After the elf left, Lasair decided upon the simple goal of practice. She had made life mana, and still wanted to increase her control of the other two. She also wanted to try passing more things through her fire affinity, like the feather that gave her [FIRE-BIRDS]. Once Mirage was awake she could use some practice, still being rather new to the world. And then there was Apollo. He needed to practice his fire affinity, get used to the upgrade to his sonic capabilities, and practice with light control. Not to mention the [SOUL BOND] letting him use [LESSER MANA CONTROL]. That was probably what they would start with, just because Lasair still had no idea how the hell it worked.

OK little guy, just do what you did last time.

The wisp reached across the bond once more, this time with far more power at his disposal. Hitting level ten was apparently quite the milestone, as his strength had greatly increased along with the addition of [RESONANCE OF MEANING]. His touch was a bit subtler this time, reaching directly for her mana affinity instead of blindly flailing around. He grasped the affinity, and began to pull it back across the bond. As the edges of the affinity slipped through, the strands of mana around Apollo bent slightly, but he couldn't control them directly just yet. As he reached for more control, they encountered a problem. The affinity wouldn't fit. The misty ball of power simply refused to slip through the bond. Apollo pulled harder, and Lasair came to his aid, forcing the affinity to bend to his will. Suddenly, the bond doubled in size, and the affinity raced through.

We did it little guy! Apollo?

The wisp was not responding. A few moments later, Lasair found out why.

[[SOUL BOND] HAS UPGRADED TO [SOUL TETHER].]

[BEGINNING UPGRADE...]

The mother of all headaches struck her mind, feeling like someone trying to use a chisel on her brain. The pain was immense, but faded just as quickly as it came, leaving Lasair reeling. The pain had disappeared, but her head still felt like it was too full. A few moments later, she found the source. The bond had tripled its original size, and seemed... purer, for lack of a better word. Like the distance between her own mind and Apollo's was shorter now. Speaking of Apollo, he seemed to still be caught in the thrall of the upgrade. As she watched, a small crack appeared in the middle of his core, perfectly straight. It ran from the top of his core to the bottom in a thin line, a perfect representation of his diameter. And then, it opened. The line broadened, forming into the familiar oval of an eye. The shape took up about a third of the space within Apollo's core, and provided a sharp contrast. While most of his core was still the crimson of her own, the eye was leaking a pure, brilliant white. It was devoid of any darkness or shadow, the perfect paragon of light. The mana in the room poured into the opening, cascading into Apollo. From there it went to the bond, strengthening the connection. After a few more moments of this, the eye closed, but the line that it had come from remained. Lasair felt the bond with new clarity, feeling like she was sharing her whole mind with Apollo instead of just sending a few thoughts across. Apollo finished gathering power, the upgrade complete, and then... he passed out.

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Great. Just great.

Now both of the only beings Lasair could talk to in this world were unconscious. What was a magic fire crystal to do? She could feel that [SOUL TETHER] would be an immensely useful skill, letting her send energy and affinities to Apollo far more efficiently than before. But he would need to be awake for that. So, she was on her own. May as well make use of the time. Maybe another [ARTIFACT]? If she wanted to keep elf boy as an ambassador to the outside world, sh would need to pay him. And she still had about twice her normal capacity in energy. Maybe make something like his dagger? She had inspected the mana that saturated the dagger as elf boy left, and found it quite interesting. It used an effect that channeled mana, not unlike the siphon effect of the [DRAGON'S BREATH WAND]. But instead of just enhancing the effects of the weapon, the dagger used mana for the entire function. Someone without a mana affinity or a [MAGE] class could use it, despite having no way to channel mana on their own. It put limits on what she could do with the weapon, as using too much mana in one go would mean waiting for the weapon to recharge. Maybe Lasair could make something passive, like an accessory in a video game. Yes, that's what she would do.

She began with the shape. What should it be? A bracelet, a necklace, a ring? The choices were endless. Eventually she settled on a ring, with the main band being gold. Lines of [MANASTONE] ran through the gold like veins, glowing gently. This would be the first [ARTIFACT] Lasair made that didn't use fire in some way. Because the effects were based on things she could do herself, a new one had appeared concerning healing. The control she had over life mana without an affinity was low, but she still managed to get the ring to a level of usefulness that she considered acceptable. It would collect mana passively, and immediately convert that to life mana. If the user had any wounds, the life mana would seek to heal them. If not, the ring would try to fight things such as disease or exhaustion. It wouldn't be fast, but still noticeable. Wounds wouldn't heal in seconds, but something that would take a few days might only take one. Lasair was satisfied with the ring, and let [THE CIRCLE OF LIFE] fall into the [CHEST]. It took her down to half capacity on her energy.

Well, the energy boost was fun while it lasted. Time for more practice.