Food and metal.

I intentionally delayed this chapter because I got caught up with something in (P)(A)(T).

Next chapter: October 6th. Don’t worry about me failing to keep this promise; I’ve set this chapter on a timer, and even if I die, it will still be released.

Well, that’s it. Have a good day and enjoy your reading.

(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori

[...]---[...]

“He didn’t do that.” I glanced at the subject of our conversation, Qrow, who was laughing. “You challenged a fourth-year student just days after entering Beacon?”

“He did. That’s when I discovered he was ridiculously stupid.” Taiyang laughed from across the table. “Qrow got beaten up in five seconds, and I still think the guy was holding back.”

“I lasted at least ten seconds!” Qrow slapped the table before bursting into laughter and pointing at Taiyang. “Young and stupid, I wasn’t the only one like that.”

“You wouldn’t dare…”

Qrow grinned, showing all his teeth.

“I want the story by yesterday.” I pointed at Qrow, who pushed Taiyang away when he tried to cover the man’s mouth.

“If I thought I was invincible, Taiyang there thought he was the most irresistible creature to ever set foot in Remnant.” Qrow snorted at the memory and started laughing again as he told the story. “The idiot tried to hit on the nurse of the time in front of the entire combat room—”

Qrow slapped the table as he began to laugh, barely able to finish the story.

“—The damn combat professor that year was her husband…”

The table fell silent for a second. That was also the time I managed to hold back my laughter before starting to laugh just like Qrow.

Taiyang slapped his face before pointing at Qrow and opening his mouth, only to start laughing while holding his belly.

“Holy shit… How?!” I heard Yang’s murmur from the table next to ours, where she and the rest of Team RWBY were sitting. Penny was there too.

“Is Dad losing it?” Ruby’s voice was confused. “Last time you only mentioned the name of the guy she liked and he pulled up his academic record… Is it magic? It has to be magic.”

“How?!” Yang asked again.

“Devas gets along better with older people, doesn’t he?” Blake commented. “He seems more comfortable talking with older people than with those his age or younger.”

“Yes…” I felt Weiss’s gaze on the back of my neck before she diverted it to the chair to my left, where Jacques was sitting, and murmured, “Maybe things won’t end badly…”

I paid only vague attention to the conversation at the other table while laughing. With each laugh, my head ached a little, but it was worth it.

“I’d ask if these two stories are real, but knowing Qrow, at least one of them I’m sure is true.” James took a sip of his drink to hide the smile on his face.

“The one about Taiyang being a dumb ladies’ man, obviously.”

“That one I have my doubts about being true.” James ignored Qrow’s look.

“I can confirm that both stories are true.” Ozpin joined the conversation. “I was the history teacher back then. In fact, I think these are the tamest stories that Team STRQ participated in.”

“Don’t lie!”

“Don’t make up stories!”

Qrow and Taiyang said at the same time. Ozpin raised both hands with a light smile on his face but remained silent.

I could tell that Ozpin wasn’t lying. Qrow’s and Taiyang’s nervousness increased for a moment too. Damn, I’ll see if I can get these stories out of someone later.

(“I can tell you if you want. Inside your mind, I’m not limited.”) Jinn’s voice echoed through the link in my head.

(“That would ruin the fun of the story. The cool part is hearing it from one of them.”) I declined the offer. (“How are you seeing what’s happening outside? Does the stream phone work in there?”)

(“It does. The stream never ceases to amaze.”) Jinn laughed lightly. (“Maybe I could see through your eyes too thanks to the connection between our energies, but I thought it best not to test anything.”)

I spun my nightmare energy and created a black hand that patted Jinn’s forehead.

(“No testing inside my mind.”) I huffed as she placed Nero between her and the hand for protection. (“Focus on recovering and put the cat down.”)

I cut the connection moments after Jinn stuck out her tongue and blew into the void, knowing that I could see, or in this case, feel.

“Devas. Can I call you that, by the way?” The moment Jacques spoke, I could feel Blake’s and Weiss’s emotions stirring.

I let my gaze drift to Jacques before responding.

“Sure, I’m not big on formalities.”

“Great, then I’ll ask you to call me Jacques.” He looked around the table. “I also try to avoid titles when I’m not working; they make everything more exhausting.”

The statement was a half-truth, I could sense. What was this guy planning?…

“What did you want to ask me before?” I drummed my fingers casually on the table as I spoke.

