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CH.567 Eternal Hammer and the Star Series
CH.567 Eternal Hammer and the Star Series
CH.567 Eternal Hammer and the Star Series
A few days after she began making the hammer, Wilma had it finished.
It was mostly made of orichalcum, with the hammer face and the spike on the other side of the warhammer made of adamantite.
At first Wilma asked what name it should have, since she assumed it would be part of the starsign series of weapons, so she wanted me to name it. But I told her it wouldn’t really fit, as her hammer has no star titanium, which kind of feels like a necessary part of a ‘star weapon’.
So instead, the hammer got a different name. The eternal hammer, Ilmari.
The name comes from Finnish mythology, specifically Kalevala. Ilmarinen was a great smith, known as the ‘the eternal hammerer’. I just twisted that around a bit.
… what? You think I didn’t look into that? I like mythology, okay. And I blame Laura for introducing me to Finnish stuff.
Besides, Wilma’s hammer is literally unbreakable, so it is quite literally eternal. Because for some reason, despite not being enchanted yet, Wilma’s new hammer came out being a legendary weapon. And me naming it gave it even more Strength, because apparently naming a weapon can make it more powerful. Thanks for telling me, System.
| The eternal hammer, Ilmari | |||||
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But whatever. I need to make a mabuki for the hammer, and luckily now that I have the exact details of the hammer, I can easily test that the mabuki I’m planning on making is going to work with the hammer.
There were some minor difficulties in making a mabuki with adamantite, as adamantite isn’t that good in emitting or even transferring mana. Luckily the eternal hammer is mostly orichalcum, which is fantastic at mana transfer and good at emitting, so we could make a mabuki out of mostly orichalcum, with just a bit of adamantite added in.
The making part was also a bit more difficult than with the orichalcum/star titanium mabuki, but not something we couldn’t do. We just had to go a bit slower and be more careful.
Our new mabuki gladly took its place within the eternal hammer, and now we had a living eternal hammer.
With her hammer made, Wilma began to focus on the rest of the ‘star weapon’ series of living weapons. Naturally I helped her out with that.
Tauros was an easy one. It has to be a battle axe. What else could it be? It didn’t take us long at all to design a two-handed battle axe with blades on both sides and all of that.
Next was Gemini, and that meant they’d have to be some sort of twin weapon. I decided to go with oversized butterfly swords. Normally butterfly swords are short-swords, but ours are arming sword sized. But they still have the guard that classic butterfly swords have, and they fit into a single sheath.
For Cancer, I decided on another double weapon. But this time they aren’t ‘twin’ weapons, just two weapons meant to be wielded in unison. That being two punch daggers, or katar since that is the actual name, that kind of mimic crab claws.
Leo was both an easy and a difficult one. Leo has to be a sword, right? Like what else would it be? But the difficult question is what kind of sword.
After some time I decided a big, two-handed sword would be best. So we went with a claymore style sword. I suppose technically you could wield it with one hand, but good luck with that.
For Virgo, I picked a chain. … what? That doesn’t sound like a good weapon, because chains are unwieldy? Yeah. Tell me about it. Not like I have a skill that makes magical chains.
But still, as a living weapon, I think a chain, or a chain whip, can work. So I went with it. So that is the design of the Star Chain, Virgo.
For Libra, it has to be a hammer. The big balance hammer. … no, I’m not making ‘The Balance Hammer, Ban’ just for trolls, even though I kind of want to. … okay, maybe I will make one, but later.
But Libra will just be the Star Hammer.
Scorpio was a difficult one. If Aries didn’t already ‘steal’ the spear role, Scorpio could have been a spear.
So instead, I decided to go with something small, and something known for being a weapon people would poison for assassinations. A dagger.
Is a dagger a terrible weapon? Kind of. Does it work? Yes. Does it work even better if the dagger can move independently, fly behind your opponent and stab them into the back of the neck? Yes.
So Star Dagger, Scorpio it is.
Sagittarius is an easy one. It has to be a bow, so it became the Star Bow.
Capricorn’s next. And for it, I decided on a combat staff. No, it isn’t for magic casting, even though you can use it for that. Just a full metal staff made of orichalcum and star titanium that you hit people with.
It is actually based on Sun Wukong’s weapon, the jingu bangRuyi Jingu Bang, or whatever it was. From Journey to the West. It might seem a bit strange for Capricorn, but I think it is good enough.
