While my first thought to toughen up our people was to awaken as many as I could, I suspected there were other options we should consider first. I also figured I should probably run the idea by the council.

The clouds had snuck back in, and by the time we'd gathered around a table in one of the private rooms in our manor, the non-stop thunder had resumed. There'd been enough time to observe the sun setting, but then I’d received word that everyone was ready.

The simple stone table and room could’ve used a bit more finish, but much like the reason we were here, it just felt like we didn’t have enough time to get everything done.

"Armor," the word was released in a cloud of steam by Inertia, as soon as I mentioned my idea.

"Not only do we have large amounts of unused monster hide, Inertia's apprentice Nail has been experimenting with using the wheel mesh for reinforcing joints," Tresla added, holding up one of those pieces of hide before returning to stitching it.

"We could utilize the Final Rest as well, master Percival. As the primary restriction was the number of doors, now that Tender has kindly allowed several people to prove their worth at once, neglecting to put as many through it as we can would be neglectful," Calbern said, from his place along the far side of the table.

"Every Tethered who's willing," I agreed, nodding. At this point, I had complete trust in the people of Tetherfall. Even after the most recent disaster, they continued to help the refugees with fervor. "Even a couple weeks will be enough to make a huge difference."

"I suppose we’ll have to find the time. We've already been neglecting our training, as of late, and you want to add more," Selvi said, rubbing her nose, her eyes with dark rings around them.

“This’ll make you and your people stronger,” I reminded her as gently as I could. “And it won’t take long once we get the Waygate working.”

"I know, I know,” Selvi acknowledged, leaning back to stare at the featureless stone ceiling. “There's just been so much to do.”

"That’s the next thing. Get it so the Tethered aren’t stretched so thin. I’m thinking we recruit from the refugees, set them to doing more of their policing themselves," I said, looking between the others. "It won't be ideal, but neither is overextending ourselves."

"Easy enough to cast a line, though we'll have to throw back minnows and sharks both," Tamrie said, nodding as her new assistant took notes. It was unusual seeing the dwarf beside her, squinting as he wrote. Vednil hadn't been interviewed so much as he'd been dealing with Tamrie so often she'd simply offered him the position.

"Soon as the Howl's over, we'll hire people to train them properly. Get you more support, Selvi," I said, running a hand through my hair, surprised when I ran out of arm before I did hair. Seemed the ascension process had provided a bit of extra growth.

"With the newly fallen trees in Mistvale, our coffers should be more flush than even High Shaper Thozgar's. While tragic, the crash will prove quite advantageous for our coffers," Alister said, tapping one of the reports he'd brought in. "Though securing the heartwood away from thieves will stretch us even thinner."

"That part's sorted," I said, waving him off. A few third Order spells should be enough to move it to a hidden chamber somewhere.

"That brings us to your original proposal," Alister said, clearing his throat. "You are certain that you'll be able to awaken several individuals?"

"Certain? No. Not until I can get those scans I mentioned. Bevel's working on extra scanners right now. Hoping to have a proper answer by this time tomorrow," I said, shaking my head. "But what I am certain of, is that we're close. They've done it before. Soon as we're done here, I'm going to join her."

Alister nodded, the meeting continued for another few minutes as the others talked about other ongoing matters while we were gathered before we broke apart into our new tasks.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go straight to enchanting. I had to reside over the judging of the warlord, which had more to do with giving the grieving an outlet than anything else. During the questioning, we found out that he'd used a kid to find out how the airship was flown. One of the Tethered had given her lessons, and she'd passed it on to him. Neither the Tethered or the kid had survived the crash. He kept ranting about it being his right to take the airship the whole time, and even said that he would've been successful, if not for Vayin dodging and causing him to hit the control pedestal. Might've been true, but I was just thankful it didn't take long before he joined what was left of Grivis, crushed against the rocks at the bottom of the chasm with the rest of the waste.

His man wasn't far behind.

