Mori sat in a lotus position on the cool stone floor, in front of him lied 5 metal plates he had repurposed from some of the trashy weapons he had found in his newly acquired storage bag. Trash was relative though because they were most likely some of the man's most prized possessions. Either way he was long gone his very soul wiped from existence so he did not dwell on the matter. He had used his makeshift torch to melt the swords and armours down, dripping them into rectangular and oddly shaped molds he had etched into the floor for the process. Now that he had proper base plates it was time to begin his preparations, even if he was now nothing but a mortal he could easily defend himself from at least a weak destruction realm cultivator, though his chances were slim if he had to fight a peak relm or even worse a consolidation realm cultivator. The thought of what he would do in that situation sent a shiver down his spine as he saw no other option rather than run or die a horrible death.
" anyway let's set that aside for the time being, let's focus on the task at hand, survival gear!" With a renewed confidence he began going over a list of requirements in his mind. 'so I need to be able to shield both my body and mind from attacks, be able to divert or reflect blades and spells, some kind of attacking formation. Offense is always the best defense.' Thinking about it these were the three most important tasks.' There's also some ease of life things like flight, environmental shielding and poison neutralizing but those are secondary.' With the basic tasks decided Mori began heating the metal plates back up before taking a hammer that looked more like a decorated tool of war rather than a blacksmiths hammer but it would get the job done. While it was way too heavy for his body to lift a simple weight shifting formation made it manageable even with how difficult it still was. His backwater artifact forge was working in full steam as he worked tirelessly the whole day before he had finally finished shaping the plates to size and modifying them into actual artifact bases.
in front of him sat a few unadorned peices of jewelry prepped for carving, The first was a simple metal hair tie to hold back his black flowing hair that draped just past his shoulders. He decided on it because it would be annoying if it wasn't tied back, especially in a fight. The second adornment was a set of 4 bangles to wear on his wrists to protect from heat cold, poison and other ailments. The third was a sholderpad that flowed down into a small bracer to be worn on his right arm, this would be to deflect attacks and blows or redirect them, it was a little redundant but better safe than sorry. The forth was an oversized necklace designed to create a forcefield around him in case of emergency, the final artifact was a set of bucles and bands he would need to attach to his boots and belt so he could fly in a pinch."I mean it's more like walking on the air rather than actual flight but it's still better than nothing. After he had finished the basic forms he was exhausted and sweaty from his labors so he decided it was finally time for a bath, but first he needed to at least finish the necklace before he headed off to the waterfall less he got attacked without any defences while he washed up.
With a tired sigh he decided to at least get this part over with so he could go clean up. With a lot of struggle he managed to grab his chisel once again and began to slowly etch the force field formation onto the necklace. It's delicate lines flowed so smoothly it appeared as though a master craftsman was making his masterpiece rather than Mori repurposeing useless garbage into more useful garbage. His eyes traced the design of the lines struggling to keep focus as a splitting headache thretaned to ruin the whole peice. The amount of intent he had to use was not something a mortal should be able to execute and as such his body reacted violently to his actions. Nonetheless he pushed past the pain for another hour as he finally managed to complete the new artifact. Collapsing in exhaustion he was well and truly defeated by the task in front of him. as he fell asleep to take a nap, a subtle, satisfied smile formed on his sleeping face as the idea of taking a bath had been all but abandoned for now, that was for when he had the strength to move again, an ability he now sorely lacked.
A long while later a small groan escaped his lips as he softly stirred from his deep slumber. Rolling over off of his side he wiped the drool that stuck to the side of his face with the sleeve of his tattered robes. He hadn't paid much attention to the state of his dress but now that he took a better look he realized how completely torn to shreds it was but it didn't really matter much at the moment." I should see if there's any spare robes in the man's storage bags."sadly he was too lazy and decided to wait till after his bath to change his clothes. His voice droned off as he broke out into a yawn before thinking about the day before." Hmm I was going to take a bath right speaking of baths." Mori gave himself a quick sniff before reeling back in disgust," Dam I really do stink!" Fumbling with the oversized necklace that now hung around his neck he dragged out a spirit Stone that he placed in its main face as it fit snugly inside as a power source for the force field formation in case he needed to activate it. Standing up from the cold hard stone he prepared himself for his hour long track out to the waterfall he had found over a month ago at this point."The days really just blend together when you gotta fight for survival don't they." Letting out a small chuckle he left out of the illusion formation and began his walk out to the waterfall.