Hineni flips through the book that Seltsam had found for him at his request. Pages flutter as he quickly swipes through them one after the other with his fingers, damp with sweat. With each turn, a new distortion of an image is revealed, depictions of monsters and ghouls and animals of various state and origins. Some are more in the grisly state of being and others are more calm and peaceful in their appearances.

“What are we looking for?” asks Rhine.

“Inspiration,” replies Hineni, flipping another page as he goes through the ‘h’ section of the book. A page here seems to be missing, as if someone had torn it out. Oh well, these are old books that are often read by adventurers, after all. It’s not surprising that there is some wear and tear to be seen on them. “I’m looking for ideas for a weapon.” He thinks for a moment, considering where all of the fighting is taking place. “What elements are people probably not prepared for in the south, Rhine?” he asks.

“Uh…” Rhine blinks, rubbing his lip with the back of his thumb as he thinks. “I guess all of the normal stuff is covered in a war zone, so fire, nature.” He thinks for a moment longer. “I’m gonna say ice.”

“Ice?” asks Hineni, looking his way.

Rhine nods. “Yeah. Ice casters are pretty rare, so the military never likes to use them on the front,” explains Rhine. “They mostly do logistics stuff, like freezing over rivers and lakes, so they can be crossed by supply deliveries. Or making ice to stop food from spoiling on long marches.”

Hineni thinks for a while, looking around the forge. Ice, huh? It’s an interesting idea. But how to incorporate this into a weapon?

An enchanted sword or an axe is doable, but it’s a little unexciting.

“Why not make a throwing weapon?” asks a voice from the side.

The two of them turn to look at Sockel, who is standing in the door to the forge, leaning against the frame.

“Since when have you been there?” asks Hineni. He hadn’t even noticed her coming inside.

“Long enough to see that you two aren’t working,” replies Sockel.

“This is work, Sockel,” argues Rhine. “Ideation is a very important process of the design stage of product development.”

Sockel lifts an eyebrow. “Get a grip, nerd,” replies the elf. “That’s the lamest thing I’ve ever heard you say. I’m actually kind of sad now,” she says, looking their way in vacant disappointment.

Rhine narrows his eyes, pointing at her. “You like to read old financial ledgers!” he protests. “How am I the nerd? Nerd!”

“Because you’re below my level,” replies Sockel, leaning in. “I can pull it off,” she explains, wiping a strand of hair out of her face. “- I bet you got bullied a lot in school.”

Rhine frowns.

“Sockel, did you just come here to tease Rhine? Because we’re working right now,” says Hineni.

Sockel claps her hands together. “Work’s over,” says the elf. “Today’s Rhine’s day with auntie Sockel, remember?” she asks.

Hineni blinks, remembering. “…Ah, damn it,” he says. “I forgot.”

“Tough cookies,” replies Sockel, gesturing for Rhine to come over. “Come on, twerp. We’re going to murder things until you start growing chest hair.” Rhine looks his way. Hineni sighs and nods, waving him off with an idle hand. “…Did you really just ask him for permission?” asks Sockel. “Gods,” she sighs, shaking her head. “You’re worse off than I thought. Okay. We’re pulling a double in the dungeon. Let’s go,” she barks, grabbing Rhine by his collar and dragging him off.

Hineni watches them leave and then looks back down at the books.

A gust of wind rises up through the forge towards the top of the tower, flipping the pages of the books as it ascends.

The paper falls and Hineni stares down, looking at the distinct drawing there.

“- That’s it!” he says, striking his fist into his open palm.

“This is dumb!” snaps Eilig, hovering in the air. “You’re dumb! I hate this!”

“Thanks, Eilig,” says Hineni. “Just keep it right there.”

The flying fairy buzzes angrily with her wings. “I’ll knock you over the head with it!” she threatens.

Hineni returns to his work. “You seem sour today,” he replies, not giving in to her usual threats and snippiness. “All good?”

“As good as I can be for someone living on borrowed time,” says Eilig, holding the ice-crystal hovering before herself steady.

Hineni looks over his shoulder at her. “Nothing is going to happen to you, Eilig,” says Hineni. “I promise. The whole ‘demon’ thing was a huge, overblown misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?!” she asks sharply. “Your wife and her family ATE PEOPLE,” she yells at him. “Dummy!”

“— Cultural differences,” replies Hineni dryly.

“Cultural differences?!” asks Eilig.

“Cultural differences,” repeats Hineni, nodding once with his head. “That’s from a different time and place, Eilig. She can’t do anything about how she was raised.”

She stares at him. “…I know that I considered dropping you on your head a few times. But I never actually did it,” she says. “I guess you’re just this dumb as is,” says the fairy. “You’re getting married to an exotic, baby-eating demon! She spent her entire life trying to keep you away from it!” snaps Eilig, referring to his mother. “And you’re just shitting all over that! I hate you!”

“Obscura isn’t an ‘it’,” replies Hineni. “She’s a she and she’s going to be my wife,” he says, not skipping a beat. “You’re my only family left, Eilig. I need you to accept this. Please try to, at least.”

The room is quiet, apart from the clinking of metal as Hineni fiddles around with some bolts and metal plates to piece a small stand together. He looks over his shoulder again after a minute, but Eilig is just hovering there quietly and doesn’t say anything.

