“Thanks for everything! Can I do something for you?”

“That’s appreciated, Mr Arslan, but we still have work to do for today.”

“Alright! Have a good day!”

“You as well, Mr Arslan. Fellas! Let’s go.”

SWUSH

Vanishing workers. Sweet! It’s unusual for workers that have just been there finishing your request to disappear all at once but I should have known that they were all Awakened ones.

Didn’t seem like Association workers. Maybe they were from the Shield Guild, the guild the principal created when he needed some more political power in the saying of the Awakened world.

But that doesn’t really matter. The rewards are here as I expected!

I dashed towards the guestroom which should have become a workplace for me to do my forging but I was blown away by how much it changed.

Prior to the change, it was just a guest room that my mum used as storage because when she bought something online to only use it for five days. I can vaguely remember my dad blocking her card for a while because her spending became too much for the two of them to bear.

But now, instead of being filled with opened packages and stuffed closets, it was like an authentic forge with a forge in the corner with a smoke purifier, two different sized anvils, a couple of machines like the power hammer, the filing machines and so on as well as a working table with multiple types of equipment like a big tong, couple of hammers, bowls to make certain mixtures.

It was almost perfect. Almost because what I think lacked was something I would never forget.

VUUM

“There we go!”

Taking out my special hammer from my ring, I placed it on the hanging on the tool hanger on the wall.

Now, it is perfect!

“Wow! This is what you meant with reward?”

“A part of it, yes.”

“How much did you actually ask for.”

“A ridiculous amount, yes.”

“I feel sorry for the principal.”

“And the Association director.”

“I’m sorry for the two of them. But this sure is different than the one you previously had.”

“Yeah. that one was made to be used outside so I couldn’t really bring the tools from the little hut inside the room. And this is much better with air purification and other functions installed. It sure is nice to have such luxury.”

“Sure is. So?”

“So?”

“So… What are you going to do first?”

I haven’t really thought about it. I have a couple of ideas in my head but which one I’d like to do first is still something I’m not sure about.

And besides, I don’t want to use the precious materials first. I got one idea where I could use them, but I’ll have to hold it off for now.

“It seems that the principal hasn’t sent the materials yet…”

“Does it take so long for materials to be sent?”

“Maybe he wants to send them to me when he gets the space Orichalcum that I asked for.”

“Oh, so he hasn’t found the WHAT NOW!!”

Ah! I forgot to tell her that part, didn’t I? That I asked the principal for 4 Kg of Orichalcum, one of the nine Metal Kings with its ability to have every property of a magical alloy with an Element.

So that’s why she reacted so strongly. Guess I should have told her before but I guess it wasn’t as important as I thought it would be.

Who am I kidding? Obviously, it’s as important as it sounds but I just didn’t have the time to tell her all the details.

“Hmmm… Alright, I got an idea!”

“And that is?”

“Answer quickly when I ask you a question. Ready?”

“Anytime, baby!”

I’ll ignore that for now. But my idea was simple. I’ll filter down all my ideas with simple questions that should be easy

“Big or small?”

“Big.”

“Thin or thick?”

“Thick.”

“Light or heavy?”

“Heavy.”

“Hot or cold?”

“Hot.”

“Dry or wet?”

“Wet.”

“Static or dynamic?”

“Dynamic!”

“Lastly, Blunt or sharp”

“Blunt!”

Okay! Okay! I know exactly what I’ll do next.

VUUM

BONK

“Ouch! What was that for!”

“I shall cleanse thy impure thoughts with this holy bat!”

Her impure thoughts are not what I asked for. Even if my questions were part of the reason, she had to start doing something sensual. All I asked was to give me a basic concept.

And even if what she answered wasn't for a weapon, I still got an answer. This meant only one thing.

I could start working again!

"Alright, now get out! I have to work!"

"Alright! Alright! You don't have to shout at me…"

"If I make a weapon I acknowledge, dinner will be on me."

"But you take so much time to finish a weapon you 'acknowledge'! I don't want to starve!"

"Wow! Talk about being selfish! And don't worry, I won't take as much time as before."

"Hmph! Fine! I want Sushi!"

"Going expensive, aren't we? But fine."

"Yay! Have fun, my dear!"

CLICK

And the door was shut with no one but myself inside this newly built forge. I had time to let loose in a fight, giving Fe'liu blue eyes and Laetisa a swollen cheek.

