48

Rearranging my tools, I reviewed the two items I wanted to forge before heading out. The first was upgrading the ruby by plating it in orichalcum.

That would allow it to hold much more mana without issue and let me use the new power that my simulacrum was getting by upgrading the circles. That would be a relatively simple upgrade, as while orichalcum might typically be very hard to forge, I had celestial fire that would melt it very quickly.

The second item was a method to retrieve weapons fired from the Gate. That one was harder but still possible. The general premise would be that it tags every weapon in the Gate and, after a set amount of time, teleports them back.

While somewhat time-consuming to set up, I only needed to tag a single weapon of each type, and the item would affect the rest using sympathetic magic.

The only question is what to make it out of. Constant teleportation would be costly, and while I can reduce that cost using my knowledge of space, the price still could add up.

That meant I would want a good chunk of it to be orichalcum, as that is the metal that could hold by far the most amount of mana for its size. Dust would also be useful as while it can't hold the same amount of mana; it could enhance the overall item.

After a few more minutes of thinking, I decided to settle on that idea. An orichalcum tablet that was mixed with as much Dust as I could get away with. I then would enhance it with the ability to mark items and their duplicates. Then I would enable it to open gaps once a certain time has elapsed after a weapon has left the Gate.

Gaps were not very energy intensive as you expanded a hole that was already there. That meant it would be able to return items hundreds or even thousands of times before needing to be recharged.

In terms of recharging Dust on its own emanate mana, that was why it was able to do everything it could. Tiny nanomachines that passively created mana and used that to paper over anything that they couldn't do.

Rolling my shoulders, I pulled a bag full of Dust to my side, reached a hand inside it, and focused on the amount of orichalcum needed to plate the ruby. The metal was expensive to create but surprisingly not much more than most other metals.

I then dismissed Alter Self and reached up inside my skull to grab the ruby. It felt strange, but I soon had the ruby. Setting it down, I hummed as I looked over the electrum cage surrounding it. I would have to pour the orichalcum inside it to coat the gem.

Taking the newly created orichalcum, I set it inside the forge and, with a flick of my wrist, started a small fire of celestial flame. The flame could melt and destroy almost anything, and orichalcum was no different.

Soon I had melted orichalcum resting inside the crackling forge. Dismissing the celestial fire, I cast Telekinesis to lift the liquid metal in the air. Using a set of tongs to hold the ruby, I placed the gem inside the floating sphere of orichalcum.

After letting the gem settle for a few seconds, I released it and quickly retracted the tongs allowing Telekinesis to hold both metal and gem. Following that, I dunked the molten metal inside a trough filled with oil. The resulting steam cloud caused me to narrow my eyes as I looked closely at the orichalcum and electrum-coated ruby.

As the steam faded, I lifted the gem and floated it into my hand. Looking it over, I couldn't see any flaws or cracks; opening magesight, I noticed that the process had worked, and even now, the gem had more space to absorb mana with any issue.

With this new power, it might be possible for me to conjure Excaliber, but that would have to wait. I didn't have a spiritual surgeon on hand to repair any busted magic circuits.

Pushing that thought aside, I replaced the ruby and stretched. Due to my non-human biology, I could not get physically tired but spending over an hour bent over a forge still left me mentally exhausted.

As I went towards the Lunar field, I could see that my simulacrum were working on some strange new material for my containment fields. Nodding, I decided to head back to the forge and work on my other item.

This one would be more difficult and time-consuming. I did, however, have the time as it was approaching noon. The Scarlet Devil Manor was active during nighttime, and I was meeting Komainu's friends later that night.

That meant I had six to seven hours to work before I needed to head out toward the manor. Master Craftsman was telling me that I would need only around half of it to forge my item.

As I started to create the orichalcum, I was thinking up names for the item. It didn't need to be fancy, but I did have a soft spot for somewhat cringy and overblown names.

Deciding to let that idea settle as the orichalcum finished forming in front of me, I moved the now empty bag aside and grabbed the second to last full bag. Repeating the process I worked on earlier, I started melting the metal down again.

The main difference was that I could dump the orichalcum on top of the ruby and cool it, as I only needed the metal. However, for this, I had to allow the Dust to mix with the metal while keeping the Dust in patterns that were 3D.

