"Heh, you look like you have a lot of questions on your mind?" Mimi wasn't wrong, Ares had more than a few things to say about this situation and he wasn't even sure where to start. "Well go on then and ask away, I happen to be in a good mood. I'll stop bullying you for now while we talk so go ahead." With a dismissive wave of the hand, and a trademark smug grin, Mimi oh-so graciously announced she would stop pestering Ares for a short while and give him some room to breathe. Though he didn't much appreciate the feeling of ebbing 'spared' he was at least glad to have the opportunity to be candid with this unruly woman for a few minutes. One particular burning question had been nagging away at him ever since he guessed her race so, while she was still in that 'good' mood of hers, however long it was going to last until she got bored and started messing with him again, he decided to ask it first to make sure he was able to get answer while she was co-operative.
"Ah, so, here's the thing. I have an adopted daughter, a damned shade." Ares could see Mimi's eyes widen slightly because she now understood how Ares pinpointed her race so fast. He had personal experience with shades. Also, while shades weren't necessarily rare or anything, adopting one wasn't exactly a common occurrence either. Most people would either treat them like guardians or close friends but adoption was a strange direction. Nonetheless, her opinion of Ares shot up quite a bit as a result of his relation to her own race. Not the type of shade specifically, Mimi wasn't a damned shade, but shades in general. They were all cut from the same cloth, all her brethren and kin, and all born from mana mixing with the universe, so someone like Ares who was taking good care of one as family had a considerable favourability boost.
"I invented these things..." Ares summoned a Snappa out of his Primordial Blade and let it roll around on the floor. He had a few lying around in his back pocket as snacks in case Appa ever wanted one as they had a long shelf date and basically never expired. Of course he still preferred to give them to Appa fresh but it's not like he was always ready or wiling to cook twenty-four seven. Sometimes Appa wanted late night indulgence and so Ares would just hand off a couple Snappas before rolling back on his side and drifting off to sleep. Enyo had scolded him for this, telling him he shouldn't let Appa eat too much late at night, and so he had to promise to stop giving Appa as many treats as he used to. This was met with some resilience from Appa itself, and Ares caved slightly and became a bit more lenient, but it never returned to the same generosity he'd shown previously and the Snappas were now limited in availability. Appa was technically a grown shade and could make her own bad choices! If she wanted to cram her face full of Snappas every now and then that was her choice! At least Bellona and Ares thought so, Enyo not so much and she was adamant in refusing to allow it! "Uh, so my daughter is called Appa. Cutest kid ever but not relevant I guess so I'll stop bringing it up. Anyway, these are Snappas. A cooking pillar art that lets shades taste food. The pellets snap and release an aromatic mist that simulates feeding. I'm mentioning this because I want Appa to actually be able to eat normally one day and I had a gut feeling Shades could transform into humanoid figures just like most other animals, monsters, and various races. I even read somewhere in a diary recently about a potential workable method, and I'll be striving to make that happen in the near future, but because you're here in front of me now I was wondering if you also had any advice?"
Though menace Mimi was still directing her semi-evil gaze towards Ares, it had softened a bit because he truly cared about Appa like it was his real daughter. There were so many questions he could have asked first and yet he gravitated towards the matter that would benefit his daughter in such a minor way instead. His first order of business was to feed his daughter, not even sustenance-wise, it was just a luxury he wanted for her and nothing more. Hell he'd even gone so far as to create an art, which was pretty crazy in and of itself because that was no small feat, but even then only used it as a stopgap until he found a better and more permanent method. If that wasn't going all out then nothing was. This revenant punk, with his venomous tongue that had told Finnian to commit suicide in a hundred and one ways, the same guy who'd been verbally sparring with Mimi like a jaded ex this whole time, had a kind side reserved and it was rather unexpected for Mimi. She probably felt the same way he did when he saw the real her as she now felt like she understood Ares somewhat better than she did earlier. Unlike the fake idiot he pretended to be, this side of him was genuine down to the bone. In fact, that cunning and snake like Ares Finian had seen below the surface, and warned her about with a mental message, almost seemed to exist solely to facilitate this warm and homely personality and so it was hard not to see Ares in a new light off the back off this one harmless request.
