Chapter 162 Holding Formation

Chapter 161: 161 - Holding Formation

"All right. Let’s see what you actually brought me."

Adrien reached inward toward his Inventory and found the bond tied to the material from the Ancient Tree. Mana answered, and the Heartroot Crystal began to manifest above his palm. Orven’s jaw tightened before it had fully formed.

The crystal came to rest in Adrien’s hand, facets catching the lamplight, and the artificer leaned in without touching it. He had handled Umbral Root with a craftsman’s patience, but now he barely blinked.

"Keep it manifested for a moment. I want to examine the structure before you put it down."

Adrien held it steady while Orven woke a circular formation etched into the workbench. Thin threads of mana rose around the crystal and split into several rings that passed through it at different angles.

Amelia watched from the other side of the bench.

"From your reaction, I assume my grandfather was right about what it is."

"He was. This is genuine Heartroot Crystal from a true Ancient Tree, not crystallized residue or one of the lesser materials people sell under the same name. The internal structure is still intact, and that’s what counts."

Orven turned a formation plate a notch, and its runes shifted as the rings drew tighter. Adrien tracked every change with Absolute Mana Sense.

"What makes it suitable for Umbral Root specifically? Vael said it could preserve the staff’s neutrality, but he didn’t explain much beyond that."

"Age and exposure. An Ancient Tree survives for centuries while drawing mana from soil, air, weather, creatures, formations, and everything else passing through its territory. If its internal structure were rigid, conflicting sources would eventually damage it."

Orven lifted the crystal with two brass clamps guided by mana, and the formation turned it above the bench.

"Heartroot adapts to the flow around it. It doesn’t think about it, the structure simply bends. It can accept different mana patterns without permanently fixing itself to one Affinity. That is exactly what your focus needs if I’m going to strengthen it without turning it into a Frost staff or a Fire staff."

Adrien glanced at the bare patch of wood where Umbral Root had lain earlier.

"So you think it can replace the current core without changing how the staff behaves?"

"I think it can. That is not the same as promising it will. I still need to know whether the purity is high enough, whether there is enough usable material, and whether its response matches the channels already inside Umbral Root."

Orven spent several minutes on exactly that. He weighed its density, sent measured pulses through different sections, and timed how quickly it found its balance again.

Through Absolute Mana Sense, Adrien watched the mana inside the crystal rearrange itself. Each pulse entered with a slightly different pattern, yet the Heartroot swallowed every one of them without clinging to any.

At last Orven dimmed the outer rings and lowered the crystal back into the heart of the formation. The furrow between his brows had smoothed out.

"The purity is high enough, and there is more usable material here than I expected. If the integration holds the way these tests suggest, taking Umbral Root to S-Rank is realistic."

Adrien liked that. Orven hadn’t promised perfection simply because the material was rare.

The artificer planted both hands on the bench.

"Understand what the work involves. I am not attaching Heartroot to the staff and carving stronger runes around it. I have to open the current core, dismantle part of the internal formation network, and rebuild those channels around the new material without erasing the magical identity the focus has already developed."

Amelia looked at the crystal turning in its rings.

"So even with the right material, there’s still a real risk during the reconstruction."

"There is. Umbral Root has small irregularities in its mana flow. Some came from its construction, others from previous owners and repeated use. A mediocre artificer would call all of them defects and clean the structure until it looked perfect."

Orven turned to Adrien.

"I won’t. Some of those irregularities are part of why the staff responds the way it does now. If I remove everything simply because it isn’t symmetrical, I may give you a cleaner artifact and a worse casting focus."

Whatever doubt Adrien still carried about Vael’s choice was gone. Orven meant to protect the very reason he used Umbral Root at all.

"How long would you need for the first stage?"

"Several hours at minimum, longer if the old core resists the transfer. You will not be useful to me while I work, and I need Umbral Root left here for the duration."

Adrien hesitated. Umbral Root was his primary casting focus, and nearly every serious spell he cast ran cleaner through it. Leaving it behind was nothing like handing over a coat or a sword, because its bond was anchored straight to his soul.

Orven read the problem on his face.

"I am not asking you to sever ownership. I have a holding formation for bound artifacts. You manifest the staff inside it, and the formation stabilizes its physical state while I work."

"The upkeep would still come from me the entire time, correct? The formation only keeps the manifestation stable."

"Correct. It remains your item and the bond remains yours. I cannot dismiss it, claim it, or replace that connection. The formation simply gives me a stable physical artifact to work on while your mana continues maintaining it."

That was the answer Adrien needed. The steady drain on his Core would remain, but he could carry it.

He weighed it a moment longer. This staff had been in his hand through every serious fight, yet improving it was the reason Vael had sent him here.

Adrien manifested Umbral Root inside the holding formation. Lines of mana closed around the staff and held it above the workbench, and the bond still hummed faintly through his Inventory.

He set the Heartroot Crystal beside it, and Orven checked both before rousing another ring of formation plates around the bench.

"That will do. I have everything I need for the first stage, and from this point onward I would rather not divide my attention between the work and two people watching me."

Amelia headed for the door while Adrien gave Umbral Root one last look. Orven was already swapping his tools for crystal instruments, formation plates, and wax-sealed components.

"Go spend a few hours in the city. If this works, you’ll learn more from seeing what changed afterward than from standing here while I make sure I don’t ruin it."