ushernet Food and metal.
Food and metal.
I intentionally delayed this chapter because I got caught up with something in (P)(A)(T).
Next chapter: October 6th. Don’t worry about me failing to keep this promise; I’ve set this chapter on a timer, and even if I die, it will still be released.
Well, that’s it. Have a good day and enjoy your reading.
(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori
[...]---[...]
“He didn’t do that.” I glanced at the subject of our conversation, Qrow, who was laughing. “You challenged a fourth-year student just days after entering Beacon?”
“He did. That’s when I discovered he was ridiculously stupid.” Taiyang laughed from across the table. “Qrow got beaten up in five seconds, and I still think the guy was holding back.”
“I lasted at least ten seconds!” Qrow slapped the table before bursting into laughter and pointing at Taiyang. “Young and stupid, I wasn’t the only one like that.”
“You wouldn’t dare...”
Qrow grinned, showing all his teeth.
“I want the story by yesterday.” I pointed at Qrow, who pushed Taiyang away when he tried to cover the man’s mouth.
“If I thought I was invincible, Taiyang there thought he was the most irresistible creature to ever set foot in Remnant.” Qrow snorted at the memory and started laughing again as he told the story. “The idiot tried to hit on the nurse of the time in front of the entire combat room—”
Qrow slapped the table as he began to laugh, barely able to finish the story.
“—The damn combat professor that year was her husband...”
The table fell silent for a second. That was also the time I managed to hold back my laughter before starting to laugh just like Qrow.
Taiyang slapped his face before pointing at Qrow and opening his mouth, only to start laughing while holding his belly.
“Holy shit... How?!” I heard Yang’s murmur from the table next to ours, where she and the rest of Team RWBY were sitting. Penny was there too.
“Is Dad losing it?” Ruby’s voice was confused. “Last time you only mentioned the name of the guy she liked and he pulled up his academic record... Is it magic? It has to be magic.”
“How?!” Yang asked again.
“Devas gets along better with older people, doesn’t he?” Blake commented. “He seems more comfortable talking with older people than with those his age or younger.”
“Yes...” I felt Weiss’s gaze on the back of my neck before she diverted it to the chair to my left, where Jacques was sitting, and murmured, “Maybe things won’t end badly...”
I paid only vague attention to the conversation at the other table while laughing. With each laugh, my head ached a little, but it was worth it.
“I’d ask if these two stories are real, but knowing Qrow, at least one of them I’m sure is true.” James took a sip of his drink to hide the smile on his face.
“The one about Taiyang being a dumb ladies’ man, obviously.”
“That one I have my doubts about being true.” James ignored Qrow’s look.
“I can confirm that both stories are true.” Ozpin joined the conversation. “I was the history teacher back then. In fact, I think these are the tamest stories that Team STRQ participated in.”
“Don’t lie!”
“Don’t make up stories!”
Qrow and Taiyang said at the same time. Ozpin raised both hands with a light smile on his face but remained silent.
I could tell that Ozpin wasn’t lying. Qrow’s and Taiyang’s nervousness increased for a moment too. Damn, I’ll see if I can get these stories out of someone later.
(“I can tell you if you want. Inside your mind, I’m not limited.”) Jinn’s voice echoed through the link in my head.
(“That would ruin the fun of the story. The cool part is hearing it from one of them.”) I declined the offer. (“How are you seeing what’s happening outside? Does the stream phone work in there?”)
(“It does. The stream never ceases to amaze.”) Jinn laughed lightly. (“Maybe I could see through your eyes too thanks to the connection between our energies, but I thought it best not to test anything.”)
I spun my nightmare energy and created a black hand that patted Jinn’s forehead.
(“No testing inside my mind.”) I huffed as she placed Nero between her and the hand for protection. (“Focus on recovering and put the cat down.”)
I cut the connection moments after Jinn stuck out her tongue and blew into the void, knowing that I could see, or in this case, feel.
“Devas. Can I call you that, by the way?” The moment Jacques spoke, I could feel Blake’s and Weiss’s emotions stirring.
I let my gaze drift to Jacques before responding.
“Sure, I’m not big on formalities.”
“Great, then I’ll ask you to call me Jacques.” He looked around the table. “I also try to avoid titles when I’m not working; they make everything more exhausting.”
The statement was a half-truth, I could sense. What was this guy planning?...
“What did you want to ask me before?” I drummed my fingers casually on the table as I spoke.
“It was about the other male narrator. Is he who I think he is?”
“Depends, who do you think he is?”
“A thief who appeared in Vale’s news a few months ago.” Jacques spoke casually. “Roman Torchwick and Toman Rorchwick. It wasn’t hard to notice the similarity between the names.”
“He can spot the obvious, how amazing.” Blake murmured at the other table.