“It was about the other male narrator. Is he who I think he is?”

“Depends, who do you think he is?”

“A thief who appeared in Vale’s news a few months ago.” Jacques spoke casually. “Roman Torchwick and Toman Rorchwick. It wasn’t hard to notice the similarity between the names.”

“He can spot the obvious, how amazing.” Blake murmured at the other table.

I was the only one who heard, at least at this table. The rest of Team RWBY and Penny turned to her the moment those words left Blake’s lips.

“It would be an incredible coincidence, wouldn’t it?” I ignored the other table and looked at Jacques. Seriously, what did this guy want?

His curiosity was genuine, I could feel it, but it revolved around a greater greed, like those fish that follow sharks.

“Is it a coincidence?”

“No. It’s really Roman.” I didn’t deny it. “He improvised the name at the last minute.”

Jacques’s surprise was genuine, even though he hadn’t let it show on his face.

“Were you expecting me to deny it?” I didn’t mince words.

“A little, yes. I didn’t think you’d confirm that one of Vale’s most notorious thieves was narrating the world’s biggest event.” Jacques interlocked his fingers and rested his chin on his hand.

No one else had been eating since our conversation started.

“I see no reason to hide it,” I shrugged. Besides being obvious, hiding the information didn’t affect me in any way. Not even Roman, who probably already had plans to make it public after the festival.

“I imagine James and Ozpin know then. After all, a thief wouldn’t be able to get past Atlas’s security.” Jacques commented. I didn’t need to respond.

“I’m fully aware of Toman Rorchwick’s presence since his arrival in Amity.” Ozpin interlocked his fingers but kept his hands on the table. He had found the name amusing, hadn’t he?

“Roman wouldn’t be able to set foot in Amity without my knowing.” James’s voice was neutral. Did he take Jacques’s words as a jab?

“I have full faith in that.” Jacques admitted before probing further. “But what’s the reason for such an idea? Roman is someone accused of various thefts, isn’t he?”

I had an idea of what he wanted from this conversation. Jacques wanted to know if Roman was some sort of Vale agent, didn’t he? After all, why else would Ozpin and James let a thief enter Amity, especially someone who, as Jacques mentioned, had numerous accusations against him?

“I thought it would be funny.” I said. I could almost see Jacques’s ideas shattering in his mind.

“You thought it would be funny?”

“Unbelievable, he’s also a parrot…” Blake didn’t miss the opportunity. Weiss pinched her under the table while Yang and Ruby laughed.

Penny seemed content to observe everyone in silence.

“Yes, I thought it would be funny.” I affirmed again. “That and I knew Roman would be a good narrator. The audience liked him, didn’t they?”

Jacques didn’t deny it. A large portion of the Amity audience had loved Roman’s acidic and sarcastic commentary.

Jacques remained silent for a moment as he observed me. I could sense that he was reassessing me in his thoughts. After all, I had claimed that Roman was here simply because I wanted him to be.

James’s previous words also had a subtle implication.

‘Roman wouldn’t be able to set foot in Amity without my knowing.’

Knew, not allowed.

I let a slight smile appear on my face.

Jacques wasn’t an idiot; the man was the head of the world’s largest company. He knew how to read between the lines, and the way his respect and caution for me increased confirmed that.

“It seems the rumors about the Deer Huntsmen weren’t as exaggerated as I had thought.” Jacques admitted softly.

“Nah, they’re way exaggerated.” I shook my head. “I’ve heard some people saying that I could control Grimm. What do they think I am, some kind of evil, immortal being cursed by the gods?”

Qrow choked on his drink. Taiyang bit his fork.

“Sorry, went down the wrong pipe.” He patted his chest while coughing.

“Rumors and conspiracies on the CCT are never lacking.” Ozpin spoke casually. “Some people even believe that fairy tales, like the tale of the Maidens, are real.”

James coughed, nearly dropping the glass he had in his hand.

“Crazy, right?” I said with amusement. Ozpin agreed, as amused as I was.

That was enough for Qrow, who started laughing again, followed by Yang and Ruby, who were listening from the other table.

The conversation from there turned back to being relaxed and without serious topics, except for Jacques commenting about a business meeting. It seemed Weiss had already spoken with him.

I agreed, of course; I had promised Weiss.

