It didn’t take long to purchase the required materials from the Boundless Caravan. With their research budget, they were able to buy just over a dozen portions of each item, the only need that they were unable to immediately satisfy being the divine spirit’s blood. Of course, these dozen portions were according to the standard recipe. Given that there were four people planned for the procedure that needed considerably more, they only barely had enough to suit their needs.

Once the hammer arrived from Bloodhaven, Chel called all of the research team together, ready to begin her demonstration. Under the watchful eyes of James and the others, she laid out each of the materials in turn. “First thing’s first.” Chel smiled, grinding up six of the large flower petals into a thin paste.

“Apply paste made from the petals of a holy rose in a thin layer atop the Orichalcum that you wish to use.” As she spoke, she used one finger to begin rubbing a layer of paste on top of the coppery ore. “This will let the Orichalcum absorb the divinity at the start of the forging process.”

“Next, we gather the subject’s divine spark, placing it into the ore via the paste.” Chel said, closing her eyes and focusing. After a few moments, she seemed to locate her spark, gathering it towards her hand and pushing the golden spark into the ore. The paste changed from a pink color to an almost shining gold, causing Chel to nod.

“Now, sprinkle two hundred grams of divine gold dust. The fire property in the divine gold will react with every hammer strike, heating the ore and slowly forging it. ” Once again, she demonstrated by gathering up a third of the golden dust and dropping it over the ore. Due to the volume, the ore was completely coated by the dust, quite a bit resting on the anvil on either side.

“Once that’s done, begin the forging process, making sure that the first strike accurately hits the location where the paste had been applied. This pushes the spark further into the ore, allowing the two to merge while activating the gold dust. Throughout the forging process, you’ll need to use the first of the energies I mentioned before, which I’m calling the ‘stimulating’ energy.” Chel lifted the forging hammer, which had a strange blue sheen to it, and struck down at the golden paste. As she did, a blue-ish light wrapped around the hammer, clearly the energy that Chel was talking about.

Immediately, the divine gold dust combusted under the hammer’s strike, releasing a burst of white-hot flame. This flame coated the ore, clinging to it and flaring with every swing. However, Chel maintained her focus, having been expecting this to happen from the start. Every now and then, James could see the impurities chipping off of the ore, though he knew that this was not how a normal ore would be forged.

Normally you would melt the ore, remove the impurities, and repeat this process a few times until you were satisfied. At that point, you could cast it into an ingot and begin forging it into the shape you wanted, making sure to keep it nice and hot throughout the forging.

Chel, on the other hand, seemed intent on directly removing the impurities during the forging process. Or rather… his senses swept out, and he could see the divine gold being stimulated within the ore by the energy Chel was releasing. It was reshaping the orichalcum from within, removing the impurities inside the ore while Chel took care of the ones outside.

This process continued until the orichalcum was glowing, starting to deform from the repeated strikes and superheating of the divine gold. At that point, Chel grabbed one of the small white pearls, bringing it up over the ore and crushing it in her fist. Frozen dust fell from her hands, sizzling as it came into contact with the ore. “The dead sea pearls can temporarily cool the ore, calming the divine spark within and giving it a chance to settle. During this period, soak the ore in the second energy, which I am calling the ‘quenching’ energy. This lets it absorb the lingering effects of the divine gold.”

Chel created a sphere of white energy around the ore, letting it stabilize. Reaching up to wipe her brow, Chel smiled at the rest of the group. “Once the ore has thoroughly cooled, flip it, sprinkle another two hundred grams of the divine gold, and repeat this process two more times. By the end of the third rotation, the divine spark should have saturated the orichalcum, and all impurities should have been removed.”

After saying that, Chel noticed that the ore had cooled enough for her to touch it, and so she flipped it over to start the process all over again. It was only natural, given that she was working with her own divine spark, but she kept her focus razor sharp throughout the entire process. Heat while hammering, cool and let it rest, repeat.

The more she did this, the brighter the glow of the orichalcum. At one point, it was no longer glowing red from the heat, but rather golden from the permeating divine energy. The divine gold did not merely heat the ore, but its divine properties were also absorbed by the spark within.

Because of this, Chel was certain that without the divine gold, they would need the divine flames of a fire deity to achieve a similar effect. Thankfully, they had the divine gold, allowing them to control the specific temperature of the flames without needing to rely on external factors.

By the time that she was done, the original lump of raw ore had been shaped into an uneven golden brick. Its surface was marred with bumps, its corners jagged at points, but Chel didn’t seem to mind. “The final shape of the orichalcum isn’t that important. What matters is the fact that the impurities have been removed, and that the divine spark has fully saturated it. Finally, we just let it sit for ten minutes to ensure that the last of the orichalcum is converted. Once that’s done, the subject--that’s me-- will be able to absorb the orichalcum into their body through the use of the ‘fusion’ energy.”

