Chapter 494: Chapter 494. Andrea's Enlightenment and Intent.
Meanwhile, inside the dome, it looked like a different World.
Andrea was going through the labor-intensive motions of forging while slowly making the armor come to life.
Her mind was in place, and everything she wanted to do was connected in her head.
Her muscles moved in sync and coordinated as she hammered the metal plates and gave them shape.
However, Andrea's enlightenment significantly differed from Yasenia's previous enlightenment about Blacksmithing. Her deep knowledge and experience in the craft allowed her to utilize this enlightenment efficiently.
The aura around her was also deep and ethereal.
If someone tried to feel it, they would realize that a presence encompassing many things was present. It was profound and mysterious, as if it were the essence of the craft itself.
It was intent.
Andrea was developing her first intent. She understood it was the [Alloy Weaver Intent].
An intent that encompassed metallurgy, metalwork, and everything related.
As her intent flowed around her, her grasp of every type of metal and process became flawless.
With such concentration and auras surrounding her, she began working at a speed that would scare even herself.
The first step when blacksmithing a Spirit Armor was to create every component.
The process was much more complex than when making a weapon since it consisted of intricate and expert metalwork.
Moreover, as she was in the middle of her Enlightenment, this work would set the foundation for her future blacksmithing.
It was Andrea's first step in branching into her path and ascending to a promising and boundless future.
Andrea's thoughts revolved around the idea of mixing the three blacksmithing methods.
Sky Continent's method was like creating the internal structure of the treasure. As explained before, it consisted of creating the "Spirt Veins" across the entirety of the item, inside and outside.
Distancia Continent's method focused more on the body of the item. A blacksmith would use different hammering methods to modify and enhance the metal, glass, or any other material they were working with.
Lost Town's method was much more ethereal. Since working with strength was impossible for the mortals in Lost Town, for them to create Heaven-ranked items, they needed to transform their materials with energy.
The mortals in Lost Town came up with hammers, anvils, ovens, and other utensils that helped give the treasures something like an aura, which enhanced the works and increased their quality.
They could do so because their secret realm was often visited by Cultivators around the Universe, and they learned their own methods for everything.
Moreover, the manuals left behind by the creator of the secret realm were intricate and polished to such a degree that Mortals could use them with enough talent and proper tools.
Skill-wise, a top Blacksmith from Lost Town would rival one from Distancia.
Ultimately, they were mortals, so reaching the skill level of top blacksmiths of Sky Continent, where Transcendent Realm blacksmiths lived, was impossible.
Andrea's hammer hit the metal in constant motion. While heating up things, her bright red [Star Born Searing Flame], the Natural Treasure, blended with her work to modify the material, energy, and aura around the treasure.
Her [Alloy Weaver Intent] helped her move everything to her will as her green eyes looked around and calculated many steps ahead.
Moreover, manipulating the flame to create perfect temperatures was much easier with a semi-sentient Heaven-born fire connected to her at a soul level.
Ebirah looked at everything from inside Andrea's soul and felt the changes firsthand. She didn't speak or make any movement, just observing. She felt that, at this moment, her dear friend Andrea was stepping into her own path.
Our lobster friend knew that Andrea had been struggling recently. Andrea didn't hide it from Ebirah and spoke to her. Ebirah was used to listening and giving her thoughts.
Although, Andrea would often laugh at her advice and pat her head softly. Ebirah was young, so her way of seeing the world was simple. Naturally, her education was deep, but Andrea's troubles were out of what the young princess had learned.
Either way, after Andrea created every single part of the armor, Andrea began purifying the item and attaching everything together via welding and other skills like riveting.
She used a mix that would leave no imperfect edges and no visible or unaesthetic spots.
Andrea had forgotten that this armor was supposed to be for someone, so she created it with the shape and form she was most familiar with to increase her success chances. It was naturally an armor for herself.
'The shape is good. The material is perfectly purified. I need to give it the Spirit Veins without tampering with the "Body" modifications I've hammered into it. However, adding Lost Town's energy aura method will be complicated.'
Even in her current form, fusing arts was not a simple task.
It would usually take hundreds of years, even for someone as talented as Andrea. Therefore, managing to fuse two of the three was an achievement created only because of the combination of her Intent and her current enlightened state.
Enlightenment for a cultivator made each minute worth a year of continuous practice. That's why every cultivator searched for it.
However, this state was something that became increasingly harder to achieve the more you thought and searched for it. It came naturally when someone was entirely focused on their endeavor.
After creating the black armor with a golden Sun and Moon held by a dragon claw on the chest, she began her next and most crucial step, carving the spirit veins.
The image was Astral Sky's symbol, something Yasenia created with her help. Andrea was in charge of creating the accessories, after all.
Andrea suddenly frowned. 'Hm? I'm starting to get distracted.'
The effect of her Enlightenment had already lasted for fifty-five minutes, a monstrous amount.
'I have five minutes at most. I need to focus and squeeze the most of it I can.'
After a deep breath, the dimming light in her eyes gained a final burst of brilliance.
Andrea took out a carving knife as thin as a cicada wing.
The armor was held up with a model she took out of her ring, and then Andrea got to work.
Her hand, which could use a mighty hammer and change the shape of metal, worked delicately and slowly.
Her fingers were agile and meticulous, moving the thing blade and working on the lines and runes of the armor.
Her energy also seeped inside and helped with the inner spirit veins.
