Remnant now with very little waste, but he had nothing to do with that power. He could catch it and release it. He needed a technique to process and control the energy inside his body, rather than trying to grab anything he could directly.
Eithan’s Path of the Hollow King emphasized the property of pure madra that the Seven Principles called Emptiness. Pure madra diluted other aspects, effectively emptying them out and taking their place.
Lindon could integrate that into his own Path. The Empty Palm already worked that way, and he doubted it would change the Soul Cloak much. More importantly, the principle gave him the idea for a new technique.
He had seen other sacred artists use Ruler techniques to duplicate boundary fields, controlling aura to create certain effects inside a certain radius. Why couldn’t he flood an area around himself with pure madra, preventing anyone else from using techniques?
It would take an astronomical amount of madra, and he hadn’t been able to figure out a stable structure, but the theory was sound. Dross was able to simulate different versions of the technique, and Lindon had already begun testing several of them.
It was in working on that technique and consulting his Path of Twin Stars manual that he realized the solution to his hunger madra problem.
He needed a technique that worked inside of himself, filtering and separating madra. That would be a spirit Enforcer technique, and he had started looking through the Arelius technique library before an idea occurred to him.
He had a technique like that.
The Heart of Twin Stars.
It had been designed to split one core into two, but it was a spirit Enforcer technique compatible with pure madra. With a few modifications, he and Dross were sure they could get it to work.
Which left him, on the evening of the fifth day, with three projects: develop the Heart of Twin Stars into a proper filter, continue simulating the pure madra boundary field technique until he found a version he was comfortable practicing, and assemble a set of armor for testing.
Lindon wrote as much into his notes and sat back in his chair, satisfied. He had made great progress, and he had plenty in front of him. To occupy his time.
While he was alone.
His satisfaction waned.
Little Blue rolled a scale across the desk in front him, and Dross spoke into his mind in an encouraging fashion. [Don’t worry, don’t worry! This should be plenty to keep you busy for three more weeks. Who needs a Sage?]
It wasn’t the lack of a Sage that bothered him, and it wasn’t entirely loneliness. It was that they were out there fighting for something, while he was only preparing.
Other people were fighting over Dreadgods, or training to stop an invasion of the Blackflame Empire. Meanwhile, he couldn’t help.
At least not yet.
“Two more days,” he said aloud. Northstrider had borrowed Dross twice in the last five days, but neither time had he given Lindon more useful advice. But he had reiterated that Fury was scheduled to arrive at the Wandering Titan’s location in two more days.
Charity was supposed to visit before that, and he could try to convince her to send him along.
He could wait two days. It wasn’t as though he didn’t enjoy Soulsmithing, research, and practice, but none of that could compare to actually stealing power from enemies.
If he could get the Consume technique working, he could be an Overlord before the next round began. Or at least a peak Underlord.
A knock echoed at the door, startling Little Blue so that she let her pure scale fall off the edge of the table. She pouted a moment before scampering down to go get it.
Lindon stretched his spiritual perception outside, and when he felt the identity of the person at the door, he used a brief burst of the Soul Cloak to leap across the room and open it.
Akura Charity stood there, dressed like a peasant worker. She wore simple brown with a stained smock, her hair frizzy and tied behind her with a rag.
The outfit tugged on something in Lindon’s memory, but he didn’t chase it down, inviting her in.
She drifted inside after him. “I have come to discuss your reward,” she said, but of course Lindon knew what he wanted.
“If it’s not too much to ask, could you bring me to help your father around the Dreadgod? If you could send me there and bring me back for the Uncrowned matches, I would be grateful.”