"Dad, Liera looks like she likes you a lot."
"Yeah, I know that too."
Hearing Yumir speak up to him, Yu IlHan touched his lips to check whether they were swollen. Yumir added with a bright smile.
"So Dad likes Liera too."
"Yup, but sometimes her love feels too heavy."
"So you don't like it, Dad?"
"No, I like it. But keep this a secret from Liera, okay? She would go wild if she knew."
"Un, okay."
The person in question, Liera, had gone to sleep in satisfaction after the one-hour punishment. She looked like the king of beasts going to sleep after a satisfying hunt.
"So let's make your equipment first."
"Okay!"
Yumir was now 4th class and was able to take dragon form. Of course, he was still a small dragon, 20 m in stature and 7m in height; he would become bigger as time went on and as he levelled up. Making equipment he could use while in dragon form would require considerable thought.
"However, fortunately, we have the body of Chaos Will."
"Wow, it keeps stretching!"
"In fact, it's not important whether this material stretches or shrinks. What's important about this material is not the physical interference, but the will and mana inside it; you only need to remember this."
Yu IlHan split the corpse of Chaos Will in exactly half, put one half into his inventory, and lifted the other half. The scene of Yu IlHan's hands grabbing a shadow without a specific form was very marvellous to look at.
"This is a material that implements the will using mana as the medium."
The shadow was still vibrating minutely, as if it were alive, and was constantly changing its appearance as it received Yu IlHan's will, and Yu IlHan wielded that ability as if he were born with it. Yumir also vaguely grasped how to use it after watching him.
"I think I'll be able to use it like my body if I get used to it!"
"You need to do things that are impossible with just your body alone. Dad will set the basic form. It will protect you perfectly even if you suddenly turn into dragon form."
"Wow."
If there was one unfortunate thing, it was that they did not have a 5th-class magic stone at the moment. However, with Yu IlHan's magic engineering ability, it was plenty possible for Yu IlHan to make it so that he would enhance it with a 4th-class magic stone for now, and use a 5th-class magic stone later to upgrade, so it wasn't really a problem at all.
"Eternal Flame."
The flame sleeping within the Infernal Dragon's body awoke and flared. Although Chaos Will was neither metal nor any other material, it still needed to be processed with fire. To be exact, it needed the Eternal Flame, which possesses its own sentience, unattainable through whatever means, and forever burning, to process it.
"You need to clean out all the impurities from here. You can do it, right?"
Eternal Flame burned up as if acknowledging. Then it enlarged itself and enveloped the shadow. The shadow twisted as if in resistance, but it did not last long. Everything fell quiet soon after, and it lay on the ground again like a dead fish.
"Did it die?"
"It was already dead. I only dusted off some insect-like things."
Although he was saying it was nothing, this would actually be a tedious process without the Eternal Flame; to be exact, Orochi and Yu IlHan would have a hard time.
"So watch from now. And extend your hand when I say so, okay?"
"Yeah!"
Yu IlHan put the shadow down on the anvil before picking up his hammer. He applied powdered 4th-class magic stones to his hammer, then struck down with his mana, imparting his will after a short, deep breath.
At that moment, the shadow changed minutely, and Yu IlHan struck down several times to change the shadow's appearance and properties little by little.
If Yu IlHan smithed using mana crafting when he was making the Infernal dragon body, then this time it was the opposite: he was applying mana crafting to the blacksmithing process!
It was a profound and complex process, but Yu IlHan's movements contained not a single speck of hesitation. He soon entered the focus mode that Liera liked so much.
"Hand."
"Hand."
Yumir obediently extended his hand after Yu IlHan said that. Yu IlHan grabbed his hand with his free hand. Yumir, who understood his dad's intentions, Yumir moved his mana and let it flow towards Yu IlHan, which then Yu IlHan poured into his hammer.
"I'm connecting you directly with this. Let's just call it 'link' for now."
"Link..."
He seemed to have liked that expression. Yumir repeated the word in his head and emitted stronger, brighter mana. In fact, this was closer to deleting the old user and registering a new one, but Yu IlHan decided not to mention it.
The shadow slowly changed in colour, from a dark black that looked like it would never compromise with anything to a bright gold. That which had remained cloudy until now began to take shape according to Yu IlHan's intentions.
"But it doesn't feel like armour."
"If you want to make it look like armour, I can mix in some 5th-class materials to do that."
"No, it's fine. It's better for the body to be as light as possible."
In fact, the outer appearance of the armour no longer mattered. Just the Infernal dragon body Yu IlHan was wearing was closer to a very thin piece of metal clothing, which would make people wonder whether it was really armour. However, the defense of it was undeniably strong. This armour that would be given to Yumir was the same. No, perhaps it was more so.
The golden light brightened to the peak and started to die down from a certain point, little by little. Yu IlHan let go of the hammer some time ago and began mana-crafting by pulling Yumir's hand into the mountain of magic stone powder.
"Focus a little bit more."
"Got it."
Perhaps thanks to Yumir obediently following his dad's instructions, the process worked soon after. That which was as soft as silk, glowing faintly and breathing lightly in synchrony with the owner, looked nothing like the murky shadow of before.
[Breath of Gold was completed.]
[Breath of Gold.]
[Rank – Chaos]
[Defence – 18,500]
[Durability – 3,500,000/3,500,000]
[User restrictions – bound to Yumir]
[Options –
1. 90% increase in wind attribute resistance and attack power.
2. Stores the user's mana and amplifies it and freely changes form. When in weapon form, half of the defence is converted to attack power.
