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Ah.

Yes. A fear, indeed. The great pillar was of crystal. Of quartz, by Morgunov's estimation.

Interesting.

The Pit was afraid of the little Lion, was it? Or rather, of the dormant power that Morgunov was seeking to unlock. It had picked up on the danger here. Of course it had.

Such a warning was unnecessary, though. Morgunov would certainly be displeased if his favorite workshop ended up obliterated, but this was a risk that needed to be taken. The Dry God was his best lead on the whereabouts of the Primordials.

Plus, Morgunov just really wanted to talk to him. Thinking about all the crazy things the guy might be able to tell him was making him more excited by the moment.

He had to cull those feelings, though. Right now, the task at hand required the entirety of his focus.

Heh. Perhaps the forge knew that and was seeking to distract him. Wasn't gonna work, but what a cunning jerk, if so.

If anything, he was more certain than ever that he was on the right path. The power depicted in the vision could obviously not come from Asad Najir and Qorvass by themselves.

He was so close now.

The flow of ardor shifted. He could sense it. Yes. Smoother. More efficient. Good. Fewer sparks. Fewer gouts of fire. Fewer cracks of lightning. The guidance was working. Slow but steady.

The current goal was to create a perfect flow. Optimally efficient. No cracks or leaks.

That was usually the main sticking point with the Clown Pit, due to the way he'd designed it. The open air above the bowl was the cause. That was why forges typically had some type of central containment, so that situations like this--where the ardor ran wild and threatened the user directly--could be avoided.

But Morgunov had wanted to try something different with the Pit. Granted, it was still technically contained by the greater chamber that was the entire room, but that was more to protect it from the outside world than anything.

Truthfully, he hadn't even been sure it would work. So much open space ran counter to all of the core design principles that he'd learned from his mentors. Perhaps that was why he'd wanted so badly to pull it off. As proof of concept, at least to himself.

And indeed, the Pit had been a real problem child during its creation. With the ardor able to flow so freely, it could whip up such furious energy storms that it threatened even to destroy itself.