The transition to Master Artificer brought immediate, tangible changes. The Association processed Kale's new status, granting him a private laboratory on the fourth floor... a spacious room fortified with heavy runic arrays to suppress mana leakage and block external scrying.
Kale stood in his new domain, looking at the stone workbenches, distillation vats, and empty preservation containers. The air was cool and clean, devoid of stale chemical odours from the lower floors.
It was a silent sanctuary where he could conduct research without constant supervision.
In the corner, the Ignis Core thrummed softly within its liquid-filled vat. The slime chimaera pulsed with a steady rhythm, keeping the room's temperature regulated.
Kale placed his newly created Pyro-Kinetic Core into a secure chest, its metallic heart thrumming with a tiny fraction of the energy it had absorbed during the surge test... a beautiful piece of masterwork engineering.