That made it much more challenging, and I almost lost concentration on Telekinesis when I felt the Grimoire grow. The power faded away as it usually did when not granted new powers.

Refocusing, I continued merging the Dust with orichalcum. It was incredibly slow as absolute precision was required, and Master Craftsman told me that if it were even a millimeter off, then the who system wouldn't work.

I was able to work much faster as Telekinesis ensured that I had perfect control, but the process was still very slow. What felt like an eternity later, I had the Dust appropriately mixed, but I still needed to wait as quenching the tablet would disrupt the careful mix.

Sitting down, I kept the metal in its tablet shape as it slowly cooled. While waiting, I pulled out the Grimoire and checked the time. I was shocked to find out that four hours had passed.

It made sense as Telekinesis was not the fastest spell, and I was attempting to perfectly manipulate two separate objects with it. Pushing aside my shock, I flipped open the Grimoire to the most recent page to see what my new power did.

It was titled Blessing without End and covered most of what I had already learned. I could see or sense the weakest point in anything, whether it be physical or something more abstract.

Closing the Grimoire, I sighed; the power was incredible but not very useful right now. It didn't help that the appearance of Destruction had given me more questions than answers.

I wasn't a massive fan of DC comics, but I knew who the Endless were, and Destruction leaving had been one of the more interesting points.

However, from what he told me, an old vampire approached him and offered a way to help prevent the greatest act of destruction. I didn't know what that act of destruction might be or who the old vampire could be.

Checking up on the tablet, I pushed those thoughts aside. Seeing it was done, I stood up and gently touched it to ensure it was completely solid and not hot.

Satisfied that the tablet was done, I held it in my hands and opened my magesight. It was utterly filled with magic, and I could see tendrils reaching out in an attempt to tag nearby objects.

Opening the Gate, I dropped the item inside before closing the golden portal. Due to the Gate's nature, it should already have tagged everything inside. It would be somewhat annoying to uncoil the tendrils from things I wanted to keep out, but it was easier and more efficient than tagging every weapon individually.

It was mid-afternoon which meant that I would need to make my shipment in a few hours. However, there was nothing wrong with arriving early; I also wanted to see if Patchouli had any books on Destruction.

Grabbing the health potions and blood-infused sake I had made, I walked down the path that led out from my home. Twisting it, I arrived outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion. As I stepped forward, the gate guard, whose eyes had been drooping, snapped to attention and looked up at me.

"Hello," I said, giving her a polite nod. "I have a delivery of health potions for Miss Patchouli as well as some sake I was planning to sell to Lady Remilia."

Thinking for a moment, the guard nodded and spoke while pushing open the massive gates with a single hand. "Of course, the Mistress said you are allowed in as long as you don't cause trouble."

"Thank you, and have a good day Miss," I said while walking past her and inside the manor grounds. As I headed past the immaculately maintained gardens, the world faded away into a monochrome color, and time stopped.

Leaning on my parasol, I decided to wait for Sakuya to arrive, as I didn't want to be rude. It took a few long minutes before she opened the large doors that led inside the manor proper.

While she started upon seeing me leaning on my parasol with a lazy grin, she seemed to remember that I was immune to the effects of her time-stopping.

Time resumed as she walked up to me and politely bowed before speaking. "It is good to meet you today, sir. What can I do for you?"

"I am here to hold up my end of the bargain with Miss Patchouli as well as seeing if Lady Remilia would be interested in purchasing some of my sake."

Flicking open a silver pocket watch and looking at it, Sakuya hummed for a moment before responding. "The Lady is currently asleep and will not be awake for another few hours; however, Patchouli is currently awake and inside the Libary."

Turning, she started walking towards the library. "Follow me, sir. I will guide you to the library." Nodding, I lifted my parasol on my shoulder while following the silver-haired maid.

As we walked in comfortable silence, I looked around at the various pieces of artwork and busts. One thing I noticed was that many of the paintings were very old and appeared to be originals to my untrained eye.

The second thing I noticed was that when you combined the lack of windows due to Remilia's vampiric nature and the space warping, it created a strange feeling where no matter how you walked, you always seemed to be in a similar spot.

Shaking off that thought as we arrived at the doors of the massive library. Sakuya knocked in the strange manner she had before, causing the door to open.

