The two stood in the awkward atmosphere for a while before Hephaestus moved to a corner of the room and grabbed a package wrapped in a green ribbon. She handed the package to the confused Vahn and explained the reason behind it.
"It’s a gift to celebrate your joining of the Familia. Go ahead and open it..." Hephaestus felt awkward giving him the gift after everything that had happened.
Vahn opened the package and was surprised to find a strange looking hamr on the inside. He pulled it out and inspected it more closely. The body of the hamr was made of a cool tal wrapped with a fire-resistant cloth. Vahn gripped it and noticed it fit perfectly in his hand, almost like the hamr was an extension of his arm. The head of the hamr was a combination of magisteel and a dark red crystalline tal that Vahn had never seen before. The two different tals twisted around each other before converging near the striking area of the hamr.
"This is a hamr I personally forged using the magisteel ingot you had created and Hihi’irokane tal. The combination of tals makes the hamr incredibly durable, and since it was partially constructed with magisteel you had tempered yourself, it is extrely receptive to your mana." As Hephaestus began explaining the functions of the hamr, she started to beco a bit restless. Giving a sidelong glance at Vahn, she continued. "I crafted this hamr to represent my desire for you to beco a capable blacksmith in the future. It is the culmination of your first success and my hope that you will one day forge a weapon that can satisfy ..."
Vahn continued handling the ’familiar’ feeling hamr as he listened. When Hephaestus ntioned him forging a weapon that could satisfy her in the future, he nodded with confidence, unaware of the hidden aning in the words. After she saw his affirmation, Hephaestus revealed a pleased smile.
---
"Okay, Vahn. Now that you have a new hamr, I want you to try creating another ingot. As you’ve seen for yourself, there have been so changes to the ’eternal fla’ since your last visit. I want to see if you’re able to properly control the fla since the changes were a result of the ’eternal fla’ assimilating your mana." Hephaestus dragged him towards the forge and had him sit down; she wanted to test her theory as soon as possible.
Vahn had so inhibitions about working tal using the ’eternal fla’, but he believed that there wouldn’t be any issues unless he tried infusing his perception into the area imdiately surrounding the location of the fla. He quickly began to work after taking so magisteel from the solution next to the mouth of the forge.
Even though he had yet to activate [Will of the Emperor], Vahn had almost no difficulty refining the tal. Though he could tell the heat from the fla was much stronger than his previous visit, it seed to be much calr in comparison. The strangest thing was after the tal reached a critical state, the flas seed to automatically redirect the heat away from the tal.
Due to the ’cooperation’ of the fla, Vahn managed to refine the tal while retaining 85% of its total volu. This was even more than when he had used [Will of the Emperor] in his previous attempt. From the side, Hephaestus was watching this entire process with bated breath. Her belief that Vahn descended from a divine lineage based on forging was now firmly cented in her mind.
Vahn continued the process of shaping the ingot but had minimal success since he hadn’t been using his skill to forcibly shape the tal. He wanted to try using his own ability to form the ingot, but after 13 failures he ended up activating [Will of the Emperor] so that he complete the process. This ti he avoided the situation of having a clash with the ’eternal fla’ because he hadn’t tried inserting his spiritual sense within the flas dominion.
After he was finished, Hephaestus inspected the ingot before giving him an approving nod. "This is very well done considering its only your third ti creating an ingot. After you increase your knowledge and improve your techniques, you’ll be able to begin converting the ingots into weapons and armor."
Vahn was happy hearing her praise. It almost made him want to use his OP to try and enhance his [Blacksmith] skill further, but after seeing his dwindling OP pool, he decided against it. He was nearly out after converting all of his recent spoils into Valis, and he was now even further away from completing his quest which required 1,000,000. (A/N: Vahn currently has 18,090 OP)
"Before we begin discussing your future arrangents, I want your help conducting an experint Vahn." Vahn, hearing her statent, began paying close attention to Hephaestus’s words. "I want you to try imbuing your spiritual energy into the eternal fla. Wait, don’t give that look. Let explain..."
Vahn had begun to frown after hearing her request but allowed her to continue. "You see, if my speculation is correct you should now be able to interface directly with the ’eternal fla’ without any difficulties. You should have noticed how cooperative it was when you were refining the ingot. Don’t worry, since I’m prepared this ti, I can guarantee you won’t be in any danger."
Vahn considered her words and had a few misgivings, but seeing the confidence in Hephaestus’s eyes, he sighed and sat back down in front of the forge. He stared into the golden flas while trying to calm his heart...After calming down he began activating [Will of the Emperor] and focused his intent into the dominion of the fla. Unlike last ti, the fla didn’t attempt to seize his energy, instead, the ’aura’ around the fla began to dance excitedly.
//Eternal Fla: Affection 17//
Though he was surprised by the notification, Vahn managed to maintain his calm due to the dreamlike quality of the fla. Instead of attacking him as it had done previously, the fla began to entangle with his energy which caused Vahn to feel a warm and calming sensation within his mind and body. The ’eternal fla’ seed to be asking permission to assimilate so of his energy, and Vahn released small amounts which caused the fla to burn brighter.
//Eternal Fla: Affection 2//
From the side, Hephaestus stared at the interaction with a mixture of excitent and curiosity. This further confird her suspicions of Vahn’s origin, but she was curious about which part of his bloodline allowed him to enhance a divine artifact like the ’eternal fla’. The ’eternal fla’ was a product of her own Divinity and it had accompanied her ever since her ti in Heaven. Though it was now much weaker than it’s previous state, Vahn was very quickly bringing it to the pinnacle of its forr glory. At this rate, she would even be able to forge quasi-divine tier equipnt even without her Arcanum. (A/N: Arcanum is the actual godly power that is sealed before they descend from Heaven.)
