Serum

Dirk slept only as much as he needed to, and thankfully, there were no uninvited guests that disturbed him. 

So after waking, he decided to go straight back to forging. 

Dirk had already cut and skinned four snakes at the cost of a few knives. Thankfully he had one knife left, but he needed to skin another snake with that single knife. 

Fortunately, he was able to do it. 

Treating it as a warmup for the day, Dirk went and cut into another snake, focusing all his energy on cutting through it. He didn’t know if he should be happy about his ability to cut through such a tough monster or disappointed in his struggle with it. 

Regardless, after a short hour and a half, Dirk had not just cut but skinned the entire snake. Like the other skins he had, he hung it on a rack in the vault. 

With that, he had five skins, which would provide plenty of scales and a proper amount of leather. 

Now came the hard part, as if skinning those Tier 6 snakes wasn’t enough. 

Dirk approached the shell of the turtle general that Pandora killed. Tapping it with his knife, he was able to hear a metallic reverberation. This shell wasn’t made of calcium or any kind of soft or brittle organic substance, but cold hard metal. Not only that, but it was just over a foot thick. Considering the size and toughness of this shell, it was a wonder that Pandora managed to pierce through it so easily. 

Letting out a small sigh, Dirk grabbed a stool and sat beside the shell. 

The furnace within the vault didn’t have any form of flames, and Dirk knew that this shell couldn’t be melted with anything ordinary. In that case, he needed to utilize the source of living flames that he had. 

“Obsidius.”

He called, and the little blob bounced from within his clothes. It slithered around before making its way atop the turtle shell. 

Obsidius had a living flame with it, and when activated, it looked like it was burning itself. Dirk needed Obsidius for this craft. Its living flames were hotter than any flames he could make with magic. 

The only issue was how to properly wield those flames and allow him to shape this massive shell into small wire for chains. 

“Maybe we can melt the entire thing into one long wire and cut it.”

[Then comes the problem of shaping that wire. If the wire is so weak as to simply be bent with your fingers, then that’s a problem.]

“Then how do you suppose I form this thing into wire and retain its strength?”

Dirk glanced at the cat who jumped up on the shell. Spyte tilted her head, her beady golden eyes gleaming.

[That depends on your abilities. You can bend and shape metal with magic, right? You should start doing that and shape the chains as you would other weapons. As for the shell, you could just tear chunks off and work with portions at a time. But as you develop the chains, you also need to link them with the snake leather.]

“So I need to construct both the chainmail and the leather, as well as integrate the scales, all at the same time so they can become one unit.”

Dirk sighed while thinking of the complex process of this armor’s construction. 

Spyte just nodded, her cat eyes flickering with amusement. 

[Correct. Good luck with that.]

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Just as Spyte was going to turn and walk away, Dirk snatched her by the scruff.

“We’re suffering together, so don’t you think you can just walk away and explore the world.”

[I have no other enjoyment in my life.]

“Excuse you, but you should enjoy being my most powerful weapon and trusted companion.”

[I have a very boring and stuck up companion who doesn’t know how to have fun.]

“...I’m not that boring…”

Dirk scratched his head for a second before shaking it.

“Anyway, I’ll need your help during most of the forging process.”

[Only if I get vacation days as per union laws.]

“...Union what? Whatever. You can have breaks when I don’t need you, but only if you patrol around while exploring.”

[Each break must be two hours long and there must be three breaks minimum in a 30 hour period.]

“3 hours and 2 breaks per day.”

[Deal. I shall develop a contract.]

“Or you can hurry up and leave since I don’t need you right now.”

[Pleasure doing business.]

With a quick hop, Spyte jumped and trotted out of the vault excitedly. Dirk watched her leave before turning back to Obsidius who was bouncing on the turtle shell.

His face was a bit confused.

“...Did I just negotiate with my Stigma?”

He seemed to ask that question to Obsidius, as the blob stopped its bouncing and wiggled in thought. 

Dirk hummed. 

“Well, I guess you’re the most normal one here. Care to help me out with this?”

“..!”

Obsidius jumped again, this time onto Dirk’s hand. Then, it split into two, covering both his hands up to his wrists. 

Obsidius became two gloves that revealed complex circuits going from the wrists to the fingertips where they came together. 

Dirk realized what this was. 

“Living Gloves. I was wondering what this was. Does it help with forging?”

Obsidius squeezed Dirk’s hand in response. Dirk also felt its intent over their bond. It wanted him to send in his mana.

“Alright. We need to heat up this turtle shell. Can you use your Living Flame?”

