The only things Solus spotted were ancient ruins of priceless historical value, animal burrows, monster dens, and the lairs of the Regional Council Lords. Even the Beacon failed to penetrate the cloaking runes of the secret labs, and Solus had to avert her gaze quickly when she found them.

The Beacon wasn’t even something Menadion had planned for. It was the result of Solus combining the multiple enchantments of the tower core. It was far from a subtle means of investigation, and its reach exceeded the Veil’s.

The surveillance arrays of the Awakened’s lair perceived the sudden influx of world energy and recognized it for the intrusion it was. A prolonged exposure to the Beacon would have triggered the alarms, and since the beam moved in a straight line, finding the tower would have been child’s play.

To make matters worse, the Watchtower was blind and deaf when Solus used the Beacon. Its sensory arrays were focused on the distance and wouldn’t perceive a horde of Divine Beasts charging at its gates.

Solus wasn’t as paranoid as Lith, but after spending so many years together, he lived in her head rent-free. Literally.

’What if someone stumbles in the tower while you play Solus the explorer?’ A little voice that sounded like Lith’s said in her head whenever she used the Beacon for more than ten seconds.

’What if your new hobby ruins our years of hard work? Do you really think that if you say "but I was really bored," our enemies will take pity on you and pretend to have never discovered the tower’s existence?’

Solus hated it when her inner-Lith treated her like a child, but she hated it more when the voice in her head made a reasonable observation.

After emitting ten pulses of world energy through the Beacon, Solus restored the Watchtower standard operations for five pulses before resuming her explorations. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The first pulse was a deep sweep, the second was to check for abnormalities in the world energy flows created by a powerful cloaking object, and the last three to shut up whatever crazy make-believe scheme Solus’ inner-Lith came up with.

"Is mining Adamant that exhausting, sweetie?" Elina asked after the end of the meal, away from prying ears. "You look terrible."

"No, Mom. It’s just mind-numbing boring." Solus groaned. "Having Lith talking my ears off with his nagging makes it much worse, though."

"Lith?" Elina echoed in surprise. "He’s been here all day. Did he develop a bloodline ability that allows him to be in two places at the same time?"

"I wish. I mean, no, Mom." Solus shook her head. "I just keep hearing him in my head every time I do something he would consider reckless or stupid."

"Did you do something reckless or stupid while you were out there alone, young lady?" Elina scowled at Solus, tapping her foot in annoyance. "Did you put yourself in danger just to relieve your boredom?"

"No, Mom. I swear!" Solus realized her mistake only when it was too late. "I’ve been a responsible adult."

"She’s lying!" Menadion appeared out of thin air. "I’ve just checked the tower’s recordings. She went poking and prodding her nose where it doesn’t belong!"

"Solus Elphyn Althena Menadion, I expected better from you." The two women said as one. "Not only did you endanger yourself with your reckless behavior, but you also had the gall to lie to my face! I’m really disappointed in you."

That was one of the rare situations when Menadion didn’t mind the competition. Having an ally to grill her daughter prevented Solus from using arguments that would work only on Menadion.

"It’s not what it looks like, Moms. I can explain." Solus was cornered and desperately looked for a way out.

"Really?" Elina snorted. "Then explain it to her."

She Warped Elysia in her arms and shoved the baby girl in Solus’ face.

"Masa?" Elysia asked in confusion.

"Yes, Masa." Menadion spoke every word like an accusation. "Tell her what you did. We are all listening."

"I’m sorry!" Solus burst into tears, incapable of lying to Elysia’s loving eyes. "I was wrong. I shouldn’t have taken so many risks. I’ll be careful in the future. Just make it stop."

The baby girl had yet to say or do anything, but her presence had on Solus’ guilty conscience the same effect as sunlight on an undead. It froze them in place and turned them into ashes.

"Remember those words." Elina handed the baby girl to Solus. "Because we will. It’s not just your life at stake. If something were to happen to you, our entire family would be destroyed by the loss."

***

"How did the mining operations go, and why are you covered in babies?" Lith asked as he examined Solus’ sorry figure.

Menadion had given Surin, Raldarak, and Valeron as well to her daughter, making the message so loud and clear that Solus would hear it for the rest of her life.

"The search for Adamant wasn’t great, but I’ve found several kilos of it already, which is way more than we had until this morning." Solus sighed, shrouding the babies with hair-blankets and lulling them into sleep.

"Before answering your second question, please promise me you won’t get mad. I’ve already gotten the scolding of a lifetime, and I can’t endure more." Lith nodded, and Solus shared everything with a mind link.

"The mini-me was right, Solus." Lith pondered. "You’ve taken a significant risk. Yet your experiment carried an impressive result. The Beacon is a powerful tool, and when you move to Jiera’s geysers, it might help us find Meln."

"Are you not going to stop me from using the Beacon?" Solus was flabbergasted.

"Absolutely not." He shook his head. "You did the right thing for the wrong reason. Be careful and always take full and deep sweeps of the area before activating the Beacon. Also, lower its output the moment it meets resistance.

"There is no problem in scanning an empty area, but if you bump into arrays, you might trigger them and expose your presence. When that happens, take a step back, wait a few minutes, and then move close enough to examine them without being discovered.

"You had a great idea, Solus. The underground is vast, and there is no telling how many paranoid Awakened have hidden their resources and been killed before they could use them back when dimensional amulets didn’t exist."

"I know." Solus nodded. "Also, I have been careful. I had no interest in the Regional Lord’s lairs. Attacking them would expose the tower and make an enemy out of the entire Garlen Council."

"Agreed." Lith replied. "Focus on weak or old magical formations without an owner. If there is still an imprint, we might step into a hornet’s nest. We already have too much on our plate and too many enemies.

"Let’s not add more."

***

Before resuming her travels across Mogar in search of Adamant, Menadion and Lith helped Solus develop a security protocol for the Beacon.

"Start by charging up a Tower Warp and use it to move away the moment something feels off. There is no better cloaking rune than not being there when someone comes looking for you." Menadion said.