After lunch, I got up to start leaving the room. Although they were free to go, I wasn’t. I was on my lunch break; like it or not, I was still the festival’s narrator and there were still some fights scheduled.

“You guys will stay in Amity, right?” I turned to Team RWBY.

From what I had read about the rules, competitors were required to sleep in the coliseum while the festival was ongoing. Well, at least the competitors still in the competition.

“Yes, why?” Ruby was the one who answered me. Yang was talking to Blake, Qrow, and Taiyang, while Weiss was chatting with James and Jacques.

Ozpin seemed content to pass the time talking with Penny.

“Nothing, just confirming. I’ll come by here after the matches end and then head to the Emerald Forest.” I explained. The Emerald Forest was the best place for me to spend the night.

Besides having enough space to park my ship and start working on a few things, the forest was also close to Beacon. It wasn’t quite a midpoint between Beacon and Amity, but it was a good spot.

If something happened in Beacon or Amity, I could react and quickly run to help.

After saying my goodbyes, I headed to the narration room. I noticed before I even entered that Lisa wasn’t there, just Roman and Neo. She must have left to avoid interacting with them, right?

“Hey, Roman, Jacques Schnee asked if you were you. I gave him your number, is that alright?” I said as I entered the room.

Roman spat out the drink he had in his mouth. Neo barely dodged.

(“You did that on purpose.”)

(“Maybe.”)

“Good reflexes, Neo.” Neo responded with a thumbs-up.

“Are you serious?” Roman turned around after wiping his chin. “I’m going to burn this Scroll if that’s true.”

I shook my head and plopped onto the sofa. Neo jumped onto the seat next to me.

“I’m just kidding, I didn’t give him your number.” Roman sighed in relief. “But he did ask if you were you. Good fake name, by the way.”

Roman made a face. Neo chuckled quietly beside me.

“I said I improvised.” He sighed. “What did the richest man in the world want with me? Revenge for the crumbs I stole from him?”

“Nah.” I waved my hand. “He probably wanted to know if you were some kind of Ozpin or Vale government agent.”

“Is he an idiot?” Neo signaled quickly.

“All billionaires are idiots.” Roman shot back. “But it’s a good theory. I’m sure I’ve moved more of Vale’s Dust economy than half of the Huntsmen combined.”

I shrugged and pulled out my phone to check the time.

[16:16]

I still had some free time before the break ended. The last fights were scheduled for after 16:30. I used this time to check the (CHAT).

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: The blue lady woke up! What happened after all? Did Devas’s blatant racism towards everything divine cause something to explode and you got the rebound unintentionally? (Iron Man emote with his back to an explosion).

[JinnOfTheLamp]: I woke up a few hours ago. I was just recovering. I’m fine now, don’t worry. Devas and I will explain what happened when I get out of here. (Chibi Jinn emote typing on a phone.)

[YellowHuntressLive]: Where the hell is “in here”? Did you get trapped inside the lamp, house arrest? Devas didn’t explain anything! (Goldilocks emote with a '?' on her head).

[AinzOoalGown]: A forced sealing system if the relic’s guardian breaks any rules? I wouldn’t be surprised; I’ve seen various items created by deities with such debuffs. I think I have a dozen or two of those items lying around somewhere. (Skeleton thinking emote).

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: “I think I have a dozen or two of those items lying around somewhere.” Kind of creepy, don’t you think?… What the hell is that?! (Generic screaming emote).

[JinnOfTheLamp]: The relic doesn’t have a prison mechanism. I’m currently inside Devas’s mental landscape. Or part of me is; my body is outside, inside the relic, but my mind has been pulled in here. (Chibi Jinn emote being pulled into a whirlwind).

[TohsakaHeiress]: I’ll avoid thinking about anything with ‘Marble’ in the name and guess it’s something like possession due to being a predominantly spiritual being. Can you affect anything in there? (Chibi Rin emote with a pen and paper).

[AsuraLady]: Doesn’t Devas’s title prevent that? If Jinn tries to do anything inside his mind, I don’t think it will end well… (Lion with pink mane thinking emote). Could we use the Spirit Camera to watch her too?

[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: Why aren’t we hearing Jinn? Wouldn’t it be the same as hearing Lucy? (Little Red Riding Hood emote with confusion).

