Before the Great Conference
Talking with Loki, Jun found that many royal personages wanted to come themselves but wished for more time to prepare "adequately" and, seeing this as them needing time to prepare more tribute to giv them in exchange for Panacea, Loki accepted to give them more time.
With this delay, Nox had more time to work on his own things and so he devoted himself to sharpening his skill, both in battle and in crafting.
Speaking of crafting, Nox was currently heading for the manor of the Hephaestus Familia to give Tsubaki her gift, before he hunkered down to start some crafting projects of his own.
He entered the building straight away as everyone knew him already and went right to Tsubaki's courtyard, only to find two other people besides the woman herself.
"Good afternoon everyone!" Nox greeted.
"Nox!" Hephaestus was, as always, delighted by the visit.
"Tch!" Welf who was also in the room however, was less than pleased at seeing the one that stole his beloved goddess' heart.
"Hey Nox! You here for me or for Hephaestus-sama?" Tsubaki asked.
"To greet both but I've bought a special present for you." Nox replied.
"A present huh?" Hephaestus spouted with jealousy in her tone.
"Don't be like that Hephy! I'll bring you something next time." Nox responded, embarrassing the goddess with her nickname and making Welf storm out without another word.
"I'm sorry about that." Hephaestus apologized.
"Don't worry about it." Nox shrugged in response.
"It's not like I don't understand his feelings." He gave the red haired goddess a look that made her blush again.
"But anyways . . . Onto the gift!" Nnx said as he pulled out the drop item greatsword from the regular Udaeus.
"Woah! What's this?" Tsubaki was surprised at the quality of the material.
"It is a drop item that only appears if you fight a certain monster under specific circumstances." Nox explained.
"You got it yourself?" Hephaestus asked.
"Of course." Nox replied.
"Wouldn't be worthy of mention if i wasn't." He added.
"Give me details." Tsubaki said, her eyes not leaving the drop item.
"You've got to fight and kill Udaeus, the monter rex of the 39th floor by yourself. If you try, it will pull out a sword to fight, resulting in the drop item should you be victorious.
Hephaestus and Tsubaki both turned towards Nox is shock.
""You killed the Udaeus by yourself!?"" the question.
"Yep! Focused magical bombardment!" Nox revealed with pride, making Tsubaki shake her head. Hephaestus on the other hand, had different opinions.
"What are you thinking!?" The red haired goddess questioned, making Tsubaki facepalm while whispering "Here we go . . .".
"Uhhh? What?" Nox was confused.
Hearing this, Hephaestus got even more updated and went on a tirade about how Shiki should stay of floors that are equivalent to his level and how critical it was not to overreach.
"It's a calculated risk Hephy-" Nox tried to explain but Hephaestus interrupted her with a fearsome weapon, a woman's, a goddess' tears.
"I don't want to hear your excuses!" Hephaestus shouted.
She wanted to continue bu Nox shut her up with a tight hug that left the red haired goddess flustered and trying to escape but then . . .
"I'm sorry okay . . ." Nox sweetly whispered and Hephaestus stopped trying to get away and just nestled into his arms.
Tsubaki just watched as with a wry smile before saying.
"Alright lovebirds, don't make a woman jealous and sick from all the sugar." She teased.
Hephaestus immediately pushed away Nox and stormed out with a furious blush, seemingly only realizing her situation after Tsubaki's teasing.
"If you're that jealous . . ." Nox said and hugged Tsubaki.
"Hahahaha!" Tsubaki hugged him back with laughter.
"I'm not an innocent maiden like your Hephy!" She clamored.
"Is that so?" Nox asked as in a bid of impulsiveness he kissed her.
They broke apart, just staring at each other for a moment after the kiss . . . Then they threw themselves at their partner, madly kissing a feeling eachother up. Tsubaki tossed away what little clothing she had and ripped away Nox's with her strength.
"Blame yourself for waking the beast Nox!" She said lust in her eyes.
"Only for not waking it sooner Tsubaki." Nox responded making her grin with obsession as she took him into her mouth . . .
