BOOK 3: CHAPTER 86: EXPLOSIVE STEAMFORGING AND NEW LOOK

"Ye'r sure?" Grimsley asked.

Lone had spent three full days studying the no-longer functioning automaton's power core which doubled as a self-destruction bomb. He wasn't certainly he fully understood it yet, but he had learned enough about it to make a judgement call.

His Steamforging had levelled once going from intermediate-level-eight to intermediate-level-nine from the effort, and he felt like his Blacksmithing skill was closer than ever to reaching expert-rank. Perhaps it would after a couple more days of concentrated effort.

"Yeah. I mean, it's basically just a mana orb but tweaked to, y'know, fill itself automatically, blow up on command, and hide itself. The fuckin' epitome who designed these things was a grandmaster and nothing less," Lone commented.

Grimsley and Shana both nodded.

"Aye, Epitome Rig'ulda. One o' the few woman epitomes but one ah the greatest," Grimsley commented.

Shana's eyes glittered in awe. "She's my idol. She's the idol of every dwarven girl who cares about technology, really."

"It's a shame she never shared her designs. It was a good idea though to give up studying the whole automaton. Thing has more cables in it than the Pacific Ocean but it can still work each limb perfectly independently so long as the core ain't removed. But yeah, I'm confident I can make something to hide Sofia's MP permanently without crippling myself too hard, or maybe even at all," Lone replied.

Soph, who was stood at his side holding one of his tails, asked, "Are you sure you don't want to wait a couple, uh, more days? I mean, I can drop off Shana and Grimsley and we could just stay here until you're 100% confident."

Lone smiled at her. "With all the compiled knowledge I already had plus what we learned about the things we bought from Golden Pass City and this metal fella's core, I know as much as I can. Spending more time will give more results, probably, but it would take weeks or months. I would need something new to experiment with. I'm confident I can make you something to fix your issue without it becoming a big issue for me, so trust me, yeah?"

Soph instantly replied, "I do trust you, we both do, but you're an idiot. My- our idiot, yes, but still... Okay. But!"

"But?"

"But if you end up sealing your mana organs for a year or longer again then you are banned from using Creation Magic on new things until you have at least 10,000,000 MP! Me and Sophie won't compromise any further!" Soph demanded before telepathically adding, 'And I'll reverse time again to get you your mana back. Better me and Sophie not having ours for two months than you not having yours for over 10,000 hours again with Zel as a constant threat.'

Lone flinched. 'Damn, now you're making me feel less certain. No one in the clan can sense your MP, right?'

'No one that I've seen so far,' she replied.

'Then yeah, fuck it. We'll just chill out at the clan. It'll take a couple of weeks for Divine Dragonsworn to arrange our bodyguard so I'll figure it out before they arrive and you can just, I dunno, maybe try to use your barriers to hide your MP on your own in the meantime? Probably won't work but you needed new directions to push Barrier Magic anyway, right?'

Lone asked.

"I hate when they do that," Shana mumbled.

Breena who had been silently observing in the room's corner commented, "They can talk faster like that and s-some things aren't meant for e-everyone to hear..."

"Ah dinnae ken if it's romantic 'at they stare intae each oothers eyes when they dae it, or doon right creepy as feck," Grimsley added his thoughts on the matter.

Soph stood on her tiptoes and kissed Lone. "I will! Now let's go back."

"Eh? We're returning?" Shana asked in confusion. "You two decide that with your eye-fuckin' or something?"

Lone laughed. "What can I say, love is its own language. Yeah, I'll research this a bit more back in the clan. Let's head back now."

Grimsley shook his head. "Whatever ya say, lad. Still, this were nice. Almost reminded me ah bein' back on 'at island, but instead ah building hooses an' ships, ah got tae study an automaton. Let's dae it again sometime." 𝘙ἈɴỔＢÊꞨ

"You're always welcome at our Spirit Pavillion if we're in the clan," Lone replied.

Not 20 minutes after Lone, Sofia, and Breena, had sent Grimsley and Shana off did they hear a knocking come from the main door to their Spirit Pavilion.

