It didn’t take long to purchase the required materials from the Boundless Caravan. With their research budget, they were able to buy just over a dozen portions of each item, the only need that they were unable to imdiately satisfy being the divine spirit’s blood. Of course, these dozen portions were according to the standard recipe. Given that there were four people planned for the procedure that needed considerably more, they only barely had enough to suit their needs.
Once the hamr arrived from Bloodhaven, Chel called all of the research team together, ready to begin her demonstration. Under the watchful eyes of Jas and the others, she laid out each of the materials in turn. “First thing’s first.” Chel smiled, grinding up six of the large flower petals into a thin paste.
“Apply paste made from the petals of a holy rose in a thin layer atop the Orichalcum that you wish to use.” As she spoke, she used one finger to begin rubbing a layer of paste on top of the coppery ore. “This will let the Orichalcum absorb the divinity at the start of the forging process.”
“Next, we gather the subject’s divine spark, placing it into the ore via the paste.” Chel said, closing her eyes and focusing. After a few monts, she seed to locate her spark, gathering it towards her hand and pushing the golden spark into the ore. The paste changed from a pink color to an almost shining gold, causing Chel to nod.
“Now, sprinkle two hundred grams of divine gold dust. The fire property in the divine gold will react with every hamr strike, heating the ore and slowly forging it. ” Once again, she demonstrated by gathering up a third of the golden dust and dropping it over the ore. Due to the volu, the ore was completely coated by the dust, quite a bit resting on the anvil on either side.
“Once that’s done, begin the forging process, making sure that the first strike accurately hits the location where the paste had been applied. This pushes the spark further into the ore, allowing the two to rge while activating the gold dust. Throughout the forging process, you’ll need to use the first of the energies I ntioned before, which I’m calling the ‘stimulating’ energy.” Chel lifted the forging hamr, which had a strange blue sheen to it, and struck down at the golden paste. As she did, a blue-ish light wrapped around the hamr, clearly the energy that Chel was talking about.
Imdiately, the divine gold dust combusted under the hamr’s strike, releasing a burst of white-hot fla. This fla coated the ore, clinging to it and flaring with every swing. However, Chel maintained her focus, having been expecting this to happen from the start. Every now and then, Jas could see the impurities chipping off of the ore, though he knew that this was not how a normal ore would be forged.
Normally you would lt the ore, remove the impurities, and repeat this process a few tis until you were satisfied. At that point, you could cast it into an ingot and begin forging it into the shape you wanted, making sure to keep it nice and hot throughout the forging.
Chel, on the other hand, seed intent on directly removing the impurities during the forging process. Or rather… his senses swept out, and he could see the divine gold being stimulated within the ore by the energy Chel was releasing. It was reshaping the orichalcum from within, removing the impurities inside the ore while Chel took care of the ones outside.
This process continued until the orichalcum was glowing, starting to deform from the repeated strikes and superheating of the divine gold. At that point, Chel grabbed one of the small white pearls, bringing it up over the ore and crushing it in her fist. Frozen dust fell from her hands, sizzling as it ca into contact with the ore. “The dead sea pearls can temporarily cool the ore, calming the divine spark within and giving it a chance to settle. During this period, soak the ore in the second energy, which I am calling the ‘quenching’ energy. This lets it absorb the lingering effects of the divine gold.”
Chel created a sphere of white energy around the ore, letting it stabilize. Reaching up to wipe her brow, Chel smiled at the rest of the group. “Once the ore has thoroughly cooled, flip it, sprinkle another two hundred grams of the divine gold, and repeat this process two more tis. By the end of the third rotation, the divine spark should have saturated the orichalcum, and all impurities should have been removed.”
After saying that, Chel noticed that the ore had cooled enough for her to touch it, and so she flipped it over to start the process all over again. It was only natural, given that she was working with her own divine spark, but she kept her focus razor sharp throughout the entire process. Heat while hamring, cool and let it rest, repeat.
The more she did this, the brighter the glow of the orichalcum. At one point, it was no longer glowing red from the heat, but rather golden from the perating divine energy. The divine gold did not rely heat the ore, but its divine properties were also absorbed by the spark within.
Because of this, Chel was certain that without the divine gold, they would need the divine flas of a fire deity to achieve a similar effect. Thankfully, they had the divine gold, allowing them to control the specific temperature of the flas without needing to rely on external factors.
By the ti that she was done, the original lump of raw ore had been shaped into an uneven golden brick. Its surface was marred with bumps, its corners jagged at points, but Chel didn’t seem to mind. “The final shape of the orichalcum isn’t that important. What matters is the fact that the impurities have been removed, and that the divine spark has fully saturated it. Finally, we just let it sit for ten minutes to ensure that the last of the orichalcum is converted. Once that’s done, the subject--that’s -- will be able to absorb the orichalcum into their body through the use of the ‘fusion’ energy.”
