The illusion faded after that, and Emory finally collapsed on the ground sobbing. Lining up the date on the recording, it meant Roselin was already pregnant with Emory when this was recorded. In a different universe, this home could have been Emory's childhood home. After a few minutes, Emory wiped away the tears and stood up while Shanna patted her on the back. Taking a deep breath, Emory turned to the library and began glancing over the book covers.
"Galahad, I'm looking for all your master's work on a seal spell called the Transformation spell," Emory cleared her throat, "Can we start there?"
Galahad nodded, "Of course, it was one of my master's most significant works. You'll find all of his journals and experimental data along the second shelf from the bottom. Would you like a synopsis of how it works?"
"Go ahead, Galahad," Emory said as she and Shanna moved to the bookshelf, "Please start with the requirements."
"First and foremost, this spell only works on humans and human-based Hexbloods. Though it may work for other beings, I have no guidance to give you to tell you how effective it will be. Second, while this spell is designed for humans and Hexbloods who have fully formed magik cores or vessels, it can be used at any stage of core or vessel refinement. Finally, the spell itself can only be cast by a being with a fully formed, independent magik core; a Hexblood with a fully formed core will not have sufficient mana to cast this spell. Warning, if attempted by a caster who does not meet the requirements, they will immediately start suffering the beginning of stage five magik poisoning," Galahad explained.
"What happens if the person the spell is cast on doesn't have a fully formed vessel?" Shanna questioned, "Actually, what is a fully formed vessel?"
Galahad went on, "A fully formed vessel loses less than one percent of their total mana pool per hour. Based on my analysis, you have a fully formed vessel. If a person doesn't have a fully formed vessel, the spell will grant an equivalently formed core as the vessel."
"You said that the spell would also work on Hexbloods," Emory mentioned as she started flipping through a journal, "What's the benefit of using the spell on one since they already have a magik core?"
"Hexbloods don't gain gifts when they achieve a fully formed core, nor do they gain a magik body. Further data is needed for a definitive conclusion, but it is suspected that an independent magik core is larger than a borrowed one," Galahad answered.
"How does one develop a partially formed core into a fully formed one?" Shanna asked, "Through the same method as one develops their vessel?"
Galahad moved next to the bookshelf and pointed, "I could the describe the process, but you may find the books here to be better resources than my explanation." Emory set down the journal she was looking at and grabbed one of the books he pointed out. It was titled, "Core Formation: Volume One".
"Galahad, do you know anything about the race called the Laxtros?" Emory inquired without looking up from the book she had picked up.
"Laxtros. The lead race of the alliance known as the Apleem," Galahad flatly responded, "This species was identified as a major threat to humanity by my master because of their average mana pool, their innate magik sphere, and their technological advancements. All known details as well as further hypotheses and recommendations are on the third shelf from the bottom against the far wall."
Emory pressed, "What about specific Laxtros? Do you know any particular Laxtros?"
"I have information about one Laxtros named Petrine," Galahad replied, "She is the head of the entire Apleem alliance. Furthermore, she has a powerful gift and the largest mana pool of any recorded Laxtros."
"What gift does she have?" Emory stopped reading and looked directly at Galahad.
"Though not confirmed, my master believed she had a gift called Triad," Galahad grimaced, "Triad allows the being to harness a third sphere of magik. Under careful observation, it was recorded that she used what appeared to be the Void sphere, the Chaos sphere, and the Soul sphere. It would also explain her immense strength since she does not show signs that align with other gifts like Limitless or Vitality."
Shanna gasped as she dropped the journal she was reading, "That's an incredible gift! That means, without her equipment in her enhanced form, her effective sphere level is probably twenty."
"That also explains why she grew in power so much between fighting my aunt and parents," Emory snapped her fingers, "When she faced Ninian, she wasn't level five in all three spheres, but she had a hundred years to master them before she came across my parents."
"What about the Void sphere? Galahad, do you have any information on that?" Shanna checked.
"The first book on the top shelf is the Void sphere spellbook," Galahad said as he gestured to a large, gilded grimoire, "Translating it from its original language was my master's very first project. Or would you like to know about its specific use by the Laxtros?"
Since it was out of reach, Emory extended her magik and gently removed the tome from the shelf. She blew off the dust from the cover and cracked it open slowly. Instead of normal pages, these were made of vellum and incredibly fragile. Yet it was all there, how to cast each spell and how the sphere interacted with other spheres. This would be a perfect resource for Tethys since, up to this point, she had to figure out how it worked the old-fashioned way. She turned to Galahad and thanked him, "This is perfect. Thank you, Galahad."
"I am happy to help," Galahad bowed slightly, "Is there anything else I can help with at the moment?"
"No, thank you. We're going to sit and look through some of these books for now," Emory admitted as she grabbed some more books about the Transformation spell and sat down on a rug in front of the bookshelf. Luckily, her father was a scientist at heart, so she was quite comfortable reading the texts as he had laid them out. She flipped through the first book while time ticked away. Shanna sat on the bed and started reading about the Laxtros since it was much more comfortable than the floor. The ladies read in silence as the time ticked away.
As she continued reading, Emory would dog-ear pages she wanted to come back to or use as a reference later on. Her father's research proved to be quite thorough, linking ancient magik seals to modern humans, but it lacked experimental data. He was hesitant to use it on either the Council Witches or the Collective's troops because it seemed like he didn't trust either group not to abuse the power they would gain. In fact, it seemed like the spell had only been used once: on Emory's mother. At least that meant it would work on Emory's friends for certain.
Still, it appeared like he had done extensive testing on individual cells in a lab back on Mars. Part of the research was even used to get rid of the plague that affected humanity's crops. Based on dates recorded in the journal, her father spent time going back and forth from this little hut to the base on Mars. Emory still wondered, though, how, when, and why he had given the finished spell to Myrrh given that she wasn't mentioned in any of the journals so far. After she read through the journals, she moved onto the texts on core formation.
Most of the process was similar to vessel development which was the training Emory had taught her friends who in turn taught the armies. However, once the core was seventy-five percent complete, it switched to the purification process she worked on with Athos. By combining these two strategies, her father predicted that the average person would spend between three to five years through the development process.
Without noticing it, they spent the entire day going through the research materials. Galahad cleared his throat, "Shall I prepare beds for you ladies? It's getting late."
"Time has sped by, hasn't it?" Emory clicked her tongue and shut the book she was reading, "No, Galahad, we'll be leaving soon. Is it alright if we take some of these volumes?"
"Please, take whatever you need. My master enjoyed sharing his work with others. There are storage bags over here if you need one," Galahad nodded.
They quickly picked up a plethora of texts and shoved them into one of the tote bags hanging on the side of the bookcase. One bag wasn't big enough, so they filled a second one and even a third. After they filled the bags, they said goodbye to Galahad and walked back to the teleport pad. With a snap of her fingers, the pair disappeared in a flash of blinding lights. When the lights dimmed, they were back in front of Shanna's estate. Shanna started to walk away, but Emory grabbed her hand.
"What's wrong, Lady Supreme?" Shanna asked, "You're welcome to join me."
Emory cleared her throat, "I think I want to try casting the Transformation spell on you. Galahad said you would be okay, and it would be good to have another one of us on Earth to watch things around here. How would you feel about that?"