"I-I'll get it," Breena announced just as Lone was about to go see who it was.

She rushed out of the room before he or Soph could even respond. "Well, that's nice. I guess she felt kinda useless in the fortress since she couldn't help, huh?"

"What does that make me then?" Soph replied. "I was just playing with my barriers and Body Manipulation. It's Lossa, by the way. At the door."

"Yeah, but you don't have an inferiority complex," Lone pointed out. "And I wonder what she needs..."

Soph wore an innocent smile. "Sophie did kill an X-ranker before you did, after all. I have no reason to feel inferior, heh. And Breena will tell you in a minute."

Lone nodded. "And I'm spending time trying to hide how fuckin' amazing you are. Anyway, if she feels useful answering the door, I guess we should leave her to do that from now on."

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Breena re-entered the room and said, "It's, uh, it's my grandmother. She said she's set up that meeting with the local council for you. You, uh, need to go to the Matriarchal Hall tomorrow morning at, em, eighth bell or sooner."

"That was quick. I guess she has more power over the elders than I had first assumed. Well, I'm gonna keep studying the automaton and maybe try to steamforge a thing or two. What do you two wanna do in the meantime?" Lone asked.

Soph answered, "I don't like it, but it does make sense just in case, so unsummon me. I'll try to do something with my barriers like you suggested. I'll be cuddling our lovely daughter at the same time. Multitasking Mastery, here I come!"

"She is very cuddly, and best of luck with that skill," Lone nodded as he laughed a little. "Let me know if you need anything. Love you."

"Love you too," she replied before she kissed him.

Lone unsummoned her and then turned to Breena who replied, "I'll, uh, train my fire magic..."

"Sounds good. Well then, we've got a busy day ahead of us and an interesting one in store tomorrow," he grinned.

Lone was focusing intently on the mini-forge he'd been gifted from the late Wilbur as it roared along with his movements.

'Let the steam soak into the metal for just a moment more... Now! Infuse some MP into the forge to let it implant the enchantments onto the piece and... ah, fuck!' Lone quickly stored the mini-forge and jumped on top of the device he had just almost successfully created.

It exploded like a grenade, blasting his clothes to smithereens while singing his skin ever so slightly.

He stumbled up to his feet and coughed through the smoke while he used some Creation Magic to fix his clothes. He sighed deeply.

'What happened?' Soph asked telepathically, obviously having been watching him through the large screen that showed him within The Summoning Room.

'Urg... I was trying to make a more simple MP concealing item. One that uses steamforging to mask your MP by a percentage. I thought I had the theory down but the whole fuckin' think went kaboom the second the forge started applying the steamforged enchantments. Still, each failure improves my understanding and will lesson the burden when I create your mega concealer, huh?' Lone replied with a smile.

'Okay, just... be careful. I know it's weird since you blow yourself up all the time, but I don't enjoy watching you do it. By the way, it's half seven... I'm getting sleepy... I can't do all-nighters like you can. I'm gonna give control to Sophie and then we can all go for a big nap when you're done with the elders?' Soph asked in an adorable tone.

Her sleepy voice was just the sweetest thing in Lone's mind. 'Sure. Sounds like a plan.'

He then stretched and called for Breena. She rushed into the room and asked, "Y-Yes, Master Lone?"

"I'm off to that meeting with the clan's local elders. They're a bunch of manipulative X-rankers to my understanding. Wanna tag along? Could be fun to use what happened to you against them, but no pressure. I'll manage either way. You can guard the house and keep training if you'd rather," Lone offered. "Or sleep. You don't have the rank to ignore an all-nighter."

"I-I'll come with you! I-I want an explanation for how they could let me g-get kidnapped!... If... um, if that's not against your plans..." Breena asked, deflating just as quickly as she had inflated.

