35 Reignited Ambition

" The point I'm trying to get to is if you have that shield, especially in that condition, I'm afraid it's too late for him. That truly is a shame, we came so close, but just couldn't reach the stars."

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I walked over the the old man who had sat down and put a hand on his leg to try and comfort him.

" I'm sorry for your loss, But I think this is just your friends way of supporting you to meet your goal." I said after a moment of silence.

" How so?"

" You said it yourself, you needed another piece of the mystic metal to make it to the stars correct? You gave him the necessary materials to reach his dreams but he fell short. This is him coming back to help you gain that opportunity as well, or at least that's what I think."

The old man drug his arm across his face, I think to wipe away some tears, and nodded his head. With a new resolute glint in his eye, I swear I saw him visibly de-age a good twenty years.

" For Kyle I will achieve my part of the promise we made all those years ago."

" Kyle?" I asked

" It was the name of my old friend, And it was also the nickname I gave my son here The first time he tried to protect his mother from a, quote " Scary Monster". It was just a grasshopper, but It reminded me so much of my friend I had to do it."

" Thanks Kid, I don't think I would have ever go the drive to finish my goal if not for you. I never got your name, mines Balor."

" Alice."

" Now Alice which of your stats is highest?"

" Intelligence, Why?"

" Second?"

" Speed"

" Hmm I think I can work with this. Yep, this might work."

" First, I'm going to need a few things from you. Do you have any special items on you, or in your possession?"

" Like what?"

" Any type of crafting materials really. I know your not really a full fledged adventurer yet, but who knows."

I pull out all of the items from the guild vault in my inventory out and place them on a table.

" hmm, this is quite the impressive haul, where did you get all this stuff?"

" The guilds vault, you can say I got a little lucky."

" That most certainly shows. Let's see you've got a Mana stone, soul yarn, poisonous ink, Demon heart, Runic gems, and a Large Shock Feather. Peculiar"

" Hmm, This might be more interesting than I thought. The yarn may not be all that helpful, but I may be able to find a use for the others. Which would you prefer in the metal?"

" What do you mean?"

" To get from this standstill I'm in I need to make an armor set specifically tailored to you. This means I'm going to need to purify the metal and have your help tailoring the metal to your person specifically. After that, I can make you anything and you alone will be the one able to use it to its fullest potential. The items I incorporate into the metal will effect almost all aspects of the end result."

" Could we use all of them?"

"Metals can't handle too many different effects, it could destroy the metal itself."

" This is miracle metal, and your going for something beyond reasoning, why should you listen to the rules?"

" Your right, but your Ideas are borderline insane."

" I get that a lot actually."

" Lets get started then." Balor gave me a grin that showed his brimming excitement.

The first thing we did was go to the guild to see If we could find a few more of the materials I had. We had a lot of metal so it wouldn't work as well if We only used one of each. They did seem to have a few people looking to sell some of those items. At the end of our shopping spree I owed about 100 gold, but we managed to find about five more of each item some of the materials were substituted by something similar. Balor had amassed a decent fortune on his adventures and his weapons sold for a lot, but even to him this was quite the investment. I promised him I would pay him back, but he told me it was no problem.

I'm still paying him back

We return to the forge and begin the purification process.

The forge was lit up and Balor started slowly melting the shield over a fire, that he seemed to be turning blue with magic, and forming them into bars. After that, he hammered them out and did it again, each time the metal melted you could see smoke and light flowing out of the metal.

Once the process of purifying the metal was finished, we were left with a massive mass of metal. He began to start incorporating the different ingredients into the metal.

He had me start channeling Mana into the metal. Any type of Mana would do, but using elemental Mana would give the armor different effects. I had to bring the Mana outside my body and push it into the metal while Balor folded the materials into it. I Decided to use Void because it was my special attunement, so I thought it was fitting.

I started to get dizzy, My stomach sank, and I was having a hard time staying up right I realized that I had run out of Mana.

" Kid, what are you doing don't stop the flow of Mana."

" I'm out"

" Damn, Kyle grab the Mana stone and give it to Alice."

" You should be able to take Mana from that to help you."

