Walking back over to his workstation, Torus reached out and grabbed the hammer head with his gloved hand, dipping it into a pit of water he had sitting next to the forge.
He planned to work on the Imbuement for his hammerhead after this before finishing the day off with what he had originally planned - poisons.
After starting to learn about poisons and how commonly different beasts would use them to take on stronger opponents, Torus learned the true danger that poisons possessed.
There were a number of beasts in nature that died to poison and Torus didn't plan to be like them.
Aside from this, Torus also realized that what he was currently doing wasn't gonna cut it for later stages of his Aspect, that the ways in which he was growing were temporary and he needed more concepts to take inspiration from - such as poison. From everything they had learned so far, they could safely conclude that his Aspect was Beast.
This Aspect had to do with him being a beast in human form - or at least that's how he viewed it - and as such, he could never grow into a beast of his own by copying other beasts.
The way he had chosen to start things off with becoming his own beast was to increase his strength, wishing to become the strongest God, and the next way he started to work on was to learn of and make poisons to allow for attacks against those stronger than him until he reached that goal.
Learning about poisons led to a two-fold advantage.
After giving himself a boost in his production of antibodies after studying an animal of the past known as an ostrich, Torus then began to make and use poisons on himself, slowly increasing their strength.
What he was hoping to accomplish was gaining a resistance to all poisons, or even gaining an immune system that could develop an antibody for any toxin before he would die, as well as to eventually make a poison of his own that would be the strongest poison in the world.
That was why, Torus was currently turning to leave his little Crafting station, heading back inside to grab the few items he didn't have on hand that were needed to create his poisons.
However, before he could take more than ten steps, a voice called out to him that stopped him in his tracks, "Torus!" The voice called out, containing strength within it that betrayed the fragility carried within its tone.
The voice was soft and clearly feminine, as Torus listened to it and the shaky way it said his name, he couldn't help but to feel the vulnerability contained within it.
Almost instinctively, Torus' head turned toward the source of said voice, his eyes widening at the sight laid bare before his eyes.
With trembling lips, Torus called out to the figure, "Master." He appeared to answer in response to her previous calling out, his feet seeming to move without his control as he walked toward her figure in rather large strides.
While these actions may appear out of place for the usual teasing pair, this could easily be explained by the events of the previous few weeks.
After learning who his true parents were and gaining a new sense of determination, Torus felt that his current pace of growth, that could be perceived as extraordinarily fast, was too slow. As such, Torus had a talk with his Master, one that let's just say, she didn't respond too well to.
While he had tried to be tactful in the way he brought it up and told her about his concerns, Sofia took his words in the worst way possible - as if he was saying that she was dragging him down.
While he at first tried to break this misconception, she seemed rather stuck in her way of thinking, not even really listening to him from that point on. Eventually, the situation devolved to the point that Sofia kicked him out of their usual training spot, telling him not to come visit her after that day.
While Torus wanted nothing more than to go against those words, after consulting with his family on the matter in a distraught state, he eventually agreed to give her some time to herself to work things out, figuring this must've been a hard thing for Sofia to endure considering Torus was her first ever student.
Now that they were meeting face-to-face, it was the first time they had talked in weeks. So, it was no surprise that there were some rather strong emotions shared between the two, especially on Sofia's part.
As he watched his Master's figure, Torus' expression softened as he looked at her, seeing her in a state he'd never thought possible for her.
Looking her over, only two words came to mind for him, 'How fragile,' he thought to himself, her current state instilling in him the sudden urge to coddle her, protecting her from the trauma of the outside world.
Standing there, Sofia posed quite the heart-wrenching image, her hands placed before her as she held one out facing to the ground, the other reaching across to grab onto the elbow of it, her body leaning to one side as she rested on the ball of her foot, the other raised as it gently tapped at the ground, and her head downturned as she looked to the side, clearly not willing to meet Torus' gaze.
Quickly rushing forward at this sight, Torus enveloped his Master in a hug, gently consoling her nearly insensate form.
As he looked down at his Master within his arms, Torus nearly felt his heart shatter at her current appearance.
Her hair was in a mess, strands shooting in every direction showing her lack of personal care, her eyes a deep bloodshot red that showed the lack of sleep she must've been getting these past few nights, her clothes a mess as creases appeared all over them and her outfit appeared haphazardly strung together, as if she couldn't be bothered to put any thought into it.
As he looked at his Master's current appearance, Torus felt like punching himself, realizing that he was the bastard that had caused her so much distress, even if unintentionally.
As he wrapped his larger frame around her, the only thing Torus could think of was that he wanted to hold her in his arms forever, shielding her from all the pain the outside world could bring.
However, their current situation could only last so long before they were broken out of their current state, the thing to do this being none other than Sofia herself.