---
Vahn continued infusing his energy into the eternal fla while in a dazed state. It wasn’t due to him having difficulties maintaining the connection, but because of the information that kept appearing in his mind.
//Eternal Fla: Affection 1//
...
//Eternal Fla: Affection 1//
...
//Eternal Fla: Affection 1//
...
//Eternal Fla: Aff...
At this point, the affection of the fla had reached 98 points and he was watching the number get ever closer to reaching 100. After an additional ten minutes, Vahn finally got his first ’person’ to maximum affection. The mont the number hit 100 a series of alarms started sounding throughout his mind.
//Eternal Fla Has Reached Maximum Affection//
//Eternal Fla Wishes to beco your subordinate: Y/N?//
//Quest Completed: [The Hearts Desire:C-SS]//
Completion Grade: SS
Rewards: ’Gift’ Function unlocked, 10,000OP, 1x [Hearts Desire:Eternal Fla]
Grade Rewards: [Protheus:A] Skill unlocked, 1x [Skill Enhancent Scroll:A], 50,000OP
[Protheus]
Rank: A
Allows the user to condense fla seeds that can be imbued into living creatures. Increases the potential of the recipient by a portion of the user’s capabilities. Each use of this skill causes an intense backlash to the user. Each successive use decreases pain tolerance by 10%. (Current:0). At 100%, the use of this skill will result in death. Decays by a rate of 1% per month.
Vahn was completely shocked after seeing all of the notifications. Hephaestus noticed his change, and quickly channeled a strange energy into his back which forcibly severed Vahn’s connection with the ’eternal fla’.
"Are you okay, Vahn? Can you tell what happened? Everything seed to be going well from what I could tell." Hephaestus was fl.u.s.tered as she promised nothing would happen to him. After seeing he had no visible signs of injury, she released a relieved sigh.
Vahn laughed awkwardly and explained what he had experienced. He told her that he felt a strange bond with the ’eternal fla’ and a ’voice’ in his head asking him to accept it as his subordinate. Hearing his explanation, it was Hephaestus’s turn to be shocked. After all, the ’eternal fla’ was the product of her Divinity. It was a part of her, and the idea that it would subordinate itself to another was previously outside the realm of possibility.
Hephaestus turned to look at the vibrant golden fla and almost felt as if it was lanting at having to separate from Vahn. As an experint, she grabbed his hand and pulled him further away from the fla and noticed the vibrancy fade...
"Your bloodline must be more powerful than I imagined...I’ve never even heard of soone being able to subordinate the divine artifact of a god." Hephaestus was now bringing Vahn closer to the fla, and it seed to co alive with anticipation. She felt a little betrayed at seeing its reaction, but couldn’t bla Vahn since it was her request that led to this predicant.
Within Vahn’s mind, the sa notification kept popping up over and over. The ’eternal fla’ seed intent on having his approval, but without Hephaestus’s permission, he wasn’t willing to accept. He could see she was struggling internally, so he decided to speak up to alleviate her concerns. "Don’t worry Hephaestus. I wouldn’t try to take away the items of the people I care about. I’m certain the fla will return to normal after a while."
Hearing Vahn ntion ’people he cares about’ in reference to her, Hephaestus made up her mind. "No, Vahn. I want to see what happens if you’re able to subordinate my fla. Since this is an unprecedented situation, I am curious about the result. Besides, I trust that you wouldn’t run away with the fla after it ca into your possession. It needs to reside in a specialized hearth or it would lose its power, so it can’t leave from this place to begin with."
Since he had her permission, Vahn decided to agree to have the ’eternal fla’ as his subordinate. Like Hephaestus, he was very curious about the effects he would receive after the process completed. Using a ntal command, he accepted the notification and felt a ’link’ connecting him and the fla within the forge.
His mind was spontaneously filled with happy feelings, and he could feel a gentle warmth coming from the invisible connection he had established with the ’eternal fla’. Though he wasn’t able to hear any words, he could understand the intent it was releasing. Following it’s prompting, Vahn put his hand into the fla after making a small incision on his palm.
Hephaestus watched the process with fear, trepidation, and a moderate amount of anticipation. She too had a connection with the ’eternal fla’, and after Vahn accepted it as a subordinate she was able to subtly feel his presence now connected with her soul using the fla as an interdiary.
After his hand was placed into the fla, his blood turned into particles of light which were absorbed into the aura of the ’eternal fla’. After they vanished, the fla wrapped around his hand and imbued part of itself into his body. It flowed through the energy channels of his body before settling itself within his heart.
//[Heart of the Eternal Fla:SS] Obtained//
[Heart of the Eternal Fla]
Rank:SS
Passive: Gives the possessor perfect affinity with the elent of fire. Enhances blood circulation and stamina recovery. Immune to all yang based fires below Soul Tier: 4
Active: Allows attacks to possess a burning effect.
Vahn had gained yet another skill, and he could feel a powerful energy like molten tal through his body. His heart felt like a furnace as it pumped the energy-rich blood through his body.
(A/N: Alternate Title: A Blazing Affection!!! Next Chapter Teaser: Cyclops of the Twin Peaks!?)
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