The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

The return trip home was very awkward for Oscar because Serena had stopped trying to hug or cling to him as she usually did. Instead, she stayed amicably by his side and kept her distance. Oscar glanced at Serena, who smiled back.

What was she planning? Oscar was rattled by her smile, which held many hidden intentions, none of which Oscar could understand. Her red wavy hair was also braided together down her back, adding to Oscar's sense of danger.

The scene of Serena rejecting his rejections flashed across Oscar's mind. She was undoubtedly leading up to something like a hunter on the prowl, waiting for the moment to pounce on its prey. However, Oscar failed to see through anything as she maintained her perfect poker face with a smile.

Despite curiosity taking hold of him, Oscar did not ask about her sudden change. He didn't wish to be the spark that ignited the fire. So they only conversed about ordinary topics as Oscar put the matter aside and found that talking normally with Serena without the constant clinging was quite nice.

Finally, after a short time, the airship docked at the Pavilion's port, and the crew rang the bell for their arrival. Oscar enjoyed the sight of the Pavilion and glanced at Serena, who smiled by his side. The entire way to the Inner Hall was somewhat awkward until Oscar saw his home; relief filled his mind and heart.

"Goodbye. I'll see you later." Oscar said.

"Have a good day, Oscar." Serena smiled and departed.

Her figure grew smaller in the distance, but Oscar kept his eyes on her, wondering, pondering about what she was playing at. With a heavy sigh, he dragged his tired body to his bed after putting away the clothes Serena had bought him. Thoughts of Celestina and Serena swirled around his befuddled mind, and he knew he loved Celestina but felt bad for Serena, who had done much for him.

Tossing and turning in his bed, his body fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

The next morning, a series of knocks on the door woke Oscar up. Oscar got up to wash his face and saw his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were baggy, and his hair was messy.

"You look like shit." Oscar laughed hoarsely, deprecating himself. "I am a horrible person, aren't I?"

The knocking continued. Oscar washed his face and tidied his hair. Who was at his door this morning?

Expecting to see Fred and Emily, Oscar opened his door to find neither of them but Serena standing in front of him and carrying a basket.

"Serena? What is it in this morning?" Oscar asked.

"I made you breakfast." Serena held the basket toward Oscar's face.

The smell of eggs and bacon enticed his appetite, and his throat gulped. The use of Reis and Adamasreis-forged muscles required a lot of food. He saw the bright smile on her face, the usual whenever she tried to be with him; this was her new tactic.

"Don't reject it. Or else all this food will go to waste." Serena gave him an ultimatum.

Oscar groaned and took the basket, but Serena also followed him inside. Opening it, Oscar saw sandwiches, bacon, eggs, and cheese. "It looks delicious."

"I'm glad." Serena sat by the table, already inviting herself to join him in the meal.

They sat together, but Oscar couldn't help but turn his head away from Serena's eyes that stayed on him with love. Her poker face from early was gone, and she displayed her feelings without a filter. Under the heated gaze of Serena, Oscar finished his meal and stood up.

"I need to head to the Foundry later. Thank you for the meal." Oscar picked up the basket and led Serena to the door. However, he was hugged tightly as Serena's arms coiled around his back.

"I held myself back the entire ride back, but I can't handle it any longer." Serena moaned and sighed in bliss from Oscar's sturdy body. "I love you, love you, love you."

"Stop." Oscar pulled her off him. "I told you that I can't return your feelings."

"I told you I rejected that, and I won't hold back. I'll see you tomorrow with some more breakfast." Serena pouted and skipped off away from Oscar's home.

Oscar stared blankly at the girl, who was far away. Tomorrow?

…….

Tired from the morning with Serena, Oscar made his way to the Foundry, placed beneath the eternal cloud of black smoke. It looked bleak as always, but Oscar felt enlivened to be here because each hammer swing made him feel better and lose his frustration.

