The Collector maintained high alert on all of its sensory systems as it began to perceive multiple magical energy signatures, all of the same kind, begin to converge upon its location. Unlike the goblins, the Collector possessed enough primal density that the mana interfering properties of the intense fall of Grain did not limit it, allowing it to properly sense magic and utilize it as well.

However, because the Collector's units could not sense through the Grain, it was up to the Collector grant them commands.

"Encircle yourselves around me. Form a precise ring formation. Maintain a distance boundary between five and seven meters. This will prevent burning from my flames and maintain visibility in the Grain."

The Collector clicked the mandibles of its main skull as it sensed inefficiency. The goblin units did have a faint sense of united movement, but because the Collector had granted them some operating independency in order to remove mana upkeep to sustain their existence, the units stumbled here and there.

A ring formation command seemed so utterly simple, but the units ran into each other or created gaps in the ring.

"Move it! Move!" shouted Thokk, sensing the Collector's intent due to possessing a greater connection to it. It pointed with each of its four arms this way and that, commanding and gesturing this champion units to move with more efficiency.

"Thragg, take those three here! Bron, keep those two by your sides!" Like this, Thokk greatly facilitated the Collector's will, and within a minute, the ring formation was complete. Against the heavy fall of black snow that ate away all visibility, the ring of champions stood strong, the light and fire of the Collector behind it giving them the confidence to face the dark.

Not tens seconds passed after the units created their formation then did the wraiths appear.

"There! Strike!" shouted Thokk as he pointed to the rear of the Collector. The champion units occupying that area of the ring stiffened up as their reddened eyes flashed, waiting to see the enemies befalling them.

"Three advance enemy units," said the Collector. "A total of fifty-seven within a fifty meter radius around my point. Total time for complete convergence of these enemy units: forty-four seconds."

The Collector would allow the champions to engage with these three enemy units and observe their capabilities.

The wraiths emerged from the black snow. They were creatures of billowing black mist comprised in a vaguely humanoid shape. The visage of a icy skull flickered where the head should have been, but aside from this feature, the rest of the specimen's body was flickering, intangible dark wind and ice.

They were as tall as the champions with long, spindly limbs of inky mist that reached out. The champion units swatted the misty hands away but found that their physical hands and weapons could not interact with them.

When the wraiths' foggy dark limbs passed over the champion's hands, the champions grunted in pain. Their hands became blue, the cells entering rapid decay as instantaneous freezing caused ice crystals to split apart their flesh at the cellular level.

The Collector conveyed its intent to Thokk.

"Gon, Torr, Midge! Step back!" shouted Thokk, and the three champions that had engaged with the wraiths immediately leaped backwards, their eyes widened in fear of the seemingly invincible foes.

"Away, part!" said Thokk, motioning with his arms for the champion units to clear a straight line of sight to the wraiths for the Collector, and the champions followed promptly.

Before the wraiths could pass through the gap let by the retreating champions, the Collector's stomach split open, and here, it stored its pyrocatalytic glands and its Volcanite-encased biotrigger. With its new sub-adaptation, it no longer required much of a delay to activate its flames, and by further infusing the Volcanite biotrigger with mana, it could manipulate its flames to a far finer degree.

The Collector blasted forth a thin cone of white-blue flame at high speeds. The flames passed through the gap made by the champions with pinpoint accuracy and washed over the three wraiths in white and blue waves. The temperature of the flames was intense enough that the ice and snow they touched did not just evaporate, they caused a steam explosion.

Yet, the Collector noted as the steam simmered down that the wraiths were unharmed. They halted for a moment at the attack, and then began to move forward once more. This time, the ring of champions began to waver, belief in the Collector's ability wavering a little.

The Collector encased its ocular systems in green magical energy in order to better analyze the flow of mana surrounding its foes.

"I-I know this!" said the elder. "My senses are dim here, but I know this feeling. It is like Hrunt's Mistborn!"

The Collector came to the same conclusion. It raised two arms to the three wraiths. Purple flashed around the Collector's arms, and then Sapian force enveloped the three wraiths, completely stilling them.