Alyssa got out of it with no superficial injury but I accidentally made her sprain her wrist. Even after a potion, there have been traces of her injury which is the reason why she wants take out…

I'm not sure if she would have made food if I said no… or persisted in eating her food.

But I'm no monster.

I accept myself as who I am and this is me.

So I know that I'm not a monster that would be inconsiderate about other people's feelings and situations.

"Alright… [Stone Steel], [Wind Elemental Ore] and [Ghost Alloy] should do the trick for this one. The handle will be about 2 metres as the head will most likely be 1,2 metres as well… if I add those… and this amount…alright!"

It was time to start the forging of another weapon!

A Hammer!

I am thankful that Alyssa said blunt because what I lacked inside my armoury was a blunt weapon. I had two guns, daggers, a spear, a shortsword and armour. Besides the gun and armour, all my weapons were cutting based that wouldn't work on someone that used heavy armour.

I had this idea after fighting with Walter. He was definitely not strong enough to withstand my smash on his shoulder when I fell from the sky onto him. But what made him stand still wasn't his strength but his armour.

So if I can't cut through your armour, the last thing I could do is stall for time or try to find gaps to cut at. But now, this will change.

With the addition of a hammer, I could deal massive damage to someone even if they wear armour. And with 'Hot', 'Wet' and 'Dynamic', I would be making a Wind Elemental weapon.

Since the second ring got on my body, I learned more and more about the runes. This time, most of them are words like water, wind, earth, sword, dream and so on.

My guess is that while the first ring was about basic concepts like compression, speed and so on, the second ring was about affinities and their likes. Now, I could write something like [Wind Compression] instead of just [Will Compression] that would only be able to compress the Will inside it, making the weapon generally stronger and sturdier.

[Wind Compression] instead would make the wind compress around the weapon, creating a thick coating of the wind itself. This could be useful for shields and armour to make the wind redirect attacks depending on how thick the wind current is around the object.

But I will do a rune called [Wind Burst]. The idea is to make the hammer heavy. So if I want to move it still as fast as possible, I'll have to use bursts of Wind or Fire. With the questions I asked Alyssa, wind is the element I'll be using for this weapon.

And having wind is much safer than using fire since that could actually go bad with constant explosions occurring near me when using the hammer.

So the first step as always was to heat up the forge to the perfect degree, melting every metal necessary before creating the alloys I wanted with them.

For the handle, I’ll use pure [Stone Steel] while the head of the hammer will be a mix of all three metals.

[Wind Elemental Ore] is a special ore of the Elemental type. What it means is that it attracts and produces the element it has grown up with. [Wind Elemental Ore] is really light so to make the head heavier, I plan on using [Ghost Alloy] to make it heavier combined with the [Stone Steel] in it to compress the alloy to the maximum.

CLANG

Hammering onto the finished ingots, I started to shape them carefully.

CLANG

With each hammering, I could feel myself getting more efficient.

CLANG

Faster.

CLANG

Stronger.

CLANG

And with a wide smile on my face, I continued to hit the hot metal more and more, forgetting everything else but this very weapon I’m about to make.

—

“Ma’am, please! You can’t leave right now. Especially after what happened yesterday.”

“It is because of what happened yesterday that I am going. Don’t try to talk me out of it, Angelina."

"But ma'am, I already gave you your sched-"

"If you wanted to convince me to stay, you should have come yourself instead of sending a clone. Here! Take this and read it. You'll understand why I'm rushing like this."

Two women were arguing in an apartment located in New York City. The view was fantastic as the sun shone through the window, lighting up almost every part of the room.

Every part except the place where a familiar figure was standing at the time. Angelina was standing in a corner looking at the woman in front of her she called ma'am. Or at least, her clone was.

The woman looked about to be in her early forties with very slight wrinkles visible yet not ruining her charm, only adding to it. Her hair was chestnut brown with slight grey strands going through them and with her dark brown eyes, she glared at Angelina's clone as she was currently busy with ready the letter the woman gave her.

With each passing second, the eyes of Angelina's clone widened more and more until she was finished.

"These bloody maggots don't stop giving me so much headache!"

"Yes. That's why I'll listen to what is said in this letter. If he is right, I really do not have any other option than to go.

Determination.

The driving force of every Awakened.