I can’t even manifest a potato outside my Spiritual Realm and the first thing Rin thinks is that I have a Reality Marble? Am I being a bit overestimated here?

Damn, my mental issues aren’t so huge that I’d create a world with them. My name wasn’t Shirou.

I pulled the minimap in front of the camera and started typing.

[“You can’t hear Jinn because she’s literally inside my mind. Even though she’s a separate entity, it’s as if her voice is considered one of my thoughts.”]

Or at least that’s what I had figured out about why the stream wasn’t picking up Jinn’s voice. My thoughts weren’t captured, and neither was her voice.

The only time my thoughts were captured by the stream was when I was physically in the Spiritual Realm. Well, at least for now, I was sure I had seen a ‘Mental Microphone’ in the stream store, but that thing was incredibly expensive and didn’t interest me much.

[“But trying the Spirit Camera is a good idea.”] I typed quickly before diving my thoughts into my Spiritual Realm.

(“Tyrian, take Nero and head to the second island. Don’t leave until further notice.”)

Tyrian didn’t hesitate to move, and neither did Nero or any other Nightmares on the bridge or flying near the main island.

An order of mine wasn’t just a command; for the Nightmares, it was law.

I took one last look at Jinn, just to check if she had gotten dressed. Once I was sure of my mental guest’s decency, I turned on the Spirit Camera.

Nothing happened for about a second. I even thought it might not work; the stream had several issues, and if it didn’t work, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Then, a literal broadcast screen appeared in the corner of my vision, slightly below the minimap, showing Jinn lying on the bed in the beach house bedroom.

She looked at the phone for a moment before lifting her head and waving while looking at the camera. I could see her mouth moving, even though the sound wasn’t transmitted.

She quickly noticed this fact and grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen from the desk beside the bed and wrote rapidly.

‘KIDN’

I incinerated the paper while creating another hand with nightmare energy. This time, it wasn’t a flick but a karate chop to Jinn’s head.

(“I’ll take advantage of your being blue and throw you into the sea.”)

(“Better turn off the camera then, because I’m going to take off my clothes and take a bath.”)

Jinn laughed and stuck out her tongue at the camera before going back to typing in the (CHAT). Disturbing creature, at least she was getting more comfortable with everything. It was good that she was recovering too.

“Hey, the next team is Haven’s. Do you think it’d be a problem if I insult Lil' Miss Malachite on national television?” I looked up when Roman spoke.

“Yes or of course?”

“If you get sued, I’m not paying for it.” Neo signaled quickly. Roman seemed thoughtful for a second.

“Fuck it, I got some extra cash yesterday anyway.” He shrugged.

“You say that like it’s actually going to court.”

“A law-abiding man would definitely go to court if he were sued.”

“A law-abiding man wouldn’t be sued.” Neo pointed out.

“Did you all team up against me or something?”

“That’s the only way we get three percent of your stupidity.”

“I didn’t say anything.” I raised my hands.

“Neither did I.” Neo copied me.

I wondered if I put her in a bag and stole her, would anyone notice?...

[…]

“Where are you going to start?” Jinn’s voice echoed in my head, and this time, the stream could hear her too.

You know, I was starting to think that the absurdly high prices on the stream were because of things like this. Two hundred and fifty million SP was ridiculously expensive for me, but Serafall sponsored the purchase of the ‘Mental Microphone’ without much trouble.

Of course, she had said that, thanks to the conversion, it was still a bit pricey, but nothing a Satan couldn’t comfortably afford. In her words: “Jinn is blue and cute, I use ice, which is blue, and I’m cute. I need to help her.”

The kicker is that I had no idea if Serafall had any ulterior motives behind that or not. It was as plausible that it was some kind of plan as it was that she did it just because Jinn was blue.

This wasn’t even ‘Alien Mentality’, it was ‘Serafall Mentality’. Living so long and being the equivalent of an ambassador of a race that causes problems for everything and everyone must mess up your brain in some weird ways.

The good thing is that, at least, I could set up this ‘Mental Microphone’ to capture only Jinn’s voice.

“I’ll start by removing the paint and then paint some improvised Mystical Symbols and Runes, just to get a sense of how I’m going to do the final ones.” I explained as I pulled the ship from the inventory.

I had some design ideas for the Runes and Mystical Symbols in mind and had made some sketches, but it was more practical to paint everything with regular paint to get a hands-on idea.

