Three days passed before all orders were completed, and Atlas was so exhausted that he could barely stand on his feet.
"Well... I'm quite impressed. You endured more than I expected..."
Even Old Mold didn't rest a single moment and kept all his attention following each step along the artifact's creation.
With tolls in hand, Old Mold tested the artifacts' quality with great care.
Other than the eight pieces of jewels, there was a refined gauntlet pair made of precious leather from a poisonous lizard and a purple-golden metal bracelet.
The last piece, in particular, was quite refined.
Indeed, Atlas took great care of every inch and thoroughly experimented with the Godly Crafter Refiner technique.
"... Mmm... These pieces are better than before... But, alas, only half have reached the advanced quality. Don't worry... you just need a bit more practice. As for these two..."
The only reason why Atlas was still awake was that he was waiting for the old dwarf's estimation.
Clearly, the result was quite acceptable for his young pride. Still, hearing about his defeat brought him a bit of gloom.
"Shit... next time, I will perform even better... what about the other two? The Corvinus Lizard's leather was quite uncommon. It took me a bit to come up with a solution and such a fine pair... so what do you think about that?"
"Well... I... they are not so... bad..." Old Mold examined the artifact, yet Atlas could clearly feel something strange from his response.
"Hey... old man... don't be afraid to tell me the truth. If it's so bad, I will adjust it immediately..."
Atlas was one step away from the table and ready to take the artifact back, but Old Mold stopped him: "Calm down... the product is fine... it's just that something unexpected came out during the process. The customer requested a pair of gauntlets for protection purposes, yet with the material he provided, the object got a brutal corrosive power..."
"Really?" Atlas was quite surprised and snatched the artifact from the dwarf's hands with great interest: "... well, this is not so bad. Maybe the leather's properties altered the Chaos Rune creation. Anyway, this type of accident can happen..."
"Sure... can happen, yet we entirely missed the customer's request. So it's pointless even if he came out better than the prospected result..."
Even if Old Mold was quite detestable and frugal sometimes, he was pretty proud of his works.
Such a result left a strange taste behind, as a kind of failure.
"I rarely used this type of leather, yet the result couldn't be so different from the one I supposed... I need to study this material further to understand the problem..."
After thinking for a while about the problem, Old Mold gave his final verdict: "Anyway... it's a Primordial Chaos Artifact of advanced quality. It's not so bad... good job."
Hearing some praise was always good.
"Hehehe... Thank you... What about the bracelet? I followed your suggestion and used a rose bush for reference. The Goldirer and Redium metal gave the artifact a particular appearance. A mixed metal with sixty percent gold and forty percent red. This combination of appearance and color will make every woman's heart flutter..."
Atlas spared no breath and glorified his best product as if the old dwarf was a customer.
Clearly, his words were useless to him, and they got no response except mere disdain.
"Little brat... what the hell are you talking about? Other than that, what truly matters is the final result. The external seems perfect, but what about the inside? Why don't we check what you left behind?"
Noting that his words were taken so lightly, Atlas stepped closer and demanded with indignation: "Then check it carefully..."
Wasting no more time, Old Mold examined the last artifact and, sure enough, found some irregularities: "Hey... stupid brat! Look at this..."
Shouted back, Atlas neared and looked where the short finger was pointing: "What?!... there is nothing strange..."
"Are you blind? Look carefully... something is missing..." Old Mold shouted angrily.
Atlas checked again, yet nothing wrong popped out.
"Okay, What is missing?... Stop being so secretive... just say it!"
Having no choice, Atlas admitted his ignorance and surrendered to the fact that he could not discover the problem.
"Stupid brat... You still have a lot to learn... Look here. The main ring is narrower by at least a quarter in this point..."
Atlas was left speechless by the small problem and mumbled with a strange low tone as if disapproving of all this fuss: "So what? It's just a bracelet... such a tiny irregularity is still acceptable."
The old dwarf wasn't deaf and gave the poor fellow a sonorous slap on his pride.
"Acceptable??... Damn... Acceptable... my ass! Such a tiny irregularity can ruin the artifact's durability by a lot. As you have structured the bracelet, if the main body breaks, all the closer little rings will fall. We can't let that happen. You must find a solution. Otherwise, I will throw this shit in the Chaos Hearth..."
Those were such hard words, but the old dwarf was right, so he couldn't let such a treasure go to waste and started thinking deeply.
"...Hmm... I probably did something wrong during the decoration process. Making all those tiny red leaves was too dangerous..."
"Indeed... you were entirely concentrated wasting time with those tiny embellishments that your pinky ruined that part... So, what are you going to do?"
The Old Dwarf already had more than a solution in mind, yet he waited for the young man's response.
"Hmm... Can I use a gem to fix it?" Atlas proposed after thinking for a while.
"Sure, but explain to me the reason..."
"Hmm... Since I used nothing other than metals, using a gem will give the product a more stunning result and fix the problem..." Atlas spoke what was in his mind, giving a more than acceptable solution: "What do you think?"
"Not bad..." Old Mold nodded with a stony face: "... And what will you use? Choose a gem that matches perfectly with this color combination carefully."