--------

”You look like you’re having a good time.” Envy commented as she came upon Hope looking in on Karna’s workshop inside the tower.

The workshop was located deep within the core of the ship, close to the main reactor. The others assumed it was so that Karna would be able to draw the heat from the reactor to use in her work, but they honestly weren't sure. It's not like they had no crafting skills of their own, but the methods Karna used were so far beyond them that they didn't even make full sense. Envy and Valor would both be considered divine-level smiths in other universes, but that was by the standards of non-reincarnators. Karna on the other hand couldn't even be judged by those standards.

“It’s calming.” Hope placed a hand on the glass separating the room they were in from the workshop. “We told you about how we met. When I was still young, she spent much of her time in the smithy. I think she was working through her anger, or she might have just wanted something to do. She wasn’t good with boredom back then. Either way, most of my fondest early memories are about watching her work like this.”

“You never picked up the hammer yourself?” Envy asked. It seemed like such an obvious skill for every reincarnator to learn. Not that most bothered, but no one said reincarnators had to be smart.

Hope shook her head in denial while her expression turned a bit pensive. “It would’ve felt like I was trying to bring back those moments, but it would’ve been a cheap imitation. She made me feel safe and loved. Without her in there, there was no safety or love in the smithy. I learned many other skills, but I could never really get into that one.”

Envy stepped next to her and looked inside the workshop. Inside, Karna was holding a long object of indiscernible quality with a pair of long tongs. The material seemed to be somewhere halfway between a blue metal and crystal, but Karna was handling it almost like it was something extremely fragile. At least her movements and attempts not to touch it spoke of fragility, while the extreme heat and pressure focused on the object spoke of something completely opposite. If a living being had been subjected to forces like that, they would’ve been torn to shreds or burnt to ash in a second.

“What is she doing?” Envy wondered. The magical fields made no sense to her. It was like the object was being molded by extreme fluctuations in opposing gravitational forces instead of being hammered into shape. At the same time, it would’ve been much easier to just use magic to shape the object. Yet in many ways, the entire room was void of magic despite the many formations at the walls controlling the various forces.

“I think I know. She explained some of the things to me when I sat observing her work all the way back then. She’s obviously improved since, but I believe the theory is still the same. She’s creating a staff for me to use for my magic. She’s trying to isolate the staff so that the first magic that actually touches it when it’s finished will be mine. That way the item will imprint on my magical signature and that will allow my magic to flow through it better, amplifying it. See, she’s controlling all those forces with magic, but none of that magic actually touches the staff itself.” Hope wasn’t sure if she remembered correctly, but that was the gist of what she’d been told. She hadn’t really understood at the time, but as those memories were precious to her, she hadn’t forgotten either.

“That’s just stupid. Now that you explained that to me, I can see what she’s going for, but the effect all that trouble will have is less than 1% of improvement in performance.” Envy was a skilled smith herself, so the concept wasn’t foreign to her. “She could make it in a fraction of the time without that complication. The tiny increase in performance is not worth the extra trouble.”

“Perhaps not alone, but if you do enough of such things, would the effects not be cumulative?” Hope pointed out.

“See, I could see that if she was making some kind of divine artifact that you’d be using for eons. Even I’d go through the extra effort then. But she’s making you a staff that you’ll maybe use for a few years at best. We both know she’s just going to have to go through all the trouble again once we all become immortal.” Envy argued. She knew Karna could be a perfectionist, but they both were also aware of the principle ‘perfect is the enemy of good enough’.

“And yet, she’s the one we all went for our crafting needs as soon as we got the opportunity. You even made her an extra pillow in exchange. I saw how much effort you’ve put into those. You can’t fool me.” Hope loved teasing the Sin about things like that.

“That’s completely different. I already told you even I would give the extra effort if the situation called for it. Those pillows are my hold over her, so of course I’ll have to make them perfect.” Envy defended herself with a sniff.

“Uh-huh.” Hope didn’t seem convinced though.

“I gather Valor’s sword and my new greaves are already finished.” Envy changed the subject.

“I’m sure you saw the fireworks as well.” Hope allowed the change in subject but filed that little exchange away for future use.

