"HOW CAN SOMETHING THIS BIG FLY!" Hideyoshi bellowed as he clung to Grimm-Guard's carapace.
Grimm-Guard was flying over the silver city, rapidly approaching Moldworks. I was seated on top of his head while everyone else was riding a little further back in Grimm-Guard, nor quite his head but also not his back.
"Absolutely glorious!" Caspian exclaimed. He sat cross-legged with his arms spread out wide.
"So this Moldworks, it wouldn't happen to be the warehouse that the college sold to you, would it?" Dean Baxter asked, arching an eyebrow at me.
"It is, actually." Jane answered for me. "Moldworks is just a nickname that our lead scientist and evo handler gave it."
"I see…" The dean said with an amused smile.
"Scientist? Evo handler? What is this place you are taking us to?" Caspian asked.
"A very important part of Sho'lajah artifact company." I replied coyly.
"Well, whatever it is, can we get there soon, please?" Hideyoshi screeched. I had to bite my lip to hold back my laughter. Caspian, however, did no such thing and laughed unabated at his brother's plight.
"Lucky for you, we're here." I said, then pointed ahead.
"That….it?" Caspian said, obviously unimpressed.
The large warehouse that housed Moldworks, the shaping nexus of the company, didn't look all that impressive from the outside. Anyone looking at it as they passed by would think it was a run of the mill rundown warehouse, but they'd be wrong. While on the outside, it looked like it was on the verge of collapse that wasn't the case on the inside.
"Don't judge a book by its cover, Moldworks is more than just its crumbly exterior." I said with a smirk.
Grimm-Guard quickly descended and landed in the middle of the courtyard. There was a small strip about a half mile long that was cleared out and painted like an airport runway. This was for situations like this, so flying evos could land inside Moldwork's fenced-in perimeter. Grimm-Guard might have been a little bigger than a half mile long, but he still managed to squeeze into the space.
Once Grimm-Guard landed, I turned to look at everyone and saw that Hideyoshi was already scrambling down off Grimm-Guard. He ended up losing his grip and sliding down one of Grimm-Guard's legs and falling flat on his face. Caspian threw his head back and laughed.
"Shit! Are you okay, Hideyoshi?" I called out as I channeled float attribute mana and jumped off Grimm-Guard's head. I landed right in front of Hideyoshi and saw him kissing the ground.
"Land! Sweet, sweet, land!" Hideyoshi exclaimed.
"He's fine!" Caspian cackled and climbed down effortlessly. Iris and Jane rushed over to the dean and helped him down with their tricky movement spells.
"Need some help standing?" I asked. Hideyoshi's ears turned red as he shook his head and stood up. I walked over to Grimm-Guard and held my hand up. He immediately lowered his head and let me pet him. "Good, Job Grimm, and thanks for getting us here so fast."
"It was nothing, Star Boss! Is there anything else you need of me?" Grimm-Guard asked.
"Sin should be out patrolling with Twilight somewhere near Bronze City. Go find them and join them. They were attacked the last time they went there." I said. Grimm-Guard nodded enthusiastically.
"I will find them, Star Boss!" Grimm-Guard exclaimed then took off.
"So let's get this tour started." I said as I turned around to face everyone. Hideyoshi and Caspian looked a little apprehensive about going anywhere near the Moldworks building. The Dean, however, looked thrilled.
"I can't wait to see what you've done with the place." Dean Baxter said.
The courtyard that we landed in was directly in front of the main entrance to the building. While most warehouses had multiple entrances inside, Moldworks only had two.
The smaller human sized door was about a foot and a half of magic reinforced steel. And a larger hanger sized door made of the same steel. Both of them were kept closed at all times unless an evo was being taken outside.
I led the group over to the smaller human sized door and placed my hand on it. I managed to copy a lot of the same enchantments that protected the laboratory back on campus and enchant the whole building with them. Both doors would only open when an authorized person placed their hands on them or when I did, and my mana-nana manipulation spell canceled out the lock spell.
The door quickly unlocked after a failed scan and opened on its own. I stepped inside and motioned for everyone to follow me inside. The Dean followed first, followed by Caspian, Hideyoshi, Jane, and Iris. The moment Dean Baxter and the Ascred Brothers stepped inside their eyes grew wide as they saw the true Moldworks.
While yes, it did look like an abandoned warehouse on the outside, it had been completely remodeled on the inside. The cracked concrete floors that were originally there were redone and reinforced with a few choice enchantment spells. Stainless steel panels covered the walls, also enchanted.
About a hundred feet to thr right if the door stood a newly constructed office space that housed the record room, Haws, Louie, and Madilyn's offices, as well as the break room.
In the center of the building stood two massive maturation tanks side-by-side, each capable of holding five evos Alpa'nagia's size.
Two rows of five medium-sized maturation tanks sat in front of the large tanks and in a semi-circle formation in front of those sat the five small sized maturation tanks.
All the way at the back of the building stood another set of offices. The largest of the two offices was a lab that held the three gene resonators that the college gave us along with a freezer filled with blood samples from various animals. The second office was mine. It was totally empty because I hadn't had time to decorate it.
"This is Moldworks. The worlds only shaping factory." I said, motioning around me.
"Shaping Factory?" Caspian muttered, then looked to his brother. Jane and Iris stepped forward and faced our guests.
"Shaping is a new variation of splicing that Chase created. It combines aspects of both Techno-splicing and traditional splicing methods, creating evos that are custom tailored down to the last gene." Jane said.