Unfortunately, however, there was little Mimi could offer in the way of support even though she actually would have liked to help a fellow shade out. "My case is a bit different so I can't help you the way you might be hoping I can. Still, the normal method ought to work even if it might take a while... Though you probably don't know it because information inside the barrier is limited, right? Just search for monster cores belonging to things that can transform, and have an alchemist create pills from them, that's the general strategy and works for ninety percent of races out there. There are more tailored measures, and specific processes that can speed things up if you have the right resources, but it's better to be safe than sorry. It's also possible to just let your shade cultivate until they reach a certain realm, that would also trigger a significant change, but that would take a long time and there's no reason to wait that long if you can just gather monster cores. As for which cores... The stronger they are, relative to the shade taking them, the better. It's possible even a single monster core could do the trick depending on where it came from. Again, though, the cultivation of the shade relative to the monster the core belonged to matters. If the shade is in sensory enhancement, for example, then mental accumulation cores won't be doing much of anything. It gets tricker and tricker to use this approach the longer you take to get it underway but I'm assuming the shade's cultivation is around the same as yours, in which case you should be fine. I would give you the cores you need directly but I don't happen to have any on me and I won't be able to get to the sect and return in time to hand them over."
"Thank you." Ares meant it. Even if Mimi didn't have any cores handy this was still a helpful discussion. It was nice to have reassurance that the matter was both not overly complicated and that he was already on the right track in terms of how best to go about achieving his goal. It wasn't a pipe dream, it wasn't even that hard to do, it would simply take some time and effort to round up the resources. If he was lucky that Bhorashka trip he was planning for Rox might even be enough all by itself. It was good he got started on this transformation attempt early otherwise Appa might have had to bide it's time and cultivate to a transformative point instead. Of course it wouldn't mind, it didn't even know Ares was thinking about this as a short term thing and not a multiple year-spanning project, but Ares did! He minded! The sooner he could give Appa food, and receive warm hugs as payment, the better life would be! It might have sounded minor but it meant a lot and the soothing feeling it would bring his heart was worth every ounce of trouble chasing that dream would cause.
"You mentioned your case was special? Do you mind me asking why? It's just out of curiosity so don't mind me if it's personal or anything. Also, what type of shade even are you? I don't think I recognise the sub-species, at least not based on any discernible traits you possess." Mimi's good mood had translated into a normal and peaceful conversation, one in which she responded like an actual adult human being for once, so Ares was planning on taking full advantage of this. Even her general attitude had been dampened and subdued so it was a vast gulf between what he'd seen of her up until five minutes ago. Shades and blacksmithing seemed to be subjects she was quite fond of so it was duly noted in Ares brain... Also the fact that she was a shade meant that, at some point in her actual youth, whenever that was exactly... She was also a meeper! A cute little mini, palm-sized ghost floating around and meeping at people! Ares would kill to have seen such a thing!
"Let's start with the second question first because it's easier to answer. I'm a poltergeist shade. We look like regular shades but have narrower eyes and small black markings underneath them that differentiate us..." Ares could imagine it and the image in his head was that of a smug Appa. It was a funny look but it made a ton of sense and he couldn't unsee it because it really felt too perfect for someone like Mimi. "Poltergeist shades are known for their propensity for mischief. From the moment we're born into this world out primary focus in life is to have fun which, as I'm sure you've understood on a personal level, often comes at the expense of others around us. We don't really care how much we inconvenience or annoy people, we just use our natural gifts to fulfill our own wishes.