“Isn’t it easier to paint the prototypes first and then remove the paint?” I saw Jinn swinging her feet at the edge of the bed through the ‘Jinn Broadcast’ as she asked the question. “That way you only need to remove the paint once. It’ll save time.”

My response was to snap my fingers. The Shadowflame engulfed the entire ship in seconds, burning away all the paint covering the interior and exterior of the ship in even less time, without damaging anything else.

“Forget what I said.” She pouted. “The control you have over that thing is ridiculous.”

“It’s more instinctive than real control.” I admitted. The Shadowflame was like a part of me at this point; I just needed to think it would do what I commanded.

The [Max Bond!] on the Shadowflame’s status wasn’t just for show. I could do some pretty absurd things with the flame that I even hesitated to test to avoid screwing up.

I pulled out some paint buckets from the inventory and walked toward the ship.

“Let’s start with the outside; it’ll be simpler…”

It took me about three hours just to finish the prototype of the Mystical Symbols on the top of the ship, and I was sure I’d need to adjust several parts for the resonance to be good with the Mystical Symbols inside the ship.

“Shall we go inside now?” Jinn asked, not at all bored by the three hours of painting and brainstorming.

“Actually, no. I want to try creating something with the feathers.” I explained while pulling out my improvised workbench from the inventory.

It was the matrix that Dylan’s mother had made for me.

“I’ve already come up with some designs in my head and sketched a few. See what you think.” I didn’t even have to strain to manifest a copy of the sketches I’d created using spiritual energy in front of Jinn.

“Show it to the (CHAT) too to see what they think. I’ll start setting things up in the meantime.”

“Am I a stream moderator now too? I don’t remember accepting another job.”

“Do you want the job?”

“Of course I do!”

[Streamer added JinnOfTheLamp as a stream moderator!]

While Jinn was showing my sketches of potential wings and other mobility items to the stream, I began mixing some paints quickly.

It wasn’t anything special, just some basic paints and the paint Grongir used on his cloak. It wasn’t even the modified version using angel wings and Dust; I still had to adjust the recipe for that paint.

“Why not create a defensive item? I understand not wanting a weapon; you already have the Relic of Destruction and the Ice Blade, but you don’t have a shield.” Jinn asked.

“This creation is going to be a temporary prototype that I intend to replace as soon as possible.” I explained while mixing the paints with the Bone Helm’s hands and burning away anything useless with the Shadowflame.

“It’s just a test to see how the feathers work as ingredients. When I make something more permanent, I’ll also make a shield.” I tossed a feather into my mouth while explaining.

Damn, I’d even make a shovel if it depended on me. It’s better to have and not need than to need and not have. I needed to create a pickaxe, by the way…

“You know that saying ‘ingredients’ while eating one of the feathers makes it sound like you’re preparing a dish and not equipment, right?”

I tossed another feather into my mouth.

“I’m fully aware. I plan to prepare some dishes in the future too. That reminds me…” I pulled out the remains of the exploded mimic’s body from the inventory. “I wonder if this guy tastes good?”

The numerous ‘I’m going to vomit’ comments that appeared in the (CHAT) amused me.

“I don’t even need to inspect the meat to know it’s poisonous.” Jinn continued in a confused tone. “Why are you going to eat that, anyway? It probably doesn’t taste good and has wood chips all over it.”

“He tried to eat me, so it’s only fair that I do the same.” I had said this many times before; the (CHAT) didn’t believe it because they didn’t want to.

I threw the Shadowflame onto the mimic’s body. The way the meat moved when the wood inside it was burned made it look like there were worms moving inside. “Done, the wood is gone.”

“At the cost of half the (CHAT) vomiting.” Jinn seemed more amused than anything. “The mimic wasn’t sentient, but what if something sentient tries to eat you? Would you do the same?”

“Was what tried to eat me human?”

“No?” It seemed more like a question than a statement.

“Then yes.”

Damn, just because the wyvern that tried to eat me talked and was as intelligent as I was didn’t mean I wouldn’t kill and eat it. If it was dumb enough to attack something it considered prey and die, it wasn’t that intelligent.

“That… is borderline cannibalism.” Jinn pointed out. I shrugged.

I sprinkled some spices on the mimic meat and put it on a skewer before letting the Shadowflame roast it for a few minutes. The smell was good.