“So, you’re going to become a god, just like that?” Nora asked in confusion, noting how the entire process had barely taken an hour. Compared to the months, even years that normal gods had to go through their three-step process, this was beyond short.

“Oh, no, not even close!” Chel responded with a laugh. “Once I reabsorb my divine spark with the orichalcum, it will begin to cleanse and remold my body. Over the course of the next twelve to eighteen months, my body and energies will gradually be converted to their divine equivalents, with the orichalcum serving as my ‘divine core’ until the transformation is complete. I’ll officially gain my divinity at the end of all that, with my new domain based on any abilities I train with my growing divinity until then.”

“...I feel like this really makes the old method obsolete, don’t you?” Thessa blinked, looking around at the others. From what she could tell, this new ascension method only required the proper materials, but posed practically no risk to the ascending deity.

“Not at all.” James shook his head, stroking his chin in thought. “Anyone that wants to achieve the peak of their potential power will still use the old method first, only using this method to obtain their second domain.”

“It’s because of reverse compatibility, right?” Treisha asked, seeming to understand what he was talking about. “You can forge the unrefined divinity of a god who went through the three step procedure, but once you become a god, you can’t take the three steps anymore.”

James gave a small nod at that. “Quite. If someone first does the three step method, and then both the divine forge and the cultivation system of Lorek, it will be possible for one deity to obtain three domains. However, Lorek’s cultivation system can take over a century of constant training, so most deities will not consider it worth their time. They would rather choose to obtain their third domain by taking in a subordinate deity.”

Thessa furrowed her brow, looking confused. “If it’s that easy, can’t they just do the divine forge method, and then take in two subordinates? That way, they’d still get three domains, wouldn’t they? Or…”

Nora cut her off, eyes going wide. “The only current way to obtain a subordinate deity is with the three steps method. If someone only goes the divine forge route, then takes a subordinate, their subordinate could be reforged for a second domain. As long as they have enough followers, it would only be a matter of time before the link was broken.”

“Right?” Chel smiled, arms behind her back as she rocked on her heels. “Because I’ve chosen to start with the divine forge method, the only way for me to gain an additional domain now will be to cultivate in Lorek, or maybe use one of those primordial relics. The relics are too random, though, so I can’t guarantee I’d find one I want. I’d also need to wait until the process was fully completed before I could cultivate on Lorek or Spica.”

“What would happen if you accepted the refined divine spark, and then tried to advance along the three step method? Would you be able to shorten the process, or even obtain an additional domain that way?” Treisha asked curiously, though Chel only blinked at her as if the answer were obvious.

“Your body would explode, your divinity scattering to the wind. Or wait, since the first step is the soul, your soul would be shattered, and you’d be left a lifeless husk? The only reason that the three steps work is because the divinity is still raw and malleable. Once it’s been refined, it won’t be able to follow the same steps. That’s why you can only use the divine forge process once, and you can’t gain multiple domains just by reforging your divinity.”

James gave a small nod, thinking over the entire process. “This can definitely be automated. It might be harder to automate the process for refining the divinity of a full god, but it would definitely be possible. If anything, it should be easier than the perfection chamber, so long as we are able to acquire all of the materials that we need.”

Chel smiled broadly at that, clearly satisfied. “Right? We can even release the ingredients list, and make people bring the materials themselves if they want the treatment.”

When James heard Chel’s suggestion, he shook his head. “If we do that, we’ll need to rephrase one of the components. We can’t have people forcing Scarlet to give them her blood. So, instead of ‘blood of a divine spirit’, we’ll change that material to ‘the Blessing of the First Blood’. This way, people will need to obtain Scarlet’s blessing if they want to receive another domain. As for the blood itself, she can ship it secretly after giving her blessing.”

“Anyone that’s bold enough to demand anything from the Goddess of Ki needs to have their brains checked.” Nora snorted, shaking her head. “Unless they don’t have a scrap of ki in their body, they are basically at her mercy.”

“Still, it would trouble her if people got it in their heads that they could use violence to obtain her blood.” James said with a smile. “We’ve already received her permission to use her blood for herself, the Keeper, Tsubaki, and Lifre. Anyone else, we’ll see as it goes.”

“Hey, as long as the method exists.” Chel chuckled, reaching over to grab the shining, golden metal. Realizing that the ten minutes had passed, she brought the ore up to her chest, allowing it to sink into her body while a black energy surrounded the point of contact. Once the metal had fully disappeared into her body, Chel beamed a bright smile.

“I am now considered in the ‘incubation’ stage. From now on, all I have to do is gradually begin training myself for the domain that I want to practice in the future. Oh, and just so you all know, the incubation stage is way faster for someone that’s already a god. Anywhere between one and two weeks, depending on the amount of divine energy used during that time.”

“With that in mind, we can finalize the design of the ‘Divine Forge’, and start to let people know when we’re ready!”