Damned shades tend to be quite good at mental magic, and can inflict illusory horrors on people, but poltergeist shades are experts in the supernatural usually. In my case I was always good with floating daggers, hidden wires to tickle and cut, and unnoticeable strings to restrict movement. I could tie up a person in their sleep and hover knives over them ominously to get a kick out of their reaction while I hid in their closet or whatever." Ares could totally imagine this too... Mimi, the light blue-grey shade with narrowed eyes, peeking through a closet door, as she snickered at a screaming human waking up to a nightmare scenario. It was very in-character to the point Ares almost thought he was being fed a convenient script and not real life experiences. Alas, this was no cover story that aligned with what he knew, Mimi was actually just like this and there were no twists or turns to suggest otherwise... Although she did somehow become a blacksmith which raised a lot of questions. Still, Ares would get onto those questions later.
"As for how I gained the ability to transform into a human, that was a result of an intense to desire to prank someone I hated. I just about remember them, they were an annoying snot nosed brat, though I wasn't much older myself back then, but I disliked them with a passion. They were a real righteous kinda guy, uptight and always on my case whenever I spooked the other kids in the village. They'd tattle on me like the little snakes they were, I'd get reprimanded endlessly and have my ears talked off by the personification of justice himself, and then I'd prank the kids who tattled on me. A vicious cycle but I enjoyed it.. Up until that righteous bastard took matters into his own hands and stared setting up holy barriers around the other kids at night. He even gave them runic markings around their cultivation rooms and talismans to carry when they were out and about, all of which could keep me at bay like I was some kind of pesky ghost trying to haunt them... Which was kinda accurate actually... Anyway, no longer could I spook the kids crossing bridges into falling into the freezing water or make them cultivate in funny poses by moving their limbs with strings while they were busy focusing internally on their mana circulation. A real joy killer that guy was and so I wanted vengeance!... But he was damn good. He was damn good and I was damn stubborn so we butted heads more times than I can count and had a bit of a stalemate... But there was something I knew, something I could take advantage of, a metaphorical weapon I could stab him in the back with and come out victorious. I knew he had a crush on one of the other kids..."
"Oh boy..." Ares interrupted automatically before his brain could even process what he'd heard because he already knew where this was going. In case it wasn't painfully obvious, and staring him down in the face, all he had to do was remember Mimi's talent for disguising herself as other people and mimicking their behaviour and speech patterns / tone / pitch. What came next was easy to pick apart.
"Yep, exactly what you're thinking. My desire to turn into a human, and pretend to be his crush to reject him and watch him squirm, was so intense that I dedicated all my spare time to accomplishing it. Even the righteous guy got worried about me because I gave up on pranking for so long, and hid away inside my house for ages, that he bugged me all the time to make sure I was ok and not depressed or anything. He thought I'd given up due to his consistent ability to stifle my attempts at messing with people but little did he know I was cultivating something really mean behind closed doors! Something that'd make him bawl like a little wuss!"
"Brat."
"I'll ignore that.
Anyway, I worked hard.
Real hard.
Some of the hardest work I've everrrrrr done. And you know what? One day, I succeeded. I transformed into the woman you see before you... Well sort of, I was younger then so I was smaller at the time and took the form of a child. But yeah, I changed. I managed it and did what most other non-human races couldn't at that age. 'How', You ask?... Listen up, 'cos this is gonna be on the test. Nah, just kidding, there won't be a test, but I will talk about this again later when we get on to the blacksmithing stuff so pay attention and don't make me repeat myself or I'll toy with you again until you unclog those ears of yours!