“Yeah, she wasn’t kidding when she mentioned that creating weapons of the holy attribute could get a bit wild.” They'd all borne witness to the whirlwind of divine energy that had formed and then coalesced to someplace inside the tower. Envy and Valor had been outside at the time, and it hadn't been too difficult to figure out what had caused such a disturbance. There had even been tribulation clouds forming above the tower, but for some odd reason, the clouds had just gone away without doing anything. "Valor is a bit concerned since the tribulation clouds went away. He's hoping Karna didn't make a mistake or something."

“No mistakes. It’s just one of my bloodlines.” Karna called out from inside the workshop, never pausing in her work.

“I didn’t realize you could hear.” Envy commented wryly.

“It’s more interesting this way. I might overhear something fun. As I just did. Good work on the pillow by the way.” They could both hear the smile in Karna’s voice.

“Forget that! Valor said he wanted to test the new weapon as soon as possible. Since the best way to test a sword is to fight with it, you get to do the honors.” Envy quickly changed the subject. Her greaves were much simpler in that they only helped boost her speed and other movement-related attributes such as dexterity and stealth. They would also look quite sexy if Wrath had made them according to the design she'd made.

“Lucky me. I’ll soon be done with the staff. We can play around then.”

-----

Valor was feeling a little odd as he squared off against Wrath for their little practice bout. For this to be a good enough test for his new sword, they needed to take it at least somewhat seriously. Not ‘let’s use our Domains and try to murder each other’ seriously, but still. He was a reincarnator, and a powerful War Wolf facing a lower-ranked opponent, but for some reason, he didn't feel all that confident. He wasn't going to back down, but his instincts were telling him that he wasn't going to have a good time. Perhaps that was necessary? He'd long known that the best way to improve was to face adversity and get through it. Wrath had already shown her skill by going toe to toe with the Kensei.

His new sword was fantastic. The blue and gold blade practically screamed that this was a holy blade fit for heroes, and the way it fit his hand was like it was custom made for him. Which it was of course. He’d never had a blade that fit his hand and style so perfectly, every groove in the grip formed around his fingers. The weight was just right, as was the length, and if Wrath's description of the abilities was accurate, then the abilities conferred by the blade also complemented him perfectly. He could feel some of the effects that made him faster and stronger just by holding the sword. It was also perfect for being used both with two hands or in one hand with a shield like he was using it now.

“Ready?” Wrath asked while twirling around a blade made of pure light. He knew however, that the real danger wasn’t the blade, but the gauntlet in her other hand. That and Wrath’s magic. She might have been a proficient fighter, but her real strength was in magic. Luckily his armor was designed to resist magic akin to dragons, and the new blade enhanced that effect.

“Ready.” He confirmed and took a stance.

As soon as the word left his mouth, he was forced into defending himself as Wrath attacked him with speed that completely defied her rank. Thanks to his own skills though, he was able to follow her movements and even respond, even if only barely. Without the added bonus from the sword, that wouldn’t have been the case, so that part was working at least. He took the attack on his shield and regretted his attempt at blocking immediately. The sheer power behind the attack lifted him off his feet and tossed him in the air.

He managed to right himself in the air before managing to counter the quick lightning spell aimed at him with a defensive holy shield that stopped any of the power from the spell that wasn’t countered by his resistance. ‘Right, I’m fighting a Titan despite her size and appearance. So, parries only and no blocking.’

As soon as he landed, he swung his new blade in a wide arc, sending a wave of golden holy power towards Wrath. As the creator of the weapon, she was of course fully aware of all the abilities of the weapon, but since they were testing the weapon out, she attempted to block the wave of power with a barrier made of Qhaysh. The attack went straight through the barrier as if it wasn’t even there, and the barrier itself wasn’t affected either. Right after, the attack was swallowed by the weird power of her gauntlet.

'How does that thing work? It can't just render her immune to any holy-based abilities, can it?’ He wondered.

“First round of tests successful.” Wrath said with an analytical tone, not moving to attack further. “Moving to the second round of tests. Ready?”

"Go for it." He tried sounding more confident than he actually was. This test was decidedly less pleasant.