For Aquarius, I had to go with a trident. Is trident basically a spear? Yes. But is it the only weapon fitting Aquarius? Also yes. So Aquarius became the Star Trident.
The last is Pisces. For it/them, I wasn’t at all sure what I wanted to go with. I considered throwing weapons, but then I realized that we don’t have a single shield in the Star series, so I went with twin-shields.
They were Yin/Yang shaped, two halves making a complete shield. They can act either independently, or together, and I think that fits Pisces well.
So those are the designs for the Star series of weapons. Now we just need to make them, and make the mabuki to live inside of them.
Making the mabuki took some concentration and effort, but Janina and I got it done. I then just gave each of them their installs and let them take their places inside the weapons they were meant to inhabit.
And then it was time to train the weapons. Because while the skill installs I gave them gave them a nice start, it wasn’t enough.
I, partially, took on the job of training Leo and Virgo. I’m not as good of a sword master as some of my monsters, but I do have the Sword Master skill. So I quite literally am a sword master.
And as for chains, well do I need to mention it again? I have Dark Chain. Between my skill with that skill and my Iron Chain monsters, I’m sure the Star Chain will be one heck of a weapon.
As we kept training the living weapons, I began to get an idea on how good they were.
Compared to a skill weapon, a living weapon with no training was just a bit better. And that is when they have the skill from the install. If they didn’t have the skill, it is likely that they’d be worse.
We don’t currently know how long it will take for them to get to the level where they can match something like the Red-Eyes Sword, but it will likely take a while.
Now I know you all have a question. Does Level Up! work on mabuki?
Sadly, the answer is no. I think that is because they don’t have levels.
By the way, Rank-Ups don’t work either, because they don’t have ranks either. They aren’t monsters.
But something that does work is Spiritual Energy Settle Machine. As well as some other cards that usually only affect ‘Spirit’ monsters.
The Energy Settle Machine is really good for the mabuki. It helps them gather and stabilize mana and miasma in their bodies. This allows them to absorb information better while training, so they effectively grow faster. It isn’t quite instant growth like with Level Up!, but it is still a great boost.
Also worth mentioning, the mabuki aren’t tied to their weapon. They can enter any weapon. But they don’t do it. Because they’ve, thus far, been specifically made for that specific weapon, so why would they want to go into a different weapon?
… And there is the entire problem with them not liking weapons that don’t match their materials, but you already knew that.
Oh, and one more thing worth noting. Or is it two? Whatever.
Living weapons and the mabuki can go into Storage. And item bags. I don’t know exactly why, but I think it is because they are technically living, while also clearly being alive.
Yeah I know that makes no sense. But basically, they are constructs made of mana and miasma. They both are and aren’t alive. Biologically they aren’t alive, but soul-lialy … that isn’t a word. In terms of their soul, they are alive. And clearly Storage cares more about biological functions than the souls.
Now that the mabuki and the star series were ready, I had some time again.
So I agreed to go with Cailie to visit the spirit world. Janina helps her there every so often, but this time I went with her.
We didn’t do anything that special, just visited all the superior spirits. They quite often visit the Factory, so it feels like I see them all the time, but it was still good to pay them a visit.
Sadly the important part of that visit came after the visit. Because during my time in the spirit world, a letter from the second Prince, as well as his Majesty the King, had arrived.
And honestly speaking, I was ready to curse them out. Nevelle’s copy/clone still lives on HomeBase, and she connects to her real self, though admittedly I’m still not 100% sure her real self isn’t the one on HomeBase. Janina does, I think, I just never asked. Because if I don't know for a fact, the King can't blame me for kidnapping the 'true' Nevelle.
But anyway. They usually just have Nevelle tell me what they want me to know, so I knew this was going to be a pain.
And to make things worse, the letter didn’t even tell me anything. It was just a summons for a meeting. It came with half a dozen available times I could pick from, and out of just not wanting to do whatever they needed to tell me face to face, I almost took the latest one.
But I decided to be a big boy and took the second soonest.
Could I have taken a sooner one? Yes, but that day was already reserved by Alice for a date, so I’m busy that day. And yes. Alice is more important than whatever the King wants.
If you argue against that, you are wrong.
But that will have to wait for the next day. Because for now, I have a date to prepare for.
… what do you mean my date isn’t even today? I need to prepare. By doing nothing at all. It is important after all.