“The exposition” Miranda thought as she laid in her bed “It’s odd to think that Derrick actually wants to have a gathering just two months after the ball, stranger still is the fact that this gathering isn’t limited to just nobles, or just dragons for that matter, but anyone, dragon or otherwise, that Derrick does business with.” She rolled over onto her side “And because of that both Charles and Serena have all but demanded that I attend posing as the daughter of one of Derrick’s business partners. I don’t want to be rude and say no but is that really a good idea?”

Miranda looked at the crystal above her bed, she had gotten better at telling the subtle differences in the crystals shades so she could tell that it was around eight in the morning “Should probably get some breakfast, it’s still about two months away but I should make a decision sooner rather than later” she took her time as she walked down the hallway “Derrick has enough on his mind with trying to make something to show off at the expo, it’s not as bad as when he was preparing for the ball but he still seems a little tense”

She entered the dining hall and begun to head for the kitchen “Ms. Lummi” Burtrum chimed

“Oh, Hello Burtrum, felling better?”

“Very much so, a few days of rest and I’m good as new, I do apologize for not being able to help with much while I was recuperating”

“It’s no problem” Miranda said as she continued toward the kitchen

“Because I’m back to my full capabilities I can fix you breakfast if you’d like”

“Don’t worry about it, I have to do something to stay busy around here, has Derrick already eaten?”

“Yes thankfully, the Master wanted to get an early start this morning so after eating he immediately began working on the new mana storage system.”

“He’s working on mana storage? With how much he’s been working on it I was expecting a sword that shoots lightning or something like that.”

“Increasing the storage capacity of the crystals is no small feat I assure you. Once the Master succeeds communication arrays, like the one centralized here, can be installed and used in any lair without having to draw power from a well; and the master has already perfected lightning based weaponry.”

“I suppose that would be pretty useful, how long do you”

She was cut off by a low rumble fallowed by the entire cave shaking and the lights dimming for a second

“Burtrum” she asked, a little shaken form the sudden activity “What was that?”

There was no reply

“Burtrum?” Miranda asked again, before she could ask a third time she was cut off

“Ms’ Lummi” Burtrum said, sounding panicked, or at least as panicked by his standards “I need your help in the heart room, immediately.”

“Sure” she said as she began running out of the kitchen and towards the lift room “what was that noise, and why did the cave shake?”

“The master has had an accident” Burtrum answered as Miranda entered the lift

“What do you mean accident” Miranda asked, starting to worry as the lift dropped faster than normal

“By attempting to condense the mana into a smaller solid form than normal the Master caused the crystal he was forming to….explode.”

“Explode! Is he alright!?”

“.......No several pieces of the crystal hit the Master during the explosion and pierced his body, his condition isn’t as serious as yours was when you arrived here but we have to get those shards out of him and dress the wounds quickly”

“What about the healing aura, wont that help?”

“With the lacerations from impacting the wall, and the burns from the explosion, maybe, but due to the unstable nature of the freshly formed crystals the healing aura won’t be able to close the gashes they formed fast enough.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked in a panic as the lift began to slow

“I’ve already moved the master on to an operating table” the lift stopped and the first set of doors opened “I’ll be able to remove the shards using my prime golem but I’ll need you to use the smaller crystals on the table next to the master to heal the wounds directly”

Miranda nodded her head and rushed out as soon as the second set of doors opened, she gasped when she saw Derrick Lying on a table right in front of the door, he was motionless with several glowing shards of crystal sticking out of his arms and legs, and one sticking out of his stomach.

As she approached the table she noticed a small table with a dozen or so small crystal on it. “Burtrum where’s that golem?!”

“Just......a minute” Burtrum grunted

Miranda quickly looked behind her to where the voice came from to see the wall bulging out, the mass gradually took the shape as it seemed to pull itself out of the wall, unlike other golem though this one was smooth and looked like a stone statue of Derrick, It’s eyes opened as it began walking briskly towards the table revealing glowing crystal where it’s eyes should have been.

“Bu…Burtrum?”

“Correct” the stone dragon said as it approached her “I have put most of my consciousness into this body so I can help as effectively as possible”

“Oh” she responded quickly snapping out of her fascination with what had just happened “So what now?”

“Now I’ll remove the crystals one by one” Burtrum responded “after I remove each one you’ll take one of those crystals, activate a spell and place it on the wound.”

“I don’t know how to cast spells!” Can’t you do it?”

“I wish I could but only truly alive beings can use the crystals.”

