The moment the space gate opened, Hephaestus—who had been sitting in her office waiting for Tsunayoshi and Tsubaki to return—snapped to attention.
When she saw a gigantic heart being carried in from the other side of the portal, she already knew:
"Looks like the hunt succeeded."
"And with a dragon heart that size… Tsubaki's luck was good enough to pull that, huh."
Dragon hearts didn't drop easily. Hephaestus watched the massive organ continue to gush mana—it was still alive. Rarer than rare.
As the heart was set down in her office, the porter—Tsubaki—stepped out from behind it. Tsunayoshi followed, hands full of blue scales, dragon fangs, and two distinct power crystals.
"You two had quite the run in the Dungeon," Hephaestus said, impressed. "Dropped Amphisbaena in one go and came back with a mountain of rare materials."
Tsubaki shook her head as she put the heart down. "Hephaestus-sama, this isn't my credit."
She wasn't about to claim the kill. She'd just done the harvesting at the end.
"I was support. After Tsunayoshi put Amphisbaena down, I moved in. My main job was the finishing blow."
Hephaestus wasn't surprised. Tsunayoshi's personal stats were far below Tsubaki's, but his power far outstripped his body. With the constructs born of his imagination, he could face Amphisbaena head-on.
"He made The Silent," Tsubaki added.
"Pft—!"
Hephaestus nearly spat her drink. A moment ago she'd thought Tsunayoshi handling Amphisbaena was normal. How had they jumped straight to "summon The Silent"?
"The Silent—as in the one I'm thinking of?"
Her gaze shifted from Tsubaki to Tsunayoshi.
"Yes," he said. "The Silent. I shaped her from intel, inference, and imagination—roughly a Level 6 puppet body."
"A restoration to baseline using reports and data?" Hephaestus muttered. "That's… absurd."
A beast made from imagination, scaled by information. A power tailored to chaos and the unexpected. And it could even reproduce former legends—imperfectly, perhaps, but still.
"It's hard to make a perfect copy," Tsunayoshi said, shaking his head. "No one's 'data' can be fully restored. Beasts—or people—created by Monster Creation are always imperfect. Partly because I never have complete intel. Partly because my imagination has a ceiling—my own limits. Until I reach a higher tier, my vision—and my strength—box in my imagination. So recreating anyone perfectly is basically impossible."
That, Hephaestus found entirely reasonable. A power this broken needed bounds. And in a way, those bounds weren't permanent: as Tsunayoshi grew, so would the reach of his imagination.
Even now, an imperfect Silent had already killed Amphisbaena. If he ever produced a perfect one… the balance of Orario might flip on its head.
Hephaestus turned to Tsubaki. "Well? Teaming with Tsunayoshi from here on out—how do you feel?"
Tsubaki almost jumped. "Absolutely yes!"
She slung an arm around Tsunayoshi's shoulder, big-sister swagger in full. "He's the ideal assistant for a smith. Strong on his own, boosts the rarity of monster drops, and can help me handle floor bosses. He's perfect."
Watching Tsubaki's glow, Hephaestus couldn't help recalling how, earlier, the woman had "trouble" written across her face when asked to work with him. In less than half a day, all that had flipped.
"Not so reluctant now?" Hephaestus teased. "When you heard your forging time would be shortened, that wasn't your attitude."
"C'mon, I didn't know Tsunayoshi's deal back then," Tsubaki said, shameless as ever. "You didn't explain it clearly, Hephaestus-sama. If I'd known, I'd never have looked twice."
Tsunayoshi rolled his eyes. The more he learned this smith's personality, the clearer it became: a craftsman aiming for the pinnacle, simple and direct. With a goal that lofty, she had no time for anything beyond the forge.
"All right—enough joking," Hephaestus said, the smile fading to business. "Tsunayoshi's situation is special. His power intersects with forging. He can manifest objects with varied abilities—but he needs practice in that direction. As he said, imagination is his greatest weapon."
"So, for the time being: while he lies low under our banner, the rest of the time you two act together. Do not let his identity leak."
"Understood!" Tsubaki snapped to it. She knew what to do: bring Tsunayoshi along for everyday forging, for Dungeon trials—everything.
"Now, one more thing," Hephaestus said, curiosity sneaking back in. "Did you get the Great Deeds this time?"
Tsubaki glanced down at the boy in her arm, her smile widening. "We did. Thanks to Tsunayoshi's ability, we actually captured them."
"Good. Both of you—come with me."
Hephaestus's eyes shone. Clearly, the thought of forging with Great Deeds had her fired up as well.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[Thank You For Your Support!]