“What does it say?”
“I don’t know… Let’s get Big Brother to read it for us!”
Two girls squinted at a note hanging on a large door. The door led to the basent of the house they were currently staying in. After a few monts, they returned with a teenage boy, the only one in their group who could actually read.
“It says not to enter this room or disturb the Mister.”
“Really?”
The youngest girl asked as she stepped closer. As she did, sothing leapt from the shadows and blocked her path.
“( •̀ _ •́ )”
“Little Gleam?”
She called out as she recognized her friend standing in front of the door like a guard. It looked like this small creature had been assigned to protect the entrance, and not even a child would be able to get past.
“Let’s play, Little Gleam!”
“( ¬_¬ )”
Gleam seed to react to the beckon but held herself back, bound by the order she had been given.
“Leave her alone, Natia. It looks like Mr. Edmund doesn’t want to be bothered.”
Rolo, the leader of the group, stepped forward and gently pulled Natia back. She started giggling as he lifted her into the air.
“But what is he doing in there…”
Now it was Isan who seed curious. He tried to move closer, but Gleam skittered in front of him, blocking the way.
“Maybe he’s crafting sothing?”
That was Ria’s guess. She stood farther back, not as interested as the others.
“Crafting? But it’s so quiet in there…”
Isan replied, still puzzled. The children soon had to retreat, as the silver-colored ant made it clear she wasn’t happy with them loitering near the door. It was obvious she had been ordered to guard the entrance, but the orphans had no idea why.
The voices faded as the children moved away from the stairs that led down into the basent, closing the secondary door that had finally been replaced. The person they were curious about was there, but he would not be easily found. Rusty had already begun his evolutionary process, one that might leave him dormant for a day, possibly longer. During this ti, he was vulnerable, and the only one he trusted to watch over him was his friend, Gleam.
Even so, he was a monster who did not need to eat, sleep, or even breathe. The simplest way to keep himself safe was to hide his body sowhere within the smithy where no one would think to look.
At first, he considered placing himself in a wooden crate, hidden among various pieces of armor and weapons. But then they discovered a hidden compartnt dug into the ground beneath the building. It was just large enough to hold his body, and it could be easily concealed. No one would find him buried beneath layers of dirt and stone.
Rusty had the strength to lift the cover of the compartnt himself. And if he couldn’t, Gleam would be there to dig him out when the ti ca. In his mind, the plan was flawless. Now, he had returned to the Soul Forge, where his new body awaited him.
“Ahh, back again! I wonder what the choice will be now…”
Rusty walked slowly across the long bridge toward the looming castle. As usual, his guides were already inside. His mind churned with thoughts of what his next evolution might bring. He had absorbed many skills and even gained a few new ones. More than anything, he hoped that this ti, he would finally be able to use magic once the transformation was complete.
Before that could happen, he needed to examine the bodies the soul forge had prepared for him. There were usually several options to choose from, so he was taken aback when he pushed open the heavy doors and found only one waiting.
“Huh?”
“Oh, you are here, Rusty, and our dear hero were surprised too but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
Aburdon, in his darkened form, hovered near the lone suit of armor at the far end of the soul forge chamber. Normally, Rusty was given a choice between a suit fully imbued with either light or dark energy, along with a third option that blended both. This ti, however, only one suit stood waiting, and it did not appear especially remarkable.
In his previous evolution, he had been offered a D-rank set that resembled a demonic entity, as well as another that looked like sothing a holy paladin might wear. Now, he faced armor that seed almost identical to his current set, apart from a slightly altered tallic tint and a more polished surface.
Rusty stepped closer, his visor narrowing as he examined the armor standing silently in the vast hall of the forge. The tal was forged from an unknown alloy, shifting between a lustrous darkened silver and a subdued gray, with faint blue veins etched into its inner surfaces.
Up close, he sensed sothing different. This armor held a presence that had not been there before. A magical or arcane energy pulsed from within. Using his mana sense, he detected a powerful source embedded in the chest plate. It was separate from his monster core, yet it radiated concentrated mana unlike anything he had encountered before.
"I see that you can feel it, Rusty. The magical enchantnts inside?"
"Enchantnts?"
He asked, his gaze still fixed on the armor. The closer he stood, the more it seed to call to him, urging him to enter. But he hesitated and stepped back, fully aware that the mont he entered the suit, he would be transported out of the forge. Instead, he activated his identification skill to learn more about the new body.
Classification:
Enchanted Twilight Steel Armor [ D - ]
Type:
Magical/Inorganic
Description:
An empty vessel awaiting a soul that holds the power of both light and dark. This armor enhances both light and dark abilities. It has been imbued with arcane enchantnts, granting spellcasting capabilities to whoever inhabits it. Further enchantnts can be added.
"It's still made out of steel?"
Rusty felt a flicker of disappointnt. The material seed ordinary, and the armor itself looked only slightly different from the one he already wore. It had a glossier surface and subtle ripples of mana flowing through it, but nothing outwardly impressive. Still, the description gave him hope. It confird what he had long wished for: the ability to cast spells. That alone made the armor more valuable than it appeared.
"Adding further enchantnts is possible, but how?"
This question lingered in Rusty's mind, one he couldn’t ignore. The Soul Forge was known for offering strange and powerful options, but this ti felt different. It hadn’t simply handed him a reward. It had given him sothing more foundational, perhaps a starting point. Maybe this enchanted armor was ant to serve as a base for future, more powerful forms. Still, one crucial detail remained unclear. How was he supposed to add enchantnts without receiving them as special item rewards?
"Aburdon”
He said, turning toward the dark orb of light hovering near the armor.
"What does it an that I can add enchantnts? Can I do it myself, or do I need a mage?"
