Lith shapeshifted into his hybrid form, taking a deep breath while Solus erected several barriers to protect every part of the tower from the Origin Flames. The mystical fire didn’t discriminate between enemies and allies, burning everything on its path, be it physical in nature or not.
Without a proper set of protections, the amount of Origin Flames necessary to purify the Adamant would damage the tower and cause a great deal of pain to Solus. Lith slowly exhaled a soft stream of Origin Flames that engulfed the armor inside out.
Ever since Lith had quit the army, he had devoted himself to learning how to control Origin Flames and how to enhance their purifying ability while suppressing their destructive effect at the same time.
Due to the lack of time between all his other magical research and taking care of his personal life, he had still a long way to go before mastering them, yet Lith had already learned more than enough to tap into the full potential of Zolgrish’s Forge.
With each breath, the suit of armor that at the beginning was big enough to accommodate a giant became smaller and thinner. Along with the impurities, the Forge would lose mass and shrink accordingly.
Instead of spewing flames non-stop, Lith would stop from time to time to check the quality of his work. This way, he wouldn’t miss when the Origin Flames had not spread evenly or had affected the exterior part of the armor more than the internal.
Such mistakes would have compromised the quality of the final product if not for Zolgrish’s mastery over metalsmithing. All Lith had to do to fix the flaws in his job was to shapeshift the armor again so that it would restore its original proportions.
‘It’s as boring as watching paint dry, but Lith has no other way to purify the armor and study Origin Flames at the same time.’ Tista said to the others via a mind, to not disturb his focus.
Nalrond and the Ernas found the process far from boring. Under Lith’s control, the mystical flames danced around the Adamant and seeped into it, moving akin to a living being, sometimes even giving the spectators the impression to see visions of primordial times, back when Mogar was still a lava planet.
Lith used his willpower to adjust the density of the Origin Flames, changing their temperature when necessary and with it their color. Tista found the purification process boring because she had seen it countless times whereas to anyone else it looked like a black Dragon dancing with fire fairies.
‘Either I find a way to get Zolgrish to spill the beans about how he can make metal shapeshift, or I’ll have to practice a lot to avoid making so many mistakes.’ Lith thought.
‘We can do both things. Yet I’d like to point out how this is the first time we’re working on Adamant so I’d say that you’re doing a wonderful job. As I would say, progress, not perfection. As Kamila would say, you’re an idiot.’ Solus giggled.
Lith hated when both the most important women in his life agreed on something because it usually meant he was dead wrong.
‘I’m never wrong. Being wrong is for idiots- May Marie Curie forgive me, I’m starting to sound like Manohar!’ The terror the thought inspired made Lith stop whining and return focusing on the task at hand.
By the time Lith had finished purifying the suit of armor to perfection, the mass of metal had been reduced to the point of having the proper density and size to cover Lith’s hybrid form while having a bit of metal to spare.
Lith used it to reinforce the joints and made sure that they properly distributed the weight of the armor. The final result left even Solus in awe.
“By my maker, Lith, check the armor with Invigoration.” The metal looked like the purest and most polished silver yet some part of it perfectly reflected the light, while others completely absorbed it.
“Fuck me sideways! Guys, you must see this.” Lith said, causing Nalrond to swear.
“I’ve got no Invigoration nor a wand. Care to elaborate for me?” Despite the Rezar had worked hard to become less edgy, he still resented Mogar for not giving him a shred of Spirit Magic.
Nalrond was the only one in the group incapable of using Forgemastering spells and it made him feel like an outcast.
“This is how a purified Orichalcum armor looks through Invigoration.” Solus used the tower’s abilities to project a hologram where the world energy seeped and spread evenly inside the metal.
“This, instead, is how the purified Adamant looks like.” The hologram changed, showing several vortexes where the world energy accumulated inside the armor, but failed to condense enough to form a proper energy core.
“After being treated with Origin Flames, the metal almost behaves like Davross. Alas, almost is not enough.” Solus sighed.
“Indeed.” Lith pondered on the discovery. “We can say that Orichalcum is akin to a cyan core and Adamant to a blue core. After refining the core to bright blue with Origin Flames, I brought it close to the violet level of the Davross, but that’s it.”
“That’s it my shiny ass!” Solus said. “This means the armor will be much more powerful than we expected but also that crafting it will be much more difficult. Luckily, we have valiant helpers.”
Solus made chairs and tonics appear for everyone.
“You can count on me. Just tell me what I need to do.” Phloria said.
“I’ll need you to fuel a few things with your mana, leaving Solus free to help me in the most crucial moments.” Lith said, handing to everyone a copy of the academy spell necessary to conjure world energy inside a magic circle.
The spell was simple enough that even Nalrond who had studied fake magic from Lith’s academy book, managed to learn it at a first glance. The others had no need for it since their experience with Forgemastering made the spell second nature to them.
After making sure that the purified Adamant couldn’t be further improved without compromising its stability, Lith took seven violet mana crystals out of his pocket dimension and cast the Bonding spell.
Each gemstone was as big as his fist and cut to resemble a diamond. After spending the last few months in the tower mines, the purity of the mana crystals that Orion had gifted Lith for saving his daughters had further increased, but they still didn’t have a tinge of white in them.
Lith had chosen to use Orion’s crystals rather than the orc shaman’s because not only had it reached a shade of violet so bright that it made him hope for the best, but also because its size allowed it to spawn new violet crystals more easily compared to smaller gemstones.
‘Another flaw in my original design of the Skinwalker armor is that I kept using a single crystal. Normal Skinwalker armor are made of cloth, while mine is made of metal. To tap into the Adamant’s ability to boost its own defensive properties when imbued with mana, the armor needs a proper energy source.’ Lith thought.
The armor started to float in mid-air while the seven gemstones followed its every movement, orbiting around the armor like planets with their sun.
