It was a day like any other, Claire was dutifully attending Ivan in his work, Yue was testing some recipes in the kitchen to get an edge over her rival, Felis was working in the mines, and Tio was assisting Ari in running the store. The sun shone brilliantly, only a few clouds in the sky. It had been a while since the last rain poured but it seemed as though another one wouldn't occur for quite some time.
Ivan rested his hands on the table in front of him as Claire stood on the side with a notebook and pen in hand. Thin tendrils of translucent mana extended from his fingertips as the alchemical circles inscribed into the needles laying on the table glowed a bright blue. He carefully picked up each one with his hands before holding them each between his fingers, which made a total of six needles, three in each hand.
He stood up from his chair as he crossed them over his chest, his eyes closed as the tendrils of mana became thinner and the light of the alchemical circles became brighter. And within a second his eyes snapped open as he flung his hands from his chest. The needles sent flying as his opened fingers released them from his grasp.
For a second they flew unsteady, shaking from the rear before straightening out. The trail of blue they left streaking the air, their whistling becoming more distant as they were sent soaring far. Each needle followed a different trajectory, one zigzagged, another did loops, one even climbed vertically, but in the end, they all aimed for the same goal; the target at the end of the metal testing site.
Perfectly, they all hit a vital at the same time. The eyes, neck, heart, and brain of the target posted were each pierced by the needles. They sat there for a moment before the alchemical circles on them started glowing a blinding blue light, and then—
BANG!
Ivan smiled in satisfaction as the needles served their intended purpose, dropping a few new ones on his table before conducting more tests. Each needle was controlled by a simple thought process, that being 'pierce the target right in front of me.' And as per the rule of the ability, he found out when he obtained each thought process worked toward that one goal, just each going a different way to reach it.
Which is why these needles he held now were a bit different, the curvatures in them having been painstakingly transmuted to allow a greater force of penetration. They glimmered under the artificial light a silver color as bright as the moon. The alchemical circles on them were however a little bit different, as combined with the runes for explosion and control was another circle, this time written in Japanese.
These were Ivan's creation of enhanced needles, manufactured with the Tracking, Sense Heat, and Foresight properties. And to finish it all off, the goal created by his thought process to pierce the target in front of him. A basic command that made up the circle with Japanese in it.
Ivan stared intently at a new target poster that had appeared out of nowhere, taking a deep breath before closing his eyes. The circles grew brighter with each pump of mana, and then—
He suddenly turned around and threw the needles, they flew forward for a few meters before coming to a complete stop, as if time had frozen. Then they slowly turned to face him, resuming their speed as if it hadn't been stopped before. Ivan stood still as the needles breezed past him, curving around his body to reach their target.
BOOOM!!!
They stabbed into the poster, blowing it up with a force several times greater than before. Ivan and Claire yelled out in celebration as they high-fived and congratulated each other for the hard work. With this experiment having been a success, Ivan could now say that he had effectively created… the world's greatest darts!
But in all seriousness, they were a weapon that could overwhelm a single foe from several directions, which in itself was something that could be used to take advantage of the confusion and finish them off. However, there were still ways to greaten the efficiency of the attack, that being the new device Ivan had just made appear from his ring storage.
A pair of fingerless metallic in black bracers appeared in Ivan's hand. Their sleeves reached up to his elbows. While bulky in appearance their weight made no difference to Ivan, what was important was they fit even over his new armor. He listened to the sound of the air hissing as the bracers locked in place.
A second later, as if he willed it into his mind, a compartment on the bracers opened up, revealing slots that looked as though they could perfectly fit the new needles. He loaded up each bracer to its maximum capacity, being thirty. Dangerously looking down the tube that sat on top of the bracer before receding into the bracer itself.
Having filled the bracers to the brim with the new needles he slammed shut their compartments, confirming that they were locked as another hissing noise permeated the air. Ivan nodded in satisfaction before pointing the bracers to a new target poster that came in to replace the old one.
BZZZZT!
That's when red sparks started enwrapping both his arms and subsequently the bracers. Leaving no room for fear Ivan continued with the test. He filled the bracers with mana as the red electricity grew stronger, and finally—
THUNK
Ivan's arms remained perfectly still as the needles shot out of the holes on top of the bulky bracers in a blur. The whistling noise was only audible for half a second before the sound of the needles hitting their target resounded. And as predictable from the last few tests they blew up and incinerated everything within its range. No matter the speed they were still able to pause trajectory as if freezing time, then changing the position to pursue their target from another direction.
"Just as intended… This is great!" Ivan voiced out his true emotions as he watched the blast from the distance. Felicitating a nod from Claire as she admired the scene next to him. They repeated the process a few more times while making sure they noted everything down.
Fire rate per second, time for an explosion to happen, time to reload bracers, were important factors that would contribute to their final evaluation of the device.
