Free Web NovelChapter 578: Chapter 578 - Gifts
The next day, Lucien prepared Eirene’s gift.
He had already given gifts to Marie, Kaia, Sylra, and Marina after their breakthroughs.
Lucien had made them himself.
Four elemental crystals.
Lucien named them:
Origin Elemental Hearts.
Each crystal corresponded to one of the four elements and carried a small flake from the Tree of Creation. The flake acted as a living conduit, allowing energy, Law pressure, and perception to circulate without becoming stagnant.
Lucien had also woven a trace of the Origin Core’s authority into each crystal.
The result had surprised even him.
The four women’s cheats had grown stronger by a clear margin.
Marie’s Origin Earth Heart allowed her to sink her senses through earth over an absurd distance. As long as the ground remained connected, she could feel tremors, tunnels, buried formations, hidden movement, mineral flows, and even areas where the earth had been artificially silenced.
Kaia’s Origin Fire Heart let her perceive flame, heat, combustion, body warmth, fever, forge activity, hidden fire-based arrays, and even emotional surges when they became intense enough to disturb blood and breath.
Sylra’s Origin Wind Heart gave her a continent-wide sense of movement carried by air. Messages, pressure changes, hidden flight, poison mist, disturbed silence, breath, storm formation, and suspicious voids where air should have moved but did not.
Marina’s Origin Water Heart let her perceive moisture, rivers, rain, underground veins, blood flow, medicine brewing, poison dilution, tears, sweat, and the quiet places where life hid behind sealed walls.
But perception was only the first function.
The Origin Elemental Hearts had three more uses.
First, they could act as territorial anchors.
If the four women placed their authority through the crystals, they could stabilize disasters related to their elements across Lootwell branches.
Second, they could act as emergency response conduits.
If a branch encountered a disaster, the crystal corresponding to the element involved could transmit an immediate warning to its owner.
Third, they could act as Law magnifiers.
When the four women fought inside their matching environments, the crystals let them draw cleaner resonance from the natural world.
The four loved them.
...
Now, it’s Eirene’s turn.
In front of him floated a branch from the Tree of Creation.
He had not cut it crudely. The Tree had allowed a small branch to fall after Lucien explained his intent.
Lucien held it gently.
Then he closed his eyes and sank into his conceptual space.
The Tree of Creation rustled.
Among its countless leaves were many Law leaves, each carrying an imprint of something Lucien understood.
Lucien found the leaves he needed.
Stillness.
Equivalence.
Lucien reached out.
He plucked both.
The Tree trembled slightly, then new buds immediately formed where the leaves had been removed.
Lucien smiled faintly.
"Good."
The two Law leaves appeared before him.
Then the work began, and creation gathered around Lucien’s hands.
•••
Lucien looked at the completed staff.
He called it:
Moonroot Staff.
It would strengthen Eirene’s dual-Law casting.
It would let her anchor Stillness into an area without freezing life.
It would let her use Equivalence to balance battlefield conditions without paying cost through her own soul and body.
And, when fully activated, it could create a temporary field.
A Stillbloom Field.
Inside that field, allies would recover faster. If an enemy relied on overwhelming pressure, or corruption that made others pay what the enemy should have paid, the field would resist it.
Enemies would lose momentum.
Allies would regain balance.
Life would continue without forgetting pain.
That was Eirene’s path.
Lucien held the staff for a long moment.
Then his gaze moved to the broken balance-scale necklace resting nearby.
Eirene had given it to him when he asked.
She had looked genuinely glad.
Lucien studied it again.
The authority inside was formidable.
Equivalent Exchange.
A deep authority that could calculate price, transfer burdens, compensate loss, and mediate impossible contradictions.
No wonder it had almost helped Eirene succeed on her own.
Also, no wonder it had broken. An artifact, no matter how extraordinary, had tried to carry the weight of two Laws, one soul, two lives, and universal recognition.
It had done well to last as long as it did.
Lucien touched the cracked scale lightly.
"I need more time for you."
He could repair the surface now.
That would be easy.
But restoring the authority properly without weakening or corrupting it would take experimentation.
For now, forcing it would be disrespectful.
So Lucien placed the necklace back into its preservation case and took the Moonroot Staff.
•••
He found Eirene in the administrative wing.
Lucien stood at the doorway for a moment.
Then, he stepped inside and lifted the Moonroot Staff.
Eirene’s gaze moved to it. Then stopped.
Lucien smiled.
"A gift."
Eirene slowly stood.
"For me?"
"Yes."
She approached and reached out.
The moment her fingers touched the staff, the bud at its head opened.
Moonlight and green radiance spread through the room.
Eirene’s Stillbloom Moonbody almost awakened by instinct, though she kept her Floran form.
