A portal opened beside the raised inspection platform inside one of Origin's artifact factories, and Adrian stepped out. Rows of inscription stations filled the hall below him, where disciples guided thin streams of mana ink across prepared ring bodies. Beyond their worktables, finished artifacts passed through verification formations before disappearing into sealed storage chambers.
Selena stood beside a broad projection of the factory with Lysandra, both wearing white-grey sect robes. She turned as the portal closed and looked at Adrian with a small smile. "You actually came. I thought you might find something else to keep you busy."
"I said I would join you," Adrian replied, approaching the table. Lysandra greeted him as he reached them, then moved the projection slightly so he could see the inscription lines marked across it.
"The work is much the same as when you last looked," Selena said. "Most of what we are doing now is making sure the lines can keep running properly as we expand the factories in multiple industrial worlds."
She enlarged one side of the projection, revealing several linked factory halls and the formations connecting them. "We were discussing the next expansion. There are a few places where we would like you to examine the supporting formations before we begin building."
Adrian looked over the highlighted connections before turning toward both women. "I can look at those, but there is something I wanted to show you first." He raised a hand, and golden divine essence gathered above his palm before dividing into two streams.
The currents entered Selena and Lysandra, spreading through them as the recovery spell took effect. Selena's hand stopped above the projection. Beside her, Lysandra's eyes widened, and she lowered her gaze as though following the change within her own consciousness.
Selena withdrew her hand from the table and looked directly at him. "I can feel my willforce returning much faster than it does with our rings. How much did you improve it?"
"I expected you to improve the spell, Supreme Emperor," Lysandra said. "But did not expect you to finish so soon."
"I have mastered the willforce recovery divine concept we have and created the Ultimate-level spell for it," Adrian replied. "It restores willforce at five times the natural rate. I tested it at different levels of exhaustion, and the result remained the same." As he spoke, two knowledge spheres formed above his hand, each holding the complete structure of the improved spell.
He sent one toward each woman. "These contain the structure you will need for the inscriptions. Once you have worked through it and tested a few rings, train the inscribers and begin using it for the next production runs. A stronger recovery effect should bring us more customers, and we can charge more for it."
Lysandra held the sphere before her, studying the faint golden lines moving within it. After a moment, she shook her head. "I do not think we should release this version to the public, Supreme Emperor."
Adrian glanced at her and asked, "Because of the stock we have already made?"
"That is part of it, but the ring itself is the first problem." Lysandra reached toward a tray beside the table and picked up one of the completed artifacts. "The Void Alloy and Graviton Steel composite can last about five hundred thousand years when used with Low-level divine spells. That does not mean it will last as long with every spell we put inside it."
She turned the ring between her fingers, exposing the narrow lines around its crystal socket. "The type of spell matters, and so does its level. As the strain on the material increases, it wears down faster. The base also affects how much of the spell's power the artifact can produce. We already lose some of the recovery effect when we place the current spell inside these rings."
"With the Ultimate structure, both problems could become worse," she continued. "It might still give us a much stronger effect, but we cannot assume it will restore willforce at five times the natural rate, as your spell does. We also cannot use the same lifespan estimate. We need to make one and test it before we know what we are offering."
Adrian took the ring as she offered it. He passed his perception through the familiar inscription, following its connections into the composite beneath. "We could look for a better base. If these materials are limiting the spell, there should be others that can carry it more effectively."
"We should," Lysandra agreed. "Mira, Selena, and I can examine what is available. If Andromeda does not have anything suitable, we can search the markets of other galaxies. The price may be much higher, but a small number of better artifacts would still be worth making."
Adrian looked up at her. Better materials would raise the cost, but the improved effect should still attract buyers who could afford them. "If the stronger rings work well, why limit how many we make?"
"Because I would begin with our own people," she replied. "Even if we find a material that preserves the entire effect and lasts for ages, I would still keep the Ultimate version out of ordinary sales. We have barely begun building a market for the version we already possess."
Below the platform, Lysandra indicated the steady flow of artifacts. "The current artifact already offers something most cultivators cannot obtain. We should prepare the Low-level version for our public launch and continue building the reserves needed to support it."
Selena nodded toward the production display. "We can keep these lines running while we test the stronger designs. Changing them all now would slow the work before we even knew whether the new ring was suitable."
"Yes. And the Low, Mid, and High versions can all reach the market when there is a reason to release them," Lysandra said. "We should watch demand, competing products, and our own position before making that decision. If the Low-level version continues to serve us well, there is no need to replace it merely because we can."
She set the knowledge sphere beside the projection. "We might introduce the Mid-level version after a hundred years, or after a thousand. If another sect develops something that challenges us, we may need it sooner. Once that version has established itself, we can consider when to introduce the High-level one."
"And the Ultimate version remains with Origin," Adrian said. He placed the ring back on its tray as he considered the plan. "Would we keep it entirely for our disciples?"
