1 Success

"Almost there, don't stop!" Black mist filled the large laboratory as an extremely domineering voice ordered sternly.

"Senior, uh, I don't feel sa-" The figure standing in front of a test tube was just about to retract his stretched-out hands.

"Stay at it! 22,23,24,25 degrees! Now is the time!" The owner of the domineering voice checked a measurement device and spat out a single word in Ancient Cirebic, "Water."

A split-second later, water appeared over the test tube and quickly turned into mist as the figure standing in front of the test tube flinched and quickly tried to step back. Unfortunately for him, he had nowhere to go.

"Huh? Senior! Help!" The poor fellow couldn't retract his reached-out hands either and quickly started to panic. He looked down and saw a magic formation restraining his whole body, all color disappeared from his face as he completely despaired. Before he could say anything else, the mist above the test tube engulfed his arms, and the pain instantly caused him to faint, but the magic formation kept his limp body eerily still. The mist didn't continue beyond his elbows and mysteriously started becoming darker in color, eventually, the mist became more akin to fog.

'The final step.' Right behind the limp body, a young man wearing a large gas mask appeared, and directly threw a suspicious looking potion at the body before quickly disappearing once again.

Yellow liquid crawled on the limp body until it reached the fog that covered the arms of passed out fellow.

When the young man in the gas mask reappeared, applause was already heard around him.

"Magnificent! Student Fredrick truly lives up to his reputation; fast, efficient, and absolutely calm." A Professor from the neighboring Department of Forging heavily praised. "Professor Wilt, your student has performed perfectly, my student's potions turn is next, and I am confident in his abilities. This is a major success!"

Professor Wilt collected the gas mask from his student and made sure there was no residue on it, after a thorough check, a smile appeared on his face, he extended his hand to Professor Ijak and handed him the mask. "Indeed, the result is set in stone."

As the two Professors congratulated each other, Fredrick approached the glass partition and observed the changes to the fellow inside. His two arms gave off an extremely shiny luster and his elbows seemed to be made of steel. A few seconds later, Fredrick felt someone approaching him and slightly raised his palm.

*Clap

"Nicely done." Merric gave his friend a high five and stood next to him as he observed the metallic looking arms.

"Same to you, the potion is showing positive results." Fredrick pulled out the measurement device from earlier and glanced at it. "0 degrees, room should be stable, but I wonder how my little junior is faring mentally, he shouldn't take long to recover." A smile appeared on both students faces as they snickered in harmony.

"The Department of Alchemy is truly suffering under you, no wonder my Department of Potion Brewing is more popular." Merric put an arm on his friend's shoulder and pulled out an expensive looking golden bracelet from his right pocket.

Fredrick raised an eyebrow and silently stared at the bracelet. After a few seconds he sent an inquisitive gaze to Merric.

"I'm giving this to Nesla, opinions?"

"What kind of enchantment is on it?"

"5 degrees of protection."

"Who made it?"

"Celia from the Department of Forging."

"Hmm, surely yo-" Fredrick was cut off as Merric already knew the question.

"No, I didn't pay for an item that has no use to me, Celia gifted this to me, and I used a favor to have some shmuck from the Department of Enchantment add an enchantment to it."

Fredrick heard his friend and put on an amused expression as he squinted his sharp, pale blue eyes and lightly scratched his head that was filled with long blonde hair.

"Impressive, Celia is gifting you items now, and with the item she poured her heart into making, you're adding an enchantment and gifting it to another girl." Fredrick gave Merric a sincere thumbs up nodded lightly. "Nice gift."

Merric paused for a moment and realized his genius. His dark brown eyes darted around the room as he fell into thought. Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted as Fredrick pointed inside the Laboratory and opened his mouth, "He seems to be waking up, let's go."

"Fredrick." Professor Wilt called out for his student.

"Merric!" Professor Ijack also called out for his student.

…

Jim Gloa had a poor background, the only reason he had made it into the Official Academy of West Layem was a quite a coincidence. One of the Academy's top students requested some "willing test subjects" and the Academy had supplied him with plenty of them, one of these "willing test subjects" was Jim Gloa, his family had sold him to the Academy for some bronze coins.

Anyway, Jim Gloa was one of the few "willing test subjects" who had survived the ordeal, and his impressive aptitude for magic was revealed, his high affinity to metal was also revealed. This was exactly what the top student who requested the whole situation wished to see, Fredrick Victorum was delighted at this development and foresaw the situation in which he, and Merric Berkley, his friend and fellow student, would create literal "Claws of Steel" with the support of their respective Professors. Jim Gloa was a test subject, nothing more and nothing less, but after the events of today, his value had risen unimaginably.

Jim Gloa opened his eyes groggily, for some bizarre reason, he was standing up with his arms reached out in front of him… No, it was more accurate to call them "Claws of Steel."

"Uh, what the f- Ow ow ow, huh? My arms…wait… Success! The refinement worked! SENIOR! SUCCESS!" Jim Gloa was out of this world; he was beyond happy. Tears started falling from his eyes as he stood there awkwardly with his arms stretched out. He didn't seem to care about his charred brown hair, or his numb legs. He only shouted for his Senior as he laughed and cried in glee, this was his life's turning point, this was when he would finally become a valuable person!

Two Professors, followed by two students, entered the laboratory in anticipation.

Professor Wilt simply snapped his fingers as he deactivated the magic formation that was keeping Jim standing.

The magic formation under Jim disappeared and he almost fell on his face, fortunately for him, Professor Wilt was prepared and called out in in Ancient Cirebic, "Wind." Jim floated in the air and tried to adjust his legs, but he couldn't even feel them, much less control them.

"Student Jim, you can relax as you are right now. Try controlling your new arms instead." Professor Wilt slowly talked to Jim and calmly instructed him.

Jim took a deep breath and started moving his arms around.

"Good, try moving your fingers now." Wilt continued instructing Jim.

Jim slowly but surely moved his fingers around and didn't find much difficulty doing so. This continued for the next 5 minutes as Wilt had Jim test out plenty of arm and hand movements.

"Very good, try to bring back your normal arms out now. Think of retracting your arms or an action that resembles that."

"Return, return, return." Jim tried a few times and eventually succeeded.

Wilt and Ijack could hardly rein in their excitement as they both quickly urged Jim to call out the claws once again. Jim complied and succeeded in the first try.

"Wonderful! Fantastic!" Professor Ijak continuously tapped on Merric's head and seemed to play a tune.

"Well done. We succeeded." Professor Wilt put a hand on Fredrick's shoulder and warmly praised.

Merric got a slight headache while Fredrick smiled lightly.

Meanwhile, Jim couldn't be a happier man! His future turned extremely bright in a single night!

…

In a dark and hazy room that only had a small candle as the source of light, an extremely dignified looking young man, who seemed to be in his early 20s, sat in front of a large table and elegantly sliced up a large piece of meat as he savored the rich aroma it was releasing. A half glass of wine was to his left, and it contained a bizarre blue colored wine. His fork was almost at his mouth and he was about to take another bite of the meat, but he oddly stopped and returned the piece of meat onto his plate. He then proceeded to look at a mirror that was situated to his right.

A few seconds later, the mirror seemed to blur as an alluring figure of a luxuriously dressed woman appeared on the surface of it.

"Darling, 4 seeds have created a type 2 magic artifact that could be controlled with a mere thought. I will be busy handling their affairs for a while, would you like to join me?"

"…Sure." The man was shocked for a second but quickly agreed as he somehow shrunk the juicy meat on his plate and finished his meal in a single bite.