Another Set Of Gifts (6)

With these new skills empowering my abilities to create something exquisite for the Duchess, I took in a deep breath and made a swift decision to get them all tested out at the same time, which would hopefully push this Focus to the next level... and hopefully I wouldn't 'infect' her Focus with my magics, but even if I did... I was curious on what that 'infection' would look like.

The ingots that she had created for me though were of a good quality as well, each one brimming with Nature Mana and emitting a soothing, refreshing aura, which I noticed was rather different from how the Ardere Steel had emitted nothing at all.

That was curious, but considering the magical differences between Shelur and Renna, that wasn't entirely surprising that the quality of the metals was different by quite a bit, and it wasn't too surprising when I inspected it in the System menu.

[Vis Ingot (Exquisite)]

Apparently Renna was really good at imbuing things with her mana, though considering she was a skilled mage who could mix slight alchemy practices with her magic to create a dome of protection that also forced the inhabitants to tell the truth, I again wasn't too surprised.

So, I placed this exquisite Vis Ingot on the anvil before placing my hands on either end of the anvil and began to send my own threads of Blood and Dark into the metal, not to convert it to something new, but to empower it instead.

That new skill was something that I wasn't entirely aware of how it worked, but I knew it worked as soon as I saw it activate, which was when the entire anvil - and my hammers - all began to pulsate with a sinister red and black glow, and just like how Renna's Vis Ingots radiated a calmness and soothed your nerves, the anvil began to pluck at your mind and whisper to your darker desires, which was a tad uncomfortable.

But I pushed that aside and grabbed my tongs, lifting the Vis Ingot and placing it into the furnace to begin heating it up to be shaped, before I placed some of the leftover Nature Mana wood that she had created onto the anvil as well, which would be shaped down into a comfortable handle for the wand.

The plan was a simple one; with [Assembler] I needed to piece this Focus together with multiple parts, and I wanted to do so in a way that made sense, which left me little to actually do since a wand was rather simple to create.

It is a stick with a handle in its most simplistic state, but what could I do to make it a showpiece as well?

That was what I had asked myself before, and the answer to that question had been an easy one; she was a Nature Mage, she had a love for floral iconography, and she was also a Noble, so I wanted something elegant and pretty that also showed her love for flowers.

So the idea was to make it look very much like a flower that she was wielding, with the stem being the shaft of the wand and the flower itself being the pommel, which wouldn't be seen as she was wielding it, but when it was hanging on her belt...

I thought it was a good idea, and to that effect I needed three separate materials; the Vis Ingots to do the majority of the Focus, some Nature imbued wood for the majority of the handle, and then some Mana Steel for the flower itself.

With the Vis Ingot heating up in the forge, I got to work on preparing the wood for the handle, which was really just cutting it down to a good size, cutting that block in half horizontally to create two long, thin blocks, and that was it for now.

Placing the Mana Steel into the furnace next, I pulled the Vis Ingot out and got to work shaping that, starting with the easiest part; flattening the ingot and getting it to the length I needed, before I began to curl it around and take it from a quarter inch thick billet into a quarter inch thick cylinder.

That was a bit harder, but as I hammered away at it evenly and gently, I got my green cylinder that looked a lot like a stem, and I kept the handle flat before hammering out the rest of it, rounding it out and gradually getting it to a spot where I could begin 'peeling' it away.

I did so by cutting it and unfolding those pieces, leaving a spot in the middle where I could then screw in the Mana Steel flower, but for now I needed to ensure that the Focus itself was working and able to be used safely.

It took another heat to get everything done with the Vis Ingot, but when it was finished it looked really good, and all I needed to do was trace out the handle onto the wood, cut away the wood and glue in the handle before shaping it into something comfortable, and then I would be left with just the cosmetics to do.

Darkening the wood with a nice stain, polishing the metal, carving out the flower and polishing that... it was still a bit of work, but none of it was difficult, which I was thankful for.

As I worked, I could see the threads of Blood and Dark Mana curiously 'sniffing' the metal on the anvil, slowly creeping forwards and flicking across its surface, only to recoil whenever I hammered the metal or just got close to them.

They were born of me and yet they weren't under my control anymore, which was intriguing to me, but even then I still could feel that they were a part of me, just not directly answering to my will.

So I had to keep them at bay as I worked, and that was easy with something this small even if I needed to concentrate a lot, but on something larger?

I don't know if I could manage...

But either way, I slowly but surely finished Renna's wand, and I was wondering what she would think of it as I began to put it together.