A few times, there had been some strange solutions that Qu had arrived at. Of the Dragons Eggs that were left in his care, he placed them under a force field and kept it perfectly warm for their incubation. Underneath the shield, five eggs surrounded a sixth. However, the sixth egg was not an egg. It was the remains of the Emperor's Teleportation Crystal. Under the heavy shield, it was protected from losing its aura. Sharing it with the children would nurture their natural abilities, a trait common to nesting species, it was always to better the next generation.
Abbi was busy fighting, busy making the world her children would once call home. Genba didn't think they would be blessed with offspring because of the fickle reproduction issues that dragonkin had, but he was sighing in relief as he watched over his children.
Posturing over the jade shield, he sipped a drink. A Dragon Pulse, a heartbeat, five in unison, their rhythm was surprisingly smooth. They were absorbing it, nurturing their growth, their aura rose. The children were going to become forces of nature. Genba finished his drink, walking down the corridor to meet with Kim Li. They had been traveling for a few days, the City was in its pocket dimension.
"Black Steel, Evvingers Weep, Crystal shavings of the desired element, razor mantles leather, dragon's blood for quenching." Xuan Kim Li passed a weapon under a scanner and had the Laptop reading as fast as it could go. It came up with findings, showing the materials it could identify on its sensors and visual recognition. Qu had left one of his avatars to be at the disposal for the Sorting Teams, a number of the Priesthood had decided to take up residence in the City.
"Take it down to the formation rooms, have them do the spellwork on the hilt before its re-wrapped and then put a wind formation on the blade." Kim li gave them some directions and then noticed Genba by the door.
They were not a gloomy bunch, especially as they passed in between dimensions. The noise of Shiyan was absent past the shield. Qu's strength came from his core, keeping it safe was the entire point of the Tower, its expansion was merely an act of its evolution. The Tower Spirit absorbed a lot from the Tower and its contents, radiant energies permeated into its Ice layers and stone walls.
"Kim Li, you're always busy. Let me ask you something, everything is changing since my children are going to come into this world. Do you believe we have a chance at taking the Vampire Lord? We lost a lot of people in our last offensive." Genba wanted someone else's perspective.
"Hmm. I don't think its good to discuss these types of things because if could be considered conspiracy but I guess since we are somewhat alone, I can humor you. We are going to lose a lot of people, that is why his majesty sent the others away, they had a taste of combat. Being alive is a good thing. Nothing is guaranteed in life, we worked hard to get to this stage... where we don't have to feel like we're living in fear, we're going to strike and establish our existence to the world." Xuan Kim Li's eyes looked down. "Though, I have to say, losing people is horrific. But what should I do? I have to keep my strength, my nerve, my sanity through all of what must come in all of our futures, doing it on our own terms, is it not much better?"
Genba nodded and returned to the Eggs. "Complicated, plans within plans.. ugh." Genba sat down nearby and pulled out another drink. "Abbi should be back sometime soon, she's been working on updating the City's forge, they are adding a machine shop.. I think she's trying to compensate for not carrying our babies herself, she feels guilty watching, standing around."
"Don't worry about it, she's a strong one, that's why she chose you, you're as stubborn as she is. Children are important, what you're doing is making sure that the first face your children see are their parents. Maybe Abbi will be lucky enough to be present at the time, but it is still weeks away." Kim Li consoled him, Genba's broad shoulders stretched and held Kim Li under his arms.
"You're a good kid. I see a lot of those research assistants eyeing you, you should pick a few and be happy." Genba laughed and produced a few more drinks. "If the children aren't here today, lets drink." Genba cheered and stared at the dome, auroras, tangible visible auras could be seen under the shields confined space.
Abbi had destroyed four of her works by rushing them. Her team at the machine shop were sure that it had been balanced perfectly but the lathe's kept bouncing. Every time the lathe bounced, a scar would come across the formation she was placing into her machine. She would either have to start over on the piece, or the entire thing if it happened to explode. It exploded. Metal fragments went in all directions, Qu was able to stop them but it was a regular problem when enchanting, if you deviated from the enchantment, the result was usually explosions. Power would go rampant and then, like a surge in a generator, it would blow.
Abbi was working on a turbine, something to replace the gravity formations that they were using in the Aeroships. The battle at Portano and the Bloodspawn alerting the enemy to their presence was a serious problem. Borrowing some stacking spells from Qu's collection, the rotation of the turbine was easy but balance was a big issue at extreme RPM. Sometimes the materials they were working with had density issues, her first prototype nearly cut one of her assistants in half when it came apart. She had Qu build a wind tunnel and testing site to reduce hiccups in the future but the destructive power of the explosions were growing as her spellwork continued to evolve. Compensating for one thing led to another. It would be an ongoing project of hers.
Crushing another schematic, she walked over to the engine and started to take it apart. It didn't have an explosion's powering its generator, but magical formations throughout the gearing. Abbi had always been a gear head, the reason she had gone to Tokyo during the Emperor's first appearance was to play 'Re-installed Machine' in the exhibition, she had even been hired by the venue as a professional participant because of her background in robotics.
She was getting angry, she threw a piece of metal against the wall. It bounced. It wasn't exactly that it bounced, but the two inch thick metal flexed and sprang back toward her. She dodged but was thrilled at its return to shape. She looked the metal over, it wasn't anything she hadn't used before. On the back were the spell formations, there was a smudge that connected three of the linear functions together.
She took a rubbing of the formation, then re-drew it onto another piece of metal. The reaction was the same. It was like a rubber' spell but for metal. She became fascinated with it's function and went to get some materials for experimentation. Knowing the magnitude of her discovery, she had Qu bring Kim Li down to help.
"Interesting. I've been working on a theory for combining some things." Kim Li pulled out some diagrams and went over the details for his next project.
"It will be nice to see the effects of the memory crystal. If it works the way its suppose to, we may not be able to keep up with his level of intellect. To that end, I've been developing armor. Its been very hard to get what I wanted due to issues with hyperflexation, vibrations, resistance levels of certain elements and so on. I found one that works pretty well, but its extremely rigid and doesn't move. Bands and bars can be moved out of place, What I want to do is use Abbi's new formula on a one piece suit, with it having this spell on it, it can freely flex. Look." Kim Li took out a fire crystal wand and started to engrave the formation, he worked quietly and quickly. no one dared breathe.
"And.. voilà" placing it over a hammer he took out a knife and stabbed at the hammer. It didn't puncture. Then he folded it. "This is what I'm talking about!" Kim Li was thrilled. "This will be the focus of the metal crafting teams for the next week. QU. I need you to start bringing armor from the weapons storage lockup. The Emperor asked for Esper Grade Armor, I think this is the key."