“The taste is good too… The flavor is similar to pork but softer.” I said while chewing the meat. “The poison is weak too; it barely makes my tongue tingle.”

I’ll season the meat with poison later without the (CHAT) seeing. I don’t want to end up influencing some young or foolish person to do the same. I had resistance to poison and would adapt; they wouldn’t.

“Serafall asked if you’d eat a Devil. She didn’t specify how.” Jinn said after a few seconds.

“Maybe yes more for yes and maybe no more for no. I’ll let you choose which is which.”

“Sera-Tan typed: Specify!” Jinn laughed as she said it.

“I prefer angels.”

“Sera-Tan typed: Liar!”

I threw another feather into my mouth and consumed it with my Semblance.

“Sera-Tan typed: That doesn’t say anything!”

I shook my head amused before throwing more meat into the Shadowflame and going back to working on the angel wings, or rather, the metal I would use to create the item with them. Ruby had helped me a bit with the metalwork; watching her forge had been useful…

I am human, nothing human is foreign to me.

I didn’t even need to see myself in the mirror to know the color of my eyes.

I pulled out a few items from the VoidBag: an anvil, a forge hammer, a steel alloy ingot mold, a steel alloy bar mold, a furnace, the Bone Helm, and finally, the Scarlet Ore sand.

All the tools were enchanted with Mystic Symbols, including the molds. They basically served to increase resistance to heat and damage of the metals.

The first thing I did was set up a barrier around the matrix that Dylan’s mother had made; only then did I activate the matrix with me in the center and consume all the Remnant mana inside.

The second thing I did was pour the Scarlet Ore sand into the bar mold and then used the Shadowflame to burn and consume all the impurities in the sand. For what I had in mind, the purer the metal, the better. Purity was key here.

I used the Bone Helm’s hands to compact the sand in the mold. Once the sand could no longer be compacted, I threw the Bone Helm back into the inventory and placed the mold inside the furnace along with the Shadowflame.

The furnace wasn’t really necessary; the Shadowflame could contain the heat in the mold alone, without it being dispersed. But since it was my first attempt, I decided to use the furnace and focus the Shadowflame only on melting the metal.

“It’s lacking heat…” I murmured. The Shadowflame began to swirl around the mold, slowly increasing its temperature.

I knew the melting point of Scarlet Ore; the Analyze: Item had given me the information and I instinctively knew the current temperature of the Shadowflame.

It wouldn’t be enough.

“It needs a bit more…” The flame’s temperature increased even further at my command.

I tossed in a few fallen angel feathers and some strands of Acqua’s hair into the Shadowflame, just to be sure. I knew that the Shadowflame’s maximum heat would be sufficient, but making the flame stronger wasn’t a bad idea.

“Stop, that’s enough. Maintain that temperature.” I raised my hand.

I didn’t even need to say the command out loud, let alone raise my hand, but I was kind of on autopilot at the moment. My body was acting on instinct.

I didn’t stand still while the metal melted and placed both hands next to the mold. The Shadowflame wouldn’t burn me, and the forge’s heat wouldn’t either; the Shadowflame wouldn’t let the heat reach me. As long as I didn’t touch the mold, everything would be fine.

I shaped my mana with my right hand and infused my mana into the metal. I used what I had learned from Jinn’s question to infuse my mana with fire and light elements.

It wasn’t perfect, and I didn’t want it to be.

With my left hand, it was easier; the resonance between my spiritual energy and the Scarlet Ore was incredibly high. The energy practically stuck to the metal on its own with minimal effort from me.

At the same time, I used my Semblance and the Shadowflame to devour any remaining nightmare energy in the metal, no matter how minimal.

Then I took a deep breath. My mana and spiritual energy collided. I felt my body warm up.

[Fusion Mode (Fake)]

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a prototype?!” I completely ignored Jinn’s voice as I continued.

I kept doing this for about an hour. I countered the fatigue and damage to my body with the [Devas Ring] and commanded a small part of the Shadowflame to absorb the heat leaking from my body and increasing with each breath.

When I felt the metal had melted and fully fused with the energies, I poured the melted Scarlet Ore into the ingot mold. Once it was filled, I pulled out another mold from the VoidBag and filled that one as well.

I took a deep breath and calmed my breathing. I focused on regulating my body temperature while the Shadowflame consumed the heat from the liquid metal, cooling it slowly.

