A soft blue glow began to emanate from Roc’s extended arm as his mana flowed into the steel orb. The transformation was gradual at first - just a faint shimmer across the runic inscriptions carved into its surface. But as more energy poured in, the countless tiny symbols began to light up in sequence, creating intricate patterns of illumination that spread across the sphere like veins of pure magic.

Cain watched intently, his enhanced vision tracking each activation as it occurred. Despite his inability to sense mana directly, he could still observe the physical manifestations of the magical process. The orb’s deep blue core grew brighter, pulsing in rhythm with Roc’s heartbeat.

"How much more?" Roc asked, his voice strained from the effort of maintaining such a steady mana flow.

"Keep going until all the runes are active," Cain replied, pointing at the sections of the orb that remained dark. "About half are lit up now."

The Direwolf Lord nodded, beads of sweat forming on his humanoid brow. Channeling this much raw energy in such a controlled manner was clearly taxing, even for a creature of his strength. His arm trembled slightly, but he maintained his focus.

Cain pulled the five grade 5 mana shards from his inventory, setting them carefully on the stone floor around the base of Sentry’s statue. The crystalline formations caught the light from the orb’s growing radiance, creating rainbow refractions across the shrine’s carved walls.

"Once all the runes activate, I’ll need you to maintain that flow while I position these shards," Cain explained. "The timing has to be precise."

More runic patterns blazed to life across the orb’s surface. The thing was now bright enough to illuminate the entire shrine, casting dancing shadows of the willow tree carving above them. Cain could see the intricate detail work in the stone for the first time - leaves and branches that seemed to shift and move in the ethereal light.

"There," Roc gasped as the final cluster of runes ignited. "All of them are active now."

The steel orb had become a miniature sun, floating above Cain’s palm with an intensity that made it difficult to look at directly. Every single inscription he’d painstakingly carved with his Magic Brush now glowed with brilliant blue-white radiance. The conversion runes were working exactly as intended, transforming Roc’s mana into the specific frequencies needed for spatial manipulation.

Cain moved quickly but carefully, placing the first mana shard at the statue’s base. The moment it touched the stone floor, the shard began to resonate with the orb’s energy, creating a visible line of connection between them.

"Keep it steady," he called to Roc as he positioned the second shard to the east.

Another connection formed, this one slightly brighter than the first. The orb’s rotation increased, spinning slowly above his palm as it drew power from multiple sources simultaneously.

The third connection created a triangular pattern that made the air above the statue shimmer with heat distortion. The fourth line completed a perfect square of energy links, all converging on the floating orb.

"Last one goes directly beneath the statue," Cain said, kneeling to slide the final mana shard under Sentry’s carved paws.

The effect was immediate and dramatic.

All five shards cracked in unison, their stored energy released in a coordinated burst that sent pillars of light shooting upward toward the shrine’s ceiling. The steel orb blazed like a star, its radiance temporarily blinding as raw spatial mana filled the confined space.

Cain felt reality begin to bend around them. The shrine walls seemed to stretch and compress simultaneously, as if the physical dimensions of the space were becoming negotiable. Distance lost meaning as the orb established its connection to the main tether in Valestorm.

For a moment that felt both eternal and instantaneous, Cain sensed the tether’s location across the vast expanse of the Black Ocean. The main Spatial Tether Stele responded to its newest anchor, acknowledging the link being cut between them. Miles of ocean became irrelevant as the two points in space aligned themselves conceptually.

Then the mana shards finished disintegrating, their ashen remains scattered across the shrine floor like glittering dust. The pillars of light faded, leaving only the orb’s steady glow as it settled into its new function.

But something had changed fundamentally. The orb no longer floated above Cain’s palm. Instead, it had moved to rest in the carved jaws of Sentry’s statue, fitting perfectly into the space where the stone moon had been represented.

"Well," Cain muttered, staring up at the transformed statue. "That’s convenient."

Roc lowered his arm, flexing his fingers to restore circulation. The strain of channeling so much mana for so long had left visible marks - his arm was trembling, and his breathing was labored.

"Is it finished?" he asked.

Cain nodded, studying the orb’s new position. The steel sphere pulsed gently with internal light, its runic inscriptions still active but no longer blazingly bright. It looked natural there, as if Sentry’s statue had always been meant to hold a glowing orb instead of a stone moon.

"The connection is stable," Cain confirmed. He could feel it now, not through mana sense which was still blocked, but through the simple vibrations in the environment. It was a stunning success.

"How do we test it?" Roc inquired, curiosity evident in his voice.

"With your mind. The process should come to you naturally."

Roc furrowed his brows as he stretched his arm forward, this time, at the mouth of Sentry’s statue.

A thin line of mana was drawn between the two.

The familiar rift tore open in the air before them, but this time it showed the interior of Cain’s room in Valestorm rather than creating a tunnel through space. Through the dimensional aperture, they could see the bedding and walls surrounded in thick blackness.

Roc’s eyes widened at the sight. "Incredible. You can truly travel instantly across such vast distances."

Cain gestured toward the glowing orb nestled in Sentry’s jaws. "Anyone who knows how to activate that anchor can open a gate to the main tether which is currently in Valestorm. I can create a few tweaks to redirect the location on the other side."

Roc went silent.

The implications were truly staggering. Instant deployment of forces across continental distances, resource sharing that ignored geographical barriers, as well as communication that couldn’t be intercepted or delayed.

Magic such as this one absolutely defied common sense!