The sun had rose.
After several repetitions of the same thing and driving around the District for so long, Melvia couldn't take it anymore and needed a break. Her Shapeshifting Abilities didn't last forever, after all. She needed to regen her mana before continuing.
"We've been just driving around the whole night…" Octane sighed. "That was exhausting…"
"That may be so, but at least we got some combat training in," Storm argued.
That was true. Finn managed to get around 20 Phantom kills in total, acquiring some more Souls for himself and Zelestria, bringing himself closer to the goal of regaining his sight.
"Still... a new signal hasn't popped up in about five minutes now," Fanatic said, staring intently at the phone. "If the Emperor-level is really trying to mess with us like Ivis said, then why did it stop...?"
"It doesn't matter," Storm replied, taking a deep breath. "I'm too exhausted to think of anything right now. What happened today may not be the work of the Emperor at all... but since all the Outbreaks have been resolved successfully, let's just head back."
Archon nodded. "Melvia, you feeling alright?"
"Yes, but... what about you? You still have to train Finn, no?" Melvia replied with a weak smile.
Fanatic glanced at the time displayed on the phone. "It's 6:30 AM right now... you can start training at 11, so from now until then, we should all get some rest."
With that decided, the squadron headed home to shower and grab some of the sleep they missed.
*****
- Later That Day, 11 AM -
Finn woke up with a naked Zelestria in his arms. He could feel her warm body, and it clearly wasn't clothes. Perhaps another man would've taken advantage of this situation or just freaked out, but Finn did neither and calmly got out of bed. Zelestria, having snuck into his bed, slowly opened one eye to check on him.
'Hm… he really didn't do anything to me…? Though it was only 4 hours, so I can't be sure...'
Feeling relieved that Finn had truly lost all his emotions yet also somewhat disappointed at the fact that her body didn't appeal to him at all, Zelestria yawned and climbed out of bed after him. She snapped her fingers, conjuring a set of clothes instantly, then prepared to follow Finn downstairs-
"No," Finn suddenly said, stopping her in her tracks. He didn't need to be able to see to know what Zelestria was trying to do.
"Eh~? But why?"
"The others are most likely already awake."
Hearing this, Zelestria sighed and shrugged. "Well, that's too bad~ guess you'll have to treat me some other time, hm~?"
"Leave already."
"Fine, fine~"
Zelestria giggled softly before disappearing, and Finn let out a deep sigh as she was gone. Zelestria could be useful when she wanted to be, as seen from the information she gave last night. The only problem was… most of the time, she just didn't want to be useful.
Those were Finn's honest thoughts of her.
*****
After going downstairs and brushing his teeth, Finn headed straight for Archon's workshop. He had been there once before when Archon first offered to make him weapons, so he knew the route.
Upon getting closer, he could hear the sound of a hammer being repeatedly struck on metal coming from a little further ahead. He figured Archon was hard at work.
After reaching the door, Finn raised his hand and knocked three consecutive times.
"Finn, is that you?"
"Yes. Can I enter?"
"Sure. Come on in."
Finn did as told, opening the door and heading inside. It wasn't any less hot than he last remembered it to be, though it was a little more bearable this time since he had already experienced it once. Still, this was to be expected of a blacksmith's forge. He shut the door once more and awaited further instructions.
"Alright… and… done," Archon declared, letting out a deep breath and wiping the sweat from his forehead. Then, lifting up the weapon he held in his hands, he gave it to Finn.
"Here. That's for Ivis."
Finn accepted it gratefully, using his sense of touch to try and determine what the object is. It was quite long and skinny, with a circular scope of some kind resting on top.
"… A sniper rifle?"
"Yep. She wanted one, no? I never got the chance to finish it until now, with all that's been going on recently. Tell her I said sorry, but for now, just set the rifle on the table beside you. Roughly a meter to your right."
"Got it."
Finn gently set down the weapon, then turned back in the direction of Archon's voice. "Now what?"
