“…Will he agree? Won't he just kill us?” Nana asked.

Ewan shrugged. “Let’s just hope he’s rational enough.”

“What if he reneges after getting the methods?”

He shook his head. “I don’t have any means to prevent that.” There was a vast gulf between them and the new Crown, massive enough that the success of any transaction relied on the other party’s goodwill. They were powerless to affect the status quo.

“Should we get a contract? He wouldn’t go against the Airadia’s sentience, would he?” Nana said.

“Who knows, he might just kill us for proposing that,” Ewan said. “And the contract’s not binding enough. He can still kill us if he wants to, he’ll just have to pay a bit.”

“So, we’re at his mercy….,” she said.

“We were already at his mercy the moment he trapped us inside the cage. Now just hope the method I develop intrigues him enough to let us go.”

She sighed, her face downcast.

“Don’t be so depressed, it’s not all grim. At least he showed he cared for Ashevas by messaging us, even if it was only for appearance. If we handle this well, we might succeed. And I’ll be telling him how to fix the blind spot of his cage, it should interest him.”

“I’ll buy the contract anyway, it’s better to have it than not,” she said.

Ewan nodded. “Go, freshen up,” he said. “Use the floor below, don’t go any lower. I’ll send Frost with you; he’ll keep an eye out.”

If the alpha had even an ounce of intelligence, it would leave a part of the pack to surround the building while going out to hunt. So, unless Ewan and Nana could kill them all, leaving wasn’t a possibility right now. And if they had to stay, it was better to be comfortable. Moping around cursing the damn wolves would only waste time.

“I’ll go first then,” Nana said and walked away with Frost tailing her.

……

Rest consumed a few hours; Nana worked on something by the side in secret while Ewan dove back into his calculation afterwards. Modification of was necessary for the first part. But he had to focus more on developing the second stage, the method to fix the weakness he found. If he just presented the way to destroy the cage to the Crown, it would come off as a threat and not a transaction. The scenario would not end well for them. If he could fix that weakness instead and use it as his betting chip, it might interest the Crown enough to let them go. He wagered on that chance.

The nodes shared the damage with their neighbors, so they should share the Fire-Anima poured in by the spell too. Ewan presumed the positive rather than the negative and worked his way from there. Destruction of the cage would follow the same pattern with the spell as it would with the brute force, all the nodes would still have to shatter at once. The advantage with the spell lay in its drastically reduced Anima needed to do so—this was the method to destroy the cage.

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What if he added a layer of Anima around the nodes? It would clash against the Fire-Anima and make it difficult to travel from one node to another. The energy needed would spike again in that case—this was the method to prevent that destruction.

It might work….

Anima of all elements existed in peace in their natural form. But when employed, they clashed and resisted each other… This occurrence would stumble his solution and increase the cost of maintaining the cage.

Cost to performance ratio, he had to find a good balance. If he could add a trigger to the barrier that would act against spells like and create a layer of Anima around nodes only when attacked, it could drag the cost down.

Was it earth? Ewan stared at the cage, tapping his pen on the diary, wondering what its element was. It wasn’t fire, it wasn’t blood, it wasn’t ice either. He couldn’t see any Anima around the barrier, so it was neither of the three. The saffron color hinted towards the earth element, and it was also the one with the strongest defense. So, the Anima layer around the nodes had to be of the earth element too, to prevent any internal clashes. He nodded, and buried his face back into the diary, scribbling away.

……

“Ewan, they’re leaving,” Nana said, peeking down the ledge.

Ewan frowned and put away his diary. “All of them?” he asked.

“Hmm.”

“Shouldn’t be… Is he baiting us?” he murmured, joining her on the edge.

The alpha glanced back at them and sauntered away, the pack following his lead.

“Are they preparing to ambush us?” she asked.

“Maybe…maybe he’s planning something else,” Ewan muttered, looking around the buildings in the vicinity. The gap was too big for him, but the wolves could cover it in a single jump. Was the alpha using the night as a cover to attack from the other buildings’ roof? Was he smart enough to plan it? Or was this a simple ambush?

Don’t underestimate, don’t underestimate….

He could prevent the first by destroying the entrances. Even if his spells wouldn’t reach from up here, he could climb down and demolish them when they came in range. But it would only throw the situation back into a stalemate, he would be in a passive situation again. It was better to counter the alpha’s plan and kill as many as he could during their raid.

And if it was the latter, staying here would render it null anyway.

Identify.

Status: Healthy

Step-0 [3rd Awakening]

Name: Ewan Ayres

Species: Human

Vitality: 1.4

Spirit: 6.9

Anima: [Fire – 6.9 | Ice – 6.9 | Blood – 6.9]

Astylinds: 4 [Potential: 0]

Rolling Cat [Toast]: Step-0 [3rd Awakening]

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Fire Monkey [Orange]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]

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Imp [Frost]: Step-0 [Level-4] [Grade-C]

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Blood Lotus [Iris]: Step-0 [Level-3] [Grade-C]

Equipment: Common Clothes.

Storage: Journal; Elementalist—The Path of Anima [Subtype-Book]; Spellbook; Bloodlust [Spell]; Transmute [Spell]; Anima-Crystals; Obsidian Dagger; Hub-Connector; Ingredients.

Novas: 192

Crelith: 4984

His spirit had peaked, he was ready to break through to the fourth awakening. He had to take the chance; it would be helpful if a fight broke out.

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