He could already think of the next steps.
- For water, he would have to explore the underground lake, where water‑aligned Essence Flow was thick enough to form special minerals and deposits suited for fluid, flexible weapons.
- For other elements, he would need to search far wider—places where wind screamed through high cliffs, where earth Essence pooled under mountains, where rare ores grew in the presence of lightning or shadow.
That much scouting would take time.
So he contacted Sacral Clone and asked him to dispatch two exploration puppets specifically to hunt for element‑alignedmaterials and minerals. Sacral, already deep into his own alchemy research, accepted at once. He inscribed new sensing Vyuhas into several puppets—patterns tuned to detect unusual Essence signatures in stone, water, and air—then sent them out into tunnels, forests, and distant ranges to scour the land.
Days turned into weeks.
Twenty days passed in this rhythm of forging, testing, failing, and refining.
***
Far away, in India's capital, the official residence of Prime Minister Mordan was anything but calm.
A senior officer hurried down the hallway with a grim expression, an equally tense ambassador at his side. Behind them waddled two pale, heavyset foreign envoys, faces twisted with annoyance. At the main entrance, the security detail stepped forward; procedure allowed only the Indian officer and ambassador to pass.
The two foreign envoys—representatives of the Freedom Union—were left waiting outside.
One of them, Jones, snorted and muttered to his companion, James, "See this, James? They get lucky and build one weapon, and suddenly they stop us at the door. We're supposed to be their guests, but they treat us like criminals. Huh."
James nodded, lips curling. "Let them posture. In the end, they'll still have to comply with our orders. If they don't, the consequences won't be something they can handle."
The guards heard every word.
Look who's talking, they thought silently. These are the same people who wouldn't even sit in the same room with us before—and now they're accusing us of arrogance? They came here to beg but call it 'orders' instead. What a joke.
Still, duty was duty. The guards kept their faces blank and said nothing.
Inside, Prime Minister Mordan saw the officer and ambassador enter with those gloomy expressions and immediately sensed trouble. He waited without speaking.
The ambassador bowed slightly. "Sir, the Freedom Union has sent their envoys. Officially, they're here to 'request' the complete blueprint of our new weapon in exchange for various resources—energy contracts, technology packages, political support and so on."
He hesitated, then added, "They also insist on examining the site where we first detected the essence‑flow windstorm in the Tarkan State mountain range. They're waiting outside right now, and they clearly don't intend to leave empty‑handed. What should we—"
Mordan cut him off with a small gesture.
"Bring them in first," he said. "And listen carefully: I will not hand over our full blueprint, even if it means war. You don't need to worry about that."
He was not stupid enough to trade away his country's one decisive advantage for a pile of short‑term resources. Magic‑energy and essence‑flow technology were going to reshape the future of humanity; the coming era would not be peaceful. If India surrendered its lead now, it would never catch up again.
The officer looked like he wanted to argue but swallowed the impulse, saluted, and left to escort the envoys inside.
The meeting that followed was tense and brief.
When it ended, the two Freedom Union diplomats stalked out of Mordan's office with thunderous faces.
"Not only did he refuse our orders," one of them fumed inwardly, "he even dared to warn us. Warn us—us, the strongest alliance on the planet! He actually told us not to reach for what isn't ours, or we'd face consequences."
They walked back toward their residence already planning their report, determined to "teach this small country's leader his place" once they returned home.
After they were gone, Mordan remained seated for a long moment, fingers steepled.
Then he called in his staff. "Summon the key ministers and the senior military commanders," he ordered. "We need to review today's events in detail. And tighten border security immediately. The Freedom Union won't accept this answer quietly."
Outside, the world began to shift again.
Inside Dark Haven Fortress, Solar Clone's forge burned steadily, swords and spears cooling on their racks, each one a quiet step toward a very different kind of future.
******
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