Lith's only option was to synch his own life force with that belonging to his patient and make them resonate.

After several attempts, he managed to keep the red sun as a perfect sphere. The melody coming from the Wyvern's life force rose in intensity enough for Lith to spot where the alterations that prevented the injuries from mending were.

Each time Lith fixed a damaged energy stream, the red sun turned to a brighter color and its melody became clearer. Xedros's life force suddenly turned orange, then yellow, and lastly green.

'That's enough.' Tyris's voice resounded again in Lith's mind.

'Xedros will be able to recover on his own, in due time. I want him to suffer a bit more so that he realizes how much time he has wasted simply because he was too prideful to bother asking for help.'

Before Lith could reply, the white dwarf broke his spell and concentration. He found himself covered in sweat, panting as if he had fought for his life. Due to the lack of sunlight, Lith had no idea how much time had passed, but being Xedros fast asleep, the treatment had lasted hours.

Lith used Invigoration again, discovering that now the Wyvern's physical prowess was close to his own and that the Emperor Beast's mana core had turned several shades of purple brighter.

'Fuck me sideways. Today I've learned a lot, maybe even too much. I would've never expected that a prolonged physical condition could also affect an already developed mana core, otherwise I would've never restored Xedros so much.'

As if he had heard Lith's thoughts, the Wyvern suddenly opened his eyes and took a deep breath. His wings popped back into place and his ribs finally healed, yet the punch mark on his chest was still there, the broken scales refusing to grow back.

Finally free from the agony that had tormented him for over a year, Xedros bellowed an unhinged laughter that led Lith to use Invigoration on himself and prepare for the worse.

At least until the invigorating effects of Lith's newfound Body Sculpting healing technique completely disappeared and the laughter turned into a violent cough again.

"You didn't heal me completely!" Xedros snarled in a fury.

"I did the best I could. How many healers do you know that can undo a Guardian's spell?" Lith replied.

The truth behind those words made the Wyvern take another deep breath to regain his cool, which Lith mistook for a threat. Lith filled his lungs with air as well, to counter the allegedly incoming Origin Flames with his own.

"I apologize for my rudeness." What was came out of the Emperor Beast's mouth instead. "During the past year, I failed to get a proper night's sleep or even enjoy a single meal, which greatly exacerbated my mood."

"I hoped to be finally back to my peak condition, but I guess this will do. As a sign of appreciation for your patience, I'll give you a few more hints about how to control your Origin Flames."

Xedros's voice was calm and full of gratitude whereas his mind was filled with malicious plans.

'I was about to ruin my relationship with Faluel because of a temper tantrum. I've already wasted a year, and until I regain my full mobility, someone like this lesser Dragon might be useful.

'I'll share with him a couple of things he's likely to work out on his own, given time. This way I should gain his trust. He's young, desperate, and there's only so much that Faluel can teach him. Once Verhen finishes his apprenticeship, he'll be on his own and I'll be able to do whatever I want with him.

'Best case scenario, I can experiment on the Wyrmling and use him as a material to reach my next evolutionary step. His hybrid nature should make his draconic essence highly compatible with mine.

'Worst case scenario, I only need to gain Lith's trust enough to discover where he hides his omni pocket and steal it from him once he outlives his usefulness. Yet for now, I have to wait.

'I can't risk attempting to evolve while I'm in a weakened state, not to mention that Faluel or the Council would kill me. This will take time and patience. Let's put him on a leash by teaching him something about Origin Flames and establishing a business partnership.

'After all, it will take a while for me to get out of here for good.' Xedros thought.

While Lith performed Body Sculpting, the Wyvern had exploited the Healer's meditative state to use Invigoration on him. It had allowed Xedros to discover Lith's hybrid nature and confirm the presence of a dimensional aura typical of an omni pocket surrounding him.

The Emperor Beast could only see it thanks to his mastery over dimensional magic and was in dire need of such a powerful artifact for centuries. While common dimensional items had a fixed internal capacity, an omni pocket's storage space was proportional to the power of its master.

With all the riches, the artifacts, and the equipment Xedros had amassed inside the Golden Crown mountain, it would take him so many dimensional items to store everything that he could build a house with them.

No matter how powerful the defenses of a place were, a good mage could get past them with enough time and materials. Xedros's experiments required very rare materials, but he couldn't leave his house for too long without incurring the risk of being robbed.

There were only two ways an ancient and rich being could freely travel Mogar without worrying about their material possessions.

One was having an omni pocket, like Lith or Xenagrosh. The other was to entrust their home to someone who would perform the maintenance in their stead and sound the alarm in case of intruders like Scarlett had done with Kalla.

Omni pockets were very rare and very powerful artifacts that even Royal Forgemasters or ancient bloodlines of Forgemasters had no idea how to craft.

To obtain an omni pocket, a mage had to find it by dumb luck, receive it as part of their family legacy, or bond with a cursed item. Xedros believed to have finally met the first criteria. The problem was that it already had an owner and the Wyvern had no idea where its magical focus was hidden.

Just like a phylactery, once imprinted, the focus of an omni pocket could be left anywhere and the mage would still be able to access the dimensional storage, no matter the distance separating them.

'Killing Lith now would mean leaving the focus ready to be imprinted by the first lucky bastard that finds it. I need to slowly gain his trust to not make him aware of my intentions.' Xedros thought while starting his explanation.

"Unlike magic, Origin Flames cannot be controlled once they are released. Only during the very moment you light their spark can you decide what to destroy, what to purify, and what to ignore."

"Ignore?" Lith echoed.

"Yes." The Wyvern nodded. "A true master of Origin Flames can use them safely, even on themselves. I told you, they are just like a hand. Our flames can be used to caress someone as well as to crush them.

"Destroying is the easy part. Just spit your flames and you're done. Purifying, instead, requires your flames to affect the entirety of your target at once, both inside and outside.

"Otherwise it's only the outside that takes the brunt of the heat and ends up destroyed before the inside can get purified. Let me give a practical example."