Throne of Steam

Every single cell in Garett's body shook with an acceptable degree of excitement. The Old Keeper was teaching him like one would teach one's own apprentice!

"Every successful artisan is an expert on the battle of souls, and every single one can assert one's dominance even when battling the remaining will of a Rank-A mutant!" The elder tersely informed while keeping his eyes closed, with every fiber of his focusing on recuperating enough energy commence the last step of the forging process.

"This corpse... what was its rank?" Garett gulped drily, his mind vividly remembering the colorful mass of spiritual energy he had seen through the magnifying glass.

"A-Rank... But the church had problems taking it on, as it was on the verge of becoming an S-Rank." The elder informed him, his voice grave and face pale.

You crazy old man! You were engaging the will of an S-rank creature in combat!? Do you have a death wish or something? Just look at you, I don't think you are young to do something like this anymore... Garett felt his mind churning. Ever since witnessed the battle between the hunter team and an A-Rank mutant, he formed a concept in his mind! Never fight something like that, unless your name is Lurmon. Even the energy emanated by that thing was enough to make Garett's legs give in, and now the Old Keeper was challenging precisely that!

"You can leave if you feel the pressure is too much."

"No, I will stay," Garett spoke firmly, his resolve unwavering. The subduing of a high-ranking mutant will be the most delicate part of the process, and he wouldn't have another opportunity to witness it! Who knew how long it would take for him to have another opportunity like that.

"Very well, kid." The Old Keeper countenance broke into a pleased smile, and his face was slowly recovering its color. "Everything will be decided shortly."

Yes. There's another thing I wasn't able to tell him, and that was the fact that I can somehow absorb a mutant's soul. Just like what happened with Vellen, I feel something should happen... Garett felt his powers were perfectly suited for artisanship! If he could somehow leverage his advantages on that aspect, he would be able to become the best artisan the world had ever seen!

And more importantly, artisans are rich... He nodded imperceptively. It was one way to use his powers to attain his utmost objective!

"Let's get started."

The Keeper's grave voice forcefully dragged him out of his dreams, as the most important thing was to be sure his conjectures were true! What if instead of helping him, his ability hindered him instead? It was very possible that it would instead absorb the mutant's soul and he would lose an important resource!

Yes, I should be careful... Garett gradually recovered from his daydreaming state, reality sinking into him once more.

The elder approached the body once more in short steps, taking deep breaths along the way. Every breath letting out a cloud of mist that slowly filled the room, and even Garett, who wasn't the target of the ability, was having trouble breathing in such an atmosphere.

He is strong, at least as strong as the Captain... Garett quickly concluded, having felt Dante's aura a couple of times in the last few days, he was able to arrive at a simple conclusion.

The old Keeper was as strong as, or even stronger, than Dante! Due to his inexperience, he wasn't able to determine exactly how strong the elderly hunter was; but he was sure that the battle with the A-Rank mutant would have gone much smoother had he been there.

There are really strong people hidden in the church. I wonder if the College has some old monsters like him as well... Garett's mind froze at the thought. He was a potential target to the College's marked! For the first time, he felt that he was in grave danger.

"Yes, the church is the only reason they are refraining from employing more drastic measures..." He mumbled almost inaudibly, his eyes still locked onto the Old Keeper back.

"May the Goddess bless me." He could hear the elderly man mumbling; apparently, he wasn't so confident as he made out to be.

Garett approached the side table and grabbed the magnifying glass again, as he wanted to observe every detail of the confrontation!

Looking through the strange colored glass, the room situation changed enormously! The previously passive mass of colorful energy emanated by the corpse was suddenly incensed! It rose and started to rush and attacked the elderly hunter body.

In comparison, an ethereal kind of gray energy permeated the whole room, and the center of this energy was the Old Keeper!

A clash of two powerful energies ensued, one fleeting and gentle while the other was fierce and violent!

Wow! The way he employs energy. The initial onslaught was forcefully stopped as he forced the mists to suddenly converge and block the fierce assault... Garett carefully analyzed the clash, taking important notes on the usage of energy. Even if he couldn't focus the energy like this and only knew how to clumsily materialize an object, he was certain that this knowledge would be useful in the future!