"Well then, let's get dressed, shall we? Can't exactly go and meet the elders with me in my crafting duds and you in your perfectly suited rogue gear. Don't worry about your mask. When I was makin' Master Mezro'nan's new claws I took the time to create some simple magical tools, one of which is a veil that conceals your features. It's nothing perfect or anything, just a trinket really, but it'll do. It also matches perfectly with the outfits I have in mind for you. Gotta impress the folk who let you down, right?" Lone grinned, trying to move past the girl's sudden loss of confidence.

Breena looked uncertain. "Uh, what out-outfits?"

"Choose. Cheongsam. Hanfu. Or, you could be daring and go for a Korean hanbok. That would really make you stand out since this place is quite Chinese in its style," Lone replied.

"It feels weird..." Breena muttered as she fiddled with the flowing sleeves of her fire-orange cheongsam.

Lone personally loved his golden manchu dress that had deep blood-red foxes embroidered all over it. He had also tied his hair up into a high ponytail with side parted front bangs. Hell, he'd even gone the extra mile and shaved his face despite the fact that he liked to keep a short beard most of the time. 'I may not be as strong as the elders rank-wise, but boy do I have them beat in the fashion department. I'd bet a skill or two on that. Can't trump creation magic's ability to just perfect outfits, now can ya?'

"You look lovely, now stop fussing. I need professional Breena, 'kay? My new skill farms aren't gonna show themselves up, now are they?" he said to her.

"Y-Yes, Master Lone!" Breena replied in a tone that convinced him were she aware of what a military salute was, she would have performed one.

Lone smiled and nodded. He then increased his pace with Breena matching him. Before long, they had arrived at the Matriarchal Hall and were quickly stopped by a set of ten SS-ranker guards being led by two SSS-rankers - all women.

"Void-touched Lone Immortus, state your purpose," one of the two SSS-rankers demanded, her hand on the hilt of her blade, ready to draw it at a moment's notice.

Lone raised an eyebrow. "Am I not expected? I could have sworn Matriarch Lossa had set up a meeting for me here with the local elders. I didn't get the wrong address, did I? Walking a couple more miles will be murder on me heels. Fancy new shoes, you see. Haven't broken them in fully yet."

"You are expected, yes. Alone," the other SSS-ranker responded as she eyed Breena, judging her threat level. She didn't seem very amused by his lack of seriousness.

"Well, I am a Lone, the Lone, in fact. So there's that box ticked," he replied with a smile.

The guards didn't seem to be fans of his humour. Lone sighed. "She's my emotional support Crimson Foxkin. I honestly can't leave the house without her."

'My, oh, my, Loney-boy, you almost sound like me. A few of them were charmed by your good looks initially but look at them now. They're all seething with rage,' Darkness commented.

'Skills ain't gonna use 'emselves, and do you know a better way to get skills out of people than to get 'em to attack ya?' Lone replied. 'It'll also give me justification to push harder with the elders if these ladies decides I need to becomes their weapons' new sheath.'

'That, I cannot argue with,' Darkness chuckled.

Breena stepped forward and said, "Matriarch Lossa used her matriarchal privilege for this meeting and the first elder agreed. You have no right to bar his entry regardless of if he chooses to bring a guest. Doing so is to stand in opposition to the entire council of elders."

'She's so impressive when she's not a nervous wreck,' Lone remarked internally.

Sophie chimed in telepathically by saying, 'She's quite impressive when we forget how useless she is, no? You should be more serious like her right now. I know you haven't slept in a day and you want skills, but we can feel them. Alongside Lossa, there are eight X-rankers in there. Gilbert is there too. Even together, you and us may not be able to defeat them, so please joke around a bit less, yes?'

'Yes, ma'am,' Lone replied to which he was sure she had rolled her eyes in response.

The guards shared a look between each other before moving aside. "You may both enter. The elders are waiting for you."

'Just the elders, huh? Not gonna acknowledge Lossa, are we? Gil I get. Might be trying to use him for his racial skill and he's meant to be a nasty surprise for me, but fuck. What's even the point of the position of matriarch if she commands no respect within the clan? Well, let's go see how we can show these assholes up and get what we want at the same time,' Lone thought.