With quivering lips, Sofia raised her head, meeting Torus' eyes for the first time since the fight they had as she spoke to him in a shaky voice, "Torus, I'm sorry for the things I said to you before. I just- I felt like you were abandoning me, that you felt like I wasn't enough anymore.
I-I couldn't handle that feeling, that pressure pressing down on me as though it wanted to crush me - that disappointment. I felt as though I had failed you as a teacher-" Before she could carry on, Sofia found herself being cut off by the much louder voice of her disciple.
"Don't say things like that!" Torus' voice boomed out in a sudden exclamation, the sound forceful enough to silence Sofia's own words.
As she looked into his eyes, Sofia could see that his expression had now morphed into a look of agitation, as if listening to her had set something off within him.
Before she could refute him, Torus began speaking once more, "Master, you never failed me as a teacher. It was only a selfish request of mine that led us to our current situation. I shouldn't have pushed you to the side just to further my own strength, forgetting how that might make you feel." Here, Torus found himself cut off, his heated voice being shushed by his Master's hand coming up to rest over his lips, silencing him.
With a gentle shake of the head, Sofia gave Torus a tiny, weak smile as she continued her words from where she had been cut off, "No, it wasn't a selfish request. I've been coming to watch you over the past few weeks, watching as you train.
And after seeing all the improvement you've made, it made me realize something - I really have been holding you back-'' Sofia stopped her words here as she watched Torus' eyes widen, his hand coming up to move her own away that were currently blocking his ability to speak in preparation to say something, anything at all to remove that weak look his Master sported, one that sorely reminded Torus of a helpless little girl.
However, rather than let him do so, Sofia used a bit more force in her hold, the weak smile still resting on her face as she gently shook her head at him.
As he watched these movements, Torus' hand finally came to a stop; however, his face still clearly showed his strong disagreement with her words.
Rather than dissuade his clear disagreement, Sofia only let out a gentle smile before continuing where she had left off, "-Whether intentional or by accident, I've realized that I haven't been training you in the way I should've been this entire time.
After thinking about it for a long while, I realized that I may have been subconsciously treating you as though you were still that little kid I first met, not wanting to see you grow from that stage, to go out and explore all the dangers this world has to offer. I wanted to be there to protect you always, and maybe that's what inspired me to act in that way.
As a result of those feelings, I felt as though you choosing to train on your own was a betrayal of me, as though maybe you had realized what I had figured out and chose to distance yourself because of it." Sofia stated, her expression now appearing even more fragile than it had before as she looked at her disciple for any signs of anger or displeasure.
Listening to these words, Torus couldn't help but to feel a mixture of shock at the admission, as well as the desire to comfort the clearly downtrodden figure of his Master.
However, before he could manage to move out of his shocked state, Sofia seemed to shake off these feelings, her eyes once more meeting him with a new light to them.
With a now much more determined glint, Sofia carried on unimpeded by Torus' actions, "This all isn't to make myself look pitiful to you, it's nothing more than an apology for the way I acted, as well as an explanation for why I did so.
Don't expect this to change anything between the two of us, even our bet for tomorrow is still in place!" Sofia finished, her tone coming out a bit more fierce toward the end, as if daring Torus to contradict her words.
Even with this deliberate showing of force from her however, Torus realized that there was some type of internal struggle still going on within his Master.
However, rather than to call her out on it or to act worried over her, he decided to simply respect her wishes, allowing her to figure out her problems for herself.
Instead, Torus simply donned a confident smirk, replying to the clear challenge in her words with his own cockiness, "Well, if the competition is still on, be prepared to lose tomorrow!" Torus exclaimed, a smirk of arrogance appearing over his face.
Listening to these words, Sofia let out a small scoff, a slow smile appearing on her face. At the sight of this, Torus couldn't help but to let out an internal sigh of relief, feeling relieved that he had managed to at the very least assuage her worries for the moment.
However, rather than responding to his provocation, Sofia simply turned on her heel, slowly walking away on the spot, showing off her own form of arrogance.
As he slowly watched her figure disappear into the distance, Torus' smirk of confidence slowly fell off his face, his appearance now taking on a far more serious look.
Standing there in silent contemplation, Torus began thinking to himself with a solemn gleam in his eye, 'I can't afford to be arrogant toward this upcoming fight.
Even if my goal is only to land one clean blow on her, Master's strength is so much above mine that this will prove to be the most challenging accomplishment I've ever achieved considering there's no way she'll hold back as much as she did the first time I had managed to succeed,' Torus thought to himself.
Also turning on his heel in a similar manner to the way Sofia had just done, Torus chose to discard his previous plans, instead once more returning to his forge, preparing to spend the rest of the night working toward a project he had started a while ago, as well as to an idea he had recently come up with.