By the time the sun set completely, they'd finished turning the workable chainmail links into almost-finished storage pendants.

There was a stack of them sitting in the back of the hangar bay now, like coins in a wyvern's vault. (He'd seen a few coin vaults while delving in dungeons in his last life, and the wyverns always stacked the coins on top of each other in perfect, neat piles.) There had to be at least four hundred of the rings, and many more discarded rings that just would be workable. They'd probably donate them to the Artificers' labs—and make up for all the equipment they'd stolen over the past few years.

"Thanks for the help, guys," Wulf said to the other students from the lounge. "I think we can take it from here."

"That's going to be one hell of a storage pendant," Muy said. "What are you going to put in there?"

Wulf contemplated telling the truth, but he held his tongue for a short while. It was probably better for everyone if they didn't know. "We're going to use it to hold dungeon loot. I'm going to see if Azanthius will let us have a few more runs."

"Sure," Muy said.

"I do not believe you," Phelot commented.

Wulf sighed. "What can I say? We need more storage space."

Once the others had left the hangar bay for the night, they began assembling the finished device. Wulf picked the best ring for the main device. Then, slowly, they began attaching the rest of the links to the bottom of the main link, like a massive keyring. They started by attaching two to each ring, then once Seith assured them that it would be stable, they attached a final layer of three rings—like a massive family tree.

By the time they were done, the entire device stretched halfway across Wraith's hangar bay.

"I designed the runes to activate with your mana," Seith told Wulf. "Of the four of us, I think you're the only one with enough pushing power and enough raw mana to fill it. That means it'll be tuned to you, and be slightly poisonous."

"Hey, I have a decent well of mana now, too!" Irmond exclaimed.

"Try it, see what happens."

The elf scampered over to the main ring and placed his hand against it, and he began pushing mana into it. It filled a quarter of the attached waterfall of rings with blue light before sputtering out and dimming.

"Yeah, alright, that device has hands," Irmond gasped.

"Told you so," Seith said, then gave him a playful nudge. "I couldn't do it either."

Wulf stepped over to the top ring. "You're sure it'll work?"

"Once you activate it once, it should store your mana for long enough," Seith said. "A few minutes, at least. It'll give me time to add a wisp of water-aspect mana, and that'll keep it active permanently."

Most normal storage constructs wouldn't need to stay active permanently, but this one was special. Each layer of rings created another warped layer of the Field, another extra level of pendant storage. In turn, making the inner levels of the pendant exponentially more stable and a little larger.

Large and stable enough to hold a codex as large as the Centralis Academy's.

Wulf took a deep breath, then knelt at the top of the device. He drank a concentration enhancing potion, then let his aura spread away from him, fuelling the 'magical object' beneath him.

The runes along the linked storage rings flared bright blue and activated sequentially. But when they were about halfway through, his ability ran out of aura. Before the activation faded, he pressed his hand down on the ring and pushed mana out into the chain of rings.

Vibrant green mana leaked out, mixing with the blue to create a turquoise glow. It wasn't nearly as much as fuelling an Oronith, but it was close, and it took a lot more effort to push it through the smaller, unprepared runes. He gritted his teeth and clenched his gut, and he imagined his core.

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Slowly, it compressed, the arcane matter becoming more dense. It was barely visible, but the use of his abilities helped compress the core. It obeyed. It was like packing a snowball in his gut, but with dry, fluffy snow that didn't want to stick together no matter how hard you pushed.

Then the Field chimed. A resonance came from outside, and a wave of force washed over him, rattling his chest. He turned his attention back to the rings.

His mana reached the very end, and the device was complete. It resonated with the Field. One by one, the rows of interlocked rings disappeared. Faint golden lines circled them, before pulling them into a layer of the world deeper than reality, and they flashed into nothingness, until only the main ring remained. Seith leaned over and filled the single ring with a drop of mana. It didn't activate the main function, but it circled a secondary spiral of runes, filling them with deep blue light.