Relieving his frustration was not the only reason for his coming here. There was a new method he wanted to try, the inspiration he had when looking up at the stars from the Preisn Observatory's telescope. Could constellations be the basis for his unique formations? Oscar wasn't sure, but he felt a strange phenomenon when glancing up at them.

If he could not believe in his instincts, what use was everything he had been through? After changing into his fabricator uniform, Oscar carried his hammer into a private forging room. Immediately, he was assaulted by the heat of the raging furnace, which would have burned any person into ashes, but the uniform held strong, and his body as an Elite Exalt was more durable.

His hand pulled several items from his bag, metals provided by the Foundry for practice, claws and cores gathered from Apprentice Exalt Beasts in the Caldin Grotto, and several metal pages with constellations engraved on them that would not burn in this heat.

Oscar swung his hammer to shape the azureiron after its dip in the furnace. His power as an Elite Exalt made it easier for him to shape these lesser metals for grade-one armaments. The hot piece of metal thinned out, and Oscar hammered some more to reach a higher purity.

He did this for every piece of metal and, before long, a pile of refined bars stacked on a nearby table. Oscar repeated the process for all the claws, turning them into pellets. The pile of refined pellets sat next to the refined azureiron.

"I won't have to keep going back and forth now." Oscar let out puffs of white smoke from his breathing tubes.

The refinement had ended, now was the time for armament creation. Oscar melted the materials in the crucible and poured them onto a mold. He stripped the core of its inner formation and cut out the piece for the beasts' sharp claws.

With the incomplete formation shining in the middle of the molten material, Oscar shuffled through several metal plates and stopped his hands on one. A constellation was just a series of stars in a certain formation from which people could make out a shape that resembled something.

The constellation Oscar held was one of a child holding a knife. The knife was just an arc of four stars, with two stars making up the hilt and another two making the tip. It was unusual that a single star wasn't used to represent the tip, but people imposed the shape of a knife with the tip protruding from these two stars.

With a single strike of his hammer, Oscar created his own star, the node, on the top and made another one that stood by its side like a pair. Two more stars shone on the bottom, and the four stars gleamed on the molten metal.

"It's better." Oscar panted as creating these stars was exhausting. However, the excitement trembled across his body, and his hand shook with delight. He could feel something drawing him in, as though the metal resonated with him.

After some time, Oscar had failed four times, but each time, he knew he was getting close. The materials never seemed as tightly bonded as before, and the nodes made him feel more comfortable, unlike his past experiences when he was full of doubt and could only guess.

This was the true fabrication, true armament creation. The fabricator had to put his preferences on the formation while considering the metal and core, creating a bond. The resonation between the three made Oscar hopeful of his chances, as he had never felt this link before.

That was why his attempts to study past formations only got him so far. Because he never truly put himself into it. Those formations were useful for referencing where the metal and core could bond, but in the end, they were like fingerprints, unique to the original creator.

Oscar was creating that unique formation that held value to him. The constellations, high in the sky, were his guide, and his hammer sought to create their likeness on the metal and creatures of the earth. On the fifth try, the armament shone and burst with power after quenching, revealing a curved, wavy gold blade with a blue hilt.

"A grade-one dagger armament." Oscar traced his finger across its clean surface, seeing the formation he created on it as it dimmed. Two stars near its tip, two near its hilt, and two arcs, one inner and outer, of stars along the edge, all linked to the core's formation. The formation was quite complex and tiresome to create, but Oscar smiled. "One in five odds of success is amazing."

His chance of success had doubled. Perhaps after he masters perfect refinement and delve deeper into constellations, he could be a consistent fabricator.

"I did it!" Oscar shouted and laughed in celebration.

"Disciple." Draven's voice resounded from the furnace.

"Master?!" Oscar was shocked and dropped the dagger armament. There in the raging fires of the furnace was the face of his master, Draven.

"Come to the Abyss Prison." Then Draven's face disappeared.

But Oscar stood there, baffled, and looked around the furnace, but there was no trace of his master. He uttered a single word, expressing his confusion. "How?"