Five minutes went by quickly, and it wasn't enough to finish everything. Not even close.
Andrea sighed, but she knew that the most complicated things were done. The only thing left was meticulous work that needed time and patience.
However, her speed slowed down to a crawl compared to before.
'I hope I can finish in four hours.'
The time Andrea began working was about five in the afternoon.
She also intended to merge Lost Continent's forging method, but after the enlightened state disappeared, Andrea felt that it would be impossible.
'Nevermind, Andrea. Take things one step at a time, as you have always done it. I have never been a genius. Most of what I have is pure and unadulterated hard work. That's what keeps me from lagging behind my love. That's what pushed me forward.'
Ebirah cheered from inside the soul. 'You can do it, Andrea! I bet Yasenia will be delighted when she learns about your progress.'
Andrea chuckled, and after another deep breath, she continued moving the carving knife while using her [Star Born Searing Flame] with it to increase her affinity.
She slowly moved around the full-body armor while her hand agilely stroked the armor like a feather touching the water.
Even before finishing, thick streams of energy began gathering toward the item.
Andrea's extreme focus was slightly bothered by it. The gust of energy made her eyes move to the side for a millisecond.
However, that slight distraction made a small part of a branch of the Spirit Vein slightly crooked. It was such a minor imperfection that no one would notice.
Still, it was enough for the item to notice.
Andrea felt the energy rushing toward the armor lower to a tenth of what it was before, making Andrea regretful.
'And here I thought I would be able to create my first Transcendent Item. Such a shame.'
However, she didn't linger on the slight mistake and continued.
Outside, the sky had already darkened, and the lights of the coliseum were the only thing that illuminated the dome in the middle of a vacated arena.
Yasenia had not moved a single inch since she sat down.
Elder Yu, his disciples, Elder Song, Jorey, and the tiger kin in the Epoch Core Body realm were the only people still waiting beside our girls.
In total, it took Andrea six hours to finish the armor, even after the help of a one-hour Enlightenment boost.
It was almost midnight by the time she finished. Luna was only a mortal, so she had fallen asleep long ago because of the tiredness.
Usually, sleeping was a luxury, but today she just felt like she would be able to close her eyes calmly.
Evelyn was supporting her while looking around.
Our dragoness twitched, something people noticed because of the stillness of her previous position.
Yasenia opened her eyes slowly, revealing her beautiful golden orbs. In the deep night, they looked otherworldly.
"She is done."
Yasenia's words were like a switch, making them all stand up and look at the dome.
With a wave of her hand, the formation's core flew out of the dome and landed on her hand. However, as soon as it landed, it shone brightly and rapidly heated up.
Yasenia threw it into the air.
With a sonic boom, the formation core flew high above into the sky and passed the clouds in just a few seconds.
They all saw the sky brighten briefly before the luminosity faded.
"A single-use core formation?" Asked the Tiger kin, Patriarch.
"No. A core formation I fed with all my energy and exploded because it couldn't resist it." Answered Yasenia.
Many of them had their lips twitching.
Yasenia turned and saw the badly tired Andrea, breathing heavily and wholly drenched from head to toe.
She was so weak that her body was swaying and about to fall.
Andrea smiled and said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I made trouble for you."
Yasenia approached and hugged Andrea, not caring about her drenched body. "Nothing like that. Did everything go okay?"
Andrea looked around, but too tired to stand up, she obediently leaned on Yasenia and sighed comfortably. "I couldn't complete it perfectly, but the idea is in my mind. My blacksmithing should be able to increase to the next level soon."
The tiger kin spoke. "How about showing us what you made, human?"
Andrea didn't answer and turned to look at Yasenia, convincingly acting like a servile person.
'Is it troublesome to show, darling?'
'Nothing like that. However, the quality should be the highest of the things you've shown until now.'
'Hmm. Show it. Either way, it doesn't matter too much. We are already out, and we can attribute this to a fluke.'
'It is the truth either way. I'm not confident in creating something of this quality soon. I need to internalize all the things I've learned.'
Yasenia nodded. "Go ahead. I'm also curious to know if what you made is worth the price I had to pay."
"As expected, I caused the Matriarch much trouble. I'm so sorry. I entered a strange state and forgot everything around me. The armor I created was also made with my measurements in mind instead of the customer."
"Speaking of which, where is he?"
Jorey chuckled. "Probably in a hospital or something similar.'"
"Huh? Why?"
"Your Matriarch slapped him unconscious. Miraculously, he has no injuries but wouldn't wake up no matter what we did." Laughed the Tiger kin.
"He should be awake by now." Commented Yasenia indifferently.
Andrea was speechless. "You slapped him?"
Yasenia snorted. "He should know who he was talking to before acting like a complete asshole. I wanted to kill him, so giving him a small concussion should be a light punishment."
Andrea smiled wryly. "Well, whatever. Here is the armor."
Andrea waved her hand and summoned a full-body, gorgeous black armor with smooth curves and golden details.
Like the armor of a black knight, it shone with a powerful gleam. The prominent symbol in the middle of the chest was enough to make them understand what kind of mood Andrea was when she made it.
'Her loyalty is truly exceptional.'
However, their thoughts stopped when they felt the aura around the armor.
The air around it changed, becoming heavier as the powerful treasure glowed with a dark yellow light in the night.
Elder Yu was so surprised his thoughts were vocalized. "A masterpiece."
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