Michael watched as small threads of Aubility Power spool out of the Red Lamp, twirling down towards the thousands of mounds on the ground.
These small hills of soil contained cadavers, and inside them were small cores of GodForge pieces, barely even a few kilograms in total.
But as the threads connected to these small hills, a new change began to galvanize into these GodForge pieces.
They began... to split.
With Michael’s Drone Vision, he was able to see everything in crystal clear clarity. The GodForge pieces trembled for a few seconds, before a supernatural force began to pull its two sides apart, like a live cell undergoing mitosis!
He was watching GodForge pieces duplicate in real time!
This was nothing less than a miracle!
How is this even possible?! ChatJK5?
It looked like his personal AI assistant was quite flabbergasted as well, as she took close to a minute before she could muster out a reply.
Tell me, are these GodForge pieces really growing?
[As far as I could tell, the simple answer is... no.]
No? Then how are they duplicating themselves?
ChatJK5 then changed the interface in Michael’s vision, allowing him to focus on a single mound of GodForge pieces.
Light flashed on the metal pulsating on the cadaver’s heart, highlighting it, before ChatJK5 created a text box that displayed all the necessary information about its qualities.
She showed the very molecular structure of the GodForge, the slight imperfections in the weaving of mana and Aubility Power inside it.
Michael saw the equivalent of a DNA for the GodForge pieces.
It was undecipherable and abstract, like a painting made by a higher dimensional being whose understanding of the universe was a million times more than what humans could potentially understand.
But even if he couldn’t understand it, he could still see if one was different from the other.
And according to the visual depiction inside his eyes, the GodForge piece that ’grew’ from the split was not the same as the original.
If it had undergone the process of mitosis like cells, it should have become a complete copy of the original, or at least have some semblance of similarity with it.
But no. It was completely disparate. Both in style and in essence. It would be like comparing an animal to a color.
And when he looked at the other GodForge pieces, the results were the same.
It truly did seem as if these new GodForge pieces didn’t come from the original piece.
It was not born out of thin air. It came from somewhere else.
This hypothesis grew more weight as ChatJK5 found more time to analyze the whole situation.
[It is subtle, but I did see traces of a teleportation magic within the entire process.]
Teleportation?
[Yeah. That Red Lamp is reeking with teleportation Aubility Power.]
With both Harbinger and ChatJK5 agreeing on the same thing, which was quite rare, Michael now had a guess on what was actually happening with the Red Lamp.
He wasn’t a 100% sure, but he had a feeling that the Red Lamp only creates a nexus for other GodForge pieces to appear.
They weren’t growing GodForge pieces. They were finding them. The Red Lamps were teleporting pieces from somewhere in this world towards here, in this desolate mineshaft, using the planted pieces as a compass and a portal both.
Of course, they couldn’t be teleported away from a GodForge piece that was already inside a Maugnetic. If it was, then there would have already been many instances of angry Maugnetics complaining about losing their pieces spontaneously.
Perhaps the Red Lamp was only taking in pieces that haven’t been unearthed yet. Or it was also possible that it was taking pieces from an unknown dimension.
"The Red Lamp is complete," Jasper sighed, as if the weight of the world was taken off his shoulders. "Young Master... you have completely saved our family from ruin."
Jasper shook his head. "Don’t thank me. Thank him. He’s the one who retrieved the Key! I didn’t even know how he got it!"
They all looked at him, Jasper, Jot’un, and Yuna, as they waited for an explanation.
Michael shrugged. "Would you all believe me if I just found it after sieging a castle?"
Jasper shook his head. "It doesn’t matter, benefactor. The fact that you have returned the Thunderfoot inheritance is enough. You can keep your secrets to yourself."
As expected of the butler, he knew just how to navigate a potentially delicate situation. Not everyone wanted to reveal their secrets.
"Benefactor, please. Tell me what we can provide you to show our gratitude!"
Jasper bowed deeply towards Michaael, and Jot’un awkwardly followed behind.
Now, Michael would have sieged the Stronghold even if he didn’t get any reward from it. The Ersatz was a plague that needed to be extinguished, after all.
With that said, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t need anything from the Thunderfoot clan.
With the Key returned to their hands, they would be able to continue growing their collection of GodForge pieces for him to buy and purchase.
The Shadow Orcs were growing stronger. And he needed more kilograms if he wanted them to continue flourishing.
"Now that you mention it, I would need a few kilograms of GodForge pieces."
Jasper nodded. "Very well. With the authority given to me by the Thunderfoot Patriarch, I hereby reward you with a thousand kilograms of GodForge pieces for your valiant efforts in returning our inheritance."
One thousand kilograms!
Michael would have been satisfied with a hundred!
They were essentially gifting him ten million Sand Dollars worth of GodForge pieces!
To say they were generous was an understatement. They were practically giving him a significant chunk of their reserves... for free!
Even though Michael had the blood of a greedy businessman in his veins, he just couldn’t accept that kind of gift without giving them something in return.
"Thanks... by the way, those cadavers that you use. I can change that. You don’t have to limit yourselves with how much you can farm in a single time."