However, even when they were done conducting tests for the device they still weren't done for the day. Ivan didn't forget to make things for his companions either, he totally didn't at all… Sure Yue had the spear of mana but it was not a weapon or tool befitting her mage style. He had asked her personally what she thought would be useful before she remarked by stating that she always wanted a cool staff that would enhance her magic capabilities while minimizing the output mana required.
The simplest way for Ivan to complete this request would be to just make a staff that would passively absorb the mana of the user a bit at a time without hurting them, then making it automatically release that stored up mana whenever the caster used a spell. He decided to go ahead with that, except making a few adjustments.
Such as instead of the passive absorption of the user he instead made it so holding it up to magic would absorb the mana from that instead. If the staff ever made it to the maximum capacity that feature wouldn't likely work but so long as Yue kept note of that it should be fine. This made it a decent tool against other casters, just simply absorb the mana from other people's spells and use it for your purposes.
What he got, in the end, was a little pole that was about the length of his hand, he infused the pole with a bit of mana before it grew several times in length. In its full length, it stood at 145cm, only a bit taller than Yue. Its white pristine body was accompanied by yellow vein-like patterns that coursed through the base all the way to the end. The head of it blossomed into a gold in color flower, in the center of its petals sat a bit of the stone he had been abusing to death not too long ago.
Compared to any monster crystals the truly best conductor he found was the Divinity Stone. Even with its liquid dried up and gone it still served a purpose. 'As expected of the world's most coveted treasure~!' Ivan thought to himself.
Felis was fine with just her claws so all Ivan made for her were some bracers to protect her forearms in close combat. Mana capacity devices were not needed as she exclaimed she had enough to do the internal spells she was good with. In Ivan's perspective, it seemed that she just really did not like jewelry.
For Tio Ivan gave her a folding fan, its film made of gold while its borders consisted of strengthened Azantium. The red jewel embedded in its handle enhanced her fire output by a large margin. As for how it worked when she was in her dragon mode, it simply became an accessory that sat behind her ear.
She seemed to cherish the gift as she repeatedly asked him to slap her with it, much to his protest. For a second he contemplated destroying the artifact that day, luckily he was calmed down by Claire who didn't want to see the precious thing get blown up into smithereens.
Ari's request was rather simple, gauntlets that shot out chains. He knew what she meant by this request as it would seem she was rather unfond of the gloves that shot out chains he gave her a while back. So this time he stepped his game up, he presented her gauntlets made up of Azantium. Unlike the last device these only shot out one chain from each gauntlet, however, the length of each chain and the subsequent return was under the full control of the wearer. Blades sat at their ends too, and with the mutter of even a basic spell like a fireball, the fire would travel down the length of the chains and imbue the tool with a said element without harming the user.
He was a bit afraid she'd injure herself using them but in the end, relented as he put his faith in her. Now, all that was left was one more person who was awaiting their gift. Well, instead of waiting it's more like she insisted that she didn't need anything. But if Ivan went ahead and gave everyone something other than her a gift it'd make him feel slightly guilty.
So under her constant denial, he made her an artifact anyway, or it'd be more proper to say he made two. Ivan held each blade in hand, humming to himself as he messed around to see if they were the proper weight. Each swing with the twin blades left behind a fissure in the air, their imbued mana crystals glimmering white.
Speaking simply, what he had made her were twin wind blades. Each cut created a vacuum after effect that would tear whatever stood in its place. It was a very dangerous weapon to those who didn't know what they were doing but Ivan had enough faith that Claire would be extremely careful.
You slash at someone as the hit misses because they dodge, as you pull back your blade your enemy goes back to their former position thinking it's safe, then— BANG! The wind fissure opens up and tears right where you last slashed, effectively slitting the throat of the person who stood before.
It cost a lot of mana to activate the special ability but they were something he was proud of. The blades had gold hilts and black steel that created its body, it was at this point that Ivan's Azantium reserve had become very low. But not wanting to skimp out, he went all in any way.
Claire observed from the sidelines as Ivan explained the properties of the twin blades, a glimmer of excitement in her eyes as she looked at him perform a series of movements. Once he was done with his presentation, Ivan handed them off to her. An action that prompted her to ask for another set of sheathes as well.
"More sheathes? Just remove the old blades and set the new ones in. Those daggers are messed up because of your escapade in Fuhren aren't they?" His good-intentioned question was answered by a glare.
"I want to keep the old ones with me! They're proof of my journey to this point… How can I toss them aside? And besides, you're the one who gave them to me so how could you be so nonchalant in telling me to get rid of them!"
"Oooooh, so that's what it is about huh…?" The smug grin on Ivan's face made Claire want to test out the new blades right now. Her desperate attempts to hide the blush on her face only made the embarrassment all the more apparent.
With his question having been sated Ivan agreed to her proposition, promising a new pair of sheaths when they were done for the day. She nodded in a hurry before running away to test them out at a safe distance. She took in a deep breath as the embedded crystal glowed white, then without another moment's hesitation she slashed at the air.
