"Knowledge?" Aurelia's voice broke the silence. Her gaze narrowed slightly.
"Are you talking about your Knowledge Spheres?"
Everyone immediately understood what this was, even Varik, who had never received a proper explanation, could connect the pieces from everything he had witnessed.
His eyes widened as memories clicked into place, Thomas's sudden breakthrough, the impossible speed of learning.
Adrian nodded once. "Yes."
Septimus leaned forward in his chair, fingers drumming against the armrest. His scholarly mind was already racing through implications.
"Wouldn't that be risky? If this spreads the wrong way, it could drown our entire clan."
"I know the risks," Adrian said calmly. "And I didn't decide this lightly."
He turned his gaze across the hall to each of them. The holographic displays cast shifting patterns of light across their faces.
"Think about it. The only other thing we have is the Blackwood Ink."
Aurelia's expression hardened immediately. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
The others went silent.
Everyone in that room understood what he meant. The terrible, galaxy-shaking potential of what Adrian had created.
Adrian continued, "The ink is too powerful. It breaks the foundation of the galaxy itself. If it's revealed, not only the empires, even the demons, will target us. It would shift the balance of the war."
Everyone nodded grimly. Selena's tattoos pulsed faintly with her agitation.
The implications were staggering. Varik felt a chill run down his spine despite not fully grasping the technical details.
Initially, they only had the knowledge of rune scrolls, even that itself could impact the war, but after learning about formations, if this was revealed, it would change the entire reality.
Adrian had seen it in the library, basic formation after formation patterns stored in books for learning, all dependent on specific crystals.
For centuries, all formations, like even starship drives, were powered by elemental mana crystals using formations. The galaxy's entire infrastructure depended on this limitation.
Fire formations required fire crystals, space formations used void crystals, every system depended on affinity alignment. It was the natural order, the foundation of economics and power.
But the Blackwood Ink… broke that rule. Completely.
Kael suddenly raised his head, realization dawning.
"The void crystal…" he muttered. "Now it makes sense."
He looked at Adrian, his usually calm demeanor showing cracks of alarm. "If pure mana can be converted into any affinity… then even formations needing void crystals, the rarest, most expensive ones, could run on ordinary mana. That would destroy the entire galactic economy."
Aurelia nodded, her voice tight. "Yes. Not just scrolls, it changes everything. It renders the natural limitations of mana meaningless."
The room fell into stunned silence. Thomas whistled low under his breath.
Even Varik, who only heard fragments from their conversation, understood the tension. His mind raced.
"Something this dangerous can't be sold or even spoken of. No wonder they're being so careful."
Adrian took a breath, his expression resolute. "Exactly. Which is why we can't reveal it. But…"
He raised his hand, and two glowing white-grey spheres of light appeared. They hummed softly in the air, pulsing with contained knowledge.
"...there is something else we can use."
One floated to Elara, radiant and serene like captured starlight. The other drifted to Selena, dark and dense, heavy with invisible gravitational pull.
Adrian said quietly, "Our other weapon, the Knowledge Sphere."
A faint ripple of energy pulsed through the hall as everyone watched the spheres dissolve into their palms. Elara gasped softly as light concepts flooded her mind.
"I've thought about this," Adrian continued. "And I've done my research."
He gestured, and the hall's systems responded to his essence. Holographic displays shifted and expanded around them.
"Unlike the Ink, this doesn't distort mana or the balance of affinities. It transfers comprehension, the pure understanding of concepts, from one mind to another."
He flicked his node open, a projection rising. Galaxies, empires, trade routes, all glowing in the air above them.
"Every empire envies Lexaria. They monopolize knowledge itself."
He tapped his finger, zooming into the symbol of Lexaria, interlocked arcs glowing like starlight.
"They discovered the Language of Mana. From them, the entire galaxy learned to write, to record, to comprehend. Every skill book, every rune scroll, every formation, all came from their system and flow through them."
Septimus straightened, his scholarly instincts fully engaged. "The Language of Mana is the foundation of civilization. Without it, we'd still be following the path of the ancients."
The hologram shifted, displaying reports and data threads from the galactic net. Trade agreements, licensing fees, knowledge taxes, all flowing toward Lexaria.
"For thousands of years, other empires have tried to break this monopoly. They experiment, research, and fail. None have found a way to bypass the Language of Mana."
He looked up, his voice quiet but filled with conviction. "But we have."
"With our knowledge sphere, anyone can learn directly, no rune, no book, no language of mana. The galaxy doesn't only need to depend on Lexaria's Language anymore to learn."
Adrian paced slowly across the polished floor, his footsteps echoing in the vast chamber.
"If we reveal this, yes, there will be danger. Lexaria will see it as rebellion. But unlike the Ink, this won't destabilize the galaxy's structure. It will evolve it."
"The other empires won't let Lexaria suppress this. They've waited too long for a breakthrough. Even Aethelian, here, would protect us if it means keeping something this revolutionary under their banner."
Draven leaned back in his chair, a slow grin spreading across his scarred features. His eyes gleamed with the kind of dangerous appreciation reserved for brilliant strategies.
"You're saying… we use the chaos of politics to shield ourselves."
Adrian nodded once, sharp and decisive. "Exactly. This will make us a target, yes. But it will also make us indispensable. No one can kill what every empire wants to use."
Thomas shifted forward, his newly awakened fire essence crackling softly around his hands. "It's like holding a blade by both edges."
"Better than holding nothing at all," Elara murmured.
Varik stepped forward suddenly, his robes rustling. He dropped into a deep bow, his voice trembling with barely contained excitement.
"My lord, the Drakenholt clan owned several mercenary halls and shops in the middle ring, all closed after their collapse. If we repurpose them…"
He lifted his head, eyes bright with possibility. The numbers were already flowing through his mind, calculations of profit and protection intertwining.
"We could reopen them as Origin clan stores. Sell these as teaching artifacts, start small, within the Hub. Once they spread, the idea can't be suppressed."
"Let it reach every scholar, every cultivator… and soon, every empire."
Varik nodded eagerly, his administrative mind racing through logistics.
"Even if Lexaria's officials in the Hub try to suppress it, by the time they act, the idea will already be everywhere, in networks, records, forums. The Aethelian Empire won't let Lexaria strong-arm them on their own soil."
Draven's grin widened, showing teeth. "So we'll be too valuable to crush."
"Like a poison that's also the cure," Cassian added quietly from his corner, his prophetic eyes distant.
Septimus rubbed his chin, scholarly caution warring with excitement. "It's a gamble… but one that might just rewrite history."
Adrian could feel the turning point, the moment where everything would change.
He looked around at each of them in turn.
"Then it's decided," he said finally.
"The Origin Clan's specialty will be knowledge itself."
"We will forge the galaxy's next evolution. Not through war. Not through tribute. Through wisdom."
The white-grey glow spread across the chamber walls, and every soul there felt something fundamental shift. A new kind of power, one that didn't destroy but created, didn't conquer but liberated.
Aurelia stood slowly, her ancient eyes reflecting depths of understanding. "The Celestial Eleven will stand with you."
"As will Earth," Thomas added, his voice carrying the weight of a world's trust.
And though no one said it aloud, they all knew it, the moment they opened those shops, the entire galaxy would change forever.