“Damnit! O.K, how do I cast spells”

“There are two methods for activating a spell from the crystals, if the rune has already been inscribed then pronouncing its name in its presence or tracing over it in the proper order will work. Iif there's no per-inscribed spell you'll need to place a finger on the tip of the crystal and draw the pattern in the air” Burtrum scratched a few runes into the table “both the shape and the order in which you draw the lines is important, after that you must touch the crystal again to complete the spell.”

“O.K. I think, I know I can do that” she grabbed the first crystal and began drawing out the symbols the same way Burtrum had before touching the crystal again, causing the runes to glow brighter one at a time “ready.”

Burtrum nodded and grabbed one of the crystals sticking out of his leg “Once I pull this out there will be some blood but when you put the crystal on the wound it should close quickly” he quickly pulled it out making Derrick grunt in pain for a second, Miranda put the crystal to the open wound before it could start gushing blood and it began to shrink as the wound under it knitted itself back together, by the time the wound was healed only a small sliver of the crystal remained.

“One down” she said as she looked at Burtrum “a dozen to go.”

…………………………………………………………………………

She wasn't sure how much time had passed before all the bloody crystal shards were laying on the ground next to the table and all that remained of the wounds on Derrick were the holes in his clothing

“Finally” Miranda said sitting on the ground “Will he be alright now?”

“The Master is stable for now” Burtrum said continuing to look over Derrick’s now still body “the mixture of different healing, and unstable mana in his body will slow the internal healing down slightly, but after about a week of bed rest the master should be recovered enough to return to work.”

“Thank the goddess so are we going to leave him here or should we carry him to his room”

“It would be best to move him to a more comfortable location, but you need not worry yourself, I’ll re-merge with the cave and create some golems to carry the Master to his room.”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t mind helping.”

“I’m sure, unless you’d like to help me carry him to his room, remove his damaged clothes and help him into bead.”

“Um, no” Miranda said blushing slightly “on second thought I think you can handle it.”

………………………………………………………………………………………

After accompanying the golems to the door of Derrick's room, which was a room directly off the elevator and just above the ballroom, Miranda returned to the dining hall and finished the meal she had left.

“Burtrum?” she asked after taking the last bite of her apple

“Yes Ms. Lummi”

“Are you done, um, attending, to Derrick?”

“Yes, all went well, the Master is now resting comfortably in his bed.”

“That’s a relief, can you tell me anything specific about what Derrick was doing before the explosion?”

“As I said before the Master was trying to increase the storage capacity of the crystals, allowing them to be used for more powerful spells without taking up excess space, to do this the Master set up a field to contain a fixed amount of mana and then forced in more mana then is normally able to fit in that area, however by compressing it too much the Master put too much stress on the containment field and it exploded outward.”

“I think I kind of understand” Miranda said, thinking heavily on what she was just told “are there any books that explain the basics of how the crystals work in the library?”

“Several.” Burtrum replied “would you like me to bring them to your room?”

“No thank you, I’ll just read them down there.”

“Very well, I will call you if there is any change in the Masters condition.”

Miranda began walking towards the lift, after the ball she was given direct access and it didn’t take her very long to visit the library. It was a large room, not as big as the ballroom but still rather large with rows and rows of book cases on both walls as well as a long table with simple wooden chairs surrounding it.

“So Burtrum given that I already know a little about the crystal where should I start?”

“The books for someone of your knowledge should be the second row from the top in section F, subsection B

Miranda looked up the daunting bookcase “Why are the beginner’s books all the way up there?

“It’s a long standing belief of the Masters family that the first steps of any journey should be the hardest.”

“Great” Miranda said flatly as she walked towards the rolling latter attached to the bookcase “better get started.”

……………………………………………………………………..

Miranda had been in the library reading for the last few days and was about to retire when Burtrum called for her “Ms. Lummi?”

“Yes” she answered looking up from the book she was reading

“The Master has awoken and he” Burtrum paused “Ms. Lummi, which book are you reading?”

She turned the book she was reading around to look at the cover “Advanced Crystalline structuring, and using bone as a medium for mana, why?”

“That’s very advanced material, how did you get to that book already?”

“Well this stuff isn't easy and I'm only understanding about half of it” she put the book down “but my friend Tiffany's grandmother would tell us stories about how life force works when we were children, I thought they were just fairy tales but a lot of it directly translates to whats written here, plus Derricks notes helped a lot with understanding the basics and some of the harder concepts to grasp.”