Anyway, I forged my soul! Messing with souls is pretty damn impossible for most people but I guess I have a natural talent for it and so I was able to shape mine, and change my appearance, after a couple of years of training in private. Souls are surprisingly malleable, once you get the basics of soul manipulation down, and you can change a lot about yourself by fiddling with them. Height, looks, voice... You can even alter your own personality and memories if you really want to swap up your style and try something new with life. It's a better power than it sounds and experience with souls can be helpful in the long run to prevent attacks aimed at it as well as the ability to locate other people's souls and mess with them too. If I'm granted permission I can actually touch the souls of other people and mould them as well so my borderline untraceable disguises can be gifted to people who aren't me too. The soul unravels itself eventually, souls are tricky things and even being able to do what I can is already legendary stuff, so changing appearances doesn't last forever and needs upkeep if you want the changes to be a more permanent fixture, but its still pretty great while it lasts. Now that I'm an expert at it I wouldn't need to touch up a changed soul for at least a couple of years before it reverts itself. I'll be honest, I was gonna mess with yours a bit too but I completely forgot you're a revenant. Your soul is untouchable, regrettably, otherwise I would have loved making you ugly as sin for a few years!" Mimi just said something incredibly dangerous! Ares thanked his lucky stars he was a proud wolf who's soul would literally not break or bend! Truly, his race had never done him as many favours as it had in this one moment... That aside it was interesting to know that soul manipulation could be accomplished by anyone if they were special and talented enough. Ares doubted even he could do it so Mimi was unquestionably incredible.
"Well anyway, getting back on track with the story, after I learned how to mould my soul I used this trick to change into that justice-crazed guy's crush. I took him to a quiet corner and rejected the life outta him! He was as pale as a ghost, maybe even paler than me as a poltergeist! He tried to look calm but I saw an opportunity to really bury the knife deeper and managed to make him cry a bit... Ok, a lot, actually, but I revealed the truth like five minutes later because I felt a bit guilty. Never realised he was thatmuch of a crybaby, hahaha. Always looked so stern and tough, still does apparently, but I was the first and only person to ever break that cold exterior and really get under his skin. He wasn't happy about it and avoided me for weeks... But something changed in him afterwards. I don't know if he has a humiliation kink or whatever but he came to respect me afterwards when his emotions settled down...
And by respect I mean he revered the ground I walked upon. He'd never been bested in just about anything before so once the shock in his system, from the brutal fake rejection, died down he thought about what happened, like seriously thought about it, and realised how incredible I am. His young heart told him to pursue me, I guess, and I found it funny enough to keep giggling at him and making his emotions flutter every time I did so. The way he looked at me in sideways glances during his training, hoping his muscles were impressive enough to make me swoon. His shy face whenever I grinned at him and poked fun... I had no real interest in him but wrapping him around my finger was pretty satisfying and so I strung him along for a good while with dainty laughter and lighthearted pranks. Ah but don't look at me like I'm a complete villain, I made it clear after a few weeks that me and him were never going to be a thing. He chased after me anyway regardless so I took advantage of that desperation, is all... I think there was a part of him that enjoyed the chase, enjoyed trying to lay his hands on something he really wanted but knew he couldn't have... And a part of me enjoyed never letting him have it, like a game of keep away.
So yeah, if you're wondering, that's where my current bad habits comes from... Although the girl he was crushing on before wasn't happy with this state of affairs, with me running him around like a lovesick puppy, she was probably the biggest loser in all of this as she actually had a thing for that guy and he was paying her way less attention at that point. Eventually they ended up together, a real happy ending, and went to go work back in the justice guy's clan after she literally slapped the daylights out of him and told him to get a grip on reality one starry night. They're famous now, or whatever, but I haven't seen them since mostly because I've been busy... Struggling, admittedly. Or well I did before becoming a sect member here; now I'm living a grand life and doing whatever I'm in the mood to. They've probably heard about me but their clan's hella demanding and they don't have spare time to come pay a visit... I think it's called the 'Legion' clan or something? Anyway, I also thought the woman might not want to see me if, you know, she still hates my guts... Also, letting that stony faced guy see me again, and publicly having his expression turn into something smitten for another woman while he's standing beside his wife, would likely be the death of their relationship... Ha, almost makes me wanna try... Maybe I am a terrible person?"
"You're only getting that now?!"
"I'm ignoring that as well."
