33 Meeting Hephaestus and striking a deal

After my business with Ganesha was done, I figured I should probably go to Hephaestus since I know next to nothing about Hecate from this world. A few minutes later I'm standing in the tower of Babel again.

The 4th floor is where the Hephaestus shops begin, they get more expensive on the higher floors until the 8th floor. Which is where Hephaestus can usually be found.

Before meeting Hephaestus I decide to browse the various weapons and armors on display.

Before Alice and the pack went to the dungeon I gave Alice some armor I had made for her. (Demigod armor set Assassin's Creed Odyssey.)

I made that armor back in our world from materials I had enchanted with the magic available to me but now in this world I can learn how to create using real magic materials. The possibilities are endless.

Right now I'm browsing the most expensive armors and weapons on the 8th floor.

"You know, we have a more extensive collection inside the shop. The best armors and weapons are not on open display in the shop window."

"I was just looking, I wasn't going to buy anything. Thank you though." Looking at the person who spoke to me, I recognize her as Hephaestus herself.

"Hephaestus, exactly the goddess I was looking for."

"And you are?"

Realizing I'm still wearing my hood and face mask, I quickly take them off.

"Ah, Fenrir. To what do I owe this visit?"

"I want my own seal."

The polite, friendly smile fades from her face and she looks at me more seriously.

"And who says I can help you with something like that?"

"Ganesha."

"Alright, let's go to my workshop. We can talk privately there."

A few minutes later we're in a workshop with a forge in the middle of the room. On my left a wall with hammers, so many kinds of hammers in all shapes sizes and materials. 'Wait, is that a..'

"Is something wrong?"

"What's a meat mallet doing among a very impressive collection of forging hammers?"

"That's... for lunch.

You came here for a purpose, you want to know how to make a seal of your own. What do I get in return?"

"What do you want?"

"Hecate is looking forward to seeing you. See, she's a goddess of magic and witchcraft. When you appeared in front of us yesterday, she felt magic that was entirely unfamiliar to her. That doesn't happen. Ever.

She didn't tell anyone besides me, although others might have noticed.

We both know you're not from our world or heaven. You're either from a different dimension or a different universe altogether. Either way, you know things we will never be able to learn. I want to know everything you've learned about forging weapons and armor, enchantments, metallurgy, runes and anything else I might be able to use to enhance my craftsmanship."

"That seems like a steep price for a little seal. Or am I paying for your silence?"

"No, no, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to blackmail you or anything like that. Hecate and I are the foremost authorities in our fields, we can only improve our knowledge and skill through trial and error. We can't go to others to teach us anything, others come to us to learn. So for us to know that there's someone who knows things that we don't is just very exciting.

So how about this, I'll teach you the seal and in return you give me the knowledge I want. And whether the knowledge is actually beneficial to me or not, I'll personally make a full set of equipment for every one of your Familia members for free, and every Familia member you gain from now on can get one at half-price."

"Deal. So how do we do this?"

"We are going to use a grimoire."

"I thought they only contain spells."

"Most do. But they have other uses. I can make empty grimoires. I'm going to give you one and all you have to do is pour magic into it while thinking of the knowledge you want to transcribe onto its pages. The grimoire does the rest."

"Seems easy enough, let's start."

"Alright your seal comes first. We can't just break the seal and discard it. If we do, Ouranos will know that you're not using his seal anymore. I assume you want to avoid this?"

"Absolutely."

"Alright, in that case we're going to have to transfer the seal to an artifact that holds a significant amount of your magic within it."

She then presses a button on her desk and it transforms into a large sort of treasure chest.

'Furniturebots roll out.'

At that thought I lose my composure for a second and start chuckling.

"What? You don't like my transforming furniture?"

"No, no. It's really cool."

"Thanks. See that couch in the corner? It transforms into a bed. Was really proud of that one myself. Great for an afternoon nap."

"Hahaha!"

"Okay, now you're laughing at me. What's so funny?"

"You made a magically transforming pull out couch."

"That's not what I call it. Are you saying it's already been invented?"

"Where I'm from, yeah. By humans, and they didn't use magic."

"They made a couch that becomes a bed without magic? Wait.. oh, I see how they might be able to do that. Guess that's why they call it a pull out couch."

"Did you just figure out how to make one, just from me telling you it's possible?"

"Pretty much. Let's get back on point though."

She then opens the chest and starts rifling through it. Weapons of all kinds start flying through the room, metal ingots, pieces of armor. I actually have to avoid an axe, a sword and a dagger or two.

"Aha, got it!"

She then proudly presents me with a tiny little diamond.

"A diamond?"

"Yes and no. This one was made through magical means. It wasn't mined. It is capable of storing more magic than the greatest magic oriented adventurer is capable of producing in a lifetime."

"That's a lot of magic."

"Yes, it is. So you might want to start pouring, it needs to be almost full. In the meantime, I'll start preparing for the transfer."

"Done."

"What?"

"I'm done. It's almost full."

"No way, even Hecate would take a couple minutes to do it. Give me that."

She grabs the diamond and starts examining it.

"How?"

"I don't know. You told me to fill it, so I did. It's not that much is it? For us anyway."

"The amount is not what bothers me, it's the transfer speed that's baffling. Like I said, even Hecate would take a few minutes to fill this up, and you did it in seconds.

Give me your hand."

She holds out her hand and firmly grabs mine.

"Now pour just a little bit of magic into my hand."

I do as she asks.

"So? Is there something wrong?"

"No, but there's more than just magic here. You have a few other energies infused in your magic and somehow the combination is more powerful and allows for a much faster transference. I don't know what most of them are. Hecate can help you figure this out. It's not my specialty.

Anyway, the diamond is almost full so we can now transfer your seal into it.

Hold the diamond over the seal and pour magic through the seal into the diamond. Don't forget to contain your aura when the seal is gone."

I lift my shirt and follow the steps. A few seconds later the seal vanishes slowly until it's gone completely.

"Alright, now for the new seal. Here's a piece of paper. You just follow the exact same steps as you did with Ouranos's seal. And here's the recipe for these papers along with the necessary runes, but without the trace Ouranos puts on them."

I then follow the steps again and design the seal the same way as before, a black wolf chasing a sun and a white wolf chasing a moon, circling each other forming a yin and yang symbol.

"Now for my part of the deal. Here's the empty grimoire."

Hephaestus hands me a small book.

"Hold it with both hands, close your eyes and start pouring magic into it. Then you focus on the knowledge."

"Alright, give me a second."

Before I go over the steps, I decide to organize my knowledge. What do I want to give her and what can I absolutely not share. Guns? That's a big NO. I'm not going to give her more technologically advanced weapons than what she already has access to. Let's say anything after the invention of the chinese fire lance from the 10th century is off limits. Other than that, I have no problem sharing my knowledge on metallurgy, runes and enchantments pertaining to crafting magic weapons, armor and other artifacts.

I then close my eyes and start pouring the magic into it while thinking of all the knowledge I want to share.

A few minutes later I open my eyes and I'm no longer holding a small book, it's more like a very thick encyclopedia.

I hand it over to Hephaestus who immediately opens the book and... burns it.

"Aren't you supposed to read it?"

She doesn't take her eyes off the flames for a couple seconds while the grimoire turns to ashes.

She looks at me and after an uncomfortable silence she asks me a question I was not expecting.

"Is there any way you could obtain some of these metals for me? Uru, Vibranium, Adamantium, Nth Metal, Dionesium, Promethium, Batmanium and Electrum."

'Oops.'