“That’s….Very impressive, was your friends grandmother a sorcerer?”

“No, but according to her she used to date several, and thank you, now what did Derrick want?”

“Oh yes, the Master would like to speak with you in his chambers.”

“In his chambers?”

“Yes, the Master would come down to speak with you but I’ve insisted that he stay in bed until he is healed.”

“You said he would be in bed for about a week right?” Miranda asked as she walked towards the door

“That’s correct”

“Derricks not gonna be too happy about that”

“Well you're not wrong, the Master nearly reopened his wounds several times from the yelling he did, luckily I was able to calm him down and he’s agreed that this is for the best.”

“I’m glad he understood” the platform began to slow

The platform stopped in front of the master bedroom again, she hadn't gotten a good look inside last time, it was dimly lit by dozens of smaller crystals that hung from the ceiling and a little bigger than the elite chamber,the wall to her left had a book shelf and a desk while the wall to the right had a large dresser, closet and a door that probably led to another bathroom. In the middle of the room on the back wall was a large covered bed that looked close in size, if not a little bigger than the elite room’s bed; in the bed was Derrick who was sitting up against the head board with a book in his hand, his chest was covered in bandages like the ones she had when she arrived and his legs were covered in a thick blanket.

“So how are you doing?” Miranda asked as she slowly took a few steps into the room

Derrick looked up from the book he was reading “Oh Miranda. I’m still breathing so that’s a good sign.”

“What did you wanna talk about?” she asked, admiring the books on the case

“I just wanted to thank you for helping me, things would have been much worse if you weren’t here.”

“It’s no problem, I owed you for saving me anyways.”

“You don’t owe me anything Miranda, anyways, Burtrum’s told you that I’ll be in bed for about a week right?”

“Yeah, he also said you weren’t happy about it.”

“I’m not, this will take an entire week of my schedule, and that’s an entire week I won’t be figuring out the crystal’s capacity issue.”

“You’re trying to find a way to make the solidified mana crystallize in a more condensed form, right?”

Derrick paused “Uh, that’s right.” He finally managed to say “How did you know that?”

“The same way I know that I know that the crystals structure needs to have all that empty space to keep the nodes from interfering with each other and causing a feedback charge like the one that hit you.” She said as Derrick’s jaw gaped a little “I’ve been reading about them since your accident.”

“Oh, really? And you’ve gotten that far already?”

“The notes you added helped a lot letting me know what was important and what was just the author filling pages with nonsense” she said as she grabbed a chair from the desk and dragged it next to the bed “and I wanted to ask why you tried something so dangerous?”

Derrick sighed “I know every book written on the subject says it’s impossible and dangerous but it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve proven my ancestors wrong.”

“Not that, I mean why did you try and increase the capacity by just compressing it? There must have been a better way to do it.”

“I’ve tried all the better ways” Derrick said frankly “I tried implanting a naturally denser seed crystal for the mana to use as a template, I’ve tried fazing two pre-existing crystals together, hell, I’ve even tried creating a complete mold that the mana could just fill but nothing worked; I figured that if nothing complicated worked I would try something simple but you know how well that worked out.”

“Unfortunately you've lost me again, is there anyone you could ask to help?”

“Honestly... no, if anyone else knew how to solve this issue a denser crystal would already be on the market, and even if they did know the answer to this they wouldn't exactly be up to sharing so I’m all alone on this one.”

“I can take a look if you want me to.” She said trying to sound hopeful.

“Don’t trouble yourself, I appreciate the offer but like I said before you don’t owe me anything.”

“So you keep telling me” she replied as she got up and stretched “I think I’m gonna turn in for the night.”

“Good night then” he said as he picked his book back up

“Good night” she responded as she walked towards the doors, she looked over quickly as she passed by the open closet “Derrick?”

“Yes?”

“Do you” She walked over to the closet and looked in, moving “Do you only have one set of formal clothes?”

“Yes, I did have two but we altered one of them to fit you when you first got here in case you wanted to wear something other than your damaged clothes before we had more sets ready, why?.”

“Ummm, no reason, goodnight” she headed into the lift “It’s no wonder he got hurt” she thought as the lift began to move “I'm sure that even if someone else doesn't know the answer they'd still be able to help but he won't even try to ask them, like he needs to do it alone or some……alone....alone?....aloooooooone?” “Maybe” she said hesitantly “Burtrum?”

“Yes Ms. Lummi?”Came the familiar voice from the lifts central crystal

“Don’t bother stopping at the main hall, just take me straight to the library.”