I started taking Mana from the stone and we continued the process. We kept the folding process going until we ran out of materials we even threw the the yarn in the mix because Balor said the Metal was hungry and needed more before it could be used. In the end It took about two hours past when we ran out of materials to finish, and the Mana gem fell apart In my hand. Each time the metal was folded it would get compressed and it had gotten to the point where the metal was no bigger than a single stereotypical ingot.

"How is this going to make anything?" I asked

" Patience"

Suddenly mass of metal swelled to an impressive size, I didn't know metal could grow but we clearly saw it enlarge before our eyes. No to mention it made it probably about five times bigger than it was before we started.

" Oh." - Alice

" Umm ..." - Grant

" Ok, then" - Kyle

" Ha ha! That's bigger then I thought" - Balor

The metal had supprized all of us with its size and it You could see faint purple and orange swirls in the metal. The surface looked like it was covered in a thin layer of liquid and it faintly and eerily pulsated.

" We've made demon metal." I heard Grant say " We're all going to be eaten by a giant piece of metal."

" No we won't." Kyle said attempted to calm the rattled Grant

" No, Alice won't, we're fair game" Balor said with a laugh, and Grants face went pale.

" Damn it dad, You and your crude humor." Kyle could only sigh.

" Well what do you want exactly? We've got the materials for plenty, and I've got nothing better to do." Balor asked looking at me

" I'm not sure."

" Well I'd like you to trust me on the design just the general idea of what you want. How do you fight, what types of weapons do you use?"

" I typically use speed to win a fight, I can use magic, and I'm learning how to use an assortment of weapons."

" Hmm, I could make an entire armory, a large assortment of weapons? Yes, that would work perfectly. That way I am familiar with how the metal molds, and to brush up on my skill."

" Say what types of weapons will you be learning?"

" I'm not too sure all of the types, but I'm sure I can get you a list of the ones I'll be learning."

" How far have you come already?"

" I've only started learning how to use a short sword."

" When will you be finished with your training?"

" I think at the end of the school year it may take longer though."

" So about a year or so ... That's enough time."

" I do believe I could create my absolute masterpiece after about a year. How about this, When you finish learning the basics of a new weapon come and tell me, and I'll make one for you. This way I'll get to know you and how you work, and possibly incorporate that into your armor."

Balor looks back over at the massive Block of metal next to him." If you have any fun ideas for weapons too, come and ask. I'm always up for a challenge."

" Ok, will do." I say

looking outside the sun had almost completely set.

" It's time for me to get going now, it really was a pleasure to meet the both of you, but I should probably head back home soon."

" Goodbye." They all called back

I ventured home and went to sleep

The next morning I revisited New home. I had the free time on the weekend and I wanted to see Harmony and possibly Ravi again.

I make my way back through the forest, searching for signs, to tell the direction to the center, and make my way there.

Upon arrival I run into grandma, she was heading of to the city again. I asked her if she needed any help but she declined. After a little chatter, we parted. She had told me directions to find Ravi, and Lyrics house, and that if I wasn't sure which house specifically just to walk in, because it is pretty common to have children randomly barge into a strangers house here.

I'm going to assume she meant New Home only because that seemed rather unusual otherwise, but I won't dwell much on it.

I make my way over to lyrics, recognizing it because I had been there a few times. It seemed only Mrs. Natalie was there but I still spent some time talking to her.

From what I could see, Lyric would probably come sooner or later, and Harmony was already with her friends.

I decide to see if I could find Ravi, so I returned to the center and followed the directions I had been given.

Ravi lived a lot further from the center than Lyric, and by the time I found her house it, their was long gaps between the buildings, and I had assumed I had gone too far, a few times. I'm still not sure if I'm going the wrong way.

I was distracted from my thoughts when I heard the faint, heavy breathing of someone, and a series of light taps. I decide to sneak over and take a peek.

I saw Ravi punching and kicking a tree, She looked like she was shadow boxing. I thought I also heard something else from over here but whatever it was it's gone now.

I suddenly feel a shiver up my spine and the feeling of extreme danger, follows by a booming voice behind me. " It's rather suspicious, to be watching someone while blending in the shadows."

I lunge forward, out of my hiding place and spin around and simultaneously launching a blast of Sunfire at the direction of the voice.