Giving a bow, she gestured for me to walk in. "Here we are, sir. If you need anything, speak my name, and I will be at your side momentarily." She said before cocking her head to the side in thought. "I suppose, in your case, it might be a bit longer."

Giving her a final polite nod, I walked inside the library and felt the doors close behind me. As I followed the path that my knowledge of space granted me, I felt the Grimoire grow.

This time was different as I coughed up a burning spark of primordial flame. Catching it in my hand, I was forced to drop it as the flame grew; the ember consumed my fake flesh growing larger as it did so.

I attempted to lift it with Telkensis; however, the magic was ripped away to fuel the growing conflagration. I then, in a panic, opened a gap and dropped it in the empty space between spaces.

The gap brought the fire along, leaving behind nothing but my burnt hand and the acrid smell of burning flesh. I had a person to meet, which meant I didn't have time to see what I had gained, so I pushed that aside and continued on.

Heading deeper into the library, I soon arrived at the center, where I saw Patchouli slumped over a table, reading a book. It seemed that she spent much of her time here reading.

Stepping up to the table she was sitting at, I pulled out the three health potions I had made from within my robes and set them down with small clinks from the glass.

"Hello, Miss Patchouli, I have your potions. I thought I should bring the first shipment personally." I said while resting my parasol on the ground and leaning on it.

Slowly closing the book and setting it aside, Patchouli looked up at me before leaning over the table and grabbing the potions. "Understood; who will you be sending in the future?" She asked as she looked over the potions.

"It will be a simulacrum of myself, so it will look pretty much exactly like me." This response elicited a nod from the purple-haired magician. She seemed content to simply look over the potions while muttering a few words.

As she floated up and turned to leave, I interrupted her. "I have a quick question about where I might be able to find a book on Destruction?"

Turning to face me, she looked at me with her usual deadpan face before saying a single word. "Elaborate." Nodding, I continued my question.

"I want to know what specificity the concept of Destruction is when applied to magic." This response caused her to blink before nodding and then waiting for a moment.

The reason for her waiting was shown when with a small puff of red mist, the winged figure of Koakuma appeared. "Koakuma, show Aidan to section D-13," Patchouli said before floating deeper into the library.

The girl nodded before gesturing for me to follow her. Seeing no reason not to, I floated after her as she led me further inside the spiraling paths of the library.

We soon arrived at the section Patchouli had apparently told Koakuma to show me. I could not tell anything else as, despite the floating lights, there was no method of sorting that I could see.

Rolling my parasol on my shoulder, I waited as Koakuma floated up and grabbed a few books before handing them to me. Looking down, I read the titles of the three books I had been given.

The first was titled Destruction, and the second was called Evocation in Magic. The last was in a language I couldn't understand, but I trusted that Patchouli knew what she was talking about.

Looking up, I saw Koakuma floating gently in the air waiting for me to finish reading the titles. Smiling at her, I gestured for her to lead on, causing her to give a smile back before floating back towards the center of the library.

Following behind her, it only took a few minutes before we arrived at the most well-lit section of the library, as well as the only space with sitting room.

Sitting down, I set the books in front of me and cracked open the first one named Destruction. I didn't know what it would say, but I hoped it could shed some light on both the person and what exactly my new power might be.

I knew the basics of the person Destruction as well as my power, but with something of this magnitude, it was better to at least try to find a second opinion of sorts.

The book was very philosophical and leaned much heavier on the destruction side of things than magic. It mainly talked about what precisely destruction was when applied to magic and the differences between burning somebody with a magic fire and ordinary fire.

I was so engrossed in my reading I almost jumped out of my seat when I heard a woman clearing her voice nearby. Spinning around in my chair, I saw Sakuya standing there.

Coughing into my hand in a futile attempt to hide my surprise, I waited to see what she had to say, ignoring the feeling of the Grimoire growing. "Lady Remilia is awake and ready to hear your proposal, sir. If you would follow me, I will take you to the drawing room."

Despite framing it like a question, I could tell it was an order, so I stood up and stacked the books I had been reading in a pile before I followed her to meet with Remilia and discuss selling my sake.

Powers Gained

Carcass Spark

An ember of a most radiant light. This spark never fades or burns without reason, and can consume materials and souls alike to grow like a bonfire. Its fire remembers the exact moment where all stones become water