The elder slowly controlled the battle, stalling the sudden assaults and constricting the mass of energy. But Garett could notice the situation wasn't looking so good, the initially colorful condensation of energy suddenly started to change its color! The transformation turned the colorful and beautiful scene into a bloody spectacle of an eerie scarlet!

The grayish energy started to be pushed back, and the situation was slowly being reversed! The scene when looking through the glass was becoming the complete opposite from when it all started, as the grayish energy was being pushed back and contained in a small area surrounding the Old Keeper body, while the mass of crimson energy was encroaching the whole room, gradually approaching Garett!

Sh*t! This is not going the way I envisioned, the old man is losing! If this thing reaches me, I don't know for how long I will be able to endure... Garett flusteredly took a step back, and just as the gargantuan tide of scarlet force was about to reach him, it suddenly stopped!

"W-Why?" Garett was momentarily stunned, only then did he realize a small transparent snake was hissing in front of him, confronting the enormous scarlet tide!

Vellen! You can make it stop? I'm safe... Garett's tense nerves instantly relaxed, he was prepared to turn tail and run before Vellen's interference.

'Vellen, can you do something about that thing? The old man will be swallowed if we don't do anything! Who knows what happens when an artisan fails at controlling the aura...' It was then that he remembered Alice's words, records of a mad artifact that a whole team of hunters was needed to contain. And this thing would possibly be even stronger! An S-Rank mutant's soul going rogue could only mean be a calamity!

The tiny snake representing Vellen's soul excitedly circled in the air before using its tail to point at the epicenter of the mass of energy. Looking in that direction, Garett was finally able to see that the body was being constricted by grayish energy!

The old man is not losing! He just changed his approach! It seems I wasn't needed after all... Garett let out a sigh of relief, a heavy burden was suddenly lifted from his shoulders.

The battle entered a standstill, as the vermillion aura couldn't advance more and was slowly being weakened at its source!

"And this, kid. Is how you trick a soul." The old man's voice sounded amidst the chaos. And with a sudden step forward, all the crimson energy on the surroundings was sucked back into the corpse!

"Heh, now we only need to forcefully extract the part pertaining to its ability, it's usually the most guarded place. But after such a battle, it becomes far easier to do it, and you just have to strike while the iron is hot."

Saying this, he approached the table and breathed out another cloud of mists that forcefully entered into the insides of the corpse!

Not long after, a yellow ball of energy was forcefully dragged out by the grayish mists! The previously strong crimson aura rapidly started to dissipate!

"Now we attract it to the piece of meat that was cut out previously." The Old Keeper started the explanations again as if nothing had happened, but his tired countenance gave in how he truly felt.

The golden orb was gradually guided towards the small cut of meat, and the corpse finally lost all its conserved energy, turning into a normal slab of meat.

It's over, does this mean the experiment is a success? An artifact that can lock energy into place, even if it's not used in conjunction with the mystery lens it should be powerful... Garett was glad to witness such a scene, his future attempts at forging would certainly go much smoother with this experience!

"And now, we only need to fuse the chosen object with the ability container." The elderly finished the last steps soundly and without commotion. With his hands steady, he put the small clock beside the cut meat and started to draw symbols on the table. "I don't have powers related to the domain of craftsmanship, so I need to draw the corresponding symbols to evoke the god's powers. You'd do well in studying them in the future, as you'll also need it."

"Yes, sir." Garett nodded solemnly while committing everything to his mind, every single thing that he witnessed today brought him closer to the world of mysticism.

"Now we pray." He said after finishing to draw the symbols, and just as he spoke the symbols suddenly lit! The light coming from them enveloped the materials and started a fusion process!

"If I had a blessing related to the God of Craftsmanship, then I would be able to control this process too. Then I'd be a hundred percent sure of the result! But I'm afraid we have to leave it in the hands of the Goddess today." The old Keeper announced, his voice suffused with a tinge of worry.

So that's what the believers of the God of Craftsmanship specialize in, I bet they employ a thousand of different artifacts in battle. They are sure to be very powerful... Garett concluded with a nod before remembering that, usually, all blessings were compatible with the blessing of the God of Craftsmanship. So maybe he could hold a ritual to 'Him'! Combined with the advantages he held because of his own powers, he was sure to become an unparalleled artisan!

"The process of merging is ending." The Keeper cut in at that moment, eliciting Garett to glance expectantly at the luminous object in the table!