I was the only one who heard, at least at this table. The rest of Team RWBY and Penny turned to her the moment those words left Blake’s lips.
“It would be an incredible coincidence, wouldn’t it?” I ignored the other table and looked at Jacques. Seriously, what did this guy want?
His curiosity was genuine, I could feel it, but it revolved around a greater greed, like those fish that follow sharks.
“Is it a coincidence?”
“No. It’s really Roman.” I didn’t deny it. “He improvised the name at the last minute.”
Jacques’s surprise was genuine, even though he hadn’t let it show on his face.
“Were you expecting me to deny it?” I didn’t mince words.
“A little, yes. I didn’t think you’d confirm that one of Vale’s most notorious thieves was narrating the world’s biggest event.” Jacques interlocked his fingers and rested his chin on his hand.
No one else had been eating since our conversation started.
“I see no reason to hide it,” I shrugged. Besides being obvious, hiding the information didn’t affect me in any way. Not even Roman, who probably already had plans to make it public after the festival.
“I imagine James and Ozpin know then. After all, a thief wouldn’t be able to get past Atlas’s security.” Jacques commented. I didn’t need to respond.
“I’m fully aware of Toman Rorchwick’s presence since his arrival in Amity.” Ozpin interlocked his fingers but kept his hands on the table. He had found the name amusing, hadn’t he?
“Roman wouldn’t be able to set foot in Amity without my knowing.” James’s voice was neutral. Did he take Jacques’s words as a jab?
“I have full faith in that.” Jacques admitted before probing further. “But what’s the reason for such an idea? Roman is someone accused of various thefts, isn’t he?”
I had an idea of what he wanted from this conversation. Jacques wanted to know if Roman was some sort of Vale agent, didn’t he? After all, why else would Ozpin and James let a thief enter Amity, especially someone who, as Jacques mentioned, had numerous accusations against him?
“I thought it would be funny.” I said. I could almost see Jacques’s ideas shattering in his mind.
“You thought it would be funny?”
“Unbelievable, he’s also a parrot...” Blake didn’t miss the opportunity. Weiss pinched her under the table while Yang and Ruby laughed.
Penny seemed content to observe everyone in silence.
“Yes, I thought it would be funny.” I affirmed again. “That and I knew Roman would be a good narrator. The audience liked him, didn’t they?”
Jacques didn’t deny it. A large portion of the Amity audience had loved Roman’s acidic and sarcastic commentary.
Jacques remained silent for a moment as he observed me. I could sense that he was reassessing me in his thoughts. After all, I had claimed that Roman was here simply because I wanted him to be.
James’s previous words also had a subtle implication.
‘Roman wouldn’t be able to set foot in Amity without my knowing.’
Knew, not allowed.
I let a slight smile appear on my face.
Jacques wasn’t an idiot; the man was the head of the world’s largest company. He knew how to read between the lines, and the way his respect and caution for me increased confirmed that.
“It seems the rumors about the Deer Huntsmen weren’t as exaggerated as I had thought.” Jacques admitted softly.@@@@
“Nah, they’re way exaggerated.” I shook my head. “I’ve heard some people saying that I could control Grimm. What do they think I am, some kind of evil, immortal being cursed by the gods?”
Qrow choked on his drink. Taiyang bit his fork.
“Sorry, went down the wrong pipe.” He patted his chest while coughing.
“Rumors and conspiracies on the CCT are never lacking.” Ozpin spoke casually. “Some people even believe that fairy tales, like the tale of the Maidens, are real.”
James coughed, nearly dropping the glass he had in his hand.
“Crazy, right?” I said with amusement. Ozpin agreed, as amused as I was.
That was enough for Qrow, who started laughing again, followed by Yang and Ruby, who were listening from the other table.
The conversation from there turned back to being relaxed and without serious topics, except for Jacques commenting about a business meeting. It seemed Weiss had already spoken with him.
I agreed, of course; I had promised Weiss.
After lunch, I got up to start leaving the room. Although they were free to go, I wasn’t. I was on my lunch break; like it or not, I was still the festival’s narrator and there were still some fights scheduled.
“You guys will stay in Amity, right?” I turned to Team RWBY.
From what I had read about the rules, competitors were required to sleep in the coliseum while the festival was ongoing. Well, at least the competitors still in the competition.
“Yes, why?” Ruby was the one who answered me. Yang was talking to Blake, Qrow, and Taiyang, while Weiss was chatting with James and Jacques.
Ozpin seemed content to pass the time talking with Penny.
“Nothing, just confirming. I’ll come by here after the matches end and then head to the Emerald Forest.” I explained. The Emerald Forest was the best place for me to spend the night.
Besides having enough space to park my ship and start working on a few things, the forest was also close to Beacon. It wasn’t quite a midpoint between Beacon and Amity, but it was a good spot.