After his question, Obsidius settled and ignited, flames burning atop the metallic gloves. This time, Dirk was able to feel the flames in their entirety, such as the mana contained within them and how its power moved. 

Living Flames supposedly had life or intelligence. What was special about Obsidius though was that he had a tangible body and was also the life and intelligence of the living flame contained within it. Needless to say, the couple who crafted Obsidius had to have been supremely intelligent. To be able to not only create life and intelligence, but give it such a versatile body and a Living Flame. Dirk couldn’t imagine coming anywhere close to such ability. 

Now, Dirk had this marvelous specimen as his familiar. 

Several thoughts crossed through Dirk’s head as he saw the gloves through his mana vision. He could see the flame most distinctly, and the metal of Obsidius was clearly outlined along with all the circuits that circulated with mana. 

Suddenly, some of Sir Tobasden’s teachings resurfaced in his mind. 

The memory of Tobasden smoothing the blade of a knife with his fingers was a vivid one in Dirk’s mind. Tobasden was able to manipulate metal mana with precision rivaling machines. Dirk had even seen him shape an entire sword with his bare hands, stretching and flattening metal like it was putty. 

Dirk was nowhere near replicating that kind of skill or elemental manipulation, so for just about all of the work, he needed to shape things with the hard strikes of his hammer. 

If it was that way, Dirk didn’t have an issue making the wire out of the turtle shell. He could simply flatten and stretch the metal out until it was thin enough to be wire.

After that, he could use elemental manipulation to smooth out the wire, which would surely be cubic due to his flat hammer strikes. Once it was cylindrical, he could temper it and make it proper wire. 

The tough part would come during the final shaping. Dirk needed to retain the strength of the wire, yet be able to turn it into chains. There was only one way he could do that in a way that also allowed him to integrate the wire with scales and the leather. 

He needed to bend it himself, and that would take elemental manipulation. 

So on top of solidifying his control over Aura, Dirk would need to stress his elemental control. 

If he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t make the armor. 

And he had no plans on giving up so easily. 

“...I guess I can only start.”

Shrugging, Dirk stood and began the first step toward making the armor. The wire.

He looked at his hands, and then toward the turtle shell. 

“Alright Obsidius. We’re going to try and melt this thing. Just let me know what you need.”

Obsidius squeezed Dirk’s hand in response. Then, he placed his hands on the shell. 

Obsidius burned with its Living Flame, immediately turning the glossy surface of the shell black. But after that, Dirk saw no signs of it turning as hot as it needed to be. It only reddened a bit.

Dirk frowned. He could tell what the problem was. 

The power of the Living Flame was scattered and unfocused. It didn’t take any power at all to ignite the Living Flame or keep it burning, but if Dirk wanted it to properly heat something, then he needed to guide its power with his own hands. 

That’s when he streamed fire mana into the Living Gloves, making the circuits glow red. With that, Dirk could more properly feel the Living Flame, and he began to take control of it along with the guidance of Obsidius. 

He and the blob, who was now a pair of gloves, focused the Living Flame, and the results were immediate. The shell reddened more and more as the flame got hotter and more concentrated like a blowtorch. The only problem was that controlling the Living Flame, even with Obsidius, was taxing on Dirk’s mental energy. 

He used the power of the fire element to directly manipulate the flames, but Dirk wasn’t incredibly proficient with elemental manipulation. So like with his Aura, this was a good training session. Dirk focused as much as he could, disregarding how much energy he used. His only focus was getting the task done. 

Like that, the potion of the shell he was placing his hands onto turned from red to yellow hot. Dirk could sense the metal and fire mana with the shell and how turbulent it was. This turbulence occurred when metal became hot enough to become malleable. It almost resembled atoms and how they moved more when heated up, eventually turning to a liquid. 

And Dirk knew his abilities well enough from Sir Tobasden’s teaching. So, he waited until he saw a certain level of turbulence before acting. 

After the shell was already glowing, Dirk suddenly exploded with more power. His hands pressed down as his fingers gripped down like claws, and metal mana was forced along with his will. 

Then, with a burst of bodily strength, Dirk’s hands scooped at the shell. 

*Shing!*

The yellow hot portion of the shell was torn off, leaving a chunk of the metallic substance in Dirk’s hands. He looked at the shell that rapidly cooled with a sigh. The part he tore off was barely a fraction of the entire thing.

“Well, gotta start somewhere.”

He said that before turning to the anvil. As he kept the living flame burning, the chunk of metal wasn’t cooling down nearly as fast, maintaining its yellow hot color. 

He quickly got to work. 

