"How much time do you need?" Mane asked Frederick.
"Not long. Just a couple of minutes" Frederick replied as he gave it his all and concentrated on the task at hand.
"Don't disturb me" sensing that there were more questions on the way, Frederick lifted up his left hand and stopped Mane from asking anymore questions. The captain of the Silver Wolves shut his mouth and didn't ask anymore. He didn't know the difficulty associated with dismantling a Tool of Blessing, but from the sweat that had formed on Frederick's forehead and the pure look of concentration in his eyes, Mane could tell it wasn't an easy job. Although Frederick acknowledged that it would be simple to deactivate, the older boy did so because he had 100% confidence in being able to do so. But that was under the condition that he wasn't disturbed.
"What about 'the' thing?" Selina moved closer to Mane and whispered into his ear. Due to the fact that Mane was a body wielder now, he had grown quite a bit. The 5 feet 8 inches tall Selina wasn't towering over him like before. She only bent slightly to get into his ear.
"It's with Abe" Mane moved away slightly. It was uncomfortable having a pretty girl in such close proximity. Before, because of Frederick's presence it wasn't awkward at all, but now that the older boy was lost in the world of artefact deactivation, the two were basically on their own. Since Mane was growing so explosively, his hormone production had also increased and he was unfamiliar with the strange attraction he felt to the opposite sex. But he calmed himself down pretty quickly and returned to his cold demeanor.
"Our boy is growing" 6th teased upon noticing Mane's predicament. The cold exterior Mane had built up crumbled in the wake of his teasing and he blushed slightly.
"Are you okay?" Selina asked in worry. She still didn't notice anything wrong. Mane sighed in relief seeing how ignorant she was.
"If you open your mouth again I will come in there and bash you up" 2nd threatened the gloating 6th. The laughter of 6th ceased after her threat, proving that it was very effective. Mane smirked seeing how quiet 6th was, "For a legendary ascender, you are very cowardly". The young Supreme wouldn't give up the chance to mock his master.
"Hahaha" the laughter of the 1st resounded in the mindscape. Before long the others were laughing as well – with the exception of 4th, 8th and 7th. Mane wondered if they even had personalities.
"We do" answered 4th. Mane scratched his head in embarrassment upon realizing he had forgotten to block his thoughts from reaching them.
"Mane?" Selina called out. "Oh yeah I am fine. Sorry about that. I just tuned out a bit" Mane quickly replied.
"Will they be here in time?" Selina asked. Mane said 'that' thing was with Abe. But Frederick stated that he needed only a few minutes to deactivate the Tool of Blessings. If Abe wasn't here by the time the deactivation was over, it would be a massive waste of time. And the possibility of defeat to the enemy grew greater with every second wasted.
"Don't worry" Mane smiled, his eyes glistening like the noonday sky. "They are already here" he continued. He could already feel Abe's aura. They had closed the door to the hidden room so Mane walked over and opened the door. Once the door was opened Selina could finally see the three boys who were sneaking into the True Throne Room.
"Psst. Over here" she called them over. In reality she didn't really need to. Mane opened the door so that Selina would see that they were here. He wasn't worried that Abe would waste some time looking for them. Abe had mastered a technique that allowed him to mark a fellow scholar and identify them as long as they were within a 100 meter radius. It was a technique unique to his scholar manual. The manual Mane was studying had a similar technique, but it worked a bit differently and required that one must be in the mid scholar level before one could use it. So as long as Abe was close by, he would be able to sense Mane very easily and Mane would also be able to sense him. It was a technique that bound them to each other in a sense.
"How many people did you kill back there?" Abe wondered. "The smell of blood in the previous room was very strong" the young prince continued, not realizing that Selina's facial expression was growing paler by the minute. Luckily Mane noticed and signaled to Abe to shut up.
"I'm done" Mane breathed a sigh of relief when Frederick spoke. The older teen chose the right time to speak up because his words successfully distracted Selina. She immediately walked over to him and helped him stand. Frederick was soaked in sweat, his eyes were hazy and his breath was heavy. If it wasn't for Selina holding him up, it was likely that he would have fainted. However even in this state, he was holding on to a glass tube which held a green colored liquid.
"Piece of cake huh" Mane teased the older boy. Frederick was so exhausted that he couldn't even argue. He only smiled wryly in response.
"What a talent!" 1st exclaimed.
"Is it that difficult to deactivate a Tool of Blessing?" Mane wondered. He didn't think it was anything extraordinary, but from 1st's tone, the feat was highly remarkable and worthy of praise.