"...."
Silence ensued for a second, then another, and finally a third— WHOOSH! The space she had slashed at exploded with a suction force that threatened to tear her apart, she held her ground for a second before the force disappeared and the space returned to normal. As grand as the weapons sounded it was in the end just wind pressurized to the point that it distorted the air.
She jumped up and down at the success wrapping Ivan in a sudden hug along with her celebrations. Though Ivan couldn't have called the hug sudden as she ran toward him for a solid ten seconds before making it.
Their joyous ceremony came to an end as they realized that dinner was approaching. Claire had given up the position for today in favor of helping out Ivan in his research. They watched the monitor as it displayed Felis' ship docking in the facility of their yard.
Ivan pushed a button on his desk as droids entered the room equipped with cleaning gear and bright yellow neon. They went up to the rubble that was the target practice area before beginning work on repairs. It was a bit entertaining for Ivan to watch as they went about their business but he realized that now was not the time to be stuck in a daze.
He was excited to see Felis' reaction regarding the new gear, and of course, he needed to give it to her as well. Ivan left the room with Claire at his side, speed walking to the elevator as she pressed the button behind him.
DING!
Ivan's speed walking turned to a jog as it seemed Claire wanted to challenge his prowess. Even with her respectfully walking with her hands on her lap there was something intimidating with the speed she walked at.
She ensued with her jog as she noticed that Ivan was way ahead of her. Their rushing to the dining table to get there on time had become a race between the two. But of course, with Ivan's stats, it was already inevitable to see who would've won.
"I win~!" Ivan's cheer caught the attention of the others who were already seated, even Felis was there despite having just landed. Claire followed behind him with an expressionless face, as if pretending to have zero ideas what he was talking about. However if one looked further they could note the beads of sweat that barely appeared on her forehead.
It was an aspect no one had noticed as their attention had been focused on Ivan the whole time. The awkwardness was not something he could handle, as each attempt at explaining his actions was met with suspicion.
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The next day things went as usual. Only this time Ivan didn't bother with doing any work today. In a sense, he felt the need to take a rest day or his mind would collapse on him. It was a time spent with Yue on the couch as they idly chatted about pointless things.
In fact, everything had been quite peaceful that day up until a certain point. That point was that he would soon receive a phone call.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP
The ringing of the communication device reached the ears of the two as Ivan lazily got up from laying on the couch, apologizing to Yue as he moved her body off of him.
"Hello, Felis? What's up, did you make another discovery down there?" Ivan answered the phone nonchalantly as he rubbed his eyes.
"U-Um, Father… You see, um, I found something yeah. This scene that I found might interest you alright… Just promise me you won't get mad at me…" Her voice was uncharacteristically low, a point of interest that made his concern fly through the roof.
"What's wrong?! Are you alright? Don't worry I'll be there soon just gi—" His words were cut off as her voice hurriedly came through.
"I-It's not that! You see I… *sigh*, I was bored and traveled higher than the 101st floor… That's why I said not to get mad at me, cause' even though you told me not to leave Rumebuh-kun alone I went ahead and did it… I'm sorry…"
Felis' distraught voice emanated from the other side, Ivan stared a minute at the communication device before letting out a sigh. For a second he thought she was in danger or something but thankfully she was just feeling a little guilty.
"It's fine… You're welcome to do what you want with your life. I assume you left the Rumebuh because you were certain of its safety. To be honest I don't blame you for wanting to seek some excitement in your life. So don't worry about it, though the next time I would like a heads up~"
"Yes! Thank you, Father!" Ivan smiled as the voice of his daughter had regained its vigor. "Oh, yeah, the scene I found! Well, it was like this~ I was going up a few floors to look for the stuff you said there was like in your stories! That's when I made it to the entrance of the 91st floor, I heard some crash and bangs so I looked went up the stairs and looked to see what was goin' on at the 90th floor when I saw the same group of people that showed at our place not too long ago! Y'know, there was that guy I beat and… uh… nope I can't remember anyone else~ But they were fighting this demon-looking lady, at least that's what she looked like from the stuff Tio-sensei has been teachin' me."
"Hoooh~ A demon you say? Hmm…" Ivan held his hand against his chin as he contemplated the next set of actions. If the class was there then odds were Hajime was too. And this was also the opportunity to see a member of this race everyone has been afraid of. It'd be good to get a gauge on their strength, and if they sent this demon lady alone then that meant she was probably pretty important to take on the heroes.
"Sit tight, I'll be right there. For now, don't interact with the battle and watch from afar." Ivan hung up the device as he explained the situation to Yue, who quickly equipped herself before joining him in the airship.
Tio who heard of their expedition joined them as well, Ari and Claire opting to take care of the store.
"Alright, let's go see what these demons are made of!"
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