Cautiously, Wulf took up the device and assessed it with the Field:

Inactive Arcane Construct: Fifty-Layer Spatial Storage Pendant (High-Ruby Quality)

A storage pendant that warps the cords themselves. Opens a 500-foot by 500-foot rift in reality and stores objects inside. If the user applies twice the regular mana, the construct creates a capture aura the size of its storage hall and absorbs all inanimate items not considered 'architecture' or 'structure' into the pendant.

Once inanimate objects have been placed inside and sealed, they cannot be removed without destroying the pendant.

Wulf's eyes widened. He showed it to the rest of them, and let them read the description themselves. While they did, he glanced back at his bracer. A new set of messages had appeared:

[By crafting an item of significance, you have increased your mana, but mana gain is no longer directly linked to your advancement progress. Advancement progress: 20.3%]

That was a massive leap, though, even from a single experience. Dr. Konstant's suggestions were right, and by completing tasks related to Alchemy, or crafting items with Alchemy, it helped him compress his core.

Though packing loose snow wasn't as easy as he wanted, it didn't try to stretch back the moment he diverted his attention elsewhere.

Next, his sheet of enchanted parchment read:

[Mark unlocked: Layered Construction]

[Layered Construction: You have helped craft a powerful device that contains many layers of spatial warping. Your resistance to chaos and order has increased. With every transmutation you complete, you create a miniscule amount of Arcane Material.]

[Mark unlocked: Arcane Will]

[Arcane Will: You have exerted an iron will and brute-force completed a construct. There must have been easier ways, but the hard way worked. Your arcane perception has improved slightly.]

Wulf rolled his eyes at the second Mark, but he couldn't be mad. He'd earned two Marks at once, and while they weren't Grand Marks, they were still useful. And beyond that, they'd made a Ruby-tier construct.

"Let's see it," Kalee said.

"Give it a try!" Irmond said.

Wulf held up the construct. It was about the size of a bracelet. He fuelled it with a small wisp of mana (small in comparison—it would've emptied a Copper's entire mana well) and drew a circle in the air. A rift opened in space, but instead of a single layer, he created a hallway of rifts, like someone had faced two mirrors toward each other.

Only this hallway wasn't infinite. There were about fifty layers, before finally, it arrived in a massive golden hall. The floor was made of interwoven golden strands, and the walls and ceiling were a creamy white void. A warm, humid breeze seeped out of the hole.

"It works…" Seith breathed. "That's the regular effect, right? Not the effect with double mana?"

"It's the regular effect," Wulf confirmed. "We can't wait any longer. We're doing it tonight."

"Tonight?" Irmond said. He dropped his voice to a whisper, even if most people had already left the hangar for the night. "We're going to steal the codex?"

"Yep," Wulf replied. He cracked his knuckles, then sealed the storage construct. "Dr. Tallari has everything we need, and we've come up with the best plan we can. There's no sense in waiting."

"What are you going to do with the codex?" Kalee asked.

"For the moment, we're going to keep it safe. But there's no reason you would ever not need a wealth of information that large."

~ ~ ~

A half hour later, they met Dr. Tallari in his workshop. He was tending to Mantri, changing the Messenger's bandages and changing the bedding.

"Are you ready, professor?" Wulf asked.

"Tonight? We're doing it tonight?" Dr. Tallari asked, snapping to attention and turning to face Wulf.

"I have the construct ready. You have everything else ready?"

"I've gathered plenty of crystal dust, and the rest of those partial codex crystals you created should help out. As long as you and your crew are ready to execute the plan, then yes! I am very much ready. These bastards won't even know what hit them."

"How's the timing?"

"Perfect, in fact. They just finished striking another book from the record, and I just finished making a backup of it. But it gives us the perfect alibi."

Wulf cocked his eyebrow. He knew the plan, and he'd told the others on the way over. Now they just had to execute it.

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