If something happened in Beacon or Amity, I could react and quickly run to help.
After saying my goodbyes, I headed to the narration room. I noticed before I even entered that Lisa wasn’t there, just Roman and Neo. She must have left to avoid interacting with them, right?
“Hey, Roman, Jacques Schnee asked if you were you. I gave him your number, is that alright?” I said as I entered the room.
Roman spat out the drink he had in his mouth. Neo barely dodged.
(“You did that on purpose.”)
“Then yes.”
Damn, just because the wyvern that tried to eat me talked and was as intelligent as I was didn’t mean I wouldn’t kill and eat it. If it was dumb enough to attack something it considered prey and die, it wasn’t that intelligent.
“That... is borderline cannibalism.” Jinn pointed out. I shrugged.
I sprinkled some spices on the mimic meat and put it on a skewer before letting the Shadowflame roast it for a few minutes. The smell was good.
“The taste is good too... The flavor is similar to pork but softer.” I said while chewing the meat. “The poison is weak too; it barely makes my tongue tingle.”
I’ll season the meat with poison later without the (CHAT) seeing. I don’t want to end up influencing some young or foolish person to do the same. I had resistance to poison and would adapt; they wouldn’t.
“Serafall asked if you’d eat a Devil. She didn’t specify how.” Jinn said after a few seconds.
“Maybe yes more for yes and maybe no more for no. I’ll let you choose which is which.”
“Sera-Tan typed: Specify!” Jinn laughed as she said it.
“I prefer angels.”
“Sera-Tan typed: Liar!”
I threw another feather into my mouth and consumed it with my Semblance.
“Sera-Tan typed: That doesn’t say anything!”
I shook my head amused before throwing more meat into the Shadowflame and going back to working on the angel wings, or rather, the metal I would use to create the item with them. Ruby had helped me a bit with the metalwork; watching her forge had been useful...
I am human, nothing human is foreign to me.
I didn’t even need to see myself in the mirror to know the color of my eyes.
I pulled out a few items from the VoidBag: an anvil, a forge hammer, a steel alloy ingot mold, a steel alloy bar mold, a furnace, the Bone Helm, and finally, the Scarlet Ore sand.
All the tools were enchanted with Mystic Symbols, including the molds. They basically served to increase resistance to heat and damage of the metals.
The first thing I did was set up a barrier around the matrix that Dylan’s mother had made; only then did I activate the matrix with me in the center and consume all the Remnant mana inside.
The second thing I did was pour the Scarlet Ore sand into the bar mold and then used the Shadowflame to burn and consume all the impurities in the sand. For what I had in mind, the purer the metal, the better. Purity was key here.
I used the Bone Helm’s hands to compact the sand in the mold. Once the sand could no longer be compacted, I threw the Bone Helm back into the inventory and placed the mold inside the furnace along with the Shadowflame.
The furnace wasn’t really necessary; the Shadowflame could contain the heat in the mold alone, without it being dispersed. But since it was my first attempt, I decided to use the furnace and focus the Shadowflame only on melting the metal.
“It’s lacking heat...” I murmured. The Shadowflame began to swirl around the mold, slowly increasing its temperature.
I knew the melting point of Scarlet Ore; the Analyze: Item had given me the information and I instinctively knew the current temperature of the Shadowflame.
It wouldn’t be enough.
“It needs a bit more...” The flame’s temperature increased even further at my command.
I tossed in a few fallen angel feathers and some strands of Acqua’s hair into the Shadowflame, just to be sure. I knew that the Shadowflame’s maximum heat would be sufficient, but making the flame stronger wasn’t a bad idea.
“Stop, that’s enough. Maintain that temperature.” I raised my hand.
I didn’t even need to say the command out loud, let alone raise my hand, but I was kind of on autopilot at the moment. My body was acting on instinct.
I didn’t stand still while the metal melted and placed both hands next to the mold. The Shadowflame wouldn’t burn me, and the forge’s heat wouldn’t either; the Shadowflame wouldn’t let the heat reach me. As long as I didn’t touch the mold, everything would be fine.
I shaped my mana with my right hand and infused my mana into the metal. I used what I had learned from Jinn’s question to infuse my mana with fire and light elements.
It wasn’t perfect, and I didn’t want it to be.
With my left hand, it was easier; the resonance between my spiritual energy and the Scarlet Ore was incredibly high. The energy practically stuck to the metal on its own with minimal effort from me.
At the same time, I used my Semblance and the Shadowflame to devour any remaining nightmare energy in the metal, no matter how minimal.
Then I took a deep breath. My mana and spiritual energy collided. I felt my body warm up.
[Fusion Mode (Fake)]
“Wasn’t this supposed to be a prototype?!” I completely ignored Jinn’s voice as I continued.