A few hours later, the two entangled naked bodies laid in Tsubaki's bed, tired from all the exercise.
"Woah!" Nox said.
"Better than you expected~?" Tsubaki teasingly asked.
"You're better than anything I expected!" Nox straightforwardly said, making her blush and kiss him.
"No regrets then?" She asked.
"Only not kissing you sooner." Nox replied.
"Yeah . . . I regret not giving into it sooner too." Tsubaki confessed.
That day, Nox left home a boy, and now, as he returned, he was a man.
Still, with a gift given and an unexpected one received, it was time to get back to it, the sex left Nox inspired and much more motivated for his task to accomplish before the various bigwigs from around the globe arrived to buy what he sold.
Currently, Nox had set four tasks for himself. Creating more Panacea to make sure he had enough to sell, second, turn the drop item sword from the black Udaeus into a new sword for himself to replace the shattered Prometheus, finish creating the item based on the Balor's Eye drop item . . .
And finally, challenge the hard quest that was the creation of a Philosopher's Stone once again as even failed attempt led to very powerful materials for item making.
He warmed up but preparing the items and crafting some more Panacea before sealing it in a very special vials that were required to maintain its potency then, he dedicated his entire being into forging his new weapon.
Melting down the drop item adding Orichalcum to the mix to strengthen it along with a few other materials in a proprietary mix to enhanced the final product . . .
Overlord's Edge: Powerful black Greatsword which can be considered above a peak first rate weapon, even without taking its magical abilities into consideration. Its hilt resembled a skull with horns for a guard. On the skull's forehead, rested a red jewel as did on on the sword's pommel.
Thorns of the Underworld: Jab the sword into the ground to spawn dark spikes like those of the Udaeus, they can spread along any surface but must originate from the user's position.
Bloodrinker: The sword suck the blood from wounds it inflicts and stores its essence in the jewel in the sword's skull guard. The spikes created by the swords can suck blood as well.
Blood Hunt: Send a cloud of red slashes rushing forward by using the stored blood essence.
Blood Frenzy: Enhance all of the swords abilities as well as the user's own power by consuming the stored blood essence.
Dark Wave: Consume Mind and Stamina to unleash a powerful slash of darkness that destroys everything in its path the darkness carries powerful curses that will plague those who either block it or just survive it.
Spartoi Legion: Call forth endless legions of Spartoi by consuming Mind. Their individual power is at the peak of Level 4 but they possess incredible skill and teamwork and can be controlled at will by the sword's wielder.
Soultrap: Absorb the essence of slain beings, their excelia, the very essence of their souls and store it in the failed Philosopher Stone stored in the sword's pommel.
Wild Hunt: Use the power of absorbed souls to send forth a wave of invincible incorporeal spartoi that can only use one attack before disappearing but whose power is that of a Level 6 adventurer.
'Quite the monster blade if I do say so myself.' Nox praised his work.
With that done, Nox decided to make the item he was using the Black Balor's eye for first, before getting back to his research of the Philosopher's Stone since his adding of one of the failed products to his blade led to a breakthrough.
The Philosopher's Stone is connected to the Soul and the soul is made of Excelia, and Excelia Information Body, that was what a soul was. Experience enriches the soul whose strength is passed onto the body through a Falna.
'I'm incredibly close to cracking the code but I may have to commit some atrocities before I succeed . . .' Nox pondered.
"Oh well . . . I'm sure there are plenty of scum who would be willing to part with their souls after a little "convincing" on my part . . ."
As Nox continued his research, for now without producing any victims, time passed, delays happened but the great conference was about to happen and Nox had managed to craft three Tears of Salvation to auction so as to wet the appetites of the bigwigs before the Panaceas.
'It ought to be interesting . . .' Nox thought as he escorted Loki onto the gathering location, kindly provided by Ganesha.
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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!
The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.
You'll get to read up to FOUR weeks ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.
There's also my other novels Kage of Kages and FATE of DxD, do check them out!
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