“May I ask what for?”

“I have an idea, I'm going to need your help to see if I'm just talking nonsense but if he hasn't tried it already it might help ”

…………………………………………………………………………….

“So Miranda” Derrick said as the lift descended “what’s this surprise you’ve been telling me about for the last three days?”

“I think I’ve found a solution to your capacity problem” Miranda responded as the lift stopped in front of the heart room “Or at least the starts of one” the first set of doors opened and she walked over to where the goggles hung on the wall “you’re going to need these” she said throwing a pair at Derrick.

“No offense Miranda but I’ve been working on this for an entire year, I somehow doubt you’ve found the answer after one week.” the second set of doors opened

“I guess we’ll see wont we?” Miranda said walking over to a group of several crystals set on the ground “I’m going to dissolve six of these and use their residual mana to link the other five together and fill them.”

Derrick looked over the pentagon design on the ground, there was one crystal surrounded by runes in every corner, each with a trail of runes leading towards the center of the design where six more crystals were laying “Miranda, you know these are containment runes around the crystals right?” Derrick asked as he ran his hand along the outside of the design “I tried forcing one small crystals worth of mana into a large crystal this way and it exploded, you’re trying to force six large crystals into five small crystals, you understand that this could collapse this room right?”

“Relax Derrick” she said while putting on a pair of rune covered gloves “I tried this before on a smaller scale and it worked fine, Burtrum watched me and everything.”

“Its true master” Burtrum chimed in “Ms. Lummi has developed a most ingenious solution to the problem.”

Derrick stood up and looked over the runes again “And your sure this will work?”

“Of course” Miranda answered as she walked over to the work table, after picking up a small crystal and activating it, she touched the tip of the crystal to the edge of the pentagon, as she did a glow began to spread over the runes.

As the glow reached each corner of the pentagon the runes on the glove's fingers began to glow eventually lighting up the whole glove; Miranda put her hands together and then slowly began moving them apart, as she did the crystals in the middle of the pentagon shrank.

When the crystals were completely gone the faintest outline of a prism could be seen above the symbol, Miranda slowly began to bring her hands together again, as she did the five crystals began to glow and a small crystal that fallowed the runes leading towards the middle began growing out of their bases, when the crystals met in the middle they began growing upwards until a crystal the same size as the others was formed. Miranda had only pushed her hands a little more than a third of the way down when Derrick put his hand on her shoulder

“The crystals are at the maximum size that the restriction runes around them will allow, pushing the containment field any further risks a rupture”

“I thought I told you to relax, I have everything under control” she quickly pushed her hands together

Derrick had jumped in front of her and wrapped his arms and wings around her before either of them could blink

The room was silent

“Um Derrick, I think you can let go now.”

Derrick opened his eyes and looked around “Oh, right” he said as he pulled his arms and wings back “are we still, alive?”

“Very much so and the crystals are stable.”

Derrick turned around and saw the crystals, now glowing a soft golden color, completely intact; he quickly grabbed a small crystal from his jacket and drew a few runes next to it that stayed floating in the air after he finished drawing theml, as he brought the crystal in his hand towards the ones on the ground the runes began turning from whit to red one at a time till the all glowed bright crimson.

“How, how is this possible, the mana concentration here is literally off the charts.”

“Believe it or not I got the idea from you, or rather, from your tendency to do everything alone.”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite fallow”

“When my parents taught me how to climb they told me about how you should always keep at least three points of contact whenever possible, that way if anything slips you're still not holding on by a thread. I thought of applying this concept to the crystals, by combining multiple preexisting crystals and giving the newly formed crystal something to fall back on as it adjusted to the surplus mana I was able to make the entire structure hold more energy than the five crystals could individually.”

Derrick was stunned “That’s…..genius, I've been trying to make an individual crystal stronger but by using multiple crystals linked together the other crystals are able to compensate for the feedback from the central one being overloaded, I never would of thought of that”

“Even if you are an expert at something a new perspective on a problem can never hurt, and if I'm being completely honest Burtrum did most of the work, I just had the initial concept.”

“Still to be able to take something from theory to practical in such a short period of time is very impressive, I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’d say this makes us about even.”

“Miranda, I said you don’t need to feel like you owe me anything.”

“Well tough, but if you really must make it up to me you can start by promising that if I attend this expo of yours that I’ll be safe.”

Derrick paused for a second “Does that mean you’ll be attending?”

“Of course I am, I can’t let you hog all the credit for this now can I?”