"Indeed, the friends of a Supreme would never be ordinary" 3rd sighed and the others agreed. They all thought that Mane was being rash by choosing so many average teammates, but they had been proven wrong over and over again. First was Abe who had undergone a 2nd awakening and had talent surpassing Mane's when it came to being a scholar. The next were the twins who had suddenly began to show extraordinary growth potential. Selina was basically a copywriter and as long as she was trained properly, would be able to pick up many techniques and skills. And Frederick was a Master Artificer. The secretive member of the Silver Wolves was the only one they approved of, yet the others were showing that they had massive potential as well.
"It's good you trusted your instincts and didn't listen to us" 2nd praised Mane for sticking to his choices. Even when they went against him and didn't see any major growth potential in his friends, the young Supreme didn't waver. One could attribute the joining of the twins and Abe to luck since they were his roommates, but not the membership of Selina and Frederick. The latter two had been scouted by Mane.
"It has never let me down" Mane smiled in pride. The urge to pick out his teammates was born from a part of him so deep that even he wasn't sure where it came from. But it didn't matter to him. All he knew was that he could trust it.
"Now back to the topic" Mane brought the conversation back to its origin. "The Tool of Blessing; is it really so amazing?"
"It is. Not only is it extremely rare, it has also been banned in the myriad of realms. The only exception is for direct servants of a god. But Seth obviously doesn't care about the ban. And I don't even know where he got this one from, but it looks really well made. It wouldn't be easy for a Master Artificer to work his/her way around it." 1st calmly explained
The other masters weren't familiar with the Tool of Blessing so they also listened attentively. Mane also made sure to give his attention to the 1st. He didn't want to miss a single detail.
"And that is why it is so difficult to manipulate. Normally blacksmiths, craftsmen and artificers study artefacts by experimenting with them. They create swords by making several failures and finally perfect their techniques after hundreds of trials. They learn by experience. Yet the Tool of Blessing is so rare and valuable that no one would have the luxury of experimenting with one. So it is very difficult for a person to understand it without any prior guidance, let alone deactivate it" 1st explained.
Mane had a clear understanding of the situation now. It was no wonder 1st was so impressed after Frederick deactivated the Tool of Blessing. There was one thing 1st didn't tell Mane though. If Frederick had this kind of skill, then it wouldn't be a problem for him to become a God level Artificer in the future! All Frederick needed to do was to generate more inner energy. As long as he grew in energy wielding, becoming a God level Artificer was all but assured!
"To be fair, I didn't think your plan would work – neither did your mother. Which is why she suggested that Frederick and Selina be left behind" 1st confessed that he wasn't so enthused when he heard Mane's plan. But he reckoned that once Mane and his friends arrived at their destination, they would realize how difficult it was to deactivate the Tool of Blessing and would destroy it. After all, even if Frederick was a Master Artificer, he had never seen or handled the Tool of Blessing before, so it was highly likely that he would fail. But he had proven 1st wrong, and 1st was happy he had.
"Now to the next phase of the plan" Mane redirected his attention towards his friends and stated. "Is it safe?" he asked Abe. "Yes" Abe replied and reached out to take something from Jake. It was identical to the glass tube Jake was holding, but the liquid in it was blue.
"Are you sure you are okay?" Mane asked Frederick, concerned about the older teen's state.
"Its fine" Frederick replied. He had regained some of his strength. "Putting the Aura Recognition Tube in it is easier than removing it" he continued. That was Mane's plan. It was impossible to carry the Tool of Blessing away because it was tied to the Master's aura. Mane wouldn't be able to insert it into his storage ring if the Master's aura wasn't wiped out. The green glass tube was the Master's Aura Recognition Tube and the blue one was Mane's.
"Take this" Mane passed a pill over to Frederick.
"What is this?" The older boy held the pill between his fingers and tossed it into his mouth before Mane could even answer, displaying his trust in the younger boy. Mane smiled at his action and replied, "Rejuvenation pill". Frederick nodded and prepared to insert the Aura Recognition Tube into the Tool of Blessing. He could already feel his energy returning to him.
"We will have to move quickly once Frederick inserts the tube. As long as his connection to the tool is cut off, he would know that something is wrong" Mane reminded the others to prepare themselves. Frederick had deactivated the tool without alarming the Master, and it was amazing he could even do that. But it was different now. Once the Master's connection to the tool was destroyed, he would be able to tell. So they had to move quickly immediately after.
"3…2…1…now!" Mane barked. Frederick quickly inserted Mane's Aura Recognition Tube into the Tool of Blessing once Mane's countdown ended.
Immediately Mane felt a connection to the tool. He quickly pulled it into his storage ring and held Frederick and Selina's hands. He cloaked them in his aura to protect them from the wind pressure and dashed out. Abe and the twins followed closely.
"Now let's see what advantage you would have" Mane smirked as he escaped with his friends.