Mimi shook her head and continued with her story. "So anyway, just before I left the place and friends I grew up in and with, I decided to expand my repertoire a bit. Those old kitchen knives I stole from the local restaurant, the wires I dismantled and took from chicken coops in the dead of night, and the strings from the clothes of the old folk in the village... They just weren't cutting it any more for the pranks I wanted to pull. I tried to use my soul forging technique on pieces of rusted scrap metal lying around here and there, and various other materials I could get my hands on, and lo and behold it actually worked! My soul forging technique could be applied to real materials and allow me to create new stuff! I even created a small hammer and used my strings to pummel the metal and make the process go faster.
I didn't have much time to revel in those successes, though, because I started my cultivation journey properly then and sort of put that smithing stuff to the side as I didn't need to do it anymore once I crafted weapons I was satisfied with. I left the village and explored the wider world at my own pace, having fun and pranking people day in and day out. To do it well, though, I needed money for bigger and bigger schemes I was plotting and I wound up in massive debt... That I never planned on paying back. I mean, the people those loan sharks gave the stardust to wasn't even 'me', I disguised myself as someone else every time and so didn't have to pay a dime! Clever me, right? Yeah, turns out, not so much. There are all kinds of treasures and artifacts out there so I was eventually located by some cranky old expert who demanded I pay him back or he'd do that thing all grumpy cultivators do when they're mad, kill you. I didn't have the money but he let me work for him using my ability to mimic other people but, at some point, he also found out about my forging one day when I was upgrading my own tools.
The cranky old guy offered me another deal to make stuff for his shady organisation, which would drastically increase the rate at which I repaid the dept, and I thought nothing of it. After all, I liked forging so him bringing me rare materials to make cool new stuff with was pretty rad from my naive self's point of view. And, to be fair, it worked. I got real good at smithing during those years, I had fan, and eventually I paid of my debts and was in the clear... Wasn't allowed to leave though. Should have seen that coming, no way they'd let a talent like me go for free, right?
So I tried to escape.
The place those guys were getting their rare materials from was some ancient legacy tomb-cum-mine and I ran in there, hid for days like a rat, and eventually stumbled across something incredible in the deepest pits of that place. Turns out, lucky for lil' ol' me, that mine was actually the legacy tomb of a deceased blacksmith God from way back when. By this point, I'd already professionally incorporated my strings into smithing, come up with my own style, and had gotten proficient with them at controlling other things too; puppeteering basically. I mainly used strings on hammers but I occasionally messed around with people passing by and had a knack for it, treating living creatures like dolls. So, in that deep mine, surrounded by rare resources and minerals and whatnot galore, I did the unthinkable.
I puppeteered the ancient God.
I used his mythical treasures, resplendent and well worn hammers, still attached to his two hands and inseparable even in death, to forge many great treasures out of the available materials nearby. I guess something within that God resonated with me and the dead body became an enabler and personal treasure I still have to this day. I really don't get how it worked but it sure as hell did and, from then on, I possessed a forgery God I could puppeteer which, combined with my honed talents, opened a new path for me as a master craftsman. Anyhow, the stuff I created in the mine helped me escape, those dangerous artifacts were enough to kill armies let alone a few hired goons. I made my daring escape and laid low, smithing in a secluded place far away from any major cities while making a pretty buck to cover my living expenses. My reputation still blossomed even though I was in hiding, though, because my work was incredible. I was using a dead God to forge stuff, what other outcome would there be? Plus I had touched on apotheosis and had the prospects to become the Goddess of the blacksmithing pillar one day so it was only natural I became a buzz and could branch out to a wider range of clientele.