Then, the Collector closed the fists of its arms, and the wraiths mashed together, the skulls of ice shattering and their misty black forms breaking down and condensing into a ball.

>>>

Mana Level: 95% > 90%

>>>

"Return to formation," stated the Collector as it condensed the wraiths down further into a ball capable of fitting in its palm. It brought the ball over to itself as the champions filled the gap once more, though now their hands were completely disabled by frostbite and ice crystals growing within their flesh.

At the very least, the champions could function as live bodies to delay the wraiths.

The Collector brought the ball of wraiths to its stomach and them simply inserted it into its stomach, easily devouring them.

>>>

Mana Level: 90%>95%

>>>

The Collector clicked the mandibles of its main skull. The wraiths were not organic specimen at all. Unlike the thrall that utilized the Mistborn spell to artificially render its flesh into different states of matter, these specimen did not possess any intrinsic flesh at all.

Nor were they alive any, for if they possessed even an ounce of psionic energy coming from a brain or sapience, they would have provided the Collector with some biomass as well. No, they were merely automatons of a kind created from Grain.

However, the specimens did grant the Collector magical energy from devouring them, indicating that some type of magic was charging and binding their being together.

With analysis, the Collector determined that the agent that bound these wraiths together, granting them form, was Primal Density, the magical essence that seemed inherently linked to the environment. However, it did not seem that merely devouring them would enhance the Collector's own Primal Density.

Essentially, these wraiths were creations of the environment. No more alive than a boulder or raging river.

But if Primal Densiy was the only essence holding them together –

The Collector sensed that the rest of the wraith swarm was fifteen seconds from approach. The sizable swarm's imminent advance was marked by a constant symphony of wails that mimicked the howling of wind.

The Collector faced the intense whirl of raging Grain in front of it. The Firefly Shinchu orb at its chest glowed, and a moment later, a shard of solidified golden light formed in front of it before flying forwards, into the Grain storm.

>>>

Mana Level: 95% > 92%

>>>

A moment later, and an explosion of gold lit up the wall of black Grain particles, indicating that a wraith had succumbed.

The Collector conveyed its intent to its carrier unit elite.

Thokk nodded as it sensed the Collector's thoughts and sprung into action.

"Come here!" Thokk bid one of the injured champions to him and then transferred the elder from his shoulder to the champion's. "You stay here. Carry the elder and keep him close to the king. I fight."

The champion opened his mouth in protest. "No! I fight too!"

"I. Fight." Thokk gave the champion a piercing stare, and his intent was made clear.

The Collector did not explain much for time was short, instead, it simply told the rest of the units what to do. "Half of you, trail behind me. I will turn off my flames to allow you to maintain closer distance to me. The other half will follow the carrier unit."

With that, the Collector focused its magical energy, creating from its orb four shards of solidified light, and further, with Sapia, warped and shaped them down into daggers. These, the Collector floated over to the carrier unit.

>>>

Mana Level: 92% > 52%

>>>

Thokk took the four golden light daggers in his arms with a broad, tusked smile eager for battle and to test out his new weapons.

"Thank you, my king. I will use these well!" Thokk shouted before he leaped forwards, to the other end of the ring. He tossed two of his daggers to two champions, spreading defensive capabilities more evenly around, for the wraiths were slow and easily perceivable, their only real difficulty being their intangibility.

"The rest of you, to the king!" shouted Thokk, and half of the champion units from the ring broke formation and gathered near the Collector.

The Collector did not utilize such tools for its own form, and instead, it withdrew the twin blade-claws of Firefly Shincu light from two of its arms.

The flames around its form died down, but by now, with two days of adjustment to this world and with superior goblin genes, its skin had formed natural adaptation against the cold capable of sustaining it for extended periods of time even without external heat sources.

The Collector did not fashion additional weapons for the units surrounding it, not only because shaping the Shincu's light was prohibitively expensive, but also because it was confident in its abilities to easily defend them all.