He returns to his work.

“Okay,” says Hineni. “Set it down slowly.”

“Yeah, yeah,” replies the fairy. “Don’t tell me what to do,” she snaps, lowering the massive ice-crystal she’s created onto the stand that Hineni has made.

“Perfect,” says Hineni, looking at the construction. It’s, in essence, simply just a metal stand with a big chunk of magical ice on top of itself.

He looks at it, recalling his days as a carpenter and then lifts his hands.

Carving ice is sort of like wood-working, …right?

Hineni shrugs. It’s probably close enough.

(Hineni) used: [Carpentry: Shave Material]

It’s done.

Not the weapon he wants to make. But rather, the thing that he needs to make the weapon that he wants to make.

Hineni stands back, admiring the construction made entirely out of carved ice. It’s a series of carved, polished disks in an elongated, narrowing cone shape.

“I still think this is stupid,” says Eilig.

“That’s why you get paid an employee’s salary and not management money, like I do,” replies Hineni. He winces as something small smacks his ear.

“Watch your mouth, or I’ll ground you like the brat you are!” she warns. "Don't forget which one of us is older!"

"It's not like I ever leave the house anyways," replies Hineni, shrugging.

- [Conical Concave Ice-Crystal Condenser] -

- Quality -

Normal

- Composition - Ice: 100%

- Quality Effects -

None

A series of interlocking, conical lenses, made entirely out of magical ice.

‘Made by weaponsmith Hineni - Chosen of the Owl God’

'Made by Eilig, the Fairy'

Weight: 15.43kg Value: 000 Obols

The two of them look at the device for a while.

“There. Can I go now?” asks Eilig. “This is a waste of my time.”

“I still need you for the next step, Eilig,” says Hineni, rubbing the tip of his ear. “Besides, without you, it’ll melt.”

She rolls her eyes. “Then why didn’t you just make this heap of junk in the ice-cellar?!” she asks. “Am I just supposed to live here forever now?!” She gestures around the forge.

Actually. That’s a good point. Hineni was so wrapped up in the idea that he really didn’t think it all the way through. Damn. This is why it’s important for him to have Rhine here.

“We’ll move it later,” he says. “Tough it out with me a little longer, okay?”

She sighs. “Fine. But you owe me for this.”

“Noted,” affirms Hineni, returning to his work on the actual item, now that the primary tool for the next step is completed.

Eilig stares at him, her arms presumably crossed as she hovers there in silence.

Hineni holds his hands out over the newly crafted item excitedly, presenting it to her. But she doesn’t seem thrilled.

“…It’s just a skull again,” she sighs. “You already made a skull before. It’s not interesting twice.”

“Yes, but also no,” says Hineni, pulling the skull over towards himself. He lifts it up. “That last one was based off of a human's skull,” he explains. He spins the skull around to show it to her. “This one is based off of an orc’s,” says Hineni, gesturing along the sides of the skull to show the thicker areas of bone and the wider jawline.

“Is this some kind of delayed phase?” she asks. “Are you just going through your edgy puberty years now?” The fairy shakes her head.

“It’s called ‘marketing’, Eilig,” replies Hineni.

“Boy, if you smart-ass me again, I’ll smack you across the face until you cry,” replies the fairy.

Hineni blinks. “And here I thought you didn’t like my old man,” says the man. “You sound just like him.”

“I don’t! He wasn’t good enough for her. But I guess that was a pattern with everyone in her life,” snaps the fairy.

“I feel like you’re talking about me,” says Hineni, fiddling with the ice and not letting her snippiness get to him.

“I’m talking about you!” she barks at him in her shrill voice.

Hineni nods. “Tell you what. I’ll grab some candy for you after we finish. If you promise to stop being a jerk for the rest of the day.” She mumbles indistinctly behind him.

Hineni places the skull beneath the ice device. “Okay. Juice it up.”

She sighs, flying over to the construction and then placing her hands at the top of it. A glow escapes her fingers, condensing over the body of the thing. The magical aura flows through the concave shape, moving down towards the bottom where it comes together into a single, dripping point.

A droplet falls from the lowest tip, a freezing, string-like trail connecting it to the construction, as if it were a descending spider.

It lands on the skull.

Immediately, the metal skull crackles, shaking wildly as it begins to freeze over.

- [Frozen Skull]{Clutch of the Owl-God} -

- Quality -

High

- Composition - [Frozen Skull](High) x1

- Quality Effects -

High: 24% Durability

“Chosen of the owl-god”

Adds additional attributes to the attached weapon - Title Effect - “Clutch of the owl-god” +Freezing duration +55% Every tick has a chance to apply stacking status [Freezing{1}] on everything affected. When activated, immediately freezes over an area within a radius of 55 meters, dealing ICE damage at a rate of 3/second. A permanently frozen, metal skull with a harrowed, cold expression. Entwined with the lights of deadly ice magic and the spirit of death, this ominous skull radiates a freezing energy.

‘Made by Weaponsmith Hineni - Chosen of the Owl God’

'Made by Eilig, the Fairy'

Weight: 5 kg Durability: 50/50 Value: 15000 Obols