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Loki let out a loud yawn, making no attempt to hide it.
She couldn't help herself; this Denatus was extraordinarily boring. None of her adventurers had Leveled-Up and the Gods of Orario had long since forgotten about the series of mysterious events surrounding Kusanagi Godou. Instead, they were more interested in the recent spade of mishaps and phenomena that had been going on in the Dungeon.
Unfortunately, since her Familia was often wrapped up in those events, she pretty much already knew everything there was to know about them, causing her to internally groan at her decision to attend today.
"I am Ganesha!" the elephant-mask-wearing god announced loudly, getting to his feet. "And I would like to express my alarm at the current state of events."
A murmur of agreement spread throughout their ranks, and everyone waited for him to continue.
"I would like to personally put an end to all of this, but with the death of one of my higher-leveled children, my Familia is in no state to investigate the Deeper Floors of the Dungeon. I am making a plea towards the Gods with stronger Familia to assist us all with this matter, before more of our adventurers get hurt."
With that short speech, Loki suddenly found herself the subject of half of the room's stares, the other half directed at Freya, who was still sitting confidently with that arrogant yet beautiful smile on her face.
She felt herself squirming in her seat. If this was Heaven, the sheer amount of willpower and energy conveyed behind their gazes would have set off an explosion already.
"Why, I believe Loki has something to share with us all regarding this matter," Freya said slyly, causing Loki to almost gag in surprise.
HOW DID SHE KNOW? She mouthed to Hephaestus, who was sitting beside her. By now, every one was looking at her.
The one-eyed goddess shrugged, not looking particularly bothered. "We might as well announce it to all of them now. It's not like they're going to do anything about it."
Loki didn't particularly mind that, but she was more upset at Freya who, with her smug grin, had once again managed to stick her nose where it didn't belong and uncover information she shouldn't have known.
Clearing her throat and standing up, Loki quickly regained her composure. "Hephaestus and I," she began, giving a pause for the other goddess to nod her head in acknowledgement, "will be launching another expedition to the Fifty-Ninth Floor about three weeks from now. We will try to discover anything amiss within the Dungeon, and will share with you any information we stumble upon."
With that cat out of the bag, Loki saw the rest of the gods look at each other worriedly. The Fifty-Ninth floor was basically uncharted territory. Nobody had gone so deep since the Zeus Familia, and Loki wouldn't have risked it in the first place with such a small party had Aiz not insisted on it.
"She needs answers, Loki," Finn had said. "And she's not the only one."
Grudgingly, Loki admitted that Ganesha was right. The Dungeon had been behaving strangely lately, and the Deeper Floors were the first place where they should start looking for clues. The aforementioned god looked pleased at the news and, after giving a nod of thanks, took his seat again.
No other god offered their assistance in the endeavor. Loki hadn't expected anyone to, since casualties were almost guaranteed after all.
"Why thank you Loki," Freya said with an award-winning beam, "for taking one for the team." Loki could feel her blood starting to boil. "With that settled, let us begin with announcing the recent Level-Ups."
At the very least, Freya should have offered to help, but Loki would have refused anyway because she hated that fake smile on that fake woman's fake face.
Loki sat back down and let out a sigh.
"You handled that better than I thought," Hephaestus remarked.
"Trust me." Loki squeezed her fingers in front of her face. "I was this close to snapping at Freya."
As Freya talked, Loki made it a personal mission to ignore as much as she said. She turned to Hephaestus, a burning question she'd been longing to ask already loaded and ready to be asked.
"Hephaestus. How do you make a talking sword?"
The goddess looked momentarily surprised. "You mean a sword with its own soul? Intelligent and free-thinking?"
Loki hesitated. She hadn't seen Godou's sword herself, having only heard about it second-hand from Finn. But she assumed that was the case. She nodded.
"Um..." Hephaestus, now completely detached from the Denatus, put her hand to her chin and looked deep in thought. "I can think of a few ways, I guess. None of them are simple."
"Go on," Loki said. "We've got time." Last she remembered, Hephaestus didn't have a Level-Up either.
"Well the fastest way would be to seal an existing soul into a weapon," Hephaestus said matter-of-factly, "but that's probably the most difficult and well...worst way to do it."
Loki could imagine so. Obtaining a soul unattached to a body was...challenging, both morally and physically speaking. Sealing it into an inorganic material would be even more difficult. And then getting it to cooperate with you would be downright miraculous.
"I suppose if we were in Heaven and I had access to my Arcana, and if Thanatos or another God of Death was willing to provide me a soul," Hephaestus mused, "I could probably make one for you."
Loki shook her head. "No, that won't work. I'm talking about a sword made without using our Arcana. One that an adventurer can use."
The blacksmith goddess blinked and frowned. "Well...that makes things a lot harder. There might be one way, but the chances of it happening are almost zero."
"But not zero," Loki pointed out.
"But close enough," Hephaestus said without missing a beat. "The sword would have to be a few centuries old, at the very least. It would have to go through an entire life cycle of its own. I made a knife recently that has the potential to achieve this, but that dagger is only a few days old. As far as I know, it's the only weapon of its kind so far."
"What do you mean?" Loki asked, slightly intrigued now.
"I can't say too much, but that dagger...it's basically alive. It will grow with its user. I can't say it has a soul, not yet, but as it continues to evolve, the magic within it will become more advanced as well. Developing a soul of its own is possible, but certainly not within an average person's lifespan. It would have to go through generations of adventurers before it achieves that stage. Hundreds of years, and even I can't guarantee if it can stay in one piece until that point. It's more likely to be lost or destroyed in battle than for it to survive that long." The shr
ug Hephaestus gave at the end of her mini-lecture was one of resignation.
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Want to read more?
The next 10+ chapters are already available on my Patreon!
By joining, you'll get:
📖 Early access to future chapters
🗳️ Polls to shape the story
🎁 Exclusive content for Patrons
🔥 Bonus scenes & content you won't find anywhere else
👀 Don't fall behind—others are already ahead!
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(If link doesn't show, just search on Google: FanfictionTakashi Patreon)