Landing I prepare myself to run, while keeping an eye on my opponent when I realize it was just Ravi's dad, who is just standing there with a face full of smoke, My attack did almost nothing.

" Oh, hello Mr. Azazel. How are you today?" I stand up straight, and put on a strained smile.

" Oh it's just you Alice, I thought you seemed familiar but I couldn't see you so I was just being cautious. That's a rather unique way of hiding, remind me of an old lizard man friend I had."

" Oh, how so?"

" He used to be able to blend into his surroundings so no one could see him, coupled with his stealth based skills he was amazing at hiding even if he was right in front of you."

" That's really cool."

" He was a rather impressive individual. To what do we owe the Pleasure of your visit?"

" I wanted to see Ravi again."

" I'm sure she wants to see you too, your her first friend the same age as her here and the only one she seems comfortable around."

" Who else is she friends with?" Ravi didn't seem like the type to make many friends. She was a lovely girl just a bit shy.

" Their is one other person she talks to from time to time, her name is Rose. Rose doesn't like getting out much, she's afraid of people."

" Do you know why that is?"

" She's afraid of what they may think of her and that she might hurt them."

" She sound like a lonely person."

" Yes, but I think Ravi helps her, and she helps Ravi in return. They help each other with their insecurities."

" Why does Ravi not like people?"

" You really are just full of questions aren't you?"

" Yes, I'm a cat, but that doesn't answer my question really."

" Ask her yourself, I'm not fond of that subject either."

" Fair enough."

We both sat in silence before our gazes returned to Ravi who was still training.

" What's Ravi doing?"

" She training for her first class."

" Why?"

" You should know, you had a beginner class too, did you not."

" I can't remember, I just woke up not too long ago, and don't remember much."

" Well beginner classes require you to do a certain amount of physical training to the systems specifications. Depending on how long it takes for you to reach the markers the system sets, one can typically get a grasp of how good their growth at a certain field may be. You can chose which you start with, but one must go through a physical and magic based phase. The conditions set by the system for the beginner class, is based on a number of different factors so they are different for everyone, but it takes about 6 months to complete each phase. Ravi tells me she is about to finish the physical phase which is the one she chose second, so she may get her class soon."

" Well that's good for her."

" Speaking of, if she has a class why didn't she go to school?"

" She didn't want to. Her mother and I attempted to convince her but she stood firm, she didn't want to leave home."

" I did it!" We heard Ravi scream in tired accomplishment with a fist in the sky.

She then started looking around,

" Dad, where'd you go"

I turn to look for Azazel but he vanished, so I look back and the man had covered the distance between us and Ravi in a split second and had her in a bear hug.

" I knew you could do it! That's my girl, we'll celebrate tonight!"

" Yay!"

I walked over to them and give my congratulations to her as well.

" Congrats Ravi"

" A- Alice, when did you get here."

"She's been Stalking you from behind that tree over there for a while." Azazel said

" N-no I wasn't. You stopped me before I really could."

" So, your not going to deny that's what you were doing"

" I wasn't stalking anyone." I began to get worried. Was he deliberately attempting to make me look bad?

" Dad, stop being mean to Alice."

" What? I'm just teasing her a little, nothing wrong with that."

" Stop, or no hugs for three days."

" Ok, ok, no need to be so ruthless to your father, Ravi."

" You were being mean to Alice. Apologize."

" Sorry, Alice."

I couldn't help but giggle at the exchange. " Everything's forgiven."

I spent the rest of the day relaxing with the people of New Home. I spent some time with Ravi and Azazel, some with Lyric and Natalie, and some with Harmony and her group.

When I first saw Harmony she went a bit crazy, there was hugs, tears, something about showing me the shiny thing that went missing in the span of less than a day.

Harmony even brought me to their base camp in the forest, which to my surprise was the shifty bunker I broke out of. I gave a silent apology for still broken door.

That night for dinner we once again had wonderful food, and Azazel stood in front of the entirety of New Home recited in overdramatized vigor, how his daughter completed her Beginner class, and how she was the best.

I was with Ravi as her father started his prideful narrative and she attempted to escape the room without anyone noticing soon after she realized what he was doing, which after hearing the entire story, I completely understand. It was nice though, to see how much he loves his daughter.