<h4>Chapter 51 - A Strange Affection</h4>
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 exined 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 hammer on the inside. He pulled it out and inspected it more closely. The body of the hammer was made of a cool metal wrapped with a fire-resistant cloth. Vahn gripped it and noticed it fit perfectly in his hand, almost like the hammer was an extension of his arm. The head of the hammer was abination of magisteel and a dark red crystalline metal that Vahn had never seen before. The two different metals twisted around each other before converging near the striking area of the hammer.
"This is a hammer I personally forged using the magisteel ingot you had created and Hihi’irokane metal. Thebination of metals makes the hammer incredibly durable, and since it was partially constructed with magisteel you had tempered yourself, it is extremely receptive to your mana." As Hephaestus began exining the functions of the hammer, she started to be a bit restless. Giving a sidelong nce at Vahn, she continued. "I crafted this hammer to represent my desire for you to be a capable cksmith in the future. It is the culmination of your first sess and my hope that you will one day forge a weapon that can satisfy me..."
Vahn continued handling the ’familiar’ feeling hammer as he listened. When Hephaestus mentioned him forging a weapon that could satisfy her in the future, he nodded with confidence, unaware of the hidden meaning in the words. After she saw his affirmation, Hephaestus revealed a pleased smile.
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"Okay, Vahn. Now that you have a new hammer, I want you to try creating another ingot. As you’ve seen for yourself, there have been some changes to the ’eternal me’ since yourst visit. I want to see if you’re able to properly control the me since the changes were a result of the ’eternal me’ assimting 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 some inhibitions about working metal using the ’eternal me’, but he believed that there wouldn’t be any issues unless he tried infusing his perception into the area immediately surrounding the location of the me. He quickly began to work after taking some 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 metal. Though he could tell the heat from the me was much stronger than his previous visit, it seemed to be much calmer inparison. The strangest thing was after the metal reached a critical state, the mes seemed to automatically redirect the heat away from the metal.
Due to the ’cooperation’ of the me, Vahn managed to refine the metal while retaining 85% of its total volume. 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 cemented in her mind.
Vahn continued the process of shaping the ingot but had minimal sess since he hadn’t been using his skill to forcibly shape the metal. 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 heplete the process. This time he avoided the situation of having a sh with the ’eternal me’ because he hadn’t tried inserting his spiritual sense within the mes 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 time 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 [cksmith] 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 frompleting his quest which required 1,000,000. (A/N: Vahn currently has 18,090 OP)
"Before we begin discussing your future arrangements, I want your help conducting an experiment Vahn." Vahn, hearing her statement, began paying close attention to Hephaestus’s words. "I want you to try imbuing your spiritual energy into the eternal me. Wait, don’t give me that look. Let me exin..."
Vahn had begun to frown after hearing her request but allowed her to continue. "You see, if my spection is correct you should now be able to interface directly with the ’eternal me’ 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 time, 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 mes 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 me. Unlikest time, the me didn’t attempt to seize his energy, instead, the ’aura’ around the me began to dance excitedly.
//Eternal me: Affection +17//
Though he was surprised by the notification, Vahn managed to maintain his calm due to the dreamlike quality of the me. Instead of attacking him as it had done previously, the me began to entangle with his energy which caused Vahn to feel a warm and calming sensation within his mind and body. The ’eternal me’ seemed to be asking permission to assimte some of his energy, and Vahn released small amounts which caused the me to burn brighter.
//Eternal me: Affection +2//
From the side, Hephaestus stared at the interaction with a mixture of excitement and curiosity. This further confirmed 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 me’. The ’eternal me’ was a product of her own Divinity and it had apanied her ever since her time in Heaven. Though it was now much weaker than it’s previous state, Vahn was very quickly bringing it to the pinnacle of its former glory. At this rate, she would even be able to forge quasi-divine tier equipment even without her Arcanum. (A/N: Arcanum is the actual godly power that is sealed before they descend from Heaven.)
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Vahn continued infusing his energy into the eternal me 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 me: Affection +1//
...
//Eternal me: Affection +1//
...
//Eternal me: Affection +1//
...
//Eternal me: Aff...
At this point, the affection of the me 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 moment the number hit 100 a series of rms started sounding throughout his mind.
//Eternal me Has Reached Maximum Affection//
//Eternal me Wishes to be your subordinate: Y/N?//
//Quest Completed: [The Hearts Desire:C-SS]//
Completion Grade: SS
Rewards: ’Gift’ Function unlocked, 10,000OP, 1x [Hearts Desire:Eternal me]
Grade Rewards: [Prometheus:A] Skill unlocked, 1x [Skill Enhancement Scroll:A], 50,000OP
[Prometheus]
Rank: A
Allows the user to condense me 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 bacsh to the user. Each sessive 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 waspletely 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 me’.
"Are you okay, Vahn? Can you tell me what happened? Everything seemed 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.
Vahnughed awkwardly and exined what he had experienced. He told her that he felt a strange bond with the ’eternal me’ and a ’voice’ in his head asking him to ept it as his subordinate. Hearing his exnation, it was Hephaestus’s turn to be shocked. After all, the ’eternal me’ 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 me and almost felt as if it wasmenting at having to separate from Vahn. As an experiment, she grabbed his hand and pulled him further away from the me and noticed the vibrancy fade...
"Your bloodline must be more powerful than I imagined...I’ve never even heard of someone being able to subordinate the divine artifact of a god." Hephaestus was now bringing Vahn closer to the me, and it seemed toe alive with anticipation. She felt a little betrayed at seeing its reaction, but couldn’t me Vahn since it was her request that led to this predicament.
Within Vahn’s mind, the same notification kept popping up over and over. The ’eternal me’ seemed intent on having his approval, but without Hephaestus’s permission, he wasn’t willing to ept. 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 me will return to normal after a while."
Hearing Vahn mention ’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 me. Since this is an unprecedented situation, I am curious about the result. Besides, I trust that you wouldn’t run away with the me after it came into your possession. It needs to reside in a specialized hearth or it would lose its power, so it can’t leave from this ce to begin with."
Since he had her permission, Vahn decided to agree to have the ’eternal me’ as his subordinate. Like Hephaestus, he was very curious about the effects he would receive after the processpleted. Using a mentalmand, he epted the notification and felt a ’link’ connecting him and the me within the forge.
His mind was spontaneously filled with happy feelings, and he could feel a gentle warmthing from the invisible connection he had established with the ’eternal me’. 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 me 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 me’, and after Vahn epted it as a subordinate she was able to subtly feel his presence now connected with her soul using the me as an intermediary.
After his hand was ced into the me, his blood turned into particles of light which were absorbed into the aura of the ’eternal me’. After they vanished, the me 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 me:SS] Obtained//
[Heart of the Eternal me]
Rank:SS
Passive: Gives the possessor perfect affinity with the element of fire. Enhances blood cirction 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 metal through his body. His heart felt like a furnace as it pumped the energy-rich blood through his body.
(A/N: Alternate Title: A zing Affection!!! Next Chapter Teaser: Cyclops of the Twin Peaks!?)