That being said, I was worried that, thanks to my new found fame, that old cranky expert cultivator would come look for me and, sure as sure can be, no matter how much I ran and relocated, he found me again. The hierarchy between us was a bit different this time though. He could have killed me still, he was a really powerful old guy, but it would come attached with trouble for him as I had some high-paying customers waiting in the wings for my work and they'd immediately set their sights on him afterwards if he stepped carelessly. Killing me had consequences because of the service I could now provide. Even then, though, he was in a position to threaten me and so offered me another deal, this one far more acceptable than the others however as he had to make concessions. He wanted one thing outta me, and if I forged it he swore he'd leave me alone forever. Took an oath and everything so it was a genuine deal this time, one he couldn't swindle me with like last time. I agreed 'cos I didn't know much about the world and so him asking me to make some shoddy old ripoff robes didn't sound like too big a deal...
"Ah." Something dawned on Ares but he didn't interrupt this time and let Mimi finish.
"So he showed me the template for the robes and left me to it. Didn't give me any hints about the materials, aid in finding what I'd need, or directions of any kind, but i worked long and hard on it nonetheless. Took me about, what, ten years or so to make it but, in the end, make it I did. It wasn't the exact same, even though I only had a diagram I could tell mine was a little inferior, but seeing as how I had basically nothing to work with I'd essentially crafted a real miracle. You would definitely have difficulties noticing the fake from the real unless you hypogranuloses it with multiple arts over the course of months and could compare it directly to a real one... At least, the cultivator I made a deal with thought so. I did too, to be fair, but apparently the sect the robes belonged to had multiple runic engravings that could track such things and easily identify fakes. I held up my end of the deal but the runic engraver the old cultivator went to for the other half of the robe creation process failed miserably. My own talent was perfection but the rune guy he picked?
Trash.
Garbo.
Worthless to the max.
It might have been possible to scam the sect had the rune engraver not been so woefully inept. He had a hard job, sure, but so did I and I came through! Anyway, the old cultivator died for his attempted trickery and me and the rune engraver were hunted down. The rune guy was killed, good riddance, he deserved it, but my work was so exceptional, and my talents so blinding, they offered me a way out. If I could complete a tryout for their sect, they'd let me join this swanky place called the 'Brotherhood'. No clue what it meant but living is living and I wanted to live, duh. My tryout was a bit different from what most others went through, unsurprisingly mine was more forging centric, but I passed with flying colours and my life's done a one-eighty in trajectory since. I'm not running around like a slave for cultivators threatening me anymore and I don't have to forge like a dog just to make ends meet. I can be selective, work with who I want, when I want. Plus my cultivation journey also got real smooth and I've grown as both a forger and assassin. The Brotherhood helped train me in subterfuge, trickery, stealth, and all sorts of other useful things. My control over strings in particular warranted attention and now I'm a fully fledged member of the sect who can carry my own weight.
Ta da, neat story huh? You can clap now... Oh wait.." Mimi smirked. "... You can't." Ares was still stuck on the floor and this damnable minx knew it! Ares ignored the provocation, mostly because he literally could not rise to it, and went over the story in his head as most of his questions were now answered.
It was crazy that this little devil before him was a real candidate for the next deity of blacksmithing, and was in possession of a God's corpse that she used regularly, but he found it interesting nonetheless and he kinda wanted to see it. Also, though it was mentioned in passing, it seemed like the Legion were alive and well outside the barriered lower domains. They were originally a clan from the higher domains, it seemed, and a branch of theirs down near Sheryashka got caught up in the barrier fiasco becoming their own separate thing inside it. Though the Legion branch in Vraizon was doomed thanks to Major, and were treading a dark path, darker than Ares knew of at the current moment, maybe Ares could help Enyo find peace by showing her the Legion clan out here and seeing what it could have become if it wasn't so fixated on obliterating revenants... Although maybe this original legion clan had its demons and issues too, it's not like Arse could verify that right now. Surely they weren't both terrible, right? At least, according to Mimi, that guy she was childhood friends with didn't sound all that bad and probably held a significant position. Either way, there was a lot of information he'd gotten! Now, though, there was something else he wanted. He wanted Mimi to uphold her end of the bet he won!