“Damn… So much heat…” I murmured. I noticed that every time I breathed, a red smoke was coming out of my lips. Blood vapor.

Damn, this ridiculous, suicidal breathing mode.

After another ten minutes, I saw that the Scarlet Ore had partially solidified into two red ingots, blood-colored. The color was vibrant. I didn’t let the ingots cool completely.

I didn’t waste time analyzing the ingots and placed the first one on the anvil. I grabbed the hammer and took a deep breath. I had seen a human do this before…

I am human, nothing human is foreign to me.

Then I started hammering the ingot. I could feel I was off at first; the force was uneven and the rhythm erratic, but with each strike, I could also feel myself improving.

It wasn’t perfect and I didn’t want it to be.

I didn’t even notice when my breathing synchronized with the strikes. The Shadowflame also moved in sync with my breathing, maintaining the temperature of the ingot, cooling it slowly and steadily.

It took me just over half an hour to shape the metal into a simple, small greave that would cover only my ankle. It wasn’t detailed or artistic, just metal, pure and simple.

Then I finally pulled out the angel feathers. I focused on the feathers from two-winged, four-winged, and six-winged angels. Instinctively, I knew that if I tried to use any eight-winged or ten-winged feathers, something would go wrong; I didn’t know what, but I knew it would.

I placed the feathers gently onto the metal, starting with the bottom where the two-winged feathers would go, and placed them facing up. After circling the entire bottom with the two-winged feathers, I repeated the process with the others.

Four-winged angel feathers.

Six-winged angel feathers.

I placed each feather flush with the metal and pushed them until they were straight. My fingers barely burned before regenerating. For each feather, I placed Wind Dust on top, the purest I had.

I tried to focus on the sensation that the Double Jump had whenever I used it while placing each feather.

When I finished placing all the feathers, I began painting the Mystic Symbols on the inside of the greave. I had mixed too many things already; putting the Mystic Symbols between or underneath the feathers was something I wasn’t confident about.

I only placed a single rune as well: Speed.

The sky was already bright when I finished the second greave and examined them.

-//-

[Angelic Greaves (Sun)]

Type: Accessory/ArmorRarity: PinkPrefix: None

Damage: 340 ~ 737 (Increases against beings with the Evil/Fallen/Dark/Moon attribute.)Knockback: 120.40 (Insane)

Defense: 737 ~ 1240 (Increases against beings with the Evil/Fallen/Dark/Moon attribute.)Durability: 4012/4012

[..]

Ability (1): Consumes Mana/Spiritual Energy/Aura to create an air platform below the user’s feet.

(NOTE: The platform can be overloaded to propel the user forward with a burst of wind.)

Ability (2): Moderately increases Mana/Spiritual Energy/Aura recovery when:

Facing enemies with the Evil/Fallen/Dark/Moon attribute.Under the Sun.Running at over Mach 3.Flying at over Mach 3.

Ability (3): Generates a heat and light aura that wards off negative feelings whenever:

Facing enemies with the Evil/Fallen/Dark/Moon attribute.Under the moon.Standing against one’s will.

Ability (4): Consumes Mana/Spiritual Energy/Aura to impose the concept [Speed] on the user while running.

(NOTE: The running speed gained by the [Angelic Greaves (Sun)] item cannot exceed the maximum limit of [Mach 5].)

Ability (5): When used by [Devas Asura], increases all attributes of the [Angelic Greaves (Sun)] by 33%.

[..]

Description: A pair of greaves created as a prototype, but which achieved far more than its creator, The Streamer, initially intended.

They are not wings, but they do their job well in keeping the user airborne.

[..]

~ Perhaps the angels won’t like this creation, no matter how beautiful and pure it is. ~

-//-

I took a deep breath and waved calmly with a smile on my face. It had worn me out, but it was worth it.

Without hesitation, I equipped the greaves, kicked the ground, then the air, and then ran. My laughter was the only sound that followed my steps.

Damn if I hadn’t won the Hermes Boots; I’d create something similar myself.

[...]---[...]

Fun fact: Some people really thought Devas was kind of a cannibal some time ago. I was actually really happy about that. (And I only said "kind of.")

That said, greaves with angel feathers! Some people from DXD would probably foam at the mouth just seeing that, something for the future.

I won’t drag this out too much, have a good day and enjoy your reading!