For several long seconds, I stared down at their ruined bodies. But it wasn't them I was seeing. It was the faces of the Tethered and refugees who'd died because of the madness infecting the man and his followers.

How many times was I going to have to watch good people die to greedy cowards?

Too many, I knew. It’d already been too many.

Breaking free of my thoughts, I went to join Bevel.

She hadn't spoken since she'd seen her friend's body. Something I’d have shielded her from, if I could’ve. But I hadn’t been thinking.

Instead of saying anything, she'd closed her eyes and pressed herself into my leg, shaking quietly. I'd asked her if she wanted to help with the scanners to give her something to do, and she’d taken off immediately.

When I arrived, I found her curled up atop Neta, a finished scanner lying at her feet.

"Good job kiddo," I said, a sad smile on my face as I knelt down to collect the tool, laying my hand on her head for a moment. She stirred, but didn't wake.

With the scanner in hand, I gave it a quick once over. After confirming it was complete, I started working on several more, Restore Form ensuring I could work through the night.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Until I figured out mana bodies, I would live with only sleeping every other night. And I only allowed myself that much since I knew my work would suffer without.

By the time breakfast came around, I'd finished another three scanners. Each one was slightly different, though they all had a similar theme. If looking like a bony cube of varying shades of white to dark grey could be called a theme. We could've spent more time to ensure it was less of a mish-mash, but that was time I wasn't analyzing scans.

I would've kept working on more scanners, but we didn't have many mages. Yet. We didn’t have many mages, yet.

If this worked, that’d change.

With scanners in hand, I roused Bevel, and we made our way for breakfast.

After we ate, Xoth and Vetrov were quickly recruited and the four of us proceeded to scan everyone we could. We didn't explain the full details to those we were scanning. We simply told folk it would help determine their chances of awakening, which was true enough. No reason to risk word getting out or to raise hopes before I could deliver.

It got raised eyebrows from some of the older Tethered, who knew they had no chance of awakening so late in life, but they otherwise didn't question it. I wasn't sure of the reactions of the refugees in Verdant Point, since Xoth and Vetrov were dealing with them, but I suspected they were just as suspicious.

That was fine.

We ran out of blank memory shards before we ran out of Tethered to scan.

Between both settlements I ended up with over two hundred scans.

Before I went to analyze them, we visited Tender. We'd attempted to send people to open the path on their own but it turned out I had to be present for the tunnel to rise. It was possible it might’ve risen for Nexxa too, but she was busy dealing with her own people in the wake of the lost airship. At least Inertia figured we could recover the important parts of the engine.

Nearly a hundred Tethered joined us on our trip through the Final Rest's paths, each of them completing it in teams of five. Even Tamrie and I shared ours, Tanis, Selvi and Myris taking it with us.

It was amusing and more than a little humbling watching Myris and Selvi move along the agility path ahead of us, far more nimble than either of us. For a woman in her sixties, Myris could move.

Meanwhile, Tanis took the longer white lotus path, whistling as he literally stopped to smell the flowers.

Even then, he was waiting with the rest by the time Tamrie and I finished our path. And by the rest, I meant every single Tethered was waiting outside.

After returning to Mount Aeternia, I took a moment. I'd been about to fly back to the Golden Halls with all the scans we’d collected.

Except I had Secrets of Telthen available. If I was going to be running back and forth, it was worth the time to slot it.

As I worked through it, I realized there were several sections I'd copied imperfectly. Staring at the page, I realized the same spiritual muscles related to flying had also extended my magical senses. It was only a few inches beyond the surface of my skin, but that was enough to see all the flaws I'd left inside the third Order spell.

Thankfully, Thunder Transit had similar components, and Nexxa had scribed it perfectly in the grimoire she'd gifted me. As I worked, I realized there were entire aspects to the scribing process I hadn't been able to appreciate before.

The most obvious was that the 'depths' of the runes could change the weight, the strength of the effect, they had on the rest of the spell. It was a subtle thing, and one that would require a lot of study to make use of, but it made me wonder what else I was missing.