“So, you’re going to beco a god, just like that?” Nora asked in confusion, noting how the entire process had barely taken an hour. Compared to the months, even years that normal gods had to go through their three-step process, this was beyond short.
“Oh, no, not even close!” Chel responded with a laugh. “Once I reabsorb my divine spark with the orichalcum, it will begin to cleanse and remold my body. Over the course of the next twelve to eighteen months, my body and energies will gradually be converted to their divine equivalents, with the orichalcum serving as my ‘divine core’ until the transformation is complete. I’ll officially gain my divinity at the end of all that, with my new domain based on any abilities I train with my growing divinity until then.”
“...I feel like this really makes the old thod obsolete, don’t you?” Thessa blinked, looking around at the others. From what she could tell, this new ascension thod only required the proper materials, but posed practically no risk to the ascending deity.
“Not at all.” Jas shook his head, stroking his chin in thought. “Anyone that wants to achieve the peak of their potential power will still use the old thod first, only using this thod to obtain their second domain.”
“It’s because of reverse compatibility, right?” Treisha asked, seeming to understand what he was talking about. “You can forge the unrefined divinity of a god who went through the three step procedure, but once you beco a god, you can’t take the three steps anymore.”
Jas gave a small nod at that. “Quite. If soone first does the three step thod, and then both the divine forge and the cultivation system of Lorek, it will be possible for one deity to obtain three domains. However, Lorek’s cultivation system can take over a century of constant training, so most deities will not consider it worth their ti. They would rather choose to obtain their third domain by taking in a subordinate deity.”
Thessa furrowed her brow, looking confused. “If it’s that easy, can’t they just do the divine forge thod, and then take in two subordinates? That way, they’d still get three domains, wouldn’t they? Or…”
Nora cut her off, eyes going wide. “The only current way to obtain a subordinate deity is with the three steps thod. If soone only goes the divine forge route, then takes a subordinate, their subordinate could be reforged for a second domain. As long as they have enough followers, it would only be a matter of ti before the link was broken.”
“Right?” Chel smiled, arms behind her back as she rocked on her heels. “Because I’ve chosen to start with the divine forge thod, the only way for to gain an additional domain now will be to cultivate in Lorek, or maybe use one of those primordial relics. The relics are too random, though, so I can’t guarantee I’d find one I want. I’d also need to wait until the process was fully completed before I could cultivate on Lorek or Spica.”
“What would happen if you accepted the refined divine spark, and then tried to advance along the three step thod? Would you be able to shorten the process, or even obtain an additional domain that way?” Treisha asked curiously, though Chel only blinked at her as if the answer were obvious.
“Your body would explode, your divinity scattering to the wind. Or wait, since the first step is the soul, your soul would be shattered, and you’d be left a lifeless husk? The only reason that the three steps work is because the divinity is still raw and malleable. Once it’s been refined, it won’t be able to follow the sa steps. That’s why you can only use the divine forge process once, and you can’t gain multiple domains just by reforging your divinity.”
Jas gave a small nod, thinking over the entire process. “This can definitely be automated. It might be harder to automate the process for refining the divinity of a full god, but it would definitely be possible. If anything, it should be easier than the perfection chamber, so long as we are able to acquire all of the materials that we need.”
Chel smiled broadly at that, clearly satisfied. “Right? We can even release the ingredients list, and make people bring the materials themselves if they want the treatnt.”
When Jas heard Chel’s suggestion, he shook his head. “If we do that, we’ll need to rephrase one of the components. We can’t have people forcing Scarlet to give them her blood. So, instead of ‘blood of a divine spirit’, we’ll change that material to ‘the Blessing of the First Blood’. This way, people will need to obtain Scarlet’s blessing if they want to receive another domain. As for the blood itself, she can ship it secretly after giving her blessing.”
“Anyone that’s bold enough to demand anything from the Goddess of Ki needs to have their brains checked.” Nora snorted, shaking her head. “Unless they don’t have a scrap of ki in their body, they are basically at her rcy.”
“Still, it would trouble her if people got it in their heads that they could use violence to obtain her blood.” Jas said with a smile. “We’ve already received her permission to use her blood for herself, the Keeper, Tsubaki, and Lifre. Anyone else, we’ll see as it goes.”
“Hey, as long as the thod exists.” Chel chuckled, reaching over to grab the shining, golden tal. Realizing that the ten minutes had passed, she brought the ore up to her chest, allowing it to sink into her body while a black energy surrounded the point of contact. Once the tal had fully disappeared into her body, Chel bead a bright smile.
“I am now considered in the ‘incubation’ stage. From now on, all I have to do is gradually begin training myself for the domain that I want to practice in the future. Oh, and just so you all know, the incubation stage is way faster for soone that’s already a god. Anywhere between one and two weeks, depending on the amount of divine energy used during that ti.”
“With that in mind, we can finalize the design of the ‘Divine Forge’, and start to let people know when we’re ready!”
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