She started chanting a quick incantation and a bolt of energy shot from her hand towards the skies, just before it seemed like the entire sky fell on him. He barely managed to lift his sword up to meet the incoming torrent of lightning, and then all he could do was to hold on as a ninth circle lightning spell battered him continuously for what felt like an eternity. Somehow all the lightning from the sudden attack seemed to be drawn into his blade. It wasn't that he was completely unscathed, though his magic resistance countered most of the effects to his body, but when the torrent came to an end, he was still mostly intact and a single rune on his blade now glowed with new light. He knew he would be able to release all that power his new sword had stored inside it to make a single devastating attack.

“Second test successful, I’d say.” She said while analyzing the blade and the damage he had taken. He could’ve protected himself with his holy power, but that would’ve defeated the point of the test. “The spillover power is a bit more than I assumed, but not too bad all things considered.”

“Yeah, but let’s not do that again.” He shuddered a bit.

“What are you talking about? We still have to test the other elements. Who knows if it works as well on them if we don’t try.” Karna gave a nasty grin. This wasn’t going to be fun.

----------

"There's someone here to see you, master," Zuellni reported dutifully.

“Who?” She asked idly while tinkering with one of the formations controlling the tower.

“The person said that they’re a messenger. I checked already, and they arrived on the most recent group of ships that brought colonists from the Magocracy. Their credentials also seem genuine.” The tower spirit had done some due diligence.

“Did they say what it’s about?” She stopped her tinkering and frowned a bit. It wouldn’t do to meddle with such complex formations while distracted.

“They did not. I did however get the distinct impression that the message is from a rather official source.” Zuellni was displeased that she didn’t have more answers.

“Alright, show them in. I’ll meet them in one of the meeting rooms.” She cleaned herself and changed her clothing with a wave of her hand. It wouldn’t do to meet an official messenger in work clothes, even if she looked good in anything.

As she teleported to the meeting room, she noted that the messenger was one of those used by the Magocracy when conducting official business, wearing the dark military uniform with a simple messenger’s insignia on her shoulder. Such couriers came in two varieties. The first was a common runner that carried written messages between officers or nobles. They were picked mostly for their speed and didn't usually carry any messages that would be too sensitive if they fell into enemy hands. Messengers like this one though usually carried only oral messages or official orders that absolutely had to reach the recipient. They were all relatively high-ranking people too. They weren't something you could just hire either. If some noble wanted to send a more secure message, they used a courier boat outside the military. That implied this message was either from someone in the military or from someone who had enough pull with the military to arrange a messenger like this. The messenger herself was also a bit of a statement that told Karna should take the message seriously.

“I was told you had a message for me.” She prompted simply. There was no point in wasting time with pleasantries when dealing with messengers like this.

"I was given the assignment to deliver an invitation to you by the master of the Starlight Tower. She would like to request your presence at your earliest convenience.” The message was quite brief and to the point. Such messages usually were.

“The Witch of the Starlight Tower, eh?” Karna had to frown. She knew Arjuna had never enjoyed getting mixed with the seers, and she herself rather disliked them as well. The tower had been rather quiet since the Expansion, but it was likely the master of the tower wouldn’t reach out without a proper reason. “Were you told to bring back a reply?”

“No.”

“Alright then. The message has been received.” She said and gestured for Zuellni to teleport their guest away. Now the question was, should she go? Seers were trouble, but it was doubtful one would reach out like this without a good reason. And the seer had picked an official messenger to make that point clear.

The problem was that she would need to go back to the Magocracy, which wasn’t under Ysendra’s control. And the new Emissary would be stationed there as well. The man had seemed relatively reasonable, but showing up without the protection of the very deterrent she’d threatened him with only days before might be a bit too much of a temptation given that he’d already admitted to receiving orders to that effect. She wasn’t really worried about the Emissary as she was able to defeat him even without the aid of her new allies, but killing the man could have bad consequences, as proven by the old Holy Kingdom. Granted, the Holy Kingdom had consorted with the Underworld as well, but trouble didn’t need to come in the form of an annihilation.

“Gem, we’ll have to go with plan C. Have you already made the preparations?” She called out.

The spirit came out looking exactly like Ysendra. More importantly though, Gem also gave off the same aura as the Nakshatra, and even to Karna's senses, the spirit outranked her rather severely. That was all nothing but an illusion though. "Ready as I'll ever be."