Still, I didn't let myself get distracted by the thought, other than taking the time to jot it down in my notebook. Soon as I was done fixing the spell, I slotted it. Then I carved a new chamber into the depths of our mountain home. I'd add a window later, but for the moment the room's only feature was a pool in the center. One I used a combination of Create Ice and Flare to quickly fill with water.

With that done, I cast Secrets of Telthen on the pool. The surface thickened immediately, the few ripples that had remained from the rapidly melting ice stiffening in place. Placing my hand on it, I confirmed my connection to it.

Slipping inside, I confirmed my awareness of the area around the pool. I pushed my way free, and the water remained behind, not a single drop clinging to my robes.

With that done, I retrieved Soaring Wolf and started towards the Golden Halls. Checking Secrets regularly, I found the detection range getting weak a third of the way to the halls.

I landed, made a hidden cave with another pool inside then sealed it over. After a second stop and another cave, I made it to the stairs leading down. Near the bottom, I created one last covered chamber.

And just like that, I'd added a network of teleportation pools I could use to get directly to the Golden Halls, like connecting dots. It wasn't even that expensive, thanks to the restrictions of Secrets. Well, not that expensive for a third Order spell. Moving between Mount Aeternia and the Golden Halls would still leave me empty.

For a second, I took a moment to look up at the incoming storm. It looked like it was going to be especially nasty. The waves were nearly reaching the top of the cliff. I couldn't imagine how furious the storm had to be to send them hundreds of feet in the air before it even reached us.

I’d have to make sure folk bunkered down once I was back.

When the latest wave started to retreat, I made my way towards the dome. Despite my preparations and ability to fly, I was still sucked off course by half a mile.

Popping out of the ocean, I spotted large shapes circling in the deeper waters. Needed to avoid those.

For my second attempt, I dropped directly on top of the dome. It had taken a beating, and I spent some time reinforcing it before adding another pool for Secrets.

Which was when I remembered I could choose the orientation somewhat when casting the spell. Well, so long as the water could support it. Setting this pool into the wall, I made my way inside the Golden Halls. The next hour was spent transferring scans over, briefly looking over their results. Even at a glance, I could tell that most weren't as close to awakening as Tamrie's scan.

It was after I'd added roughly two thirds of the scans that a new screen popped up.

Extensive samples gathered on local mana-body population. Create diagnostic routine?

I laughed, accepting. There might've been a bit of an edge to the laughter.

A second later a new display replaced it. It included an option to scan every creature within my domain. I accepted.

When it was done, it displayed a list of the materials required to awaken everyone. Not just the Tethered and refugees I’d scanned.

It included the every living person, Inferno Drake, Wyvern and even the dinosaurs who dwelt within Mistvale. It also showed a list of the already awakened creatures within my domain, allowing me to click on them and highlight their specific path.

After a few minutes, I was able to sort through the options, narrowing it down to just the Tethered and the Spellford refugees, though I had to filter it by location to do so. There seemed to be even more people scattered across my territory than I’d realized. Something to investigate soon, but not yet.

Most of the Tethered would be surprisingly easy to awaken. They'd need an hour in the sarcophagus Balthum was inside, and a lot of tier-1 water materials, but that was it. And tier-1 water materials were something that could be fished out of the ocean. Literally.

On the other hand, the Spellford refugees needed several different materials. Still, they were all common. The bigger restriction wasn’t much of one. While a few would be quick, most would need a day or more in the sarcophagus.

Having held off on Tamrie’s for last, knowing I wouldn’t have been able to focus on the rest after I knew, I opened up her scan.

At first, my heart dropped. The display said that a tier-3 material was required.

Then I looked closer.

Nature affinity.

All Tamrie needed was a tier-3 nature material and a few minutes in the sarcophagus. That or spending a few months in a dense nature affinity area.

Closing the scans, I chuckled to myself for a moment. There was only one thing between us and creating an army of ensouled.

It was time to deal with a certain Magus Dominus.