There is no exception to it. It is the reason why their energy is called Will instead of other names used in history like Chi, Chakra, Aura and the like.

And the letter could be described as a work of pure determination as the ink was filled with the Will of the writer.

And with such Will infused ink on the paper, the contents are even more believable, even if the content itself would make anyone think that it is a big joke.

“But will you still listen to him after… that?”

“I have no choice. I hate him for his previous choices but he was the one that taught me people can change over time. It may take months or even centuries but I have to give him a second chance as he did to me. And besides…”

The woman paused for a moment with her words as she took out a photo of a certain person. Sorrow flashed through her eyes as she looked at the picture.

A beautiful past that now only had pain resurface whenever her mind thought about them.

A beautiful past that was only followed by pain and sorrow.

“…I already promised him that I will look after them for at least a couple of months. And besides, they did nothing wrong. So I’ll go no matter what. Is that clear, Association Director Angelina Edwards?”

The woman demanded from the director as her eyes narrowed while looking at her. Although technically Angelina was the superior here, the woman was definitely someone that not even the Director herself could handle.

“Fine… I’ll arrange a private jet for you immediately. You should be in Berlin in about 6 hours and at their house in about a couple of hours after that. It should be around 3 AM by the time you arrive so I would suggest for your leave to be a little later.”

“Oh, Director. I could just telepo-”

“No. after what happened yesterday, I can’t let any Association member use their powers just like before. People are aware now, even if we hide it or not. I’ll make an exception for this since it can’t be helped but please use your powers with discretion, ma’am.”

“Alright. I won’t try to push it. Tea?”

Lifting the teapot and teacup with her Will before placing it on a dark violet platform that was made out of the Space Element, the woman invited Angelina for some tea with the latter nodding at her.

A rather serene atmosphere for two people that just found out information that could change the future.

“Phew… finally finished! Looks good, doesn’t it?”

“It’s amazing how you could fit this upwards in the room. Did they raise the ceiling for this?”

“No. the ceiling was always this big. Dad doesn’t like the ceilings low so when we moved from our old apartment, he found this place with a pretty high ceiling. But I would have thought this as well since this beast is about two and a half metres long with the handle and head combined.”

The so-called beast being the hammer I just finished stood tall on the ground, pointing the end of the handle upwards. It was a beautiful hammer. I wasn’t that fond of having decorations on weapons, keeping them simple yet perfect but I kind of couldn’t help myself when working on this beauty.

With gold bands around the connection part between the head and handle, having a sharp butt cap at the other end of the handle as well as being engraved with a second runic word called [Shock Burst] which would help in creating more havoc than it should be possible with only my pure strength.

Just imagining the earth burst open with [Shock Burst] made me already droll slightly, making Alyssa look at me like I was a weirdo.

“Just imagine a good scene. A moment where instead of the staff from the other day, I could have hit that bastard with this beauty on the shoulder.”

“You just want to see what effects this will have on his armour, don’t you?”

“Guilty as charged. Now. what do you want to eat? Let’s get some take out.”

“Sushi! I want sushi!”

Expensive! Why do we have to get sushi? But with the shine in her eyes directed directly at me, I couldn’t say no to her.

“...fine… but before that.”

Looking at the beauty standing right next to me, I stared at it with a light in my eyes I would only have when looking at my own weapons.

[Stahl]

A light.

A light that shone brighter than any light in this room. And as this light shone, Stahl started to levitate upwards, only to shoot towards my chest and enter my soul, sleeping in there until I call it out when I need it.

“Now that we are finished with this, I guess we can no-”

BZZT BZZT

My phone vibrated as I was in the middle of talking. Taking it out, I could see a new message by an unknown number.

[You don’t have to come to school tomorrow. And please don’t make such a scene next time. -Alexander Lenkov]

“I smell something! Who are you texting with?”

“The principal said I don’t have to come to school tomorrow. And how can you smell a message?”

“You should fear my intuition.”

“I fear that you become more idiotic than before. Now come on. Let’s get some sushi.”

I left the still hot forge with my junior while looking through my phone at a restaurant that delivered sushi.

Our bickering continued even after getting our food but honestly, that’s how I was used to it.

I just can’t help but feel that I should stay like this with her. Since this is how I was used to it.

I want stuff to stay like this.

If they could have stayed like this only sooner…