Vastor was still overweight, but no one would mistake him for an egge to life anymore. His belly was reduced to the size typical of a beer enthusiast but his limbs and eyes brimmed with vigor.


    "What can I do for you?" He asked.


    "Leave us, Lomar, and inform the rest of the staff that we don''t want to be disturbed." Jirni ordered the butler. "Whoever gets in here will leave this house in the morning. Feet first."


    Lomar had often seen thedy of the house annoyed or angry, but she had never threatened a member of the staff. Jirni was a woman of thought and action. She spoke little and the few words she said held great weight.


    He gave her a deep bow and closed the door, activating from the outside the lockdown arrays that could be only undone by the masters of the house.


    "I have no use for you, Zogar." Jirni''s cold eyes were in stark contrast with the zing mana they emitted. "You are a failure. You couldn''t stop Balkor from ughtering your precious students.


    "You were oblivious to Nalear''s betrayal and stood helpless like an idiot while she killed Linjos and orchestrated Yurial''s death." Jirni stepped closer to him, her voice dripping venom and rage.


    Yet none of those words could hurt Vastor.


    He had long since epted his past mistakes and had worked hard to never again repeat them. He just felt curious because he knew Jirni better and waited for the delivery of her speech.


    "You couldn''t help Phloria with her trial nor Lith with his treason charges. Despite all of your powers, you left Phloria alone like I did, and we let her die with our ipetence." Only when their noses were centimeters apart did Jirni stop.


    "I need the Master. The man who made the whole Garlen continent piss its pants. The man who haunts Thrud''s dreams and whose power threatens even the Guardians. The Master has risen to a level of skill that puts him on par with Manohar and Balkor.


    "He seeded in saving Zinya and protecting his children from unstoppable monsters. He''s the one I called here in search of help."


    "Then let me ask you again. What can the Master do for you?" Vastor asked.


    "I need you to Awaken me and my husband without anyone knowing." She replied.


    "It''s feasible, but why me?" The Master tormented his waxed handlebar mustache while Orion was too shocked to utter a word. "Lith is Awakened. Your daughters are Awakened. Heck, the Gernoff household is filled with Awakened. You have no need for my help."


    "I sure do." Jirni gritted her teeth. "Lith has no idea how to Awaken Orion and even if he did, we would be under his service for 100 years. Our daughters would never Awaken us. They fear both what we might do in our grief and the authority they''d hold over us.


    "As for the Gernoff, I already asked them and they turned me down! They said that my forefather Oghrom left precise instructions not to Awaken people like him to which they abide to this day."


    "Shouldn''t that make you think?" Orion said.


    "Please, that fucker killed himself with no care for his descendants. Oghrom loved Valeron more than his own family. It''s his fault if no one was left to keep the Kingdom in check.


    "They both abandoned us in Arthan''s hands and today''s situation is the result of their foolishness. If I could meet Oghrom today, I would kill him first."


    "The Master, instead, is not affiliated with the Council and has no scruples. You can Awaken us and leave us free to do whatever we want as rogue Awakened."


    "I see." The Master nodded. "Mind if I check you up?"


    Jirni shook her head and Vastor activated his breathing technique, Beyonder''s Eye. He took a deep scan of Jirni before giving her the diagnosis.


    "Orange core, perfect physique, and a little number of impurities already have been extracted by Lith''s treatments. I can Awaken you right now and there would be no adverse effect. As for your husband…"


    Orion looked at Vastor approaching as if the Professor was going to kill him but the pleading look in Jirni''s eyes kept him from raising an objection.


    "Orion is a mess. His body is great for his age but his core is so overloaded that the slightest mana flow would kill him on the spot. Natural violets are a miracle of nature."


    "It''s a no, then." Jirni twisted her fingers in frustration.


    "More like it''s going to be hard." The Master sighed. "His body needs to be tempered through fusion magic and true magic while his impurities need to be anchored so that they won''t move a millimeter until Orion is ready to be Awakened.


    "If Ibine my resources with Balkor''s and Manohar''s research, I''m confident I can pull it off. If I use Forbidden Magic, I''m certain of it."


    "Forbidden Magic?" Orion echoed, his face turning pale. "Do you realize that even talking about it is high treason? I should kill you where you stand."


    "You are free to try." Vastor unleashed a bright violet-ck aura that made the lights and the arrays in the room flicker.


    "Enough!" Jirni stepped between them to stop that madness. "Orion, I called the Master here for help, not to fight. Vastor, I can''t speak for my husband, but I want you to Awaken me now. Please."


    "As you wish." The Master conjured a great amount of world energy and then used his breathing technique.


    Jirni followed his instructions by the letter, demonstrating a level of discipline and understanding rare for someone with only basic knowledge about magic. Vastor doubted that any grieving person could seed like Jirni on her first try.


    Her body emitted a pop as her mana core generated a timid flow strong enough to drive out solely the most superficial impurities.


    "I''ve reached the bright orange. What now?" Jirni asked, feeling both strong and weak at the same time.


    Strong because fusion magic was intoxicating and so was the power that she felt flowing through her veins. Weak because Jirni was aware of being at the same level as an Awakened baby.


    "Now I''m going to teach you both Invigoration and umtion. Invigoration you can use freely since it has no side effects. As for umtion, beware. Every breakthrough will be more dangerous and painful than the previous.


    "If you don''t temper your body and train your core, you''ll die at the green. If you keep using umtion even when it starts to hurt, you''ll die at any level. Always listen to your body and not rush things."


    "I understand." Jirni nodded. "Can you teach me true magic?"


    "Either I or one of my children wille here whenever we can." Vastor nodded. "What about Orion?"


    "He and I need to talk. I''ll call you again as soon as we decide what to do. Thanks, Zogar. The Master may be my most powerful ally but you are a true friend."


    "Don''t mention it." His gaze became cold and furious like hers had been until a while ago. "Thrud took your daughter and I can''t even imagine how you feel. I don''t know what I''d do if anything happened to Zin and the kids."