Oh wait, I had one of those types back at home too. I'd seen when mom got angry with Elsa for not taking her showers. Though mom never tried anything to this extent. Definitely not outside.

"Alright, I'm listening." I put down the scythe.

​​

The boss lady took her seat on the chair behind the table. The glass wall behind her was kind of blinding but it didn't bother me as much. She and the girl on the floor- who just got up- were very similar in looks.

If the girl hadn't said this woman was her mother, then I certainly wouldn't have believed it, as this boss lady looked not a day over twenty-five. I certainly didn't like her though.

"Alright, welcome to the clubhouse. I'm Zinia Barcov, the boss of this branch." And this woman was totally ignoring the fact that we'd literally caught her ripping clothes and making her daughter wet herself. "MY daughter kind of got out of the line and I had to punish her a little." She tried chuckling but it sure wasn't working. But I got the impression she was trying to make. Apparently, this was a family matter and I wasn't welcome.

I guess I could understand where she was coming from but it still kind of rubbed me off.

"Well, it's your family business and I won't interfere. But even my mother never ripped off the clothes of her daughter you know. And I assure you, my mother is at least a hundred times stronger than the two of you combined and my sister is kind of like the devil incarnate." In the heat of the moment I might have given up solid family info, I shouldn't have. And what the hell was I spouting?

The boss lady giggled. "Sounds like a handful. Anyway, forgive me you had to see that. I trust you're here for your sword?"

I guess she already knew where I was coming from. And she was also trying to change the subject pretty swiftly.

"That's right. And speaking of the sword, it should be done. Sorry about the door."

The free stuff didn't matter anymore. I'd done these guys wrong, by barging in here. Granted this was abuse, but it was a family matter and I had no right to interfere. After all, I didn't know them.

So I hurried out.

"It was good to see you again." The boss lady formed a grin. But I could tell there was more to that. I guess she already knew me. But strangely I didn't remember her.

I came outside anyway.

"That was something." Johnathan grinned. I'd actually forgotten he was even in there.

***

With an aching heart, I climbed down the stairs and headed for the volcan- I mean, the smithy.

As we entered the room, the first thing I noticed was there were no more metallic clangs and for once the room wasn't a burning inferno.

"She's done." The sword was in the corner while the old man was sitting next to a table fan of some sorts: he also had a fan in his hand. He actually didn't have his pants on and not a shirt either. He was relaxing way too much. "She's a bit hot but should be fine."

I didn't care though. The sword mattered more to me. I picked up the sword and was surprised.

"It feels a lot sharper!" It was also a lot shinier: and definitely hot to the touch. But the sword was already pretty sharp and it got even sharper? The weight was virtually the same and so was the size, but the sword itself was definitely a lot sharper.

This guy was good! Amazing even.

"Ain't she a beaut!" The man laughed hard. "Try channeling through your radiation. Don't radiate it out, just keep it within."

No matter how I thought about it, not radiating out my powers was roughly impossible. Even at idle I released at least something. Meaning the people around me definitely had at least some sort of risk. But since it was negligible, I never really cared. But when I focused my energy on something, the stuff about keeping things all inside while not letting anything slip was definitely hard if not impossible.

So instead of taking the risk, I took out my scythe with my left hand while my sword was on my right. I first formed a barrier. The old man was surprised for a second but he grinned anyway. I then channeled my radiation through the blade.

First I tried to use minimal quantity. It didn't leak. I gradually increased the amount. Nothing leaked.

I didn't hold anything back and just used gamma.

Surprisingly the blade didn't leak anything and just absorbed the radiation like crazy. It had a faint greenish glow. And I could tell this thing was literally a cancer hazard.

"You can try igniting it." And the geezer was putting ideas in my head.

"But I can't use fire."

"But you can use plasma." The man grinned harder. "What did you study in school?"

I chuckled. He was right. 'Maybe I should just loan a memory instiller.'

I couldn't be dumb forever.

Instead of wasting too much of my time, I poured way too much radiation and at the same time bombarded the damn thing until it created plasma. Anything over fifty percent Sylvanide was supposed to be super resistant to plasma and this thing was made off of 95% of the stuff. So I didn't hold anything back, not a thing.

I could feel the walls of the barrier tremble, in fact, the whole building shook a little. But I didn't stop, as the geezer didn't stop smiling.

At first the sword glowed in vibrant green, until it slowly changed colors to yellow, then blue until it finally glowed in white with a tint of blue. It was so hot, that my skin started to burn and peel off. Controlling this was impossible.

I had to quickly turn the damn thing off.

"That was close."

I released the barrier and the whole room exploded with steam. I guess I was in a pressure cooker of some sort. I breathed hard.

"Ho HO!" The man burst out laughing again.

"Bravo!" Johnathan clapped his hands.

My hands were literally burned but it sure didn't stop me from grinning too. "This thing is damn hot." And I meant every single word of that.

"I know." The man burst out laughing again. He sure was laughing a lot today. "Be sure to not use the later forms and just stick with yellow at most."

The colors were representative of the quality of the plasma. In sabers, it didn't mean much as that plasma was heavily regulated and not that hot. But the plasma that came out of me was the real deal. So the blue and white stuff was literally hotter than the stuff on the sun.

I was amazed that I didn't actually get roasted when I used this: my hands sure did though.

"Oh my!" And the women made an entrance. She looked pale when she saw my wounds. "We have to get that treated quick!" She was obsessed if nothing else.

***

While my hands were being dressed, something crossed my mind.

"So you had my DNA right?"

"Yes." The woman was a lot calmer now.

And since she wasn't making too many fusses, I tried to push my luck a little. "Do I have any viruses in me?"

"Not that I'm aware of, did have you have any in the past?"

"I think I might have had, 'that' virus." I didn't trust this woman but I didn't have a choice on the matter. I needed to find out more about this virus.

"My data showed no signs, but to do a greater search I'd need more material. How about you give me some samples?"

"What sort of samples. Would hair be fine?" I was losing way more hair lately. I wouldn't have been surprised if I was going bald.

She giggled but then made a smug face. "Sem-"

"Pass." I stood up and went to the other side. The dressing was mostly done anyway.

"OH come on! I wasn't finished yet." She whined for a whole minute. "Fine, but be sure to give me at least ten strands of hair."

I ran a hand through my scalp and tried putting a bit of pressure. Needless to say, five hair just came out on their own. "Here." I did it twice more and got a grand total of twelve strands.

"You should get that treated unless you fancy going bald." Even this woman of all people was disgusted.

I sighed and just stared at the other two. They had awkward looks, especially the old man, as he was going bald himself.

My hands were in a lot of pain. As the adrenaline rush finally left my system, I felt more than enough pain. 'How the hell am I supposed to fight now?'

I still had four days to go, so I didn't really worry that much. I had all sorts of other worries too.

But I still had another reason to come here. "So, I got some core fragments."

"Show me."

"Can you help me out?" I gave a glance to Johnathan.

But before Johnathan could even attempt to come near me, his mother slid her tentacles down my pocket. She touched way more things than necessary and brought out the cores with a smug grin.

I waited till she gave the cores to the old man and then bombarded her with infrared radiation.

"AH!" But instead of shivering in pain, this woman started to moan as her tentacles were being cooked.

I guess I was dealing with a masochist.

I gave the guy in front of me a dull look but he just shrugged. "Yeah, I kind of made an error of judgment in my younger days." He sighed and took the scythe from my waist. He looked miserable for a second but laughed it off anyway.