“Are you ready?” a voice asked through a speaker, but Hera could see who was it. A man with tiny round glasses and a sweater that screamed ‘I’m a grandpa,’ was sitting in a room beyond her. He was an old elf, which meant he was ancient. Around him were a few chairs, a couch and a very cozy looking office. Even some plushies could be seen on top of a small bookcase.

The empress was on the other side of a reinforced piece of glass, also surrounded by furniture. A detailed rug depicting the Starry Night was in the center of her side of the room, together with a comfortable blue couch and some soft and warm blankets. This was a psychiatrist’s office. It was a psychiatrist's office designed to make people feel comfortable. In fact, Dr. Ithil Willowsong was the one who created all the furniture according to the patient’s preference. He was an explorer who focused on the Healer role and the Crafter role. He then spent most of his life studying the mental ailments that trauma could cause. The Intelligence Agency invited him to join because of all of his credentials, which included two dozen P.H.Ds on various specific topics. Not to just take care of their mental health, but to help people who went through extreme situations cope with the events, and help those who were captives to relive those moments specifically to extract information without making their trauma even worse.

Hera and Vulcan met with Dr. Willowsong for the first time yesterday. But they didn’t have an actual session. Instead, they talked about boundaries, preferences and what could help with Vulcan’s interview. He also saw what Hera was doing, and how the titled blade would go berserk when his [Daemonic Form] was active. Besides all that, he also made one suggestion. One that they were going to use right now.

Forge shifted on his seat when he heard the voice and turned to Hera, ‘I am ready… I think.’

Hera nodded and held Vulcan’s hand, “We are ready.”

“Very well. I’ll be flooding that room with strength mana now. It looks really ominous, but I promise you it’s ok. And remember, at any point you can ask me to stop and I’ll vent the mana out of the room.”

Vulcan and Hera nodded. There was a pause before the sounds of fans picked up. Initially, nothing seemed to be happening, but slowly, a vibrant purple mist spread from the corners of the room. The two inside looked a bit confused and turned to the doctor who quickly explained.

“Apologies, I forgot to mention. As we talked yesterday, strength mana, pure strength mana, has a red color. But since Vulcan associates the red to the place he was, I asked the boys and girls in the R&D lab to splash some ink and try to change that. Ideally, they would make it green, blue, or just colorless. Unfortunately, red is hard to wash out, so the best they could do on such a short notice was add blue to turn it purple. But we tested it and the mana is still pure.”

Vulcan took a deep breath, “Yeah. It is. I can tell. It does calm me a bit. Feels like I’m in the right place,” he turned to Hera, “Not that being with you is not the right place. This is just… a place that I’m naturally comfortable at.”

Hera smiled, “Don’t worry. I can feel that. And even if you feel better here than just with me, with us. That’s ok.”

“I’m glad this worked. Still, let’s just let the mana spread a bit more before we start. Would that be ok?” Dr. Willowsong asked.

“Yeah, that’s ok,” Vulcan replied. Hera wasn’t taking the lead here, after all, Forge was the main topic. She was there only for some emotional support.

“While we wait. Do you mind if I continue the conversation we were having yesterday?” Dr. Willowsong continued.

“Sure. I don’t see a problem with that.”

“You mentioned you have a desire to craft things. Anything in particular?”

“I don’t know… Maybe weapons? Feels like that’s what I should do, but I never tried making something. We didn’t have time, unfortunately,” Forge glanced at Hera, “Not that I’m complaining. I understand the circumstances.”

“And if you could make something right now. If you had all the materials and tools in front of you. What would you make first?”

“Well… probably a dagger. It’s simple, easy, and I can ask Hera for a blueprint to guide me. Then…” Vulcan continued talking about possible items he wanted to forge. It was a topic that he really enjoyed. Which was expected, since he was literally a forging hammer. But the Empress understood what Dr. Willowsong was doing. Sammy used to do that. If she was too anxious, the flower turtle would calm her down by asking about something she was passionate about. Something she could talk for hours on end. That would usually help her get in a good mindset for the session.

About 10 minutes later, the entire room was full of strength mana. The Ophidianite could sense how Vulcan was feeling. It was something similar to being in a warm bath, surrounded by bubbles, without the added issue of his skin absorbing the liquid.

When there was enough mana inside the room, Dr. Willowsong changed the type of questions he was asking. He started with philosophical things like ‘Why do you want to make items,’ followed by, ‘What is an ideal place for him, the place he can call home.’ Vulcan replied to those questions without a problem, and his [Daemonic Influence] didn’t change.

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“Do you remember your home? The place you stayed when you were a hammer?” Dr. Willowsong Asked.

“No. I remember everything from the moment Hera added me to her court. Before that, I didn’t have a mind to remember things,” Vulcan replied.

“How about when you were a Spirit? Do you remember where you first appeared? Or where you were created? We are still a bit iffy on those specifics,” the doctor. Continued.

“I don’t know if I was born, but… I think I remember some bits and pieces.”

