"........" Sharp was silent as Kiah said what she did.

"You know we know it's not your fault." he said.

"But take all the time you need." he told her.

"We're here for you if you ever need us." he went on.

"We're not just coworkers and colleagues here. We're family." he continued.

"And Illias misses you, too." he added, before getting back to the work he needed to do.

"....................Kiah." Hal said silently after she had left.

He then sighed once more, and started to seriously wonder if she needed professional help now. This was clearly weighing on her heavily, and he wondered if this would be something she could conquer alone.

Meanwhile, Illias has not looked away from the board, but acknowledged Syraene.

"Over on the table." he said, gesturing to the one in question.

"Third dish from the right." he added.

All the while, he was continuously trying to work things out, desperate to solve the dilemma.

Illias was silent for a moment, before looking over towards her.

"What?" he asked.

"Wait, what? What do you mean by that?" he asked her.

"We're in the middle of a crisis, and I don't know when I'll suddenly feel exhausted and collapse from lack of sleep." he said.

"And who knows what'll happen when I DO." he continued.

"This needs a solution. NOW."

Illias paused for a moment, and looked in the pouch.

And was summarily stunned at what he saw.

"...what...?" he muttered.

"It's... it's not... what?" he mumbled further.

"But... but how? When?" he asked her.

"What happened!?"

"...a... a pair...?" Illias muttered, looking at the sand again.

"...it's... it's solved." he said.

"The problem's really solved." he mumbled further, before sighing and starting to erase what was on the whiteboard.

"Good." Sharp responded to Syraene.

"At least that's THAT taken care of." he said further.

"You can tell Illias to stop his research, if you haven't already." he then added.

Illias was silent when she told him to stop erasing it, but he did stop.

He then waited until Syraene finished her call, and looked at her when she asked her question.

"I don't know." he replied.

"Depends." he said.

"Alter it to WHAT? What could this be of any use for now?" he asked her.

"................" Illias was silent for a moment, before looking at what was left on the whiteboard.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"Well..." he said, pondering it a little more.

"Actually... yes. That should be possible." he told her.

"I don't know if I can make it 100% resistant, but I'm pretty sure I can make it severely resistant to things like corruption and such." he went on.

"If that's acceptable, anyway." he then added.

Illias froze for a moment when he heard that.

"A... hero?" he asked. "Go down in history...?" he asked further.

He then looked at her again, but with a very different look in his eyes. She saw 2 things in them. The first one was a gleam of light that showed how excited he was at the thought of his work being so groundbreaking and influential, and the second one was immense relief that all the work he'd been doing had not been for nothing.

"I'll get started on making the changes to the process." he told her.

"Yes, you said I don't need to rush and scramble, but I AM still on a small timer." he went on.

"After all, a lot of the compounds and ingredients lose their potency over time, unless used sooner, rather than later." he finished.

Illias just chuckled in response.

"I could still use a hand." he said.

"The sooner this gets finished, the more potent it'll be." he told her.

"...and yeah. That's... that's the big thing." he went on.

"My biggest fear is that my work is worthless and unnecessary." he admitted.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone else, a godly entity sat in his realm, pondering what had happened.

"Hm." he muttered.

"Well... guess it's time to do what I need to do." he said to himself, in an almost ominous tone.