10 The wandering mana geyser

***

Several hours after the fight.

The last of the rebel forces have finally died off, Jurik fought bravely until he died holding his body against the broken halberd he constructed. The empire forces swept the colony to ensure no survivors were present. Victory was absolute for the empire of Gladifer this day, even though small will prove to provide an unusual resource to utilize.

"Captain, there have been no further sightings of rebel activity, shall we return with the main body?" A Sergeant of the mage rifles stood at attention with their right hand cusped in a fist over the center of their chest.

"Yes, make sure civilians and ample guards are notified of the changes here, they will clean up this mess." The Captain paced off in the direction of the Main body of their troops. 'With any luck I'll finally be promoted to Lord Captain at the end of this. In the meantime I should probably take some of this just in case.' The Captain stopped on his path and took out a vial picking up the luminescent white blood off the ground and corking it, he examined it closely and could have sworn he saw glimmers of gold light in the blood.

***

Five days past the fight, in the sanctuary known as Laboratory XI

"What sort of creature did you bring this time huh? I swear if it's another false lead I will fire you for incompetence like half of my staff!" Doctor Vuri was seemingly a busy man as he was conducting experiments on gravitational magic in another room while having this conversation.

"I assure you Doctor, you couldn't take away my rank even if you tried. As for the specimen you can have a go at it yourself. It should be in a weakened state so it shouldn't be difficult to work with." The Lord Knight would scoff as he whipped his decorated black cape with cyan markings as he strutted off leaving the orb in the center of the room. The orb condensed in size to fit the room but in no way harmed the demon inside. Motionless it stood in the gravitational forces that manipulated time  inside, he could still clearly bask in awe in the laboratory he entered. Many marvels of contraptions and books assorted across his view, he would shed a tear if not for the tidal forces of gravitational magic stopping his physical self from doing such.

"Alright let's see what we got, the specimen has taken the form of a fox with two tails, the soldiers state its demonic yet it shows angelic features. There is no face, it seems to be a sort of metal liquid shielding its identity. I need to know more..." The Doctor proceeds to release the creature from the gravitational orb with a few guards reacting with their weapons out.

Impheares drops onto the ground and springs back up, he coughs a little thanks to the broken ribs he has. He used some light magic to temporarily fuse his bones where they should be and jumped around the lab looking around with pure excitement. "This lab is amazing, do you create new forms of magic here? How about those giant constructs, those a part of this lab's research? What can you tell me, human?" He jumped into the lap of Vuri who was puzzled by this encounter.

"So you can speak and reason with us, why did they have you in this cage then?" Vuri was interested in the intellectual mind of this little fox. He sat down in a chair and pet the fox creature behind the neck.

"Well at first I was transported to that mining colony and some guards attacked me so I killed them all thinking they were a threat. The locals thought I was saving them but I just wanted to learn more about this world. After a few days an army came so I decided to watch my creations fight them for battle data before they started to fire at my location. I decided to test my own combative capabilities but those two constructs were not easy to fight. And now I'm here talking with you."

"Circumstance, in that case what do you think of this empire?" Vuri wasn't looking for some off brand loyalty he wanted unaltered truth.

"Honestly I don't have enough data to care about its existence. Now if i could do my own forms of research to learn all about how magic could and can function with assistance. I'll have a better opinion about them. But for now they're just a pain in my ribs." Impares would look at the guards in particular, not caring for their audience but being respectful enough not to impale them with light.

"So you're interested in further understanding of magic, why don't you work for me. We can share our own data to reach a better understanding, unless you're too afraid to be called out as a weak researcher." Doctor Vuri deployed an obvious smirk knowing the easiest way to get someone to work with you is through rivalry.

"I will have you know within a few days of coming to this world i've managed to weaponize light and create constructs!" Impheares repeats these processes to showcase his knowledge.

"Fascinating, try using this as a catalyst for your constructs." Vuri gave Impheares a black crystal, its purpose was spent but if Vuri's theory is correct.

Impheares injects light magic into the crystal causing its power output to skyrocket its past usage in fact the doctor quickly snatched it and placed it in a smaller dimensional time prison.

"I think I have an idea how you can help me with my research." Doctor Vuri was ecstatic, he just found a walking mana geyser that can supercharge magical items. The applications he could be exploited for are near limitless so long as he's cooperating with the doctor. Soon after this talk they began to work on projects while occasionally refilling crystals with magical potential.