Her eyes softened. freewebnσvel.cøm
"This is..."
"The Moonroot Staff," Lucien said. "It should help your two Laws circulate together more smoothly."
Then Lucien explained its other uses.
Eirene looked down at the staff again.
For several breaths, her expression was unreadable.
Then she smiled softly.
"Thank you."
Lucien waved one hand.
"No need to thank me. You all gave me gifts during the celebration."
"That is not the same."
"It is close enough."
Eirene held the staff with both hands and bowed her head slightly.
"I will treasure it."
Lucien’s expression softened.
"I know."
Then he remembered the necklace.
"As for your balance-scale necklace, I need more time."
Eirene looked up.
"It is more complicated than I expected," Lucien said. "The authority inside it is strong. If I repair it carelessly, I might restore the shape but damage the meaning."
Eirene’s gaze softened even more.
"There is no hurry."
Lucien nodded.
"I will fix it properly."
"I know you will."
They stood there for a while.
Then, as always, peace naturally became work.
Their conversation drifted toward the territories.
...
Lucien told Eirene about what he had learned from Arctyx.
The moment he mentioned the engineered offspring, Eirene’s smile faded.
By the time he finished explaining, her expression had become completely still.
"False Incarnates," she said softly.
Lucien leaned against the side of the table.
"They contain traces of Primordial Incarnation genes and authority. They act like normal people. Arctyx says ordinary tests may fail."
Eirene’s fingers rested on the Moonroot Staff.
"That means they could be inside factions, cities, churches, academies, trade groups, or even refugee populations."
"Yes."
Eirene closed her eyes for a moment.
Then opened them.
"What is our next move?"
Lucien smiled faintly.
"The Origin Mirror Framework."
Eirene looked at him.
Lucien lifted one hand, and a projection formed above the table.
A mirror. Then a gate. Then an array. Then a network.
"The basic idea is to place Origin Mirrors at every entrance of Lootwell branches. They will not expose ordinary secrets."
Lucien pointed at the projection.
"They will record a visitor’s identity signature when they enter. Body rhythm. Soul rhythm. Law rhythm. Current identity. Continuity stability."
Eirene studied the projection.
"The purpose is comparison."
"Yes. The mirror checks whether someone’s origin, current identity, and lawful rhythm contradict each other. If a normal person enters, nothing happens. If someone carries a false origin, engineered authority, possession, Primordial residue, or foreign continuity, the mirror marks the distortion for private review."
Eirene nodded slowly.
"That is useful."
"But there is a downside."
"They need to enter Lootwell first."
Lucien nodded.
"Yes. I cannot spread this across the entire continent immediately. If we do that, the False Incarnates may notice and hide deeper. Worse, ordinary powers may think Lootwell is trying to build a continent-wide soul surveillance system."
Lucien continued.
"For the framework to work properly, I need cooperation from the Obsidian Collegium. Arctyx’s third eye can identify some of them. I want to integrate that principle into the Origin Mirror Framework."
•••
Soon, Lucien told her about the other facility he had begun considering.
The Path Compatibility Pavilion.
Eirene listened carefully as Lucien formed another projection.
"This facility is meant for people who have not integrated their Laws yet," Lucien said. "Or those who are still deciding their profession, cultivation direction, combat role, or skill route."
Eirene’s eyes sharpened.
"It shows compatibility?"
"Yes. Job, talent, current skills, Law affinity, memory habits, emotional stability, and possible future path."
"That is dangerous if people mistake projection for destiny."
Lucien pointed at the projection.
"That is why it will not say, ’This is your only path.’ It will show possible paths and their projected outcomes. Best compatibility. High-risk compatibility. Low-efficiency compatibility. Hidden potential routes. And what may happen if they choose a Law different from their strongest affinity."
Eirene looked thoughtful.
"So a person may see that their strongest path is water healing, but they may still choose sword law. The Pavilion will tell them what cost that choice carries."
"Yes. It reduces wasted potential without removing choice."
"That will be extremely popular."
"And controversial."
"Very."
Lucien smiled.
"The world needs to grow stronger fast. Too many people waste decades walking paths that were never suitable for them. If this can save them time, then it is worth building."
Eirene wrote notes immediately.
"The Pavilion should include counseling."
Lucien blinked.
"Counseling?"
"Yes. If a proud young master discovers his best compatibility is not heroic sword domination but administrative logistics, someone needs to stop him from having a breakdown in the hall."
Lucien stared at her.
Then laughed.
"That is very specific."
"It will happen."
"It absolutely will."
Eirene continued writing.
"We also need confidentiality rules. Public ranking would ruin people’s lives."
Lucien nodded.
"No scoreboards then."
Eirene chuckled.
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