"Hm… you already know how to channel your raw mana, right?"
Finn nodded. "I'm also able to choose which Angelica's mana I want to use, obviously."
"That's interesting… I wonder if you can fuse two Angelicas together, somehow…" Archon trailed off. "But that's a topic for another day. Since you already know how to channel your mana, you pretty much got the basics down, which is good — because it turns really difficult from here on out. Come here."
Finn moved closer in the direction of Archon's voice, until he could feel his presence beside him.
"Now, this training course I'm going to give you will be broken down into three main sections, varying in difficulty. The lesson today will be focused on applying mods — short for modifications — on weapons."
Saying this, he tapped on the table. "Put your gauntlets here. They will be your first training dummy. When it's your own weapon, you're always more careful."
Finn could've argued against that theory, but he didn't and simply followed the instructions, taking out the gloves in his cloak pockets.
"This armor set I got from Mavrick cleans itself everyday, automatically, even when I'm wearing it. Is that a modification as well?"
"Yeah. That's something only Tailor Angelica users can use though. Us Blacksmiths are only responsible for weapons, despite the meaning of the word."
"… Hm." Finn placed the gauntlets on the table. "What next?"
"Now… let's see here, what's an easy yet useful mod for gauntlets… ah, right."
Archon clicked his tongue as he found the answer. "Alright, Finn. I want you to close your eyes, then-"
"My eyes are always closed."
"Agh… drats, I keep forgetting!" Archon roared in frustration, then calmed down almost immediately after. "A-Ahem, anyway… in the world of weapon mods, each mod has their own 'symbol', you could call it. This would be a breeze if you could see, since I could just show you a picture of all the symbols, but because you're blind, I'll have to just describe them to the best of my ability."
Clearing his throat, he continued.
"Okay, Finn. Activate the Blacksmith Angelica, first of all, then think in your head: 'Modification: Void Shield.'"
'Modification: Void Shield.'
"Good, I see the aura around you. Next, imagine a silver shield, radiating purple energy."
Finn did as told, picturing one of those shields knights used in fantasy stories about war, only with a purple glow around it.
"Once you've conjured the image, hold it there and lift up your hand above the weapon. Remain concentrated and don't break the image."
Slowly, Finn raised his hand and moved it so that it was hovering directly above the pair of gauntlets he wore.
"Perfect. Now… channel your mana out of your hand without breaking the image."
Finn complied, exerting all his mana out of his hand.
"W-Wait, no, that's too much! Stop!"
Archon hurriedly seized Finn's hand, ruining his concentration and canceling the Ability.
"Ngh…" Finn gasped for air, having been so focused he forgot to breathe.
"Man… you almost destroyed your own weapons there, kid," Archon chuckled. "I guess it's my bad for not mentioning it, but I never thought you would have this much mana. I would only expect that much mana from a B-Class Hunter or higher."
"Is the rank of a Hunter determined based on the squadron they are in?" Finn asked.
Archon shook his head. "When you first get registered, yes. But after that, the guild you are part of may promote or demote you based on your individual performance. Sadly, you registered after taking down the Titan Phantom, so that achievement wasn't factored in. If it was, though, you would probably be a C-Class or even B-Class right now. That said, the squadron you are part of definitely has an influence on your personal ranking. For example, an A-Class Squadron is made up of mostly A-Class Hunters."
"What's the highest rank, then?"
"SSS," Archon replied. "It goes from D, to C, to B, to A, to S, to SS, and SSS. Squadrons only go up to S-Class though, and there are only about five of them in the world — one from each major guild."
"Huh, I see…"
"Oh, we got off-topic," Archon laughed, scratching the back of his head. "In any case, try again. This time, hold back a bit on your mana, or else you'll overflow the weapon with it and destroy it. Think of it like electricity, almost. Too little and it won't work, too much and it'll explode."
Finn nodded and prepared for his second attempt.
'Modification: Void Shield.'