"The Acridcroak that took out Oda earlier was a product of the shaping technique." Iris added. Hideyoshi scratched his chin and frowned.
"Combining techno-splicing and traditional splicing…sounds blasphemous." He said in a grim tone.
"Admittedly, I thought the same thing. Chase and I even had a duel over it. We both created evos and battled. I ended up losing…miserably." Jane said, then sighed.
"So the evo he created was strong?" Caspian asked.
"Exceptionally strong…" Dean Baxter spoke up and stepped beside Caspian. "…no offense to Lady Yearwood, but her evo had no chance against his. The college has ordered several of that evo from Chase already."
"The college ordered a variant of that evo." I quickly corrected. "The evo I shaped for the duel is called an Ogrest. It's a tier three evo that specializes in close quarters combat and prefers to use enchanted items that have axiom spells that make weapons like sanguine axe or shadra blade."
Caspian and Hideyoshi both nodded as they heard my explanation, at first not noticing my choice of words. Hideyoshi was the first to notice, however, and cocked his head to the side.
"What do you mean use enchanted items? That's impossible for an evo." Hideyoshi asked.
"Is it, though?" I asked with a smirk, then summoned Jiggles. "Jiggles!"
I flung his crystalline structure a few feet away from the group, and he emerged, now dressed in a barbarian style armor that Jane had made for him just for today. A bear fur loincloth was wrapped around his waist with a lion hide dropped over his shoulders like a cape and the lion's skull resting on his head like a headdress. Bracers made of fur and bear bones were wrapped around his arms up to his biceps. Of course, the bear bones on the bracers were inscribed with an enchantment.
Hideyoshi and Caspian took a step back as they looked up at Jiggles. Jiggles glanced in their direction and let put a low huff before addressing me.
"You called Star Shaper?" He asked.
"Another talking evo?!" Caspian exclaimed. Jiggles turned and looked at Caspian.
"Of course I talk! I'm blessed by Star Shaper! I'M CHUNKY!" Jiggles proclaimed proudly as he pounced his chest.
"Of course you are a big guy!" I said with a smile. "I need a favor. Can you use your enchanted item for me?"
"Of course! Easy!" Jiggles exclaimed.
Jiggles channeled mana into the enchanted bracers on his left arm and cast an axiom spell sigil. A deep gash suddenly appeared in his hand, and blood flowed out of the wound and collected into the shape of an axe in front of Jiggles hand. Jiggles grabbed the axe and hoisted it above his head and trumpeted loudly.
"It…it casted a spell…" Hideyoshi breathed.
"That's impossible! You need mana to cast a spell!" Caspian exclaimed.
"That is what separates Shaped evos from regular evos. Shaped evos have the ability to use mana. They can channel that mana throughout their body, and it will manifest into one or two attributes. Jiggles and all Ogrest have the blast attribute. Day shift and all Acridcroak's back at the shop has purify and mend attributes." I explained.
"That's…that"s…"Caspian stuttered completely at a loss for words. Dean Baxter nodded and patted Caspian on the back.
"Exactly. Trust me, I know the feeling." He said with a chuckle. "That's why I ordered evos from Chase. While the Ogarai do not have as much mana as the ogrest that Chase and his security officer have, they still have mana and are very good at using it…the Ogarai is the evos he sold us."
"I see…" Caspian muttered.
The Ogarai that the dean mentioned was a variant of the Ogrest, made with human, elephant, and hippo DNA. While the Ogrest had human, elephant, and Rhino DNA. It took a little doing but I managed to find a gene that limited how much mana a evo with a mana crystal had. I couldn't give evo more, mana, but I could keep myself from creating an evo that had more mana than I did.
"Might I ask a question, Chase?" Hideyoshi asked.
"Sure." I said.
"Instead of receiving an enchanted item…would it be possible to get a…Shaped evo?" He asked. I scratched my chin and pretended to think about it.
"Yes…but they'll be some conditions." I replied.
"Conditions?" Hideyoshi repeated. I nodded.
"As Shaping is still in its infancy, there is a lot I don't know, and to learn more, I will need data. If I shape an evo for you, you will be required to come back here with said evo for monthly testing and checkups." I said.
"Check ups?" Hideyoshi asked.
"The check up us mostly for the evo, to make sure there is no cellular degeneration, and if there is any, then I can catch it in time and correct it using body modification." I explained.
"So you can't guarantee a fully functioning evo?" Caspian asked.
"Show me any splicer that can make such a guarantee with a normal evo, let alone one that can use mana?" I asked, arching an eyebrow at Caspian. Caspian opened his mouth to speak, then quickly shut it.
"I withdraw the question." He muttered.
"Oh, and just to let you know, if I do shape an evo for you, it won't be an instant process like splicing. It takes me a while to flush out an evos genetic structure and then a couple of days for it to take shape." I added. Caspian and Hideyoshi nodded again, both men's faces clouded with thought.
"Well, take your take deciding if you want a shaped evo or an enchanted item. You have until the end of the tour to decide." Jane said to the two men, then turned to me. "We shouldn't let this tour drag on for too long Chase. We don't want to interrupt their daily lives anymore than we already have."
"Good point…well on with the show. Thanks for the demonstration, Jiggles." I said, then recalled him back to my crystal. A quick glance at the dean, and I saw a look of amusement on his face. He definitely knew that the girls and I were pulling out all the stops to make a dazzling impression.
"Yes, Chase. On with the show…" Dean Baxter chuckled.