"For our people and the allies we choose," Lysandra answered. "There will be times when we need more than another customer. We may need access to resources, help in a distant region, or a sect willing to stand beside us when doing so carries a cost. Our strength will matter, but it will not give every possible ally a reason to agree to our requests."
Her gaze moved toward the golden sphere. "An artifact they cannot buy anywhere could become part of that reason. But if we have already sold the same thing across the public market, we cannot offer them special access to it."
Adrian understood where she was leading. His agreement with Kaalatva had secured a way to settle his debt through discounted artifact sales, but it had given him no right to call upon the sect's support. Roo had been clear about that distinction.
"You can still offer a discount when you want to secure a commercial agreement, as you did with Kaalatva," Lysandra continued. "When we need an ally's support, we can offer access to the strongest rings as part of the agreement. We would decide what support to ask for in exchange."
She paused and studied Adrian more carefully as another thought returned to her. Lysandra still remembered the meeting that took place shortly after the war ended, when Adrian had explained that he did not possess the complete foundational knowledge of the Arcane Concepts used to create the willforce recovery divine concept. Without that complete knowledge, he could not properly teach another cultivator how to form the required essence seeds and eventually build the divine essence seed supporting the concept.
Adrian had nevertheless possessed the concept himself.
Lysandra had wondered about the contradiction at the time but had chosen not to question him. Now that she knew about the Source, the number of strange things surrounding his cultivation had only increased.
"You said you mastered the Ultimate-level spell. Does the divine concept itself remain at the Low tier?" She asked.
"Yep," Adrian replied. "As I said before, I don't have full knowledge of the arcane concepts needed for it. So for now, it's a Low tier divine concept."
Lysandra nodded slowly. "So this is the best spell you can create from the concept as it is now. If you learn enough to improve the concept later, there may be more room to raise the recovery effect."
"There may be," Adrian said. "I cannot tell you how much, or when I will find the knowledge I need."
"We do not need to promise anything about that now," she replied. "I only want us to leave room for it in our plans. We can build a business around what we already know works, while continuing to reserve our strongest version for our own people and the allies we choose."
Selena said, "We will also need to check whether our low-level willforce divine essence crystals are suitable for the stronger inscriptions. We have prepared the current ones for the Low-level structure. This spell may use them up far too quickly."
Adrian said, "I can work on the conversion formations. We should be able to refine the essence more carefully for the stronger structures."
"That would give us another reason to keep the best version private," Lysandra said. "Even an artifact that lasts for hundreds of thousands of years still needs fuel. If we supply a suitable ring to an ally, they will continue needing crystals to use it."
She took an unused crystal from the tray and held it beside the ring. "A lower-quality crystal may still work, but they could spend much more to get the same use from it. Suppose a better crystal powers ten activations while one of the current crystals powers only two or three. The difference would matter to anyone using the artifact regularly."
"We would need to test the actual numbers," she added, placing the crystal down. "But if the better fuel offers a clear advantage, access to its supply becomes valuable as well. Selling someone a ring once is useful. Supplying what they need to keep using it gives us a reason to remain in contact for far longer."
Adrian looked from the crystal to the sphere. The conversion formation could reproduce the essence required by the spell without anyone else needing to understand the divine concept behind it. They could teach inscribers to make the artifacts, but the crystals powering those inscriptions would still come from Origin's conversion facilities.
"Even our public products will bring buyers back for fuel," he said. "You want to use the stronger versions to build closer ties with our allies."
"Yes," Lysandra replied. "We should give those allies enough value that keeping a good relationship with us serves them as well. If several powerful sects benefit from our continued supply, they will have more reason to care when something threatens it. It will not guarantee their loyalty, but they will have a reason to help protect our supply."
Adrian remained quiet as he considered her proposal. By selling their strongest artifact to everyone, they would lose the chance to offer it in exchange for support that mattered more than another sale. Lysandra had governed an empire before joining him in the wider universe, and her experience had already helped them avoid costly mistakes. He saw no reason to insist upon his first idea when she had given him a better way to use what he had created.
"We will follow your plan," he said. "Keep the Ultimate version for our own use and the alliances we choose. You can decide when the other versions are ready for public sale."
Lysandra collected the knowledge sphere with a small smile. "We will begin with the material research and a few test artifacts. Mira can help us compare the bases, and Selena and I will prepare the inscription training."
Lysandra continued, "Help us prepare three more formations for the other versions. We can test the inscriptions and materials ourselves, but we need you to work out how their essence should be produced."
Selena closed the earlier expansion display. "Leave those plans with us for now. Having the right crystals ready when we begin the artifact trials will help us far more."
Adrian nodded. "Send me the existing formation records. I will use them as the starting point and prepare the other spell structures alongside the new conversion designs."
Lysandra sent the records to his Origin Net node while Selena marked a route to the facility. With the work divided between them, Adrian left the platform and followed the passage toward the Origin's conversion facilities. Behind him, both women returned to the production display, already discussing the first material samples they would ask Mira to examine.