“Like what?”

“There was a beach… but it didn’t smell like salt water. So maybe it was a large lake. I also remember some rocks and a cave. A cave full of… red. Red.. Bubbles, dark, hurt, can’t breathe, pain, scream, hurt, hurt,” Vulcan shook his head violently, trying to get rid of the images.

“Did you pass by the forges we have here?” Dr. Willowsong changed the subject, but his voice was still calm.

There was a pause, Vulcan struggled, but managed a reply, his emotions subsiding, “We didn’t. I don’t think I ever seen a proper forge. Not in person.”

“Really? But you can picture one so well,” Dr. Willowsong smiled.

“Yeah, Hera showed me some pictures, and we talked about it. Flint also shared some things he knew. He showed me pictures of a few places he worked.”

Hera glanced to Vulcan’s status window. The [Daemonic Influence] had grown from 5% to 48% during that small outburst, but unlike what happened with her, the elven doctor stopped Forge from going berserker instantly. The Empress could never do that, but she also never tried asking about something else to distract him.

After a few more questions he tried reaching for some informations again, but Vulcan instantly remembered something bad and started to lash out. It took longer for Dr. Willowsong to be able to distract Forge again, and he was already at 94%.

Seeing that, Hera looked towards the elf, “Doctor. I think we should stop here.”

“I can still do it!” Vulcan snarled.

Without being phased by the reaction, Hera turned towards him, “What is the daemonic influence right now?”

“94%,” Vulcan looked away.

“Exactly,” Hera turned back to the elf.

“I agree. It’s better if we take things slow. This was already very productive,” Dr. Willowsong smiled.

“But we didn’t figure out anything!” Vulcan yelled.

“We did, first the strength mana seemed to help you, second we know about one of your triggers. And we know that your kind is from a room with a beach and a lake. And there is a cave that is red. That is already more information than we ever got about the location of the Strength Spirits,” Dr. Willowsong explained.

“And why do you want to know that!?” Vulcan got to his feet, “Are you going to hunt them like the humans?”

“Vulcan, use your Daemonic Form. Now!” Hera ordered Forge as she saw the [Daemonic Influence] raising once again.

Vulcan shifted, his entire body becoming more scarred and his muscles bulging, almost like they were struggling to maintain their shape. He roared and lashed out, attacking the walls, the furniture and even the rug. During that time, Hera and Dr. Willowsong talked a bit about the interview. The elf also asked how she was doing, since he noticed a few signs that this was affecting her to a certain degree. She said she was fine, but that she would be talking to her own psychiatrist when she had a chance. Not because she didn’t like him, but she was used to Sammy, and getting that kind of trust would take time. Another thing she explained was the rebirth skill Vulcan had, and how, even with it, she wouldn’t be going through more than one session a day. Dr. Willowsong agreed with that, mentioning that it was clear this took a toll on them.

After 30 minutes, Vulcan finished his frenzy and returned to the legacy. Yet Hera called him right away. His [Hearth of a Phoenix] skill triggering and instantly bringing him back. The doctor wanted to say something to him before the end of this session.

The titled blade speared once more, rubbing his eyes like he was hungover, “I’m sorry for this, Dr. Willowsong.”

“Don’t worry. We were already expecting a reaction like this, and it was enlightening. Still, I would like to make one thing clear. We have no intention of hunting down your people,” the Dr. frowned, “I mean, you kind? The Strength Spirits. Knowing their location would only allow us to try to protect them and stop the humans from going after them. Since it seems like all the experiments require a Strength Spirit, specifically.”

“I know. At least now I do. Before… it’s hard to be rational when the daemonic influence gets too high,” Vulcan sighed.

“That is to be expected. From what we know, Daemons are, in essence, beings that cannot handle emotions. So they lash out. Since you are a mix of a Spirit and a Daemon, it stands to reason that when the influence gets higher, you become less able to control your emotions,” Dr. Willowsong gestured to the side, “Now, please, come here. There is no need for you two to be isolated anymore. Not today, at least.”

Hera and Vulcan left that room and talked a bit more with the Elven psychiatrist. This time, he focused the conversation on how he would be conducting the sessions once more. As well as explaining his early discoveries. About one hour later, Hera left. She stopped to talk with Vathrik since he asked to be aware of the progress. Then, she headed back to the house her team was currently staying at. It was still before noon, and the scheduled time for them to start running the dungeon was by the middle of the afternoon.

Getting the training for the basic skills would still take a day or two since the process to get approval wasn’t done just by the Intelligence Agency. That was a project being made in collaboration with the elves and the beastmen, which also meant that there was more red tape to go through before they got permission to share that part of it.

The moment the Ophidianite walked into the house, Vash came flying towards her with a huge smile on his face, “Hera, Hera, Hera, Hera.”

“What? What is going on?” the Empress took a step back.

“They just told us a bit about the dungeon they have here,” Vash was almost shaking like a kid who was on a sugar high, “It’s a dance off!”