"Perhaps you are capable of it now, with the Soul Forge’s assistance. We might find so answers in the library or in the smithy itself.”
The demon lord replied, then drifted toward the library, which now seed to hold more books than before. A mont later, Alexander appeared beside Rusty and spoke.
"You might be able to gain the proper smithing skills to create enchantnts, just like you did before. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to read the guides in the library first."
Rusty turned away from the armor and surveyed the Soul Forge. There didn’t appear to be any newly revealed chambers. The library was likely the best place to start, offering knowledge on enchantnts and spellcasting. After that, he could visit the smithy, where he might learn how to reconstruct his body using the mana-infused steel that now ford his new shell.
He also had the summoning chamber to consider. It was probably best to explore it after studying the library, since the rewards he gained there in the past had been useful during the forging process. For now, he was still confined to his current, ordinary steel form for any summoning rituals. It made little difference if he forged new parts afterward.
“Let’s get to work!”
Rusty made his way toward the library. As he approached, the large wooden doors creaked open with a low groan. His tal boots echoed softly against the polished wooden floor. The space inside had grown larger than he rembered. Curved bookshelves wrapped around the central area, just as before, though now so of them pulsed faintly with magical energy.
"I already took it upon myself to review the new titles, Rusty”
Aburdon said, waiting patiently near one of the shelves.
"I think we should start with Enchanting Techniques or Spellcasting for Beginners."
He led Rusty and Alexander to a section containing the foundational texts. Despite having gained the ability to form spells, Rusty still struggled to visualize them clearly in his mind. Human mages often used chants to help guide their magic, but magical monsters like him followed a different path. For now, the choice was clear. He reached for the book on spellcasting.
Once the book was open on the central desk, Rusty began to read. Aburdon, who had once been an experienced mage, proved to be a helpful guide. Rusty wasn’t entirely sure why, but he found himself quickly understanding how to direct mana through his body. It was becoming clear that the Soul Forge was playing a role in this, preparing him to cast spells even before he transferred into a body made of mana-infused tal.
For a magical creature like him, spellcasting relied on visualizing complex patterns within the mind’s eye. These patterns had to be shaped into a magic circle in an intricate arrangent of geotric forms that required intense concentration. The process demanded strong visualization skills and sharp mory. At last, it felt like he was beginning to grasp it.
Still, limitations remained. Because his current body was made of Twilight Steel, he was restricted to spells aligned with light and dark elents.
“It’s forming…”
He extended his hand. Focusing his mana, he shaped it into a spell. A glowing orb of pure white light appeared in the air before him, slowly expanding outward. It was stable, casting radiant illumination across every corner of the library. The light it gave off was unlike anything he had seen from Gleam, it was clearer, purer, almost crystalline, untouched by other elental traces.
"Haha, I’ve finally beco a mage!"
Congratulations, you have learned the ‘Lesser Orb of Light’ spell.
“Don’t get carried away, Rusty. A child could do this much after a few weeks of practice.”
Even though Aburdon had teased him, Rusty didn’t care. The orb of light hovered steadily in the air, and more importantly, it wasn’t a skill as it was a true spell, one he had cast himself. It was much more potent than the spell he produced in the real world and why he probably had appeared in his status window now.
Within the vast library around him were countless theories and thods for casting different types of spells. While he was currently limited to light and dark elents, he had begun to realize that not all spells were bound to elental affinity. Spells like the silencing one, Gleam often used, or perhaps even basic mana bolts, might still be within his reach. He wasn’t entirely certain yet, but the possibility excited him.
He also discovered an unexpected benefit from his newly cast Orb of Light. Its radiant glow was saturating his body with light far more effectively than ordinary sunlight, which he typically required to activate his escape skill. If he could refine this spell or focus its energy directly into himself, he might be able to trigger that ability more easily and more often.
Congratulations, you have learned the ‘Lesser Orb of Darkness’ spell.
Soon, the next spell followed, but this ti, a sphere of dark energy. Unlike the Orb of Light, this one emitted no glow. Instead, it absorbed the surrounding light, casting the entire library into a deep shadow.
The air around them grew colder, a chill settling over the space as if the warmth itself had been drained away. Rusty could feel the darkness curling inward, cloaking everything in a veil of stillness. It beca clear that this spell might serve more than one purpose. Not only could it be used to conceal his presence, but with focus, he might be able to channel its energy into his own body for more advanced techniques or enhancents.
“Interesting…”
Alexander murmured as the dark orb hovered in the air, but just as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished. Rusty stared and started pondering those orbs. He had managed to create two spells, but now a question lingered in his mind. What would happen if he combined them? He knew the spell circles for both and could picture them clearly, yet he wasn’t sure how to approach this challenge.
“What if I do this…”
Acting on impulse, he summoned both elental orbs. Inside the soul forge, he felt no drain on his mana, which made experinting with spells easy and even enjoyable. Once the orbs floated before him, he tried to push them together, hoping they would rge into sothing new.
Instead, the two elents reacted violently. They repelled one another, bounced apart, and then flickered out of existence. Rusty stood in silence, trying to understand what had gone wrong, but his thoughts were cut short by Aburdon’s cackling.
“Haha, that’s not how you combine two spell elents. Especially not ones that naturally repel each other, my dear Rusty~”
He was frustrated by his failure, but this was only the beginning of his journey into spellcasting. The boundaries of his abilities were still unknown. This small setback did not discourage him. With his curiosity unleashed, he was eager to discover what he could achieve not only through spells but also through enchantnts.
His eyes shifted to another book, and he quickly began to read. His body remained the vessel for his power, and being made of tal offered unique advantages. He wondered if he could grow even stronger without relying solely on leveling up. Perhaps there was no limit to what he could beco, and enchanting his body was the way forward.
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