Ignoring the Relic Custodians Commander for the moment Chronos turned to speak with Archivist Quillfeather.
"Well, [Void Ice] is a living void spell making it fairly safe to use. Shattering the ice will cause it to absorb energy and heat from the surroundings to create more ice but you can shatter the speck as well. If you do that then I'd have to cast the spell all over again."
"You said it was a living void spell? What does that mean?"
Chronos sat down at the desk chair knowing that this would take a while to explain but they were interrupted by the Relic Commander again.
"Before you explain anything else you must be held accountable for casting that spell. Now follow me to an experimental room."
"Yes, yes that's a very good idea. We should go to an experiment room so we can get a more accurate measurement." Archivist Quillfeather agreed, ignoring the Relic Commander's statement of punishing Chronos.
Chronos nodded, grumbling as he was forced to stand up just after sitting down. Together with Micheal, Archivist Quillfeather, and the Relic Commander they entered the lift which slowly descended.
A part of the way down they stopped on the floor the other Relic Custodians were on so that the Relic Commander could tell them what was going on.
A dozen of them then boarded the lift with them while the rest left the tower after being assured that it was safe. They descended to the lowest basement floor in the tower. It was normally reserved for dangerous rituals but today they would use it to test a dangerous spell.
Stepping off of the lift Chronos found that they had entered a room with a high-arched ceiling completely made out of stillstone.
"You have a surprising amount of stillstone here. Isn't it supposed to be super rare?"
"Indeed," Archivist Quillfeather chimed in. "It wasn't easy to acquire either. Its ability to neutralize nearly all forms of power makes it a highly sought after ore. Luckily, we live on top of a mine. As long as we dig in the right direction, we can find some stillstone and over the past few decades we've managed to create this experiment room."
That was impressive. Chronos hadn't been aware that the spirit mine even had stillstone in it.
He did wonder why they hadn't turned it into hushsteel, the refined form of stillstone, but given how rare stillstone was and how much you needed for a whole room like this one it made sense not to refine it.
"Alright, now I want you to tell me about this [Void Ice] spell of yours. If it's really dangerous enough to set off every alarm, we need to know about it." The Relic commander said.
Chronos narrowed his eyes at the Relic Commander. What he was saying was very simple, but it implied that everyone who had anything to do with the Relic Custodians would know about his new magic.
That was something Chronos wanted to avoid.
They might have some idea about it since it had set off the alarms but that didn't mean Chronos was willing to tell them everything.
"What assurance do I have that what we discuss won't reach the nobles? They are extremely untrustworthy right now."
"My men and I are sworn to follow the Archivists in defense of this land. We won't tell others about what we learn today."
"That didn't stop several Relic Custodians from accosting me and my companions outside of the noble wall a few days ago."
The Relic Commander's face twitched.
"The Relic Custodians are a long-standing organization with a trustworthy history."
"That just means more time for the nobility to infiltrate your ranks and control you from the inside."
Now the Commander was glaring at him and Chronos glared right back.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, this standoff was annoying Archivist Quillfeather who just wanted to experiment with [Void Ice]. A moment later magic surged in the room as a chain wrapped around everyone present then slowly faded out of sight.
"There now no one can tell outsiders about what we discuss today," he said with a proud look.
The Relic Commander spun around to glare at him.
"Archivist Quillfeather! Please don't cast spells on the Relic Custodians without permission!"
"Hmph, you're taking too long and I want to see that magic again! Chronos, please create another ice ball for me, I didn't see it properly the first time."
Chronos smugly smiled at the Relic Commander before casting the spell again.
[Void Ice]
A black speck appeared above his hand then ice slowly formed around it.
"It didn't take this long the first time you created it. Are you slowing it down?"
"Yes, I thought you might want to see the full process clearly. And to answer your earlier question about living void magic you need to understand that void actually has two states.
The first state is when it is merely present in the area making it much safer and easier to handle. This state is called Living Void because while it does influence living creatures it is not actively trying to destroy them.
Then there is the second state which is when it is dense and actively trying to destroy everything in its surroundings. This second state is called True Void. And before you ask, no I cannot call upon true void nor will I in such a restricted environment."
"You said call upon, not create? What do you mean by that?"
"I don't think there is a way to create void like we do with elemental magic. If there is then it's well beyond my powers. Because it is impossible to create void, I summon it from beyond our world's reach. It's kind of like how you might pull power from another layer but I'm reaching much further than that."
"Hm, that must require a massive amount of mana."
"It might if I didn't have a bloodline suitable for void magic. As it stands, casting [Void Ice] only costs double what my spatial magic costs."
Off to one side the Relic Commander was furiously taking notes while observing the ice ball floating above Chronos' hand.
"Does it always float like that? And do you think an anti-summoning circle would be enough to stop a void mage from calling upon the void?" He interrupted them.
He was far more interested in the combat applications of void magic rather than the general knowledge that Archivist Quillfeather wanted.