Prometheus
Alas, even though there were an asshole and a bitch waiting for an explosive reaction with overflowing jealousy, it just didn't came.
*Sighhhhhhh* "Well it was only a matter of time before Nox-sama brought in more girls that were helplessly enthralled by his charm . . . Welcome my sisters!"
Now, the one stupified with a mouth agape was Nox.
'This is totally different from the series! Where is the jealousy!? Where is the drama!? I'd resigned myself to it and made preparations to enjoy it so what's this!?' Were the thoughts running around his head but he soon changed his mind.
'Thinking about it though . . . This only means that my significance in Lili's heart is even bigger than I thought and not having drama will promote the healthy development of my harem so it's all good. Haruhime seems very happy to have a new friend too.'
'The way Lili and Aisha are looking at each other is a bit worrying though.
Unbeknownst to Nox, the two girls who new the dirtier side of the world unlike the pure Haruhime, were, simply put, sizing each other up.
Lili was trying to see if Aisha was planning something that would bring problems to their group and what kind of person she was while Aisha herself was trying to figure out the level of closeness between the pallum and "her" Nox.
A couple of days later, Nox was appreciating his recently updated status as he prepared to do an important task.
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Name: Nox Lyros
Race: High Human
Gender: Male
Level: 2
Abilities:
STR: SSS-5430
END: SSS-4768
DEX: SSS-6983
AGI: SSS-5874
MAG: SSS-9048
Luck: H
Archmage: F
Craftmaster: E
Martial Lord: H
Perfect Body: F
Unbreakable Bulwark: I
Irresistible Force: I
Genocider: I
Tamer: E
Magic (5 slots):
. . .
Skills:
. . .
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Due to Nox's overall tendency to avoid getting hit at all when not wearing layers upon layers of armor, his endurance stat showed the least growth. In fact, for a three month period, it was a deplorable amount of stat growth, at least by his standards.
However, since he kept practising his spells and even developed one for the purpose of expediting his training in the crafts, Nox's magic stat showed significant growth despite the lack of focus on status increases in general for this time period.
As for Development Abilities, the progress was slow. Despite Nox's increased excelia gain and boost from his Polymath skill, they still did not show a drastic increase as he originally thought they would but it made sense to him once he thought about it.
Development Abilities already had a reputation for being incredibly difficult to train and since they aren't reset on level up, it means that the rank they have itself is the only thing determining their power so a Level 2 with an A-rank ability would be better in that particular domain than a Level 7 with the same ability but at B-rank.
Another thing that should be taken into account is that Nox's Development Abilities are not the run of the mill ones taken by most adventurers and are much better hence, they are even more difficult to train. As proof, Taming reached a better rank than most of his other abilities despite being far from the focus of his training.
Speaking of Taming, Marie, Luna and Ash were progressing along very nicely, specially with all the magic stones Nox was feeding them. The former, while still lacking direct offensive capabilities, could easily charm Level 4 monsters and adventurers and even confuse Level 5s.
As for the other two, their abilities laid between Levels 3 and 4. Their raw stats would put them at peak Level 3 but the magical abilities they developed allowed them to fight lower ranked Level 4s for a short period of time but tiring them out quite quickly.
Back to Nox's Development Abilities though, just as expected his purely combat related ones like Unbreakable Bulwark, Irresistible Force and Genocider showed no increase in his status sheet. On the other hand his occasional combat training with powerful adventurers like Ais and Tiona helped him raise Martial Lord by one rank which was something.
Nox's testing and use of the FU Dagger along with the continuous upgrading of his body by his Skills led to a nice two rank increase to his Perfect Body.
But despite all of that, the two Development abilities that showed the most Growth were without a doubt the ones predicted, Archmage and Craftmaster. All of Nox's magical studies and research along with his crafting training resulted in these two abilities receiving the most significant upgrade.
And armed with his newly improved Craftmaster Development ability, Nox was now planning to craft some gear for all members of his little group to use, himself included.
He had already drafted some plans for Lili and himself while he had an idea on what to make for Haruhime, Aisha the toughest since she wanted to wer basically nothing like most amazons.
Nox already had an idea on what kind of weapon he wanted to make for himself but despite all of his training, it still seemed to be impossible to create it for now so he decided to make several place holders but only one to start with and then he would move one to the weapons of the others.
Since armor would be more complicated to make, not only because on the armor itself but because of all the magical functions he wanted to apply to each of them, so he decided to get the weapons out of the way first and then when the girls already had them and thus could be more effective in the dungeon, he would then replace their old armor with the new ones later.
For himself, he created a bastard sword length flamberge that he could wield both two handed and one handed. It had a black hilt with a very dark reddish tint and a ruby like gem in the center, the guard was a minimalist rapier style guard made of metal strips for extra protection but not extending towards the grip so that the sword could still be used in the same way as a longsword.
The flamberge style blade was a dark flame red and it was inscribed with magical runes that enhanced its capabilities. The entire weapon was a fusion of a high quality weapon, a magic weapon and a curse weapon.
Besides being a very high performance blade by itself, it carried a plethora of fire based magical abilities, these could be activated through the user's Mind or the Mind stored in the gen housed in the center of the handguard or even both at the same time.
It possessed the unbreakable attribute and since its magical abilities did not expend its durability, it wouldn't shatter like other magic weapons. As for said abilities, they include.
Fire Within: Curse that drains health for a boost to all abilities and makes one highly resistant to fire.
Searing Pain: Curse that makes even the smallest of cuts burn with unbearable pain but attacks made while the curse is active cost more stamina.
Prominence: Unleashes a gout or wave of fire from the blade. Can be relatively small or a veritable sea of flames.
Ardent Blade: Creates a blade of solid fire over the actual physical blade. It sets the cut targets on fire and can be enlarged to make a giant sword.
Immolation: With the sword stabbed into the ground, set the entire area on fire. Size of the area and power of the flames can be controlled.
Blaze of Glory: Mightiest ability of the sword that drains all of its energy and makes all other abilities unusable for 24 hours. While holding the sword over your head, pointing upwards, unleash its ultimate firepower delivering fiery doom to any being in a wide radius. Scale and power can not be controlled in any way.
As Nox looked at this new creation of his he christened Prometheus, now free of his craftsman's fervor, he realized he probably went a little too far, as was the case with most things he did seriously.
But at the very least, he was sure that this baby could impress his two extremely hot blacksmith teachers and he couldn't wait to show it to them. Because he was truly proud of his creation and because he could already taste the sweet sweet rewards.
Still, he had his fun, now it was time to make things for others starting with his first subordinate, Lili. The pallum had a Skill that very much interested Nox called Artell Assist, its function was to compensate Lili's abilities when carrying a heavy load which was why she could walk around with her heavy bag in the original series.
Although this was made to be a Skill made for a supporter in the original, Nox thought otherwise. Indeed, didn't this Skill also fit . . . A tank?
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