I kept doing this for about an hour. I countered the fatigue and damage to my body with the [Devas Ring] and commanded a small part of the Shadowflame to absorb the heat leaking from my body and increasing with each breath.
When I felt the metal had melted and fully fused with the energies, I poured the melted Scarlet Ore into the ingot mold. Once it was filled, I pulled out another mold from the VoidBag and filled that one as well.
I took a deep breath and calmed my breathing. I focused on regulating my body temperature while the Shadowflame consumed the heat from the liquid metal, cooling it slowly.
“Damn... So much heat...” I murmured. I noticed that every time I breathed, a red smoke was coming out of my lips. Blood vapor.
Damn, this ridiculous, suicidal breathing mode.
After another ten minutes, I saw that the Scarlet Ore had partially solidified into two red ingots, blood-colored. The color was vibrant. I didn’t let the ingots cool completely.
I didn’t waste time analyzing the ingots and placed the first one on the anvil. I grabbed the hammer and took a deep breath. I had seen a human do this before...
I am human, nothing human is foreign to me.
Then I started hammering the ingot. I could feel I was off at first; the force was uneven and the rhythm erratic, but with each strike, I could also feel myself improving.
It wasn’t perfect and I didn’t want it to be.
I didn’t even notice when my breathing synchronized with the strikes. The Shadowflame also moved in sync with my breathing, maintaining the temperature of the ingot, cooling it slowly and steadily.
It took me just over half an hour to shape the metal into a simple, small greave that would cover only my ankle. It wasn’t detailed or artistic, just metal, pure and simple.
Then I finally pulled out the angel feathers. I focused on the feathers from two-winged, four-winged, and six-winged angels. Instinctively, I knew that if I tried to use any eight-winged or ten-winged feathers, something would go wrong; I didn’t know what, but I knew it would.
I placed the feathers gently onto the metal, starting with the bottom where the two-winged feathers would go, and placed them facing up. After circling the entire bottom with the two-winged feathers, I repeated the process with the others.
Four-winged angel feathers.
Six-winged angel feathers.
I placed each feather flush with the metal and pushed them until they were straight. My fingers barely burned before regenerating. For each feather, I placed Wind Dust on top, the purest I had.
I tried to focus on the sensation that the Double Jump had whenever I used it while placing each feather.
When I finished placing all the feathers, I began painting the Mystic Symbols on the inside of the greave. I had mixed too many things already; putting the Mystic Symbols between or underneath the feathers was something I wasn’t confident about.
I only placed a single rune as well: Speed.
The sky was already bright when I finished the second greave and examined them.
-//-
[Angelic Greaves (Sun)]
Type: Accessory/Armor
Rarity: Pink
Prefix: None
Damage: 340 ~ 737 (Increases against beings with the Evil/Fallen/Dark/Moon attribute.)
Knockback: 120.40 (Insane)
Defense: 737 ~ 1240 (Increases against beings with the Evil/Fallen/Dark/Moon attribute.)
Durability: 4012/4012
[..]
Ability (1): Consumes Mana/Spiritual Energy/Aura to create an air platform below the user’s feet.
(NOTE: The platform can be overloaded to propel the user forward with a burst of wind.)
Ability (2): Moderately increases Mana/Spiritual Energy/Aura recovery when:
Facing enemies with the Evil/Fallen/Dark/Moon attribute.
Under the Sun.
Running at over Mach 3.
Flying at over Mach 3.
Ability (3): Generates a heat and light aura that wards off negative feelings whenever:
Facing enemies with the Evil/Fallen/Dark/Moon attribute.
Under the moon.
Standing against one’s will.
Ability (4): Consumes Mana/Spiritual Energy/Aura to impose the concept [Speed] on the user while running.
(NOTE: The running speed gained by the [Angelic Greaves (Sun)] item cannot exceed the maximum limit of [Mach 5].)
Ability (5): When used by [Devas Asura], increases all attributes of the [Angelic Greaves (Sun)] by 33%.
[..]
Description: A pair of greaves created as a prototype, but which achieved far more than its creator, The Streamer, initially intended.
They are not wings, but they do their job well in keeping the user airborne.
[..]
~ Perhaps the angels won’t like this creation, no matter how beautiful and pure it is. ~
-//-
I took a deep breath and waved calmly with a smile on my face. It had worn me out, but it was worth it.
Without hesitation, I equipped the greaves, kicked the ground, then the air, and then ran. My laughter was the only sound that followed my steps.
Damn if I hadn’t won the Hermes Boots; I’d create something similar myself.
[...]---[...]
Fun fact: Some people really thought Devas was kind of a cannibal some time ago. I was actually really happy about that. (And I only said "kind of.")
That said, greaves with angel feathers! Some people from DXD would probably foam at the mouth just seeing that, something for the future.
I won’t drag this out too much, have a good day and enjoy your reading!