Each of the triangles on the outer wall had a small barracks in it but that was just a cover for an elite group of mages who would help extend the strategic spells cast by the main keep.
"I knew this was going to be a big project, but I didn't expect it to become a city construction project." Magnus said after looking at the finalized plans.
"True but anything smaller than this won't be able to form a permanent link to a sub-layer without any fluctuations or problems." Chronos stated.
"About that, are you certain you can create a link? We don't want to find out that we can't link the castle to a sub-layer after we've built it." Old Tobias questioned him.
"If you had asked me that a week ago, I would've said no. But after studying the [Basics of Runic Language] I've come up with multiple ways to connect it, I just need some time to find the right runic arrangement." Chronos assured them.
"Good, then while you start on that we'll go build the power core room. Join us there once you're ready."
"Alright." Chronos turned to the design table and began writing down possible combinations as Magnus and old Tobias left.
As Chronos wrote down one arrangement after another his knowledge of layers deepened even more. Not always in a good way.
The first arrangement ripped a small hole between layers which allowed power from the legacy sub-layer connected to the soul main layer to bleed into reality.
Chronos swiftly closed the hole, but he could have sworn that he heard howling like someone was on a hunt before he did. Unfortunately, the howling was too faint for him to make any sense of it.
The next attempts weren't nearly as destructive as the first, until the explosion that is. After several fizzled out one exploded and flooded the room with divine energy but most of the time Chronos was able to realize when something was going wrong and stopped writing in time.
Luckily the divine energy was neutral in nature making it easy for Chronos's heart to absorb. It wouldn't be much longer until he was able to advance to the second level of bloodline thanks to this.
Focusing on his most recent attempt to create a proper arrangement he added the last line then watched as it glowed faintly then changed color to match his spatial shimmer.
"Finished, with this arrangement I can start work on a pearl once we have one."
Chronos was about to search for a black pearl when he remembered that old Tobias had insisted on checking his work before he finalized it.
Changing direction, he started walking towards the plateau he could see in the distance. The engineers and mages really were fast at their work, the plateau was already stable, and they were moving along its edge carving magic circles into its wall.
Climbing the path carved into the side Chronos reached the top. The scene that greeted him was the hustle and bustle of a busy construction site.
He tried to enter but was stopped by someone with a foreman's hat on.
"I'll have to ask you to leave, you can't enter the construction site unless you have a reason." He said.
"Ah, I'm working with Old Tobias. Can you direct me towards him?"
"Oh, you're the one they are waiting for. Here put on this safety gear and head towards the center, ask someone for directions if you get lost."
Passing a yellow hard cap to Chronos the foreman waved him on.
"Thank you."
Walking through the site Chronos had to be careful and even stop several times to let floating materials and workmen pass.
Stopping for a moment he watched in amazement as workmen rapidly stacked blocks and weaved metal reinforcements into the walls. Within a matter of minutes, a space that had once been empty now had a wall and the men were already working on the hall next to it.
While walking through the castle he had to ask for directions three times as the new hallways, rooms, and pillars going up kept blocking him from reaching the center.
Finally, he found a path leading underground with men using magic to transport large amounts of stone and dirt from underground to a dump site along the edge of the plateau.
"Couldn't the foreman have told me to walk the dump path instead? It would have been so much faster." Chronos complained.
Walking into the depths Chronos heard men casting spells to carve out the underground and explosions resonated from further below him as someone broke a larger stone into smaller pieces.
He had thought that he could find old Tobias and Magnus easily by listening for them, but the constant hum of work caused all of the sounds to mix together, and the tunnels made it impossible to tell which direction they were coming from.
"Excuse me, I need to meet up with old Tobias. Can you give me directions?" Chronos stopped one of the engineers that didn't look too busy and asked them.
The man looked at him suspiciously until he realized that it was old Tobias's newest apprentice.
"Oh, it's you. Go down the main path until you see the guards protecting a side path, old Tobias is down there. Although I don't know if they'll let you in, the central rooms are off-limits to everyone but the elite enchanters." He said.
"Thanks." Waving Chronos continued down the main path until he found the guards.
"Hello, I have a plan to discuss with old Tobias. Please inform him that I'm here."
One of the guards nodded and went into the side path. Chronos waited for a few minutes before he heard a rapid stomping coming his direction, old Tobias came running out of the side path.
"You're already finished? Let me see." He demanded.
Handing over the blueprint Chronos nervously waited for his judgement.
Old Tobias carefully examined the runes while muttering to himself.
"Hm... I see, by combining a vein rune and a draw rune it will pull power from another layer but how do we direct it?" Turning to the next page he examined the drawing of a pearl inside of a pyramid. "So, the pyramid has an anchor rune and the rune for each layer anchoring each layer to a side."
He reviewed it for a few more minutes before turning to Chronos.
"This is a simple but effective arrangement. You have my approval to proceed with its creation, also we sent a message back to the Black Fangs. They'll be bringing the pearl you need, for now I'll have you work on building the triangle pyramid. Follow me." Old Tobias turned back towards the tunnel.
Chronos followed him down the tunnel. They came out in a room filled with enchanters carving various enchantments into the walls and passing dirt up from the hole in the middle of the room.
From where he was standing, he could identify enchantments for holding and amplifying spirit as well as elemental enhancement runes to empower any elemental spell cast within the castle. Along the wall were several crystals for holding and diffusing excess spirit power of extra energy.
"So, that's how you do it. Whenever you draw power from the ley line the crystals temporarily hold it and diffuse it into a usable state. That's brilliant but if you draw slightly too much power the crystals will shatter and kill everyone in this room." Chronos muttered.
He took note of the protection, concealing, and diffusion runic circles being set into the ceiling. The enchanters used them to keep the room hidden and to keep any explosion from spreading through the fortress.
Hearing what he muttered, old Tobias said, "We also place cage type magic items around the crystals, that way if they do explode it is contained within the cage. Here, use this metal for the pyramid and be careful not to mess it up too much. Acquiring more is difficult all the way out here."
He handed Chronos a long thin metal bar that looked suspiciously like an alloy between veyrite and another metal he couldn't identify yet.
It was very easy to bend into shape, the weakness of veyrite was on clear display but it seemed to hold power more easily than regular veyrite.
Casting [Sever] on his finger Chronos began to write the runes into its surface. Turning the pyramid several times, he carefully inscribed every rune one by one.
When he was finished, he channeled some power into it and looked through the side for nature.
What he saw surprised him. The plants on the surface were surrounded in a dim green light while the underground had faint blue rivers flowing through it. The nearby animals glowed in various colors, and it took him a moment to realize that the colors differentiated predators and prey.
Turning the pyramid towards the ground he saw a river that didn't match the other rivers. It was a mixture of red, blue, and yellow with the colors spreading out into the area around it until they became so faint that he could no longer see them.