pack of 'gift cookies' that had come out of the ring, and began writing at a frantic pace. The wolves occasionally rubbed against him, taking the chance to steal his cookies.
As Elara worked at a rapid pace, she almost unconsciously looked up at Erik, and upon seeing the genuinely happy smile that formed on his face as he tasted a cookie, all the tension in her body melted away. Now, she could finally feel that the immediate danger had passed.
Seeing Erik calm, brimming with life again, and working was like a healing balm for her worried heart. With Erik in charge, there was nothing to worry about. She just had to do her job, and Erik would create miracle after miracle to keep them all safe.
…
…
…
About 20 minutes later, Erik reviewed the work of Elara and Christine, as well as the tests Zoe had conducted with the Sentinel Probes alongside Tomás. This allowed them to realize that, although the golems detected the spheres, they didn't attack them. Additionally, Tomás confirmed that while the concealment potions made on Basilisk Island weren't very effective against the golems, the ones from Erik's ring were, which gave Erik an idea of how the golems' detection system worked.
…
"Alright, we're ready. Let's open the ring."
In front of the newly improved formations by Chen and Ethan, Erik spoke in a serious tone, to which everyone else nodded with solemn expressions. Once inside the formations, everyone took their previous positions and began the same process with extreme caution, knowing that failure wasn't an option.
Soon, Erik started controlling the refinement circle beneath the slightly blackened ring floating in the air. But just at that moment, Ethan, outside the barrier, began moving exaggeratedly to draw the attention of those inside. With a furrowed brow, Elara turned to look at him, and Ethan pointed to his ear with a worried expression, prompting her to say with concern.
"The music is back!"
Erik opened his eyes and turned to look outside, where he could see Ethan making the gestures, causing him to narrow his eyes and clench his teeth. But with determination, Erik turned back to the ring and ordered in a serious tone.
"There's no turning back now. Let's go!"
With Erik's words, the 'hole' in the air opened again, and Tomás unleashed a burst even faster and more precise than the last as the walls lit up. Just like in the previous attempt, the hole fluctuated violently before opening and starting to spew out a large number of items at high speed, but no one had the time or disposition to celebrate. Below, all the golems turned to look at them simultaneously.
With a solemn expression, Frank created the wind net again to catch everything, though his eyes were fixated on the golems below, who raised their fists toward them in unison and began to glow. Meanwhile, Erik, without even glancing at the golems, kept his gaze focused on the items coming out as the wolves began to grow in size, ready to attack.
"Mages, with me! Raise barriers!!!"
Elara ordered as she raised her staff in the air to create barriers, prompting the mages inside the formations to raise their staves as well. At the same time, Zoe unsheathed her sword outside the formations, then pointed toward them, causing those outside with her to hurriedly jump inside.
"Erik!"
At that moment, Tomás leaped to stand in front of the group with his sword raised, shouting loudly. But Erik didn't respond; instead, he kept watching the items coming out of the ring, his eyes darting at high speed among all the objects. Seeing Erik's concentration, Tomás gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and announced in a serious voice.
"We have to hold our ground! We need that shelter at all costs! At least until the ring collapses, we have to endure!!"
"Yes!!!!"
The group of young people shouted in unison as layer upon layer of barriers formed around them, and the knights activated their magic circles or techniques, causing the Myst to vibrate intensely. At that instant, Elara shouted as she mobilized every drop of her mana.
"Impact incoming!"
With Elara's announcement, a rain of lasers struck the barriers, which began to shatter like paper. At the same moment, Tomás ordered while opening a crystal vial with one hand and looking at the golems preparing to leap toward them.
"Knights, drink the concealment potions and come with me! We're going to hold back the ones that jump!"
"Understood!!"
The knights responded in unison, then downed the potions in one gulp. Meanwhile, Zoe took the most basic Iaido stance as she rapidly made hand signs, white fire and air swirling around her and the sheath of her katana.
"Attack!!" Tomás ordered loudly, then leaped to intercept the golems, closely followed by the other knights.
"Dance of a Thousand Dragonflies!!!!"
Zoe announced powerfully, then disappeared and reappeared in multiple places at once. Instantly, all the 'Zoes' unsheathed their katanas simultaneously at extreme speed, unleashing a rain of flying slashes that formed a giant net closing in on the golems about to reach them.
"Echo Cleaver!!!!" At the same time, Tomás shouted powerfully as he swung his sword at high speed, creating luminous flying slashes that looked like scars in the air.
***
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