Once the spikes were glowing Chronos watched as several runes on the floor connected to the bore hole and began drawing spirit from the ground beneath them. Then the draw of power extended even further until Chronos could no longer sense it.
"Alright, put the pyramid above the hole now." Old Tobias called out.
Holding the pyramid above the hole a thread of light reached out from the top of each spike and connected to the corners of the pyramid where they held it in place. A light then went from the pyramid to the platform Old Tobias was standing on.
A transparent screen appeared in front of him as Old Tobias cheered, "Finally."
Seeing the screen Chronos couldn't help commenting.
"Taking inspiration from the system huh?"
"Of course. That system is a work of art."
Old Tobias eagerly stared at the screen for a few seconds then he frowned. Nothing was appearing on the screen.
"Hehehe."
His head snapped around to glare at Chronos, "What's going on?"
"We still need the black pearl or another material with a spatial resonance to be placed in the center. Without it the only one that can use this thing is me." Chronos explained through his laughter.
The expression of shock and horror on Old Tobias's face was priceless. Being given a new toy only to be told you couldn't use it was cruel and unusual punishment for him.
Stepping onto the platform Chronos took control of it.
"Here let me direct it just tell me what you want to see."
"Then show me the nature layer again."
Nodding Chronos directed the screen to display the nature layer and the pyramid spun to face that side towards the platform. A beam of light shot from the pyramid to the screen and the world appeared on it.
"Hm, we'll need to make sure the path between the platform and the pyramid is clear whenever it's in use." Old Tobias wrote in his notes on using the castle's magic.
Looking at the screen, he started bombarding Chronos with questions regarding every color and creature he saw on it.
Now that he had time, he wanted to ask questions about everything he could think of. From the way the colors blended and why, to why the land glowed, and why some of the creatures didn't look the same as in the physical world.
Unfortunately for him the answers weren't as in depth as he wanted but they did enlighten him about some of the mysteries of the world.
The way the colors blended together had to do with the potential that each creature had in regards to nature. If the creature was becoming gentler the colors would be softer while a more predatory path would have fiercer colors.
The colors of the land were mostly the same as the first time; it was just easier to see regular events like storms. Or in the wasteland the times when the ley lines changed direction as storms were never regular here.
As for creatures that didn't look the same in the physical world when compared to the nature layer, the best Chronos could say was that it was because they were approaching the peak of their rank and had a chance to evolve.
It didn't happen often but nearly every creature had a chance to evolve when advancing in rank. The only question was which path the creature wanted to take. But this was already a well-known fact in the world.
"Hm, you're not very helpful." Old Tobias accused.
"Don't say that. I'm new to layers as well so I'm learning at the same time you are. Shall we go to the next layer now?"
"Yes, show me the vitality layer next."
"Alright."
Chronos changed the screen to vitality and the pyramid spun to face that side to them before shooting out a beam of light again.
What appeared in their vision was very different from what they had expected. They thought it would look like the nature layer, the normal world outlined by colors, but instead the world was missing, and it looked like points of light and lines made up everything in this layer.
The brightness of the lines determined the strength of the person's life force and injury or illness was represented by a break or distortion in the line. While the points of light were gathering points for life force.
And woven through all of it was a rhythm that they could feel even through the screen.
"Explain what I'm looking at because I don't understand any of this." Old Tobias demanded.
"Well, the lines that are in the shape of humans are the knights and the points of light within their bodies are gathering spots for life force. All other creatures are displayed in a similar manner.
The brightness of the lines tells us how much life force is flowing through them at any given time and the uniformity of the lines lets us know if they are healthy or not. I think that rhythm we feel is the rhythm of life and it seems to affect everything within this layer."
Chronos had given a simple explanation but Old Tobias was already drawing various conclusions from it.
"Can we try healing the troops from here?"
"I think we can if we have enough spirit. Let me give it a try."
Touching the screen Chronos focused on a knight that was being taken to the top of the plateau on a stretcher. He had several broken lines on the edge of his body, but it was just the smaller lines, nothing large was broken there.
However, as he looked closer, he found lines deeper in his body that were broken and one was shattered. Luckily for the knight none of the lines that wove through the core of his body were broken, just slightly damaged.
"This knight has several broken lines deeper in his body, but the outer lines are barely damaged. I'm guessing he was smashed into the ground by an abomination or took the brunt of a suicidal attack from a waste buffalo.
The damage isn't endangering his life but let's see what happens when I touch this line and connect these two ends." Chronos muttered as he started reconnecting the broken lines.
When the lines were connected, they flashed briefly before going dark again. Both of them stared at the screen waiting for something else to happen but nothing did.
Old Tobias stomped over to the path leading outside and shouted down the hallway.
"A knight on a stretcher is about to reach the top of the plateau. Bring him here immediately."
"Yes, sir." A hurried set of footsteps ran up the disposal path.
They watched the knight on the screen as he was brought down the path accompanied by someone with an immense amount of life force.
As they walked a small amount of life force went from the accompanying man to the injured knight and the lines that Chronos had reconnected started to glow as the ends fused together once more.
"Oh, we might have connected the lines but without the life force flowing through they won't heal." Chronos muttered.
"Does that mean we need to collect life force before we can use this layer?" Old Tobias asked.
"No, there is plenty of remnant life force floating in the air but once it runs out, we might be in trouble. I advise the commander of the castle to only occasionally use this layer so the life force in the air has time to recover." Chronos said as he touched a few motes of light guiding them into the knight's body.
"If we use a spell to gather them from the air towards our knights it would work better. Using just the screen will be a bit difficult."
"The screen requires a strong will to affect the other layer too. Let's go check on that knight, we need to record how effective this method is and what the healer's thoughts on it are." Chronos said as he walked towards the exit.
In the disposal path they found a knight sitting up and drinking from a bowl while an irate healer kneeled next to him.
"I don't appreciate my patients suddenly being redirected underground Tobias!" She glared at him.
"Calm down. We're testing an emergency healing spell that might be used in the castle's construction. Now tell me what you think about his condition?"
That got her attention. If they could cast a battlefield wide emergency healing spell it could turn the tide of combat.
"He was in much better condition than I thought. His bones were broken by a buffalo, but when I was tending to him, they were already starting to reconnect. The only exception is his left arm; it was pulverized by the buffalo and will need time to heal.
The damage to his organs was also recovering at a much faster rate than normal. Also, halfway through healing he had a sudden increase in life force that assisted in his recovery."
"Hm, so it's confirmed, connecting the lines helps set up recovery but moving the floating life force speeds it up. Alright head back to the medical tents and record what's about to happen. We're going to try using that spell again but on a much larger number of people this time."