He grabbed the hammer that was specially tailored to the fire element after deactivating the Living Flame. Then, with the gloves as the guide, Dirk was able to easily stream his fire mana into the hammer. 

The hammer head glowed with red circuits before the head itself became red hot. Dirk found it curious before slamming down onto the chunk of turtle shell that was beginning to cool. 

*TING!*

The hammer released a shower of sparks after meeting the chunk, flattening some of the jagged edges. Using some of his anima, Dirk raised the heavy hammer and slammed down again. 

*TING!*

More sparks, and through the hammer, Dirk was able to slow the cooling of the metal underneath. This was a technique that Tobasden taught, infusing elemental power through the swings of a hammer. 

*TING!*

Dirk’s arms bulged as he swung the weight with full force. He had long developed the coordination needed to perfectly hit the material as he needed. When he first started, he would occasionally hit the anvil. Those reverberations tore the skin on his hands, becoming painful lessons that he quickly learned from. 

*TING!*

The metal was continually shaped under Dirk’s hammer that swung with enough force to split cold steel. He hit quickly in order to get as much formation as possible before the metal cooled. 

*TING!*

More sparks, and the few that landed on his shirt burned small holes in it. But with a thought, he stored the clothing away, continuing. 

*TING!*

One more hit, and finally, the metal had cooled enough to become too hard to deform, even with a hammer. 

So, Dirk just heated up the chunk again. 

Holding in both his hands, Dirk used the Living Flame to turn the chunk yellow hot again. With that, he continued the forging process. As he kept swinging his hammer, his manipulation of the fire element became more precise. 

The process took four hours, but eventually, the chunk turned flat. That’s when Dirk grabbed it and began hitting its side to elongate it and make it thinner. 

The process was tedious and consumed lots of energy. Such work was thought of as laborious by many, and those who felt this way would look forward to their breaks. 

But not long after beginning to forge, Dirk fell into a trance. He constantly remembered those enjoyable days at Tobasden’s forge room as he was harshly but skillfully trained. He remembered the split palms, the sore muscles, and the burns on his arms. The training hurt, but within what was normally seen as torment, Dirk found fulfillment and happiness. 

He fell in love with the process of shaping and refining metals, turning them from a hard lump into a masterful craft worthy of being wielded by the powerful. 

For Dirk, the comprehensions into the elements and growth in power came secondary to the feelings he felt during the forging itself. 

It was monotonous, only the constant sounds of metal on metal ringing in his ears. It was boring, only needing the robotic swings of his hammer. It was tedious, with much time needed just to flatten an ingot. 

But Dirk liked it. And as he flattened the lump of turtle shell, he realized once again just how much he enjoyed forging. 

He was actively focused during every second of the process, enjoying even the tiniest details such as the alterations in the angles of his hammer. Every strike was perfected and deliberate with dozens of thoughts analyzing its every move. 

Spyte sat on a table not too far away, having come back long ago. She watched Dirk work for the several hours he was engulfed in his work. 

She saw the movement of mana, the fire moving from his gloves into the hammer. The percussive strikes that infused fire mana into the metal. The fire mana going in and out of Dirk’s mana lungs with each of his breaths. 

Mana revealed so much more than the normal world. While they both had their beauty, in this moment, the world through mana was more enrapturing than the physical world. Spyte knew that Dirk loved forging, and though she didn’t personally understand why, she was beginning to see the beauty in it. 

At the 7 hour mark, the lump had become a long and thin rectangle that was on the verge of becoming a wire. But Spyte could feel how Dirk was using up the last bit of his energy. His body was still strong, but his mental energy was running out. Using elemental manipulation for so long was taxing.

But Dirk was able to finish, turning the lump into a long wire that was so rigid it didn’t so much as curve off the anvil. After making one last strike, Dirk unsteadily set down the hammer and looked at the wire. 

It was cubic and rough, but that’s what the more precise smoothing process was for. Tobasden called it the Metal Fingers Technique by which one altered the shape of metal through the strength of their fingers and their metal mana manipulation. Naturally, only someone with the Metal specialization could do this, so it was a very special technique. Those who didn’t have this technique needed to use tools like grinders, which Tobasden thoroughly resented.

Regardless, Dirk didn’t have any energy to engage that technique. Instead, he went to a table and pulled out plates of food, scarfing down many of the meats and juices from inside the pocket ring. This served to revitalize him and regenerate his mana pools, though unfortunately, his mental energy was still drained. 

So after eating he took a nap. Spyte watched him do so before walking up to his unconscious body and curling up under his arm.