3. Protects the user from unforeseen surprise attacks. Consumes a large quantity of mana.
4. 30% amplification in power of all Physical combat-category skills.
5. Generates mana and enwraps the user. Usable in both attack and defence.]
[An unfinished product with upgrades in mind. However, it still has shocking abilities.]
"Hmm, it's not enough after all?"
The absurdly high defence and durability proved that the materials Yu IlHan had used were better than any he had used before.
However, did the options live up to Yu IlHan's expectations? – If you asked that question, then who knows. He would tilt his head. This meant that 4th-class magic stones were insufficient to bring out the full potential of a 6th-class material.
"Amazing! So cool!"
Yu IlHan didn't really like the product, but Yumir was very shocked. Even though he had really high standards, as he was only equipped with artifacts made by Yu IlHan until now- artifacts that raised his wind attribute resistance and attack power by 90% at the same time- it was not something common.
"But this is still insufficient for Mir. I'll upgrade it as soon as we kill another 5th class, so bear with this for now."
"Okay!"
Yumir immediately equipped Breath of Gold. Although it looked like he just had an extra layer of clothing on, the difference in power would be more than 2 times greater with the armour than without.
"I feel so light!"
Yumir jumped a few times on the spot and immediately ran outside before taking his dragon form. The Breath of Gold also changed in form the moment he did, enveloping him comfortably so as not to hinder his movements and to protect him from any attack.
[Dad, thank you!]
"It's good that you like it."
He could still recognize at a glance the expression Yumir had even when he was in dragon form. His son's flawlessly pure smile made Yu IlHan smile as well.
This would probably still be insufficient to make up for his loneliness until now.
But now, things would change. He was sick and tired of being trapped or having to send people away. He would go look for them himself. He would regain what he had to, beat up those he had to, and fix anything he had to.
"To do that, I first."
Need to make equipment for Liera.
There was no need to touch on her spear, since she had one that kept getting stronger, so a piece of clothing that could act as both weapon and armour, like the one he had made for Mir just now, would do. And the perfect materials were in his possession right now.
"Well, then. These would be."
Yu IlHan pondered the creation method for a long time, but in the end he chose a simple one. Liera had two pairs of wings since she was in the 6th class, and thanks to that, it was possible to collect over 300,000 feathers. With those at the foundations, and the blood and skin as the additives, he would be able to create a masterpiece!
"You're really going to make it!?"
However, just as Yu IlHan was about to start crafting with the feathers lying on the floor, a clear voice rang out behind him. It was none other than Liera.
"When did you wake up?"
"It would be strange if I didn't when such a gigantic ball of mana is flapping outside like that."
Liera pointed her finger at Yumir, who was having a blast outside. The Breath of Gold on his body absorbed dragon mana, constantly changing. Seeing that made him wonder if it was really of Chaos rank.
"So the deficiency in mana is covered by Mir. Perhaps it might increase in rank without a magic stone. Dragons sure are amazing."
"You don't sound persuasive when you wiped out an entire world of dragons... and so? Are you really going to make it?"
"Of course. I'm going to make a splendid one even if all that it can do for me is to make me escape 'punishment'."
In fact, the 'punishment' was at the boundary between punishment and reward. Of course, if he was honest about this, Liera would go haywire, so he didn't say it.
"I thought you'd add some other 5th class materials."
"By 6th class, adding others would instead lower the quality. Mir's was the same, and yours as well."
Just how was he going to make something out of feathers, blood and skin? Liera tilted her head, but Yu IlHan did not stop his movements. He first separated the barbs from the shaft, and put the shaft along with the dead skin and processed the barbs into threads.
"Whoa? How did you do that!?"
Ignoring Liera, who was shocked and watching the unbelievable scene with her eyes wide open, he kicked the process up a notch. Like the time he made Yumir's, he ground several 4th-class magic stones, applied them to the threads, and started creating clothes using mana!
"Although the end product might slightly drop in rank since this is not blacksmithing, it should be fine, I guess. Magic engineering will do something about it!"
"Uaaaaaa, the mana is being amplified! Just what the heck are you doing to it!"
The endless ball of string was being reborn into a clean piece of clothing. What else could Yu IlHan not do besides communication?
As Yu IlHan was fully aware of Liera's figure, he soon finished making a pure white battle dress. It was a dress that had both elegance and grace, without any parts that would hinder her movement in battle!
"Wow, woooow."
Liera's two eyes, which had been filled with shock and confusion just a moment ago, were now filled with starlight. Her two hands, twitching, implied that she was about to assault Yu IlHan at any moment.
"Wait."
Although it was a happy thing that she was happy with the item he had made, and would like to express that through actions... Yu IlHan shook her off with a bitter smile.
"This is just the start, so don't hurry so much."
He next ground the feather shafts and dead skin into a fine powder, then mixed it with magic stone powder and the blood. Looking at the glistening crystals in the pure white blood was like looking at pearl paint.
"Uu, this really feels strange..."
"Just watch, you'll change your mind soon."
He picked up a brush and applied the paint on the dress. And marvellously, the paint smeared into the dress as if they were one in the first place. With more and more strokes of the brush, the dress was coloured light pink and began to glow brightly.
"I'm going to commence the link right now."
"Uh, okay."
Liera was pressured by the aura of Yu IlHan's work and obediently extended her hand. Although she had fallen to 4th class, she was still at the peak level of 299. Her overwhelming mana flowed to Yu IlHan through her hands and was poured into the dress under his control.
It was at that moment that a situation they did not expect had occurred.
[They... lo... sacred...]
Just as Liera's two red eyes seemed to emit light, faint pink light poured down into the workshop!